Tag Archives: Choc Lit

Sharon Ibbotson joins my Christmas Countdown!

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

Rounding off my Christmas Countdown, I am delighted to welcome author Sharon Ibbotson, as she chats about her latest novel, Hanukkah at the Great Greenwich Ice Creamery!


I’ve already read and enjoyed your book, Sharon, but for those who haven’t, how will your characters be spending the festive season?

Well, given that my hero Cohen is Jewish, and my book called ‘Hanukkah at the Great Greenwich Ice Creamery’ the answer is that they won’t be celebrating Christmas! Cohen mentions in the book that they tend to order Chinese food on Christmas day (something I’ve done myself in the past) and watch a Christmas movie (something I always do!) but that otherwise the day passes without any noteworthy celebration. This year Christmas day coincides with the fourth night of Hanukkah however, so I can imagine my characters gathering around the hanukiah and saying the first and second blessings before lighting the Hannukah candles. They might then sing some traditional songs or eat some latkes (a sort of fried potato cake, very delicious!) or, given Cohen’s embittered demeanour (before he meets my heroine, I mean) he might just drink and wish the holidays away…

And to entice readers further, here’s the blurb:

Hanukkah days, Christmas nights and strawberry ice cream …
Cohen Ford is a man who could do with a little bit of sweetening up. It’s no surprise that when he walks into The Great Greenwich Ice Creamery on a typically gloomy London day before Christmas, he insists on a black coffee rather than his childhood favourite – strawberry ice cream.

But then he meets River de Luca, the woman behind the flavours. After their first encounter, Cohen begins visiting the ice creamery every Tuesday, gradually learning more about the intriguing River. Could her influence encourage cynical Cohen to become the man who embraces Christmas, Hanukkah and even strawberry ice cream?

Genre: Romance
Published by: Choc Lit

And my review:

A lovely, heart-warming original story. I liked the characters of Cohen and River (great names too) and enjoyed watching their relationship develop as they learned to communicate and face the challenges that came their way. I have never read a Hanukkah romance before and greatly enjoyed this one. It was a refreshing story – in more ways than one, as there was plenty of delicious sounding ice-cream mentioned too.

Click to buy the book: Choc Lit | Amazon | Audio

Now, I am intrigued to know how you will be spending this festive season; does the Ibbotson household embrace Christmas, Hanukkah or even strawberry ice-cream? (Do you see what I did there?)

Well, there will be about twenty of us together on the day, all squeezed into my Mum’s house in Newcastle. My husband’s family are Christian, so he’ll take his Dad to church, but we’re not Christian on my side and so don’t celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas. For my sisters and I, the holiday is more an excuse to spend time together. We’re a family of people who appreciate food and drink, so we tend to start with coffee before hitting the prosecco hard and not looking back. The kids will play and we’ll talk and spend time cooking, and we might all watch a film together. My sister has a dog (I’m not allowed one at home yet sadly as my husband has cats) so I’m hoping I’ll get to take her out for a walk on Christmas Day (hint, hint Jules!)

Oh, I do love a family get together, and I hope you get to go for your dog walk. Before you go, I wonder if you would answer five questions from my festive selection?

Naughty or nice? I’m always nice, lol. But I can be occasionally naughty if the situation calls for it!

Mince pie or Christmas pudding? I love a mince pie! They give them out at my local coffee shop so I eat far too many of them too.

Favourite Christmas film? Home Alone. My son is nearly eight and loves it, and I could listen to him laugh all day long.

Black forest hot chocolate or gingerbread latte? Gingerbread latte. But it would have to be decaff, soy, and sugar free, so I don’t tend to indulge these days disappointingly.

First Roses flavour to disappear from your tub? I miss the coffee flavour desperately. That was always the one that went first for me.

