Summer Read 2017 ~ Felicity at the Cross Hotel by Helena Fairfax

Helena Fairfax
July 2017

What's it all about...

A quaint hotel in a romantic location. The Lake District is the perfect getaway. Or is it?

Felicity Everdene needs a break from the family business. Driving through the Lake District to the Cross Hotel, past the shining lake and the mountains, everything seems perfect. But Felicity soon discovers all is not well at the Cross Hotel …

Patrick Cross left the village of Emmside years ago never intending to return, but his father has left him the family’s hotel in his will, and now he's forced to come back. With a missing barmaid, a grumpy chef, and the hotel losing money, the arrival of Felicity Everdene from the notorious Everdene family only adds to Patrick’s troubles.

With so much to overcome, can Felicity and Patrick bring happiness to the Cross Hotel … and find happiness for themselves.

What did I think about it ..

When Felicity Everdene arrives at the Cross Hotel in the Lake District she is viewed with suspicion because she is part of the hugely successful Everdene hotel chain who are known for their ruthless takeovers of struggling hotels. That the Cross Hotel is struggling is evident in its shabby decor and in its dejected air of just about managing to survive in a competitive business world.

Felicity really isn't there to take over the hotel for her family but trying to convince the hotel employees of this proves to be difficult and yet, Felicity's warm nature and expertise soon starts to win over people's affections. However, the hardest person to convince of her honourable intentions is Patrick Cross who has had to leave his successful business in the Caribbean in order to come home to run the hotel after the death of his father.

What then follows is a delightful tale of how Felicity and Patrick's rocky relationship develops and of how the gradual building of trust between them helps to set the hotel on a very different path.

I really enjoyed travelling to the Lake District with Felicity as she discovered for herself the unique charm of this very special place. The author has captured the place and its people so well that it is a joy to see the area come alive so vibrantly. With clever description we can see how the light glimmers on the waters of the lake and how the constantly changing weather patterns allow the stunning landscape to become an important part of the novel. The author has captured the very essence of the Lake District's special characteristics and has interwoven a delightful story of love and loss and of the importance of family commitments.

Felicity at the Cross Hotel is the perfect antidote to a rainy summer as the story fills you with sunshine. From the quirkiness of Felicity's character, through to Patrick's grumpiness, the shabby charm of the Cross Hotel, the eccentricities of the hotel employees, all combine to make a delightful summer read. A story which is just perfect for an afternoon in the garden, or better still somewhere in the English Lake District, with a view of a lake shimmering before you, regardless of the weather.

About the author

Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global eBook Awards, and the I Heart Indie Awards. Her first novel was a contender for the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award.

Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

Follow on Twitter @helenafairfax

Find on Facebook

Website

Amazon UK

My thanks to the author for sharing her story with me 

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First Remembered Read ~ Romantic Novel

Those of us who read, and who are influenced by books, tend to squirrel away our memories of all the stories we have read over the years. 

And yet, there is always that one special book tucked away in the far corner of your mind which reminds you just why you love reading so much…

During July and August I've invited a few friends to share their First Remembered Read

I'm thrilled to welcome to Jaffareadstoo

Helena Fairfax, author of Felicity at the Cross Hotel

Alison Uttley's A Traveller in Time – My First Romantic Read

by Helena Fairfax

When I was eleven I started my first year at a Catholic convent school. The convent was founded in the seventeenth century, at a time when Catholics were persecuted in this country. My school was in an old, rambling building, complete with a draughty chapel and a priests' hidey-hole. The nuns told us many harrowing stories of Catholic martyrdom, such as the death of Margaret Clitherow, who had hidden priests in her home and was executed in a horrific way. She was stripped and laid on a sharp rock. The door of her own house was laid on top of her, weighted with a great pile of rocks and stones, and she was crushed to death. It wasn't hard in that ancient school building to feel all the horror of this death, the paralysing fear of the Catholics, and the brutality of the time.

