Description as per Amazon
Steph is a special, but troubled young woman. Chosen by the most venerated man in Appley Green to fulfil his mission, she feels publicly admired rather than privately loved. She certainly does not trust men!
In helping a once famous, elderly architect with Parkinson’s regain a social life, she finds herself taking personal risks, fending off objections, blind to danger. We wait for the moment when it dawns on Steph what is driving her deep-seated obsession; for only then can she find the happiness she deserves.
Appley Green is a charming English village. Everyone says so. But people are still people. With the emotional turmoil that comes with love, birth and death, a close-knit community can harbour betrayal and guilt, as well as joy and laughter.
My thoughts
Shades of Appley Green is lovely heart-warming story, one which I very much enjoyed.
I became very fond of Steph as the story developed and felt a great empathy for her, not only for the difficulties she faced today, but for the problems she had been forced to deal with in the past.
I thought the way Miriam revealed Steph’s back story was done brilliantly through diary entries and, without interrupting the flow of the story, expertly showed how these events impacted on Steph’s life today.
The twist at the end, I didn’t see coming at all and it really made me sit up and think but again, the way this was woven into the story it didn’t seem out of place and sat comfortably within the novel.
Miriam Wakerly has a lovely, easy style of writing that draws you into the story and keeps you there at a nice pace. The story touches on difficult issues in a sensitive manner and in a style that is not uncomfortable for the reader. The end, for me, was very emotional and did, in fact, bring a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. A lovely story of one woman’s journey to understanding and accepting her past and ultimately finding an inner-peace and happiness.
Available to buy on Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/wn01fD
or Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/yJ1KiG
Miriam is on Twitter@MiriamWakerly: https://twitter.com/#!/MiriamWakerly 
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000129273251
Author website: http://miriamwakerly.blogspot.com/
Miriam is a member of Love A Happy Ending and Famous Five Plus
Love Reading, Love Books 
Miriam is a wonderful author and her books are an inspiration! Love the two benches side by side, that’s a village for you!
Thanks so much for lovely review – quotes from it are on the back cover of the book! I enjoyed writing this novel so much and guess it will appeal to an even wider audience than the first two. Hope so anyway xx Glad you love the two benches Linn – like the book, they can mean different things to different people. xx
Lovely review, Sue, I enjoyed reading it. You must be really pleased, Miriam.
Great review Sue and your book is on my wish list Miriam! Hope it goes brilliantly!
Lovely review, Sue! I adore the way you characterise a book and describe an author’s style, gives me a real flavour for what to expect. Shades of Appley Green is on my wish list, obviously! Thank you, and congrats to Miriam on gaining such a great review. XX
Great review of a wonderful, heartwarming book. Someday I hope to see a real English village. Until then, I have SHADES OF APPLEY GREEN.
And isn’t Shades of Appley Green so evocative of an English village. Lovely revew, Sue 🙂 xx
Review, even 😉 Time for afternoon tea, I think xx
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