📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Marriage Contract by Sasha Butler

Salt Publishing
6 October 2025

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to review this book 

 

‘Once she had thought of them, their love, as a fortress that nothing, not giants nor dragons nor men with fists and minds of gore could tear down. She realises now, that their love is malleable, mouldable, breakable. As soft as dreams

Summer in Worcestershire, 1577. Eliza Litton, a talented artist, is in love with childhood friend, Francis. But her tyrannical father, who rules the household with insults and fists, has other ideas. As summer comes to an end, Francis vanishes after a drunken night at the inn and Eliza’s father forces her to marry a gentleman, Edmund.

Thrown into a new, unfamiliar life with her husband who appears distant and cold, Eliza cannot tear herself from the memory of Francis. Yet her feelings for Edmund soften with time; he presents a life to her better than she ever dreamed. He provides her a safety she never had beneath her father’s roof and encourages her to paint, to pursue the things she loves.

As she begins to fall for Edmund, Francis is adrift on his own voyage, doing all he can to survive, fixated on returning to Eliza.

But as Eliza grows closer to Edmund, she uncovers a deceit she never imagined, causing her to question her own loyalties and commit her own betrayals. After everything, who will Eliza be? And what choices will she make?

The Marriage Contract vividly portrays life in the precarious and unforgiving Elizabethan era, exploring love’s many forms; how we can betray the ones we love, and how we can find forgiveness; and explores a woman’s fight to follow her desires and find her autonomy.

📖My Review..

Eliza and Francis, are childhood sweethearts, they dream of a life together however, Eliza’s abusive and controlling father has very different plans for his daughter and marriage to a blacksmith’s son is never going to happen. Setting his sights on a far grander match for his only daughter, Eliza has no choice but to obey her father’s wishes and so enters into a marriage contract with Edmund Cecil, a young man of means who has a gentle nature, and a lifetime of secrets of his own.

Delicately written, and with a quiet lyricism, The Marriage Contract brings Elizabethan England to life, from the rather forlorn wattle and daub house of Eliza’s childhood in rural Worcestershire, to her much grander moted marital home at Cecil Hall in Warwickshire, every part of the story flowed beautifully. I absorbed every word, went back to passages I found so beautifully written that I needed to re-read them and, in reading, I sensed a much older world around me, one that was filled with love, but overshadowed by grief and the hint of angry betrayal. Immersed in Eliza’s life I allowed her sorrow to consume me, noticed her small moments of triumph, and watched as she began to unburden her sadness, blossoming in a way that she could never have imagined when once she ran free, with Francis, in the fields around her childhood home. And what of Francis, well therein lies a another tale of loss and heartbreak, adrift and alone, he dreams of what might have been.

Bittersweet and utterly beautiful, The Marriage Contract is an exceptional debut novel from a talented writer whose love for storytelling shines with every carefully considered word. It is one of the best books I have read this year.

It’s so good I have decided to make it my Book of my Month for November.

About the Author

Sasha Butler is a writer based in the West Midlands. Her first novel, The Marriage Contract will be published in 2025 and was shortlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize 2022 and the Bath Novel Award 2022, under the former title, As Soft as Dreams. 

She is interested in writing historical novels focusing on ordinary people who, despite living in eras so different from our own, are ultimately recognisable in their humanity - with desires, hopes, loves and fears.

In addition to novels, she occasionally writes short stories. Her short story Map of an Affair featured in Floodgate Press’ anthology, Night Time Economy (September 2024).

In her spare time, Sasha enjoys exploring National Trusts and planning trips to far-flung places. She lives with her partner in a little apartment with an ever-growing collection of books and plants.

Social Media

X@SashaButler09 #TheMarriageContract

Instagram @sashabutler_writes

X@saltpublishing

📖 Book Review ~ Seven Reasons to Murder your Dinner Guests by K. J. Whittle

Harper North
11 September 2025

Three courses. Seven guests. One evening they'll never forget.

Seven strangers meet at Serendipity's for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening reaches its close, small black envelopes are placed in front of the diners… revealing the age at which each will die.

Spooked, but not wholly shaken, the group disperses into the rainy night with the hope of forgetting the ghoulish stunt.

But two weeks later, one dinner guest dies at the age foretold. Was it a tragic accident? Or something more sinister?

