With such an unusual title, Peanuts and Eggcups, I couldn’t wait to be part of the launch celebrations for Sara Mendes da Costa’s debut novel. Peanuts and Eggcups was published in e-book and paperback on 28th June 2016 by Clink Street Publishing and is available for purchase from Amazon UK.

Today, Sara has kindly provided a guest blog all about happiness and just reading it cheered me up!

Peanuts and Eggcups

For Maggie Parsons there’s only ever been one man: the stunningly delicious Luke Henderson. Unfortunately, he left her, without explanation, after their ‘first night’ together …breaking her heart in the process.

Now ten years on, without any contact, he’s back and going to her school reunion. Great! And, to confuse matters…so is his suave, sexy, brother Tony who makes a major play for Maggie, then turns up with his insufferable – supposedly ex – fiancée!

Via the reunion, a black eye, getting the sack (as a result) a madcap girlie holiday and juggling her confused emotions around the two alluring brothers…Maggie starts to build a picture of what she really wants in life.

Trouble is, Maggie’s a pawn in a game she doesn’t even know she’s playing …and things are about to get a whole lot more complicated.

How I Feel About Happiness

and

Some Of My Favourite Things

A Guest Post from Sara Mendes da Costa

My protagonist, Maggie, is journeying to what and who she truly wants in her life and as she goes along she realises the aspects of her life and work that she loves and doesn’t love and ultimately begins to understand that she doesn’t want to settle for second best. She is on a journey to what matters to her, what’s really important.

I must admit I consider life like that. If something isn’t making me happy and I can’t seem to get to a place where it does, I look to change it. Life is short…certainly the one we’re living, so we might as well be happy and feel good! Positive thoughts, being happy, feeling good means the endorphins fly and the better you feel the more positive stuff and good feelings seem to be attracted to you. A wise suggestion I was given once was: just ask yourself: ‘how do I feel; what do I want?’ Meaning in order to improve the quality of your life, just keep asking yourself, ‘How do I really feel?’ and be truthful about the answer. If you’re feeling good…great! How can you feel even better? If you’re feeling bad, great! (OK, well…great, ish!) but it’s an opportunity to realise what you’d like instead. So once you know how you feel, ask yourself what you want, what would help you feel better. It could be taking a break, having a cuppa, sitting down, getting fresh air, having a bath (even if it’s the middle of the day) or something more lovely like treating yourself to something, having a massage, meeting a friend, booking a holiday…making a positive life change.

The idea is if you’re feeling naff, staying there isn’t doing you any good but it does serve as a great motivator – if you let it – to say ‘What do I want instead?’ By taking little steps away from what you don’t want and moving towards what you do want, and by choosing good thoughts instead of bad, you’re on the road to happiness. You’re on the road to feeling good all the time – and that sounds great to me.

So, that’s my overall happiness and wellbeing ethos but there are many things that make me particularly happy.

Laughter is a HUGE one! Probably why I like to inject a good dose of fun into my novels. Laughter is such great medicine and so very good for all round good feelings. I understand it burns calories too! And that’s gotta be a plus.

I love my three large male cats: Bootsie, Muppet and Mozart. They are a constant source of amusement and love, and a good cuddle with them is wonderful. They’re very silly too. Although I’m not quite so enamoured with them when they jump on me at four in the morning!

I love to create. That can be writing, painting, designing my home or garden. I love colour and surrounding myself with colour that excites me. I had my colours done once and I’ve never looked back – very inspiring. I guess you could sum it up by saying I love transformation – going from an idea to completion, pretty much like writing a novel. Painting and decorating transforms a space and I find it wonderful to see a blank canvas, a space, a wall, a page, a room – open for anything – and then designing it – filling it with whatever the mood takes me.  And then, using whatever ingredients needed, I love to get to work and watch transformation happen; not always so practical when I start transforming more than one room at once! (my house only has small rooms, so clearing one room to decorate another means everything from one room lives all over the house!) But hey, it all comes good in the end – even if I do end up with boxes full of stuff, previously in a room, that I now don’t want to put back! The charity shops do pretty well out of me.

I LOVE to travel and want to do a whole lot more – particularly taking my work with me. Currently, travel seems to take one of two forms: either I’ve worked hard and am completely exhausted so need a rest i.e. a good quality all-inclusive resort with a fabulous pool and the company of my best friend Annie (along with cocktails, books, food and loads of belly laughing) or it’ll be something a bit more active and outdoorsy with my lovely man. Camping, walking, cycling and great pubs! In amongst both options I love sunshine and beautiful vistas. For me an amazing view is unbeatable and if I can get somewhere up high to drink in the surroundings, hills, mountains, lakes, sea, fields…wonderful! Total bliss. This is a seriously beautiful planet we live on if you know where to look.

