I love historical fiction and am delighted to have been asked by Katie Ashworth at Penguin to be part of the launch celebrations for The Bomb Girl Brides by Daisy Styles. I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to review yet but it gives me enormous pleasure to be able to share an exclusive guest post by Daisy Styles all about a day in her life.

The Bomb Girl Brides was published by Penguin on 28th June 2018 and is available for purchase in all the usual places including here.

The Bomb Girl Brides

It’s 1944 and Britain is a country at war. The young women of the Phoenix munitions factory are giving their all to the cause, but romance is beckoning . . .

The life of a Bomb Girl isn’t usually glamorous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is – even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor.

This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty and the easy laughter of the other women intimidate her terribly.

But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. Despite rationing, dangerous hard work and new situations these Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work, and in love.

A Day in the Life of Daisy Styles

A Guest Post by Daisy Styles

I HAVE 2 TYPICAL DAYS!

FULL ON WORK DAY

As soon as I wake up I’ll have the next section of the book formed in my head; it happens overnight, so grab some coffee, never hungry at this time, find my glasses, feed the dog then upstairs to my attic room study where if I’m left to my own devices I’d write flat out till mid-day. It is the very best part of the day for me. However my old black Labrador, Millie, who’s going blind gets in the way of Bomb Girls and we have to go round the local grave yard where she sniffs two thousand blades of grass before she relieves herself!  However there are advantages to this tedious process because by the time I’m back home the sentences have run on in my head and I’m already well into the next chapter. So thanks for hassling me, Millie! It’s always been like that, I can physically stop writing but the story keeps on rolling as if it’s got a life of its own regardless of me.

I don’t eat much at lunch time because if I do I feel sleepy and that effects my writing, believe me it’s not like I’m not hungry I just don’t want to feel full and heavy, so soup or an apple and biscuit and back to work. Around 3 pm I flag – I need distraction, physical exercise, a swim, a bike ride, a chat with a pal – anything that means I’m not staring at the computer screen. I’ll return to work about six, usually editing which suits me at that time of the day as it’s a different form of writing or I’ll do some research, googling dates and events, and WW2 time lines, VERY important for saga writers otherwise my readers get cross and quite rightly tick me off. I pack up for the day around 7.30 pm, then supper, glass of wine, and TV, with my feet up in front of the wood-burner. Job done!

NON-WORK DAY- TREATS GALORE!

Jump in the car (regardless of the season) and drive to Norfolk or Suffolk where I’ll meet up with a friend. We walk all day on any of the wonderful beaches available to us.Make sure we have a really nice lunch in the Victoria at Holkham or the Wentworth at Aldburgh then walk a lot more, usually we stop for a rest and sun bathe (if it’s hot!) in the afternoon then off we go again.

Often stop overnight in “The White Horse” at Brancaster or the “Black Lion” in Walsingham – perfect end to a perfect day.

Thank you so much for telling us about your two days Daisy. I think I’d be much better at the second version than the first!

About Daisy Styles

Daisy Styles grew up in Lancashire surrounded by a family and community of strong women whose tales she loved to listen to. It was from these women, particularly her vibrant mother and Irish grandmother, that Daisy learned the art of storytelling. There was also the landscape of her childhood – wide, sweeping, empty moors and hills that ran as far as the eye could see – which was a perfect backdrop for a saga, a space big enough and wild enough to stage a drama, one about women’s lives during the Second World War.

You can find Daisy on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers:

I love a good thriller and I’d like to thank Midas PR for inviting me to be part of the UK launch celebrations for A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni. I have A Steep Price very firmly on my TBR and have been hearing wonderful things about it so I am delighted to hear from the author himself as Robert has agreed to stay in with me today to chat all about A Steep Price.

Staying in with Robert Dugoni

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Robert. Thank you so much for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

I’ve chosen A Steep Price. It’s my latest Tracy Crosswhite Novel, the sixth in the series, and I’m always most excited about my latest.

(And blog readers will find all your Tracy Crosswhite books here.)

What can we expect from an evening in with A Steep Price? 

Hopefully you’ll become so engrossed in a mystery and suspense novel that you’ll forget to cook dinner, forget to eat, forget to do the laundry, and refuse to go to sleep until the very last page. When you close the book, my hope is you will think of the characters as friends and family, which you might need because your real family and friends won’t be happy you ignored them!

(Oh! I really like the sound of this one. I’m having a special reading month in August when I intend to read exactly what I choose and A Steep Price is going straight on that pile of books!)

Beyond that, I hope you’re motivated to find out what happens next, and if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series that you’ll be persuaded to go back and find what you missed.

(I have a feeling I just might…)

What else have you brought along and why? 

