An uplifting and a beautiful story that is told in a dual timeline. It was an easy read and loved the setting of the book.
I really enjoyed reading the book and it was very well written.
I will keep an eye out for the next instalment.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher Bookouture for an amazing ARC.

This was such an interesting and sweet story which was a dual timeline which I love. Set in present day and wartime I found it so compelling and was really hoping for a happy ending. Luckily my wish came true. Looking forward to reading book 2 soon. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book I will definitely be buying the rest of the series and will look out for more from the author

From the cover and description alone, I knew My Grandmother’s Secret was going to be a fantastic book, and I wasn’t wrong. Grace’s marriage has ended, and her grandmother, Lily, has passed away. Grace returns to her grandmother’s seaside cottage and discovers love letters written to her grandmother from a mysterious man named Henri. Among them, she finds a letter addressed to Henri that was never sent. While at the cottage, Grace asks her ex-boyfriend James (a historian) for help, although they’ve not spoken in twelve years. What will they find?

I loved this book. Written in dual timelines, it follows Grace in the present day and Lily in the World War II era. Grace has been through a lot recently in her personal life, but she is determined to make a better life for her and her son. The alternating timelines reveal some similarities in Lily and Grace’s lives and struggles, but I wish there had been more viewpoints from Lily. The characters are incredibly likable, and I cared about what happened to them. The story is terrific. The author has a knack for transporting you to another world for a while, with plenty of big emotions along the way, which makes this a great read!

All in all, this is a decent debut book, and I quite enjoyed it. A second book, My Great-Aunt’s Diary, is scheduled for release in August 2025. Thank you to Bookouture for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Laura Sweeney's My Grandmother's Secret (Dovecote Cottages Book 1) is an emotional and heart-wrenching dual-timeline romance that weaves past and present together elegantly. Back in the seafront cottage of her late grandmother Lily, Grace Lyttleton finds a series of old wartime love letters from World War II, signed by a mysterious "Henri." This discovery sets Grace on a quest to uncover Lily's secret history, which turns the tables on her own struggles with love and loss.

The author seamlessly interlaces two tantalizing narratives: Lily's war years in Dovecote and Grace's search for truth today. Secrets of Lily's life resonate across generations, causing Grace to grapple with her own unspoken truths. While some might find a more even split between the timelines desirable, the emotional depth and exploration of family secrets, second chances, and the enduring power of love make this a thoroughly uplifting and engaging read. Historical fiction readers who like a robust romantic content will find themselves completely engaged with this charming start to the Dovecote Cottages series.

My Grandmother’s Secret is the inaugural book in the Dovecote Cottages series by the new-to-me author, Laura Sweeney.

Grace returns to her cherished grandmother’s cottage, adorned with daisies, and instantly feels at home. While clearing out the cottage, she discovers a stack of letters from someone named Henri. However, Grace has never heard her grandmother mention a Henri, so why would he be writing romantic letters during WWII? Eager for answers, she enlists the help of her ex-boyfriend, a historian well-versed in historical facts. As they spend time together, Grace finds her feelings for James rekindled, but can they unravel the mystery of the letters while drawing closer to each other once again?

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review this enchanting story. Delving into the history behind the letters was captivating, and I felt as if I were part of the quest to solve the mystery! I highly recommend grabbing your copy as soon as possible using the link below.

When I saw this book compared to Debbie Macomber and Mary Alice Monroe’s books in the blurb I knew I had to give it a try. I enjoyed the dual POVs. Grace’s is the main POV. She’s struggling with her divorce and his ex dating again. When her grandmother dies she finds letters from her grandfather and another man. She’s determined to find out more about her grandmother’s past. The second POV is LIly’s. We learn all about the two men in her life.

This was an emotional read. It was easy to feel Lily’s pain through her story. And Grace didn’t have it easy either. It had to have been hard for her to be putting all the pieces of her grandmother’s life when she can’t even talk to her about any of it.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy of this book.

A very enjoyable light hearted read. I enjoy dual timeline books and this one fitted the bill perfectly. It was easy to relate to and like most of the characters (I didn't warm to Ben though - sure he was a nice guy but I found myself questioning everything he did!) The book was well written and probably very truthful how girls who got into trouble were disowned by their families. There were plenty of twists and turns which kept the reader interested and wanting to know more. I would have liked to have know more about what Henri did during the war and about how Richard escaped from Singapore.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read an Arc copy.

As a debut book i really enjoyed this book. The dual timelines didn't confuse the plot. The characters Lily and Grace i found to be similar even from different eras. The book had you gripped with learning the truth of the letters.

This is a sweet story about family ties. The people involved are likable so you do hope for their happy ending.

This is not a thriller so there aren’t big twists and the story is somewhat predictable but that doesn’t change the enjoyment.

Told in Dual points of view and dual timeline. Grace now and her grandmother during World War II. I enjoyed both stories and the ways they overlapped.

The ending was touching.

This is my first book by this author but I would definitely read others and I’d be interested in reading the other book in this series.

