📖 Book Review ~ A Week at the Shore by Barbara Delinsky

Sphere
18 March 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky explores how lives and relationships are forever changed when three sisters reunite at their family Rhode Island beach house.

It’s been twenty years since Mallory left home, running from the scandal that tore her family apart and ended her relationship with her first love. But now her father is sick, and Mallory, along with her estranged sisters, must return to the lives they left behind.

Soon after her arrival, Mallory bumps into Jack, the only man she’s ever loved and the reason she left town. Jack is different now, no longer the rebel she once knew, but as much as the pair wish to reconnect, the secrets that tore them apart decades ago continue to divide them.

While caring for her father and trying to repair her rocky relationship with her sisters, Mallory, with Jack’s help, chases down answers about the scandal that separated them. Could it be that the truth they’re seeing lies much closer to home?

📖 My thoughts..

After receiving a disturbing phone call about her father, Mallory Aldiss returns to Rhode Island after an absence of twenty years. The Aldiss family are complicated, especially as hints of a scandal twenty years ago still lingers in the shadows. Mallory's relationship with her elderly father is fractured and whilst he is pleased to see Mallory and his young teenage granddaughter, he  seems unsettled, and his growing confusion only heightens the family tension. Being back home in Bay Bluff brings back all the complicated reasons of just why Mallory left twenty years ago, and when she meets again with her ex-boyfriend, everything that she had buried so carefully comes back to haunt her. 

It takes a while for the story to get going but the author maintains her usual style for slow and considered writing. The careful veneer with which the Aldiss family have surrounded themselves forms the heart of the story, old resentments linger and family secrets threaten to overshadow everything and it's only by confronting her problems will Mallory ever be able to move on with her life.

Set against the glorious background of the Rhode Island coastline which the author describes so beautifully I feel as if my feet touched the sand and walked alongside Mallory as she attempts to make sense of how her life had taken her back to this moment. 

A Week at the Shore carefully rolls out family secrets which, once revealed, can never be hidden again.

About the Author

Barbara Delinsky lives in Needham, Massachusetts. With thirty million copies of her novels in print, in twenty-five different languages, Delinsky is one of the world’s most beloved and revered storytellers. A lifelong New Englander, she uses the area as settings in most of her stories. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys kayaking, aerobics and needlepoint, in addition to spending time with family and friends. She is also a breast cancer survivor, and strives to be a positive role model for other women facing the disease.

Twitter @BarbaraDelinsky #AWeekAtTheShore

@LittleBrownUK

Book Review ~ Just Another Mountain by Sarah Jane Douglas

Elliot&Thompson
26 March 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

In 1997, at the age of 24, Sarah lost her mother to breast cancer. Alone and adrift in the world, she very nearly gave up hope - but she'd made a promise to her mother that she would keep going no matter what. So she turned to the beautiful, dangerous, forbidding mountains of her native Scotland. - and then beyond.

What did I think about it..

All of us rise to the challenges of our lives in very different ways. Some of us take to moments of quiet reflection whilst others turn to more adventurous pursuits, and that was certainly the case for this author, who, having already lost her mother to breast cancer, faces her own cancer diagnosis, not with a sense of impending doom, but with the realisation that she promised her mother that she would never give up.

Rediscovering her love of hill walking in her beloved Scotland , the author finds freedom, and the joy of living, when she reaches the top of her chosen mountain. This love of walking in the great outdoors and the sheer pleasure from reaching the summit of the most impressive hills and mountains allowed her to put her rather fractured life into perspective again.

In this week when the country has faced the greatest challenge of a generation I have been inspired by the books I have been privileged to read in this troubled time. Some of them have been light hearted fun reads which made me smile, others have taken me back to another time and place, whilst clever poets have allowed me a moment or two of reflective calm.

Just another Mountain has been an inspiration. Beautifully written with real insight into, not just the physical benefits of striding out in the glorious countryside, but also of the sheer majesty of the hills and mountains,  and not just in Scotland but on whichever summit around the world the author chose to explore on her challenging journey of self discovery.

About the Author

Sarah Jane Douglas writes the popular blog ‘Smashing Cancer in the Face’. She is an artist and former teacher who lives with her two teenage sons in an old fishing village on the northeast coast of Scotland, is a lover of mountains and is proud to be Munroist number 5764. This is her first book.

Blog

@eandtbooks

Blog Tour ~ The Triumph of the Shipyard Girls by Nancy Revell

Delighted to host one of today’s stops on this blog tour

Arrow
13 March 2020

Shipyard Girls #8

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

Head-welder Rosie is just about managing to keep her double life hidden from little sister Charlotte’s prying eyes. But Charlotte senses something is up and, with a secret this big, the truth is bound to come out.

After a whirlwind wedding, Polly must bid farewell to her sweetheart as he returns to the front line.

