My thanks to the author for the book and the invitation to this blog tour
Rebecca L. Marsh’s collection of short stories will bring the joy of the Christmas season alive. As these ordinary characters, struggling through difficulties and past traumas, find healing and renewed hope, the essence of the season of miracles jumps off the pages.
The Santa Hat
Paige is skipping Christmas. Refusing to relinquish the unrealistic hope of returning to a life shared with her husband, she can’t face the holiday festivities. The only exception is a gift exchange with her best friend who gives her a Santa hat said to have a touch of magic.
Family Tree
Ada and Hayden had a happy marriage until a tragedy tore them apart just days before Christmas. A year later, just as they are about to make their split final and go their separate ways, a mysterious phone call stops them in their tracks and offers them a newfound hope.
Better than Diamonds
Fourteen-year-old Ruby is having a hard time finding the joy in the Christmas season now that her beloved grandmother is no longer with them. When her school break comes, her mother suggests she spend some time trying to solve the mystery of where her cat recently began disappearing to each and every day. Ruby begins an investigation. But she never expected the answer to mend her broken heart.
If you love stories that warm your heart and touch your soul, then this book is for you!
📖My Review..
This is a lovely collection of seven beautifully written short stories, each of which conveys a rather special message. There is a strong observational sense of people considering their choices and counting their blessings. Christmas is a time of reflection and I think that these lovely stories reiterate what’s important, namely family and friends, each with a theme of love, loss and the hope of second chances in warm hearted stories which leave you with a satisfied glow. They each remind us that there can be a way through sadness, despair and grief.
There is a definite sense of continuity throughout the seven stories and I won’t spoil any of them by giving the secret away but I am a firm believer in sometimes having help, or an extra push in the right direction, from something, or someone, that we can't always explain. The author brings the characters to life with gentle stories which wrap around you like a warm hug. I loved all of them especially Family Tree which is especially poignant and Better than Diamonds which made me smile as I often wondered what my cats got up when they went out for the day.
In the run up to the Christmas holiday season it’s inevitable that we get caught up in all the frenzied hype and forget to take time out to relax and chill with a good book. The Santa Hat and other Christmastime Stories is the perfect antidote to stress as each story is just the right length to read comfortably with a cup of tea or relaxing with a mug of coffee in your favourite cafe.
About the Author
Rebecca L. Marsh is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and member of the Paulding County Writer’s Guild. She grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina, and now lives in Dallas, Georgia with her husband. She is a Christian, a mother to a beautiful daughter, and an animal lover. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family.
My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this pamphlet
We barely notice hedges; there is something intrinsically marginal about them – although they are likely to seize our attention when they shine with blackberries or when a bramble snags a favourite garment.
In her evocative and absorbing prose piece, leading naturalist Miriam Darlington walks one of her local Devon hedges in winter, putting it centre-stage. Every step sees her paying close attention to the creatures who shelter in it and to the plants that sustain them. At every moment, her senses are vividly alive to the hedge’s raw beauty in this harshest season of the year:
“Rosy-purple twigs of dogwood, sleeping moths amongst the towering beauty of oaks, bark textures fresh and bare, lifting your mood, twig by knotty twig. Black ash knuckles. King Alfred’s cakes. Hart’s tongue ferns. The earth smells of old thorns, dog rose and ropes of dried honeysuckle…”
This is a pamphlet to return to again and again, as one might repeat a favourite walk.
There’s something very special about a well formed hedge as not only does it provide protection from the elements but it’s also home to a myriad of creatures, some so small you’re hardly aware they are there whilst others make their presence known with crisp crackles and soft shuffles.
In The Winter Hedge, Miriam Darlington takes us with her on a journey as she shares the simple pleasure of walking with her dog and appreciating the beauty of the hedge in winter. So much to see in this comprehensive world which we so often pass by without opening our eyes and ears to the sights and sounds all around us. Beautifully evocative we share in her pleasure as she takes a walk in a deep lane and appreciate, with her, the quiet majesty of nature sharing its secrets.
