Category Archives: Writing & Reading

Rosie Green joins my Christmas Countdown!

Guest Post, Writing & Reading, , , , , , , , ,

Followers of my blog will know two things: 1) My Christmas countdown is underway, whoop whoop! 2) I love books by Rosie Green. So, what better than to have Rosie stop by, to talk about the fact she has TWO fabulous festive reads out this season?

Welcome to my blog Rosie. Oh my goodness, two Christmas books, I feel spoilt for choice! To help me decide which to read first, I’d love to know what your characters will be up to this Christmas…

Ooh, that would be telling! Go on, you know you want to 🙂 

A happy Christmas definitely isn’t on the cards in the opening chapters of Snowflakes over Moondance Cottage, what with Jess, the main character, having to put up with a surly (but very fit) builder knocking down walls in her precious old family home. Her mum is acting strangely and her sister seems to have a mysterious agenda of her own. Recent family Christmases have been sad and tinged with tragedy. But maybe this year, the magic of Christmas will heal old wounds and bring the family the very best gift of all…

In A Winter Wedding at the Little Duck Pond Cafe, the villagers are preparing to celebrate with Ellie and Zak at gorgeous Brambleberry Manor – but will everything go according to plan? It has to be a happy Christmas, hasn’t it?

I love the sound of the fit builder 😉 and I am desperate for Ellie and Zak to finally make it up the aisle. Maybe the blurbs will help me decide:

Snowflakes over Moondance Cottage

When Jess Rigby lost her dad, the family coped in different ways, alone in their grief. Now, her mum seems to be going off the rails and her sister, Isla, who moved to France, is now back and determined to get the old family home on the market. But the last thing Jess wants this Christmas is for renovations to start on the house. It’s sure to stir up old memories she’s desperate to forget. And to make things worse, Isla seems to have hired the most obnoxious builder in the world to do the work. Jess could forget the fact that woman seem to be putty in his hands. But what she finds harder to ignore is the frisson she gets every time she squeezes past him in the mess that is now their beloved family home! Soon, the house begins to give up its secrets, some of them shocking. Can the family finally start talking and find a way to move on from the past this Christmas?

Click to buy.

A Winter Wedding at the Little Duck Pond Cafe

With Zak and Ellie’s wedding day approaching, excitement is spilling over in the village of Sunnybrook, especially among the Little Duck Pond Café crew. Ellie is over the moon with her romantic surprise wedding gift from Zak, and Madison is promising to organise a hen party to remember. Everyone has high hopes for a magical Christmas Eve wedding celebration at gorgeous Brambleberry Manor. (Even Maisie-Moo has a sparkling new outfit.) What could possibly go wrong?

Sometimes, even the best-laid plans can end in disaster. And with the journey to the altar turning out to be rockier than expected, it’s going to take nothing short of a Christmas miracle to ensure a happy ending . . .

Click to buy.

Well that’s decided … I’ll just have to dive straight in to both!

As part of my Christmas countdown, I am also asking authors what they will be up to this festive season, where will you be spending your Christmas?

At home, as always. I wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else! I suppose it’s a legacy from when my son was little and it was lovely for him to wake up to Christmas and all the excitement in his own house. He’s eighteen now but Christmas Eve still feels as sprinkled with magic as it did back then. Our festivities begin on the 24th. Relatives arrive in the morning and I’ll begin preparing turkey and all the trimmings in the afternoon. We have our Christmas dinner that night, which I love because it means that by the time Christmas Day dawns, I’ve done all the hard work and I can spend the big day itself just relaxing and eating chocolate. A recipe for total bliss in my opinion.

That’s a great idea! Finally, before you go, I’d love you to answer five quick questions from my festive selection:

Christmas jumper or posh frock? Christmas jumper

Real or artificial Christmas tree? Real

Favourite Christmas film? The Holiday

Singing a Christmas carol or bopping along to a Christmas classic? Christmas classic

Multi-coloured decs or co-ordinated Christmas tree? Multi-coloured!

Now I wish I’d asked for a pic of the Christmas jumper! 