As the years go by, the other guests begin to die in line with the predictions given on that first night. And it's up to the remaining few to figure who, if anyone, was behind that dinner party before their numbers catch up with them too.

Told from the perspectives of the guests, Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests balances mystery and mortality, asking: how would you live your life if you know your number was up?

📖 My Review..

In November 2015 a group of seven disparate dinner guests gather at a secluded, and rather clandestine, restaurant in London. They have no idea why they have been gathered together nor do they know who is hosting the party and whilst the seven have absolutely nothing in common by the end of the sumptuous meal they will be linked in a way they could never have imagined. Over the course of the next ten years we catch up with the dinner guests and ponder over the reasons why each of them have been targeted in such an unusual way.

What then follows is a slow burner of a story which takes us into the lives of each of the dinner guests, in fact, we are allowed to get right inside their heads as they each go back to the mundanity of their lives.  The rather clever twist to the story, of which there are several, comes in the knowledge that each of the guests have been told the age that they will die. It’s an interesting concept, cleverly handled, and a different take on the usual guests around the dinner table murder/mystery, it’s rather like an Agatha Christie but with a modern twist.

I enjoyed how the story developed and all credit must go to the author for drawing me into the story despite none of the characters being at all likeable. Of course, as with all mysteries I attempted to guess the outcome but I was left baffled until the clever reveal. Brilliantly done, this a story which intrigues from start to finish.

About the Author 

Kerry Whittle grew up in Cumbria and studied English Language and Literature in London. She is an experienced journalist, having written for national newspapers and magazines for the last 20 years, specialising in real life stories. In 2020, she attended Curtis Brown Creative’s novel writing course.

📖 Book Review ~ Believe by S M Govett

Michael Joseph
19 June 2025

Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to review this book

Natalie has spent ten years trying to get over the twin set of events which changed her life forever.

The first: the moment her boss assaulted her. The second: the moment the jury declared him innocent - and her, a liar.

The memories continue to haunt Natalie, and in her attempts to block out the past, she often wakes up with no recollection of where she’s been – or what she’s done,.

So when her husband, Ryan, gets accused of the same crime, Natalie comes perilously close to the edge.

Natalie wants to believe him. But when the body of the young woman who made the accusation is found in the woods near their house, Ryan becomes a prime suspect, and Natalie realises she can't trust anyone - herself included...

📖 My Review..

Natalie and her husband Ryan live a quiet sort of life, Natalie works from home whilst Ryan works for a marketing company. On the surface they have a lovely life but Natalie struggles with PTSD following an assault some ten years previously when the perpetrator walked free and Natalie was branded a liar. When, out of the blue, Ryan is now accused of a similar crime, Natalie struggles to rationalise this information however, with the discovery of a body, the police are relentless in their search for justice and are determined to make this case stick.

This is a cleverly put together crime novel which is told from Natalie’s perspective alongside that of DI Helen Stratton who is in charge of the investigation. Both women are compelling however, it is Natalie’s unreliability which really makes this such an interesting story. Stratton has her own demons which surface from time to time and although it took me a while to warm to her character I couldn’t help but be impressed with her tenacity. There’s some interesting dynamics between the rest of the detectives, all of which could be explored more if this becomes a crime series. The plot is filled with surprises as you’re never quite sure who to believe, hence the title of the book. I found myself trying to fit the crime to a completely different person only to have my theory completely shattered with the final denouement, which I honestly didn’t see coming.

Believe is a fast paced crime drama which kept my attention from start to finish. I really hope we get to see more of DI Helen Stratton in future crime stories, I have a feeling this one could run and run.

About the Author

S.M. Govett read Law at Trinity College, Oxford, before qualifying as a solicitor in the City. After realising that didn't suit her, she started tutoring before turning her hand to writing, which she discovered was her true calling. She has since authored several bestselling YA novels, including The Territory trilogy and We Go On Forever. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the feature film, T.I.M., which was the no. 1 film on Netflix upon release. Believe is her debut adult thriller.

She currently lives in London with her husband and three children.

X @sarahgovett #Believe

X @MichaelJBooks

📖 Book review ~ Innocent Guilt by Remi Kone

Quercus
15th May 2025

#1 LeahHutch Series

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

June is the National Crime Reading Month and I am pleased to share my review of this debut crime novel by Remi Kone…

On a misty autumn afternoon, a woman covered in blood clutching a baseball bat walks silently into a London police station. The two officers assigned to her case are DI Leah Hutch and DS Benjamin Randle.