A very moving story. Grace's grandmother, Lily, has died. Grace moved back in with Lily after her divorce and is now cleaning out Lily's room. She finds some old letters that change her perception of her grandmother. It put her on a quest to find an old lover of her grandmother. Grace always assumed Lily's life was a certain way and she couldn't have been more wrong. She also finds that her life paralleled Lily's life. So many secrets and Grace is tired of keeping them. What will Grace find when she goes to France? Will she finally reveal her own secret? It will change so many lives if she does.

This was a great story, very well written. It is a dual timeline set in present and in Second World War times. The dual timeline story worked well, was easy to follow and it all came together nicely at the end.

Was really great getting to know the characters of Grace and Lilly, seeing them both interact with their own immediate families and loved ones. There was happy moments and emotional ones, which all make for a very good story.

It was the book cover that made me choose this book, but then once I read the blurb I knew it would be right up my alley as sort of story I’d enjoy and I was right.

Turns out this is book 1 to a series, so I am already looking forward to the next book.

Thank you @bookouture for my complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

SUMMARY: After her marriage ends, Grace returns to her late grandmother Lily's seaside cottage. While sorting through Lily's belongings, Grace discovers romantic letters from World War II signed by someone named Henri. When Grace also finds an undelivered letter from Lily to Henri, she sets out to find Henri. This forces Grace to confront her some of her own unresolved issues.

MY THOUGHTS: I read this book in one sitting as I found myself drawn into the two connected stories set in 1940 and 2015. The characters, especially Lily, were likable. Grace's journey (2015) seemed to be the main storyline, however, I couldn't help but wish for more depth in Lily's character as well as more chapters devoted to her. Lily goes through significant trauma related not only to the time period but to the moral standards of that time (1940). I found Grace to be frustrating and wishy washy and I just wanted her to make a decision and get on with her life! Readers who enjoy connected stories of love, loss, and difficult decisions will enjoy this one.

My Grandmother's Secret by Laura Sweeney.
This was a good read. I liked the writing style and the story. I loved the cover. That's why I signed up. I did find Lily and Grace were very similar to each other. I would like to read more about Lily. I felt I didn't get to read enough of her. I did find the wartime chapters a bit slow. Other than that it was a good read.

📆 Dual timeline
👀 Dual POV, 3rd person
🐢 -🐇 medium-paced
💬 "the heart is a wondrous thing. It is fragile enough to break, to shatter, but it is also strong enough to heal"

My Grandmother's Secret is a wonderful, dual timeline story set in the early 1940s, and 2015. Our two narrators, Lily and Grace are Grandmother and Grandaughter, both of whom are hiding the same secret.

I loved the way the two stories ran side by side, linked by family and yet so different due to when abouts in history they happened. I did find the secret fairly easy to guess early on, but that doesn't mean I didn't love the book.

I think this is going to be a lovely series and am looking forward to reading book 2.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Get the tissues ready 🥹🥹
Love this time slip novel that takes place between WWII and 2015. Grace’s grandmother dies and she finds love letters in her drawer. As Grace pieces together her grandmother’s past, she is also forced to deal with her own future and past choices.
I thought this would be light and fluffy, but this story is deep and will stay with you. I also learned more about the Battle of Dunkirk. I like it when I can enjoy a book and learn some history. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series! Many thanks to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
#MyGrandmothersSecret #LauraSweeney #NetGalley #Bookouture #BooksOnTour #BookLove #Bookstagram #NewBook #ILoveBooks #BooksSetInASmallTown #BooksSetDuringWWII

My Grandmother’s Secret is the debut book and first in the Dovecote series by Laura Sweeney. It’s a dual timeline book which moves back and forth between 2015 and World War Two. Grace has just buried her grandmother, Lily, and is still reeling from the loss of a woman who meant so very much to her. Her grandfather Richard is living in the Bayview Nursing Home in the coastal village of Dovecote but he is no longer the man he once was as he is suffering from dementia. Lily became Grace’s surrogate mother when her mother Felicity died in a car crash when she was very young and her father upped and left. The anger and resentment at her abandonment by her father still burns deep within Grace and she is determined the same won’t happen to her own son Harry. As well as coping with the loss of her grandmother Grace is still healing from her recent divorce from Ben but she is determined to provide the best life possible for Harry at Seafoam Cottage.

Rachel is Grace’s best friend but she has been acting strange around her lately and the reasons for this are explained fairly early on. I’m not really sure how much this subplot added to the overall story and if it hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have missed it really. I merely mention it as it does affect Grace’s way of thinking and her state of mind as she begins her quest back into the past. I found Grace to be a frustrating character at times. At some points she was very with it and together and would make sensible decisions and I would admire what she was saying. Then at other points I thought god you are being ridiculous and depending on someone else to do the research/investigation and there is so much you need to say to a certain person why on earth are you keeping things bottled up?