Thank you so much for joining my Christmas Countdown, and I wish you and your family a fabulous festive season. xx

About the author:

Sharon Ibbotson is Australian but has lived in the UK for nearly twenty years. She started writing romance when she ran out of Sweet Valley High movies to read. She lives in London with her husband and two kids. Her professional background is in marketing and she has a degree in anthropology and gender studies from the University of Edinburgh. She loves reading and writing regency romance novels, especially those with a more gothic and darker tone.

Discover more about Sharon and her work, here: website | Twitter | Facebook

Thank you so very much to all of the wonderful authors who have taken part in my Christmas Countdown, it has been a lot of fun to get to know you all a little more. And I would like to take this opportunity, once more, to wish you all a very happy Christmas. xx



Kirsty Ferry joins my Christmas Countdown!

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

Today, I am delighted to welcome Choc Lit author, Kirsty Ferry, as she joins my Christmas countdown!

Welcome to my blog Kirsty, I would love to know how your characters will be spending Christmas…

They’ll be having an extended celebration – if Zac can reach Ivy in time! She’s in Glastonbury, just around about the Winter Solstice. So they might get involved in the celebrations there, by climbing the Tor and visiting the Chalice Well. Then, if, say Ivy heads up to the Isle of Skye where Zac lives, they might have a more traditional Island Christmas, with church, food and drink, the company of good friends, a pub or two and finish it all curled up in front of a roaring fire at Zac’s converted croft. It’ll all be revealed in the book!

OO, it sounds fabulously festive and to tempt readers further here’s the blurb:

How far would you go to be with the one you love at Christmas? How far would you go to be with the one you love at Christmas?

The Isle of Skye is a magical place, especially at Christmas, and there’s no place Zac Fallon would rather be. But whilst Zac has everything he needs on Skye, there’s still something missing – and that something is a somebody called Ivy McFarlane.

Ivy used to work with Zac but then spread her wings and moved to Glastonbury. He’s missed her ever since. Now it’s almost Christmas and Zac realises that the Ivy shaped hole in his life is too big to bear. So starts his festive mission to the mainland – but will he be back in time to spend Christmas in Skye? And, more importantly, will Ivy be with him?

Buying links: Amazon | Audio

With plenty going on for your characters in the lead up to Christmas, I’d love to know how you will be spending this festive season…

The celebrations will start on Christmas Eve, when we will go to the Family Crib Carol Service at our local church with a big group of friends. The kids have all grown up together and remain very close. Every year we get a photo of them in the same place outside the church. Then we will go home and watch Muppets Christmas Carol and order in a Chinese. Then drink prosecco and wait for Santa – putting out his prosecco, a mince pie and a carrot for Rudolph. Christmas Day we will visit my parents, then come home for lunch. The after that it’s pjs, chocolate, trashy tea, more prosecco, chocolate and relax!

I love the fact that Santa gets prosecco at your house; I must work on the fact that my children leave him milk 😉 Before you go, Kirsty, I’d love you to answer five quick questions from my Christmas selection:

Mince pie or Christmas pudding? Mince pie – I can wolf on down on the hoof, therefore I don’t have to invest any time in sitting down and eating properly.

Favourite Christmas film? Tough one. Either Elf or Muppets Christmas Carol.

Black forest hot chocolate or gingerbread latte? Gingerbread latte. If I had a black forest hot chocolate during the day I’d fall asleep!

First Quality Street flavour to disappear from your tub? Runny caramel, then chewy caramel then strawberry creams.

Who did you play in the school nativity? I can only remember being in one. I was an angel, complete with tinsel halo.

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

About the author:

Kirsty Ferry is from the North East of England and won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 with the ghostly tale ‘Enchantment’.

Her timeslip novel, ‘Some Veil Did Fall’, a paranormal romance set in Whitby, was published by Choc Lit in Autumn 2014. This was followed by another Choc Lit timeslip, ‘The Girl in the Painting’ in February 2016. ‘The Girl in the Photograph’, published in March 2017, completes the Rossetti Mysteries series. The experience of signing ‘Some Veil Did Fall’ in a quirky bookshop in the midst of Goth Weekend in Whitby, dressed as a recently undead person was one of the highlights of her writing career so far!

