Love at the Northern Lights by Darcie Boleyn blogtour book review

 

Love at the Northern Lights written by Darcie Boleyn, publisher Canelo, is available NOW in ebook format.

Canelo books can be found on Amazon, Kobo, Apple and Google Books – some books will be limited to UK publication places only.

To buy link (amazon UK):  https://amzn.to/2O8RiAu

Product Details

‘Climbing out the window in her dress and tiara wasn’t exactly how Frankie imagined her wedding day…’
Runaway bride Frankie Ashford hops a plane to Norway with one goal in mind – find her estranged mother and make peace with the past. But when a slip on the ice in Oslo lands her directly in Jonas Thorsen’s viking-strong arms, her single-minded focus drifts away in the winter winds.
When it comes to romance Jonas knows that anything he and Frankie share has an expiration date – the British heiress has a life to return to in London that’s a world away from his own. But family is everything to Jonas and, as the one man who can help Frankie find the answers she’s seeking, he’ll do whatever it takes to help her reunite with her mother.
Now, as Christmas draws closer and the northern lights work their magic Frankie and Jonas will have to make a choice…play it safe or risk heartbreak to take a chance on love.

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting Darcie Boleyn’s latest novel; Love at the Northern Lights.

A story as magical and wonderful as the aurora borealis …

Darcie Boleyn has become one of my go to authors for stories that I know will take me to a place of wonder that will fill my heart with warmth and joy. Each story that the author writes you can appreciate the setting and almost experience it just like the characters written on the pages. Love at the Northern Lights is a story that takes you from the city metropolis of London to the idyllic sounding city of Oslo, Norway. A city that sounds full of culture, charm and with the added wonder of a community that enjoys the spectre of the mesmerising dance of colours within the night sky, known as the northern lights.

Frankie Ashford was on the countdown to her wedding to fellow socialite Rolo Bellamy. Frankie’s family was full of wealth and living in the grand house with her Grandmother and Father, Frankie was used to her life being mapped out before her, including her forthcoming nuptials. However, on her wedding day Frankie felt that something was amiss and before she makes the biggest mistake of her life she has to make a big decision. Frankie’s decision takes her to Norway with just her honeymoon clothes and a mission to find her estranged mother.

With the drama and mayhem of escaping her own wedding we follow Frankie to the snowy climes of Norway. A journey that is filled with trepidation, enlightenment, forgiveness, new beginnings and new friendships.

I loved Frankie’s story. It was such a whirlwind of emotional upheaval for her. I felt like I’d laughed with her, cried with her and fallen in love with a new country and new friends. A story that will have you absorbed and entranced from start to finish. It will also have you reaching for the Norwegian travel brochures!

About the Author

Darcie Boleyn has a huge heart and is a real softy. She never fails to cry at books and movies, whether the ending is happy or not. Darcie is in possession of an overactive imagination that often keeps her awake at night. Her childhood dream was to become a Jedi but she hasn’t yet found suitable transport to take her to a galaxy far, far away. She also has reservations about how she’d look in a gold bikini, as she rather enjoys red wine, cheese and loves anything with ginger or cherries in it – especially chocolate. Darcie fell in love in New York, got married in the snow, rescues uncoordinated greyhounds and can usually be found reading or typing away on her laptop.

Social Media links:

Website:  https://darcieboleyn.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/DarcieBoleyn

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

 

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Bear With Me by Jessica Redland blogtour book review

 

Bear With Me written by Jessica Redland, publisher Little Bear Books, is available NOW in ebook format.  The ebook is also included in the kindleunlimited scheme.

To buy link:  https://amzn.to/2xMSBey

Product Details 

Jemma has the job of her dreams as curator for the children’s section of a museum in London. She spends each day surrounded by the one thing she’s absolutely passionate about: teddy bears. When boyfriend, Scott, shows a genuine interest in her passion instead of laughing at her for “playing with teddies all day”, she knows he’s a keeper.

Returning home to the North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitsborough Bay to celebrate her birthday, Jemma thinks she’s heading for her happy-ever-after when Scott unexpectedly proposes. So, a few days later, why isn’t he retuning her calls or responding to her texts?

Julie has always been a wonderful single mother to Jemma and her little brother, Sean. As owner of specialist teddy bear shop, Bear With Me, and the creative genius behind the successful range of Ju-Sea Bears, she inspires Jemma with her ability to balance a demanding career with home life. So why is the shop now in disarray and why is Sean so upset?

Sam thought he had his future all worked out. With a promising neurology career, a home, and a devoted fiancée, life was looking good. But now he’s all alone in a strange city, far from everyone and everything he cares about, struggling to rebuild the tatters of his life. Did he do the right thing by running away? What does the future hold and is he strong enough to face it?

Sometimes love finds us when we least expect it. But sometimes love leaves us, just as unexpectedly. When you’ve loved and lost, can you bear to let love in again?