But the woman refuses to speak. She is not injured and the blood on the bat is not hers. What has she done? Is she the victim or the perpetrator? As Leah and Randle start their inquiry, a man is found battered to death in a nearby park. Journalist Odie Reid receives a tip off and is determined to solve the case first, trying to link this death to the woman held in custody.

Leah and Odie have history and very quickly their cat and mouse game becomes personal, leading them both to the very darkest corners of their pasts.

📖 My Review..

When a woman walks into a police station covered in blood and carrying a baseball bat, DI Leah Hutch and DS Ben Randle think that they have a fairly straightforward case however, this is only the start of a long and complex murder investigation which will test their powers of detection to the very limit. Running alongside this complicated case of multiple murders is the interference by Odie Reid, a local journalist, who needs just one more scoop to get her tired career back on track and who is determined to keep one step ahead of the police, and more importantly, her old adversary, Leah, with whom she has some previous history.

Like any first book in a proposed series there is a certain amount of getting to know the characters and DI Leah Hutch is certainly someone I am sure we will gain more insight into as the series progresses. I enjoyed the elements of the story which tell us more about Leah’s troubled childhood and the reasons why she is so focused on her work. Her partnership with DS Ben Randle is an interesting one and I’m sure this will become deeper as they strengthen their relationship in future stories.

Innocent Guilt is an interesting crime thriller which certainly kept me on the edge of my seat. There are some clever twists, which I didn’t see coming, and an exciting conclusion to what is a very well thought out crime thriller. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

About the Author

British Nigerian Emmy-nominated producer, Remi Kone, has worked on a number of well known television dramas such as Killing Eve,Spooks and Lewis. she lives in London and Innocent Guilt is her first novel.

 X @QuercusBooks

X @remikonewriter #InnocentGuilt

📖 Book of my Month ~ Grace of the Empire State by Gemma Tizzard

Headline
28 January 2025

Thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read this book

As the Great Depression bites, show dancer Grace's Irish immigrant family can't afford the rising rents, nor the medicine that her little sister urgently needs. When her twin brother is injured and can no longer work on the construction of the half-built Empire State Building, Grace steps up - literally. She trades her dancing shoes for worker boots, braving deadly metal work hundreds of feet in the sky.

But survival isn't guaranteed. Failure could mean not only losing her job, but also her life, and the livelihood of her family and team. Sparks fly across the great metal beams, as a terrible accident and a split-second decision leaves Grace re-evaluating everything that she thought she knew about herself.

📖 My Review..

It’s not often I experience vertigo when reading a book but from the nerve wracking opening chapter of this fascinating novel my heart was quite literally in my mouth as I observed Grace O’Connell take those first few steps out onto the shell of the Empire State Building in 1930s New York.

When her twin brother Patrick is injured at work and with her family’s, already precarious, financial state affected by the deep depression, Grace takes her brother’s place in a four man team of riveters employed to work on the outer shell of the Empire State Building. This is no place for a woman but with her identity hidden, and masquerading as her brother, Grace grows in skill and confidence but is always aware that being hundreds of feet above street level, with nothing but steel and air below her, definitely brings its own dangerous challenges.

The author has captured to perfection the sheer scale of the danger faced by all those who once worked on this iconic building. The constant fear of falling, the heat of the metal, the unpredictability of the weather and the absolute terror that Grace would be discovered meant that I raced through the book in a couple of sittings. I was eager to learn more about this intrepid young woman whose love for dancing gives Grace the strength and poise she needed to keep her balance on the steel beams. The  city of New York, deep in depression, came alive, the hustle for jobs, the unscrupulous landlords who took but never gave back, the overwhelming power of friendship and the deep abiding loyalty of all those who tried to protect Grace’s secret.

Grace of the Empire State is so impeccably researched it brought history alive in a really authentic way and so, knowing absolutely nothing about the construction of the Empire State Building I was inspired to look at the archive photographs of Lewis Hines, the official photographer, and marvelled at the bravery of the ‘sky boys’ those structural workers who risked their lives as they put the gigantic steel frame together.