Kirsty’s first timeslip novel ‘The Memory of Snow’, commended in the Northern Writers’ Awards, is set on Hadrian’s Wall, with the vampire tale ‘Refuge’ set on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. She has also put together a collection of short stories, a non-fiction collection of articles and writes Gothic Fiction under the pen name Cathryn Ramsay.

Kirsty has had articles and short stories published in Your Cat, Peoples Friend, Ghost Voices, The Weekly News and It’s Fate, and her short stories appear in several anthologies. She was a judge in the Paws ‘n’ Claws ‘Wild and Free’ Children’s Story competition in 2011, 2013 and 2014, and graduated from Northumbria University in December 2016, having achieved a Masters with Distinction in Creative Writing.

You can follow Kirsty, and find out more about her work here: Facebook | Twitter | website | blog

Don’t miss author Kitty Wilson, joining my Christmas Countdown, on Thursday 19th December! xx

Angela Britnell joins my Christmas Countdown.

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

Today, on my Christmas countdown, I am delighted to welcome author Angela Britnell whose novel, Christmas in Little Penhaven is definitely on my reading list this festive season.

Welcome to my blog Angela, I greatly enjoyed my last visit to Little Penhaven, in One Summer in Little Penhaven, and I would love to know how your characters will be celebrating Christmas…

It’s tricky to answer this without giving away too much of the story but ‘Christmas in Little Penhaven’ is set in a small Cornish village where most of the inhabitants celebrate in the time honoured English manner. But Samantha, my feisty American heroine from ‘One Summer in Little Penhaven’, wants to incorporate her own holiday traditions into her new life so there will be definite parallels with my own transatlantic celebrations.

Here’s the blurb, for a bit more of a hint 🙂

Have yourself a little Cornish Christmas …

Wannabe author Jane Solomon is expecting an uneventful Christmas in her Cornish village of Little Penhaven.

But then super fit American gym owner Hal Muir comes to town, and suddenly the holiday season looks set to be far more interesting. Hal is keen on embracing every British tradition on offer, from mince pies to Christmas pub quizzes – and perhaps some festive romance too …

Click to buy.

Please, tell us more about your own transatlantic celebrations and what you’ll be up to this Christmas:

By the time 25th December rolls around we’ll be getting ready to move house but plan to host the family anyway. At least two of our sons and their families will join us but the third could already have moved because they’re in the process of moving too. As far as the Christmas meal is concerned we always combine British and American favourites so as well as roast turkey we’ll have southern cornbread dressing (instead of stuffing), sweet potato casserole and an asparagus casserole plus roast potatoes and sprouts! Desserts will be a mixture too including southern boiled custard and snickerdoodle cookies alongside mince pies and Christmas pudding. We’ll have stockings for everyone old and young and I’ll definitely listen to the Queen’s speech.

Wow! Good luck with moving house at such a busy time of year. And I would love to know what snickerdoodle cookies are, they sound great. Before you go, please take a moment to answer five quick fire questions from my Christmas selection (I am loving everybody’s answers to these!):

Mince pie or Christmas pudding? I love both but if forced to choose it has to be mince pies – preferably homemade, warm and served with Cornish clotted cream.

Singing a Christmas carol or bopping along to a Christmas classic? I love hearing and singing traditional Christmas carols but seriously dislike canned seasonal music you hear played in shops for months leading up to the holidays. I particularly hate sappy Christmas songs – ‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ and ‘White Christmas’ make me gag! My own preferences have sneaked into the character of Jane in ‘Christmas in Little Penhaven.’

Worst Christmas gift? Definitely the sewing machine my husband gave me many years ago. To set the scene I hate sewing, I was suffering from the flu and everything was being captured on video to send to my parents in Cornwall. I had to plaster on a smile and pretend to be pleased while wanting to smash the offending object through the nearest window.

