Ever since I began blogging just over three years ago I have had a special place in my heart for Urbane Publications. Consequently, it gives me enormous pleasure to welcome another of their authors, Jonathan Whitelaw to Linda’s Book Bag to tell me about the latest of Urbane’s books today.

Staying in with Jonathan Whitelaw

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

The pleasure is absolutely mine. Thank you very much for having me. Nothing I love more than a good night in – although I’m not sure the old me, which ironically was the YOUNG me, would agree. But I’m in charge now so yes, can’t wait.

(Ha! Absolutely. I’m very much the old me looking back at the young me and I wouldn’t have wanted an evening in then. Now, however…)

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

I have brought along my second novel – HellCorp – which is unleashed on the world on July 5.

(Well Happy Publication Day! Congratulations.)

It’s my latest work and the first to be published by Urbane – which I am incredibly excited about. It’s actually a book of firsts for me in many ways. It’s my first foray into the thriller and crime genres and also sci-fi and fantasy. My debut – Morbid Relations – was a dark comedy about family life. So this is a bit of a departure.

I’m a huge fan of all those genres and getting the chance to be a part of such a vibrant, popular set all at once is actually beyond words. Terrible I know for an author and journalist but I really can’t describe my excitement.

(Not at all! Of course you’re excited! I know I would be.)

And it’s that excitement that’s led me to bring it along. I think there’s something for everybody in this novel and I can’t wait to share it with everyone.

I’ve always liked to push my own boundaries as a writer and try new things. The challenge with this book was striking a balance and telling the story the way the best it could be. And hopefully I’ve done that and the readers will enjoy and love the characters and story as much as I did creating them – and putting them through the mill. Backwards!

(I think this sounds brilliant.)

What can we expect from an evening in with HellCorp?

Blimey – that’s the question isn’t it. Is it too much of a cop-out to say expect everything?

(Hmm. I might let you get away with that…)

If it’s not and I’m allowed to then yes… it has everything. Quite literally.

There’s mystery, suspense, action, some sci-fi and fantasy, thrills, spills, a hint of romance and at its heart a cracking story.

(I bet allocating a genre for this one was a nightmare!)

In short it’s about The Devil who wants to go on holiday. But first he has to prove to God he’s not pulling a fast one. Dumped into human form he has to solve the murder of a man who took decades to die. All while struggling to cope with being without his powers and dealing with humanity and fate up close and personal. And you can imagine how much he HATES that.

I’ve always been fascinated by crime and I finally got round to giving it a right good go. What’s always frustrated me about the genre is the sheer amount of flawed anti-heroes out there. And while I love a good anti-hero you can really get your teeth into, I thought ‘wait a minute, who’s the ULTIMATE anti-hero’ and what would he be like stripped down, out of his comfort zone and thrown right into the thick of it.

I guess it’s a story about coping and learning about, forgiving and better understanding other people.

And while it might seem like a daunting prospect of spending the evening with The Devil – you might just find yourself rooting for him in the end.

I’m not saying giving too much away but there’s ALWAYS a bigger, badder fish. You’ll just have to read to find out what I mean.

Cruel, I know, but I’m a rotter.

(Yes you are. Of course, now I HAVE to read HellCorp just to find out!)

What else have you brought along and why? 

I’m a big music fan and it’s always been a big part of my writing. So what better way to accompany this evening than with some cracking tunes.

Whether it’s some classical like some Handel or Carlos Gardel to classic AC/DC, Rory Gallagher and Prince there’s really nothing I wouldn’t listen to. And on top of that wouldn’t listen to while writing. It’s an eclectic taste and I know it’s influenced HellCorp and my writing in general over the years. It’s been fantastic to put together a playlist that acts as a sort of accompaniment to the novel which should be available around today’s publication.

(I’m quite fond of a bit of Rory Gallagher myself actually but if there’s nothing you wouldn’t listen to, we’ll have to have some Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music too.)

Music was my first big break into journalism too so it’s been an important part of my professional life as well as my personal one. When I left university my original degree was in psychology but I didn’t want to pursue that. So after some post graduate modules in creative writing and journalism I left to make my way in the big bad world. Straight into Scottish politics!

I had a fantastic time there and learned so much but I also yearned to write more regularly. I had been reviewing gigs, singles and albums on the side and eventually got the chance to work on the entertainment desk of STV (Scottish Television), X Factor, I’m A Celeb, Dancing on Ice, I was an expert. And from there I’ve gone on to work for some of the biggest names in the UK media including The Sun and the BBC.