I brought the notes I took after I got out of the cab taking me from SFO to my mother’s house. The cab driver was east Indian and we got to talking. He’d just been married and said it was an arranged marriage, that he’d only met his bride twice before they were married. I asked him if it was scary to marry someone he barely knew, and he said that his parents were the product of an arranged marriage and had been married for thirty years. He also said that arranged marriages had a lower percentage of divorce than traditional western marriages. I found the whole thing fascinating and when I got out of the cab I took my notepad and wrote down the entire conversation. That became the idea for A Steep Price.

(I love the idea that a chance conversation has become an entire novel Robert. I think that’s what sets authors apart from the rest of us – they are like magpies and see the potential in all kinds of places.)

Thank you so much for staying in with me to discuss A Steep Price Robert. I’ve been hearing such good things from the other bloggers on this tour and I am really looking forward to reading it.

A Steep Price

Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her own: she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk.

A Steep Price is available for purchase here.

About Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni is the No. 1 Kindle bestselling and No. 1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series, including My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, and Close to Home.

His books with Amazon Publishing have reached more than 3 million readers through print sales and digital downloads, and have twice been nominated for the International Thriller Award. He is also the author of the Edgar Award–nominated The 7th Canon; the New York Times bestselling David Sloane series, which includes The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction; the stand-alone novel Damage Control; and the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year selection.

Robert Dugoni is a two-time nominee for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction and the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for fiction.

You can find out more by visiting Robert’s website, finding him on Facebook and following him on Twitter @robertdugoni 

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Emily Burns at Bonnier Zaffre for a copy of 29 SECONDS by T.M. Logan in return for an honest review. I had meant to read 29 SECONDS months ago but as ever, life intervened and with my mother in and out of hospital I simply didn’t get round to it. I’m delighted to rectify that today.

29 SECONDS was published on 8th March 2018 and is available for purchase here.

29 SECONDS

What if a single 29 second phone call could change your life forever? ‘Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear . . .’

When Sarah rescues a young girl in trouble, she expects nothing in return. But her act of bravery puts a powerful and dangerous man in her debt. He lives by his own brutal code, and all debts must be repaid – in the only way he knows how.

He offers Sarah a way to solve a desperate situation with her intolerable boss. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that will make all her problems disappear.

No consequences. No comeback. No chance of being found out.

All it takes is a 29 second phone call.

BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS A NAME TO GIVE. DON’T THEY?

My Review of 29 SECONDS

A chance encounter will have consequences that reverberate for Sarah in ways she could never imagine.

I’m going to be completely honest and say at the outset that I found the plot of 29 SECONDS fairly implausible. And ironically, that’s why I enjoyed the book so much! 29 SECONDS would make a fabulous Bondesque film and I think reading it with that level of willing suspension of disbelief means that it is thoroughly engrossing and absorbing.

The plot races along, twisting and turning so that the reader never quite knows what will happen next and T.M. Logan’s use of short pacy chapters with some deliberately and carefully withheld information means that the reader experiences some cracking surprises. I found it enormous fun to read and was thoroughly entertained.

I thought the characters were disagreeable and vexatious. I wanted to thump Alan, shake Sarah and slap Marie. I think it takes quite clever writing to create characters that the reader really doesn’t like at all and yet still make them want to know what happens. Even though Sarah is the victim in so much of the action, I felt little sympathy for her, but I wanted her to triumph at the same time. I’ve ended the read being as confused by my own responses to the story and characters as the characters in it are to their own decisions and actions. Again, I think that is such clever manipulation of the reader by T.M. Logan.

I loved the pivotal concept of the book. A chance event and snap decision can affect a person’s whole life and 29 SECONDS is an extreme version of what could occur. We all have those ‘what if’ moments and I know I have on occasion considered the same decision Sarah has to ponder, albeit not very seriously from me. 29 SECONDS really makes the reader think.

There is also a smashing weaving of literary allusion too so that 29 SECONDS has echoes of Marlowe and Shakespeare that give small frissons of recognition for the reader too. The themes of sexism, abuse, family loyalty and protection all have real relevance in today’s society and the references to real people add an extra layer of authenticity.

29 SECONDS is a book where the reader has to acquiesce in accepting the plot, but that done, it is a wonderfully entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

About T.M. Logan

T.M. Logan was born in Berkshire to an English father and a German mother. He studied at Queen Mary and Cardiff universities before becoming a national newspaper journalist. He currently works in communications and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children. His debut novel Lies (2017) sold more than 300,000 copies in the UK and is being published in ten other countries worldwide. His new thriller, 29 SECONDS (2018) is out now in paperback and e-book.

For more detail you can join T.Mm Logan’s Readers’ Club. You can also follow him on Twitter @TMLoganAuthor and find him on Facebook.