Pretty Little Memoirs - a YA Book Blog

Where The Storyline Continues. . .

adult romance

Blog Tour: “The Summer We Danced” by Fiona Harper (Q&A!)

Title: The Summer We Danced

Author: Fiona Harper

Published: April 21st, 2016

Publisher: MIRA

Find the Author: Goodreads


I received this book for review! As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.



Fiona Harper, a rising star in the world of romantic fiction, had phenomenal digital success with her 2014 title, The Little Shop of Hopes and Dreams, which was a Kindle #1 bestseller and one of the top 10 bestselling ebooks of 2015. Her new novel The Summer We Danced is a warm, summery read perfect for fans of Milly Johnson, Carole Matthews and Katie Fforde.

After a humiliating divorce and watching her former rock star husband leave her for a model live on reality TV, Pippa is determined to disappear. So she returns to the small Kent village where she grew up to make a fresh start. Little did she know that would mean saving her beloved childhood dance school or falling for her old school crush Tom too!

The Summer We Danced explores lost love and new beginnings with emotional depth and wry humour. This is a novel to curl up with and laugh, cry and enjoy the perfect happy-ever-after.

I have a soft spot for books like Fiona’s: the type that make you swoon and feel comforted reading with entertaining and humorous lines to keep you laughing and crying ’till the end. I hadn’t read anything by Fiona before, but my sister has and she couldn’t recommend her highly enough, so I was eager to get stuck in.

Straight away, I loved Pippa. I felt so bad for her after she was horribly dumped by her husband that she had stood by through his journey for fame without batting an eyelid,  only for him to leave her for a model on TV as soon as he’d gotten to be a star. She was humiliated, as anyone in her situation would be, and now it was all she could think about. She wanted to get away and forget about her troubles, even if it was just for a while. She returned back to her hometown where she was brought up and searches for some kind of meaning to how her life had ended up this way. So, ultimately she decides to go to a dance lesson of all things, still run by the tutor she used to have, Miss Mimi. It was a huge thing for Pippa as a child and she loved dancing but she ditched it to support her husband – now, what was stopping her?
But Miss Mimi’s dance school is on the rocks and Pippa feels like she should help try to save it and make it thrive again. Then she meets her old school crush, Tom, who still lives in the village she grew up in. He has a daughter, and even though they’re older and have lived two very different lives, they find their old selves in each other as they work together to save Miss Mimi’s dance school and maybe their lost love along the way.
I really connected with The Summer We Danced. Not just the characters, but the plot and the way it all came together like a perfect story about a small town love and reconnecting. Pippa was such a bright, brilliant character and she really made the book.  Fiona did such an amazing job writing her story with so much believability. There were laughs along the way and although it was humorous, it didn’t distract from the deeper elements of romance and emotion that I love in adult romance novels. 
Overall, The Summer We Danced is a perfect, funny, enchantingly amusing book that had me hooked from beginning to end. This will definitely not be the last I read of Fiona’s novels and I can’t recommend this highly enough. It’s definitely one of the stand-out Adult romances I’ve read this year and is a top contender with the likes of Lindsey Kelk and Milly Johnson.  

Adult romance fans with humour and love elements.

Hi Fiona! I just read my first book of yours (The Summer We Danced) and I’m an instant fan! What gives you the inspiration for your books?


I get ideas from all over the place – sometimes it’s a headline in a newspaper, sometimes an enchanting place I’ve visited, and sometimes the idea of a character or a situation they face. Before The Summer We Danced I’d written a book called The Doris Day Vintage Film Club and I enjoyed combining a story with my love of old movies so much I wanted to do another one. The working title for The Summer We Danced was The Ginger Rogers Tap Club – so you can see where the idea came from!


Pippa is such a likeable character. If The Summer We Danced were a movie, who do you think would play her and Tom?


I imagined Pippa to be a curvier version of Ginnifer Goodwin (from Once Upon A Time and He’s Just Not That Into You), with those beautiful big eyes and a dark pixie cut. Tom’s harder to pin down, though. Hmm. No one too pretty. But ruggedly handsome would do! How about Dougray Scott?


If you could sum up your ideal writing environment in a sentence, what would it be?


I can write almost anywhere, but I have to have my trusty Moleskine notebook and Post-it notes, my current favourite pen and coffee! (And occasionally my laptop.)


As an aspiring writer, I’m always grateful for advice. Do you have any for me—and for all the other aspiring writers out there—who aspire to be like you?


I have two bits of advice:

1. Don’t stop dreaming! You might have to work hard to make those dreams happen, but if you don’t try you’ll never get there. 

2. Don’t stop learning. You can always improve your craft.


Finally, do you have plans for another book? If so, is it similar to The Summer We Danced?


I’m working on the next book at the moment, but it’s a bit of a gear change from The Summer We Danced in that it’s romantic, but it’s not a boy-meets-girl story. The new book looks at long-term love: what makes it work, what makes it fail… It also has a slight supernatural element, which is a bit of anew thing for me, but I have to say I’m loving every second of writing it!


Thank you for being on my blog; Pretty Little Memoirs today!


Thanks for having me, It’s been a blast!