Multi-coloured decs or co-ordinated Christmas tree? IMHO colour-coordinated ones belong in hotel lobbies but everyone to their own! I love unwrapping our tree decorations every year because they bring back wonderful memories. Red hearts from Denmark, carved wooden decorations bought at German Christmas markets, exquisite hand painted glass balls from Italy and cross-stitch ornaments made by old friends no longer with us.

Sprouts or no sprouts? Sprouts – I love them now and my sons all enjoy them (the youngest would bizarrely eat them like sweets as a two year old!) but they’re definitely a taste I’ve acquired with age because as a child I hated them and thought them a plague on Christmas.

Oh goodness, I would be disappointed with a sewing machine too (well done on the fake smile), and I do love hearing a Christmas carol too, though I must confess to bopping along to all kinds of sappy Christmas songs from about October, hehe!

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

About the author:

Angela Britnell grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!

A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she’s visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she’s a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.

Angela is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Romance Writers of America and the Music City Romance Writers.

If you’d like to find out more of what Angela gets up to (Advance warning: this may include references to wine, chocolate, Poldark and the hunky Aidan Turner) check out: Facebook | website | Twitter | Instagram

Don’t miss author Jane Cable sharing a Christmas read and some festive fun, on my blog on Monday 9th December. xx

Hannah Pearl joins my Christmas Countdown!

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

Today, I am delighted to have fellow Ruby Fiction author, Hannah Pearl, joining my Christmas countdown, with her fabulous, heartwarming festive read Daisy’s Christmas Gift Shop!

Welcome to my blog Hannah, I love your gorgeous cover and I am excited to know how your characters will be spending Christmas…

Evie will be spending the day with Jake. Her cousin Charmaine will cook. Charmaine will complain about having to do so on her day off as she’s a chef so she’ll have been busy making Christmas dinners for work parties for the last month, but she knows no one else could make anything as tasty. Jake certainly can’t be trusted to bake without setting fire to the kitchen. Jake’s dad, sister and niece will be there so the day will be full of love, laughter and Guinness.

Karen will be looking forward to Hogmanay, but will doubtless raise a glass of whisky on Christmas Day when she thinks about how her life has changed since her last birthday.

Daisy will be spending the day with her brother Ben, her dad, her best friend Lily and Ben’s best friend Eli. You’ll have to read my first ever Christmas book, Daisy’s Christmas Gift Shop, to find out whether she and Eli will be kissing or killing each other under the mistletoe!

OO what a tease and the blurb is not giving much away either:

Struggling to find the perfect Christmas gift? Step into Romantic Daze …

Daisy Kirk is a sucker for a love story, which is why she opened up her gift shop – because there’s nothing that makes Daisy happier than when she’s helped a customer achieve their own ‘happily ever after’ by finding the perfect Christmas gift for their loved one. And she absolutely does not just sell ‘soppy presents and frilly pants’ as her brother’s infuriating best friend, Eli, is so fond of suggesting.

The sad fact is that whilst Daisy is helping others with their love lives, hers is non-existent. But when unusual circumstances take Daisy and Eli on a road trip from London to rural Wales, will she finally get the happily ever after to her own Christmas love story?

Buying links: Amazon UK | Amazon.com | Ruby Fiction

I can’t wait to find out how Christmas turns out for Daisy and Eli, in the meantime why don’t you tell us how you will be spending this festive season?

Hopefully with a big family get together. I somehow ended up volunteering to coordinate a Secret Santa for about twenty relatives a few years ago. It went well and I’ve been organising them ever since so I assume a chunk of the day will also go on making sure that everyone has a gift to open!

 I’ll try to make sure I fit in a rest at some point, often when many of my family go out for a walk, to make sure that I can last for as much of the day as possible.

 There are usually too many of us to sit down for a formal traditional meal but we’ll make sure we fit in a roast dinner at some point during the holidays, albeit that I’ll have mine with veggie sausages instead of turkey!