And there is something odd about yard manager Helen’s newest recruit Bel. But in resolving to uncover the truth, Helen might discover more than she bargained for…

What did I think about it..

As always, the author sets the scene perfectly as the intrepid shipyard girls are, once again, caught up in the daily goings on in this close knit community. Those who have followed this heart warming series from the beginning will be delighted to be reacquainted with old friends, especially as this book follows on directly from Christmas with the Shipyard Girls.

The Triumph of the Shipyard Girls takes us further into the lives of Rosie and Charlotte, we understand Polly's worry as her new husband is sent back to the front line and Helen, the shipyard, manager is about to uncover some uncomfortable secrets. Throughout it all the girls cope with heartbreak and sadness in their personal lives but never fail to support each other through good times and bad. The characters who flit into and out of the story have their own particular charm, some I like more than others, but all of them have a role to play, and I think that's what the author has done so well in this series, connecting the characters with the readers on an emotional level.

The area of Sunderland around the shipyard comes alive as only someone who knows the area well can provide, I especially enjoy the vernacular, and during the banter between the friends I have a strong geordie accent in my head whenever one of them speaks.

This is now the eighth book in the series and I for those who enjoy wartime sagas and who have so far missed out, I would recommend that you start right at the beginning, and enjoy this series from book one. You won't be disappointed.

About the Author

Nancy Revell is the pen name of writer and journalist Amanda Revell Walton, who has worked for the national press for the past 25 years, providing them with hard-hitting news stories and in-depth features. She has also worked for just about every woman’s magazine, writing amazing and inspirational true life stories.

Twitter @arevellwalton #TheShipyardGirls

@arrowbooks

@PenguinRHUK

Amazon UK

Publication Day Review ~ You'll Never See Me Again by Lesley Pearse

Delighted to share my review of this lovely story on its

Paperback Publication Day

Michael Joseph
5 March 2020

My thanks to the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book

Betty Wellows dreams of settling down to an ordinary life in the little fishing village of Hallsands in Devon with her husband. But when he returns broken and haunted from the Great War, she finds herself persecuted by his distraught mother - and yearns to escape. It is only when a storm devastates the village that Betty sees her chance. 

Fleeing to Bristol and changing her name to Mabel Brook, she seeks a new life - only to discover destiny has other plans. Penniless and alone, Mabel suffers a brutal attack before being rescued by a psychic named Nora Nightingale. She gets her first taste of communications from the dead and realizes she may have this power herself. But Mabel fears her gift may be a terrible curse as it becomes ever harder to hide from the truth about who she once was - and the tragic life she left behind. Then, one day an all too real message from her past appears and Mabel is forced back to the very place she has escaped. A place of heartbreak, and perhaps even murder, she must confront her actions one last time in order to secure any hope of a future. 

Gripping, exhilarating and ever suspenseful, Lesley Pearse's You'll Never See Me Again is a tale of one woman's fight to escape her past and find her destiny.

What did I think about it..

The novel's dramatic opening chapter sets the scene for this latest historical saga by one of my favourite authors. Betty Wellows can only dream of the life she had before her young husband was tragically damaged whilst fighting in the Great War. His return home, suffering with shell shock, means that Betty must move in with her harridan of a mother in law who makes Betty's life a complete misery even to sending Betty out in a violent storm. At the end of her tether Betty decides to use the advantage of the storm to disappear and start a new life under an assumed name, and it is this new life as Mabel Brook which forms the heart of the story.

I loved getting to know to know Mabel, she is a very resilient young woman and despite several hardships she makes the best of every situation she finds herself caught up in. This is what this author does so well, she brings alive characters who, over the course of the story, you get to know and love. I really wanted everything to work out for Mabel as she deserves a happy and settled life, but, of course, she has to work through some pretty tough situations before the ending becomes clear.

The author is the absolute queen of the historical saga and writes with such love and passion that every book she delivers is filled with an abundance of rich and varied characters and each story succeeds in delighting her audience of loyal readers. You'll Never See Me Again has everything that this author does so well, a strong female lead character, an authentic historical background and more than a hint of intrigue, danger and compassion. I loved it ♡

About the Author 

©Charlotte Murphy

Lesley Pearse is a global No.1 bestseller with fans across the world and sales of over 10 million copies of her books to date. One of the nation’s best-loved storytellers, Lesley is a master of the gripping story line, always introducing her readers to characters that are impossible not to care about or forget. With a ‘Lesley Pearse’ book purchased every 4 minutes in the UK, there is no formula to her books or easily defined genre and, whether historical drama like her No.1 bestselling Belle trilogy or the emotionally powerful Trust Me based on the true-life scandal of British child migrants sent to Australia in the post-war period, she always engages the reader completely.You’ll Never See Me Again is Lesley’s 27th novel.

Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. She left home at 15 and headed to London where she worked her way through many jobs – from corsetry sales in Cooks of St. Pauls (featured in Dead to Me), to musician’s muse (her second husband was a musician managed by Don Arden) to bunny girl to nanny; from gift shop owner to dressmaker – finally finding her true vocation when she became a published author age 49. Since then Lesley has become an internationally bestselling author, with over 10 million copies of her books sold worldwide. 

A true storyteller and a master of gripping storylines, there is no set formula for a Lesley Pearse novel although strong heroines and difficult circumstances are pervasive. Whether historical adventures such as Gypsy or Never Look Back or the passionately emotive Trust Me, Lesley is inspired by stories of courage and adversity and often gives voice to women lost in history and people damaged by their childhood experiences. She is passionate about her research and her stories have taken her far and wide; from Alaska to the Crimea. Lesley now lives in Torquay in Devon where she loves to spend time walking on the beach with her grandchildren and dogs. A fantastic speaker and committed and passionate fundraiser for the NSPCC, Lesley is a much sought-after guest at literary lunches, library events and festivals up and down the country.

Twitter @LesleyPearse #LoveLesley

@MichaelJBooks

@ed_pr

Review ~ Quick Reads- Clean Break, Tammy Cohen and Cut Off, Mark Billingham

On launch day of this year's Quick Read titles I am delighted to share my reviews of two of the books

Cut Off by Mark Billingham

Sphere 2018

Louise can't even go a minute without using her phone so when she loses it you can well imagine that she struggles to function. So when she gets the good news that someone has found her phone, well, she is absolutely delighted ...

What then follows is a clever and beautifully controlled thriller which I read in less than an hour and even though Cut Off  was a quick read, it wasn't either light on content, or dramatic effect.

The final punch of the story is really, really well done 😊

I loved it.

Twitter @MarkBillingham #CutOff

Clean Break by Tammy Cohen

Black Swan
Penguin
2018

Kate and Jack's marriage is in trouble and the cracks in their relationship are so big, it's not going to be easy to put things right. Moving on seems easier for Kate than Jack...

What then follows is a cleverly crafted dissection of  marriage, where one partner wants to move on with their life, whilst the other seems unwilling to admit its over. 

 I read Clean Break over a quiet hour with a cup of tea, and the story is such compulsive reading that I didn't want to put it down. I was so engrossed in Kate and Jack's life that I didn't notice the time passing 😊

Beautifully written, finely observed and with a really great ending,

I loved it.

@MsTamarCohen #CleanBreak

Both of these books are sharp and sassy, contemporary and current and beautifully written.

For much less than the price of a cappuccino, you can treat yourself to a Quick Read and be entertained by some fine writing.

@ReadingAgency #Quickreads

Blog Tour ~ Obsession by Amanda Robson

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to host today's stop on the Obsession Blog Tour

What's Obsession all about ...

One evening, a wife asks her husband a question: who else would you go for, if you could?

It is a simple question – a little game – that will destroy her life.

Carly and Rob are a perfect couple. They share happy lives with their children and their close friends Craig and Jenny. They’re lucky. But beneath the surface, no relationship is simple: can another woman’s husband and another man’s wife ever just be good friends?

Little by little, Carly’s question sends her life spiralling out of control, as she begins to doubt everything she thought was true. Who can she trust? The man she has promised to stick by forever, or the best friend she has known for years? And is Carly being entirely honest with either of them?

Obsession is a dark, twisting thriller about how quickly our lives can fall apart when we act on our desires.

I am delighted to be able to share this tantalising extract from Obsession...

Avon
Published in ebook 4 May 2017
Paperback 1 June 2017

‘Can I get you a drink?’ I say dutifully.

‘When we’ve found Matt.’

‘Found him? I thought he was with you.’

‘He was, Mummy, but when I went down the wiggly slide, I thought he was behind me but he never arrived.’

‘He’s probably just in another part of the slide complex. Let’s go and ask the staff.’

Holding John’s hand, I venture through a yellow and blue doorway, into a world where toddlers tumble and twist through nets and tubes, thundering towards me at frightening velocities. But it’s only me that is intimidated, not the toddlers. They are laughing and smiling as their chubby bodies slide and bounce. At the bottom of every tube or net there is a substantial amount of blue matting and a Snakes and Ladders guard; a young adult wearing a canary yellow sweat shirt. I approach the nearest guard, clinging tightly to John’s hand to keep him with me.

‘Excuse me,’ I say to him, a boy of about sixteen. A boy with a pulpy face, a rash of spots on his right cheek. ‘I can’t find my other son.’

‘What’s he wearing? I’ll look out for him.’

I hesitate.

‘Black jeans and a T-shirt,’ John replies before I can remember.

‘And his name?’

‘Matthew Burton. Matt for short,’ I reply.

‘Tell me a bit more about what he looks like.’

