💘Valentine's Day Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo - Kate Ryder

💘On this special Valentine's Day Sunday Brunch 💘

Light the candles, play soft music and and pour yourself a glass of something sparkly

Come and join us

💘

I'm delighted to welcome author, Kate Ryder to share her 

Valentine's Day Sunday Brunch

💘

Thank you for inviting me to your Valentine’s Day Sunday Brunch. What a lovely idea!

♡ Good morning, Kate. What Valentine’s Day themed food are you bringing to our Sunday brunch?

I’m bringing dessert. It has a bit of a wow factor but isn’t too heavy or sweet – chocolate-dipped strawberries drizzled with milk and white chocolate.

♡Would you like a glass of champagne, a love potion cocktail, or a boozy strawberry smoothie?

I’d normally say champagne, but how can I resist a boozy strawberry smoothie? 

♡Where shall we eat our Valentine’s Day Brunch – in pyjamas at the kitchen table, seated in the formal dining room or in a cosy alcove with candles?

Having survived the past 12 crazy months, let’s pull out all the stops and go the whole hog. A cosy alcove with candles – how atmospheric!

♡Shall we have soft music playing in the background and if so will you share with us a favourite love song or romantic piece of music.

Fellow author and friend, Rosemary Smith, recently introduced me to the sublime singing voice of the talented and versatile actor, Luke Evans. At the moment I can’t get enough, so it would be a soundtrack of his wonderful songs. Each time I hear his rendition of ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ it sends a shiver down my spine and brings a tear to my eye!

♡Which of your romantic literary heroes, or heroines (dead or alive) are joining us for our romance themed Sunday Brunch today? 

I’ve invited my own latest hero, the award-winning nature writer, Hunter Harcourt (real name Luke Metcalfe). I know you’ll like Hunter/Luke because he’s an interesting, well-educated man without an ounce of ego to get in the way of an entertaining couple of hours. And, as it happens, Luke Evans would portray him superbly if the book was ever turned into a film.

♡Would you share with us your first ever romantic read?

Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier. I was in my early teens when I first discovered her writing, and I devoured any of her novels I could get my hands on. However, I was totally captivated by the story she set in the quiet, secluded creek on the Helford River and I lived each and every emotional moment. But I couldn’t accept the ending and had to rewrite it – LOL! In my version, the smart and feisty Lady Dona St Columb abandoned her pompous, stuffy husband and sailed off into the sunset with her soulmate; the swashbuckling pirate, Jean Benout Aubery. So, maybe, I should thank Daphne du Maurier for inspiring me to become a writer!

♡What’s the most special love story on your book shelf?

The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. It’s such an emotional read and even though it doesn’t have a HEA, it is both beautiful and heart-breaking in equal measure. It also transferred superbly to film, with the main characters of Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid brilliantly portrayed by Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.

♡Where do you find the inspiration for your romantic novels?

Everywhere! From an overheard snatch of conversation; a poignant photograph or painting; a beautiful panoramic vista that speaks to the senses; a piece of music; a feeling; a dream… the possibilities are endless. To date, I’ve set my books in real places and I always visit the location to get a feel for the area. It’s impossible to achieve this by simply researching through books or the internet. 

Also, for several years I worked in the property industry, selling large country piles. Many of the houses were steeped in history and possessed a special atmosphere. A few were even reputedly haunted, and often, when I researched the property’s history, it became apparent why it was labelled as such. I admit that some of the thoughts and feelings those properties stirred have made their way into my books.

♡Have you a favourite place to settle down to write?

I live in a three-storey 200 year old cottage and my office is on the top floor, in the eaves. Being tucked away from the rest of the household, the room has a cosy air and I’m able to concentrate fully on my writing without interference.

♡Give us four essentials that a romance writer needs?

Imagination, heart, empathy and resilience… the latter because true love never runs smooth!

♡What can you tell us about your latest novel or your current work in progress?

