📖 Paperback Publication Day ~ Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake

Happy Paperback Publication Day

Head of Zeus
8 July 2021

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

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER OVER 100,OOO COPIES SOLD THE SURPRISE COMMERCIAL HIT OF 2021 PERFECT FOR SUMMER READING

Inspired by 20 years’ experience representing the best of Britain’s female TV stars, Melanie Blake’s Sunday Times Bestseller Ruthless Women takes readers on a wild ride behind the scenes of beloved TV drama Falcon Bay, beamed globally to millions three days a week from its picturesque location in the Channel Islands. But even in this beautiful coastal spot, tensions swirl. 

Once one of the world's most popular soap operas, but now with ratings and syndication at an all-time low, the production has been sold to an American businesswoman, beautiful and malevolent Madeline Kane, the new network owner who arrives on the tiny island just off Jersey, determined to do whatever it takes to get the show back to number one. Writer Farrah, star Catherine and producer Amanda are the driven, ambitious women who keep the show on the road. But Farrah is losing episodes to the network's lead male rival, Catherine is terrified of the public falling out of love with her and Amanda's evil husband Jake, vice president of the network, is plotting to get his own wife kicked off the show. 

As the dawn of a new era begins, cast and crew turn against each other with loyalty, decency, and trust, replaced by scandal, betrayal, and an outrageous ambition to survive. In a true battle of the sexes, these women will do anything to stay on top. But can they team up to bring down their male rivals? Or will jealousy, betrayal and revenge tear their long-held friendships apart? One thing Is for certain, only the most ruthless woman will survive... 

📖 My thoughts..

I reviewed this book last year and absolutely loved it! I'm pleased to repost my review on Paperback Publication Day - have you got your copy yet?

Serial drama, Falcon Bay was once riding high in the TV ratings with its main stars regularly receiving prestigious awards but times have changed and a succession of new owners have seen the show plunge dramatically in the global ratings. With a new network owner, Falcon Bay, is once again the centre of controversy, and with a special anniversary looming the hunt is on for an explosive story line which will fire the imagination of the viewing public.

The cut-throat world of television is laid bare to scrutiny, and as we hover like flies on the wall we are privy to all the back room shenanigans in which careers are made and broken. However, we know that difficult times call for difficult measures and only the tough and ruthless are going to survive, and for writer and director, Farrah Adams, soap star, Catherine Belle, executive producer, Amanda King and Head of Casting, Helen Gold, life is about to get very complicated indeed. 

Ruthless Women is a sexy and sassy romp through the vagaries of TV production. All those added extra little titbits, which the author shares with such glee, are what make this such an entertaining read. I read the book in one sitting on a cold and grey day and was instantly transported to the beautiful Channel Island setting of Falcon Bay and became lost in the ruthless TV world which has been so passionately recreated. 

Ruthless Women made me laugh out loud in places, whilst at other times I was amazed by all the bitchiness that went on behind closed doors. The level of bed hopping reminded me of those glorious bonkbusters I devoured in the 1980s but in Ruthless Women this has all been brought marvellously up to date by an author who knows this industry like the back of her well manicured hand. The final denouement, when it comes, is every bit as good as I wanted it to be, deliciously different, and genuinely edge of seat stuff. I can’t wait to see what this talented writer will give us next time.

About the Author

At 15 Melanie Blake dreamed of being a writer, but was told by her English teacher that the only thing she’d ever write were labels for factory boxes. Severely dyslexic, and desperate to escape a childhood of poverty and religious extremism in Stockport, she left school with no qualifications and ran away from home. Against all odds, Melanie managed to blag her way onto the lowest rung of the showbiz ladders, working as an extra on Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Eastenders and a camera assistant on Top Of The Pops. It was during this time that she got her first big break aged 21, when soap icon Claire King chose Melanie to be her agent. Her agency was an immediate success, and she would go on to represent the likes of Patsy Kensit, Michelle Collins, Stephanie Beacham, Emily Lloyd, Denise Welch, Jennie McAlpine, Laila Morse, Daniella Westbrook, Amanda Barrie, Gillian Taylforth and Nadia Sawalha; earning herself the tag ‘Queen of Soaps’. 