I’m lucky enough to be able to do what I love every single day – writing as a journalist and as an author. I’m very thankful and grateful for that because I know, in modern life, it can be hard to achieve.

So yes, a good playlist for a good night in – what could be better.

(Oh I agree. Let’s get some music on whilst I recover from hearing about your career. I feel worn out just thinking about it!)

And while I would have loved to have brought Old Nick for this evening – unfortunately my Ouija board is in the shop. Sorry.

Thank heavens for that. It’s been brilliant hearing all about HellCorp, Jonathan. Thanks so much for staying in with me to tell me all about it and Happy Publication Day!

HellCorp

Life is hard for The Devil and he desperately wants to take a holiday. Growing weary from playing the cosmic bad guy, he resolves to set up a company that will do his job for him so the sins of the world will tick over while he takes a vacation. God tells him he can have his vacation just as soon as he solves an ancient crime.

But nothing is ever easy and before long he is up to his pitchfork in solving murders, desperate to crack the case so he can finally take the holiday he so badly needs…

This is a perfectly-pitched darkly comic crime novel that is ideal for fans of Christopher Fowler and Ben Aaranovitch.

Published by Urbane, HellCorp is available for purchase here.

About Jonathan Whitelaw

Jonathan Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism. Subjects he has covered have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste – with everything in between. He’s also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC and STV. HellCorp is his second novel following his debut, Morbid Relations.

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter @JDWhitelaw13 and find him on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to lovely Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books for sending me a copy of The Old You by Louise Voss in return for an honest review.

The Old You is available for purchase through these links.

The Old You

Nail-bitingly modern domestic noir
A tense, Hitchcockian psychological thriller
Louise Voss returns with her darkest, most chilling, novel yet…

Lynn Naismith gave up the job she loved when she married Ed, the love of her life, but it was worth it for the happy years they enjoyed together. Now, ten years on, Ed has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and things start to happen; things more sinister than missing keys and lost words. As some memories are forgotten, others, long buried, begin to surface … and Lynn’s perfect world begins to crumble.

But is it Ed’s mind playing tricks, or hers…?

My Review of The Old You

What a fabulously gripping read. From the very first page of The Old You I hoovered up every word. Louise Voss held me transfixed throughout and when the truth was finally, completely, revealed I was left feeling thoroughly satisfied. So many books are labelled twisty but Louise Voss’s The Old You is a supreme example of manipulative and beguiling writing that trips up the reader and surprise them from beginning to end. It’s a cracker of a read.

I had never heard of Pick’s disease and thought that there was a perfect blend of storytelling and well researched material so that the story had excellent authenticity, especially in creating Ed’s character. I thought all the characters we really well defined and totally believable so that reading The Old You felt akin to hearing about real people. I almost expected them to pop up on the news as it all felt so real to me. It was Lynn who was the complete star though. She was a wonderful creation of vulnerability and human frailty mixed with steely determination and perception making her an unalloyed success. I was on her side from the first moment to the last.

That said, The Old You does make the reader question their own morality too. Some of the things that happen are legally and morally wrong and yet they feel absolutely justifiable. Not only is The Old You a cracker of a story, but it lingers in the mind, making the reader ask what they would do in the same situations. It gets right under the skin so that you almost become Lynn as the story progresses because the writing is so vivid and convincing. I really couldn’t put down The Old You as I was desperate to know how the threads would come together and the story resolve itself. I really want to say so much more about the plot but I can’t as it will spoil the read for others. Just believe me when I say it is exciting and dramatic.

I am ashamed to say I haven’t read anything by Louise Voss before. If The Old You is an example of how superbly well she writes I’ll be desperately getting my hands on any word she produces from now on.

Reading The Old You is like being in the vortex of a snowglobe so that it’s only when the final pages actually settle that the reader has the full, dramatic picture. I absolutely loved it and cannot recommend it highly enough!

About Louise Voss

Over her eighteen year writing career, Louise has had books out via pretty much every publishing model there is, from deals with major traditional publishing houses (Transworld and Harper Collins), to digital-only (the Amazon-owned Thomas & Mercer) and self-publishing – she and co-author Mark Edwards were the first UK indie-published authors to hit the No.1 spot on Amazon back in 2011. She is currently working on a film adaptation of her last book, The Venus Trap.