‘He looks about five – but he’s only three and a half. And his hair is blond, like his brother’s.’

‘That’s me,’ John proudly informs the pimply youth.

‘Wait in the café, I’ll go looking for him and bring him to you as soon as possible,’ he replies, a little sharply. He is looking at me critically, but I ignore him.

By the time he has finished his sentence John has freed himself from my hand and is climbing up a purple net. Before I have returned through the plastic door to the café for another cup of coffee, John is already halfway up the giant play frame.

Half an hour later, a man wearing a suit and an earpiece is standing in front of me holding John’s hand. Attached to his shirt is a plastic badge telling me that he is the manager of Snakes and Ladders. Only his badge and his earpiece prevent him from looking like a funeral director, so low are his eyes, so dark his grimace.

‘I’m sorry to say we can’t find your son Matt on the main play frame,’ he announces.

My stomach tightens in annoyance.

‘He went in. He must be there,’ I reply.

‘We’ve checked every camera for twenty-five minutes.’ There is a pause. ‘Is it possible he ran past you and went outside?’

‘I wouldn’t have thought he would have done that.’

‘Is it possible?’

‘I fell asleep. So it’s possible. Unlikely, but possible.’

‘We have another play complex outside. Maybe he went there.’

‘Why would he do that without telling anyone? He’s never been there before.’

John starts to cry. ‘I want my baby brother.’

I lift him into my arms.

‘We’ll find him. He can’t have gone far,’ I tell him.

We follow the manager out of the Snakes and Ladders indoor arena, across the car park towards a large wooden climbing frame built in the shape of a fortress with boardwalk walls. The castle teems with children racing around the walls. I stand next to the manager, clinging on to John who is still crying, and a fist of panic suddenly squeezes me inside. Where is my son? Where has he gone? 

What’s happened to him?

More about the Author...

After graduating, Amanda Robson worked in medical research at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and at the Poisons Unit at Guy’s Hospital where she became a co-author of a book on cyanide poisoning.

Amanda attended the Faber novel writing course and writes full-time. Obsession is her debut novel.

You can visit Amanda on Facebook
Follow on Twitter @LadySion

Here's what I thought about Obsession..

When Carly, on a family holiday, asks her husband Rob a fateful question "who else would you go for, if you could?” ...little does she realise the chain of events which are about to be unleashed and which, in consequence have a devastating effect, not just on her and Rob's marriage, but also on the, marriage of their close friends, Craig and Jenni.

Both families are in close contact, their children run freely together, and the families share days out and happy times. However, piece by jagged piece, a sorry tale of infidelity starts to emerge and the darkness and volatility of toxic relationships begins to overshadow everything that was once normal. In separate chapters each of the main characters share their own devastating story which strikes at the very heart of family life.

And that is really all I can say without giving anything of the plot away...

It's a clever author who can keep you reading a story when none of the main characters are remotely likeable. I looked and looked for snippets of redeeming qualities in any of the major players and found nothing to elicit an ounce of sympathy from me. In truth, and I won't reveal any spoilers, I was quite relieved when the story ended ,and with no with disrespect intended to the author, I'd just about had enough of all the whole sorry lot of them!

Clever, twisty, and suspenseful, Obsession is one of those books that keeps you turning the page long into the night just to see what on earth is going to happen next.

Best Read with ..Big Mac, chips and a super sized coffee..

My thanks to Helena at Harper Collins for the kind invitation to be part of this blog tour and for the opportunity to share this extract from Obsession with you.

Follow the Blog Tour on Twitter #Obsession until the 24th May for more exciting content.

~***~

Blog Tour ~ The Other Us by Fiona Harper

Jaffareadstoo is delighted to be on the The Other Us Blog Tour

Published by HQ
4 May 2017

What's it all about..

If you could turn back time, would you choose a different life?

Forty-something Maggie is facing some hard truths. Her only child has flown the nest for university and, without her daughter in the house, she’s realising her life, and her marriage to Dan, is more than a little stale.

When she spots an announcement on Facebook about a uni reunion, she can’t help wondering what happened to Jude Hanson. The same night Dan proposed, Jude asked Maggie to run away with him, and she starts to wonder how different her life might have been if she’d broken Dan’s heart and taken Jude up on his offer.

Wondering turns into fantasising, and then one morning fantasising turns into reality. Maggie wakes up and discovers she’s back in 1992 and twenty-one again. Is she brave enough to choose the future she really wants, and if she is, will the grass be any greener on the other side of the fence?

Two men. Two very different possible futures. But is there only once chance at happiness?

I am delighted to share the author's own What ifs moments...

When reading the book you can’t help thinking of the ‘Sliding Doors’ moments I’ve had in my life. Is there one that sticks out for you? What was the decision? And did you pick the right path?!