The second lockdown postponed the originally scheduled publication date for Beneath Cornish Skies. How ironic, then, that it was finally published on 7th January during the third lockdown! However, the timing was probably better as the book is all about new beginnings, which we could all do with after the year we’ve just lived through.

In Beneath Cornish Skies, Cassandra Shaw unknowingly lives life in first gear… and with the brake on! However, this all changes when she discovers her long-term boyfriend is being unfaithful and he doesn’t share her vision of their future. Gathering up her shattered dreams and diminished self-esteem, she answers an advert for a live-in help/nanny to a young family living in a rambling Cornish manor house on the wild and rugged north Cornish coast. Despite being riddled with insecurities and self-doubt, Cassie throws herself into her new life, and with the help of blossoming friendships, ancient magic and spirits in the landscape she undertakes a life-changing journey towards her authentic self.

♡Kate, where can we follow you on social media?♡

Twitter @KateRyder_Books

Facebook 

Instagram: @kateryder_author

Website

♡More About Kate♡

Kate Ryder is an Amazon Kindle international best seller who writes timeslip and romantic suspense in a 'true to life' narrative. She has worked in the publishing, tour operating and property industries, and has travelled widely.

A member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Authors, in 2017 Kate signed a 4-book contract with Aria (digital imprint of award-winning independent publisher, Head of Zeus).

SUMMER IN A CORNISH COVE, a contemporary romantic suspense set on the Lizard Peninsula, saw her nominated for the RNA's 2018 Joan Hessayon award, while its standalone sequel, COTTAGE ON A CORNISH CLIFF, reached the heady heights of #2 in Kindle Literary Sagas.

SECRETS OF THE MIST, a mysterious timeslip romance, was not only rated in the #top 50 on Amazon UK Paid Kindle but also achieved #1 Kindle best-selling status in the UK, Canada and Australia. In its original, self-published version as 'The Forgotten Promise' it was awarded the first Chill with a Book "Book of the Month".

Her latest book, BENEATH CORNISH SKIES, is a beautiful romance with a hint of ghostliness set on the north Cornish coast.

Originally from the South East of England, today Kate lives on the Cornish side of the beautiful Tamar Valley with her husband and a collection of animals.

💘

Thank you for taking part in Valentine’s Day Sunday Brunch with Jaffareadstoo.

Follow us on Twitter @jaffareadstoo #SundayBrunchwithJaffareadstoo

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💘 Valentine's Book Review ~ Much Ado About You by Samantha Young

Piatkus
2 February 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Welcome to Much Ado About Books, a bookshop where dust and dreams sparkle in the air...

At thirty-three-years old, Evie’s life in Chicago is missing that special something. When she’s passed over for promotion at work, Evie realizes she needs to make a change. Impulsively, she plans a holiday in a quaint English village. The holiday package comes with a temporary position at Much Ado About Books, the bookshop underneath her new flat. There’s no better getaway for the bookish Evie, a life-long Shakespeare lover.

Not only is Evie swept up in running the delightful store as soon as she arrives, she’s drawn into the lives, loves and drama of the friendly villagers. Including Roane Robson, a ridiculously sexy farmer. In spite of their undeniable chemistry, Evie’s determined to keep him at bay: she’s got to go back to her real life, after all, and a holiday romance can only end in heartbreak . . . right?

💘My Thoughts..

Evie's life in Chicago has reached crisis point and with both her personal and professional life in turmoil she decides to take back control. Impulsively she decides to have a vacation in England to take up the offer of running a quaint book shop in the beautiful fishing village of Alnster in Northumberland. From the moment Evie steps into the book shop, aptly named, Much Ado About Books, she is entranced by the slow pace of life, the friendliness of the small community and the deliciously tempting presence of the sexy local farmer who makes Evie's pulse beat just that little bit faster.

