This moves between 1893 and the present to tell the story of Alice and her great great granddaughter Alice. it's very much a domestic novel in a terrific Yorkshire setting. No great drama but there is a secret Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

A big thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of “Alice’s Review” for my opinion. This is the second book in the Mill Valley Girls series; however it can be read as a standalone book.

Let me start off by what I liked in the story. I liked the shift in story-lines between the past and the present and how they are all connected to each other. It was interesting to see how Alys tries to discover what happened to Alice many years ago, given her limited resources. The author does a really nice job in setting the landscape and beauty of Yorkshire and the cafes, and made me want to visit such an idyllic place.

Having said that, this book was an average read. While it was interesting at times I really did not think it was anything memorable. My main issue with the story is in its pacing. I found the story to be way too lengthy with a lot of unnecessary details. I did not need a constant reminder of how Alys loves fancy china cups for her store, and how she goes around town repeatedly looking for antiques.

In fact, other than the scenes where Alys tries to find out what happened to Alice, I found Alys story to be very boring. Moreover, even the supporting characters like Rob, Aunt Moira and Tim etc. feel very generic and there is nothing that makes them stand out. I liked reading about Alice and thought her story-line was gripping in itself. Some of the scenes are pretty dramatic and you wonder if Alys will get together with Richard or not.

Overall “Alice’s Secret” is a somewhat charming tale, but again, I felt like the story could have been easily shortened. Like I said, my main issue with the story was in the lengthy way in which it was written, and due to this, I feel uncertain about picking up the other books in the series.

Alice’s Secret by Lynne Francis is the second book in the Mill Valley Girls series. Alys is looking for a chance to get away and gets the opportunity when her Aunt Moira injures herself. Aunt Moira needs Alys to bake the items for her café in Yorkshire while she is laid up. Soon Alys has rediscovered her love of baking and enjoys the café, the town and the people. She slowly begins tweaking the recipes and enhancing the décor of The Celestial Cake Café. One day Alys is in the local graveyard and discovers the headstone of Alice Bancroft. She learns that Alice is her great-great grandmother and that she died when she was twenty years old. Alys wonders why her ancestor died at such a young age and delves into her family’s history. What secrets will Alys uncover?

Alice’s Secret is a dual timeline novel that alternates between Alys in the present day and Alice in 1893. I enjoyed the historical sections more than those set in the present day. There are lovely descriptions of the Yorkshire countryside that brought the area alive for me. I could tell that the author did her research on cotton mills and how the workers lived during that time-period. The author could be overly detailed at times which led to a slow pace. I would have liked the characters to be more developed and there were details missing (such as characters last names). Alice’s Secret did not feel like a completed novel. The book could have used a rewrite and editing (it was too long). Before embarking on Alice’s Secret, you do need to read Ella’s Journey. It lays the groundwork for Alice’s Secret. My rating for Alice’s Secret is 3 out of 5 stars.

I hadn't read the first book in this series but really enjoyed it as a standalone novel.

I really enjoyed how the story was set in the past and present day - I love a well written time slip novel and this was very well written. I was absorbed in both Alys and Alice's stories and I was drawn into the story right from the start. Beautifully written, the research the author has put into the book clearly shines through.

I can't wait to read the first book in the series and look forward to book 3!

Highly recommended. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book by Lynne Francis that I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing. I read and reviewed ‘Ella’s Journey’ last year and I really enjoyed reading it. So it was with some excitement that I was asked to take part in the blog tour for ‘Alice’s Secret’ and I eagerly opened the front cover. Well ‘Ella’s Journey’ was very good but ‘Alice’s Secret’ blows it out of the water. I absolutely flipping well loved reading it but more about that in a bit.

