Kate Potter used to know what happiness felt like.
A few years ago, she was full of energy, excited by every possibility. But that was back when everything was different, before Kate’s husband went away with the army and didn’t come home. She can’t even remember what it felt like to be in love.
Then Kate meets Daniel. Recognising her loneliness reflected in his eyes, Kate vows to try and help bring him out of his shell. But as Kate plans to bring life back to Daniel, she might have stumbled on the secret to happiness…
Can one chance meeting change two lives?
25 Days In December is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
25 days in December is the perfect, heartwarming festive read which I absolutely loved reading and didn’t want to end!
The story follows Kate and Daniel as they try and prepare for the Christmas season which they are finding hard due to individual circumstances. I really enjoyed following them throughout the book with all the near misses the two of them have until they finally meet. I felt this story let’s the reader into the characters personal lives as we get a fly on the wall, intimate view of them which made me feel that I knew them personally.
This book touches on some quite hard subjects which I wasn’t expecting and this leads to some emotional scenes. The author cleverly manages to show the two sides of Christmas, the magical side but also the difficulties some families can face. This really made me think and ensured that I kept thinking about it long after I finished reading it.
The book is divided into the 25 days of Christmas which makes it very easy to read and put down if you wish. I liked Poppy’s advent calendar idea of doing something festive each day instead of a traditional calender. I’d love to do that in future years.
Overall I thought this was an absorbing, beautifully written and plotted book which is just perfect for this time of year. It would make a great book club read as I think there is lots to discuss.
Huge thanks to Alainna from Orion for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
Poppy Alexander wrote her first book when she was five. There was a long gap in her writing career while she was at school, and after studying classical music at university, she decided the world of music was better off without her and took up public relations, campaigning, political lobbying and a bit of journalism instead. She takes an anthropological interest in family, friends and life in her West Sussex village (think, The Archers crossed with Twin Peaks) where she lives with her husband, children and various other pets. Poppy also writes as Rosie Howard and Sarah Waights.
In the stark light of dawn, the young couple are laid out on their backs by the dying campfire, their hands clasped between them. Their eyes are open, but their hearts are cold…
When a park ranger stumbles across the bodies of Valerie and Tyler Yates by a creek in the small town of Denton, Detective Josie Quinn is first on the scene. Still reeling from the news that her abusive mother is dying, Josie suspects this is more than just accidental poisoning, and she’s right: someone jammed a crudely carved pendant necklace down Valerie’s throat before she died.
Combing the area, Josie’s team discover a third sleeping bag indicating there could have been an extra guest around the fire that night. A lucky escape? A missing victim? Or a suspect on the run? Finding this person is the key to the entire investigation…
Trawling the couple’s photo albums for clues, Josie can’t imagine why anyone might want to harm these smiling, carefree young lovers. Until a face in one of the pictures stops her in her tracks and leads her to a farmhouse hidden deep within the forest – a special place where people go to escape, and to hide. There they meet a young girl with frightened eyes and bandaged wrists who knows more than she is saying. But the next day she’s found dead, choked with a matching necklace…
With her mother’s life hanging by a thread, Josie has an impossible decision to make. But first she must find the meaning of the pendant and catch this twisted killer before another innocent life is taken. Is she already too late?
Cold Heart Creek is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
Regular readers of my blog will know that I’m a huge fan of this author’s books which, in my opinion, keep getting better and better. I’m so impressed with how she keeps coming up with fantastic, different story lines.
This book gives the reader more of an insight into Josie and her past which I thought was very interesting. It was nice to see her vulnerable side and that she can let other people look after her sometimes which made her seem more real. The secondary characters from previous books are featured more in this book and I enjoyed finding out more about them.
This was an incredibly gripping, intense read which I just couldn’t put down. I found myself trying to sneak off and read a few more pages which is always a sign of a great read. There are lots of twists that kept me on my toes and some very intense, heart thumping moments which ensured I was glued to the page. The author is very skilled at describing the scenes and characters so that the reader can really envision them in my mind, though in some of the dark moments I wished I couldn’t. The ending was superb and a brilliant way to end the book. I liked how intense it was and how it managed to change my opinion of some of the characters.