What then follows is a lovely, gentle romance which is perfect for reading when the weather outside is so cold you don't want to venture too far away from the fireside. I enjoyed watching Evie settle into local life and the gentle pleasure she gets from running the book shop, but the main attraction comes from her burgeoning relationship between her and Roane Robson, a bluff northern farmer, with a heart of gold. Much Ado About You is unashamedly romantic, and it's not just the relationship between Evie and Roane which captures your heart,  but also the villagers of Alnster, who welcome Evie like true friends and who make her stay in this beautiful corner of the North East so memorable.

💘 On this Valentine's weekend what's not to like about a wonderful story about love and books, a perfect combination and guaranteed to bring a warm smile.

About the Author

Samantha Young is a New York times and USA bestselling author of Hart's Boardwalk series and the On Dublin street series including Moonlight on Nightingale Way, Echoes of Scotland Street, Fall from India place, Before Jamaica Lane, Down london road and On Dublin Road. She lives in Scotland.

Website

Facebook

Instagram

@PiatkusBooks #MuchAdoAboutYou

 

📖 Double Mirror Blog Tour with Alison Morton and Helen Hollick

 

 📖 Delighted to host a stop on this blog tour 📖 

 

Thank you, Jo, for hosting a stop on our joint tour around the blogs. We thought that, as we are about halfway through the tour, your readers would be interested to hear a little about the supporting characters in our newly released mystery/thrillers Double Identity by Alison Morton and A Mirror Murder by Helen Hollick. You start, Alison... 

ALISON MORTON – DOUBLE IDENTITY 

My main character is Mélisende des Pittones, known as Mel, 29, daughter of a French father and English mother and has just left her French Army job as an intelligence analyst in a special forces team. She’s well educated and from a privileged background and chose to enter the French army at 18 rather than pursue her studies. She’s been on some gritty and extremely dangerous missions in French-speaking parts of the world, but tends to keep it all shut away in a different part of her mind. 

At the start of Double Identity, she’s engaged to marry Gérard Rohlbert, who has been working in the City of London. But sadly, Mel’s future life with her perfect partner, living a Parisian metropolitan lifestyle, possibly with children, is wrecked on page 1. 

The investigating officer is DS Jeff McCracken, 37, an inch or two taller than Mel; well built without being overweight; dark brown hair in a conservative/classic style; grey eyes. Cynical and intelligent, he’s an ex-council estate boy who’s shucked off the petty criminal environment of his youth and worked tenaciously to achieve a solid reputation for success. 

He appears to be no respecter of persons – he doesn’t rate ‘posh birds’ like Mélisende. He seems as crackly as his name but he’s not quite the rough diamond he likes to project… 

Both Mel and McCracken are intelligent, competent and persistent; his problem is his mouth, hers is attitude, coupled with a secret dread of failure. He mistrusts her methods and must learn to appreciate and respect a colleague with different expertise and professional background. She must acknowledge that not everybody is honest, even her adored, now dead, fiancé, or as stubborn and insensitive as McCracken appears to be. 

Whether they survive working together when forced to, let alone liking each other, is anybody’s guess. 

📖 A taster excerpt… 

‘What sort of a name is Mellysand?’ 

She clutched the bathrobe tighter and braced her legs to steady her balance. This was surreal. Gérard was dead and they suspected her. Why? How was she supposed to have done it? She shook her head which seemed full of mush thumping to escape. 

‘It’s pronounced “Mél-i-send-uh”,’ she said. ‘And it’s the name I was given by my parents.’ 

‘Not very English, is it?’ 

Le bon Dieu save me from these parochial Brits, she thought. And this cop was even worse than most. He didn’t look like one either in his jeans, tan leather jacket, unshaven and with a single earring. But his warrant card looked genuine, and the two uniformed police outside had let him in. 

‘You got any ID?’ he barked. 

Mel pulled a pale turquoise and blue card with her photo and signature out of her purse and offered it to him. 

‘French?’ He frowned, flicked it over to the other side, then back. ‘You don’t sound very French.’ 