It’s definitely going to be one of my reads of the year and for that reason I am delighted to make Grace of the Empire State the Book of My Month for February.

About the Author

Gemma Tizzard has a degree in American Studies, with a particular interest in twentieth century American history and untold women’s stories. From Berkshire, she now lives in Southampton, where she works as a marketing manager. She also writes romantic comedies and was longlisted for the 2021 and 2022 Comedy Women in Print (CWIP) Unpublished Novel Prize. Grace of the Empire State is her first historical novel.

Keep up with Gemma Tizzard on Instagram @gemma_tizzard.

X @gem_tizz #GraceOfTheEmpireState

X @HeadlineFiction

X @headlinepg

 

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ One Armed Jack : Uncovering The Real Jack the Ripper by Sarah Bax Horton

 

Michael O'Mara Books
31 August 2023

My thanks to the publisher and Alison Menzies for my copy of this book

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time. Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer’s distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy.

This new perpetrator fits the profile as stated by the police of the day: a local man of low class of whom they became aware after the final murder, when they launched an unsuccessful surveillance operation against him. As has never been done before, the author – an experienced former government researcher with specific expertise in research and analysis – formulates a complete analysis of the killer and his methodology, including how he accosted his victims, where he took them to their deaths, his unique modus operandi of a blitz-style attack, and how he escaped from each crime scene without detection.

Each of the six murders – from Martha Tabram to Marie Kelly – is discussed and reconstructed as perpetrated by this man, with his escalating violence clearly demonstrated.

📖 My Review..

Profiling 'Jack the Ripper' is as fascinating today as it was during that fateful period in the East End of London when the horrific murders were taking place. This account looks in considerable detail not only into the character of 'One Armed Jack' who very much fits the description given by some witnesses but it also brings into sharp focus each of the murders and the subsequent inquests which took place. In using considerable research a profile emerges of a man who could very much be responsible and the author does a convincing job in putting forward her findings so that a realistic picture of a violent, and unstable, criminal emerges in precise detail.

I found the book fascinating and very quickly became immersed in what it was like to live in the squalid conditions around Whitechapel in the 1880s. The women who plied their trade as sex workers eking out a meagre existence for a few pennies and a tot of gin never stood a chance against a man who was hellbent on murder. It was interesting to have the Victorian policing methods brought to life and to read witness statements gathered at the time and presented at each of the the inquests of the murder victims. Whilst the police methods were as good as they could be at the time, I did wonder just what those Victorian police officers would make of our modern day forensic science teams.

The author writes well and puts forward her analysis with great attention to detail so that by the end of the book I was convinced by her argument that this man could be responsible. Over one hundred and thirty-five years later we still have a morbid fascination for the events which took place in Victorian London and the names of the unfortunate victims of Jack the Ripper will never be forgotten.

About the Author

Sarah Bax Horton is a former civil servant who worked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for over twenty years. She has an MA honours degree in English and Foreign Languages from Somerville College Oxford. Her interest in genealogy and a family member related to the Jack the Ripper case inspired her to research the lives of the personalities involved.

Twitter #onearmedjack

@OMaraBooks

📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose

 

Penguin
24 March 2023

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Keep your friends close and your neighbours closer . . .

Ciara has it all – a loving husband, well-behaved children and an immaculate home. But behind the filters, her reality is far from what it seems.

Mishti is stuck in a loveless marriage, raising her daughter in a country that is too cold, among children who look nothing like her.

Lauren is mostly happy, despite being outcast for her woo-woo beliefs and her kids who run naked, wild and free.

But then Ciara is found murdered in her pristine home and suddenly everyone is a suspect.

📖 My Review..

Ciara seems to have everything, a loving husband, beautiful children and a lifestyle that she enjoys sharing on her social media channels but as we soon discover there are flaws aplenty in Ciara’s life and pretty soon we start to see not just her dirty laundry but everyone else’s dirty laundry being aired in public.

I enjoyed getting to know Ciara and although she not a very likeable character and as brittle as a cut glass vase there were times when I felt a modicum of sympathy for her. However, for me, it was Mishti who was the stand out character, she deserved so much more than life had given her. Lauren, with her Mother Earth qualities had her own vulnerabilities which added another fascinating dimension to this compelling story about motherhood, friendship and the difficulties of keeping your enemies closer than your friends.