Huge thanks to Noelle from Bookouture for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley. This is a must read series for any thriller lover!
About The Author:
Lisa Regan is the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Detective Josie Quinn series as well as several other crime fiction titles. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master of Education degree from Bloomsburg University. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers Association, and Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, daughter and Boston Terrier named Mr. Phillip.
What happens when ‘I do’ turns into ‘I don’t know’?
Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she’s finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan’s gorgeous, he’s a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is.
But now she’s on her way to the wedding she can’t shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves . . . or is this all happening a bit too fast?
Jeannie has one last chance to shout, ‘Stop!’ But just as she grabs it, a twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever . . .
Unexpected Lessons In Love is available in ebook on the 5th December 2019 or in paperback on the 9th January 2020. Pre-order your copy using the link below.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this beautifully written, emotional read which has stayed with me since I finished reading it. I loved the fact that it was deeper than I expected and wasn’t just a pure romance book.
Jeannie was an interesting main character who I took a little while to warm to. She seemed kind of silly when we first meet her and I felt that even though it was brave of her to call off the wedding she could have done it a lot earlier. As the story progresses and we learn more about her I started to warm to her and found I wanted everything to end up well.
I liked following the many different relationships in this book, not just between married couples but between friends, family and in laws. These all seemed very realistic to me as the relationships weren’t perfect and people made mistakes which made me feel more invested in the story . The wedding vow “in sickness and in health” is explored throughout the book and was quite thought provoking as it made me realise how emotionally difficult it must be to support a loved one through an accident or illness. I’ve never really given much thought to what it would involve so I found that part of the book very interesting.
This was a very absorbing story and there was always something happening to keep me interested. The author cleverly drops little hints that things might not be as they seem throughout the story, which I must admit I missed until they are pointed out at the end and had me scrabbling back through the pages to reread certain bits. The ending was very clever and not at all how I expected it to end up which I always love. I actually wanted the story to continue as I wanted to watch the new development unfold!
Huge thanks to Hannah and Hayley from Transworld for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you want a book to cosy up with this festive period I highly recommend this one!
About The Author:
Lucy Dillon grew up in Cumbria and read English at Cambridge, then read a lot of magazines as a press assistant in London, then read other people’s manuscripts as a junior fiction editor. She now lives in a village outside Hereford with a Border terrier, an Otterhound and her husband.
Lucy won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Contemporary Romantic Novel prize in 2015 for A HUNDRED PIECES OF ME, and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2010 for LOST DOGS AND LONELY HEARTS.
All Maya Galen wanted was a happy family, stifling her inner urges to explore the wider world for the sake of being there for her children. But parenting with her husband, Con, wasn’t always easy. Their eldest son, Jamie, broke off all contact some years ago and now Joe, the apple of her eye, has done the same after an argument with his parents about his chosen way of life. Maya and Con are left rattling around ‘The Cottages’ – their enormous home in a Lincolnshire village, wondering what they did wrong.
When they are called to Australia to identify the body of a young man, Maya is given her son’s journal. After a sleepless night she makes the decision to follow in her youngest son’s footsteps and become a vagabond, leaving her husband and daughters to return to the UK without her. From now on she needs to rely on her own physical and emotional strength.
Following Joe’s hand-drawn maps and journal entries, Maya travels from Australia to Denmark and beyond, meeting many young people like Joe along the way and trying to discover what it means to be alive. As months turn into years she can’t bear to go back to the opression of her perfect home. Slowly, she comes to understand that what she is discovering is her most basic human self.
Another family crisis, involving one of her twin daughters, eventually forces Maya to return home. As she treads carefully through the wreckage of her marriage, unfinished business is tied up and the family once again becomes complete, but in a different way from before.
The Vagabond Mother is available in paperback on the 10th January 2020. You can pre-order your copy using the link below.