Thank you so much for joining my Christmas countdown and I wish you and your family a wonderful festive season! xx

About the author:

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.

You can find Rosie on Twitter.

Check out how author Morton S Gray and her characters will be spending Christmas, on my blog on Thursday 14th November. xx

Lynda Stacey joins my Christmas Countdown!

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Next up on my Christmas countdown is Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction author, Lynda Stacey, with her compelling read, House of Christmas Secrets…

Welcome to my blog Lynda, I am excited to know how your characters will be celebrating Christmas…

In House of Christmas Secrets my characters have been through a pretty tough time by the time they get to Christmas. Two unexpected visitors appeared and with them came more problems than one Christmas would normally have to cope with.

I’d love to think that my characters would have the biggest turkey, that Nomsa and Bernie would be fighting over who made the best roast potatoes, that Maddie, Bandit, Jess and Jack would all sit by the Inglenook with a glass of eggnog and after, they’d all sit around the big oak table together as a family. Wine would flow and Santa would turn up to see both Poppy and Lily. Oh… and Buddy the springer would have the biggest bone ever to munch at in the corner of the kitchen. Yes… I hope they’d have the perfect day.

And for a bit more of a teaser here’s the blurb:

This year we’re just going to have a nice, normal Christmas… 
Last year’s Christmas at Wrea Head Hall didn’t quite go to plan which is why Jess Croft is determined this festive season will be the one to remember, for the right reasons. And she has plenty of reasons to be hopeful, she’s going to marry the man of her dreams, Jack Stone, seven days after New Year’s Eve.

However, as family secrets are revealed in hidden letters and two unexpected guests turn up on the doorstep, Jess is left wondering whether her life will ever be the same again.

Can Jess and Jack still experience a peaceful festive season that they had imagined or are there some problems that even Christmas can’t fix?

Click to buy the book: Amazon | Kobo | Audible

With your characters hoping, but perhaps not getting, a peaceful festive season, I am wondering what your plans are for Christmas?

I’m not a fan of Christmas, not since I lost my mum. So, for the past few years, we’ve gone abroad and had holidays in the Caribbean and Cape Verde. But the holiday companies double the price at Christmas, so this year we’re planning a Christmas at home, with the huge tree, a bit of Bing Crosby, lots of wine and the log burner in full flow.

When we are at home, we quite often spend one night at Wrea Head Hall around Christmas, they have the best food and 20ft Christmas Trees and being there is like stepping into one of my books. I fully expect Nomsa to walk out of the kitchen or see Bandit walking through the grounds. www.wreaheadhall.co.uk

I’m very sorry to hear about the loss of your mum, Lynda. xx

Wrea Head Country House Hotel, looks like an amazing place – the perfect getaway for you and a great setting for your characters!

Before you go, I’d love you to answer five quick questions from my festive selection:

Christmas jumper or posh frock? Jumper and sweat pants… I’m happiest when I’m comfy.

Naughty or nice? Naughty every time..!

Mince pie or Christmas pudding? Am I allowed to say BOTH… on the same plate, with brandy sauce. Yep, you guessed… I’m greedy and I have a sweet tooth. (Both are definitely allowed!)

Favourite Christmas film? White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye… I watch it every year.

Multi-coloured decs or co-ordinated Christmas tree? Co-ordinated… I’m very OCD

First Quality Street flavour to disappear from your tub? The purple one with the nut in it… Mmmmm I’ve actually already seen them for sale in the supermarkets and I can’t wait.!!

Who did you play in the school nativity? I was always the narrator. Think I might have had a big voice and apparently I was good at reading… so nothing new there.

I LOVE the fact you got so carried away with my Christmas selection you answered seven questions, and chose two puds instead of one! You’re a star.

Thank you so much for joining in with my Christmas countdown and I wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas at home, this year. xx

About Lynda Stacey:

Lynda grew up in the mining village of Bentley, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire,

Her own chaotic life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots, along with (as in all romances) very happy endings.

Lynda joined the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the umbrella of the New Writers Scheme and in 2015, her debut novel House of Secretswon the Choc Lit & Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Starcompetition.

She lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her husband, Haydn, whom she’s been happily married to for over 20 years.

Discover more about Lynda and her books via: Facebook | website | Twitter | 

Including her latest novel Keeper of Secrets:

Don’t miss author Rosie Green, on my blog on Monday 11th November, as she shares her new Christmas novel and how she will be celebrating Christmas. xx

Jackie Ladbury kicks off my Christmas Countdown!

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Starting my Christmas countdown, I am delighted to welcome author Jackie Ladbury whose novel, Happy Christmas Eve, is described as an uplifting, heart-warming story…

Welcome to my blog Jackie, the cover of your book is gorgeous and I would love to know how your characters will be celebrating Christmas…

The characters in my book, Happy Christmas Eve, are in turmoil over Christmas. Eve has loved Lucien, the bad boy singer in her band, for all of her life but is starting to realise that she’s wasting her time. Theo, a local baker has, in turn, loved Eve all of his life and is desperate to make her fall in love with him. Lucien – well he doesn’t really care about anyone or anything as long as he’s fed and watered. Christmas brings them all together in Lucien’s parents’ manor house, and it seems that this Christmas a few home truths will be dished out along with the turkey and Christmas pudding.

And for a bit more of a teaser here’s the blurb:

All I want for Christmas is you … or you?

Eve Halligan is back in her hometown for Christmas after a whirlwind few years touring with her band, the Molotovs. A lot has changed since she left, but two things have stayed the same. One: Eve is head-over-heels in love with Lucien Malikov, the Molotovs’ bad boy lead singer. Two: Lucien is completely indifferent to her.

Still, Eve dreams that this could be the Christmas where she convinces Lucien that they’re made for each other. But when childhood friend and local caterer Theo Wright comes back into her life bringing with him festive cupcake and sausage roll conundrums, Eve begins to question whether her Christmas dreams have been wasted on the wrong man …

Click to buy.

With your characters having quite the Christmas in store, I’d love to know how you will be celebrating the festive season in the Ladbury household?

We normally wake up quite early, my two daughters jump on to the end of our bed and we drag our pillow cases that Santa has filled and take it in turns opening various bits of nothingness mixed with a few decent presents. My daughters are not children anymore so the days of being able to stuff their stockings with cheap pink plastic toys are long gone.

We rarely have a Bucks Fizz and smoked salmon to start the day, apart from in my dreams where we are the perfect family sitting down to breakfast on a table that was meticulously laid the night before. More likely to wipe the cat hairs off the table and take it in turns watching that the breakfast doesn’t burn.

Oh but the culprit of those cat hairs is so very cute!

We’ve never, ever spent a Christmas day on our own – I think we’d all want to cry if that happened as we all enjoy ‘getting ready’ even if we are having family over to ours. My family are scattered wide, but my sister, who lives in Dubai, is home this Christmas (yay!) but not my other sister who lives in Sydney (not yay!)

I’m doing a ‘Ladbury Christmas’ this year which will probably be between ten and fourteen of us, including my mother and father-in- law who I love to bits. Hopefully my daughters will help out as I lose the plot after I’ve prepped it all and opened the champagne!

You have a busy time ahead, but I can’t possilby let you go without asking you to answer five quick questions from my festive selection:

Naughty or nice? Nice. I’m a real pink and glitter ‘buy me a unicorn’ kind of gal.

Favourite Christmas film? The Holiday. I don’t know why I find it odd that people read Christmas books all through the year as I watch The Holiday whenever I’m feeling low. I’ll bet I know the lines better than Cameron Diaz.

Best Christmas gift? An iPad from my husband when they very first came out and I was still trying to become a published writer. I cried, I was so bowled over. Still have it although it’s an iPad 1 and not much more use than the proverbial brick now.

Worst Christmas gift? A packet of roll-up tobacco packed in a Tiffany jewellery box when I was trying to give up smoking. I seriously thought the boyfriend in question had bought me a beautiful present – until I opened the box. Had to try really, really hard to pretend I thought it was funny too. Thanks Chris!