Louise has an MA(Dist) in Creative Writing and also works as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at http://www.thewritingcoach.co.uk. She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime-writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.

You can follow Louise on Twitter @LouiseVoss1 and visit her website.

I’ve been lucky enough to feature quite a range of books for children of all ages here on Linda’s Book Bag and I’m delighted to welcome Hollie Anne Marsh to the blog today to tell me about one of her books for middle grade readers.

Staying in with Hollie Anne Marsh

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Hollie. Thank you 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?

My book Leaving The City, part of the new Sweetbriars Equestrian book series.

What can we expect from an evening in with Leaving The City?

Leaving The City is for middle grade readers (8-12 years old) who love and dream about horses.

(There are a very great number of those readers Hollie!)

It tells the story of Cate Sullivan and her new friends Violet and Tabby, at the wonderful Sweetbriars Farm in the English country-side. It has had great reviews to date, although I am still building them and welcome any bloggers / reviewers to review my book!

In the words of Jane Finch from Readers’ Favorite:

The author, Hollie Anne Marsh, has written a lovely story that is sure to appeal to horse lovers everywhere, and is ideal for the eight to twelve age range. The reader is carried along into Cate’s world, feeling her anxieties and delights, and empathising with her as she struggles to adjust to her new life. Sweetbriars is well described in visual detail, leaving the reader feeling as if they have been there. It sounds like every young horse lover’s dream home. Cate is a believable and likeable character who appeals to the reader, and her lovely Palomino horse, Odette, will have the horse enthusiasts drooling. A steady pace and a lovely and consistent story that will transport the horse devotee to a world surely every young equestrian enthusiast will crave.”  

(What a smashing review. You must be delighted with it.)

What else have you brought along and why?

Here is a quote… this spurs me on in my writing, other projects and day to day, and I hope will inspire other readers. It’s a photo of me with my horse Frieda.

(That’s lovely. No wonder you’re writing all about horses!)

Thank you so much for staying in and telling me all about Leaving The City. I wish you every success with the Sweetbriars series Hollie.

Leaving the City

Cate is uprooted from life as she has known it. Along with her family and her gorgeous palomino show horse Odette, she moves to a charming farm deep in the English countryside.

Cate is torn. Upon moving to horse heaven, she has to leave behind her best friend Beth and her beloved horse-riding instructor Bridget. On the other hand, she has fallen in love with Sweetbriars, the farm her family has bought to make their dreams come true.

Setting up an equestrian centre at Sweetbriars is fun to Cate, but settling into a new school and having a stern Pony Club riding instructor that teaches dressage is less so. At school, Cate makes friends with Violet, who is confident and wacky, and through Pony Club she gets to know Tabby, who is sweet and popular.

The girls’ lives will be intertwined in ways they could never have imagined thanks to their shared passion for horses and Cate’s determination to make Sweetbriars a success.

Leaving the City is available for purchase here.

About Hollie Anne Marsh

Hollie is an Australian author who lives in Barcelona, Spain with her partner, baby boy, and Oldenburg mare, Frieda. After having a professional career, including creating the equestrian online shop Equiporium (since sold), working for many large multinational companies, and having a baby, Hollie reconnected with her passion of writing, and finished the manuscript she wrote many years ago.

Hollie has been riding since she was a little girl, enjoying activities such as Pony Club, showjumping, eventing, and trail-riding in the great Australian bush. Hollie lived in England for almost ten years where she had two horses and trained them for dressage.

The Sweetbriars series is inspired by all the special moments Hollie spent with horses… good, funny, and challenging moments!

In creating the new Sweetbriars series, Hollie hopes that readers will not only find the books fun to read, but they will also inspire readers to learn more about horses.

To find out more about the series visit Hollie’s website, visit her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @Hollieannem.

I’m absolutely delighted to have a very special giveaway here on Linda’s Book Bag today – a box set of Audible mystery novellas, The Morning, Noon & Night Box Set: Murder in the Morning Edition; Murder in the Afternoon Extra; Murder in the Night Final by Peter Bartram, read by Matt Jamie.

Peter is no stranger to Linda’s Book Bag, having previously featured in the following ways:

Writing about a 1960s setting here.

Explaining why he wrote a trilogy here.

Introducing his protagonists here.

Not only do I have a giveaway that you can enter at the bottom of this blog post, but I have a smashing guest post from Peter today explaining just how Matt was chosen to read the books.

