Lovely feel good book to read. It was a joy to read. Lovely characters. Great plot. The book was charming. Very well written. I’d definitely recommend this book

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

Grace goes to Cornwall to find out information about her mother having recently discovered that she was adopted. She has also realised that she and her mother share special gift and seeks to use this to benefit others. An intriguing story, probably best read after the first book.

The premise of the book was intriguing - Grace Clarke, aged 54, has a gift which allows her to read peoples memories! In this book she discovers that she was adopted and set out to find out more about her birth parents.

Although I did enjoy this book, I occasionally felt my mind wandering during some of the long descriptive passages. I sometimes found it a little repetetive too. The story is lovely and heartwarming, and the characters are interesting and mostly likeable.

I didn't realise that this was the second book in a series, but it did work as a standalone, though I wonder of I would have enjoyed the book more if I'd read the first book in the series before this one.

The narration was acceptable, though not exceptional.

What a peculiar book, it had some lovely characters & a wonderful setting. I really wanted to see what happened to Grace in the end. I had this on an audiobook and I have to say I struggled to remember who all the characters were at times, but the narrator was really good and I really enjoyed listening to it. The recipes at the end were a nice touch too.

The cottage of curiosities is book 2 in the Pengelly series which I didn’t realise when I requested it, but I thought it worked okay as a standalone novel, it was a gentle novel about Grace Clarke who has arrived in Pengelly trying to find out about her birth mother, along the way she finds friends and herself. The story itself was okay but I found the narrator very dull to listen too so unfortunately it felt a bit of a chore to get to the end so my recommendation is to read this one rather than listen to it.

I’ve previously read this book and enjoyed it very much so when I was given the opportunity to listen to the audio book, I jumped at the chance. The book certainly came alive for me in this type of media and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time round. It was well written and well read. Most enjoyable.

I listened to the audio version of this book. I didn't like the narrators voice for some of the characters. At the times the book fell into descriptions of what was happening, this sounded like I was listening to the audio subtitles you find on TV. I think in this instance I would have preferred to read this book rather than listen to it.

The story itself was intriguing. Would Grace find her past in the village and how would the villagers react to her? It turned out that Grace found a lot more in the village and it was a nice gentle story to listen to. The subject of memory loss was dealt with very sympathetically and I liked how Grace used her gift in this respect.

I hadn't read the previous book in this series and at times did think maybe I was missing something. Perhaps the characters would have had more depth if I had read it. The village certainly felt like somewhere you would want to live and I did enjoy the descriptions of village life. Overall a nice cosy read.

At first I couldn’t stand the narration, then I thought, ok, maybe the protagonist is elderly, I guess that works. Well, no, the protagonist is 54. She sounds a way lot older. The reading is slow and didn’t really do it for me. Saying that, I enjoyed the story but think it would have been better if I had read the physical book rather than listened to the audiobook.
Grace has a problem with memories. Not her own. She can’t stop picking up other people’s memories and it makes her life so lonely as she feels she can’t have a relationship as she is always at risk of intrusion. When she discovers who her birth mother was, she travels to Cornwall to trace her, only to find she is too late. Once there she discovers a use for her gift and makes a whole set of friends, eventually discovering her father amongst them.
A lovely quirky story set in my adopted county. How I wish there were people who actually had this gift to help all the poor folk out there with dementia

Set in the Cornish coastal village of Pengelly, The Cottage of Curiosities centres round Grace, a 50-something single woman, adopted at birth, who has recently found out the identity of her birth mother. She travels to her mothers home village to try & find out more about her story and who her father might be.
As the story progresses, we see Grace change from quite a hard-shelled career woman to be more gentle & an integral part of the community. I was a bit confused by the memory loss storyline initially but as the book progresses, this becomes more relevant.

Overall, The Cottage Of Curiosities is a story of friendships, discovery and family. It's a heartwarming read perfect for a winter's evening with secrets to be uncovered & a gentle romance simmering.
This book certainly stands alone, I was not aware that it was the second in a series until after I'd finished it, though I do now want to go back & read book 1 as I hope it will give some background to the fascinating characters.

The narrator was very good, she has good diction and inflection in her voice and the way she had different "voices" for each character made it easy to follow.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this audiobook free from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#TheCottageofCuriosities #NetGalley

What a perfect title for this book, it really was full of curiosity. It is a fabulous story to listen to I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

This is a lovely story and the main character is brilliant, I love her. Grace (54) is a retired art teacher, her adopted mother and father recently died and she found out that everything she was told wasn't quite the whole truth. Which leaves her determined to find out about her birth mother and where she came from. What a journey Grace finds herself on, she is a very special lady with a very special gift!

The characters are very well developed and I felt I had connected with them all; I really felt I knew them. They were all my friends by the time I'd finished listening to this story. The narrator did a great job, she was very easy to listen to and I will definitely be looking out for more audiobooks by this author and narrator.

I adored listening to every piece of dialogue in this audiobook. The narrative was clear and concise and the storyline excellent.
I sat back and could actually imagine I was living in the story.
An absolute dream of a book which I thoroughly enjoyed

I haven't read the previous book aout the residents of Pengelly but my enjoyment of The Cottage of Curiosities was no less for that. This a a thoroughly charming and heartwarming novel which was a delight to read. Actually I had the audio copy and given the choice I thiink I would have preferred to read a hard copy personally; the narrator had a beautiful voice and paced the reading very well but I prefer it when the characters are not given their own voices and accents, after all one wouldn't do that when reading to oneself.

It was a joy to find that a large number of the characters were over 50 and full of vim and vigour and dare I say that a few of them were actually still enjoying romantic relationships and even sex!!!

A thoroughly enjoyable book, my thanks to netgalley and the publishers.

The Cottage of Curiosities - Celia Anderson

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review thanks to HarperCollins Audio UK and Netgalley. Narrated by Annette Holland.

Tucked away amongst the winding, cobbled streets of Pengelly in Cornwall, the old stone cottage on Memory Lane is full of secrets. Brimming with trinkets and treasures, there are thousands of stories hidden within its walls.

Fifty-four-year-old Grace Clarke arrives in Pengelly determined to uncover the secrets of her past. Standing outside the little cottage, she feels sure that the answers she craves lie inside. The truth about her mysterious long-lost mother and the even more mysterious gifts she was born with…

The Cottage of Curiosities is a place for people to discover themselves. It is a wonderful tale of love and friendships. Throughout the story, you get to learn about how Grace is accepted by the residents of Pengelly and see how she becomes part of the community.

I haven’t read book one in the series so I took longer to connect with the characters of Pengelly, but I found it possible to read the book as a standalone.

Rating: 4/5

This was an audiobook I received on NetGalley.
After not reading the first book, 59 Memory Lane but understanding the premise, I was really looking forward to diving into this one.
It follows Grace, a woman with a complicated talent for reading people's memories. I loved this idea, but I felt I needed to have read the first book in the series as I thought this sequel didn't develop the gift as much as I would have liked. The characters were strongly defined and had a great background which helped to understand the difficulties of the gift.