Bear With Me, as all will be revealed …

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting Bear With Me by Jessica Redland.

Bear With Me is another feel-good read from author Jessica Redland.  Jessica Redland has continued to write books with the same formula she is good at; stories from the heart, stories to comfort you, stories to make you smile and stories that take you to the charming fictional village of Whitsborough Bay off the Yorkshire coast.

Bear With Me is a standalone novel but I do believe once you’ve discovered Jessica Redland’s work you’ll be eager to read more.

Bear With Me is a story of two halves that ultimately merge.  Our two main characters are both from Whitsborough Bay but their paths haven’t crossed in the past.  Jemma loves teddy bears, which is totally understandable as her mum owns her own teddy bear shop and workshop in the Bay.  Her mum also designs and makes teddy bears and Jemma herself has designed and made her own label of teddy bears.  Jemma now lives in London as a curator in a museum and her zest for her craft shows in her work.  Going home for her birthday weekend she starts to notice concerns regarding her mother’s health.  Also, the weekend brings forth another shock with regards to her current love life.

Sam recently fled from his home in the Yorkshire coastal village to London following a terrible tragedy.  All that he loved was in the Bay and it was too painful to continue to live amongst the memories.  However, working as a Dr in a busy hospital in the city of London was proving to be a lonely existence.  He was surrounded by lots of people but never felt more alone.  Bumping into a housemate and good friend of Jemma’s was to be the catalyst of a different journey for both Sam and Jemma.

Jemma’s journey was the realisation of her mother’s illness and how best she could help her.  Sam’s journey was one of acceptance and learning of his emotional triggers surrounding his grief.  A friendship soon formed between Jemma and Sam and they were to find they had so much in common and that they each held essential tools of support for one another.  Can their love for the natural beauty of the coast from their home town help heal the wounds that they have accrued?

A story of acceptance, a story of new beginnings, a story of life, love and tragedy.  But ultimately a story that warms your heart and soul like the cuddliest of bears.

About the Author

Jessica had never considered writing as a career until a former manager kept telling her that her business reports read more like stories and she should write a book. She loved writing but had no plot ideas. Then something happened to her that prompted the premise for her debut novel, Searching for Steven. She put fingers to keyboard and soon realised she had a trilogy and a novella!

She lives on the stunning North Yorkshire Coast – the inspiration for the settings in her books – with her husband, daughter, cat, Sprocker Spaniel, and an ever-growing collection of collectible teddy bears. Although if the dog has her way, the collection will be reduced to a pile of stuffing and chewed limbs!

Jessica tries to balance her time – usually unsuccessfully – between being an HR tutor and writing.

Social Media Links –
Twitter: @JessicaRedland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaRedlandWriter/
Website and blog: http://www.jessicaredland.com

Mrs Bates of Highbury by Allie Cresswell blogtour book review

Mrs Bates of Highbury: A prequel inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma is written and self-published by Allie Cresswell.  The book is available NOW in ebook and paperback format.  The ebook is also included in the kindleunlimited scheme.

To buy link:  https://amzn.to/2NwOwpd

Product Details

The new novel from Readers’ Favourite silver medalist Allie Cresswell.

Thirty years before the beginning of ‘Emma’ Mrs Bates is entirely different from the elderly, silent figure familiar to fans of Jane Austen’s fourth novel. She is comparatively young and beautiful, widowed – but ready to love again. She is the lynch-pin of Highbury society until the appalling Mrs Winwood arrives, very determined to hold sway over that ordered little town. Miss Bates is as talkative aged twenty nine as she is in her later iteration, with a ghoulish fancy, seeing disaster in every cloud. When young Mr Woodhouse arrives looking for a plot for his new house, the two strike up a relationship characterised by their shared hypochondria, personal chariness and horror of draughts. Jane, the other Miss Bates, is just seventeen and eager to leave the parochialism of Highbury behind her until handsome Lieutenant Weston comes home on furlough from the militia and sweeps her – quite literally – off her feet. Mrs Bates of Highbury is the first of three novels by the Amazon #1 best-selling Allie Cresswell, which trace the pre-history of Emma and then run in parallel to it.

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting Allie Cresswell’s latest novel; Mrs Bates of Highbury.

I haven’t read Jane Austen’s Emma but I do love a good historical romance so after reading the synopsis for Allie Cresswell’s Mrs Bates of Highbury I was keen to learn more.

This is my first introduction to the work of Allie Cresswell and her words complimented the era and genre of the novel.  I feel for historical fiction you have to set your mind to that era and to expect the writing style to use words and phrases that are no longer in fashion.  Allie Cresswell did just that and at times I had to look up the meaning of some words; this is such a benefit with reading an ebook as a quick touch of the screen soon brings up the dictionary.  The author totally convinced me with her prose and I was soon immersed into the character’s lives.

