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Saturday, May 25, 2024

A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street by Jaimie Admans - Book Review - Blog Tour

Series: The Ever After Street #3 (Standalone)

Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/EverAfterStreetsocial

Goodreads Book Page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205065105-a-wonderland-wish-on-ever-after-street

Publication Date: 24th May 2024 

Genre: Small Town Contemporary Romance 

4 Stars 

One Liner: The best hugs!

 Book Blurb: 

A brand new and utterly enchanting series by bestselling author Jaimie Admans.

A picture-perfect town, a place where dreams come true. Welcome to Ever After Street...

There's always time for tea... unless you've lost your teapot…

Cleo Jordan has only ever wished for one thing – to open her own teashop in memory of her lovely gran. So when she accidentally fools the interview board into thinking she's a brilliant baker and is offered a prime spot on Ever After Street, she knows her dream is about to come true!

Stepping into The Wonderland Teapot is like falling down the rabbit hole - magical! But there’s a catch: Cleo has completely lost her love of baking! With her little white lie ticking in her ear, it seems her dream is over before it’s begun.

Until she meets her very own Mad Hatter. Loved by everyone on Ever After Street, magician Bram brings an energy to the teashop that lifts everyone, and slowly, with his encouragement, Cleo is getting back to doing what she loves best.

But with Bram hiding secrets of his own, Cleo isn’t sure she can put all her faith in him. And when things start going wrong at the teashop, Cleo wonders if the culprit sabotaging her dream is someone closer than she thinks?

If Cleo wants her wish to work, she has to learn to trust again before she loses her head and heart completely…although it might already be far too late for that...

Perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Kat French, and Caroline Roberts!

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My Thoughts: 

The story comes in Cleo’s first-person POV. 

The book works as a standalone, though the characters from previous stories appear a few times. The series is themed around fairytales, and here we have Alice in Wonderland (though it is not a Grimm’s piece). 

This is my fourth book by the author, I love how much care she puts into crafting her main characters. They feel so real and flawed with fears, vulnerabilities, and temper tantrums, but also compassion and love. 

We learn more about the characters as they get to know each other. The layers peel, little by little, bringing them together and readers closer to them. Though we get the entire story from Cleo, we can see Bram and understand his emotions easily, just as we would have if we got his POV. 

Cleo is our grumpy girl, while Bram is the cutesy sunshine. He can be a bit OTT, but I understand where he is coming from. They make an adorable couple! The romance is, of course, a slow burn with some witty banter and heartwarming moments. And oh, her books have the best hugs! Can never have enough of these. Loveee it!

There are a couple of stereotypical characters we would love to hate. One of them does get a slightly better arc.   

The community at Ever After Street is vibrant, cheerful, and always ready to help their own. Naturally, they step in and take over whenever necessary. The small-town vibes and the magical setting give this a cozier feel. 

I always enjoy descriptions of the setting. Though we don’t get much of the outside details in this one, the tearoom comes alive on the pages. Cleo seems to have done a great job of recreating Wonderland (I haven’t read the original so can’t say much). We do go to the castle again, so yay! 

The pacing is slow and steady, something I expect from the author’s books. The constant mention of cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, etc., made me drool! Wish I could grab some from the screen (why hasn’t technology advanced as much yet?). 

We have the dreaded third-act breakup, which I expected. I could see both their POVs, so I’d say it is quite balanced. On the whole, if you ask who handled things better afterward, I would vote for Bram. Cleo levels up… eventually. 

To summarize, A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street is a sweet tale of a new start, healing, finding one’s tribe, seeing beyond the façade, and falling in love with someone who sees the real you. 

Thank you, Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

#NetGalley

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Author Bio – Jaimie Admans 

Jaimie is a 32-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, watching horror movies, and drinking tea, although she’s seriously considering marrying her coffee machine. She loves autumn and winter and singing songs from musicals despite the fact she’s got the voice of a dying hyena. She hates spiders, hot weather, and cheese & onion crisps. She spends far too much time on Twitter and owns too many pairs of boots.

She will never have time to read all the books she wants to read.

Connect with the Author: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaimieadmansbooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_the_spark

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimieadmans1/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JaimieAdmansNews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jaimie-admans

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This has been a stop on the #AWonderlandWishOnEverAfterStreet blog tour conducted by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!

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