‘That’s where I was born. My mother is English.’ 

‘What are you doing here?’ 

‘Visiting friends and doing some shopping.’ 

‘I’ll need a list of those friends and dates.’ 

‘Why? Am I under suspicion?’ 

The cop looked down at the bed, duvet pulled back, bottom sheet stained by body fluids. 

‘When there’s a dead man in your bed and you were presumably the last person to see him alive, let’s say you’re at least a person of interest.’ 

Who is your main character’s ‘opposite’, Helen? 

HELEN HOLLICK - A MIRROR MURDER 

Several characters from A Mirror Murder will appear throughout the (planned) series set in the 1970s. Eighteen-year-old Jan Christopher takes the lead role, her father died when she was young, so her guardians are her Aunt Madge and her uncle, DCI Toby Christopher. (Jan is short for January... she rarely uses her full name!) She meets her uncle’s new Detective Constable, Laurie Walker, one rainy Friday evening when they pick her from her place of work, a North London branch library. For Laurie and Jan, it is love at first sight. 

Jan is quite a shy person, whereas Laurie, being a DC, is more sure of himself, but he still has a lot to learn. He had transferred to Hackney, London, from North Devon in order to gain more experience – as he says, there is not a lot to learn in rural Devon where the most notable crime of the month is someone stealing a village noticeboard. He finds the East London suburb to be very different, however, with colleagues more intent on getting results than arresting the right culprit, where racism and sexism run alongside bullying and corruption. He therefore jumps at the chance to transfer again to a different suburb, Chingford, which is on the border of Epping Forest and Essex. 

Nowadays, Chingford is a busy town, but back in the ’70s it still had an air of the countryside, which Laurie discovered was more to his liking, especially when his new Guv, DCI Christopher, turned out to be ‘one of the good guys’ and an excellent copper. 

I have based Laurie Walker on a variety of TV cops, but most notably Lewis, when he was Morse’s sergeant, and DS Hathaway from the Lewis series itself. I want him to be likeable and competent, devoted to his job, but even more devoted to Jan, although I intend for their relationship to not always be plain sailing as the series develops! There will be bumps in the roads ahead! 

📖 A taster excerpt… 

My uncle settled himself in the front passenger seat and waved his hand informally at the young man sitting behind the steering wheel. “This is my new temporary Detective Constable,” he said. “DC Lawrence Walker, meet my niece, Jan Christopher.” 

I smiled, and DC Walker turned round to smile back and hold out his hand for me to shake. 

“Pleased to meet you, miss.” He had a nice voice, with a slight accent, which I couldn’t place. 

“And you, Detective Constable!” 

“Where do we take the young lady, sir?” he asked, smiling into the mirror so I could see his grey eyes shining at me. 

“Oh, Jan lives with my good lady wife and myself,” my uncle explained. “Has done ever since her father, my brother, passed away.” 

Walker’s smile wavered slightly into a small frown. 

Don’t say it I thought. Don’t say that you’ve heard of my dad, DI Christopher, who was shot dead by a person or persons unknown when I was a child. To ensure he didn’t, I said quickly, “Anyone ever told you that you look like Cary Grant?” 

DC Walker laughed, “Grant in his younger years, I hope! But yes, I’m told it often. It’s the cleft in my chin that does it, I think.” 

* * * 

ALISON MORTON – DOUBLE IDENTITY 

Deeply in love, a chic Parisian lifestyle before her. Now she’s facing prison for murder. 

It’s three days since Mel des Pittones threw in her job as an intelligence analyst with the French special forces to marry financial trader Gérard Rohlbert. But her dream turns to nightmare when she wakes to find him dead in bed beside her. 

Her horror deepens when she’s accused of his murder. Met Police detective Jeff McCracken wants to pin Gérard’s death on her. Mel must track down the real killer, even if that means being forced to work with the obnoxious McCracken. 