Mrs Bates sounded such a kind, caring, gracious woman; a friend to all and a favourite figure to the whole community of Highbury.  As the wife to Revered Bates she complimented her role and would seek daily to help others.  She helped her husband with his work and was a guiding figure to her two daughters; 29 years Hettie and 17 year old Jane.  Hettie was a character I struggled to warm to at first, she had her quirks and her personality sometimes appeared rude and cumbersome.  But she was totally misunderstood and towards the end of the novel I grew a fondness to her and felt my feelings wanting to champion her and wishing her all that her heart desires.  Jane was just like her mother, very amenable but she also had an energy and lust for adventure.

This was such a lovely novel that lays down the groundwork to 30 years prior to Jane Austen’s Emma.  We learn of the backstory.  We learn of the heartache and struggles of the lives of the well-loved characters.  We learn of a village on the cusp of new beginnings for many.  At times I was evoked with emotions as I journeyed through life with Mrs Bates and her daughters.  There is also a gentle humour interwoven within the storyline.  I’m very much looking forward to discovering what lies ahead for Mrs Bates, Hettie and Jane.

About the Author

Allie Cresswell was born in Stockport, UK and began writing fiction as soon as she could hold a pencil.
She did a BA in English Literature at Birmingham University and an MA at Queen Mary College, London.
She has been a print-buyer, a pub landlady, a book-keeper, run a B & B and a group of boutique holiday cottages. Nowadays Allie writes full time having retired from teaching literature to lifelong learners.
She has two grown-up children, two granddaughters and two grandsons, is married to Tim and lives in Cumbria, NW England.
You can contact her via her website at http://www.allie-cresswell.com or find her on Facebook

Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/alliescribbler/
@alliescribbler

For the duration of the blog tour, Allie Cresswell has five hard copies of Game Show and five hard copies of Tiger in a Cage, all signed, available for £5 plus p & p to UK addresses. If you are interested then please get in touch.

*Cover Reveal* – Snowed in at the Little Duck Pond Café by Rosie Green

 

Snowed In at The Little Duck Pond Café written and self-published by Rosie Green is available in ebook format from 15th November 2018.

To pre-order/buy link:  https://amzn.to/2xu6W06

Product Details

The biggest snowfall in years has blanketed Sunnybrook, cutting the village off from the outside world. For Fen, who finds herself snowed in at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, it’s little more than a minor inconvenience. Her love life is finally running smoothly; it looks as if she’s found the perfect man for her.

But then a shocking secret threatens to destroy Fen’s new-found happiness.
Will being snowed in be the final straw? Or will Fen find a way through the snowdrifts to the perfect love?

Without further ado here is the gorgeous festive looking cover …

Author Bio
Rosie Green has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all, unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.

Rosie’s brand new series of novellas is centred on life in a village café. The first two stories in the series are: Spring at The Little Duck Pond Cafe and Summer at The Little Duck Pond Café.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green1988

I can’t wait to revisit Sunnybrook and The Little Duck Pond Café.

 

Costa del Churros by Isabella May blogtour book review

 

Costa del Churros written by Isabella May, publisher Crooked Cat Books, is available NOW in ebook and paperback format.  The ebook is also included in the kindleunlimited scheme.

To buy link:  https://amzn.to/2znLF9D

Product Details

The rain in Spain doesn’t mainly fall on the plain…

Brits abroad Belinda, Julia, Laura and Georgina need more than the sweetness of churros with chocolate dipping sauce to save them from their unsavoury states of affairs.

Cue Carmen Maria Abril de la Fuente Ferrera, the town’s flamboyant flamenco teacher! But can she really be the answer to their prayers?

One thing’s for sure: the Costa del Sol will never be the same again.

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting Isabella May’s latest novel; Costa del Churros. This is my first introduction to the work of Isabella May and I love her writing style which is fun, entertaining and romantic.  I will certainly check out her back catalogue and future works.

I have to admit it did take me a little while to get into this story with four leading ladies but as Carmen Maria Abril de la Fuente Ferrera, Flamenco Dance teacher declared ‘you can’t rush into learning a new skill, there are steps along the way to let your heart be free to enjoy the final destination’ … and this is what I found in Costa del Churros.  There was a getting to know you stage which is the  perfect foundations for any book relationship.

The author treats us to little snapshops of our leading ladies lives and we learn of how they come together to join Carmen’s Flamenco Class.  Four ex-pat women from very different backgrounds, living in varying abodes and lifestyles in Spain.  Belinda, Julia, Laura and Georgina all feel they want more from their lives and whatever has drawn them to this class is the start of a journey of enlightenment for them all.

Carmen Maria Abril de la Fuente Ferrera, the Flamenco Dance teacher is a sort of enigma, her style of teaching is unorthodox but it’s precisely what lesson is needed at the right time in the ladies lives.  Carmen believes flamenco is like a psychology for the soul.

Things start to get a little crazy for the foursome when one of them is in need of help.  A madcap scheme is put in place and the four ladies pull together as a team.  The unlikeliest of friendships are those that are meant to be.  When forces pull you together at a time when your life is at odds with itself, a new influence could be the answer to your decisions?