I’m really beginning to enjoy exercise again. I used to love it but for various health reasons it had to take a back step…now I’m feeling better than ever and I’m loving the fact that slowly but surely I’m feeling fitter and healthier than I have done for years.

And then there’s people watching! Sitting outside a café bar and watching the world go by. It’s fascinating looking at what people wear – particularly where I live in Brighton – how they are, how they talk to each other. And when I witness a moment of emotion, of joy, of kindness…that’s the icing on the cake – it makes me glow from head to toe.

Ooh, now I do love cocktails and making something that tastes delicious. I love cooking but don’t do lots. I think cocktails have the edge, especially if I’m sitting on my garden swing – with my man on his own special chair – on a summer’s evening and swinging back and forth and letting the dreams flow through me.

Something that brings me great happiness is seeing someone do something lovely. It can be anything from lending a helping hand, giving someone a hug, checking someone’s OK, being inspirational, doing something well or doing something not so well and getting up and trying again. I particularly love watching someone being happy. Happiness breeds happiness and weirdly enough, seeing joy makes me cry! But in a good way…

I love the love of friends, family and my gorgeous man.  Having a small circle of people who really know me and who I know and love right back, makes me happy. Laughing with them, experiencing life with them, sharing things, building a history – being there for each other. I feel blessed to have such special people in my life who are sharing this path.

Basically, I’m a bit of a spiritual hippy I think! I’m all about the fluff but I do have my head screwed on – though it’s very therapeutic to take the lid off sometimes. I can get joy from the smallest thing. Life can be tough – jeez we all know that! Life can dish out lemons but I choose to mix them with sugar and make lemonade (or, as the other saying goes…Tequila shots!) I believe happiness is a choice. From wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, there’s always a choice to be happy…even taking the tiniest step in the right direction. If being happy takes a little time, a little journey to get there, just keep going – keep moving in the direction. The journey will get easier and the destination will truly be worth it.

 About Sara Mendes da Costa

Sara Mendes da Costa is the voice of the BT Speaking Clock; the fourth person to hold this prestigious title since 1936.

A successful, world-renowned voiceover artist, her dulcet tones are easily recognisable on television, radio, film and across countless media.

Never far from the press, she’s known for her appearances on BBC Breakfast, ITV This Morning, Children in Need, Wake up to Wogan and The Today Programme, and balances her prolific voiceover career with her passion and commitment as a novelist.

Peanuts & Eggcups, her debut novel – hotly anticipated by the industry – is “The perfect & highly addictive reading companion for women’s fiction fans”.

A lover of laughter, creativity, great storytelling and a wee dram, Sara adores writing novels and seeks to entertain, uplift and inspire.

Her upcoming novels: Time & Time Again & Maggie Ever After, are expected in 2017.

You can follow Sara on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

There’s more about and from Sara with these other bloggers too:

I’m excited to be taking part in today’s wonderful cover reveal with Brook Cottage Books for I Need A Doctor,  the romantic comedy by Janey Travis which will be published by Thornhill Print on 15^th July 2016 but will have a special pre-order price of 99p or $1.40.

I Need A Doctor is available for purchase on AMAZON UK, AMAZON US, KOBO, iBOOKS and SMASHWORDS.

A special message from Janey Travis

For just a few hours on Saturday 2nd July 2016 (morning for US and afternoon for UK) I’m hosting a fun to attend FB Party Event to celebrate my latest rom-com book Pre-Release ‘I Need A Doctor’. It is SIMPLE and FUN to take part – just POST up a picture of your favourite doctor onto the Event Page. Is is Dr Who? Dr George? Dr Dre? or Dr John (Utila folk might choose him!) I’ll be posting too and every guest poster will be entered into a book GIVEAWAY raffle. You can also enter by tweeting your Doctor pic on Twitter using the hashtag ‪#‎INeedADoctor. Join the party now by clicking ‘Going’ or ‘Interested’ now or just turn up on the day. All are invited! #INeedADoctor This is the Event Page here.

Love, Janey xx

I Need A Doctor

 

 

Beauty and fame… a blessing or a curse?

Story synopsis: Loveless fashion model Nola Nichols thinks being beautiful is a curse; that is until she is cursed and her looks begin to fade just a week before the most important photo shoot of her career. In her attempts to get un-cursed, she finds herself taking part in a rather unconventional funeral, reveals one or two unrests in her own past, and falls madly in love with a doctor. Erm… that would be a witch doctor, right…?