When Grace discovers letters in her grandmother’s belongings written to a man named Henri during the war years the cat is truly set amongst the pigeons. Who was this man? He certainly wasn’t her grandfather Richard as he was away in Singapore at the time and did not return until well after the war was over. A further discovery of an unsent letter to Henri inspires Grace to dig back into the past in the hopes of finding out if he is still alive. She wants to deliver the letter. She feels it’s something important that she has to do, that she owes it to her grandmother and that she will feel restless and uneasy until she does so.

This strand of the plot allowed for the introduction of James the former partner of Grace from over 12 years ago. He came across as grumpy and the fact he was helping Grace in her search to locate Henri it was seemed it was benefitting his own research and work at the Imperial War Museum. But dig a little deeper and the reader sees that James is hurting from the events surrounding his break up with Grace and closure has never occurred. Is it time for things to finally come out in the open? Will they both be able to deal with the fallout? Or is the past sometimes better left where it is as sometimes the memories are just too difficult to bring to the surface? Will finding Henri bring more pain rather than the reconciliation and closure that Grace needs to help her in her own personal life?

The further I delved into the book the more I started to realise that Grace and Lily’s stories are very much mirror each other. The similarities really were uncanny. The only difference being things were occurring so many years apart. I won’t go into specific details because it would ruin the plot for people but there were a lot of things that I could see coming a mile off and all my guesses proved to be correct. I wanted there to be more mystery and suspense for things that were revealed earlier on in the book to played a out a bit more before the point of reveal. Things just seemed too obvious and a few red herrings to throw readers off track would have been very welcome.

The chapters that featured Lily and the exploration of her circumstances working as a nurse in Dovecote were enjoyable but too brief. I felt the chapters only scratched the surface of what she was dealing with and the fallout from it. Learning of Henri and his involvement in the war was fascinating and even a chapter or two from his specific viewpoint at the time would have been great. Lily and Grace both battle with big secrets and therefore this begs the question is it ever a good idea to keep important and impactful secrets from people? Well I’ll let you be the judge of that if you decide to read Grace and Lily’s stories.

I do think there could have been more chapters from Lily’s viewpoint. I felt they were a bit scarce and when they did appear they were too brief and I felt I couldn’t get to know Lily in depth. It was as if the chapters were there just to show the similarities in the stories of Grace and Lily. Yes, this book has historical fiction elements and usually the dual timeline works great and I am deeply invested but here I thought the balance wasn’t right with too much focus on Grace in the present. It came across as if the book didn’t know what it wanted to be a modern romance story or historical. I would have preferred the chapters to have been more evenly balanced and that would have added to my enjoyment of the book. Towards the end I thought it was too dragged out with chapters that didn’t need to be there. Usually, I am giving out when a book suddenly ends around the 85% mark as I am expecting more and I find it to be disconcerting but here it went on too long with what I viewed as filler in chapters. Things were stretched out when there was no necessity for this, and I hate saying this but I wanted the book to be over because I wasn’t gaining anything monumental from the last chapters. I felt it had already naturally reached its conclusion.

All that said this is a decent debut from the author and there is great potential for future books if the things I mentioned up above could be rectified. There is a second book in the series all ready to go, My Great-Aunt’s Diary will be published in August and despite my misgivings about book one I will certainly give this new book a read as the blurb looks very promising.

My Grandmother's Secret is book one in the Dovecote Cottages series by Laura Sweeney.
Such a delightful read. Instantly become immersed in the book and you feel like you are right there with the characters.
The characters felt very real and the writing is was beautifully done.
I really enjoyed this story.

Grace, burdened by the end of her marriage and the passing of her grandmother, Lily, seeks solace in a change of scenery. She returns to her grandmother’s seaside cottage in the picturesque village of Dovecote, a place of her childhood happiness.

As Grace rummages through her grandmother’s bedroom, she stumbles upon a chest of drawers and finds a stack of love letters from a man named Henri. These letters, dating back to World War II, reveal a hidden love story between Lily and Henri. Among them, Grace discovers a sealed letter from Lily, never sent. Intrigued and curious, Grace delves deeper into the mystery, eager to uncover the reasons behind Lily’s silence about Henri.

Laura Sweeney’s “My Grandmother’s Secret” is an enthralling time slip story that transports readers back in time. The characters of Grace and Lily are incredibly likable, forming a strong connection with the reader. This is Sweeney’s debut novel, and it is a phenomenal delight. From the very first page, the characters captivate the reader, making the book an unputdownable read. I eagerly anticipate the next installment in this promising series and highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a captivating and emotional story.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I enjoyed reading this book.

Grace is back in her Grandmother’s cottage, after she’s passed away. She has lots of memories of Lily, so Grace begins to go through her things, sorting out what she wants to keep, throw away or pass on to a charity shop. Whilst she’s doing this, she comes across some love letters, they’re signed by someone who she’s never heard of.

Amongst them is a letter that her grandmother wrote but was never posted. Wanting to find out who the person is that wrote those letters, she contacts her ex-boyfriend James for help.

She begins the journey to find out what secrets were hidden in the letters.

This is a dual timeline story that follows Lily’s story during WWII and of Grace in the present.

The story keeps you turning the pages and the characters are relatable.

I highly recommend this book.