This was a fun read and was injected with great scenes filled with humour, warmth and a little craziness.  Don’t be surprised if it gets your tastebuds salivating for churros and your toes tapping flamenco style :_

Giveaway – Win a signed copy of The Cocktail Bar (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494135/

About the Author

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalucia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the sea and the mountains. When she isn’t having her cake and eating it, sampling a new cocktail on the beach, or ferrying her children to and from after school activities, she can usually be found writing. As a co-founder and a former contributing writer for the popular online women’s magazine, The Glass House Girls – http://www.theglasshousegirls.com – she has also been lucky enough to subject the digital world to her other favourite pastimes, travel, the Law of Attraction, and Prince (The Purple One). She has recently become a Book Fairy, and is having lots of fun with her imaginative ‘drops’! Costa del Churros is her third novel with Crooked Cat Books, following on from the hit sensations, Oh! What a Pavlova and The Cocktail Bar.

Social Media Links –
Website – http://www.isabellamayauthor.com
Twitter – @IsabellaMayBks
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMayAuthor/
Instagram – @isabella_may_author

 

As Good As Gold: a dog’s life in poems by Patricia Furstenburg book review

 

As Good As Gold: A dog’s life in poems written and self-published by Patricia Furstenburg is available NOW in ebook and paperback format.  The ebook is also included in the kindleunlimited scheme.

To buy link:  https://amzn.to/2xxswkl

Product Details

Celebrating the simple things in life as seen through the eyes of our old time favorite furry friends, “As Good as Gold” is a volume of poetry revealing the talent and humor we always knew our dogs possessed.
Dogs are full of questions, yet they are famed sellers of innocence especially when it comes to explaining their mishaps and often foolish effervescence through such pondering as “Why IS a Cat Not Like a Dog”, “As Brown as Chocolate”, “Silver Stars and Puppy Tail” or, best yet, “Dog or Book?”
A book with an enormous heart for readers of all ages, it includes 35 poems and haiku accompanied by expressive portraits of our canine friends. The poems are grouped in: Questions, Colors, Musings and Haiku.

* Ideal to boost you up by reading one poem at a time,
* Great conversational piece to have around on a rainy day,
* Fantastic tool to discuss colors in nature and everyday questions with your little ones,
* A gentle way to introduce children to animals’ feelings,
* Amazing picture to cheer you up.
* An ideal gift for any dog lovers!

 

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I don’t read a lot of poetry but as a child I won a book token at Sunday School and I chose a poetry book as my prize (I still have this book).  I was intrigued to read this collection of poetry by Patricia Furstenburg, I love animals and I felt like it would be a refreshing change to reading a full-length novel.

The poems in this collection are based around dogs and their adventures, antics and personalities.  There are lovely photographic images of dogs within the pages and even on my black and white ereader they looked stunning and adorable.  I could quite easily picture any of the poems taking centre stage as a children’s picture book.

I believe this collection of poems would appeal to all ages young and old.  Poems are great ‘coffee table’ books that can be read at any time, they can be a tea-break read, a great interlude in between books read or just a read to bring a smile on your face.  Poem are also a great introduction to children about the use of words and language in literature.

The author Patricia Furstenburg has kindly allowed me to share one of my favourite poems from As Good As Gold with you:

WHY, CAT?
I am the master of my house: I am the master of the bed.
I am loved by all and when I growl, all danger’s scared.
My life is plain and simple, I can predict each day:
Wake up, lick a hand, jump out of bed, stretch and play.
Check all the doors, head for the kitchen: my breakfast PLUS titbits.
Guard our house when alone, go for evening walks, take naps. A bliss!

Routine was good, my life was planned.
Then cat showed up, my life got changed.
But since Mom brought her, I guess she’s in. No chitchat.
I’m the master of my bed … no more.
Why, Cat?
I wake, I stretch … ouch! Back hurts from sleeping on the floor.
How can someone so small take over a whole donut bed? AND she snores!

I check the doors … alarm!
Someone’s been in … and out?
What’s this? Who travels through at night? It’s Cat!
Why, Cat? When nights are made for sleep!
It’s breakfast time, my last resort. I leap.
What’s this? A bowl of milk? Where is my pork brat?
For Cat! I try to eat my food. She meows … and get’s my treat! Why, Cat?

All right, just this one time. You’re new around, must get the rules.
But when we’re home alone, I am the boss. I sleep, you watch your moves.
She purrs, SHE sleeps; I lie awake.
She is so noisy!
How can you sleep when all you do is being rowdy?
Mom’s home, Dad too. It’s walk time, for big boys like me. Take that!
I walk with Dad, Mom walks with … cat? Oh no! Why, Cat?