It was also at this time that I had to spend a couple of weeks off school with a severe throat infection. My dad was away, my other brothers and sisters were at school, and my mum had to go to work. I spent a lot of time alone, feeling feverish and sorry for myself. This was in the days before computers – before even daytime television – and there was nothing for me to do but read. Every day my mum would place a great pile of books by my bed, along with a large jug of juice to drink. One of the books she left me was A Traveller in Time, by Alison Uttley. I absolutely fell in love with this book. It was my first ever romantic read, and I still have my old copy.

A Traveller in Time tells the story of Penelope Taverner, who, like myself at the time, was a solitary and imaginative child, recovering from an illness. Penelope is sent to stay with relatives who live at Thackers – an old farm in Derbyshire which has been there for centuries. There is an absolutely lovely sense of place in this book – the descriptions of the old farm-house, the scent of herbs, the cosy kitchen, and all the old furnishings and artefacts that Penelope comes across already give the story a wonderfully romantic atmosphere. The real romance comes from the dual timeline. Penelope discovers she can travel back in time, to the sixteenth century and the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the home of the Babington family. The fictional Thackers is based on the real house of Dethick Manor, which once belonged to the Catholic Babingtons. Anthony Babington was involved in a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth and place the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. He was executed, and his actions led to the later execution of Queen Mary.

With the stories of the nuns in my head, I could well imagine the terror Penelope feels, knowing what will happen to the Babingtons, and knowing she is powerless to change history. Penelope meets Francis Babington – the younger brother of Anthony – and as the story progresses, and Penelope grows older, she and Francis begin to fall in love. Their love for each other is beautifully drawn, and all the more moving because they both of them know it is doomed.

The book was first published in 1939. I re-read it recently and it is still a wonderful, enthralling, romantic and poignant read today. I passed the book on to my own daughter when she was a child, and she called the author "Alison Utterly Brilliant". :) I heartily agree!

Photo of Dethick Manor attribution: mickie collins
[CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Common

Author Biography:

Helena Fairfax is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now which is just as well, since these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. Helena walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings. Subscribers to Helena's newsletter receive news of free stuff, competitions with prizes, gossip, and links to cool websites she's been looking at when she should have been writing.

Amazon universal buy link for Felicity at the Cross Hotel: http://mybook.to/FelicityCH

Social Media Links :

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cR_m71 (all new subscribers receive a free novella)

Website: www.helenafairfax.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax/

Twitter https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax

Pinterest https://uk.pinterest.com/helenafairfax/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/helenafairfax/

Helena Fairfax
July 2017

Cassandra Grafton, author of A Quest for Mr Darcy

My First Romantic Novel

by Cassandra Grafton

Thank you, Jo and Jaffa, for this fun opportunity to share my thoughts on the first romance novel I ever read!

It was back in the summer of 1975, and I was thirteen years old. There was no Internet to search for recommendations of books to read. In general, you relied on local bookshop displays, the mobile library van or the compulsory reading on the school curriculum.

Across five years in grammar school, the latter focused very much on classic authors, including Chaucer, Shakespeare, the Brontës and Austen, and I had yet to discover them all as my second year at grammar school drew to a close.

Then, a class friend offered to lend me a novel she had just read. Her name was Janet Davies, and I can picture her clearly even though I haven’t seen her since I left the school in 1978.

Her mum was a big fan of a Mills & Boon author called Betty Neels and bought all her novels. The book Janet offered me was called Enchanting Samantha, and that was all I knew about it when I took it from her.

It turned out to be a sweet love story about an English nurse and a Dutch doctor, and I devoured it in one go, feeling by the end I had made a huge discovery.

I had all the typical awkwardness of a being a teenager, feeling plain and ordinary at the best of times, yet the heroine was someone I could instantly relate to.