Multi-coloured decs or co-ordinated Christmas tree? I pretty much just upend a full box of decorations onto a tree and jiggle it all about a bit. At least that’s what it looks like – I have NO artistic talent.

I love The Holiday all year round too, and your Christmas tree sounds perfect to me! 

Thank you so much for kicking off my Christmas countdown and I wish you and your family a wonderful festive season! xx

About the author:

Jackie Ladbury writes heart-warming contemporary and historical women’s fiction that guarantees a happy ever after. From spending many years as an air-stewardess and seeing that it really is love that makes the world go around, she determined to put the same sparkle and emotion into her stories. Her life is no longer as exotic (or chaotic) as it was in those heady days of flying as she now lives a quiet life in Hertfordshire with her family and two cats, spending her days making up stories and finding excuses not to go to the gym

Discover more about Jackie via: Facebook | website | Twitter | The Write Romantics

Check out how author Lynda Stacey and her characters will be spending Christmas, on my blog on Thursday 7th November. xx

Welcoming Isabella Muir on writing cosy mysteries.

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Writer of cosy mysteries, Isabella Muir, is the Chindi Authors’ Author of the Week! To celebrate this, and the lead up to Agatha Christie’s birthday, she is taking part in a series of blog posts about her own Sussex Crime series. 

Welcome to my blog, Isabella, it is great to have you, and I am looking forward to finding out more about you and your work, as you explain what makes a cosy mystery.

Over to Isabella …

In this lead up to the birthday of that great Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, I have been exploring what makes for a cosy mystery. It seems that the term ‘cosy’ was first coined in the late 20th century when various writers produced work in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

When I investigate Wikipedia I discover that my Sussex Crime series fits perfectly into the genre, even though when I wrote the first in the series, The Tapestry Bag, I hadn’t ever considered the genre and knew little about it. I hadn’t planned to write a cosy mystery, but it seems that my young amateur sleuth, Janie Juke, fits the bill just perfectly. Let’s take a look at some of the suggested criteria and see why…

The detectives in such stories are nearly always amateurs, and are frequently women. These characters are typically well educated, intuitive, and hold jobs that bring them into constant contact with other residents of their community and the surrounding region (eg, caterer, innkeeper, librarian, teacher, dog trainer, shop owner, reporter).

We first meet amateur sleuth, Janie Juke, when she has taken on the job of a librarian responsible for a mobile library van. The Sussex Crime series is set in the late 1960s in Sussex, when mobile libraries were a popular feature in most towns. As Janie travels around the seaside resort of Tamarisk Bay she is at the very heart of the community and is happy to lend an ear to anyone who wants to chat!

Like other amateur detectives, they typically have a contact on the police force who can give them access to important information about the case at hand, but the contact is typically a spouse, lover, friend, or family member rather than a former colleague. Dismissed by the authorities in general as nosy busybodies, particularly if they are middle-aged or elderly women, the detectives in cosy mysteries are thus left free to eavesdrop, gather clues, and use their native intelligence and intuitive “feel” for the social dynamics of the community to solve the crime.

Janie’s father, Philip, spent a brief time as a detective before he had an accident, which has left him blind.  Father and daughter have a very close relationship, which means that Philip acts as a perfect sounding board as Janie tries to gather clues and solve the crime. In the first book of the series, The Tapestry Bag, Janie uses her intuition and is really feeling her way.  She successfully solves the crime and as a result is approached to take on a new case in the second book in the series, Lost Property, when someone is prepared to pay her.  Quite a development.

The murderers in cosies are typically neither psychopaths nor serial killers, and, once unmasked, are usually taken into custody without violence. They are generally members of the community where the murder occurs and able to hide in plain sight, and their motives—greed, jealousy, revenge—are often rooted in events years, or even generations, old. The murderers are typically rational and often highly articulate, enabling them to explain, or elaborate on, their motives after their unmasking.

