This is the third book in this enjoyable series and I have been looking forward to Bel's story.

Bel owns the Martini Club, and is known as quite a strict, take no nonsense sort of boss, which really hides that the club is her whole life. The club is struggling financially though, and then gets a bad review and struggles even more, so a change is due.

Adding to Bel's issues are an ex-husband, an old love and her Mum, who she hasn't seen for a number of years and escaped from as soon as she was old enough as she couldn't live up to her perfectionist views. I really found her Mum irritating and even though she was trying to build bridges with Bel it still didn't let her off from the way she'd treated Bel when she was younger. But saying that by the end of the book she had definitely mellowed and was a much nicer person, mostly due to Sam, Bel's fabulous laid back, ex-rockstar turned photographer landlord.

Bel was lying to a lot of people initially, changing her name when she moved to London and lying about who she was and the financial status of the club. She'd been sending her Mum money each month (I'm not entirely sure why her Mum couldn't have got off her behind and looked after herself!) and had told her Mum she had a job in the city, not that she owned a burlesque club.

The bad review and a businessman trying to buy Bel out and knock down her club kind of spurred her into action, along with the reappearance of her old love, Brodie, and softened her edges and made her let go a little bit and let people help her. Then just when it looked like things may be looking up a big unexpected disaster happens. But as with some things it was a blessing in disguise, even though it definitely didn't feel like it at the time.

I must admit I did struggle with Bel's character initially, but as the book went on and we got to know more about her and her life she became much more 'real' and you realised she was just a person trying her very best to hang on to what she thought she wanted and doing the best for everyone around her who were relying on her, when in actual fact when she was forced to let go just a little bit her life was so much fuller and richer.

Very enjoyable story, with the reappearance of characters from the previous two books, and a really lovely, happy ending.

Martinis and Memories, A.L. Michael

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (adult), Women's Fiction

I didn't realise this was part of a series of connected books, though each are stand alone. I think maybe if I'd read the first two maybe I'd have got more from this. As it was its a sweet story, made me wonder a bit about life, coincidences, the six degrees of separation thing, and what I would do in the same situation.
Its got some great characters, I loved how we see Bel's mum from her thoughts and memories and then seeing her differently, passage of time, through Sam's eyes etc its like two sides of the same person. I loved Bel, slightly brittle with all her “darlings” and insistence on sweetness and light and sparkle and glitter ( I'm with her on the sparkle and glitter – always makes life brighter). I was heartbroken for her when it looked like everything was going to fail....and yet Practical Me was saying “ where'd she get the money for all this revamp when she was wondering if she had enough to even continue as it was?” I don't like things like that, even if we knew she was getting a loan or something, but to believe that someone struggling with a business can just revamp like that without telling me where funding comes from feels somewhat unreal. And it was the Realness of the book that I loved so that let it down.
On that Realness, that was what gave the book an edge for me, those characters with their problems were like friends to me, we all have issues, have to struggle with life and I enjoy reading how people make it through those struggles. Apart from the financing, the rest of the changes were perfect, where Bel let the others put forward ideas, and the way they were a little cautious at first, as if past Bel would have just dismissed their ideas as not on-brand or something.
There was lots to like in this story, but it wasn't a tale that grabbed me, made me devour the book. More one of those where I read a few chapters, put aside, and come back to when I want something real but light to read.

Stars: Three, a good book, and enjoyable story but not one I'd re-read

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers

I haven't read either of the other books in the series and that didn't effect the story what so ever.

Great start to the story with Bel running her burlesque club in London, but then her husband Euan (who she hasn't seen for 10 years) appears on the doorstep.

Also Bel doesn't have a good relationship with her mother but after asking her mum to curtail her spending she also appears on Bels doorstep.

Then Bel gets a nightmare of a review in which thw club slated as old hat and realy needs a revamp. So the story involves the club going through changes and Bel also growing up and admitting she needs to change herself to become or have afuller life.

Good concept for a story, but felt as if it stalled around halfway through then everthing kept being repeated which made the story feel old.