Samantha wasn’t a glamorous or stunningly beautiful girl, she was, to quote from the novel, “a small, pleasantly plump figure, her cap perched very precisely on the top of her neatly piled brown hair, a frown marring a face, which, while by no means pretty, was pleasant enough, with hazel eyes fringed with short thick lashes, a nose turned up at its end and a mouth which though a little too large, could smile delightfully.”

I had brown hair, a by no means pretty but hopefully passable face, hazel eyes and though I avoided smiling much because of the braces on my teeth, I somehow felt an immediate connection with Samantha.

The story is gentle, and the barriers to a happy ending merely those of misunderstandings, but all the same, it whet my appetite. When school finally ended for the long summer holidays, Janet kindly handed over half a dozen other titles by the same author, and that was it - my long love affair with romance novels had begun!

Over time, I collected all of Betty Neels’ books, browsing jumble sales, second-hand book stalls and then, when I had more money to spend, buying brand new stories as they were released. I took them all away to college with me, frequently re-reading my favourites, but later, with a growing family and a lack of space, the books ended up in storage.

Betty Neels began to write in 1969, after retiring from many years in the nursing profession (she had married her own Dutch doctor - a common theme in her books!) The story goes that she was in the library one day and heard a lady complaining about the lack of good romance novels, so decided to write one of her own! In the end, she penned 134 of them for Mills & Boon!

Did Enchanting Samantha remain my all-time favourite Betty Neels novel? No, it was soon superseded by several others, but I will always retain a fondness for the book that introduced me to romance novels, and I still have a copy up in the attic.

Enchanting Samantha was first published in 1973. It has been re-issued with various covers over the last few decades, but my original dog-eared copy looks pretty much like this one!

Mills and Boon

 

 

Co-author with Ada Bright of The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen
Author of the A Fair Prospect trilogy
Author of A Quest for Mr Darcy
Co-author of The Darcy Brothers

Visit me:

Our Blog: Tabby Cow

My Website: Cass Grafton

CreateSpace Indepenent Publishing Platform
July 2017

Huge thanks to Helena and Cassandra for sharing the memories 

of their First Romantic Read with me today.

Next week : My First Historical Read

Close to Home ...Helena Fairfax

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome Northern writer

Helena Fairfax

Helena, a warm welcome  to Jaffareadstoo and thank you for being our guest today. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author.

I was born in Uganda, where my parents were working as teachers, and I came to England as a child. Since then I've lived in Yorkshire almost all my life. The older I get, the more I realise just how much this lovely county has to explore and discover. I'm not sure I've ever really got used to the cold in winter, though…! In fact, it was on a cold, grim, northern day that I had my first idea for a romance novel. I was sitting on a commuter train to Leeds, looking at the rain running down the grimy windows, and thinking how wonderful it would be to be somewhere warm. I'd worked in Lyon as a teenager, and an image of that sun-soaked city popped into my head. Gradually a story began to formulate in my mind about a young woman from London who goes to work in a modern-day silk mill in Lyon.

That's how my writing journey started. Every morning after that, as I sat cramped next to my fellow sufferers on the 7.25am, I’d bring my idea to life in my notebook. Eventually the seed of my idea on that commute became my first novel, The Silk Romance.

Your books are written in Northern England – how have the people and its landscape shaped your stories?

While The Silk Romance was a reaction against the cold northern climate, my last two full-length novels have embraced the wild, romantic landscape of the north. 

My latest novel, Felicity at the Cross Hotel, is set in the Lake District. The hero is Cumbrian and the heroine comes from the south of England. Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South is one of my favourite novels, and in creating my hero I realised I'd given him similar characteristics to her hero, John Thornton. Northern men are often said to be down-to-earth and quiet, and my hero Patrick Cross fits that description. He's also quite proud and stubborn when he needs to be, which is another northern characteristic!