In case you’re not the lucky winner of the Audible The Morning, Noon & Night Box Set: Murder in the Morning Edition; Murder in the Afternoon Extra; Murder in the Night Final, it is available for purchase here.

The Morning, Noon & Night Box Set:

Murder in the Morning Edition;

Murder in the Afternoon Extra;

Murder in the Night Final

Welcome to Brighton, England – where they do like to murder beside the seaside…

Evening Chronicle crime reporter Colin Crampton and his feisty Australian girlfriend, Shirley Goldsmith, take on their toughest assignment yet in this trilogy of comic crime adventures.

The adventure starts in Murder in the Morning Edition when Colin and Shirley witness an audacious robbery. But nothing about the robbery is what it seems. Before long, Colin and Shirley are drawn deeper into danger. Colin encounters a motorcycle rocker with bad teeth, a dyslexic tattooist, and a seller of novelty toilet-roll holders as he chases down his story.

The mystery deepens in Murder in the Afternoon Extra as the body count climbs and Colin finds himself hunted by a ruthless killer. Before long, Colin discovers his hunt for the truth has dumped him right into the middle of a conspiracy he could never have foreseen. As he battles to find a way out of danger, he meets a stripper with a pet python, a clumsy assassin who kills the wrong people, and a slot machine salesman with even less luck than his punters.

The climax explodes in Murder in the Night Final when Colin and Shirley uncover the stunning secret behind the robbery and the murders. As the two face new threats, they tangle with a doorman with a cauliflower ear, a motorcycle rocker’s moll, and a ruthless killer who keeps chickens.

If you enjoy books by authors like Janet Evanovich, M C Beaton, and Simon Brett, you’ll soon be hooked by the mix of murder, mystery, and mirth in the Morning Noon & Night trilogy. Come and join the fun….

How We Chose One Actor From 56,000 To Read Crampton Audiobooks

A Guest Post by Peter Bartram

I was delighted when I heard that three of my Crampton of the Chronicle comic crime mysteries – Murder in the Morning Edition, Murder in the Afternoon Extra, and Murder in the Night Final – were being turned into audiobooks. But the books are narrated in the first person – by Colin Crampton, the central character – so I knew the success of the audiobooks would rest on whether we could find a reader who could capture Colin’s distinctive voice.

Colin is a shrewd character who can be tough when he needs to be but who also has a perky humour which keeps on breaking through. He’s a master of the one-liner. So the actor needed to know how to talk tough but also how to deliver a line to raise a laugh.

So where did we start in our search? Well, it was with a giant database of 56,000 actors who read audiobooks. The database contains actors from all over the world, but most of them are based in the UK and United States. We had to find a way to whittle those 56,000 to the one who would be right for the Crampton books. We did this by applying a number of filters to the database. There were obvious ones like gender, nationality and language. Those alone cut the numbers to a few thousand – but still too many to review one by one.

So then we applied some more subtle filters to the selection. One of these was voice age – how old the actor sounds when he speaks. Colin is twenty going on thirty in the Crampton books, so that reduced the possible choices further.

Then we looked at the question of accent. The database filters offered us 17 different British accents to choose – from “BBC English” to Cockney. We chose the “general British” accent. And then we had to decide on “voice style” – what the actor’s voice sounds like. We had to choose from 62 different styles ranging from “authoritative” to “intimidating”, from “sarcastic” to “sophisticated”. We thought Colin had an “engaging” voice.

So after we’d applied all those filters, the 56,000 actors had reduced to just 19. We listened to samples from books the 19 had already read and drew up a short-list of three which we reviewed in more depth. And from that, one candidate stood out above all others – Matt Jamie. Matt already had experience of audio work. He’d worked on a crime-based radio drama called Strawberries and Scream and recorded a series of crime stories with a water theme called Blood Waters. He’d also recorded Phantom: Edge of the Flame, a spin-off from Phantom of the Opera.

Matt says: “When I’m asked to read a book, I decide whether the characters or the subject matter interest me. And, then, perhaps more importantly, whether I think I can do it justice. Different books have different styles. Some might have many characters in them. So I have to think about whether I can capture them all and deliver the story or the facts in an engaging way.”

You can hear how Matt reads from Murder in the Morning Edition, the first book in Peter Bartram’s Morning, Noon & Night trilogy, by following this link and clicking on the sample button.

About Peter Bartram

Peter Bartram brings years of experience as a journalist to his Crampton of the Chronicle crime series – which features crime reporter Colin Crampton in 1960s Brighton.