A week has passed. My life has changed … It’s Cat! She never left.
However, she did learn the house rules, with quite some zest.
We share the bed; she’s soft and loves to cuddle.
We share the breakfast; I get the crust, she gets the bits of bacon.
We guard the home; day shifts are mine, she mostly guards at night time.
And turns out that her purring is not so bad, once you get used to …

So, welcome, Cat.

About the Author

Patricia Furstenberg is a skilled children’s book author, poetess and mother, known for her uplifting, charming themes and lovable, enchanting characters: dogs, cats, elephants, cheetahs, lions, but also squirrels and snails.
Her words “truly make the world a happier and more beautiful place!”

Her book “Joyful Trouble” is an Amazon Bestseller.
Her book of poems “As Good As Gold” became a #1 New Release the day it was published.

With a medical degree behind her, Patricia is passionate about mind, brain and education and the psychology behind it. Using her knowledge she crafts stories and poems that are great fun, as well as teaching empathy. Her stories are filled with “creativity and vivid imagery” and she knows how to “capture the reader’s imagination.”
Her prolific writing is described as: positive, diverse, crisp, joyful and uplifting.

Patricia Furstenberg came to writing though reading, her passion for books being something she inherited from her parents.
As a winner of the Write Your Own Christie Competition, the Judges “were impressed by her thorough investigation and admired the strength of her narrative; they were impressed by her style”. The judges thought Patricia’s writing style is “well structured, with a great sense of tension and suspense”, “confident and intriguing”. The Judges were Mathew Prichard, David Brawn from Harper Collins UK and Daniel Mallory from Harper Collins US.

When she’s not writing Patricia likes to read, read, read and dance. She never counts how many cups of coffee she enjoys in a day.
One of the characters portrayed in her children stories is Pete, the yellow toy elephant. Not many know, but Pete exists and lives in Pat’s home.
Patricia lives happily with her husband, children and dogs in sunny South Africa.

Patricia Furstenberg Author Page and Blog: http://alluringcreations.co.za/wp/
Patricia Furstenberg for Huffington Post SA: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/patricia-furstenberg/

Connect on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatFurstenberg
Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PatriciaFurstenbergAuthor

 

 

The Winter That Made Us by Kate Field blogtour book review

 

The Winter That Made Us written by Kate Field, publisher Accent Press, is available in ebook and paperback format from 20th September 2018.

The paperback is available to buy from all good book retailers including Waterstones, Book Depository and amazon.  The ebook is available to download in amazon kindle, iBooks and kobo.

To buy link (Waterstones UK):  https://bit.ly/2D5ivA1

To buy link (amazon UK):  https://amzn.to/2OyVmaw

To buy link (Book Depository):  https://bit.ly/2D5bCPf

Product Details

When Tess finds herself unexpectedly alone and back in Ribblemill, the childhood village she thought she’d escaped, she’s sure she can survive a temporary stay. She’s spent a lifetime making the best of things, hasn’t she?
Determined to throw herself into village life, Tess starts a choir and gathers a team of volunteers to restore the walled garden at Ramblings, the local stately home. Everything could be perfect, if she weren’t sharing a cottage and a cat with a man whose manner is more prickly than the nettles she’s removing…
As winter approaches, Tess finds herself putting down her own roots as fast as she’s pulling them up in the garden. But the ghosts of the past hover close by, and Tess must face them if she’s to discover whether home is where her heart has been all along.

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting the launch of Kate Field’s latest book: The Winter That Made Us.

When you finish reading a novel and instantly want to buy all the books that the author has written and also that this is a new author to you … this is truly how I felt reading The Winter That Made Us by Kate Field.  I’ve since learnt that The Winter That Made Us is the second visit to the fictional Yorkshire village of Ribblemill, it didn’t hinder or spoil me that I hadn’t read The Magic of Ramblings and I can honestly say that the book can be read as a standalone.  However, I loved the village and it’s inhabitants mixed with the author’s style of writing that I’m eager to read The Magic of Ramblings.

The Winter That Made Us was just such a beautiful story.  It was a wonderful story set in a charming Yorkshire village with it’s inhabitants pulling together bringing an overgrown walled garden that had been long forgotten back to life.  It was also a story of two lost souls who have suffered greatly in the past that are still haunted by their pain.  A story that brings people together and somehow the magic and charm of the woods and the garden gives a helping hand in placing people that need that little bit extra in touch with others that need the same.

Tess has moved back to her home village under a shroud of secrecy.  Tess outwardly looks shiny and bright and full of positivity but you can sense that something is troubling her.  Wanting her own space she decides to rent a cottage in the village unaware that the cottage has also been offered to Noah too.  However, the cottage is big enough for two and has plenty of independent space so a house share agreement is made.  Life back home near her parents isn’t all plain sailing for Tess and many obstacles were to come her way.

Noah has lived in the village all his life.  He’s rugged with a strong outward looking personality but a tragic event in his past has left him struggling emotionally and physically.  Noah knows his limitations but to someone new, like Tess, he can appear rude and unsociable.  The more we see of Noah the more we get to learn of his vulnerability.