What the Readers say:

“Just the right sprinkling of romance and humour.” Brook Cottage Books

“A very enjoyable and clever plot. Different, fresh and enjoyable.” Jenny in Neverland

“I couldn’t help but like Nola even though at times she is a proper diva.” Comet Babe’s Books

“I love all the quirky characters in the story and just the pure madness and fun of it all!” Books4U

“A nice balance of humour, sweet romance, morals and a spooky side!” The Little Reader Library

“A Five Star Read – I really enjoyed the light-hearted tone.”  Love Reading Love Books

About Janey Travis

Janey Travis is currently travelling around the world chasing the sun while blogging, tweeting, writing fun-to-read novels and travel magazine features. Look out for her new light-hearted romantic comedy novel I Need a Doctor. You can follow her on Twitter and find her on Facebook. Janey has a new website under construction too.

Janey also writes bestselling romantic adventure fiction as Janice Horton. Find out more here.

Happy Canada Day!

I first read The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields over 20 years ago and was captivated by her writing style so I am delighted to be revisiting some of her works as they are rebranded by World Edition Books to celebrate Canada Day. To find out more about World Editions Books follow them on Twitter, visit their website and find them on Facebook.

Four of Carol Shield’s Books are being rebranded by World Edition Books:

Mary Swan

Mary Swann is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband brutally murders her. Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann’s existence—her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph—gradually vanish in this engrossing novel exploring the surprising afterlife of a murdered poet. Full of mischief, Mary Swann is a novel about life, death and the ideas that live on after us.

The Republic of Love

A celebration of love in its many guises, The Republic of Love recounts the heartfelt tale of two of life’s unlucky lovers: Fay, a folklorist whose passion for mermaids has kept her from focussing on any one man; and, right across the street, Tom, a popular radio talk-show host who’s been through three marriages and divorces in his search for true happiness.

Touching and ironic, The Republic of Love flies the flag for ordinary love between ordinary people.

The Stone Diaries

The Stone Diaries, a fictionalized autobiography, chronicles the life of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a Canadian woman born in 1905 out of love and tragedy, and follows her life through marriage, motherhood and widowhood, as she ages with the century. A subtle but affecting portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life.

Happenstance

These two companion novels tell the stories of Jack and Brenda Bowman during a rare time apart in their many years of marriage. In The Husband’s Story, Jack is at home coping with domestic crises and two uncouth adolescents while immobilized by self-doubt and questioning his worth as a historian. In The Wife’s Story, Brenda, travelling alone for the first time, is in a strange city grappling with an array of emotions and toying with the idea of an affair. Happenstance is a profound portrait of a marriage and of those differences between the sexes that bring life – and a sense of isolation – into the most loving relationships.

About Carol Shields

Although born in Illinois, Carol Shields is best known as a Canadian writer. Her writing is renowned for its understanding of human nature.

Carol Shields (1935-2003) was an award winning American-born Canadian author. She is acclaimed for her empathetic and witty, yet penetrating insights into human nature. One of her most famous novels, The Stone Diaries, won both Canada’s Governor General’s Award for Fiction and The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1993 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1994.

You can find out more about Carol and her books here.

Having met lovely Cathy Bramley a couple of times in person I am so excited to be part of the launch celebrations for The Plumberry School of Comfort Food which was published in paperback by Corgi, an imprint of Penguin Books, yesterday 30th June 2016. The Plumberry School of Comfort Food is available for purchase on Amazon and from Foyles, Waterstones, Hive, W H Smith and from all good bookshops.

To celebrate the publication of The Plumberry School of Comfort Food, fellow blogger Zarina asked Cathy some questions and Cathy is answering them across a range of blogs. You can see yesterday’s answer with Zarina here and read today’s answer below.

The Plumberry School of Comfort Food

Verity Bloom hasn’t been interested in cooking anything more complicated than the perfect fish finger sandwich, ever since she lost her best friend and baking companion two years ago.

But an opportunity to help a friend lands her right back in the heart of the kitchen. The Plumberry School of Comfort Food is due to open in a few weeks’ time and needs the kind of great ideas that only Verity could cook up. And with new friendships bubbling and a sprinkling of romance in the mix, Verity finally begins to feel like she’s home.

But when tragedy strikes at the very heart of the cookery school, can Verity find the magic ingredient for Plumberry while still writing her own recipe for happiness?

A Question for Cathy

After self-publishing your first novel, Conditional Love, you’ve had such incredible success. Besides, of course, getting your book deal, what has been the most exciting part of this journey so far?

Thank you. Actually, I find the whole publishing process exciting right from when I first get the seed of a new idea for a book, right through until I see the finished book on the shelf in store. But if I had to pick one moment, it would be just after Wickham Hall came out and it made number 16 in the UK paperback charts – that was pretty exciting!

About Cathy Bramley

Cathy is the author of the best-selling romantic comedies Ivy Lane, Appleby Farm, Conditional Love, Wickham Hall and The Plumberry School Of Comfort Food. She lives in a small Nottinghamshire village with her husband, two teenage daughters and Pearl, the Cockerpoo.

You’ll find all Cathy’s lovely books here.