There are definitely some things I’d wondered ‘what if?’ – particularly when it comes to career choices. I was keen on art and English and performing arts when I was at school, and it was a bit of a toss-up between whether I went to do a degree in dance or graphic design. I ended up choosing dance, which I loved, but there weren’t many jobs around when I left university, just as the recession of the early 90s hit. I’m not sure if I’d have been happier going the other path, but I definitely would have made more money! But then, if I’d chosen design, would I have ended up as a writer? Maybe not. And that would have been awful, because I love my job so much.

Even knowing this is the right career choice for me, there are other ‘what if’s’: I didn’t start writing novels until I was 35. Should I have tried when I was younger? If I had, maybe I’d have a very different career by now but, then again, I have a feeling I wasn’t ready to write a book in my twenties, so maybe I’d have crashed and burned, got disheartened and never given it another go.

We all have hundreds of these moments every day, probably without being aware of it. However, second-guessing every decision and pining for the path not travelled will probably not only send you quietly insane but is ultimately useless. No one can go back and undo the past; all we can do is use what we’ve learned along the journey we’ve already taken and step boldly into the future.

What did I think about The Other Us..

I am sure that we all have those 'what if'' moments where we wonder just what would have happened if we had turned the other corner or made a very different life choice. And that's just what happens to Maggie who wakes to find herself in a very different place. Instead of a being a forty something mum, married to Dan, on the eve of her University reunion, Maggie wakes to find that she is back at University, but as a twenty-one year old, with her best friend Becca, and with all her life ahead of her.

What then follows is a cleverly put together time travel/alternative life story which looks at all the opportunities of going in a different direction, and unlikely as the sliding door theory of life is, there is nothing more fascinating than wondering just what would happen if, in a parallel past life, things could change in a heartbeat.

The story flows well and the author does a really good job of threading together all the different strands. I had to concentrate at times, because sometimes Maggie’s life changes quickly, but I found each individual story interesting and I hoped that Maggie would make the right choices. What those choices are, I’m not going to reveal as I’m sure you would like to find out for yourself.

Warm and witty, wise and serious, The Other Us would make an ideal holiday read.

Best Read With...A glass of lukewarm Lambrusco and some cheesey nibbles..



More about Fiona...

Coming from two generations of journalists, writing was in Fiona Harper’s genes. As a child she was constantly teased for having her nose in a book and living in a dream world. Things haven't changed much since then, but at least in writing she's found a use for her runaway imagination! She loves dancing, cooking, reading and watching a good romance. Fiona lives in London with her family.

Visit her website

Twitter @FiHarper_Author

 Follow the Book #TheOtherUs

My thanks to the author for her guest post today and also to Rebekah at Midas for the invitation to be part of this Blog Tour.

Do visit the other stops on the tour for more fun content.

 Follow the Book #TheOtherUs

~***~

The authors in my spotlight are ... Ada Bright and Cass Grafton

Today I welcome to Jaffareadstoo the talented writing duo Ada Bright and Cass Grafton who are talking to us about their novel, The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen

Brown Dog Books
2016

It’s September, and the city of Bath is playing host to the annual Jane Austen Festival, a celebration of the famous author and her works. Rose Wallace, Bath resident and avid Jane Austen fan, can’t wait for her friends to arrive and the Festival to start, unaware one of the recently arrived guests will turn her life upside down by sharing with her a secret that ultimately puts Jane Austen’s entire literary legacy at risk. With the support of a displaced two hundred year old author and a charmed necklace, can Rose help to bring back some of the most beloved stories of all time and turn her own life around in the process.

A warm welcome to both Ada and Cass...

Tell us about yourselves and what got you interested in writing a historical novel?

Ada

Ada: I became an avid reader in Elementary School and before I set about ruining my eyesight reading fantasy novels and murder mysteries, I first read the entire school library's section of biographies. So I've always been interested in history, both in fiction and non-fiction writings. This particular instance came about because Cass had already been living in Regency writing for several years and it was natural that whatever project we collaborated on together would have a bias toward history.

Cass

Cass: Reading has always been my ‘thing’, ever since I was a young child. I grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton stories before progressing to Mills & Boon, who totally coloured my idea of what love and romance should be like! Both Ada I started to co-write fan fiction together when we first met (14 years ago), and although our initials stories were fantasy-based, we soon discovered a shared love of classic literature and progressed to co-writing Jane Austen inspired stories. I then wrote a full-length Pride & Prejudice inspired novel set in the Regency era (for which Ada and her mom provided the cover artwork).

Our new book does have historical influences, but it is a contemporary novel set in present day Bath, and it was a lot of fun to mix the two worlds together!

When you start writing do you both have a writing plan or do you plot out the story together as you go along?