I also loved the setting to Felicity at the Cross Hotel, so much so that the landscape becomes a character in its own right. If you've ever been to the Lakes you'll know that on fine days it is glorious. The weather can change rapidly, however, and the lakes that sparkled in the sunshine can quickly appear dark and threatening, and the mountains shrouded in mist. It's one of the most beautiful and mysterious landscapes I've ever visited.

As a writer based in the North, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

I think marketing and promoting is difficult and time-consuming no matter where in the UK you live. Most of my books are indie published, which can present its own difficulties, but luckily most readers recognise these days that many self-published books have all the quality of writing, editing, and cover artwork of books published in the mainstream.

There is lots going on in the north for writers. I live near Bradford, and on 26th August this year I'll be at the second Bradford Indie Lit Fest, along with around forty other indie authors. (The event is free, and tickets can be obtained here )

The newsletter from New Writing North is also an excellent source of events and tips for northern writers.

I haven't found the promoting aspect any more difficult than it would be for writers elsewhere, but one thing I do find harder is getting my work to agents. The publishing industry is heavily London-centric. Agents don't travel north often, so when they do, it's worth taking the opportunity of travelling to see them. Last year I went to an event for writers at Manchester Metropolitan University, for example. You can read my write-up of it in this article in Comma Press 

In your research for your books, did you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression?

I've visited all the places I've used as settings. Setting plays a big part in my books, whether it's Richmond Park in London – setting for The Antique Love - or the fictional country of Montverrier in A Year of Light of Shadows, which is based on the real country of Monaco. All these settings have made an impression on me, for very different reasons. Richmond Park because of its history as the oldest Royal Park in London, Monaco because of its association with Grace Kelly, whose films I love, and the Lake District because it's one of the most stunning landscapes in the world. I don't think I could single out one. They are all unique!

If you were pitching the North as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

I used to love travelling the globe, but as I've got older I've realised just how much there is to see and explore in Yorkshire, and just what I take for granted. I'd pitch the county as a place to live because there is a home to suit everyone – whether that's a house by the sea on the coast, a flat in a city like Leeds, a cottage in the countryside like the Yorkshire Dales, or a place in a historic city like York.

As a place to work, most areas of Yorkshire have excellent public transport, which makes the commute relatively easy. The cost of housing is cheaper here, too, than in the south. My daughter's flat in London could buy a whole mansion where I live.

And as a place to write, there is nowhere I'd rather be. I walk the Yorkshire moors every day with my dog, rain or shine, and it's on this wild landscape that I dream up most of my ideas. Yorkshire isn't short of places to go for inspiration, from ruined abbeys to Roman walls, to the city life of Leeds and Bradford. The person who is bored of Yorkshire is bored of life (to borrow a quotation!)

What are the ups and downs to being an author?

The ups are definitely the readers and authors I've met along the way. I now have friends both locally that I meet up with, and friends across the world – people who I'd never have met if I hadn't started writing. I feel as though I have found my tribe!

Other "ups" are finally writing The End on a book (a brilliant feeling!), having a book accepted for publication, and - especially – getting an email from a reader to say how much they enjoyed your book. Sharing a story is what we write for, and when readers say how much they've loved it, it means an enormous amount.

The downs are the amount of time spent marketing and promoting, and learning how to do that effectively. I wish I could do away with that side altogether and just concentrate on writing. Writing is also very often just a sheer slog. Quite often I sit down at my desk and wish I could just read someone else's wonderful book instead of working away at writing my own. But then when the book is finished, I feel a massive sense of achievement.

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

The community of romance authors is incredibly supportive. When I first started writing, I relied on the author groups I'd found online, and I've made many friendships through them. I didn't know any other romance authors locally when I first started out. The RNA has a "Chapter" that meets in Harrogate, but the times weren't always convenient. I asked in the Romantic Novelists' Association if anyone would like to meet up informally, and there is now quite a big group of us northern romance authors that meets for lunch in Hebden Bridge every couple of months or so. We call ourselves "Authors on the Edge" – on the edge of Lancashire and Yorkshire!