I felt like Tess and Noah had had fate play a hand in placing them together as housemates.  Two lost souls each covering up heartaches and tragedies from their past but together they were learning to accept and overcome barriers.  It was like they were finding an inner strength within themselves to help the other.

I loved the community spirit with the restoration of the walled garden, it was inspiring and so heart warming to read.

A gorgeous story that I devoured.  It made my heart sigh a time or two and I was welling up with joyous emotion.  Heartfelt and joyful, I can’t wait for more from Kate Field.

About the Author

Kate writes contemporary women’s fiction, mainly set in her favourite county of Lancashire, where she lives with her husband, daughter and hyperactive cat.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Kate’s debut novel, The Magic of Ramblings, won the RNA’s Joan Hessayon Award for new writers in 2017.

Social Media Links –
Twitter: @katehaswords
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateFieldAuthor/

 

Cover Reveal: The Stepsister by Jenny O’Brien

 

The Stepsister written and self-published by Jenny O’Brien is available to download in ebook from 29th October 2018.

To pre-order/buy link:   https://amzn.to/2pb2TBd

Product Details

When a stranger leaves step-sisters, Victoria and Ness, a half-share in a house in Holland, they think it must be a mistake.

But there’s no mistake when Ness goes missing.
Desperate for the truth, Victoria heads to Holland to find out what happened to her. Has she, as her texts show, embarked on a whirlwind romance? Has someone abducted her or even worse?

But there’s someone watching, and that person wants her dead.

Can Victoria find out the truth before it’s too late?

Cover Reveal

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogblitz cover reveal for Jenny O’Brien’s forthcoming book: The Stepsister.  Without further ado I’d like to reveal the cover:

I also have the pleasure to share the prologue of The Stepsister:

I died yesterday, or so I’ve been told.

Yesterday is the day my life changed but how or why is still a mystery. There are things I know and there are things that they’ve told me but I can’t seem to trust any of it.
I know I’m a woman but I don’t know my age. I know how to hold a cup in the same way I know it’s rude to stick the end of a knife in my mouth. So, somewhere along the way, someone cared enough to drill manners into me. Those are the things I know, the things I can trust but as for the rest…
They tell me I’m in Holland but can I believe them? I don’t remember if I’m Dutch but I also don’t remember if I’m not. I can’t speak Dutch. I’ve been trying all morning but can one lose a language overnight? I seem to have lost everything else. Who knows? Maybe I took the wrong train or something and just rolled up in the wrong city. That would make sense except that it’s not just my sense of place that’s missing. It’s my sense of everything. I have no name, no age and no identity. Yesterday I died and today I’m still here.

They’ve left me alone now while they try to puzzle out what to do and in the meantime I’m going to try to remember stuff. I don’t know how long they’ll leave me alone but I need to take this opportunity to come up with some answers to all the questions they’ve been throwing at me like who the hell I am.
Slipping out of bed I recoil as bare feet meets cold tiles, but that’s not going to stop me. Pulling the back of the hospital gown closed in an effort to retain some degree of dignity, I shuffle over to the bathroom and then the mirror only to stare into the face of a stranger.
It doesn’t matter what I look like or that I’m suffering from the worst case of bed-head known to man. It doesn’t matter that my eyes are green or that my hair is that shade of nondescript mouse that keeps colourists in business. The only thing that matters is my reflection, which holds no clues as to my identity. I’m a stranger to them. I’m a stranger to me.
My body holds a clue though – just one.
I push up my sleeve again to stare at the tattoo on my arm. The tattoo puzzles me. It’s not me, or part of me or who I think I am and yet it’s there, a large indelible letter V.
I have no idea what it stands for. Oh, I’m not stupid or anything or, at least I don’t think I am. I can’t quote which exams I’ve passed or if indeed I’ve ever attended school but I do know V stands for victory. But what does it mean to me? Am I victorious? Am I making a statement about something? It must be important because it’s the only tattoo I have. It’s also the only clue.
I’m tired now. My eyelids collapse over my eyes even as I struggle to shift them upwards as I remember the cocktail the nurse told me to swallow like a good girl. I want everything to go away. I want to hide under the blankets and forget. I’ve already forgotten…

All the best to author Jenny O’Brien for the preparations for the publication of The Stepsister.

About the Author

Jenny O’Brien was born in Ireland and, after a brief sojourn in Wales, now resides in Guernsey.
She’s an avid reader and book reviewer for NetGalley in addition to being a RoNA judge.
She writes for both children and adults with a new book coming out every six months or so. She’s also an avid collector of cats, broken laptops, dust and happy endings – two of which you’ll always find in her books.

In her spare time she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You’ll be pleased to note she won’t be entering Bake-Off.

Readers can find out more about Jenny from her blog:  https://jennyobrienwriter.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JennyOBrienWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScribblerJB

Another Rebecca by Tracey Scott-Townsend blogtour guest post

Another Rebecca written by Tracey Scott-Townsend, publisher Wild Pressed Books, is available in ebook format from 13th September 2018.