Both!  We met together in Bath last year to outline the entire book.  In some ways that outline stood pretty sturdy, but when we needed to make a change we called each other up on our trusty FaceTime applications and ironed everything out.  There was very little that was ever up in the air for long - it simply wasn't feasible to leave any doubt as to where we were going because between the two of us, writing sections independent of each other and then revising each other's work, we would have been tangled up beyond repair if we didn't fix problems that arose fast. 

Do you each have a favourite part of the writing/publishing process?

Ada: We definitely have different favorites and that has served us well.  I think there were times each of us felt guilty for not being up to snuff for the other in a certain area. 

Cass: I genuinely believe it’s our differences which make us the perfect writing partnership! Our styles complement each other, and we each have different strengths, so we can bring a lot to the table between us. For me, the best part of the publishing process is the cover design! It’s so exciting when you get to that stage and can finally visualise all those months of work as an actual book!

What are the ups and downs of being a writing duo and who is the worst critic?

Ada: Wow, that is a fabulous question.  The advantages of co-writing are something I can go on and on about.  At its core, the reason I love it is that we're in it together.  A beta reader or friend who lovingly encourages you through a book is nice - important even!  But it's nothing like sharing the burden completely with someone else.  On the other edge of that sword, therein lies the negative as well: there were times I'm sure both of us wanted to walk away and we simply couldn't - we had someone else counting on us.  If we stopped writing we were directly affecting one of our best friends whom we'd made a commitment to.  It wasn't just our work that would be wasted if we gave up, but our partner's as well.  So there was pressure and there was accountability, but mostly there was support. 

Oh and Cass was definitely the worst critic - because she insisted on bringing in logic to our arguments!  Ugh!  The nerve!

Cass: The best ‘up’ for me was that if I was struggling to kick-start a scene, all I had to do was say to Ada, can you get me started, and she would! Brilliant! The down? There were a couple of times when I’d written what for me (as a Brit) was a funny line (or so I thought), and then, when the scene came back after Ada’s latest edit, it would be gone! Needless to say, we did see the funny side of our sense of humours being different most of the time!

The worst critic? Yep; definitely me. Ada is well versed in fantasy and time travel through her interests, and I’m not! I had to understand how something could work, how it would blend with reality to sound credible, whereas Ada would just shrug and say, ‘those are just some of the established rules of time travel’

What was the inspiration behind your novel?

Staying in Jane Austen’s former home in Bath, which is now holiday apartments, provided the initial inspiration. What if Jane Austen, when she was living in the house in Bath in the early nineteenth century, found a way to come forward to the present day? This led us neatly to: what if she became trapped there, before she had become a published author?

The company managing the property was also incredibly helpful with information about the building, which helped to feed part of the plot. Once we started to put the two things together, it was clear we had the makings of a good story!

Whose idea was the title of your book?

Ada: I'm pretty sure the title came from Cass, but Cass's husband deserves credit because his insistence on offering ridiculous titles full of puns had her so annoyed (not seriously) that she pushed us to settle on something officially so as to keep him from persisting. I don't actually know if it worked.  I actually liked a few of them (note: I asked Cass if she could find any of them but she’d thrown his long list away. We didn’t dare ask him if he could remember any in case he started all over again!)

Cass: We really do, and always have, struggled at choosing titles for our stories, and this was no exception. Ada is right! My husband simply would not stop coming up with more and more bizarre titles, and it was the only way to effectively stop him!

What were some of the challenges you faced on the road to publication?

Just the sheer formatting of the paperback was a huge pain, even though we enlisted the services of a ‘specialist’.  They still missed several typos, and even worse, the automatic correcting they did actually created some more!  If any of you own the paperback, you will have one of our characters having a ‘riffle’ through some things. It’s become our new secret code word!

Now that the book is published are there any nuggets of wisdom you can impart to aspiring writers?

Ada: Wisdom: yes, so much.  The thing that stands out is that we should have worked harder to settle on a genre.  I wouldn't have wanted to change much from our original idea, but because of that we almost fought against genre.  I think we should have welcomed that being a little more clear might have been nice.

Cass: Definitely agree. The story touches on so many genres (mystery, romance, fantasy/time travel, history), we struggled to determine where it should sit. Having said that, we wouldn’t want to make any changes to our story. We just wish we had forced ourselves to think it through from the genre-aspect before we prepared it for publication!

Any plans for another collaborative novel?

Ada: YES we have plans for another collaborative novel... indeed we do!

Cass: There have been some calls for a sequel, and as we had so much fun spending time with our characters, we’re keen to work with them again.

Where to find Ada and Cass. Please click on the links below 

Tabby Cow Blog

Cass’s blog

Facebook: Ada:  Cass:

Twitter: @missyadabright  @CassGrafton 

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

My thoughts about The Particular Charm of  Miss Jane Austen

I've long been a fan of Jane Austen inspired novels and to have a present-day novel with a historical twist to it was a very tempting proposition. From the start of the novel I was drawn into the contemporary setting in the beautiful city of Bath, which is a place I know well. I enjoyed getting to know Rose and appreciated seeing the city through the eyes of Rose's American visitor, Morgan.