There’s so much to enjoy in this suspenseful thriller that’s it’s difficult to share very much without giving the plot away and believe me this is one of those addictive stories which is better read with no preconceptions, as that way the twists and turns, when they come, will take you as much by surprise as they did me.

A real page turner from beginning to end, I have no hesitation in making Dirty Laundry my Featured Book of the Month for April.

About the Author

Disha Bose was born and raised in India, and now lives in Ireland. She worked in Tech before quitting to return to writing. Dirty Laundry is her first novel.

Twitter @dishabossy #DirtyLaundry

@PenguinUK

Hist Fic Saturday ~ The Royal Station Master's Daughters by Ellee Seymour

On Hist Fic Saturday

Let's go back to... 1915

Bonnier Books
Zaffre
 2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

A heartwarming World War I saga of family, secrets and royalty.

It's 1915 and Ada, Jessie and Beatrice Saward live in a small Norfolk village with their parents. Their father, Harry, is the station master at Wolferton, the local stop for the Sandringham Estate. With members of the royal family and their guests passing through the train station on their way to Sandringham, the Saward family have a unique position within their small community.

But despite the privileged position the village and the family is in, and the excitement a visit from the royals always brings, it's World War I and the community is suffering. The men are away fighting, rationing is hard and they all need to work together to get through the tough times.

When the Saward sisters' destitute cousin Maria arrives in Wolferton, everything is turned on its head. Young Maria Saward and her siblings have never enjoyed the comforts of family life. As products of Willie Saward's second marriage to a much younger woman, they were shunned by their extended family, and left in poverty after Willie's death. Will the Saward family be able to help Maria and her siblings and what could this do to the balance of their happy family life?

My Review.. 

In this first book of a proposed historical trilogy we meet the Saward family who live in the Station Master's house at Wolferton railway station. This is no ordinary place to live and the station master's daughters, Ada, Jessie and Beatrice are well used to seeing members of the royal family alight at the tiny station on their way to their country home at Sandringham.

The girls live something of a genteel life, their place in the village is comfortable, and their mother and father are well respected. However, in the summer of 1915, their lives are about to be changed when an unwelcome guest arrives to disturb this settled way of life. Add into the mix the continuation of the First World War and the catastrophic effect this will have on the local community and you have all the right ingredients for an interesting historical saga. I enjoyed getting to know the villagers who make the hamlet of Wolferton their home, some are more likeable than others, which adds an interesting dynamic.

The Royal Station Master's Daughters is a lovely start to the trilogy and brings both time and place alive so that anyone who enjoys this genre of historical fiction will have great pleasure in learning about the way of life in Wolferton in 1915. Parts of the story are based on the real life Saward family who lived in the Station Master's house and although the events in this story are fictional by using the details of those who actually lived during this time in history helps to create a good sense of authenticity.

Best read with...One of Betty Fitch's Rock Buns and a nice cup of Rosie Lee

About the Author

Ellee Seymour is a journalist and PR professional living near Cambridge. The Royal Station Master's Daughters is her debut novel. Ellee was inspired to write it after meeting Brian Heath, the great grandson of Harry Saward, who was the royal station master at Wolferton for forty years from 1884 to 1924 and who the novel is based on.

The second book in the series The Station Master's Daughters at War will be published later in 2022.

Twitter @elleeseymour

@ZaffreBooks

📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page

One More Chapter
28 February 2022

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Cleaner Janice knows that it is in people’s stories that you really get to know them. From recently-widowed Fiona and her son Adam; to opera-singing Geordie; and the awful Mrs ‘YeahYeahYeah’ and her fox terrier, Decius, Janice has a unique insight into the community around her.

When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs B – a shrewd and tricksy woman in her nineties – she finally meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share.

Mrs B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?

📖 My Review ...

Those who get to know Janice love her but some, it must be said, take advantage of her good nature and willingness to go the extra mile and although in her husband's words, Janice is 'just a cleaner' she really is worth her weight in gold. Some of her clients leave much to be desired in terms of bad manners and obnoxiousness, especially Mrs ‘YeahYeahYeah’ whose only saving grace is that she owns a delightful little dog called Decious, who really does, in his own inimitable style, take centre stage more than once. 