To buy link (amazon UK):  https://amzn.to/2oQ7yYZ

Product Details

A gripping psychological family drama about Rebecca Grey, a sensitive girl who’s spent her childhood caring for her alcoholic mother, Bex. They lurch from one poverty-stricken situation to another until Rebecca is hospitalised with exhaustion. While there, she has an illness-triggered hallucination which entangles her deeper than ever into her mother’s psyche. As an art student, Rebecca can’t understand why she is repeatedly impelled to paint a white horse in a blue landscape. And then there is the boy with yellow hair who she glimpses from the corner of her eye.
Bex’s life was frozen by a shocking tragedy when she was nineteen. Her ‘great grief’ caused her to make a decision which nobody must ever find out about. Rebecca has been implicated in her mother’s lies since the moment of her birth, a fact that her father, Jack, has no inkling of.
As Rebecca gets to know her father’s new family, the gap between her and her mother widens. The mystery of Bex’s dark past comes into focus when an old woman she has never met contacts Rebecca, claiming to be her grandmother.
The thunder of hooves is getting closer for both Rebecca and Bex and the blond-haired boy is more and more often in Rebecca’s dreams. Can Bex continue to keep Rebecca in the dark about the circumstances of her birth, or will the final twist in her tail set Rebecca free to make a new life of her own?
Adapted from a short story written by the author when she was an art student, Another Rebecca was inspired by the painting There is no Night by Jack B. Yeats.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting the re-launch of the updated and enhanced version of Another Rebecca by Tracey Scott-Townsend. Tracey Scott-Townsend has prepared an interesting post for my blog giving us an insight into the thought process behind Another Rebecca.

How There is No Night led to Another Rebecca by Tracey Scott-Townsend

In 1988 my five-and-a-half-year relationship with a boyfriend I met almost as soon as I started university had ended. I lived alone in my flat in one of the roughest areas of Hull, but it was okay because I had lived in that area before and not ended up murdered – as (don’t quote me) a larger percentage of people than in any other area of the city had – on an adjoining street. My first-floor flat had rattling windows and no heating apart from a gas fire in the front room (I can’t believe how hardy I was then; my brother couldn’t believe how icy it was when he drove me back there after a pre-Christmas visit home), but I was happy there. I had no television and hardly spoke to anyone from one day to the next, apart from when I was at art-college, and I dedicated myself to making art and writing my dissertation. Unexpectedly, at the same time, my fiction writing flowed more fluidly than ever from the tip of my pen and my fingers on the typewriter keys.

I napped during the day and stayed up late into the early hours of the morning, writing poems, short stories and a radio play. I hand-wrote the first draft of what eventually became my first novel The Last Time We Saw Marion (accepted for publication by Inspired Quill in 2013). One night I stayed up exceptionally late. I remember the moment I started writing a story – in blue ink – in the pages of a hardback exercise book. I’d been inspired by a painting my tutor had directed me to on my degree course. The painting was called There is No Night, by the Irish painter Jack B. Yeats, brother of the poet, William. Lots of swirly paint in blues, greens and lilac depicts a white horse galloping across a landscape. A smeary figure in the foreground looks like a man in a prone position, propping himself up on his elbow. I imagined him whistling to his horse. That painting was the driver behind the short story that became my novel Another Rebecca (originally published by Inspired Quill; enhanced and re-released by Wild Pressed Books, September 2018). The short story contained all the elements of the novel, just – shorter. The hallucination scene (Rebecca’s in hospital with a high fever) which has become the prologue of the new version of the book, is derived entirely from the painting. After that, elements of my own youth helped form the character of Rebecca. The alcoholism of her mother, Bex, was something I was familiar with from a family member. The locations of the book: Skegness, Lincoln, Leicestershire and Ireland are all places that had significance in my life, too. When I wrote the original story, my favourite author was Alice Hoffman. I loved her use of magical realism and I think that influenced my writing at the time and I’m really glad I wrote the story in 1989, because I’m not sure I would have been able to make it so fresh if I’d started it from scratch today.

I spent a fair amount of time feeling lonely as a young person. I left home in 1980, two or three months before my eighteenth birthday. At first I lived with my older sister, then I lodged in a room in someone else’s house. After that I moved into a small flat of my own. I was doing my A’ Levels at college and working evenings in a nightclub. But it was all the alone-time that gave route to my imagination and creativity – this was before smartphones and handheld games, and no TV for me. Music, books, drawing and writing were my passion. Loneliness had a positive result.

