New Release Spotlight & Review: When Adam Met Evie by Giulia Skye

When Adam Met Evie by Giulia Skye

When former Olympic Swimmer, Michael Adams—now Canada’s hottest reality TV star— insults his fake showbiz wife on social media, he escapes the ensuing scandal and jumps on the first flight to Australia. Desperate to experience ordinary life again—if only for a few weeks—he becomes “Adam”, just another tourist traveling through the Outback. But with a reward out for his safe return and his fame’s nasty habit of catching up with him when he least expects, he needs a better disguise… and he’s just found it.

Sweet and scruffy British backpacker, Evie Blake, is taking a year out of her busy London life. Tired of lies and liars, she’s looking for adventure to heal her broken heart. So when the hot Canadian she meets at the campground offers to be her travel partner through Western Australia’s wild Kimberley region, she grabs the chance, unaware he’s got the world out looking for him.

He’s just a down-on-his-luck traveler, right?

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Any romance set against a backdrop of a far-flung place has always piqued my interest. When Adam Met Evie ticks all my boxes as we learn how two strangers end up together in the Australian Outback.

Trapped in a fake marriage to a glamour model and media-hungry, Saskia Williams, Michael Adams escapes to Australia. The impulsive trip begins badly after he's involved in fight with paparazzi in Port Douglas. It stirs up a media storm and attention he's trying to avoid. With no choice but to hide, he re-invents himself as "Adam" and embarks on an extended break. His itinerary is non-existent as he embarks on a life-changing journey in the outback.

Evie Blake is taking a year out from her busy life in London. Originally, she was supposed to be accompanied by her long-time partner, but unfortunately, they've split and gone there separate ways. Unfazed, she embraces the freedom of travelling around Australia alone, that's until she meets fellow traveller, Adam from Canada. He's broke and she has money to split travel costs. Therefore, they set out together on a road trip across the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Darwin. It's a win-win situating until truths from the past catch-up with them.

As a hero, I shouldn't have liked Adam but I did. His 'economical with the truth' persona is a red-flag, but knowing why he acts and behaves the way he does is justified… I liked the contrast between him and Evie, a woman who is grieving for a life she hoped to have. She's straightforward and practical in her new surroundings in a way Adam isn't. Not surprisingly, the sparse living arrangements trigger a mutual attraction unlike either has experienced before. Only, the plan is for them to go their separate way once they reach Darwin because both have to return to where they live, half a world apart.

The road trip "sings" to my love of all things to do with travelling. I've been to Western Australia a few times, but haven't ventured as far north as the protagonists. Additionally, meeting characters like Frieda, Bill and Terry, not forgetting Webbo too...is a delight. The shared travelling camaraderie is both fun and insightful and I wished I was there with them all too.

The author's written an entertaining narrative which kept my interest the whole time. It's a perfect blend of elements I love; romance and travel. It's a fun and fully relatable narrative which tugged at my wanderlust nature! It also covers a sensitive topic and highlights the emotions of those in a similar situation to Evie. As a début novel, this is first class and I highly recommend to anyone who loves a reading virtual escape to another part of the world.

***Review copy received courtesy of the publisher via Rachel's Random Resources***

Italian-born Giulia Skye spent her childhood watching classic Hollywood films and thinking up her own romantic stories. After two decades working in TV production, she knew turning those stories into novels would be much more enjoyable - and far cheaper – than turning them into films. She still keeps her hand in TV production but is at her happiest being a stay-at-home mum, spending time with her family, growing her own vegetables and conjuring up sizzling stories about sexy heroes meeting fiesty heroines who aren’t always as they at first appear. When Adam Met Evie is her first novel, Book 1 of her “Take a Holiday” series.

Twitter handle; @giuliaskye

http://giuliaskye.com/my-books/

Book Spotlight: Blue Skies Over Berlin by John Steinberg

Blue Skies Over Berlin by John Steinberg

A young German woman, thinking she can escape her memories of wartime Berlin, moves to London in 1954 under her new name of Charlotte Brown. The offer of a prestigious job at the National Gallery leads her to believe that she can establish a new life in a city itself emerging from the ruins of war.

With her new identity, Charlotte hopes she has left Eva Schlessinger far behind . . . but when her job brings her into contact with a ruthless set of art dealers with dubious wartime connections, she fears they can see behind her facade. Priceless masterpieces start appearing at auction, stolen from murdered Jewish families by the Nazis, and she herself is implicated. At this point, Charlotte makes a solemn promise – one that will take her a lifetime to fulfil.

Blue Skies Over Berlin is a novel about secrets and guilt in an uncertain time, balanced by friendship and enduring love - and ultimately the need to make amends for just standing by.

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Born and raised in North London in 1952, John still lives in the city with his wife and three children. Privately educated, John left school after ‘A’ levels and completed a business diploma in what is now the University of Westminster, before entering banking.

He started training as an accountant but did not complete the course, choosing a position in his family’s furniture manufacturing business instead. John started his own mergers and acquisitions business in 1987, which he ran for almost 20 years before quitting to become a full time writer in 2007.

John has co-written and produced comedies for the stage and has created a series of books for children. “Previously, I had only been interested in comedy and finally started to write down the things I said or thought of. That led me to co-write and produce a play, In the Balance, and then W for Banker – which appeared at the New End Theatre, Hampstead. It was then I decided to quit the world of business in favour of writing full-time, and move toward more serious subjects. My first novel has taken two years to write and is the first in a series of books I am calling the ‘Steinberg Stories’.”

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