My Review:
This was a heartwarming and poignant read from a new author to me.
The characters are great creations and I warmed to them quickly. I particularly liked Maya as I found her to be a very honest person who is trying her best to discover her failings and work out how to fix them. As a mum my biggest fear is that my kids aren’t going to want to know me when they’re older so the storyline had quite an effect on me. I found I wanted to keep reading to find out what happens and if she gets the answers she wants.
The descriptions in this book are very vivid so that the reader feels like they are actually there experiencing everything alongside the characters. It was wonderful to visit all the different places and cultures to learn more about them. The descriptions of the vagabond lifestyle was very interesting as I didn’t know much about it before reading this book.
Overall I thought this was a beautifully written, intriguing book that I enjoyed reading. It is a little slow in places which makes it hard to read at times but my desire to find out what happens made me want to keep reading. The story is told from the point of view of Maya and Joe which took a little while to get used to but it was interesting to see the two different stories.
Huge thanks to Kelly from Love Books Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour and to WildPress for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Tracey is a visual artist who began to write full-time in 2010. She is happiest on the road in the Bus-with-a-Woodstove and in the cosy domain of her shed. Her novels are about family relationships, a sense of place, sexual love and motherhood, the lynchpins of human emotion. She has four grown children, a husband and various animals.
Good morning everyone I’m on the blog tour for Mary Wood’s fantastic new book today and as well as sharing my review I have Katie Tibb’s review to share too. Katie won a competition organised by Mary to have her review included on this blog tour.
Before I share our reviews here is a little bit about the book.
Book Synopsis:
Perfect for winter nights, The Wronged Daughter by Mary Wood is an emotional and moving novel that reunites old friends and heals old wounds.
Mags has never forgotten the friendship she forged with Flora and Ella, two fellow nurses she served with at the beginning of World War I. Haunted by what she experienced during that time, she fears a reunion with her friends would bring back the horror she’s tried so desperately to suppress.
Mags throws herself into running the family mill, but she’s dealt another aching blow by a betrayal that leaves her reeling. Finding the strength the war had taken from her, she fights back, not realizing the consequences and devastating outcome awaiting her.
Can she pick up the pieces of her life and begin anew?
The Wronged Daughter is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
Message From Mary:
Hi all, I want to thank both Joanna for hosting me, and for being so generous in inviting a guest reviewer to her lovely blog. and Kate Tibbs for this wonderful and excellently compiled review. Thank you, so much girls. Some of you will remember me running a competition on my Facebook Page to find a guest reviewer for Joanne’s blog. Kate was the lucky winner and received an advance copy from my publishers, Pan Macmillan. Well, Kate, you have done a marvellous job. I am so touched and encouraged by your words about my book. And thrilled that you enjoyed it so much.
Thank you again All my loveMary x
Katie’s Review:
I loved this book and am a huge fan of Mary Wood and like all of her readers send her virtual hugs for being such a consummate storyteller. The Wronged Daughter is such a great story about friendship, loss and love and even though it is a historical novel it has universal contemporary themes of PTSD and controlling relationships. Mags begins her journey in this book with terrible news, doubts her own strength but fights through the twists and turns and highs and lows, she is so much stronger and lovable than she believes. As Mags rightly says “In the end, all I suffered has been worth it”, isn’t this a reflection of what we would all like to say about our lives and loved ones? I cannot wait for the next book in the series: The Brave Daughters.
My Review:
The Wronged Daughter is another fantastic, gripping read from one of my favourite authors.
One of the things I most like about Mary is her ability to quickly absorb the reader into her books and make them feel like they are really there watching everything unfold. This book is no exception and I felt myself immersed into the lives of the characters and caring about them like they were my real friends. This story centres around Mags as she marries the nasty Harold which means she has to give up her right to run her family’s Mill, which she had been doing very successfully. Harold is a character that I loved to hate and frequently wanted to punch throughout the book. Why lovely Mags decides to marry him is beyond me and this decision had me wishing I knew her personally so I could have a stern word with her.