But as she unpicks her fiancé’s past, she discovers his shocking secret life. To get to the truth, she has to go undercover and finds almost everybody around her is hiding a second self. Mel can trust nobody. Can she uncover the real killer before they stop her? 

A stunning new thriller from the author of the award-winning Roma Nova series, fans of Daniel Silva, Stella Rimington and Chris Pavone will love Double Identity. 

Buying links

Kindle: https://mybook.to/DoubleIdentity (ASIN: B08P5YD3CN) 

For all ebook and paperback retailers: https://bit.ly/3s0XUlV

HELEN HOLLICK - A MIRROR MURDER 

The first in a new series of cosy mysteries set in the 1970s... Will romance blossom between library assistant Jan Christopher and DC Laurie Walker – or will a brutal murder intervene? 

Eighteen-year-old library assistant Jan Christopher’s life is to change on a rainy Friday evening in July 1971, when her legal guardian and uncle, DCI Toby Christopher, gives her a lift home after work. Driving the car, is her uncle’s new Detective Constable, Laurie Walker – and it is love at first sight for the young couple. 

But romance is soon to take a back seat when a baby boy is taken from his pram, a naked man is scaring young ladies in nearby Epping Forest, and an elderly lady is found, brutally murdered... Are the events related? How will they affect the staff and public of the local library where Jan works – and will a blossoming romance survive a police investigation into murder? 

Buying link: 

Amazon Author Page (Universal Link) http://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick

ABOUT ALISON 

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers series featuring tough, but compassionate heroines. She blends her deep love of France with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical, adventure and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. 

"Grips like a vice - a writer to watch out for" says crime thriller writer Adrian Magson about Roma Nova series starter INCEPTIO. All six full-length Roma Nova thrillers have won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices. AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review. 

Alison now lives in Poitou in France, where part of Double Identity is set and is writing a sequel as well as continuing her Roma Nova series. 

CONNECT WITH ALISON:

Connect with Alison on her thriller site: https://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison_morton 

Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/ckNeFL

ABOUT HELEN 

Helen and her family moved from north-east London in January 2013 after finding an eighteenth-century North Devon farmhouse through BBC TV’s popular Escape To The Country show. 

First accepted for publication by William Heinemann in 1993 – a week after her fortieth birthday – Helen then became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she also writes a pirate-based nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. 

Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She also runs Discovering Diamonds, a review blog for historical fiction. She is currently writing more Voyages for the Sea Witch series and the next in the Jan Christopher Mysteries series. She has other ideas for other tales – and would like the time to write them! 

CONNECT WITH HELEN: 

Website: www.helenhollick.net

Newsletter Subscription: http://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick

Facebook: www.facebook.com/HelenHollickAuthor

Twitter: @HelenHollick

Discovering Diamonds Historical Fiction Review Blog : 

https://discoveringdiamonds.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks so much to Alison and Helen for sharing their exciting new books with us

Follow the blog tour throughout February

#DoubleMirrorTour

📖 Blog Tour ~ Housewife Writes Best Seller - Ann Victoria Roberts

 

📖 Thrilled to be part of this blog tour 📖 

Arnwood Press
November 2020

My thanks to the author and Random Things Tours for my copy of this book
and the invitation to the blog tour

One Thursday in July, 1989, beneath the headline, Obsession That Became A Bestseller, the Daily Mail featured a photo of a young woman looking like a lottery winner. The Sun’s piece was cheekier: Mum Makes A Million, appeared beside the boobs on Page Three.

Ann Victoria Roberts hadn’t posed naked and hadn’t won a fortune. She’d written a novel that prompted a bidding war for publishing rights across the world. In the eyes of the press, the fact that Ann was not a career woman, but simply a wife and mother, was newsworthy.