You can find out more about Cathy Bramley on her website and you can follow her on Twitter or use #Plumberry, but there’s lots more with these other bloggers too:

I’m thrilled to be part of the launch celebrations for The Caller by M.A Comley and Tara Lyons, because they are both such talented writers individually so a collaboration is twice the success. I have been fortunate to ‘meet’ Mel and Tara via The Book Club on Facebook.

The Caller was released on 16th June 2016 and is available on Amazon UK and Amazon US. The Caller is the first gripping book in The Organised Crime Team series by NY Times bestselling author of the Justice series, M A Comley and co-author Tara Lyons, author of In The Shadows.

You’ll find the Justice series here and In the Shadows here.

The Caller

When The Caller rings… what would you do?

The Organised Crime Team is a newly-formed unit with one of the toughest tasks in London. Led by DI Angie North, their first investigation is a cold case that has foxed several officers in the Met for months.

After Angie holds a TV appeal regarding the case, a number of similar aggressive attacks are brought to her attention. The team call on their contacts on the street for help. Their interest is sparked when several local names surface.

To bring the criminals to justice a member of the Organised Crime Team is asked to risk their life in a dangerous covert operation.

Three Callers

To celebrate the publication of The Caller I asked M.A Comely and Tara Lyons which three people they would like to call. This is what they told me:

Tara:

1. My grandad – I’d love to know if he’s proud of me and if he’s happy with the decisions I made after he passed away.
2.  J.K Rowling – I think she has such an inspirational story, from where she began to where she is now, and I’d love to hear all about it.
3. Truman Capote – In Cold Blood was one of the books I based my university dissertation on and I would love to have a chat with him about that story.

Mel:

1. James Patterson – I’d ask if he fancied getting Lorne and Alex Cross together in a collaboration project.
2. Linda Prather – For five years we’ve supported each other as authors, we met through Facebook but have never met in person as she lives in America.
3. My ex-husband – Chiefly so I could slam the door in this face after I shouted: “I told you I’d be a success one day.” He had little faith in my abilities as a human being, let alone a writer. There’s nothing more satisfying in this life than proving someone wrong.

My Review of The Caller

When women are attacked in their own home in broad daylight, newly promoted Angie North’s Organised Crime Team need to act fast.

I wasn’t entirely certain whether I would enjoy The Caller as the opening is quite violent and aggressive, but the pace was so fast that I didn’t have time to think and I was instantly drawn into the world of organised crime so effectively depicted. I really enjoyed the read.

The Caller is an exciting and captivating book that draws the reader into the corrupt and violent world of Brixton and its environs. What I found so interesting is that this world could be replicated all over the country.

As this is the first in a new series, there’s quite a bit of establishing new characters that I thought was deftly handled and the narrative ending leads brilliantly into the next book. I thought the pace was incredible, with events piling on top of one another at break neck speed so that The Caller was a thrilling read. I was also fascinated by the effect of the collaborative writing and found it seamless – I certainly couldn’t distinguish which elements had been written predominantly by which author. This partnership is obviously going to be an explosive one.

I thought the dialogue was highly realistic so that I believed what characters were saying and I loved the way chapters were short to maintain the pace and ended with mini-cliffhangers so that the reader is compelled to read on. The only aspect I would have liked done differently would have been to have slightly more description of the settings so that I had a clearer picture in my mind’s eye of Brixton, Angie’s home and some of the crime scenes, but I think that’s inevitable when establishing such a highly character and plot driven thriller at the start of what is bound to be a highly successful series.

Aside from the pacy plot, I really liked the portrayal of Angie as she is very human and realistic. She made a refreshing change from the curmudgeonly and bitter male characters of so much crime fiction. I also appreciated understanding how the foul Tyler’s character came about because of his background. Reading The Caller gave me more empathy with him than I would have expected. I wonder whether Mel’s experience of writing romance as well as crime has helped to temper this aspect so that we have more humane and believable characters.

I also thought The Caller had a serious message as well as being a cracking story. I’m not sure I would have thought twice about someone ringing to check about a delivery before reading this. I will now!

The Caller is a great story, full of excitement and action. I can’t wait for the next one!

About Mel and Tara

Mel and Tara have previously collaborated on a novella Web of Deceit and you can find it here.

Find out more about Mel on her website, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Find out more about Tara on her website, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

You can see more about Mel and Tara and The Caller with these other bloggers:

My enormous thanks to Louise Swannell at Hodder for a copy of The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan in return for an honest review. The Farm at the Edge of the World is published today, 30th June 2016, by Hodder and Stoughton and is available for purchase from Amazon, Waterstones, iTunes, W H Smith, all good bookshops and directly from Hodder.

