Tag Archives: Caroline James

Location, Location, Location: The French Cookery School.

13/05/2024Guest Post, Location!, Review, Writing & ReadingCarol Thomas, Carol Thomas Author, Carol Thomas Author Blog, Caroline James, Caroline James Author, One More Chapter, romance, romcom, The French Cookery Schoolcarol

Today, I am delighted to welcome Caroline to my blog as she shares the inspiration for the location of her latest novel, The French Cookery School. Over to you, Caroline …

In what feels like another life, I was a media agent running a business representing celebrity chefs. It was a fascinating job; all days were different, and I worked closely with various talented chefs who wanted to enhance their careers within the media. My job was to help them develop and find work that would project them via TV, magazines, events, festivals, etc. It took me to some fascinating places. One day, I might work with a five-star hotel that wanted a chef to gain Michelin stars for their restaurant. Next, I would fly to Florida, where I had placed a client at the Orlando Food Festival. It was hard work and challenging at times, but as you can imagine – I loved my job.

My new novel is called The French Cookery School.

The story was inspired by a week I spent in France many years ago on a press trip to a gorgeous old farmhouse on the edge of the Charente. The host, Chef Valentina Harris, invited me to attend alongside notable journalists and experience the cookery course that Valentina and her helpers were running. It was a magical time, and I fell in love with the house named Le Touvent, which had been the former boyhood home of the late President Mitterrand.

The journalists would experience the cookery course and then write about it in their publications, filling the places with bookings for the summer. In the mornings, we would work in the kitchen and learn various techniques, such as how to prepare an octopus or make fresh pasta. We were taken to local attractions – perhaps a porcelain factory or a picnic by the river in the afternoons. In the evening, we would dine around a large table in a courtyard under a canopy of trailing plants, pretty lanterns and a starry sky. Friendships were formed, and confidences exchanged as we all came together in this magical place.

I knew that one day, I would set a novel in a fictional setting using Le Touvant as my guide, so on a return visit to France, I visited the Vienne district. My research proved fruitful, as I found many interesting places to take my characters to, and The French Cookery School was born.

As a writer, there is nothing quite like immersing yourself in the location that will become home for your characters, and I thank Valentina Harris for inspiring this story.

Carol, I hope you enjoy The French Cookery School and wish you and your visitors many happy reading hours. Warmest wishes, Caroline xx

Thank you for the wonderful post, Caroline. I have read and immensely enjoyed The French Cookery School, and I am happy to share my review …

In this fast-paced, fun-packed novel, I loved being transported to La Maison du Paradis, where the cast of mature characters came together to create tantalising culinary delights that were as sumptuous as the beautiful French setting.

The new and recurring characters were likeable and created a good mix. I enjoyed watching them develop through the novel as their reasons for attending the cookery school were revealed, and they faced their personal difficulties.

With a perfect blend of humour, heart, and realism, The French Cookery School was my favourite Caroline James novel to date (and I have greatly enjoyed many of her previous novels). Proving that it’s never too late to find joy, fulfilment, and a sense of purpose, the story left me with a big smile and a sense of warmth.

About the book:

The recipe for a perfect summer…

Step 1: Mix together a group of mature students
Step 2: Add in a handsome host
Step 3: Season with a celebrity chef
Step 4: Bring to the boil at a luxurious cookery school in France!

Waltho Williams has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he opens the doors to his beautiful French home, La Maison du Paradis. But with dwindling funds, a cookery school seems like the perfect business plan…

Divorcée caterer Caroline needs to be able stand on her own two feet. While warm-hearted Fran hopes to help her beloved husband fulfil his lifelong dream. And for food journalist Sally, it’s a PR opportunity – until a certain celebrity chef gets under her skin…

But will the eclectic group be a recipe for success, or will the mismatched relationships sink like a souffle?

Whip out an apron, grab a wooden spoon and take a culinary trip to La Maison du Paradis…

About the author:

Caroline James always wanted to write, but instead of taking a literary route, followed a career in the hospitality industry, which included owning a pub and a beautiful country house hotel. She was also a media agent representing celebrity chefs. When she finally glued her rear to a chair and began to write, the words flowed, and several novels later, she has gained many bestseller badges for her books.

Her Amazon Top Five Bestseller, The Cruise, is described as: ‘Girl power for the over sixties!’ Caroline’s hilarious novels include The Spa Break and The Best Boomerville Hotel, depicted as ‘Britain’s answer to the Best Marigold Hotel’.

The French Cookery School is set in the magical environment of La Maison du Paradis, where an eclectic group of guests get more than they bargained for when they come together for an unforgettable week.