The main characters in this book called Alice and Alys. Alys is from the current day. She has faced some hard times and she realises that she needs a break away from everybody (particularly from her boyfriend) and everything. So she decides that she needs time to heal and she finds herself going to stay with her Aunt Moira, who is having health problems and needs help to run her café. Alys sees this as a win win situation for her. Alys takes to this new arrangement quicker than she thought that she would. Whilst she is staying with Moira, Alys finds out that her ancestor, Alice died at a young age. Alys finds this tragic and she resolves to do all she can to find out about Alice, about what happened to her and why she died so young. I really felt for Alys but at the same time I really, really felt for Alice. Her home life isn’t what it should be and she has to take on the role of main breadwinner as her mother has health problems. Alice is the eldest of her and her siblings and so a huge amount of responsibility lies on her shoulders. At times all Alice needed was a hug and to be told that things would be okay. Alice finds herself a job but comes across a nasty overseer with wandering hands, who has taken a ‘shine’ to Alice. She has to continually dodge his attentions. At the same time she is really enjoying her role at the factory because she is teaching the children, who work at the mill but after school finishes she has to work on the factory floor, which she doesn’t enjoy so much. Alice has a complicated personal life as she has fallen for somebody, who is already promised to somebody else. I don’t want to give too much away but Alice finds herself in a situation that was extremely scandalous in those days.

‘Alice’s Secret’ appealed to me on so many levels. A large part of the book is to do with family history. I found this to be particularly interesting as I have researched my own family tree and I have come across some ‘scandalous’ family skeletons. My maternal great, great grandmother was in prison in the 1860s and gave birth whilst in jail and the baby was adopted by family friends. That would be scandalous enough but she then went on to be admitted to the workhouse, where she then gave birth again, although this child wasn’t taken from her. She then lived ‘in sin’ with my great, great grandfather and it wasn’t until their last child was about 5 years old that they got married. My point of telling some of my own family history is to illustrate why I identified and empathised with Alys so much. I totally understood where Alys was coming from when she needed a period of healing away from everybody and everything as a similar thing happened to me. The characters in this book were so well described that I could almost believe that they were real and I considered them to be friends
As I alluded to above, ‘Ella’s Journey’ was good but ‘Alice’s Secret’ is even better. I became so caught up in the story that I really felt as though I was taking part so to speak. There were certainly times when I so wanted to jump into the pages to stick up for Alice and to give the overseer a piece of my mind and a slap across the chops with a wet flip flop for how he treated Alice. I became addicted to reading this book, as I needed to know what happened to Alice and Alys and whether or not they found the happiness that they both so deserved. The descriptions of Victorian Britain were so vivid that I really felt as though I had travelled back through time. By the time I had finished reading ‘Alice’s Secret’ I really felt as though I had been through the emotional wringer. I ‘felt’ everything that the characters felt and shared their feelings of joy, of sadness, of hope, of despair and well you get the picture. Reading ‘Alice’s Secret’ was a lot like riding on a rollercoaster with all the highs and lows.
In short I absolutely loved reading ‘Alice’s Secret’ and I would wholeheartedly recommend this author and her books to other readers, but particularly to those readers who enjoy reading sagas. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Alice is a young girl in the 1890s working in a cotton mill in Yorkshire when she attracts the attention of an unsuitable man. Alys is at a crossroads in her life when she goes home to Yorkshire to help her Aunt in the bakery and while there she becomes fascinated by the story of her great great grandmother Alice and all the old family secrets.

A very enjoyable book I always like stories with two timelines and this one worked very well and the author had obviously done a lot of research on the cotton mills and how the workers would live in this time

In the late 19th century, Alice is supporting her family with her job at a Yorkshire cotton mill. The work is hard and the hours long, but she’s proud of being able to provide for her family. Then her fair face attracts attention she doesn’t want, leaving her in a desperate situation. Over one hundred years later, Alys has burned all her bridges after making some bad decisions, so she heads home to Yorkshire and her grandmother’s cafe. Alys can relax and get her head together while she bakes confections for the cafe. While she’s there she uncovers clues to an old family scandal, a mystery she won’t let go until she finds the real truth. A sweeping historical that reminded me of a young Barbara Taylor Bradford