We all need quiet space in this busy life and especially as the festive season approaches when quiet moments sometimes desert us. Reading this quietly reflective piece of prose has been such a pleasure and gave me such a sense of peace and a deep appreciation of the restorative power of nature and a lovely connection to the natural world.
There are also two lovely poems to enjoy:
Hedge by Katharine Towers and From the hedge bottom where the ivy runs by John Clare
This lovely pamphlet would make the perfect gift for anyone who appreciates nature or instead of a card over the festive season.
About the Publisher
Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.
We all have our own Christmas stories – things that may have happened years ago and that in the telling and retelling have become part of our festive traditions as much as the school nativity play or Rudolph’s red nose.
These entertaining and touching poems encompass all manner of tales. There’s a tipsy step-grandad struggling to carve the turkey, a rediscovered collection of Christmas stamps and a doughty mother leading a troupe of children to cut down a pine tree under cover of dusk:
“I tell my sons these stories in the dark of winter:
Of course, stories are also where we keep our memories safe, which is why you’ll find moving poems in which times past and departed loved ones are beautifully conjured back into being.
Included is a special edition postcard of the beautiful poem ‘Christmas Present’ by Stephanie Norgate, who was one of the two winners in our ‘Christmas Stories’ competition.
Poems by Abeer Ameer, Panya Banjoko, Kathryn Bevis, Jim Carruth, Linda France, John Freeman, Arjunan Manuelpillai, Helen Mort, Victoria Punch, Kostya Tsolakis, Rory Waterman and Tamar Yoseloff.
I always look forward to the Christmas poetry publication from Candlestick Press and this year’s collection of Twelve Poems to Tell and Share is particularly beautiful, with a lovely cover, which encapsulates all the wonder of the festive period. This collection contains a bonus postcard with the lovely Christmas Present by Stephanie Norgate who was one of the winners of the Christmas stories competition.
Twelve story poems which all create a lovely Christmas atmosphere, perfectly poised to read one poem on each of the twelve days of festive activity. It’s impossible to single out my favourite as each of the poems have something wonderful to share.
I found My Father’s Soil by Jim Carruth particularly poignant as it describes that empty chair at the Christmas table, missing the man who shared so much of his carefully tended home grown produce:
‘Tomorrow, he won’t be at our table
Surrounded by the fruits of all his labours
To lay out his beloved mash and roast
Watching our sad longing devour it all
His love for us, his loss, his final crop.’
The poem which made me smile was The Homemakers Tale by Rory Waterman
‘God rest ye, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay:
Your wife is making dinner just
Like every other day -
Watch Gremlins then The Snowman the
The Best Man Holiday.
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy’
There is so much to enjoy in this festive treat and it would make a lovely Christmas gift for anyone who enjoys the festive time and also to send to a poetry loving friend instead of a card at Christmas.
Candlestick Press is an independent publisher based in Nottingham, UK. We’ve been publishing poetry pamphlets since 2008 not only for people who already love poetry, but also for those who will love it but perhaps don’t know that yet. Our ‘instead of a card’ pamphlets make an ideal alternative to a mainstream greetings card and are a small gift in their own right. They have matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message, and are excellent companions on journeys or for a bedtime read. By supporting us, you help an independent press and our supported charities at the same time as treating yourselves, your friends and family to some wonderful poems.
I'm really privileged to read many latest release books which are so current they haven't even hit the book store shelves that I forget about the books which have influenced my reading over the years.
So, welcome to my monthly Book Nostalgia feature where I'm allowing myself the luxury of going back in time with some of my favourite reads.
🎄My Festive Read is not complete without a dip into A Christmas Carol🎄
Alma Classics November 2016
My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
A Christmas Carol in prose. Being a ghost story of Christmas.
Well, no Christmas is complete, for me, without my favourite Christmas classic and it's become something of tradition, for me, to re-read this atmospheric morality tale at this special time of year.