There are some brilliant female characters in this book which I have grown fond of during the series. It’s been lovely watching their friendship develop and watch them progress through their lives. All of them become mums in this book so I’m excited to read more about this in the future.
I thought this was a gripping read which managed to be harrowing and happy in equal measures. Its a very realistic story which makes the events in the book hit you hard as you really care about the characters and what happens to them. I always think it shows great skill by the author to make a reader feel so strongly about the characters.
Huge thanks to Mary for inviting me onto the blog tour, Katie for her guest review and Pan Macmillan for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Born in Maidstone, Kent, in 1945, the thirteenth child of fifteen children, Mary’s family settled in Leicestershire after the war ended.
Mary married young and now, after 54 years of happy marriage, four children, 12 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren, Mary and her husband live in Blackpool during the summer and Spain during the winter – a place that Mary calls, ‘her writing retreat’.
After many jobs from cleaning to catering, all chosen to fit in with bringing up her family, and boost the family money-pot, Mary ended her 9 – 5 working days as a Probation Service Officer, a job that showed her another side to life, and which influences her writing, bringing a realism and grittiness to her novels
Mary first put pen to paper, in 1989, but it wasn’t until 2010 that she finally found some success by self-publishing on kindle.
Being spotted by an editor at Pan Macmillan in 2013, finally saw Mary reach her publishing dream.
When not writing, Mary enjoys family time, reading, eating out, and gardening. One of her favourite pastimes is interacting with her readers on her Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/HistoricalNovels And on her web page: http://www.authormarywood.com She is also on Twitter: @Authormary
Mary welcomes all contact with her readers and feedback on her work.
Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace… When Louisa arrives at Temple House, an elite catholic boarding school, she quickly finds herself drawn to sophisticated fellow pupil Victoria and their young bohemian art teacher, Mr Lavelle. The three of them from a bond that seems to offer an escape from the repressive regime of the nuns who run the cloistered school. Until Louisa and Mr Lavelle suddenly disappear without trace.
Years later, a journalist with a childhood connection to Louisa determines to resolve the mystery. Her search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets. It will shatter lives and lay a lost soul to rest.
The Temple House Vanishing is a stunning, intensely atmospheric novel of unrequited longing, dark obsession and unintended consequences.
The Temple House Vanishing will be published in ebook and hardback on the 20th February 2020. You can pre-order your copy using the link below.
My Review:
I thought this was an absolutely superb read that I raced through in a couple of days, often hiding away from the kids as I was desperate to read a few more pages!
Firstly I thought the descriptions of Temple House school were very realistic, with accurate depictions of the type of people you find in a boarding school. I actually attended a boarding school from aged 9 -16 and met some of the girls described. The feeling of not fitting in as you’re not posh enough or pretty enough is also quite real too, so I found myself sympathising with Louisa a lot throughout the book.
The story does start off a bit slowly and it took me a bit of time to get used to the writing style but I was soon hooked and found it near impossible to out down. It is hinted from the beginning that something wrong happened and this intrigued me from the start, making me want to keep reading to find out what it was. I loved watching the relationship between Louisa and Victoria develop, especially as they only seemed to have each other as friends making their friendship a very interesting one.
The story is split into sections with one following Louisa’s story and the other following the journalist as she tries to solve the mystery of the mysterious vanishing. I found this very interesting and while I did prefer Louisa’s story I did enjoy finding out what had happened from a neutral observer which is what the journalist helps provide.
Overall I thought this was a gripping, absorbing read which had a bit of a gothic feel to it. I had lot of guesses about what had happened but was proven completely wrong and the ending took me completely by surprise which I always love. It reminded me a bit of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier at times, especially the first line, so if you liked that book I think you’ll like this one too.
Huge thanks to Charlotte Walker from Love Reading for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Kirsty from Corvus for my copy of this book which is going on my keep forever shelf!