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

I mentioned Bradford Indie lit Fest above, as well as New Writing North. Last year I gave a workshop at Todmorden Lit Fest, along with fellow romance authors Marie Laval and Sarah Mallory. The festival was organised by Calderdale Libraries, and I've found most local libraries are very keen to promote local authors. Keighley Library, near where I live, runs several reading sessions and workshops.

Local newspapers are also very supportive. I was featured in Bradford's Telegraph and Argus on release of A Way from Heart to Heart, and there was an article about my research with Penrith Divers' Club in the Cumbrian News & Star when I was writing Felicity at the Cross Hotel. "Romance Author Seeks a Hero" was the headline!

I've found promoting the romance genre in bookshops isn't easy, though. Despite the existence of professional organisations such as the Romantic Novelists' Association, there is still a tendency for bookshops to look down on romance novels. When I asked my local bookshop if they'd like the leaflet showing all the nominees for the RNA Awards, they told me they didn't stock "that type of thing"!

Thanks so much for hosting me in your Close to Home slot, Jo, and for your interesting questions. It's been a pleasure talking about Yorkshire!

My latest book, a feel-good summer romance called Felicity at the Cross Hotel, is set in the north, in an old Tudor hotel in the beautiful setting of the Lake District.

Here is the blurb:

A quaint hotel in a romantic landscape. The Cross Hotel is the perfect getaway. Or is it?

Felicity Everdene needs a break from the family business. Driving through the Lake District to the Cross Hotel, past the shining lake and the mountains, everything seems perfect. But Felicity soon discovers all is not well at the Cross Hotel …

Patrick Cross left the village of Emmside years ago never intending to return, but his father has left him the family’s hotel in his will, and now he's forced to come back. With a missing barmaid, a grumpy chef, and the hotel losing money, the arrival of Felicity Everdene from the notorious Everdene family only adds to Patrick’s troubles.

With so much to overcome, can Felicity and Patrick bring happiness to the Cross Hotel … and find happiness for themselves?

Amazon

Author Biography

Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global Ebook Awards, the I Heart Indie Awards, and the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award. 

Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

You can find out more about Helena by clicking on the following links:

Newsletter

Website

Facebook 

Twitter 

Pinterest 

Instagram 

Warmest thanks to Helena for being our lovely guest today and for talking about her writing and for sharing her love of Yorkshire with us.

I hope that you have enjoyed this week's Close to Home feature

Coming next week : Melinda Hammond


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Author Spotlight ......Helena Fairfax

I am delighted to welcome

Helena Fairfax

Helena ~ welcome to Jaffareadstoo and thank you for telling us all about your latest novel,

 A Way from Heart to Heart

Accent Press
2014

Thanks for inviting me today, Jo!

Helena, where did the idea for A Way from Heart to Heart come from?

It’s a couple of years since I started writing this novel. I was asked this question recently, and I really had to think hard - until I remembered! One of the seeds of inspiration came from watching the film Love, Actually. There’s a scene where Keira Knightley discovers her husband’s best man has been secretly in love with her for years. I remember thinking what incredible strength of character the friend must have had to keep his love secret all that time. When the best man disappears from the film I wondered what happened to him. Where did he go? Did he love again?

What can you tell us about A Way from Heart to Heart that won't give too much away?

There is a way from heart to heart is an Afghan proverb I discovered whilst researching this novel. The saying is perfect for my title. I wanted to write a story that shows love of all kinds – between parent and child, between best friends, between lovers, and the intensity of teenage love. I wanted to show that people have an incredible gift for reaching out in love to one another, across all ages and cultures.

Do you write with a particular audience in mind?

That’s a great question. I’ve really had to think hard about that one! I guess when I first have an idea for a story, it’s something I personally want to tell. Of course as I write the story down, I have to think of my audience. I have to write in a way that I know will engage readers, that will make people identify with my characters, and that will make them want to keep turning the pages.

