Review: Lily Malone "Fairway to Heaven"

Publisher: Lily Malone

ISBN: n/a.

My rating: 4/5

Fairway to Heaven
It’s golf, but not as we know it.

When Jennifer Gates drives to Sea Breeze Golf Club to kick off date-night with her boyfriend, the last thing she expects is to find Golf-Pro Jack giving one of his lady students a private—and very personal—lesson in bunker-play.
Lucky for Jenn, her best friend gives her the keys to the Culhane family’s beach shack on the white-pepper shores of Western Australia’s Geographe Bay. Jenn hopes a weekend on the coast with her young son will give her the space she needs to rebuild her confidence after Jack’s betrayal.
But she’s not the only person seeking sanctuary by the sea. Brayden Culhane is there too, and Jenn can’t look at Brayden without remembering the tequila-flavoured kiss they shared on the shack steps years ago.
As long-buried feelings are rekindled, and a friendship is renewed, Jenn knows it is more than lazy summer days bringing her mojo back. Romantic sunsets, ice-cold beers and the odd round of golf can only go so far, because this time, trusting Brayden with her heart won’t be enough. Jenn has to learn to trust her body, too. (goodreads.com)


My thoughts

"I always thought a yellow rose about to open was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Then I found you."

My second book by Lily Malone and I loved it just as much. This one was different - in a few ways. First, I had read the initial 3,000 words script and was intrigued how Lily would turn it into a full novel. Second, it's written in first person, present tense.

Jennifer Gates catches her partner (and father of her son Sebastian) Jack in flagranti with another woman. She moves out and takes time out at her best friend Emmy's parent's beach house. Only to find Emmy's brother Brayden there.

Initially a bit slow for me, once Jennifer's "new life" started I wasn't able to put the book down. I loved the way she grew over the few weeks, how the relationship with Brayden developed and her "ups and downs" as a mother. It was beautifully written! I laughed

Why wasn't Brayden's issue resolved, though? Or may I hope for a sequel?

Fully recommend this one!

My journey so far.

Okay, so I was asked to write a little blog post, however, the person didn't really like it. Fair enough, isn't it. But before it lands in the virtual rubbish bin, I thought I might as well post it on here.


Comment away, if you like it!

I honestly have to admit that if you had asked me a few years ago that my second book would be released by a publisher I would’ve said something along the line “Get outta here!” I think it would have been late 1980s that I had read my last book .... and then fast forward to the next century, one night I was bored, the computer in front of me, I just typed away. Knitting didn’t work, stitching didn’t work, typing was next. It turned out to be a nice story and with some encouragement by my husband I had it “professionally critiqued”. AND SHE LIKED IT. Then I felt lost. I submitted it to one or two publishers and Literary Agents, but with no research or even doing any homework, I obviously didn’t format it correctly let alone all the other little things you need to do. Impatient, I checked out the possibilities for printing and it was reasonably affordable. Remember this was before Kindle and the eBook era. I printed a few for family and friends, but people loved it so much I re-ordered even more. The book did really well considering all. I fell in love with the whole idea of writing. I had read heaps of books by the time my second book was finished. Yes, there had been more boring, cold nights J And with more knowledge about the do and don’ts I approached the whole submitting process with a different attitude and more patience ... AND lucky us writers ... there are way more eBook publishers out there than there were years ago. They like to have a read before saying no! So this is how I ended up with Astraea Press and I have to say as a novice author I feel very much at home with them. As they grow, so do I. I have a question and it gets answered, silly, naive or straight forward – they’re always there for you!

So more or less this is my story ... unusual probably, because I never ever would have seen myself a published author or loving the process of writing. Writing doesn’t come easy to me, but there are still heaps of stories in me to tell and I’m sure if I keep it slow and easy I’ll be able to put them into nice words one after the other – with a lot of patience, I’ve learnt that part, too!

Blurb of "Journey to Her Dreams"

Would you travel around the world to uncover the reason for your dreams?

Hollie Anderson does.

A young woman from Tasmania who lives on a farm just outside Launceston, she has got good looks, likes her job and loves to hang out with her friends. She should be happy, right?
But it’s a recurrent dream that throws her daily life into chaos and takes her on a journey to Ireland. While on her quest for answers she meets Sam in Dublin under unusual circumstances and both women, so different in many ways, find out they have one thing in common - and it changes their lives forever

Barnes & Noble

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I'll read it as I would anything from the slush-pile. As I'm reading I'll count the errors that I see, and once I get to fifteen errors then I'll stop reading. I'll include errors of spelling, punctuation and grammar, as well as problems with tense and point-of-view. If I don't spot many errors I'll read it for as long as it holds my attention: once my interest slips (and remember that I am known for reading the back of the milk-carton at breakfast, such is my need for reading matter), I'll persist for another couple of pages.
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