About The Author:
Rachel Donohue graduated from University College, Dublin, in Philosophy and Politics before embarking on a career in communications and media relations. She lives in Dublin, and The Temple House Vanishing is her first novel.
ONE OF THE MOST TURBULENT REIGNS IN HISTORY PAVED THE WAY FOR THE FIRST MODERN REVOLUTION.
AFTER THE TUDORS CAME THE STUARTS . . .
If you enjoy S. J. Parris and Andrew Taylor, then this is the series you need to read next.
August 25, 1689
The English Army is besieging Carrickfergus in Ireland. Brilliant but unusual gunner Holcroft Blood of the Royal Train of Artillery is ready to unleash his cannons on the rebellious forces of deposed Catholic monarch James II. But this is more than war for Captain Blood, a lust for private vengeance burns within him.
French intelligence agent Henri d’Erloncourt has come across the seas to foment rebellion against William of Orange, the newly installed Dutch ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland. But Henri’s true mission is not to aid the suffering of the Irish but to serve the interests of his master, Louis le Grand.
Michael ‘Galloping’ Hogan, brigand, boozer and despoiler of Protestant farms, strives to defend his native land – and make a little profit on the side. But when he takes the Frenchman’s gold, he suspects deep in his freedom-loving heart, that he has merely swapped one foreign overlord for another.
July 1, 1690
On the banks of the River Boyne, on a fateful, scorching hot day, two armies clash in bloody battle – Protestant against Catholic – in an epic struggle for mastery of Ireland. And, when the slaughter is over and the smoke finally clears, for these three men, nothing will ever be the same again . . .
Blood’s Campaign is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of Angus Donald as he knows how to write fast paced, fascinating books that really make history come to life.
The author’s love of history shines through in this book and the perfect blend of fact and fiction shows the author’s wonderful imagination. I didn’t know much about this period in history so enjoyed learning more about this difficult time. There was an awful lot of change happening so I found it very interesting to discover more.
The main character Holcroft was an intriguing gentleman to say the least. He likes order which he gets through his military career but doesn’t seem to like other people much He’s based on a real person and I liked how the author manages to bring him to life by including all of the small details about what he liked or disliked into the story.
My only slight niggle about this book was that I thought there was a bit too many battle scenes which, while historically important, got a bit repetitive after a while. I found myself skimming through these so that I could get back to the story.
Overall I thought this was a fast paced, interesting read which was hugely enjoyable. Some parts are a little gory but I think it’s to be expected in a book like this. I hadn’t read the first books in the series and while I think this could be read as a standalone, I think you might benefit from reading them in order so you understand more about the characters and their history.
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Zaffre Books for my copy of this book. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
About The Author:
Angus Donald was educated at Marlborough College and Edinburgh University. He has worked as a fruit-picker in Greece, a waiter in New York and as an anthropologist studying magic and witchcraft in Indonesia. For many years he was a journalist in Hong Kong, India, Afghanistan and London. He is married to Mary, with whom he has two children, and he now writes full time from a medieval farmhouse in Kent.
He is the author of the bestselling Outlaw Chronicles, a series of eight books set in the 12th/13th centuries and featuring a gangster-ish Robin Hood and his loyal lieutenant Sir Alan Dale. His new Holcroft Blood series stars a mildly autistic artillery officer who was the son of notorious 17th-century Crown Jewel thief Colonel Thomas Blood. The series begins with Blood’s Game, followed by Blood’s Revolution and Blood’s Campaign (out November 2019). The author has also written an epic Asian fantasy novel Gates of Stone under the pseudonym Angus Macallan. He is always happy to chat to readers on Facebook, Twitter and via his website http://www.angusdonaldbooks.com
I’m incredibly excited to be involved in the cover reveal for Head Stroke which is a highly anticipated release in May next year and which I can’t wait to read!
Before I share the cover with you here is a little bit about the book.
Book Synopsis:
A dazzling debut novel of a dark love affair, set to ignite debate in summer 2020.
FOR FANS OF ZOE HELLER, EMMA CLINE, EXPECTATION AND MY DARK VANESSA.