The Farm at the Edge of the World

1939, and Will and Alice are evacuated to a granite farm in north Cornwall, perched on a windswept cliff. There they meet the farmer’s daughter, Maggie, and against fields of shimmering barley and a sky that stretches forever, enjoy a childhood largely protected from the ravages of war.

But in the sweltering summer of 1943 something happens that will have tragic consequences. A small lie escalates. Over 70 years on Alice is determined to atone for her behaviour – but has she left it too late?

2014, and Maggie’s granddaughter Lucy flees to the childhood home she couldn’t wait to leave thirteen years earlier, marriage over; career apparently ended thanks to one terrible mistake. Can she rebuild herself and the family farm? And can she help her grandmother, plagued by a secret, to find some lasting peace?

This is a novel about identity and belonging; guilt, regret and atonement; the unrealistic expectations placed on children and the pain of coming of age. It’s about small lies and dark secrets. But above all it’s about a beautiful, desolate, complex place.

When midwife Lucy almost makes a fatal error at work and her husband Matt doesn’t deny he is having an affair, Lucy returns to her childhood home in Cornwall where huge debts are threatening to destroy the family heritage.

My Review of The Farm at the Edge of the World

The events surrounding Will and Alice in Cornwall in 1939 will have reverberations across the decades.

What a glorious book. Sarah Vaughan has the ability to transport the reader to a different time and place with just a single word. There’s a beauty and an emotional truth to her prose which is enthralling. I loved The Farm at the Edge of the World.

Sarah Vaughan is so skilled in gradually revealing the secrets of the past, weaving a mesmerising tale that draws in the reader without their realising it. There is a poetry to the prose so that settings come alive in vivid colour. Emotions too ripple, ebb and flow like the seas on the beaches of Cornwall so that Cornwall itself becomes like another presence or character. And what a cast of characters there is. Each person, from the harshly disappointed Evelyn to the flawed and complex Maggie plays an important role so that they are as important to the novel as the suggested protagonist Lucy. I believed in every single one of them.

Cleverly constructed narrative so the tenses change and match the times, Sarah Vaughan subtly alters the vocabulary she uses to add an extra layer of authenticity. The passages set Now are subtly different to those set Then. Both captivate the reader.

I was entirely wrapped up in the themes of The Farm at the Edge of the World. Deftly plotted, love, grief and betrayal are emotionally portrayed alongside a realism that means not everyone will get a happy ending. This is such compelling writing. Although I couldn’t draw myself away, neither did I want the read to end, so wonderful was the writing.

The Farm at the Edge of the World is one of those books that has stayed with me long after I closed the covers because of the emotional intensity of reading it. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

About Sarah Vaughan

Though Sarah didn’t start writing fiction in earnest before she turned 40, she had put pen to paper – or fingers to a keyboard – every day of her career. Before writing novels, she was a journalist, writing under the by-line Sarah Hall. After journalism college, she trained with the Press Association and then spent 11 years on The Guardian as a news reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent.

Long before that, Sarah read English at Brasenose College, Oxford. Reading Beowulf may not have helped her become a novelist but reading and thinking about writing for three years undoubtedly did. Sarah now lives just outside Cambridge with her husband and two young children and when she’s not writing or reading, she loves to swim and bake.

You can find Sarah Vaughan on Facebook, visit her website and follow her on Twitter.

Sarah’s first novel The Art of  Baking Blind is available here.

Having met lovely Faith Mortimer in person I’m delighted to be spotlighting and reviewing her latest novel A Very Distant Affair which is published today, 30th June 2016. A Very Distant Affair is available for purchase here.

I was lucky enough to interview Faith previously on Linda’s Book Bag and you can read that interview here. All of Faith’s wonderful books can be found here.

A Very Distant Affair

A new novel of women’s literature from international bestselling author Faith Mortimer.

Cheryl Taylor, a landscape artist appears to have it all. Apart from fame and fortune, her attentive husband Daniel is brilliant at managing her business matters. Cheryl has allowed him full rule of her affairs from the day they were married…but twenty years later, she wonders whether she shouldn’t be quite so naive. Daniel is controlling and as she learns from one friend during an intimate conversation. “Diamonds aren’t a girl’s best friend you know. They are a man’s best friend. They’re great at getting men off the hook, and keeping their women quiet.”

Feeling uncomfortable and troubled over her friend’s warning, Cheryl decides there is more to life than being successful and at the beck and call of a manipulative husband. She sets out to find what she really wants from life, and to her horror, discovers one earth-shattering secret after the next.

Her life in turmoil she visits Australia, where on a previous trip, she found contentment from an unexpected quarter. Michel, a widower, owns a winery and boutique hotel in New South Wales, and is as different from Daniel as chalk is to cheese.

Cheryl is drawn to this gentle Australian of French descent and feels her new-found strong will wavering. She returns to London to offer Daniel an ultimatum, only to discover the final shock which threatens all their lives.