Caroline likes to write in Venus, her holiday home on wheels and in her spare time, walks with Fred, her Westie, or swims in a local lake. Caroline is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the SoA, ARRA and the Society of Women’s Writers & Journalists. She is also a speaker with many amusing talks heard by a variety of audiences, including cruise ship guests.

Follow Caroline and keep up to date with her new releases here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Amazon Author Page | Newsletter sign up | BookBub Profile

Location, Location, Location with Caroline James.

07/04/2023Guest Post, Location!Carol Thomas, Carol Thomas Author, Carol Thomas Author Blog, Caroline James, Caroline James Author, Location, One More Chapter, The Cruise, The Spa Breakcarol

I’m pleased to welcome Caroline James to my blog, not least because her post is going to whisk us away for some Easter sun as she tells us all about her forthcoming novel, The Cruise, and the inspiration behind its exotic setting. Over to you, Caroline …

A Caribbean sunset.

‘Can you write a romcom, set in an exotic location, about three friends in their sixties, heading off on a luxury cruise?’

That was a question from my publisher when discussing the brief for my new novel, The Cruise. Yes, I most certainly could! It was a pinch myself moment when I heard the title and the subject matter. Here was an opportunity to set the novel in a place I knew well and to virtually revisit the Caribbean.

My characters are three friends in their sixties. Kath is widowed, Jane unmarried, and Anne is almost-divorced. They join the Diamond Star, a luxury ship for those of a certain age, to set sail on a Christmas cruise, little knowing how their troubled lives are about to change.

Jane, Kath and Anne.

The story gathered pace as I wrote, and the ladies journeyed through the islands. I relived a time when I, too, discovered the Caribbean, when, in my early twenties, I was married to a Bajan man. We’d met when we were both working in London.

I was a naïve young girl when I first experienced life in Barbados and the islands. Still, memories don’t fade, and my recollection of those days served me well when writing The Cruise. Characters that I saved in my story bank began to come to life. Here was an opportunity to enrich the narrative, for I was familiar with the setting. I could taste the smoky rum and feel the tropical sun on my skin. I remembered the beautiful tranquil Caribbean Sea lapping soft white sands, contrasting with the wilder Atlantic rolling over miles of empty beach, where the two seas meet at northern points on some islands.

The Caribbean Sea in Barbados.

It was a joy to take my characters to markets in Martinique or an aerial tour of Antigua. I joined them on the balcony of their cabin to witness a stunning sunrise and magical sunset where the flame-like sky was hypnotic.

The fish market women who feature in The Cruise.

My marriage didn’t last, but I had reason to revisit the Caribbean a couple of decades later when my son owned a business there. For several years I indulged in a way of life so different from my life in northern England, and Barbados became a second home.

In The Cruise, Kath, Jane and Anne take an island tour around Barbados, and I couldn’t stop smiling as I wrote the chapter. Suddenly, incidents that had amused me on the island helped shape their tour. From the taxi driver smoking whacky baccy in his weed wagon, eating chicken feet in a rum shop, then swimming unknowingly in shark-infested waters, my ladies experience it all!

Whatever location your travels take you to, take care, safe journeys and happy reading.

With love,
Caroline. x

Thank you so much for sharing your inspiration, Caroline. It was great to hear more about the location of your novel, which is my current read, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. As you would say, I am sure it is going to fly! xx

THE CRUISE

Three friends set sail on a luxury cruise…

Will they be able to catch a husband on the open seas?

When widowed Kath, unmarried Jane and almost-divorced Anne decide to set off on a Caribbean cruise, they have no idea how their lives are about to change! The friends leave behind heartache and disappointment and, determined to find Anne a new husband, swap Christmas turkeys and BBC reruns for crystal waters, white sandy beaches and smooth golden rum. Throwing caution (and tradition) to the wind, they begin to husband hunt on the luxurious cruise ship. But will Anne get her wish, and will the friends find the comfort and joy they seek aboard the Diamond Star? With a cast of colourful characters from naturist Bridgette, con-artist gigolo Dicky and Londoner Selwyn, who is letting his old life go as he too embraces the new – all is revealed in this sparkling new novel by Caroline James.

The Cruise – Publishing as an eBook on 20^th April 2023 / Paperback July 6^th 2023

Publisher: One More Chapter for Harper Collins UK

Links: Amazon | Apple Books | Kobo

About the author:

Best-selling author of women’s fiction, Caroline James has owned and run businesses encompassing all aspects of the hospitality industry, a subject that often features in her novels. She is based in Lancashire but has a great fondness for travel and escapes whenever she can. A public speaker, which includes talks and lectures on cruise ships, Caroline is a member of the RNA, the SWWJ and the SOA. In her spare time, Caroline likes to swim in a local lake or walk with Fred, her Westie.

