The End of Summer

Summer is over!  It flew by.  But, I was able to sneak in a final week in Hawaii which was lovely!  I sat on the beach 5 hours a day and read, napped and thought about life.
I also read a few books!
I'm going to review the first 2 and save the remaining for the next post.

Since You've Been Gone by Anouska Knight
this is a story of a young widow named Holly who runs a bakery, cake shop.  Her husband has been dead for 2 years but she is still struggling to move on.  She sees him and talks to him daily.  But then Ciaran Argyll walks into her life.  He is completely opposite of her and changes everything.
I enjoyed the story but it was pretty predictable.  I really enjoyed the characters and especially the side characters, her assistant, his father and her sister.  The writing

was good and it was fine for a beach read.  Plus, I love a story that revolves around food!  I'd give this 3.5 stars.

Since you've been gone trailer



The Flower Arrangement by Ella Griffin
Lara owns a flower shop in the middle of Dublin.  She knows exactly what flower each person needs.  We find out early on that Lara has lost a child and is still in mourning.  This story jumps around to a whole bunch of characters.  Sometimes that drives me nuts but I liked this one.  Lara's story and that of her brother are the main ones but all of the others are connected.  I really enjoyed this.  The flowers felt magical and I liked how they were weaved in each story. 
The only bummer was the end.  It is not neatly wrapped up which is what i like.  You are left wondering what will happen and it's over.  But, I'd still give it 4 stars just because of the great characters and the journey they go on.

Next time I'll review the other beach reads!