My Review of A Very Distant Affair

Cheryl Taylor has fame and fortune – and a very controlling husband, Dan. A chance meeting with Michael will set off a chain of events to turn her world upside down.

I really enjoyed A Very Distant Affair. It’s a story of friendship, love and relationships that has an underlying resonance of truth and realism. There’s a subtle maturity to the writing that is so pleasing because I felt Faith Mortimer captured the very essence of what it was to be a woman in an unsatisfactory marriage. I thought the concept that money doesn’t buy happiness was brilliantly explored.

A Very Distant Affair doesn’t go off like a firework, but it glows like a warm fire on a winter’s evening and whilst the plot has considerable action, I didn’t feel this was the dominance in the story. It was the development of character, especially of Cheryl, and the exploration of emotions and human interaction that I found so fascinating. I was moved to tears in the second half of the book and, although I can’t say more without spoiling the read, I did wonder what I would have done had I been in Cheryl’s place.

I found it interesting that Cheryl was a landscape painter as Faith Mortimer has a real painter’s eye when it comes to describing setting. She can evoke an image in the reader’s mind that enhances the experience of reading the story and this was an element I enjoyed very much.

A Very Distant Affair is a lovely story that I think will resonate on many levels for so many readers. I really recommend it.

About Faith Mortimer

Faith Mortimer was born in Manchester and educated in Singapore, Malaya and Hampshire, England. A Registered nurse, she then changed careers to oversee a number of travel and sport related companies. Faith is happily married and has two children. Dividing her time between the south of England and Cyprus, she has written three series of books which are all standalone novels.

You can find Faith on Facebook, Twitter, her website/blog, on Goodreads and on Amazon US and Amazon UK Author Pages.

I’m delighted to be featuring another Choc Lit author today, Rhoda Baxter as I ‘know’ Rhoda through the wonderful author and blogger group Book Connectors on Facebook . Please Release Me by Rhoda Baxter was published on 7th June 2016. Please Release Me is out in paperback and can be ordered from all good book stockists. Click here for more information.

Being married to a man with a Ph.D in Chemistry I was fascinated to find out how Rhoda applies science to her writing as she explains in the guest post below.

Please Release Me

What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?

Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.

That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.

In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.

But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …

The Science of Writing Fiction

A Guest Post by Rhoda Baxter

I trained as a scientist. I did a DPhil in molecular micro biology and I now work in university technology transfer, which means I get to look at things which are at the cutting edge of science for a large part of my day. At night, like some sort of rubbish anti-superheroine, I sit in bed and write novels. What, you ask, do these two things have in common?

The answer is logic. Things have to make sense. If someone brings me a new invention, I need to be able to follow what’s happening. I may not need to understand why it works (although it helps), but my job is to ask annoying questions until I understand how it works and why it’s new. There are no leaps of faith. Science must make sense. And a novel? Well the same applies. Things must fit together logically. When it comes to coming up with a story, logic is your friend.

Please Release Me started off as a single image of two women sitting on a bench, one was a ghost in a bridal gown, the other was alive, but somehow less noticeable than the ghost. From the way they were sitting, I could tell that they were close, but didn’t totally trust each other. That was all I had.

I sat down and thought about what little I knew. I called the ghost Sally and the live woman Grace. I write romance, so there had to be a man. I called him Peter. Sally was wearing a wedding dress, so she must be married to Peter and killed on their wedding day. I’d never written a book about a ghost before, so I needed some rules on how a ghost would behave in the world. The list looked like this:

• Sally could only go to places that she’d already seen when she was corporeal.
• Only Grace could see her.
• She pulled in energy towards her to keep herself visible to Grace.
• She could possess people if their defences were down – so drunks, stoned people and a gambling addict hypnotised by a slot machine.

I had some scenes in mind where Sally was in Grace’s house. How did she know the house? So Sally’s job became ‘Estate Agent’. Knowing that gave me the ideal opportunity to set up how Sally and Peter met. This allowed other things to slot in too – the fact that Sally had never been to Peter’s office suggested that she didn’t much care about what he did. I needed Peter to realise that Sally had been somewhere he had been certain she hadn’t. This set up the line of conflict to do with Sally’s gambling addiction.

And then there’s ‘what if’? If Peter was a widower, there was no reason why he couldn’t really be with Grace, but what if Sally wasn’t actually dead? What if she was in a coma? This brought me to the hospice setting, which gave me a good, and logical, way for a devoted husband who spent hours sitting at the bedside of his wife, to meet someone else.

Do you play ‘what if’ in science? Of course! It’s the same ‘but what happens if I do this’ that keeps science and innovation going. If we only did what we already do, we’d never do anything new. It’s just a different sort of creativity.

