Such a lovely heartwarming read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the characters and I definitely want to read some more Annie Lyons books in the future.

One street – Hope Street.

Two residents – Nat and Caroline.

Two different houses – Nat and Caroline.

Two different lives – Nat and Caroline.

One choir – everyone’s.

Nat lives in the less desirable end of Hope Street, she is an author of children’s books with one child herself. She thinks that everything is okay in her marriage until the day her husband says he doesn’t love her anymore.

Caroline lives in the more desirable end of Hope Street. A stay at home mother, on all the committees and associations there is, supporting her husband in his career and maintaining a facade to everyone. Until no care home will take her mother and she has to look after in her perfect home.

A minor incident brings these two unlikely women together. Nat envies Caroline’s perfect life but from a materialistic point whilst Caroline envies Nat’s outspokenness and ability to give to everyone.

When the local community hall is threatened with closure, these two women are thrown together to do something to save it.

A choir seems a good way to bring everyone together.

It enables Caroline to focus on her skills from various committees and it means that Nat can forget the mess that is her marriage. Through a common goal Nat and Caroline form a friendship which helps them both to see what life can be like if you have hope.

This is not a light fluffy book, though it does have some humorous moments. It deals with some real issues but in a considered and measured way. I was not gripped by the book enough to make me keep turning the pages long after I should have put the book down. It was a pleasant read.

This is such a joyful book! Friendship, music and fun are a winning combination!

I think one of the best parts of being a book blogger is when you review a book from an author that you know you enjoy (as you can see from my review of the brilliant Life or Something Like it which you can find here ), so to be part of the blog tour for said author is something very special indeed.

The book began simply but with a bang.

“‘I don’t love you any more.’ That was it. Six words delivered so simply, as if he were reading the news.”

From these few lines on I felt for Natalie Garfield, who had just been delivered the life shattering lines. Natalie isn’t quite sure where it all went wrong, they were the solid couple, the couple that would never be in trouble and yet here she is. Natalie was one heck of a character. A children’s book writer (yay!), she was understandably a bit of a mess, trying to muddle through for the sake of her child Woody (who was just so so gorgeous). What was so excellant was that even as she muddled through, even as she was down and falling apart, we could still see her character shine through, you could still see how much fun she was, how thoughtful and how out there she was and this made me want to read her story. There was another story going on at the same time, and what a tribute to Ms Lyons that I wanted to hear this one as much as that of the amazing Natalie.

Caroline, said other voice in the book, was right before my eyes from the second I began to read her- an always smiling, always in control, never a hair out of place, need to look good for the husband to keep the marriage alive type of mother who was just perfection.

“I don’t mean to sound judgemental but I despair of playground mothers sometimes. Where is their self respect? We’re all pushed for time in the mornings – the least we can do is apply a little eyeliner and make ourselves presentable. We’re supposed to be role models for the next generation, after all.”

I adored her too and couldn’t wait to see how the two characters would work/ clash with each other when they both decided to work towards keeping open the community centre on Hope Street by setting up a choir and competing to gain some coverage of the centre’s plight, aided by Natalie’s noteriety as a writer and Caroline’s can-do, must-do attitude.

When I tell you that the two characters were both amazing in their own way, the journey they go through together is something special as they try to understand each other (including parenting styles), getting Caroline to face up to some very harsh realities, including her relationship with her mother which was both shocking and so so moving (yes, I did cry). Natalie and Caroline were a very special coupling, and it’s difficult to stop talking about them, but I have to, to remind you that this is a book about the setting up of a choir, with, again, brilliantly written, genius personalities, and magnificent descriptions of locations, buildings, songs and harmonies. I’ll be honest, I could gush about this book all day, a fun, funny, beautiful, gripping, fantastic story that just cements Annie Lyons in my authors to remember list (yes, I do have one of these!) and tells me I have to get back to her excellent backlog (see them here). A must read. Thanks so much to Harpercollins and Ms. Lyons for this lovely book in return for an honest review.

The Choir on Hope Street by Annie Lyons, published by HQ (HarperCollins), will be published on the 6th April 2017 in e-book and paperback.

I think there are few situations in life that can't be made better with singing. Obviously there are some pretty huge exceptions, but for the most part music is magic.

When Nat's husband utters the words that no-one ever wants to hear; "I don't love you anymore" she is left to pick up the pieces. Also making some huge life adjustments is perfect PTA Queen Caroline who is left with no choice but to take care of her estranged mother with dementia when her care home is unable to meet her needs.

Both women are dealing with hugely emotional life-changing situations, and both happen to live on the wonderfully named Hope Street where the local community hall is under threat from property developers.

Faced with all this drama, there's only one logical solution....let's SING! (I very much buy into this philosophy) As luck would have it, a handsome new music teacher has just joined the local school. Can good old community spirit bring everyone together and help both women find their way, find friendship and find their voices?

This is just the loveliest book! I'll be honest I couldn't STAND Caroline for a large part of it, she is infuriating and brilliantly depicted as one of Those Mums (we all know them, they're on every committee, annoyingly perfect & determined to make you feel inadequate) It is quite a skill to take a repugnant character and bit-by-bit make you fall in love with them. Annie does this really well with Caroline's character and there is a quite a significant turning point where you start to really feel for her. Caroline's Mum who lives with dementia is also really sensitively written. As someone with personal experience of this awful disease, I think Annie has captured the associated heartache really beautifully.

This easily gets a melodic five cwtches from me, it's a perfect pick-me-up read and will make you want to join a choir (and eat cake) Big thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I hope (sorry) we'll hear more from Hope Street, they are such a lovely bunch and I think there is huge scope to find out a bit more about each of the cast. Fingers crossed for more please - ENCORE!

Five cwtches - get your copy here!

*Book provided by the publisher On NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I got so excited when I saw the title and the cover of this book. I sing in a choir myself and I just love it. Reading about one of my passions in a book is just fab.

The story follows Natalie, who sees her life crashing down around her at the beginning of the book. Her husband leaves her and she is alone with their son Woody. Then we have perfect Caroline, she couldn’t be more different to Nat. However, she actually has a difficult relationship with her mother and has to deal with her dementia.

The two women have a wrong picture of the other and it’s only when they spend more time together that they get to know each other. A friendship slowly builds up and both women are also trying to find themselves and move on in life. I really liked how their friendship developed and Annie Lyons’ described it beautifully.

The characters were well drawn and it was a real pleasure to follow them around. The were real and authentic and that’s very important for me in a book.

I really liked the scenes at choir with all the musical elements, like a warm up, the songs and other things. I felt like being at home, it gave me a warm and cosy feeling all throughout the book. I was hooked from the first page onwards. Annie Lyons’ writing is uplifting, heart warming, sweet, happy, emotional and much more. It covers happiness, sadness, friendship, the passion for a hobby like singing and all these elements created a wonderful atmosphere.

The choir on hope street by Annie Lyons is a joyful, witty novel with characters you can really relate too . I laughed and cried with forgetful Natalie and bossy Caroline. 2 friends who are complete opposites thrown together whilst both experiencing their worlds come crashing down around them. Their salvation and escape from it all is their quest to save their local village hall which is facing demolition by the council who want to build houses on the site. With the help of other charming residents and local choir master Guy, the 2 friends develop the hope street choir in an attempt to raise awareness of their beloved halls plight.
I really enjoyed this beautiful story and was sad when it ended, a sequel is definitely needed ! .