—
The summer burns with secrets…
It is too hot to sleep. To work. To be questioned time and again by the police.
At the beginning of a stifling, sultry summer, everything shifts irrevocably when Lily doesn’t come home one afternoon.
Rachel is Lily’s teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily’s best friend. The girls are fifteen – almost women, still children.
As Rachel becomes increasingly fixated on Lily’s absence, she finds herself breaking fragile trusts and confronting impossible choices she never thought she’d face.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
Intoxicating and compulsive, Heatstroke is a darkly gripping, thought-provoking novel of crossed boundaries, power and betrayal, that plays with expectations at every turn.
Heatstroke is available in ebook and paperback on the 28th May 2020. You can pre-order your copy using the link below.
Raw, unsparing and almost unbearably tender. Perfect sentences swim gracefully across every page, overlaying a narrative that delights in wrong-footing the readers’ assumptions. I couldn’t tear myself away (Erin Kelly)
A scorching tale of obsession, betrayal and the wounds that mothers and daughters inflict on each other in the name of love (Tammy Cohen)
About The Author:
Hazel grew up in Stirlingshire and North Yorkshire before studying English at Oxford. She then moved to London where she spent her days working as a cultural consultant, and her nights dancing in a pop band at glam rock clubs. Hazel is a graduate of both the Oxford University MSt in Creative Writing and the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing course. She now works in Oxford, where she lives with her partner. Heatstroke is her first novel.
The majestic Souter Lighthouse stands proudly at the edge of the cliff top surrounded by open grassy empty fields and overlooking a vast blue wilderness. Anna Charles knows nothing of the life that her grandmother once had here. It wasn’t until an unexpected engagement, that Anna discovered the past of her Gran and the truth behind an enduring love.
Seventy years earlier, Lillian Smith, had been part of the close-knit community that once thrived in the village that existed next to the lighthouse. A chance meeting with a sailor one day, would change the course of her life forever.
A moving novel set in the North East of England. The Last Village is an enduring love story which spans the 1940’s and modern day, binding the generations.
The Last Village is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
Guest Post:
5 Authors who inspire me By Audla English, author of ‘The Last Village’
Inspiration can come from anywhere, a rhythm in a song, the sound of crisp snow beneath your feet on a winter’s day or from those childhood tales which have been passed down through the generations. For me, there are many other authors who are an inspiration but for many different reasons. My top five authors who have inspired me are as follows:
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl is my utterly favourite author, I am inspired by his imagination, his playfulness and his ability to make ordinary, even mundane, things magical. I also like how his real-life crosses over into his writing with many of his feelings about situations being conveyed in his stories. My favourite book of all time is ‘Boy’, I can pretty much recite it! It is a book which allows you to get into the authors mind and deepest memories and see where his ideas originate from and how he has developed them in his life and his writing. Even now I enjoy it when I see children discovering a Roald Dahl story for the first time and how much joy and sheer pleasure it brings to them.
Dame Catherine Cookson Dame Catherine Cookson inspires me not only for her formidable writing talent in writing over 100 books but also because she is from South Tyneside, North East England and has raised global awareness of this region. Despite overcoming significant hardship and trauma in her life, Dame Catherine worked hard to able to write; a gift and a passion which she was able to nurture until her final days. An incredible lady!
Beatrix Potter I am inspired by Beatrix Potter as she achieved such success by believing in herself and I bet not many people realise that Beatrix Potter self-published her first children’s book about a little rabbit who went by the name of Peter- the rest, as they say, is history. The Lakes District holds a very special place in my heart and is an unspoilt realm. I am hugely thankful to Beatrix Potter as without her talent, self-belief and philanthropic nature, the beautiful Lake District as we know and love it today could have been a very different place.
Gerald Durrell As a huge animal lover, I have been greatly inspired by Gerald Durrell. I love his vivid descriptions of flora and fauna and his ability to transform his passion for nature into written form. What is most inspiring to me is his legacy with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, with his writing talent he has been able to allow for conservation and protection for some of the worlds most endangered animals. A legacy that will protect species for future generations.