The Summer We Danced by Fiona Harper is out now in paperback and ebook (MIRA) 

happy reading!

post signature

Book Review: “The Proposal” by Tasmina Perry

Title: The Proposal

Author: Tasmina Perry
Genre: Adult Fiction – Contemporary 
Release Date: August 14th, 2014
Published by: Headline Review

I received this from Headline/Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review. As always, my reviews are fair and non-bias. 

Just say yes to this unforgettable read and take a spellbinding, romantic journey from the dazzling days of the debutantes in 1950s London to glamorous modern Manhattan.


When Amy Carrell’s wealthy boyfriend ends their relationship just before Christmas, she’s left to nurse her broken heart alone. With nothing to lose, she replies to an advertisement requesting a companion for a mysterious ‘Manhattan adventure’.


Whisked off to New York with eccentric British aristocrat Georgia Hamilton, Amy experiences a glamorous side of the city that she’s never seen before. Along the way, Georgia initiates her protegee in the arts of old-school elegance.


But as Georgia shares her life lessons, Amy discovers a painful secret in her mentor’s past. A secret that shattered her future. A story of love and betrayal that only Amy has the power to put right.

The Proposal is quite different from your ordinary tale. It’s set in two different times; 1958 and 2012, centered around Amy and Georgia, the two lead characters of the novel.
Amy in 2012, had a dream to come to London to become a dancer, a dream that had many obstacles on the way. She worked in a restaurant to pay rent, but still longed for her big break. But suddenly the future she wanted is no longer written in the stars and she feels thrown back to square one. Longing to see her family back in New York, she stumbles across an Ad looking for a companion to the Big Apple and she becomes more determined than ever to see her family. 
Georgia in 1958, was quite similar to Amy in a lot of ways. At 18, her whole life changed. In 1950’s London, it was the place to be with the debutante season and eligible men. Looking for a husband should be at the top of Georgia’s list but she is very different to the other girls. Fancy parties and men were not on her radar at all.  So when a tragic event happens, she is even more uncertain about her future. 
But now, both Amy and Georgia’s futures were uncertain with the tragic times of ending relationships and bright futures ahead, leading to the start of a bittersweet story that would span more than fifty years in time. 
The Proposal was an amazing story of friendship, family, love and lies…and New York. It’s a breathtaking, unique novel that sparkles in it’s own right. Incredible. 
The parts with Georgia back in the 1950’s were my favourite parts – there was just something about her story that intrigued me more than Amy’s and I loved the originality of it all. It’s an incomparable book by far.

Adult Fiction readers, along with Romance and Contemporary readers! 


Have you read The Proposal?


What did you think?


Tell me in the comments, on twitter or by using the hashtag #TheProposal

happy reading!

post signature

Book Review: “The Girl Who Came Home” by by Hazel Gaynor




Title: The Girl Who Came Home

Author: Hazel Gaynor
Genre: Adult – Historical Fiction 
Release Date: April 1st, 2014 (UK)
Published by: Harper Collins

With thanks to Harper Collins for the copy of this novel! As always, my reviews are non-bias and fair.

A voyage across the ocean becomes the odyssey of a lifetime for a young Irish woman. . . . 
Ireland, 1912; Fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Séamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again.

Chicago, 1982 . . .

Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about Titanic that she’s harbored for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction—and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago. 
Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Came Home poignantly blends fact and fiction to explore the Titanic tragedy’s impact and its lasting repercussions on survivors and their descendants.

I was instantly intrigued by the story behind The Girl Who Came Home, and I’ve just begun diving into the Historical Fiction side of reading in Adult and YA reads. Hazel Gaynor’s novel looked just like what I was looking for.

Hazel Gaynor has written an exquisite tribute to the Titanic and it shows completely through the story as the plot plays out. I could see the extent to where Hazel had researched every detail of the events that follow and seep out into the storyline. 
Maggie and Grace were both very different characters in personality stances, and to see the development of each character built throughout the novel was really refreshing to read about, also knowing of the true events that had weaved into the book, too.
We all know something about the Titanic, whether it’s the little things or some of us may know more being History fans. Anyway I look at it, Hazel Gaynor has done a beyond amazing job of the extensive description, emotion and gripping events. I was mesmerized by every detail that just seemed to echo originality and charm. The Girl Who Came Home is a heartbreaking emotional read, keeping readers on their toes. It was ultimately about finding tranquility in the past, overcoming events and of course; love. 
It was different to most other Historical Fiction I’ve read, but I still managed to connect with the characters and care about them, which says a lot about how powerful the story has managed to pull me into it’s grip. There are just parts that left me speechless and other times where the descriptive narrative painted an image into my mind beautifully of those times, even as tragic as they were. 

Without giving too much away, finding the symbolism or peace within the story was my favourite part of The Girl Who Came Home or definitely the Maggie parts. I liked Grace’s parts, too, but Maggie’s were just incredible. 

Historical love-story fans, Historical Fiction fans or people who are fascinated with the Titanic or want to know more about it’s events. I would say just take a chance on it, because even the books we don’t think we’ll click with, just might surprise you.



Have you read The Girl Who Came Home?

What did you think? 

Tell me in the comments or at @LittleMemoirs on twitter!

happy reading!
↑ Top of Page