There will be no  spoilers here (!) but suffice it to say that the criminal in each of the books in the Sussex Crime series manage to ‘hide in plain’ sight.  Just as the suggested explanation above, their motives are certainly ‘greed, jealousy, revenge’ and I think that when the reader listens to the criminals explaining their motives they will agree that they appear very rational – maybe too rational!

The cosy mystery usually takes place in a town, village, or other community small (or otherwise insular) enough to make it believable that all the principal characters know, and may well have long-standing social relationships with, each other. The amateur detective is usually a gregarious, well-liked individual who is able to get the community members to talk freely about each other.

Janie Juke was born and brought up in Tamarisk Bay, a sleepy seaside resort in Sussex.  Her father has always lived there too.  As a result, the Juke family know all the locals and Janie has the chance to enlist the help of friends and neighbours when it comes to solving the crimes. In the second book in the series, Lost Property, Janie teams up with friend and young journalist, Libby Frobisher, and between them they ferret out clues and manage to get people talking to and about each other, which eventually leads them to solving the mystery.

Cosy mystery series frequently have a prominent thematic element introduced by the detective’s job, pet or hobby.

What could be better as a hobby for a librarian than reading books!  But not just any books.  In The Tapestry Bag readers discover that Janie Juke has a hero and that hero is Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot! Extracts from The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduce each chapter and Janie frequently tries to approach the case with Poirot in mind.

In this extract from The Tapestry Bag Janie’s father, Philip, prompts his daughter to tap into all she has learned from her reading…

“‘Do you know what I think?’ he said. ‘Take it back to basics. Blank out anything you know about her and start again. Be thorough, make lists.’

‘Are you teasing me now?’ Dad and Greg were forever teasing me about my inability to follow a system. Like I say, I am the least likely person to be a librarian, or an amateur detective, come to that.

‘There’s something else you can do.’

I waited.

‘Make use of all those Agatha Christie novels you’ve read and re-read since you were a little‘un.’

‘What do you mean ‘make use’?’

‘Search for patterns, clues, that’s what Poirot does.’

‘Nice idea, but that’s fiction. This is real.’

‘It won’t hurt to try.’

Dad’s advice for me to start from scratch inspired me to get organised. His suggestion about Agatha’s Poirot made me smile, but when I thought about it a bit more I realised it might just help. A few weeks earlier I’d started re-reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles, so I decided to scour the book to see if I could glean any tips from the wonderful Poirot and his sidekick, Hastings.”

Isabella continues…

This blog post is one of a series, which leads up to Agatha Christie’s birthday and national #cozymysteryday on 15thSeptember. To find out more about the great Queen of Crime and help to celebrate Agatha Christie’s birthday, then look out for the other blog posts in the series: Agatha Christie and Isabella Muir | Agatha Christie – a child of her time | Agatha Christie and the sixties  |  The good, the bad and the ugly |  Investigating the past  |  Agatha Christie and Janie Juke

As a present to you, on Agatha’s behalf, I am pleased to announce that the first book in my Sussex Crime series – The Tapestry Bag– will be available on Kindle for just £0.99p for one week only – grab it while you can!

And there’s more! Receive the FREE Sussex Crime novella, Divided we Fall when you sign up to receive Isabella’s newsletter, with cozy mystery news and views, special offers and so much more. Just click here.xx

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog Isabella. I wish you every success with being Author of the Week, and hope you enjoy Agatha Christie’s birthday celebrations.

Isabella Muir is the author of the Sussex Crime Mysteryseries: BOOK 1: THE TAPESTRY BAG | BOOK 2: LOST PROPERTY | BOOK 3: THE INVISIBLE CASE | Her latest novel is:THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN

Discover more about Isabella and her work via: Twitter | Facebook | website | Goodreads

Blog tours galore and rave reviews!

Review, Writing & Reading, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have had the most amazing and busy time since the publication of Maybe Baby, which I am delighted to say has already gained a #1 Best Seller Badge from Amazon:

(If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, do it now, while it is still only 99p!)