 Well done on organising the Secret Santa, it sounds like you have Christmas all wrapped up (sorry I couldn’t resist). Before you go, I’d love you to answer five quick questions from my Christmas selection:

Christmas jumper or posh frock? Christmas jumper. I don’t think I could look smart if I tried any more so might as well embrace it and go with something fun.

 Real or artificial Christmas tree? Real. We had an artificial tree for about ten years and my daughter loves it so much she now puts it in her room, but I love a real tree. I always feel a bit sad when it’s time to get rid of it. It adds so much colour and cheer to the room.

 Mince pie or Christmas pudding? Both.

 Favourite Christmas film? Die Hard. (Now you’re being controversial – I’ve heard arguments over whether this is a Christmas film.)

 Cracker hat or no cracker hat? No hat, they barely fit over my hair!

 Favourite Christmas song? Slade. Merry Christmas Everybody.  It doesn’t feel like Christmas until I’ve heard Noddy Holder belt out Merry Christmas!

 Must watch Christmas TV? Doctor Who and Strictly.

Thank you so much for joining my Christmas countdown, and I love the fact you got carried away and answered seven of my Christmas selection questions. I wish you and your family a fabulous festive season! xx

About the author:

Hannah Pearl was born in East London. She is married with two children and now lives in Cambridge.

She has previously worked as a Criminology researcher, as a Development Worker with various charities and even pulled a few pints in her time.

In 2015 she was struck down by Labrynthitis, which left her feeling dizzy and virtually housebound. She has since been diagnosed with ME. Reading has allowed Hannah to escape from the reality of feeling ill. She read upwards of three hundred books during the first year of her illness. When her burgeoning eReader addiction grew to be too expensive, she decided to have a go at writing. In 2017 she won Simon and Schuster’s Books and the City #heatseeker short story competition, in partnership with Heat magazine, for her short story The Last Good Day.

Hannah is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association.

Discover more about Hannah Pearl here: Twitter |  Blog | Ruby Fiction

Also by Hannah Pearl:

Evie’s Little Black Book

Is hunting down every man you’ve kissed the answer to finding Mr Right?

When Evie is invited to the wedding of the guy she’d fancied throughout her teens, it’s the final straw. What’s wrong with her and why can’t she keep a man?

In between consoling herself with ice cream and chocolate, and sobbing her heart out to her cousin Chamaine, Evie has a brainwave – and it all centres around her ‘little black book’ (well, more floral patterned notebook really) – which contains the details of every man she’s ever kissed or dated. Perhaps the cure for her disastrous love life has been nestled within its pages all along …

Does Evie’s little black book really hold the answers, or will she learn that exes are exes for a reason?

Publisher: Ruby Fiction
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Buy the book Amazon UK | Amazon.com

It’s My Birthday

Oh boy, another birthday…

Karen could be excused for crying on her birthday, especially as it’s the first one since her husband got on a plane to the States and never came back. Then there’s the fact that her workmates were practically bribed to attend her birthday meal. But when a restaurant double booking leads to her sharing a table with single dad Elliot and his daughter, things start looking up.

As Karen gets to know Elliot she experiences feelings she thought she’d never have again. But is it enough? Or will the thing that destroyed Karen’s previous relationship also ruin things with Elliot?

Publisher: Ruby Fiction
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Buy the book Amazon UK | Amazon.com| Ruby Fiction

Don’t miss author Angela Britnell joining my Christmas Countdown, on Thursday 5th December! xx

Marie Laval joins my Christmas Countdown!

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

Next up on my Christmas countdown is Choc Lit author, Marie Laval, with her festive read, Bluebell’s Christmas Magic…

Welcome to my blog, Marie. I love the cover and have your book on my to-be-read list, as I can’t wait to read it, perhaps you could tell me how your characters will be spending Christmas?