Time travel, romance, literature and history all combine to make a lovely story which is written with great charm. Reminiscent of Jane Austen's own style of writing, what is so refreshing about this novel is that the authors have allowed a modern twist, with a cleverly controlled plot, which has, at its heart, a cleverly thought out mystery.

To say more about the plot would be to do the book a complete disservice because as with all mysteries it’s best that you read without any preconceptions. However, what I will say is that, if you enjoy a wonderfully inspired Jane Austen novel, which has delightful heroines, then I am sure that The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen will greatly appeal to you as it did to me.

The authors have captured this collaborative style of writing so very well. Their partnership is quite seamless so that you really can’t tell where one finishes and the other starts, so that, rather unusually for me, I forgot that I was reading the work of two different writers.

The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen is a lovely story which entertained me from start to finish and which, ultimately, made me smile and left me wanting to read more from this talented writing duo.

I am pleased to learn that the authors are considering a sequel, the ending certainly lends itself to a continuation.

 Best Read With ...A pot of English Breakfast tea and a generous slice of Lemon Meringue Pie

Huge thanks to both Ada Bright and Cass Grafton for spending time with us today and for answering our questions so thoughtfully.

Jaffa and I have loved having you as our guests and look forward to reading more of your work in the future.

Come back and see us again soon.

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The Author in my spotlight is .....Joanna Courtney

I'm really delighted to welcome back to Jaffareadstoo the historical fiction author 


Joanna Courtney

I am a huge fan of Joanna's first book The Chosen Queen and  was delighted to be given the opportunity to read and review, The Constant Queen which is her latest historical novel in the Queens of Conquest series.

Macmillan
22 September 2016

 A bit of book blurb...

Elizaveta is princess of Kiev, but that doesn't stop her chasing adventure. Defying conventions, she rides the rapids of the Dneiper alongside her royal brothers, and longs to rule in her own right as a queen.

Elizaveta meets her match when the fearsome Viking warrior Harald Hardrada arrives at her father's court seeking fame and fortune. He entrusts Elizaveta to be his treasure keeper, to hold the keys to his ever-growing wealth - and eventually to his heart.

Theirs is a fierce romance and the strength of their love binds them together as they travel across the vast seas to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. In 1066, their ambition carries them to Orkney as they plan to invade England and claim the crown

To celebrate the paperback publication day of The Constant Queen, Joanna has written a special guest post for Jaffareadstoo which outlines her thoughts about the pros and cons of writing a novel based on Anglo-Saxon history...

When it comes to writing about the pre-1066 era there is one huge issue – the massive gaps in our knowledge, not just of the events but also of the people, the attitudes and reasoning behind the big dates. There are very few primary sources from this period and those we do have are either sparse, contradictory or overly imaginative so we’re never sure what’s actually true. Historians have a field day debating what happened when and why, but for authors trying to establish a factual spine for their novel it can be a minefield. That said, however, whilst these big gaps in the facts are a frustration for a historian, they are also a gift for a novelist, for I can fill them in with imagination - or, rather, with responsible interpretation.

I cannot in my novels write exactly what did happen but it’s very important to me to write what could have happened. What dates we do know need to be accurate and I try to use what is reported of people to create characters who work in a convincing way. For example, we know that King Harold went rushing down to Hastings to meet William before he had really summoned full reinforcements. If he’d waited a few days he’d have been far more likely to win, so understanding why he took that call is vital to telling a good story.

This information gap is especially problematic for women. It’s rare for the births of such girls (or even boys) to be listed so we often have to work out what children people had by tracing them back once they pop up as marrying someone 18 years later. We can get a glimpse of names, the odd snippet of gossip, or a signature on a charter but there is little else. 

When learning about the three heroines of my Queens of the Conquest series - Edyth, Elizaveta and Mathilda - it’s been up to me to interpret their characters the best way I can. Elizaveta of Kiev, for example, is known to have sailed to the Orkneys with her husband Harald Hardrada when he launched his attack on England, presumably so she was there to hasten to his side when he claimed the throne. That, to me, spoke of a brave and adventurous woman and I shaped my Elizaveta accordingly.

When writing about Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans we are up against this tricky wall of a term - the ‘dark ages’. I hate it. They’re only ‘dark’ because we know so little about them; we are the ones in the dark. At the time, these people lived lives every bit as sophisticated, cultured and socially advanced as their later Tudor ancestors. Indeed, the intrigues and political conflicts around the dramatic events of 1066 were at least as complex as something like the Babington Plot. 