In this memoir, the author reflects on the joys, the travels and the heartaches of her life as a sea-captain’s wife – and the decade of coincidences and lucky strikes that led to the writing of two big historical novels, Louisa Elliott and Liam’s Story. Amidst the fanfares and famous names, and the journey that took her from York to Australia and back, Ann reveals the work behind the success, and the truth behind her characters.

As readers, we browse in bookshops, spot a favourite author or intriguing title, and take it home. Rarely do we consider the path that book must have taken from the author’s pen to a bookshop shelf. And yet the story behind it is often stranger than the fiction it contains…

📖 My thoughts..

In the early 1990s I picked up a copy of Louisa Elliot by Ann Victoria Roberts from my local library, immediately drawn to its striking book cover and then further entranced by the story inside that cover. Over the next few years I went on to read more more books by this talented author,  intrigued by her ability to bring history alive.

And now thirty years later I get to learn about the process of writing Louisa Elliot, the inspiration for the story in the author's own family history, and the tentative steps to getting her story published, whilst at the same time coping with her mariner husband's long absences at sea and bringing up her two children in West Yorkshire.

This interesting memoir is made all the more poignant for me because I was living in West Yorkshire during the time the author was writing her novel. So I was familiar with the places she mentions, namely Otley, and York, which brought back happy memories. I think that's one of the reasons Louisa Elliot resonated so strongly with me as it's set in York, a city I enjoyed visiting in the 1980s for shopping, tea at Betty's and museum trips.

Whilst there's a great deal of personal information in the memoir about Ann's early life and growing up in Yorkshire it never feels intrusive into her family life. However, I think the real strength of the book lies in the author's own belief that she had a story to tell if only she could get it down on paper. Her rather trepidatious excitement when she got an enthusiastic letter back from her new agent was both palpable and emotional. I enjoyed reading of Ann's trips to London to meet her agent, then editor and publishers, and the sheer excitement of watching her debut novel,  Louisa Elliot, take flight, to rapturous enthusiasm, around the world.

I've really enjoyed travelling from book idea to publication in this lovely memoir. Don't we all wish we could see headlines like Housewife Writes Best Seller in the local paper and for this talented, and worthy, author, it really was a dream come true. 

About the Author

A lover of history, art and the sea, Ann Victoria Roberts is the author of six historical novels, set mainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A keen reader and researcher, she enjoys painting pictures with words and regards historical fiction as a pleasurable way to discover the past. Born in York, Ann now lives in Southampton UK with her Master Mariner husband.

Twitter @Ann_V_Roberts #HousewifeWritesBestseller

@RandomTTours

📖 Blog Tour ~ Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake

 

📖  Delighted to host today's blog tour stop 📖

Head of Zeus
18 February 2021

My thanks to the publishers for my ecopy of this book
and the invitation to the blog tour

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 business woman, 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?

As the story reaches a climax so shocking readers will be talking about it for decades, one thing is certain: only the most ruthless woman will survive...

 📖 My thoughts..

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.

Ruthless Women is published by Head of Zeus on the 18 February and will available to buy from all good book retailers.

About the Author

As one as the UK’s most successful agents, managers and publicists for music stars and TV actresses, Melanie Blake has represented some of the most famous faces on British television and international screens.

Where her debut novel, the No. 1 bestseller The Thunder Girls, was inspired by the early years of her career spent working in the music industry, her follow up novel Ruthless Women is heavily influenced by the last 15 years Melanie has spent representing more female actresses than any other agent in her genre. Her clients have included Patsy Kensit, Beverley Callard, Michelle Collins, Stephanie Beacham, Emily Lloyd, Denise Welch, Jennie McAlpine, Claire King, Gaynor Faye, Laila Morse, Danniella Westbrook, Sherrie Hewson, Amanda Barrie, Gillian Taylforth and Nadia Sawalha, to name just a few. Nicknamed The Queen Of Soaps, there is no one better placed to write a novel based around a continuing drama and its leading ladies.