Fast-forward to 1989 and I’m living in my upstairs flat in Hull, alone again after the break-up of a long-term relationship. I have to lug my bicycle up and down a carpeted flight of stairs every time I go out. There’s a ‘brothel’ opposite and shouting often breaks out on the street at night. But I never feel insecure – until the day I hear banging in the locked room at the back of my flat. Dry-mouthed, I call the police on my heavy old dial-up phone, only to discover when I eventually dare to peer out of the bedroom window into the yard that it’s only my landlord. Good job because it was twenty minutes before a policeman arrived! After clearing it out, the landlord awarded the room to me at no extra rent so it was a win-win. I have such fond memories of that flat, and of 1989, when two of my novels were born.

My upper flat, looking a bit smarter these days (and probably heated, too!)

Giveaway:  Tracey Scott-Townsend is offering seven copies of Another Rebecca as a giveaway during the Blog Tour.  There are two paperbacks and five Kindle copies available.  To enter the giveaway please click on the link below:

Another
Rebecca – Blog Tour – Giveaway

About the Author

Tracey is the author of four novels, The Last Time We Saw Marion, (2014) Of His Bones (stand-alone sequel to The Last Time We Saw Marion, 2017) and The Eliza Doll (2016). Another Rebecca was originally published by Inspired Quill in 2015 but has been enhanced and has a beautiful new cover for its re-release in September 2018 by Wild Pressed Books. Tracey’s novels have been described as both poetic and painterly.
Tracey is also a poet and a visual artist. All her work is inspired by the emotions of her own experiences and perceptions. She has a Fine Art MA (University of Lincoln) and a BA Hons Visual Studies (Humberside Polytechnic). She has exhibited throughout the UK (as Tracey Scott). Most importantly, she is the mother of four grown-up children, who have astonished and inspired her.

Website:  https://traceyscotttownsend.com/

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/authortrace

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

The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech blogtour book review

 

The Lion Tamer Who Lost written by Louise Beech, publisher Orenda Books, is available NOW in ebook and is due to be published in paperback on the 20th September 2018.

The ebook is available to download for amazon kindle, kobo, Google Play and iBooks.

The paperback is available to purchase from all good book retailers including Waterstones, WHSmith and amazon.

To buy/pre-order link (Waterstones UK):  https://bit.ly/2NqCjBD

To buy/pre-order link (amazon UK):  https://amzn.to/2wSKywS

The author Louise Beech has a book signing event at Waterstones Hull on Thursday 4th October 2018, for more details please click on the link below:

https://www.waterstones.com/events/louise-beech-book-signing/hull-56057

Product Details 

Be careful what you wish for…

Long ago, Andrew made a childhood wish, and kept it in a silver box. When it finally comes true, he wishes he hadn’t…
Long ago, Ben made a promise and he had a dream: to travel to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally makes it, it isn’t for the reasons he imagined…
Ben and Andrew keep meeting in unexpected places, and the intense relationship that develops seems to be guided by fate. Or is it?
What if the very thing that draws them together is tainted by past secrets that threaten everything?
A dark, consuming drama that shifts from Zimbabwe to England, and then back into the past, The Lion Tamer Who Lost is also a devastatingly beautiful love story, with a tragic heart…

I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book. All opinions are my own and no content may be copied. However, authors and publishers may use elements of my reviews for quotes.

I am so pleased to be involved in the blogtour celebrating and promoting the launch of the paperback of Louise Beech’s latest novel; The Lion Tamer Who Lost.  I want to shout and rave about this book so much as it totally captivated me and stirred me emotionally, I was completely spent by the end of the book.  It’s a story that will keep you reading till the very end no matter what time of day or night it is.

The Lion Tamer Who Lost is a very unique story with a blossoming tender, quite beautiful love story which reaches an unexpected shocking twist that pulls at your heart.  I was so heartbroken for the characters as life was playing a very cruel hand to them.

When you make a wish long ago and it comes true but the result ultimately changes your outlook on what has past and what’s to come.  A wish that can make your dreams come true but can also shatter your heart in to irreparable pieces.  A wish that is a double edged sword; you want it so much but the desire is tangled up with strong emotions that you have no control over.  A wish that in itself you hoped would come with a warning sign.

Louise Beech’s words flowed so effortlessly within this story and I was hooked from the start.  Ben had wanted to visit the lions in Africa for a long time and made a promise to fulfil his dreams but this journey was a chance to escape something his heart hadn’t expected to happen. I travelled in my mind with Ben to Zimbabwe to the lion reserve and from the start you can sense he is a troubled soul but the sunsets and the nurturing of a lion cub bring a kind of peace to Ben and we slowly learn about his life before Africa.

Andrew is a children’s author and was working on a new project at the time he meets Ben.  Ben and Andrew were very similar in personality, they had a love for lions and their minds were quite in tune with each other.  Numbers and sequences played a crucial part in their understanding of daily life.

The author takes you on a journey that is captivating, beautiful, unexpected and so very tragic.  The Lion Tamer Who Lost is a book that will evoke many emotions within you and it will keep stirring those feelings for a long time.  Effortlessly beautiful.

To learn more about the author Louise Beech please visit the following pages:

Website:  https://louisebeech.co.uk/

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/LouiseWriter