JK Rowling Lastly, I am inspired by the incomparable JK Rowling not only for her immense writing talent but more so by the fact that she had to face rejection of her writing whilst experiencing trauma in her life, but she continued on regardless. I think that this could only be done by a very strong and determined person and I find that extremely inspirational.
Thanks so much Audla for taking the time to write this fabulous guest post.
A Chill with a Book Premier Readers’ Award winner and 2019 American Fiction Awards Finalist, ‘The Last Village’ is available to purchase on Amazon in both Kindle and Paperback format.
About The Author:
Audla English grew up in the North East of England.
Born in Sunderland, a graduate of Newcastle University and living in South Tyneside, she is passionate about this wonderful region which acts as an inspiration to her writing.
Her award-winning debut novel ‘The Last Village’ is a dual time-line historical fiction and is written as a dedication to the now sadly demolished Old Marsden Village which was built by the Whitburn Coal Company in the 1870’s. The Marsden Rock coastal setting is also used to weave a family saga style narrative around a beautiful part of north east England.
The novel is a moving love story about the life of Lily, a young woman growing up with her friends in 1945 whereas the other side of the story, in 2017, is about Anna and her own discovery of her grandmother’s past life- it is a novel which spans and binds the generations through family and friendship.
In October 1943, when prisoners of war Alfie and Frank escape from a train taking them to Germany, their lives depend on the family of shepherds who shelter them. In constant jeopardy, the young men wait out the winter in the Italian mountains.In 2000, Ros Goudy inherits her music teacher’s home in Exeter and there she finds letters that reveal the soldiers’ fate. Only one made it back, but it wasn’t to a warm welcome and happy ever after. What had happened that turned heads and hearts against him? The trail she follows begins with an charming comic song composed before the war. What she discovers is that everyone, including herself, has something to hide.
Notes From The Lost is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
Notes From The Lost is a beautifully written compelling book which I raced through in a couple of days.
I read a lot of historical fiction set in the second world war so I always find it impressive when an author manages to write a unique story. This one has obviously been well researched and I enjoyed learning about new aspects of the war that I didn’t know about. The inclusion of the author’s musical expertise was a nice touch and brought an unusual slant to the story.
The two storylines were well plotted and unusually for me I found I enjoyed following them both equally. The author does a great job of setting the scene in both timelines so the reader is transported into both stories. The two stories are very different from each other so I didn’t get confused and develop well alongside each other with realistic twists and discoveries which I always enjoy. Alfie is a great main character who I warned to instantly and I liked the stark differences in him between the two timelines from scared pow to blind but jovial older gentleman. He’s definitely a character that I warmed to instantly and I wanted to keep reading the story to find out what happened to him.
The story unfolds at a good pace with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader glued to the page. I liked that the book isn’t just bogged down in sadness, though there are some incredibly sad moments, but that the story is interjected with some humour too as I think it made it seem more realistic. The ending was beautiful and I liked how the author didn’t tie everything up nicely in a bow but instead wrote a genuine and realistic ending as it made the story seem more real and ensured I’ve continued to think about it long after I have finished reading.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the author for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Cathie Hartigan lives in the beautiful, historic city of Exeter.
Although her professional training was in music, a decade ago she swapped one keyboard for another in order to take her life-long love of writing more seriously. Since then, she has won several prizes for her short stories and was a finalist in the annual Woman and Home short story competition three times.
Cathie lectured in creative writing for nine years at Exeter College before leaving to found CreativeWritingMatters.co.uk, which offers a range of writing services and administers four international literary competitions a year, including The Exeter Novel Prize and The Trisha Ashley Award.
When not writing, Cathie sings in a small vocal ensemble. The beautiful Devon coastline also provides plenty of distraction but on a rainy day if there’s an opera or theatre screening at the cinema, she’ll be there.
Over The Rainbow Blog 