‘A Secret Gift’ by Amanda James

Synopsis

Three years ago, Joy Pentire lost her firefighter husband and she still hasn’t returned to the woman she once was. But then she meets Hope, one of the residents at the nursing home where she’s a carer.

Hope has a secret gift that she wants to pass on.
And Joy’s life is forever changed.

Surrounded by the community in her Cornish hometown, Joy’s unexpected inheritance soon leads to new opportunities, new friends, new love, and the part of herself she’d thought forever lost … her joy.

My Review

I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘A Secret Gift’.  After reading the synopsis of ‘A Secret Gift’, I knew that I had to read this book and I had to take part in the blog tour.  I liked the idea of ‘A Secret Gift’ and so I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what proved to be an emotional but ultimately heart warming story.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘A Secret Gift’ but more about that in a bit.

I loved the character of Joy Pentire and I warmed to her from the very start.  She is a young woman, who has been through the emotional mill somewhat.  She lost her husband and soulmate three years prior to this story beginning.  She is still at a fairly early stage of grief and goes through the various emotions.  I got the impression that Joy doesn’t feel as though she could be happy again.  Oy is a natural caring person and it is no surprise that she is highly thought of as a carer.  In fact one of the old ladies that she cares for, Hope, resides in the home where Joy works.  What starts as a working relationship becomes a firm friendship.  Hope knows that she is dying but before she passes, she wants to talk to Joy about something special and important- ‘A Secret Gift’.  What follows is one hell of a story and then some.

It took me no time at all to get into ‘A Secret Gift’.  In fact as soon as I started reading, I knew that this was a special story and that I would become addicted to reading it.  I was spot on too.  I found it extremely difficult to put this book to one side for any length of time.  I just loved the idea of the story and I had to keep reading to see how the story panned out. My Kindle wasn’t exactly glued to my hand but it might as well have been because it travelled everywhere with me.  I just couldn’t bear to miss a single second of this charming story.  I was like an addict constantly in need of my next ‘fix’.  This was one of those stories that was constantly on my mind.  If I wasn’t reading the book, then I was thinking about the book, if I had to put the book to one side for any length of time then I would immediately look forward to being able to pick the book up again.  I soon got to the end of ‘A Secret Gift’ and I had to say ‘goodbye’ to Joy.  I found ‘A Secret Gift’ to be an emotional but ultimately uplifting and heart warming read.  This is a delightful story which will appeal to many.

‘A Secret Gift’ is superbly written and then some.  The author certainly knows how to grab your attention and draw you into what proves to be a hell of a read.   Amanda has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with.  In fact reading this book felt more like a chat between friends.  Amanda clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the story and the way in which the characters are described.  I love the way in which Amanda makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story themselves and at the heart of the action.  That’s how I felt at any rate. 

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘A Secret Gift’ and I would definitely recommend this book to other readers.  I will certainly be reading more of Amanda’s work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.