Melanie wrote her first book The Thunder Girls when she was working in the music industry as a young woman. She was told no one wanted to read a book about middle aged female singers on a comeback tour and so it wasn’t until 2019, twenty years after she first put pen to paper, that The Thunder Girls was finally published by Pan Macmillan, becoming an Amazon number one bestseller. She adapted it for the stage herself and it went on to break box office records for a new work at the prestigious Lowry Theatre. Her second novel, Ruthless Women has been an even bigger success, going straight into the Sunday Times hardback fiction chart at number four, staying in the top ten for a month, and also charting in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as foreign language translation rights being picked up by Russia, Romania and Hungary; meaning Melanie Blake is going global. 

Ruthless Women is inspired by Melanie’s behind-the-scenes knowledge of British soap operas. In the UK alone, over 25 million people a week currently tune in to watch the very stars Melanie represents in their globally syndicated shows. They say write about what you know, and in Ruthless Women, Melanie certainly has. Melanie still represents a high-profile stable of some of the best-known faces on British television but is also now enjoying success in her own right as a columnist, producer, author and playwright. 

Website

Twitter @MelanieBlakeUK #RuthlessWomen

@HoZ_Books

@midaspr

 

📖 Book Promotion ~ Sugar and Snails by Anne Goodwin

 

At fifteen, she made a life-changing decision. Thirty years on, it’s time to make another.

When Diana escaped her misfit childhood, she thought she’d chosen the easier path. But the past lingers on, etched beneath her skin, and life won’t be worth living if her secret gets out.

As an adult, she’s kept other people at a distance... until Simon sweeps in on a cloud of promise and possibility. But his work is taking him to Cairo, the city that transformed her life. She’ll lose Simon if she doesn’t join him. She’ll lose herself if she does.

Sugar and Snails charts Diana’s unusual journey, revealing the scars from her fight to be true to herself. A triumphant mid-life coming-of-age story about bridging the gap between who we are and who we feel we ought to be.

📖My thoughts...

Sugar and Snails is an altogether different look at the way destiny shapes our lives. Diana Dodsworth is a shy and introverted forty-something, she guards her privacy well, and trusts few people. She keeps her friends at arm’s length, and finds no reason to confide in them, nor does she want people to know anything more about her other than what she is willing to disclose. However, when circumstances force her to look again at her life, Diana has to learn to have self-belief, even if it means giving up some of her well-guarded secrets.

The author, with a keen eye for detail, tackles some difficult issues, but with perceptive sensitivity she keeps a firm grasp on the main thread of the story, and as Diana's interesting past emerges, so a thoughtful and poignant story starts to be revealed.

I don't feel that I can share anything more about the emotive themes which run through Sugar and Snails  as that would be to reveal more than was wise, so all I will say is that I found the story quite different  from what I expected, but different in a good way. It's a very thought provoking read and makes you ponder the question ‘what is identity’ and concludes with the thought that, who we are, should be who we are’ regardless of the circumstances, or otherwise, of our birth.

This is a thought provoking debut novel and I hope that this talented author continues to give us more of the same in future novels.

Jaffa was especially pleased to meet up with Marmaduke, a discerning cat after his own heart.

About the Author

Anne Goodwin is the author of two novels and a short story collection. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity a secret for thirty years, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Throughout February, subscribers to her newsletter can read Sugar and Snails for free.

Sign up for your free ebook in February by clicking here  

Offer closes 28 February 2021

Website

Linktree

Amazon 

YouTube

Twitter @Annecdotist

📖 Paperback Publication Day ~ Under the Stars by Matt Gaw

 

📖  Happy Publication Day 📖 

Elliot & Thompson
4 February 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Moonlight, starlight, the ethereal glow of snow in winter ... When you flick off a switch, other forms of light begin to reveal themselves.

Artificial light is everywhere. Not only is it damaging to humans and to wildlife, disrupting our natural rhythms, but it obliterates the subtler lights that have guided us for millennia. In this beautifully written exploration of the power of light, Matt Gaw ventures forth into darkness to find out exactly what we're missing: walking by the light of the moon in Suffolk and under the scattered buckshot of starlight in Scotland; braving the darkest depths of Dartmoor; investigating the glare of 24/7 London and the suburban sprawl of Bury St Edmunds; and, finally, rediscovering a sense of the sublime on the Isle of Coll.

Under the Stars is an inspirational and immersive call to reconnect with the natural world, showing how we only need to step outside to find that, in darkness, the world lights up.