A Christmas Carol was first published, in London, on the 19th December 1843, and the story was completely sold out by Christmas Eve. Since then it has never been out of print and has been translated into many languages.
Divided into five staves, or chapters, Dickens tells the story of that old curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly money lender with not an ounce of Christmas spirit. Scrooge exploits the good nature of his poor, but honest clerk, Bill Cratchit, only grudgingly allowing him a day off on Christmas Day on the understanding that he will " Be here all the earlier the day after "..
On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his dead partner Jacob Marley and is warned to mend his miserly ways, or else risk, like Marley, an eternity of doom, "I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer."
Taken in hand by the Ghost of Christmas past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge is given a glimpse into his lost and lonely life, unloved by friends and shunned by strangers, and is then forced to reconsider his life, and the role he plays in the lives of others.
By no stretch of the imagination is A Christmas Carol a jolly, festive tale. However, there is no doubt that the story has stood the test of time and just as Charles Dickens chose to remind us of the need for charity and compassion in this ghostly novella in 1843, so the premise of the story is just as valid today as it was back then.
And so, as Tiny Tim observed, " God Bless Us, Every One! "
About the Author
Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Biography source : Goodreads
You can find out more about Charles Dickens by clicking here
You can listen to a volunteer recording A Christmas Carol on Librivox by clicking here
You can read A Christmas Carol for free by going to Project Gutenberg by clicking here
My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
Clare Greene and Sam Wilson are getting married and everyone in Little Bramble is excited for the event of the year. But Clare and Sam are busy people and have left organising their wedding to the last minute.
Luckily, wedding planner Hazel Campbell has recently moved to the village. She had what she thought was a wonderful life in Edinburgh with a successful business, a loving fiance and her own wedding coming up. But when she caught her groom-to-be in bed with her best friend she fled, leaving everyone and everything behind.
Little Bramble seems like the ideal place for Hazel to start over. As she throws herself into planning the perfect country village winter wedding, she starts to find herself again. And soon she realises that a second chance at happiness might just be on the cards.
🎄 My thoughts..
It's been so lovely to return to Little Bramble in this story of a sparkly winter wedding. I've quite fallen in love with this quintessential English village where everyone seems so supportive of each other and for Hazel Campbell starting over in a safe place is just what is needed to mend her broken heart. Newly arrived from Scotland, Hazel is keen to get her fledgling wedding planning business off to a good start and what better way than to help villagers Clare Greene and Sam Wilson have their perfect Christmas wedding.
As always the village, and its inhabitants, come beautifully to life and by cleverly intertwining a couple of story threads we get to learn more not just about Hazel, and the joys and pitfalls of organising a last minute winter wedding, but also about another new arrival whose reasons for being in the village are just as poignant as Hazel's. The run up to Christmas is done really well and both the chaos, and the joy, of meeting deadlines, and getting involved in all the Christmas activities, is what makes this story so special.
The Country Village Winter Wedding is now the third book in the Country Village series of cosy romances and each one brings something quite special. I enjoy how the villagers we have grown to love make little appearances in each novel and whilst the main focus of the story is on someone new to the village, it's really great to catch up with those characters we have met before in previous novels.
Beautifully written, and charmingly romantic, there is no doubt that this cosy series has captured the hearts of its readers. I am certainly looking forward to reading book #4, The Country Village Allotment, which is planned for 2022.
About the Author
Cathy Lake is a women's fiction writer who lives with her family and three dogs in beautiful South Wales. She writes uplifting stories about strong women, family, friendship, love, community and overcoming obstacles.
I am delighted to welcome the author Malcolm Hollingdrake to the spotlight
Hi Malcolm, welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author.
I am a proud Yorkshireman, born in Bradford. After teacher training at Ripon College of Education I taught for thirty-two years. I was granted two years’ leave of absence, worked in Cairo and then travelled to Northern Cyprus. I held many roles and was seconded to support schools through Ofsted inspections finishing my career working in a school for children with emotional and behavioural needs.