Janice loves nothing more that trying to discover what makes people tick and loves finding out their individual stories so when she is asked to clean for the eccentric Mrs B, Janice realises that there is more to this bad-tempered nonagenarian than first appears. Gradually over the space of this lovely story we discover more about Mrs B whilst at the same time watch how Janice starts to be transformed.

Beautifully written The Keeper of Stories quickly becomes an engaging read which made me laugh out loud in places and cry gentle tears in others. The characterisation is really quite special, with people who you love from the start, but also with those, naming no names, you are glad to see get their comeuppance. You can't help but warm to Janice, she's a real unsung heroine who never feels that she is special and yet, she is more than worthy of having the starring role in this lovely story.

Wise, wonderful and warm-hearted, I am delighted to have The Keeper of Stories as my Featured Book of the Month in March.

Best read with...a pot of tea and some fancy cakes

About the Author

After studying history at university, Sally Page moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop.Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. Sally now lives in Dorset and The Keeper of Stories is her debut novel.

Twitter @SallyPageBooks #TheKeeperofStories

@0nemoreChapter_ @HarperCollins

📖 Blog Tour Guest Post ~ You Don't Need Therapy by Alan Lucas

 

 Delighted to be able to share this guest post on today's blog tour stop

Beak Street Publishing
12 January 2021

My thanks to Midas pr for my invitation to be part of the blog tour
and to the author for this guest post

Changing your life isn’t that complicated when you know how, and when you know how You Don’t Need Therapy According to the World Health Organisation, there is a suicide every 40 seconds and in the UK alone, 16 people choose to end their lives every day. We have a chronic mental health problem. More and more people report they are struggling, yet therapy and medication, the conventional default solutions, are expensive and don’t seem to be working. You Don’t Need Therapy presents an alternative solution: The SYSO System® - an easily digestible and cost efficient one stop system that can be applied by anyone wherever they are on their journey. Resources available for self-improvement are plentiful, but can be overwhelming and confusing. There are over 160 recognised types of psychotherapy, endless counselling styles, coaching methods, healing techniques, retreats, seminars and book offerings, yet many people simply don’t know where to start or what to do next. You Don’t Need Therapy introduces a one stop solution, the SYSO System®, with 7 simple steps and 70 practical exercises so you can DO the changing, rather than just read about it. By following the steps, you will change how you think, which will change how you feel, which will change what you do, all as quickly as you choose. You will create a new filter through which you experience life and by changing the filter, everything will look different.

You don’t need therapy; you can sort your self out when you know how.

📖 I'm delighted to welcome Alan to the blog today 📖

Sort Your Self Out 

Hi, I’m Alan Lucas and I created a 7-step system to help people become more mentally healthy! It’s simply called the Sort Your Self Out system (The SYSO System) and if you follow the steps you can change your life. It’s that straightforward. 

However, the system will only work if you do! That’s why there are 70 practical exercises so you can really do the changing rather than just read about it. If you want your life to improve, you have to improve. If you want your life to be different, you have to be different, and if you want your life to change, you have to change. Notice the theme? It’s you! You have to ‘do’ things differently. 

People are seeking help for mental health problems at an unprecedented rate. In the UK one in four report experiencing mental health issues and 1 in 8 are receiving some form of ‘treatment.’ The most common prescribed solutions are therapy and medication, but these are expensive, not easy to access and often not that effective. As great as some therapy can be, the therapist doesn’t do the work for you anyway. You still have to do the changing. If you just knew what to do and had exercises to practice, then you wouldn’t need therapy. 

Everyone has things they are trying to change, but often we just struggle with the doing. The SYSO System, with 70 action activating exercises, focusses on making changes real. The 7 steps deal with the bigger questions that lie behind your life, and when you focus on these, then all the small stuff will fall into place. Want better relationships, health, finances? We often focus on strategies for achieving these goals in specific areas of our life, but if we focus instead on the bigger picture by becoming more aware, managing our mind, taking charge of our emotions, meeting our needs in healthy ways, having a clear purpose, appreciating our interconnectedness and raising our vibration, then our life will change on a whole new level in all areas. 

So, wherever you are on your journey, decide to take responsibility for your experience of life. Everything that has happened so far has been invaluable in giving you the foundations for the next part. Decide now to make the most of the rest of your life, and you will be doing everyone else the biggest favour too, as being the best version of yourself is the greatest gift you can give to others. When you light up you will feel great, but you will also be able to shine more brightly your light and warmth. Let’s all be the best we can. Let’s all be suns. 