So there you have it. People ask me if I find it hard to switch from scientist mode to novelist mode. I don’t, because it’s the same creative process. It’s only the medium that is different. Although, if you forced me to choose between them, I’d say making stuff up and writing novels in a marginally more fun. I can do that wearing pyjamas, for a start.

About Rhoda Baxter

As well as being a scientist and a romantic novelist, Rhoda is a member of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society!  For more on Rhoda Baxter, follow her on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

It’s hard to express how thrilled I am to be part of the launch celebrations for Tracy Rees today whose second novel Florence Grace is published by Quercus tomorrow, 30th June 2016, and is available on Amazon and directly from Quercus.

I have been a huge Tracy Rees fan since I read her debut novel Amy Snow last year and you can read my review here. Having also loved Florence Grace (my review is here) I wanted to know what drew Tracy to the 19th Century and she has kindly provided a guest post below to explain.

Florence Grace

Florrie Buckley is an orphan, living on the wind-blasted moors of Cornwall. It’s a hard existence but Florrie is content; she runs wild in the mysterious landscape. She thinks her destiny is set in stone. But when Florrie is fourteen, she inherits a never-imagined secret. She is related to a wealthy and notorious London family, the Graces. Overnight, Florrie’s life changes and she moves from country to city, from poverty to wealth. Cut off from everyone she has ever known, Florrie struggles to learn the rules of this strange new world. And then she must try to fathom her destructive pull towards the enigmatic and troubled Turlington Grace, a man with many dark secrets of his own.

The Appeal of the 19th Century

A Guest Post by Tracy Rees

When I was little I used to love visiting castles (and pretending I was a princess!). I was entranced by the jagged stone outlines rising out of flower-strewn hills, the same old stones that had been there hundreds of years! Places like that, pockets of the past, are magical, inspiring. What is it about the past that entices and romances us? A sense of escape from our own oh-so-familiar lives? A sense of kinship with folk long-gone? Comfort, that despite the intense heartache of living and loss, the world keeps on turning, generation to generation? For me it is all of these.

As my first two books testify, I’m very drawn to the nineteenth century, probably due to a lifelong love of the old classics. My immersion in nineteenth century literature gave me a head start on my research; it’s amazing how much you absorb through reading without even trying. And I certainly never struggled with dialogue; the cadences and flourishes of those days are as familiar to me as modern speech. That said, when I began writing Amy Snow I did read a lot about the period. I wanted to understand the influences and preoccupations of the Victorians, their context and foibles. I used some excellent books and of course the internet. Then each book has specific demands. Transport is an important theme in Amy Snow, set as it is on the cusp of coach and rail travel. In Florence Grace, food was important, as Florence moves from poverty to the fine dining room of Helicon. For Amy Snow, I took a day trip to Bath, a town where she spends part of her journey. For Florence Grace, I returned to Bath, this time for a study session at the Bath Fashion Museum where I saw outerwear, undergarments and even crinoline hoops. I would love to visit that time if only for the bonnets!

As romantic as the nineteenth century can seem, the lot of women was incredibly difficult. Although we have wonderful, powerful literature written by women of that time, some of those authors, eg Charlotte Bronte and George Elliot, had to masquerade as men in order to be published! I love reading about how women then found ways to circumvent the social system. And I enjoy making it up even more! Amy and Aurelia in Amy Snow, Florence, Old Rilla and Lacey in Florence Grace, all live unconventional lives. Amy’s unusual upbringing in the cracks around mainstream society is ultimately what enables her to travel and to keep Aurelia’s secrets. In short, she has nothing to lose. I’m always fascinated by the times when we decide to step forward and take a risk, the times when we realise that what has more or less worked for us hitherto must now be challenged or changed. These are the moments that define character and that is as true today as it was 150 years ago.

You can follow Tracy Rees on Twitter and find out more with these other bloggers:

I’m utterly thrilled to be featuring another author today whom I’ve met in person, Emma Salisbury. Emma and I were at a blogger and author lunch in Edinburgh organised by fellow blogger Joanne Baird and when I heard Emma’s latest novel, One Bad Turn would be published today, 29th June 2016 I had to invite her on to Linda’s Book Bag. One Bad Turn is available in e-book for purchase here.

Emma has kindly provided a brilliant guest blog all about location in her writing.

One Bad Turn

A serial killer is on the loose…

No sooner has Detective Sergeant Kevin Coupland stepped off the plane from a family holiday than he gets the call that a woman’s body has been found on a path beside a recreation park in a smart suburb in Salford. Account Manager Sharon Mathers suffered a brutal blow to the head following a night out with friends from work.