Teaching creative writing has always been an important element of the curriculum and I encouraged children to participate in writing competitions. I was responsible for producing an anthology of children’s written work entitled ‘Wigan Voice’.
I have also written for children – assemblies and end of day stories but it was as I was approaching the end of my career that I wrote adult fiction with a desire to publish.
Without revealing too much, what can you tell us about the Harrogate Crime Series?
The Harrogate Series comprises eight books and features DCI Cyril Bennett and DS David Owen. The books were intended as a series but also designed to be read as stand-alone novels. However, in any series the reader will appreciate the character development and the subtleties with each book that make the characters, I hope at least, more real.
I believe each book has a very different story line and I know from reading the reviews of those who have read every book that there is a development of me as a writer. It is true that we as authors learn the more we write and it is reassuring to hear from people that book eight is the best one yet.
Although the books are set in Harrogate many of the stories link to the stunning places within the Yorkshire Dales and I can use my love of county to highlight key places.
The series involves the same serious crime team as certain cases rely on officers with different skills. The one constant, however, is the partnership of Bennett and Owen.
Your crime series is set in the beautiful Yorkshire town of Harrogate. How important is location to your writing, and do you visit any of the places you describe so vividly in your novels?
The location is critical. It is one of the constants, the backgrounds which are immediately identifiable to my readers. The streets, the shops and the public buildings are all named so the local readers and those visiting can know of them and find them. I receive a great deal of support from businesses and they often welcome their inclusion. Harrogate has so many wonderful locations that can be woven into the stories, some of the places often unknown even to locals. I also receive details from residents who tell me of different local characters, real people who, when included, help to make the books real.
I visit regularly. I walk the routes Cyril Bennett takes. I scout out locations to ensure they are described correctly. I allow my senses to record the moment; the sounds, smells to bring reality to the pages.
One of the pleasures for me as an author is to introduce the sites within the Dales. Ramsgill features in two books and the churchyard of St Mary’s was key to the writing of Game Point. I have known this location since I was a child and I feel it a privilege to be granted permission to include it.
I hold a strong love for the county and I hope that comes through in my writing.
A while ago I produced a video titled Places in Pages that looked at some of the real places mentioned within the pages of my books.
Whilst you are writing you must live with your characters. Do they ever dictate how the story progresses or do you stick with a writing plan from the beginning and never deviate?
I never write to a plan. I start with an idea and those ideas have come from many different sources; a news cutting, a chance conversation, a photograph. I then sit and write. The characters do dictate to a degree. They dictate their involvement within the text. In some books owing to circumstances certain characters take a stronger and more leading role. In one book, Owen takes the lead and Bennett features very little. Although this was not planned initially, I see that there is opportunity in the future for Owen to be developed as a separate series should the need arise.
I also find the initial start point will often end up in the middle of the book as the story unfolds. It is not unknown either for me not to have an idea as to how the book will end even when two thirds through the writing stage. I try to work to seventy-plus thousand words to help with the pace of the story; the answer will often come at the strangest moment and I have to make jottings otherwise it will be lost. So yes, the characters can drive the story or certainly influence the direction.
The series has, so far, focused on quite a wide variety of crimes, what do you think makes a good fictional villain and a good fictional detective?
What makes a good villain? I think firstly plausibility and unpredictability; hold traits that can take many forms – The innocent, the wicked, the evil, the outsider, the close friend. The motive behind the crimes is also key. In book one I had two villains. One was easily seen to be a despicable and selfish individual prepared to do anything to achieve his goal and killing was second nature but the other had a different raison d'être. I worked hard to try to make the reader feel his pain and believe he had a purpose. I wanted the reader to ask what would they do in his position. Villains are callous, greedy, clever, narcissistic and probably plausible.
So, the fictional detective. I see so many dysfunctional fictitious detectives of whom I wanted to stay clear. The character to me had to be smart, emotionally balanced, a clear thinker, a man who can build and rely on a team and therefore delegate. He must be human and real and at times vulnerable. I also believe their partner must also play a key role, be the black to his white or the yin to his yang if that doesn’t sound too silly.