You Don’t Need Therapy is out on 12th Jan and is available for pre order now. https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Dont-Need-Therapy-Steps/dp/1913532259 All profits to The SYSO Foundation which is a new charity providing free support and personal development resources to young people to help them avoid becoming messed up older people. 

About the Author

Alan Lucas was born and raised in Belfast during the troubles and from a young age wondered why people would choose to kill others just because they had developed different beliefs. After university, he worked as a ski instructor in the U.S, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. He had a corporate career as a marketing boss at global sportswear brands Nike and Adidas and has founded various businesses. An entrepreneur, coach and motivational speaker, Alan is passionate about selfimprovement and helping people have more fun and fulfilling lives. He created the Sort Your Self Out system, and the EGO HERE® brand which donates its profits to the SYSO Foundation, providing personal development resources for young people to help them become the best versions of themselves. You Don’t Need Therapy is his debut book.

Website

Twitter @SysoSystem #YouDontNeedTherapy

@Midaspr

Book Review ~ Escape Routes by Naomi Ishiguro

Headline
6 February 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

A space-obsessed child conjures up a vortex in his mother's airing cupboard. A musician finds her friendship with a flock of birds opens up unexpected possibilities. A rat catcher, summoned to a decaying royal palace, is plunged into a battle for the throne of a ruined kingdom. Two newlyweds find themselves inhibited by the arrival in their lives of an outsized and watchful stuffed bear.

Whether snared in traps artfully laid for them, or those of their own making, the characters in Naomi Ishiguro's delightfully speculative debut collection yearn for freedom and flight, and find their worlds transformed beyond their wildest imaginings.

What did I think about it..

In this collection of nine short stories the author allows a glimpse into the often strange and magical world of other people’s imagined lives. Escapes Routes offers a chance to leave the mundane behind and helps to transport the reader into an altogether more magical existence.

The collection is easy to dip into, making it one of those sets of short stories that you can carry around with you and find something interesting to peruse. Each of the stories are all decidedly different and whilst I didn’t like every story, I appreciated the author’s effort in making each of them unique in so many different ways. Each cleverly contrived story is complete within itself and allows the author’s emerging talent for storytelling to shine through.

Escape Routes is quirky, different and a highly accomplished debut by an emerging author who I am sure will continue to go from strength to strength in future writing projects.

About the Author

Naomi Ishiguro studied writing at the University of East Anglia and is a former bookseller and bibliotherapist at Mr B.’s Emporium in Bath. She lives in London.

Twitter@NaomiIshiguro #EscapeRoutes

@headlinepg

Book Review ~ Moments: An Autobiography in Verse by Daphne Denley

Crumps Barns Studio

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this poetry book

Like many of us, Daphne Denley is a fully signed-up apprentice of mid-life mayhem. She is a mother trying to adjust to her daughter’s grown up tastes. And she is a loving wife who has had her life turned upside down by her husband’s devastating diagnosis.

This collection of poems is an autobiography in verse. In turns heartfelt, familiar and beautifully observed, Daphne explores each of life’s Moments – and in the process shows us how, even in the worst of times, hope can return in the end.

My thoughts..

It's always a real pleasure to feature poetry on the blog, especially when that poetry is by a writer who shares the personal moments of her life in emotional poetry which is both heartwarming and heartfelt.

This poetry collection covers a whole range of emotions in reflective pieces which are scattered throughout and which take us on a journey through the poet's thoughts and feelings about what was going on in her life at the time of writing. And whilst this is a very personal collection, which has deep meaning for the author, the strength of the verses also struck a chord with me, and I felt like I was travelling alongside the writer on an intimate journey.

This collection of 55 poems covers a wide range of topics, from the beautiful simplicity of the opening poem, Sweet Dreams, about a mother with her baby, and as a new grandmother I can identify with its beautifully expressed sentiment, to the succinctness of the finishing poem Cheers, and in all the poems in-between there is something to enjoy in verses which are not overly complicated but which reflect those autobiographical moments in life which are so precious to us all.

About the Author

Daphne Denley is a poet and song-writer. This is her first published collection of poetry. She lives on the edge of Rodborough Common with her husband and daughter.