What did I think about it..

I rarely go out after dark any more, and so I too fail to notice the impact of the night and how the elements look so very different in fading light. In Under the Stars, the author takes us a journey from the dark into the light with a special lyrical magic brought to life by his powerful description of the night sky and of how this exploration, not only made him appreciate the beauty of the night, but also how in using his senses in a different way it gave him a much greater awareness of everything he saw and experienced.

The author writes with warmth and delicate balance, explaining everything he saw and felt with a fine eye for detail and a joyous pleasure at the mystical pull of observation. Filled with a plethora of facts that you never knew you needed to know, Under The Stars is a real feast for all the senses. The author takes us on an enlightening journey, from the lure of moonlight in coastal Suffolk, the gaudy brightness of the city of London, the sheer brilliance pulled from the natural light over dark skies, and the ethereal splendour of starlight over The Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides, there is so much to enjoy in this beautifully written exploration of the night sky in all its majesty and unique glory.

There is so much we take for granted in our world, that we fail to recognise the beauty of nature as it surrounds us and it’s only when we take away the obvious can we appreciate what is there for us to see if only we would take the time to slow down and really look to see what’s happening when we allow the night sky, and nature, to speak directly to us.

Recommended : ✅ Absolutely if you enjoy nature, star gazing, moon gazing or just reading a beautifully written observational book about the natural world.

Under the Stars is published in paperback by Elliot and Thompson on the 4th February 2021 to coincide with the CPRE's - (The Countryside Charity) - Annual Star Count (6-14 February) as Matt is a spokesperson for the campaign.

About the Author

Matt Gaw is a writer, journalist and naturalist who lives in Bury St Edmunds. His work has been published in the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Times. He works with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, edits Suffolk Wildlife, currently writes a monthly country diary for the Suffolk Magazine and is a director of the Suffolk Festival of Ideas.

Twitter @MattGaw

@eandtbooks

Amazon UK

🌠 Paperback Publication Day ~ The Light Keeper by Cole Moreton

🌠🌠 Happy Paperback Publication Day 🌠🌠

Marylebone Books
Paperback :21 May 2020

Sarah stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the wind carry her away. 

Her partner Jack is desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. She’s run away to be alone, to face a moment of truth that will mean life or death. 

And someone else is seeking answers up here on the high cliffs near Beachy Head, where the seabirds soar – a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse without a light, right on the cusp of a four-hundred-foot drop. 

He is also discovering that sometimes love takes you to the edge…

🌠🌠🌠

In August last year I was thrilled to be part of the blog tour when The Light Keeper was launched in ebook format and today it is launched in paperback.

Here's a chance to read my review again.

Sarah Bramer is desperate for a child but with her marriage struggling with the strain of infertility, and in a sense of hopelessness, she has run away from her husband, Jack. Jack starts a desperate search to find Sarah before her fractured mind causes her to do something dreadful.

Near to Beachy Head, a man known as the Keeper tends an unused lighthouse, where high above the cliffs he guards his own battered soul, searching for answers he can never find, about a loss so great his mind is numbed by it. And then the Keeper meets Sarah, and life is irrevocably changed for both of these troubled souls.

With strong themes about love, loss, infertility and suicide, this is sometimes a difficult book to 'enjoy' in the widest sense, however, the author's ability to get right into the heart of these characters turns this story into something quite special. Each word is carefully placed, and with never an emotion wasted, the author's passion for imaginative storytelling shines through.

The Light Keeper is an insightful and carefully constructed story around the power of loss and of the torment of struggling in a world where all hope of understanding seems to have disappeared. Emotional and tense the story runs through a myriad of emotions which are beautifully expressed, often quite stark in places, but always reminiscent of those individual hurts which can so easily threaten to overpower everything.

About the Author

Award-winning interviewer, writer and broadcaster Cole Moreton has covered many of the major news stories of our time, from 9/11 to the Olympics and the death of Nelson Mandela. He writes, talks and tells stories about the arts, politics, cultural identity, faith, spirituality and life - and above all, about people. Cole’s previous book, The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away, told the moving true story of a modern medical miracle. His BBC Radio 4 series of the same name won Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias, and Best Writing at the World’s Best Radio awards. The Light Keeper is Cole’s first novel.

Twitter @ColeMoreton #TheLightKeeper

@marylebonehouse

@rhodapr2013