One important aspect is to strive for the constant development of the detective’s character after each case or each change in his life circumstances. The key is to try to make the person as credible as possible.
And finally, what can we expect next from you?
I have just completed two short stories, one written to be included in an anthology to support Help for Heroes that should be published in December, the second to be included in the November edition of The Writers’ Magazine and specifically written around the subject of remembrance. I am also half way through book nine in The Harrogate Series as well as working on the first book in a new series set in north Merseyside.
I also try to organise two Noir events annually, one in Wigan, the third annual event has just taken place and proved to be very successful and one in Harrogate. These take quite some time as I have to bring five or six authors from around the UK together to talk about their work and read from their latest book. They are certainly growing in popularity.
May I say a massive thank you for your interest in my writing. It has been a pleasure to chat about my writing. My work can be found on Amazon and my website.
I am also about on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
When Stars Will Shine is a collection of short stories from your favourite authors who have come together to deliver you a Christmas read with a twist.
With true war tales that will break your heart, gritty Christmas crimes that will shake you to your core, and heart warming tales of love lost and found, this anthology has something for everyone. And, with every penny made being sent to support our troops, you can rest assured that you’re helping our heroes, one page at a time.
From authors such as Louise Jensen, Graham Smith, Malcolm Hollingdrake, Lucy Cameron, Val Portelli, and Alex Kane, you are in for one heck of a ride!
🎄🎄 Delighted to host this Christmassy Publication Day Push 🎄🎄
Crooked Cat Books
4 November 2019
97 page Novella
My thanks to the author, publisher and Rachel's Random Resources
for my ecopy of this novella and the invitation to this Publication Day Push
A time for spilling secrets...
Having refurbished her inherited house and upcycled her whole life in the process, Freya–now happily married to Patrick, and with a small child–hasto transform her tiny stone barn into a romantic hideaway for a mystery guest who is also looking for change. With Christmas only a weekaway, things don’t go according to plan...In the past old uncertainties are resolved when an elderly woman seeks the truth of a legend on Christmas Eve and confesses to a deception; a Tudor wife listens to a story that must never be repeated and is given a precious relic that must never be displayed; and in the early nineteenth century an old woman tells a younger one the story of the hares at Ladywell.Past and present are only a whisper apart when Freya learns of an astonishing discovery that will make Ladywell famous, but meanwhile her house is full of unexpected visitors, she has a turkey to cook–and a very special secret of her own that must be told.
What did I think about it..
There is such a lovely feel to this Christmassy novella that I was quite enchanted by the story about Freya, Patrick and their daughter, Violet, who all live at the house at Ladywell, which is a lovely family home steeped in the traditions and legends of the past.
The author cleverly blends past with present and takes the reader on a delightful blended journey into the deep connections which Ladywell has with all the occupants of the house over the centuries, linking the myths of days gone by with what’s happening to Freya and Patrick in the here and now.
For those who are familiar with the story from the author’s previous novel, The House at Ladywell, this novella continues the theme of interlinking past and present, and adds even more detail, sharing once again the connection with the old ones who have made this area their home for hundreds of years. I especially loved the magical significance of the rather special hares who live in the landscape around Ladywell, and who give the story a special mystical quality which really is quite magical.
Christmas at Ladywell is a beautifully written novella, with a lovely blend of past and present and is the perfect antidote to all the stresses of Christmas.
Nicola Slade is an award-winning, bestselling author of historical and contemporary mysteries and romantic fiction, all set in and around Winchester and Romsey in Hampshire–which is where she lives.The House at Ladywell–a contemporary romantic novel with historical echoes–won the Chatelaine Grand Prize for Romantic Fiction at the CIBA awards in April 2019.She is the author of the mid-Victorian Charlotte Richmond mysteries and the contemporary Harriet Quigley mysteries and The Convalescent Corpse, published November 2018, is the first in a new series, The Fyttleton Mysteries, set in 1918.
