Reading Skywards – Your Friendly Bookshelf

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Purple Puppy Publishing
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 2025
Format:  Paperback, audiobook, and ebook
Print length ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
Genre:  Science Contemporary Women Fiction

MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “The Crumbly Old Castle” by B.E. Baker

Once a week, I see what deals are offered in the Kobo’s ebook store ( a lot, I must say), and this book was $1.99, so I purchased it. The premise was charming, and from time to time, I just need a very cozy, charming reading.

This book was magical. It is about three best friends who, in their lives, find themselves at painful crossroads, and at the same time, they embark on a planned girls’ vacation to Ireland. Their strong friendship, together with adventures, horse-riding, kind people, and attractive gentlemen, provides them with the courage to face their issues and move on after painful decisions.

The book was fast-paced, and it changed perspectives between the three friends, Natalie, Vanessa, and Samantha. All three come to terms with their problems, and their strengths, and loved the ending!. I am waiting for Kobo to do another sale for the other two books, but if not, within 2 weeks, I will buy them at full price. It is really a great cozy read.

PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:

When three barn besties escape for a girls’ trip to Ireland, they expect a lot of fun. They don’t expect to want to stay… forever.

Natalie was always the responsible one, the organized one, the together one. But when she inadvertently leaves one day early for their vacation and comes home pink-cheeked with embarrassment, the last thing she expects to find is her husband. . .in their bed with another woman. Luckily, they don’t notice her, and she takes the trip as a time-out to figure out what to do.

Samantha’s marriage has never been full of fireworks and trips to Cabo, but they were making it work. At least, she thought they were. When an unreasonable ultimatum sends her into a tailspin just before the trip, she takes the time to reevaluate what matters and what she wants out of life and love.

Vanessa’s husband passed a few years before, and she’s been soldiering on. Moments away from her job and responsibilities as a mother of three have been rare, but she has no plans of uprooting their life in Colorado. At least, not until someone she trusts betrays her in a big way. That wound makes her question everything about her own value and her family’s future.

Can these three friends help each other find firm ground in a world that seems to be unsafe, unsteady, and unhappy? And can found family really be what they all need when the going gets tough?

MY RATING: 4.5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bridget loves her husband (every day) and all five of her kids (most days). 

She’s a lawyer, but does as little legal work as possible. She has three quarter horse geldings, a Holsteiner (jumping) horse, and she spends too much time riding and not enough time writing. (Or too much time writing and not enough time riding, depending on your perspective!)

She has more chickens than she’ll admit to having, two lions head rabbits, a cat, two dogs (one bouncy and one yappy). She makes cookies waaaaay too often and believes they should be their own food group. In a (possibly misguided) attempt at balancing the scales, she kickboxes daily. 

So if you don’t like her books, her kids, her horses, her chickens, or her cookies, maybe don’t tell her in person. 


B.E. Baker is the romance/women’s fiction penname for Bridget E. Baker, who also writes fantasy, end of the world, and dystopian books that add a little magic to the world.

Bibliography

• The Creaky Old Barn (the Irish Escape #2)
• The Shabby Old Cottage (the Irish Escape #3)
• The Bequest (the Birch Creek Ranch #1)
• The Vow (the Birch Creek Ranch #2)
• The Ranch (the Birch Creek Ranch #3)
• The Retreat (the Birch Creek Ranch #4)
• The Reboot (the Birch Creek Ranch #5)
• The Surprise (the Birch Creek Ranch #6)
• The Setback (the Birch Creek Ranch #7)
• The Lookback (the Birch Creek Ranch #8)

There are other two series “Finding Home Series” and “The Scarsdale Fosters”.