I don’t have a particular audience in mind, though, and I find it a shame that there are categories such as “women’s fiction” or “chick-lit,” as it puts many men off from reading novels that are character-driven and about relationships. The men I know who have read my books – and who would never otherwise have picked up this type of novel – have been surprised at how much they’ve enjoyed them. My husband even missed his stop on the train because he was so engrossed!

Do you write the type of books you like to read and which authors have influenced you?

I do love to read stories with an uplifting ending, and so the answer would be yes, I write the type of books I like to read! I read prolifically – everything from sci-fi and crime to graphic novels. As far as women’s fiction or romance goes, it would be so hard to choose one author over another as an influence, because collectively they’ve had a massive effect. I love Rowan Coleman, Julie Cohen, Sue Moorcroft, Jennifer Crusie, Kristan Higgins, Courtney Milan, Adele Parks, Fiona Harper, Liz Fielding, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Colleen McCullough, Catherine Gaskin, Angela Thirkell…The list goes on and on!

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

I try and write for a couple of hours every day. If I can’t manage that much, then even just half an hour or a snatched few minutes here and there. I’m a very slow writer, though, and have made a resolution this year to try and increase my word count.

My favourite place to write is sitting on my settee, with my dog asleep next to me. It’s very peaceful then – unless the postman knocks on the door. Then my dog goes ballistic!

Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?

I’m working on a contemporary romance set in the Lake District. My hero has inherited an ailing hotel by the side of a lake. An old tragedy dogs the business, but when my heroine arrives, with her cheerfulness and enthusiasm she begins to sweep away the bad feeling and turn the hotel’s fortunes around. Unfortunately, her unscrupulous father has plans of his own for the hotel. The hero’s trust, and the heroine’s loyalties, are tried to the hilt.

You can find Helena on her website here

Twitter @HelenaFairfax

Facebook Helena Fairfax 

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

My review of A Way from Heart to Heart is here.

Thanks again for hosting me, Jo, and for being such a lovely hostess. I've much enjoyed answering your thought-provoking questions!

Helena thanks so much for sharing your thoughts so eloquently.

 Jaffa and I wish you continued success.

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Review ~ A Way From Heart to Heart by Helena Fairfax

Accent Press 2014

Following her husband’s untimely death in Afghanistan, Kate Hemingway’s life is broken beyond repair, but the need to keep her young son’s life stable and secure gives her a reason to carry on. In the wake of this tragedy, Paul, her husband’s best friend, continues to keep contact with his godson, George, and yet, Paul has always been aloof and slightly reserved around Kate, and, as such, the relationship between them is rather strained. Helping other fractured lives helps Kate comes to terms with her loss and when she accompanies a group of troubled teenage girls to the Yorkshire Moors, she is unprepared, when Paul, in his role as newspaper reporter, asks to join the group. What then follows is a touching and beautifully written story about the power and healing nature of love.

The author’s light and easy style of narrative captures perfectly the emotional insecurity of someone devastated by loss, and of the indecision and uncertainty of growing sexual attraction. Kate’s struggle for control is something everyone can identify with, and her emotional journey is expressed with both warmth and understanding. The controlled passion between Kate and Paul is quite understated but no less powerful because of that, and their burgeoning relationship is a real joy to read.

There is a lovely tenderness to the narrative which I found rather refreshing, as all too often love stories can spend far too much time in the bedroom. In A Way From Heart to Heart, I enjoyed getting to know all about the characters; about the life experiences which had shaped their personalities and of their weaknesses and strengths. Of course, this is a love story, so it helps enormously that both Kate and Paul are attractive and likeable, and you can’t help but hope that everything works out for them.

I read this book almost in one sitting; it’s a great book to curl up with, preferably with a cup of tea and a packet of chocolate biscuits close at hand.

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

 My thanks to the author for sharing her book with me.

Come back on Monday 9th February when Helena will be talking to me about 

A Way From Heart to Heart

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