Escape to Cumbria with Caroline James.

16/09/2021Escape to, Guest PostBoomerville hotel, Carol Thomas, Carol Thomas Author, Carol Thomas Author Blog, Caroline James, Caroline James Author, Cumbria, Hattie Goes to Hollywood, The Best Boomerville Hotel, The Lake Districtcarol

This week, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Caroline James as she talks about Cumbria, the inspiration behind the setting of her novels.

I write about Cumbria after falling in love with the county many years ago. Also known as the Lake District, it is a creative’s dream and has inspired writers for centuries. My novels have sometimes featured a fictional hotel named Boomerville, popular with guests over the age of fifty. I once owned a hotel in the northern part of the county and knew that one day, it would be an excellent source for stories when I eventually glued my rear to a chair and began to write.

My fictional guests, often older protagonists, like the real guests who came to my hotel, flock to the area to experience the beauty and splendour of the landscape. In The Best Boomerville Hotel, I want the guests to have fun. They enjoy courses such as pottery or art and participate in whacky events where they may get stoned in a tepee with the resident shaman or hold a séance with Queenie, the clairvoyant. As I get older, I embrace my age and want my readers to enjoy the character’s journey as they find themselves experiencing new things too.

For several years I ran a pub, then a hotel in the Eden Valley and was captivated by the warmth of the locals who were so supportive to a newcomer. The hotel had been the principal house in the village and, with an impressive Georgian frontage, was set in three acres of lovely walled gardens with a large Victorian conservatory. Walking along the shadowy ridges of the fells in my spare time restored my spirits after a hard day at work and spurred my creative juices, for even then, I knew that I wanted to write stories based in this special place.

My first novel, Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me, was set in a fictional village, but the market town of Appleby was the location behind the story. Appleby holds an annual gypsy horse fair, often hated by the locals but loved by the thousands of visitors who flock to the town. The fair was an ideal setting for a story. I live in Lancashire now but often travel into Cumbria for an afternoon or evening walk, and being beside the water of the lakes is something I treasure. My favourite lake is Ullswater, and my much-loved time of year is autumn when the leaves, crisp underfoot, turn to scarlet and gold, and there is a delicious chill in the air.

My latest publication, Hattie Goes to Hollywood, is set in a fictional village close to a lake. Ullswater was the inspiration for the novel. The main character, Hattie, a new resident in Hollywood, turns into a Cumbrian Miss Marple when she discovers three suicides in the village.

I write feel-good novels and hope that they uplift the reader. Cumbria has long been my muse, and I owe a great deal to this extraordinary place.

Carol, thank you so much for hosting me on your wonderful blog.

Happy reading everyone xx

Thank you so much for stopping by and for sharing your lovely blog and photographs. Autumn is my favourite time of the year, too. xx

About Caroline James:

Author of women’s fiction, Caroline James has owned and run businesses encompassing all aspects of the hospitality industry, a subject that often features in her novels. She is based in the UK but has a great fondness for travel and escapes whenever the pandemic allows. A public speaker, which has included talks and lectures on cruise ships world-wide, Caroline is also a consultant and food writer. In her spare time, Caroline can be found walking up a mountain with Fred, her Westie, or sipping raspberry gin and relaxing with her head in a book and hand in a box of chocolates.

Discover more about her novels or contact Caroline here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Amazon

Feel Good Friday with Caroline James.

23/04/2021Feel Good Friday, Guest PostBoomerville, Boomerville at Ballymegille, Carol Thomas, Carol Thomas Author, Carol Thomas Author Blog, Caroline James, Caroline James Author, Coffee Tea the Caribbean & Me, Coffee Tea the Chef & Me, Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me, Hattie Goes to Hollywood, Jungle Rock, Ruby Fiction, The Best Boomerville Hotelcarol

A very warm welcome to fellow Apricot Plots author Caroline James, who joins me on this Feel Good Friday!

What do you consider to be the top three feel-good things about Boomerville at Ballymegille?

Beautiful Southern Ireland is the backdrop for the book and readers will feel welcoming Irish arms wrap around them as soon as they begin reading and are invited to join in with the craic. The guests at Boomerville Manor arrive with emotional baggage and leave it all behind as they discover new experiences at this retreat for those of a ‘certain age’. Hattie & Jo, the manager and owner, are caring and warm and with Hattie’s effervescent personality, that creates mayhem wherever she goes, there are plenty of shenanigans along the way.

Please share a review that made you smile. What about it did you like?

The following review for Boomerville at Ballymegille made me smile from ear to ear because the reader completely ‘got’ the book. It is written by Being Anne Reviews, who is an award-winning reviewer, which made me smile even more with pride.