And the excitement doesn’t end there … straight after publication, Maybe Baby went off on a blog tour courtesy of Rachel’s Random Resources and received these wonderful reviews:

  • Being Anne: “It certainly left me with a big smile on my face and a warm glow inside. Very much enjoyed this one!”
  • B for Book Review: “If you are looking for a lovely heartwarming funny story and you don’t mind shedding a little tear here and there, you just have to read this one.”
  • Love the Smell of a Book: “A superb light hearted read that I loved from the first few pages, I fell in love with Lisa’s four legged friends and the escaping kittens.”
  • Books and Bindings: “I snickered and smirked my way through this cleverly crafted, delightfully amusing, and wittily written tale.”
  • One More Word: “It was well written, fun and left me smiling at the very happy ending.”
  • Dash Fan Book Reviews: “Maybe Baby is a cosy romance, with plenty of witty humour, it’s a quick uplifting read that is perfect if your looking to escape for a few hours.”
  • Beauty Addict: “Maybe Baby really is a truly heart-warming story of love, romance and most importantly friendship. An absolute must-read.” 
  • Novel Kicks: “This novel was like a big hug. If you’re a fan of Sophie Kinsella, you’ll love this novel and even if you’re not, I still recommend this novel.”
  • Bookworms Corner Blog Spot: “The writing is funny, sweet and the pleasing flow of the story made this a smooth and enjoyable read.”
  • Sibzzreads: “A lovely, charming book, full of humour and romance. Excellent, relatable characters and a nicely flowing plot make this such an enjoyable read.”
  • It’s all about the Books: “Filled with many fantastic characters, human and of the fur variety, Maybe Baby was a fantastic story.”
  • Books Life and Everything: “This is a lovely, entertaining read with genuinely likeable characters and a relatable plot.”
  • Splashes Into Books: “This is a lovely contemporary story with great characters, an intriguing plot with plenty of drama and romance for several different couples.” 
  • Babydolls and Razorblades: “A wonderful, happy story that did make me shed a tear or two.”
  • Donnas Book Blog: “It is five stars from me, a thoroughly enjoyable story, fantastic characters, both furry and human – I loved it – very highly recommended!”
  • Chapter and Cake: “This is such a lovely, easy-read novel. I am more than happy to recommend it.” 
  • BR Maycock’s book blog: “Very enjoyable and the author is most definitely bookmarked as one I will follow in the future. Beyond recommended!”
  • Bookish Jottings: “A delightful read I absolutely adored.”
  • Herding Cats: “This is a heartwarming and cosy romance novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
  • Mai’s Musings: “Not many books make me laugh out loud, but this had me properly chuckling in places, and at one point even made me spit my coffee.”
  • Books and Me: “A gratifying and cheerful read.” 
  • Me and My Books: “This is a book that has the perfect amount of humour, a good story line and is a great way to escape for a few hours.” 
  • Stardust Book Reviews: “This was a delightful story of love and friendships that left me with a lovely warm feeling and a smile on my face!”
  • Against the Flow Press: “I found this to be an enjoyable, happy-ending story of friendship and love.”
  • Coffee and Kindle Book Reviews: “This book is such a treat and one I devoured in one sitting.” 
  • The Writing Garnet: “A joyful, lighthearted and uber touching read – even my cheeks hurt from smiling so much!”

Rachel’s Random Reads: “Incredibly entertaining, this book has everything, animals, humour, romance, an old flame and a pregnancy test!” 

I am hugely grateful to Rachel Gilbey for her brilliant organisation and to everyone who took part – taking the time to read and review my book.

And still the fun continued … my review tour was then followed by a blog tour, courtesy of the super supportive Chindi Authors who invited me to be their Author of the Week, sharing these guest posts across their blogs:

Huge thanks to all who have contributed to what has been a wonderful whirlwind of activity!

Thank you also to all who have purchased Maybe Baby either in ebook or audio formats. I have received some great comments from readers via Twitter and Facebook.

If you’ve read and enjoyed Maybe Baby, please do leave a review. Reviews really are hugely appreciated and help authors and their work get noticed.

Finally I am pleased to say my work in progress is taking shape. Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to find out more, and no doubt help me with my research, as I pose some of my ponderings. xx