Room in Your Heart by Wendy Clarke
Release Date: 24th October 2014
Publisher: Cobblestone Walk Publishing
Buy: Paperback Kindle
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‘Room in Your Heart’ is a collection of twelve romantic short stories by Wendy Clarke, a regular writer of fiction for national magazines.
All of these stories have previously been published in ‘The People’s Friend’ magazine and if you like stories with emotional depth and a satisfying ending, then this collection is for you.
Read These When I’ve Gone: Mark wonders whether it is a good idea to meet up with Rachel after two years – until she hands him a bundle of letters.
The Girl in the Photograph: A cottage in the Lake District opens Cassie’s eyes to where her real love lies.
The Courting Cake: Will a family recipe help Lorna find the man of her dreams?
Those things You Never Told Me: They thought love would last for ever but should Robert and Yasmin have been more honest with each other?
Let’s Start Again: A missing suitcase helps Claire to regain her confidence but will it save her marriage?
Every Time We Say Goodbye: Paula finally sees what really matters when she is invited to a murder mystery evening.
For Your Eyes Only: Willow wouldn’t be seen dead in her mother’s yellow 2CV but the little yellow car helps her to find love.
A Bicycle Made for Two: Since they were children, Cathy has always taken the lead but maybe it’s time to let Matthew make some choices.
Second Chances: A visit to the hotel she stayed in as a child, helps Annie see that regret is a wasted emotion.
I See Her Beauty Every Day: Through her grandmother’s memories, Leanne discovers that not all beauty is skin deep.
One Step at a Time: The school reunion brings back memories Carole would rather forget but, during the evening, she also discovers some truths.
Room in Your heart: Will a holiday in Porlock help Julia make an important decision or just bring back painful memories?
I was drawn to Wendy Clarke’s, Room in Your Heart, immediately as I am on a quest to make an effort to read more short stories. I always worry that I won’t be able to get into each story properly, or that the opposite will happen and I will get too drawn in, leaving me ‘stuck’ in a certain story and still attached to the characters before I am ready for it to finish. However, Kelly Florentia’s collection of stories, To Tell a Tale or Two completely changed my opinion of short stories as I fell in love with each and every one that she’d written, meaning I was really excited about discovering the stories featured in Room in Your Heart.
I was not disappointed at all and Room in Your Heart has only gone on to reinforce the thought that actually, I really quite enjoy short stories!
All of the stories in this collection have been published in the magazine, The People’s Friend, and after enjoying them all so much I think that this is one magazine that I really should start reading.
The stories were brilliantly formed, as you got to know the characters in just a brief period of time, something which I imagine must be really difficult when writing short stories, but Wendy creates each and every character brilliantly. The endings were super too, all of them completely satisfying but not what you always expect.
There was sufficient depth to each story and despite them all being romance the plots differ dramatically and make for a varied, gripping collection. My only problem with Room in Your Heart was that, similar to me opening a bag of Malteasers, I would promise myself ‘just one more’ story and then fully intended to stop. However, this never happens and I greedily end up reading (or eating…) the majority. At the same time I love how easily you can dip in and out of a collection like this, picking it up whenever you have a spare moment and not having to worry about catching up with where you left off.
As I finished each story I’d think to myself ‘that was my favourite. I must mention that one’…all very well, but this kept happening for every story, so it really is difficult to choose which I enjoyed the most. At a push I would maybe say For Your Eyes Only, but then again The Girl in The Photograph was fantastic too…oh, I loved them all.
If you like light, enjoyable, romance and want to escape from the real world for half an hour or so, then pick up this book. It’ll be just the job…
I would like to say a big thank you to Wendy Clarke for kindly sending me a copy of Room in Your Heart to read and review.♥
Wendy Clarke is a full time writer of women’s fiction. She started writing when the primary school she taught in closed down and after completing two creative writing courses, began writing short fiction for magazines. Since then, she has sold nearly a hundred short stories and her work regularly appears in national women’s magazines such as The People’s Friend, Take a Break Fiction Feast and Woman’s Weekly. She has also written serials and a number of non-fiction magazine articles.
Wendy lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!
Room in Your Heart is Wendy’s first collection of short stories.
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