Teamed with DC Ashcroft who has transferred from the Met under a cloud, Coupland struggles to find a motive for the killing when two days later another body is found, this time at the bottom of a footbridge at Salford Station. Could the same person be responsible? While still trying to work out the answer to this Coupland’s personal life spirals into freefall when his daughter Amy introduces him to her new boyfriend – a thug he’d put away for GBH two years before. The relationship puts a strain on the detective’s home life and impacts his judgement at work – putting him under the microscope with the powers that be.

When a third body is found DC Ashcroft makes a startling discovery – the killings are linked to a murder in ’92. Coupland was a probationer back in the nineties – could he be linked in some way to the killer?

Location, location, location.

A Guest Post by Emma Salisbury

So, you’ve got an idea for a novel. The characters in your head take on a life of their own and before you know it you’re asking friends and family to repeat themselves because you’re far too busy tuning into the ‘other’ conversations to notice what’s going on around you. The outline for the plot is taking shape but there’s something significant missing. The setting.

It took me a while to settle on the locations for my two crime fiction series – DS Kevin Coupland, the main protagonist in my police procedural series, patrols the streets of Salford, Greater Manchester, while Davy Johnson, ex jail-bird with a heart of gold in my gangland series pounds the streets of Edinburgh. Yet these weren’t automatic choices.

Probably like most writers the first novel I penned never saw light of day. It was set in the Peak District, where I grew up, the rugged landscape and local superstitions set the scene for a community steeped in secrets. I signed with a literary agent on the back of it – however the first thing she asked me to do was set my novel somewhere else! She already represented Stephen Booth, whose wonderful depictions of the peak district in his novels had kept me up reading through the night for many years, and she didn’t want another crime series based in the same location. For those who haven’t tried changing location in an established story let me tell you it would have been easier to write a new novel from scratch, which is what I ended up doing, as the writing felt clunky, as though I’d cut and paste ‘tower blocks’ for ‘rolling hills’. It just didn’t work. I lived in Scotland yet wasn’t confident about setting my stories there; I didn’t feel I could portray the language with any accuracy, or that I understood the demographic. Little did I know that would be about to change.

I based DS Coupland in Salford because I’d lived there for several years; I’d married into an extended family of three policemen, and their anecdotes, combined with the urban setting provided a perfect backdrop. Salford is a city rich in down to earth northern humour and it doesn’t stand on ceremony for anyone. Fragile Cord was sent to several publishers and one responded that they loved it – but it was a Scottish publisher and they wanted something set in Scotland! This was when I realised you can’t please everyone, and that sometimes you have to have the courage of your own convictions. Besides, I loved Coupland and wasn’t about to change his personality by moving him further up north. Don’t get me wrong, I love Scotland, which is why I went on to develop a series based in Edinburgh,  but moving Coupland would have meant changing his language and his back story, and I wasn’t prepared to do that. It was around this time that a friend sent me a news clipping about an author who had self-published on Amazon, stating one of the benefits was that he felt free to write what he liked, and that really appealed. Once Fragile Cord was released on Amazon, followed by A Place of Safety the feedback was amazing – readers took Coupland into their hearts.

Once my sons were school age I started working for a housing association supporting ex-offenders into work. To say it opened my eyes is an understatement, not at the range of crimes committed, for sadly the story was a familiar one – a substance addiction that needed financing – but rather the way they were treated – cases coming to court so long after the offence that even though they’d turned their lives around they lost jobs because they had to take time off to attend hearings. I wanted to capture some of that frustration – so Davy Johnson was born. The setting had to be Edinburgh – it may have a shortbread tin image for visitors, but it is the drug capital of Europe and the police service in Scotland has undergone a major restructure which provides plenty of scope.

In terms of future locations, I love it when my favourite authors send their characters on holiday, so this is something I am considering further down the line, however for the moment both Coupland and Davy have enough to contend with on their own turf!

About Emma Salisbury

Born in Manchester, I started work selling ladies knickers (5 for a pound) on Grey Mare Lane market. This provided a natural springboard for my next role – selling investments for HSBC (very apt of course, as both are inclined to go down as well as up). It was whilst working at the bank that I met my husband David, pursuing him mercilessly until he agreed to remove the restraining order and marry me, producing two wonderful sons.

Married into a family of Salford cops I became fascinated by society’s change in attitude towards the police – and the impact this has on our reaction to crime. This led to the creation of my Salford police procedural series, introducing DS Kevin Coupland.

Following a move to the East Coast of Scotland I worked with socially excluded young men and ex-offenders, helping them find work and a way to get their lives back on track. This provided me with material for my Edinburgh series featuring Davy Johnson.

Most evenings I can be found walking the family dog on the beach near our home in East Lothian.

I love anything fizzy and sparkly, and have been known to eat my body weight in chocolate.

You can find Emma on Twitter and Facebook. Emma’s website can be found here. All of Emma’s books are available for purchase here. There’s more from Emma with fellow blogger Poppy here too.