“A wonderful story of friendship, support and pulling together. The very definition of heart-warming and feelgood, and I loved every single moment. And I must – without any detail, of course – say that I thought the ending was absolutely perfect, and entirely what I’d rather been hoping for. Without question, this was one of my books of the year.”

What is your favourite place to enjoy a good read?

I love to snuggle in bed on a Sunday morning with a good book. My biggest treat is to have breakfast in bed and my lovely hubby makes a mean scrambled egg and smoked salmon on toast. With a mug of tea and Fred our Westie snuggled in too, I am in reading heaven.

Five quick questions for fun:

Favourite biscuit? Marks & Spencer sort of thick hobnob with chocolate on one side. Crisp, firm and perfect for dunking.

Swimming pool or the sea? I’ll swim anywhere, wild-water in a lake, and especially in the sea. This photo was taken on New Year’s Day, before lockdown, shortly before we plunged into a wild and freezing cold Irish Sea.

Paperback, ebook or audio? I love audio books. I can listen as I do the housework or, a real pleasure is when I’m cycling in the countryside. A bit of ‘me time’ and a good audio book on my headphones – perfect.

Netflix or cinema? We have a gorgeous cinema not far away that has an forty or so seater screening area. There are rows of double velvet sofas with tables in between, cushions and stacks of leg room. It is such a treat to go there, a lovely night out.

Boomerville at Ballymegille

The blurb:

Join Hattie and Jo as they head to Southern Ireland to open Boomerville Manor, a holiday retreat for guests of ‘a certain age’. There’s Irish craic and shenanigans aplenty for the colourful cast of characters as everyone gathers for the grand opening.Meet Melissa, an ex-cabaret singer running from her abusive husband, and Bill, a bachelor bullied from beyond the grave by the ghostly voice of his mother. Along with local bobby Harry the Helmet, ageing aquatic team the Boomerville Babes, eccentric artist Lucinda Gray, and heartthrob Finbar Murphy, they gather in Ireland and the fun begins. But murder is in the air and there’s mischief afoot. Will the residents get more than they bargained for at Boomerville?

Set in the beautiful Irish countryside, ‘Boomerville at Ballymegille’ is a heart-warming story of friendship, fears and new beginnings.

Purchase here.

About the Author:

Best-selling author of women’s fiction, Caroline James has owned and run businesses encompassing all aspects of the hospitality industry, a subject that often features in her novels. She is based in the UK but has a great fondness for travel and escapes whenever she can. A public speaker, which includes talks and lectures on cruise ships world-wide, Caroline is also a consultant and food writer. She is a member of the Romantic Novelist’s Association, the Society of Women’s Writer’s & Journalists and the Society of Authors and writes articles and short stories, contributing to many publications. In her spare time, Caroline can be found walking up a mountain with her two Westie dogs, sipping raspberry gin or relaxing with her head in a book and hand in a box of chocolates.

Books by Caroline James:

Discover more about her novels or contact Caroline here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Amazon

Thank you for the great post, Caroline. It is always a pleasure to have you on my blog. Rather you than me with swimming in wild water 🙂 but the cinema looks lovely! xx

#WritingWednesday with Caroline James: Keep Writing.

27/10/2020Guest Post, Writing WednesdayCarol Thomas, Carol Thomas Author, Carol Thomas Author Blog, Caroline James, Caroline James Author, Writing, Writing Tips, Writing Wednesday, WritingWednesdaycarol

Great advice from Caroline James on writing regularly and getting that first draft down:

Take a notebook, sit down and write in longhand for half an hour. Write anything that comes into your head. Let your stream of consciousness flow. Do this every morning for a week and see what happens. I promise; something will connect and your creativity will spark. In her book, The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron calls this, The Morning Pages, and many writers including myself, practice every day. Don’t forget that you have to write badly in order to get better and the more you write the more your writing will improve.

Stephen King, the famous author, who has sold millions of books, states that in order to write well you should read prolifically. He wrote a book for writers called, On Writing, and I highly recommend using some of his methods.

Begin a writing project and allow yourself time to write. Take time out of your day to sit down in a space that you can call your own, for however long you have. At the moment, we can’t take ourselves off to cafés or parks, so it is important to make it clear to your household members that this is your bit of ‘me time.’ If you write in challenging circumstances, you can write anywhere. Every day that you don’t write because you don’t know what to write or where to begin, is another day of not being a writer.

Don’t worry about grammar and spelling.

Just get it written. Get to the end of your first draft. The most important thing is to get your story on the page. You can check everything later. Don’t stop the flow by worrying over poor spelling or grammar. Once the first draft is in the bag then editing, re-editing and re-writing can be done.

Best-selling author Caroline James writes women’s fiction.

Discover more about her novels or contact Caroline here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Amazon