Thank you very much, Carol, for welcoming me on your blog for this special Christmas countdown! My heroine Cassie Bell loves Christmas. She loves it so much her grandfather often says she must be an elf in disguise and he even bought her a silly green hat with red pompoms. In Red Moss, Cassie’s little Cumbrian village, Christmas is taken very seriously indeed. There is a Christmas Fair, a grotto with a different Santa every year, and a standup comedy competition at the local pub that Cassie’s granddad has won for the past fifteen years. Unfortunately Stefan Lambert, the grumpy Frenchman Cassie has been hired to look after during his stay at the local manor house, has completely different ideas about Christmas. In fact, he has travelled all the way to the Lake District to forget all about Christmas… Will Cassie change his mind, and his heart?

OO I love the sound of this, and for a bit more of a teaser for those who are tempted, here’s the blurb: 

A gorgeous new Christmas story from the author of best selling novel Little Pink Taxi
A flick of a feather duster and a sprinkle of Christmas magic …
Cassie Bell is used to mess. Her cleaning business, Bluebell Cleaning, is well known in the Cumbrian village of Red Moss. However, now it’s almost Christmas and Cassie has a slightly messier situation to deal with than she’s used to.

She’s been hired to help Stefan Lambert, an injured army helicopter pilot who’s staying at the local Belthorn Manor whilst he recovers. Stefan resents Cassie’s interference and is definitely not looking for Christmas cheer. But Cassie prides herself on sparkling surfaces – so, can she bring some festive sparkle to Stefan’s life too?

Click to buy the book.

So with your character’s divided over how to spend Christmas, I am intrigued to know how you will be spending this festive season… 

This year, I am hoping to spend the Christmas holidays at home in Lancashire with my family. On Christmas day, we usually have a lovely lunch, followed by ice-cream (Poires Belle-Hélène are my favourite!) before having a good laugh at the crackers my daughter makes herself, and which include jokes, Christmas compliments and New Year improvement tips! After the meal, we usually collapse on the sofa and watch a comedy or two.

That sounds a lot of fun and makes me wonder what my children would include if they were left in charge of the Christmas crackers!

Before you go, Marie, I have five quick questions for you from my Christmas selection:

Christmas jumper or posh frock? Christmas jumper, and very loose and comfortable leggings!

Real or artificial Christmas tree? Definitely a real tree. We have had the same three for the past four years. It lives in a tub in the garden, and comes back inside for the festive season! We use the same decorations, but buy a new one every year.

Mince pie or Christmas pudding? Neither! Being French, I had never eaten either mince pies or Christmas puddings before coming to live in England, and they’re still not my favourite treats. Instead, I bake shortbread or chocolate biscuits, or my mother’s almond macaroons, and chocolate Yule log, of course.

Best cracker joke? The jokes my daughter makes up when she does her own Christmas crackers. I used some of them in Bluebell’s Christmas Magic. Here is one of them: ‘What did the policeman say to the naughty Christmas pudding? I’m taking you into custardy.’

Favourite Christmas song? For me, nothing can beat ‘Last Christmas I gave you my heart’ by Wham.

What a great idea with your tree, and I have a liking for macaroons too 😉

Thank you so much for joining in with my Christmas countdown and I wish you and your family a very happy Christmas. And here’s a joke for your daughter: Why was the snowman staring at the carrots? Because he was picking his nose! xx

About the author:

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie Laval now lives in Lancashire with her family. She works full-time as a modern languages teacher and in her spare time she loves writing romance and dreaming about romantic heroes. She writes both historical and contemporary romance and best-selling Little Pink Taxi was her debut romantic comedy novel with Choc Lit.

She belongs to Authors on the Edge and writes short stories for the best selling Miss Moonshine’s anthologies. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors. Her native France, as well as her passion for history and research, very much influences her writing, and all her novels have what she likes to call ‘a French twist’!

You can find out more about Marie here:  Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest 

Don’t miss author Hannah Pearl on my blog on Monday 2nd December, for more festive fun. xx