Giveaway to Win a .mobi or PDF of The Convalescent Corpse by Nicola Slade (Open INT)
*Terms and Conditions – Worldwide entries welcome.Please enter using the Rafflecopter boxbelow.The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email.If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
I remember Christmas 1963, when I received my much longed for Sindy Doll. She was the one wearing blue jeans and a stripey top. My dad made a Sindy wardrobe and my mum had put a couple of outfits in it. I think one of the outfits was 'City Girl' which came with a little dog, and 'Shopping in the Rain' which was a raincoat and hood made from Black PVC!
I also remember the same Christmas my brothers got the Beatles LP With the Beatles and the songs All my Lovin' and Please Mister Postman remind me of that Christmas.
🎅Do you have any special Christmas Traditions?
I always have a nativity crib with figures that have been in the family for well over 60 years.
Baby Jesus never goes into the crib until he is born on Christmas Day!
I have the three kings traversing around the house for the whole of December until Epiphany when they reach the crib. You never know where the kings will show up.....
🎅What’s your favourite festive carol or song?
Silent Night.
I remember listening to someone sing Stille Nacht, heilige nacht one Christmas morning in the Hospice where I was the nurse in charge...it was magical.
Adeste Fidelis reminds me of Midnight Mass with my parents.
And John Lennon’s Happy Xmas ( War is Over ) reminds me of a school disco, Christmas 1971.
🎅Do you have a favourite festive film?
The Snowman as it reminds me of when my children were tiny and so excited that Christmas was finally here. They would both sit still for half an hour whilst this was on the TV.
What’s your favourite festive read ?
It's always got to be Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Although my Christmas treat this year is to read Miss Marleyby Vanessa Lafaye, who very sadly passed away earlier this year.
🎅Are you organised or do you leave everything until the last minute ?
Mainly organised, although I can keep shopping until the very last minute !
I do try to get Christmas cards written early and tend to buy Christmas presents as I see them from about mid-October time.
🎅Christmas Tree – real or artificial?
A good artificial tree works for us. I've always had cats who like to swing from tree branches, scattering glittery baubles, so having had more than one tree pulled over by a curious kitty it’s so much easier to have something that’s not going to shed pine needles everywhere should it topple over!
I have just a couple of these rather fragile baubles left which I bought in Leeds in 1980, for our first Christmas tree as a married couple.
🎅Tinsel or Glitter?
Tinsel rather than glitter but I really prefer stranded beads or ribbons on the tree which I think look pretty.
I dislike the feeling of glitter on my hands and so avoid it wherever possible.
🎅Christmas Cracker of Party Poppers
Christmas Crackers every time. I love the terrible jokes, cheap plastic contents and colourful party hats that are either too big or too small !
🎅Mince Pie or Yule Log?
A little bit of both works for us. Warm mince pie or Christmas Pudding and a dollop of ice-cream for me but it’s always Yule Log for the family and we have to test several recipes before we get to the one that’s chosen for the ‘big’ day !
🎅Christmas Dinner – Traditional Turkey, Nut Roast Veggie or something Different?
Always traditional turkey, sourced locally and cooked to perfection by my husband. Although this year we're going to shake it up a bit and have a Christmas buffet rather than having a sit around the table roast dinner. There won't be sprouts this year !
🎅Christmas Tipple – Bucks Fizz/Mulled Wine or something stronger?
I'm a non-drinker so, whilst I may have a tiny Buck's Fizz during present opening, the rest of the day it's elder flower pressé, or a nice cup of my favourite Darjeeling tea 😊
I'm not a great fan of mulled wine - it always tastes medicinal.
🎅A fun game of after dinner charades or more chocolates and the television?
It's got to be a good book, or whatever drama is on the television.
🎅 🎅 🎅 🎅 🎅
Wherever you are in the world and whoever you share it with, Jaffa, Timmy and I wish you the Happiest of Christmases