Website

Twitter @MelanieBlakeUK 

@HOZ_Books

Follow the blog tour #RuthlessWomen

📖 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

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📖 Blog Tour ~ The Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D Harrison

 

📖Thrilled to be part of this blog tour today on Publication Day 📖

Bookouture
8 February 2021

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

"I watched in awe as Miz Rosa stopped those men on the bus with her clear, calm “no” and I thought about that word. What if I said no? What if I refused to follow the path these White folks wanted for us? What if I kept this precious baby?

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955

On a cold December evening, Mattie Banks packs a suitcase and leaves her family home. Sixteen years old and pregnant, she has already made the mistake that will ruin her life and disgrace her widowed mother. Boarding the 2857 bus, she sits with her case on her lap, hoping that the driver will take her away from disaster. Instead, Mattie witnesses an act of bravery by a woman named Rosa Parks that changes everything. But as Mattie strives to turn her life around, the dangers that first led her to run are never far away. Forging a new life in a harsh world at constant risk of exposure, Mattie will need to fight to keep her baby safe.

Atlanta, Georgia, present day

Ashlee Turner is going home. Her relationship in ruins, her career held back by prejudice, she is returning to the family who have always been her rock. But Ashlee’s home is not the safe haven she remembers. Her beloved grandmother is dying and is determined to share her story before she leaves…

When Ashlee finds a stack of yellowing letters hidden in her nana’s closet, she can’t help the curiosity that compels her to read, and she uncovers an old secret that could wreak havoc on her already grieving family. As she tries to make sense of what she has learned, Ashlee faces a devastating choice: to protect her loved ones from the revelations, or honor her grandmother’s wishes and follow the path to the truth, no matter where it may lead.

For readers of The Help, Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours comes a beautiful and heartbreaking novel about redemption, family secrets and the spirit of survival found at the hardest time.

📖 My thoughts..

It's 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama and sixteen year old Mattie Banks sits on the bus with her battered suitcase, her head full of troubles and her heart heavy with a momentous decision reached. Then, on the bus, she witnesses something extraordinary which will shape her destiny, and that of her family for generations to come.

In present day Georgia, corporate lawyer, Ashlee Turner is at her own crossroads, both in her career which seems to be stalling, and in her relationship with her boyfriend which seems to have reached an emotional impasse. When she is called home to see her beloved grandmother Ashlee discovers that the emotional bond she shares with her family, and especially her nana, will see her through this troubling time.

Told in alternate voices, that of Mattie and Ashlee, the author certainly knows how to brings a story alive and very quickly I became immersed in Mattie's eventful life in Montgomery and of the trials and prejudices she endured as a young woman of colour growing up in a segregated society. My heart ached with sorrow for her, and her mother, when they were subjected to such disdain by people who should have treated them better.. The author goes on to show that racism has not yet been confined to history, and successful though she is in her professional life Ashlee also finds that she too has to fight for recognition in a world where prejudice and sexism still flourish.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus is beautifully written by an author who has poured so much emotion into the story and paints such a realistic picture I felt as if I too travelled on the 2857 bus alongside Mattie. I laughed with Mattie when she was happy, felt her pain when she was sad, and admired her strength of spirit to succeed in a world which was just so difficult. Ashlee's modern day dilemmas are no less important, and the seamless transition between viewpoints allows both women to have a strong and powerful voice.

The Girl at the Back of the Bus is a multi-generational story which highlights the spirit of survival, the emotion of hidden secrets, and the overwhelming strength of powerful family values.

About the Author

Suzette D. Harrison, a native Californian and the middle of three daughters, grew up in a home where reading was required, not requested. Her literary "career" began in junior high school with the publishing of her poetry. While Suzette pays homage to Alex Haley, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison as legends who inspired her creativity, it was Dr. Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that unleashed her writing. The award-winning author of Taffy is a wife and mother of two teens, and she holds a culinary degree in pastry and baking. Mrs. Harrison is currently cooking up her next novel...in between batches of cupcakes.

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