These people were not illiterate idiots with little more on their minds than ploughs and swords and ale. Their halls and churches were magnificent, albeit it mainly carved in wood so sadly lost to us now. Their law and government systems were highly developed and their clothing and particularly their jewellery was astonishingly intricate and elegant. Getting people to understand that, however, can be hard.

It was also a far wider world than people imagine. Water was the fastest means of travel, be it across seas or down rivers, and the Vikings in particular were masters of the water. In The Constant Queen the action moves from Medieval Kiev, to Constantinople, Norway, Iceland and, finally, the Orkneys and Stamford Bridge where Harald Hardrada met his sad end. Researching all these places took some doing but threw up wonderful settings for my characters. 

For example, Kiev in the mid eleventh century was an astonishing place – a vast walled city atop a huge set of hills with highly developed architecture, including magnificent halls, churches, fountains, and even huge brass statues. It was heavily influenced by Constantinople, a city of such riches that all contemporary chroniclers raved about it, and the river-route between the two was travelled by thousands every year. These people were not stay-at-home villagers with their nose in their corn. Traders swarmed all over Europe, spreading culture, goods and news and my high-born characters are a part of this connected continent. That makes them hard to research but exciting to write about.

Readers, myself included, love the Tudors for their glamour – they are historical ‘Dynasty’ as the wonderful if rather lurid program ‘The Tudors’ proved. I think there may be an underlying feeling that the sixteenth century is when people started to be recognisably like ourselves but that’s just not true. Evolution is a long and complicated process and for humans the 1000 years back to pre-1066 is a drop in the ocean. Yes, communication networks and transport and cooking/heating methods were different but people – the important part of any story – were still very much the same. Social norms were also different but the core emotions of love and fear and desire and ambition were surely identical and that’s what I look to explore in my novels – not the pedantic differences between then and now, but the exciting similarities.

So, in essence, the biggest ‘con’ of writing about this period is the lack of information we have about it, but conversely this is also its biggest ‘pro’ as it leaves room to create vibrant and hopefully believable stories. The Anglo-Saxon period was not a duller or ‘darker’ time than later periods and is no less fun to read about. I hope my novels can transport people back to a period they may know very little about and offer them both some new historical knowledge and, most importantly of all, gripping stories.

©Joanna Courtney

Find out more about Joanna on her website by clicking here

Follow her on Twitter @joannacourtney1

Amazon UK

Huge thanks to Joanna for such an interesting and informative guest post and for sharing her thoughts about the pros and cons of writing about Anglo Saxon history.

The Constant Queen is published in paperback today and is available to buy online and from all good book stores.

My thoughts about The Constant Queen..

Before reading The Constant Queen, Elizaveta of Kiev and her husband, the Viking warrior Harold Sigurdsson, or as he is more commonly known, Harold Hardrada, were a complete mystery to me, and if I am perfectly honest neither of them ever appeared on my radar as historical figures I wanted to get to know, so what has been so refreshing about reading The Constant Queen is the fact that I am coming into a period of history which is completely new to me, and so, because of that, I could settle into the story without any preconceived notions of who did what, why and when.

When Harold Hardrada appears in Kiev, at her father's court,  in 1031 Elizaveta is still very young and even though in her early interaction with Hardrada,she shows a maturity beyond her years, there is still enough of the precocious child in her to want to run unbidden through the long corridors of the Kremlin. What the novel then goes on to explain is how the relationship between Elizaveta and Hardrada develops, and also of the initial conflict which occurs between Elizaveta and Hardrada's other spouse, Tora Torbergsdatter, who is always going to be her love rival for Hardrada's affections.

The story is so much more than just romantic historical fiction and even though it was interesting to see how the relationship between Elizaveta and Hardrada developed, it was also fascinating to learn the background behind Hardrada's later involvement in the Battle of Hastings. Beautifully researched and impeccably detailed this is one of those strong historical fiction novels which is impossible to power through, not because the story isn't interesting, as believe me it is, but because there is so much absorbing detail to take in. Sweeping between Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and the Orkneys, the novel opens up a historical period of which I had scant knowledge and which on closer inspection I found to be hugely compelling.

Writing about the strong women that history has overlooked seems to be the trademark of this talented historical fiction author. With effortless ease she infuses her female characters with such a strong sense of purpose that you can’t help but be drawn, quite forcibly, into their lives. And as the pages turn, you are transported back to the eleventh century, back to a dark and dangerous time when to be a woman in a man’s world was racked with danger.

Whilst it is possible to read either of the books thus far in the Queens of Conquest series as standalone novels, I think that there is much more to be enjoyed in reading both novels in order. I am sure that the third book in the trilogy about Matilda of Flanders will be equally compelling.

Best Read with.... Tankards of strong ale and generous slices of roasted duck

My thanks to the author for sharing her work with me and also to Jess at Macmillan for her help with Joanna's guest post and also for my review copy of The Constant Queen.

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