Peter has done most things in journalism from door-stepping for quotes to writing serious editorials. He’s pursued stories in locations as diverse as 700 feet down a coal mine and a courtier’s chambers at Buckingham Palace. Peter wrote 21 non-fiction books, including five ghost-written, before turning to crime – and penning the Crampton of the Chronicle series of humorous crime mysteries.

Peter is a member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers’ Association.

You can find Peter on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @PeterFBartram, visit Peter’s website here and find out more about the Colin Crampton books here.

UK Giveaway

An Audible The Morning, Noon & Night Box Set

Murder in the Morning Edition; Murder in the Afternoon Extra; Murder in the Night Final.

Peter has kindly offered a lucky Linda’s Book Bag UK reader a promo code together with the text of an e-mail explaining how to use it and the terms and conditions which Audible asks to be passed on to the winner. If you would like the chance to hear all three novellas, click here to enter.

Giveaway closes at UK midnight on Friday 6th July 2018 and is independent of Linda’s Book Bag. I am not responsible for the code’s activation.

Whilst we’ve been enjoying an unusually warm weather here in the UK, I think we can forget that this sunny weather is commonplace and sometimes even tedious to others. I’m staying in with Katherine Luck today and she seems to be one of those who really could do with our usual summer rain!

Staying in with Katherine Luck

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

Thanks for inviting me!

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

I brought my second novel, The Cure for Summer Boredom, which just came out in June. It seemed fitting since it’s summer and some of us get bored this time of year—especially yours truly. When I get bored, I read—or write—novels.

(Now that is a whole new concept to me Katherine. I love the summer and never get bored at all. Why do you think you do?)

I guess it’s the lazy, languorous pace of summer days that gets to me. That’s what my book’s main character, Ruby, is battling: summer boredom. But unlike me, when she gets bored she gets into trouble. Hilarious trouble.

Ah – so what can we expect from an evening in with The Cure for Summer Boredom?

Well, you won’t be bored, that’s for sure! The story takes place in a fictional town somewhere in Texas called Somwärin, Texas. It’s home to a whole gaggle of wacky characters, from furniture-obsessed Swedish ex-pats to slightly supernatural trailer park residents to long-haul truckers who believe their CB radios are sending them mystical messages. And, of course, Ruby.

You’d think nobody could get bored in a town like that—but Ruby’s not your ordinary girl. And the adventures—and misadventures—she gets into are also anything but ordinary! There’s plenty of heart in the story, too. Sort of Little Women meets The Dukes of Hazzard. I like to think of it as all the fun of the YA books I read as a kid during those long days of summer, but written for grownups.

(So a bit more adult in its themes then?)

Yeah, it’s definitely not a kid’s book! There’s a town-wide festival of drunkenness, grand theft auto, a kidnapping that goes sideways, looting, a general riot. Just your typical summer in Texas.

(Crikey! It sounds a bit busier than my sleepy little town here in Lincolnshire!)

I’m not sure I dare ask this, but what else have you brought along and why?

Edible glitter! I had no idea such a thing existed until I wrote a scene in which Ruby decides it would be a great prank to swap a bag of glitter for the bag of sugar her mother’s using to bake a cake. It all goes comically awry and nobody gets glitter poisoned fortunately, but I got to wondering what would happen if someone actually ate glitter. And lo and behold, I found out that edible glitter not only exists, it’s quite the hip condiment. You can put it on anything—cake, ice cream, pudding, pizza.

Yes, pizza. I haven’t tried it yet myself, but the night is young and I noticed a pizza delivery place just up the road…what do you say?

(I say I think I might prefer pepperoni but I’m willing to give the glitter a try if I must!)

Thanks so much for staying in with me Katherine. I don’t know about The Cure for Summer Boredom, but I’ve found it a very unusual and entertaining evening!

The Cure for Summer Boredom

It’s summer in the little town of Somwärin, Texas, where the most anticipated event is a wrestling match between a man in a bear-suit and a bear in a man-suit. To Ruby Bejou, it looks like just another boring summer. And when Ruby’s bored, she makes trouble.

But this year, things are different. Her daddy accidentally starts a cult for long-haul truckers. Her big sister is on a mission to win a cutthroat beauty pageant and won’t let anything get in her way—except maybe her enormous boobs. Her little sister is out to destroy the town bully, even if it sparks an international diplomatic incident with the entire nation of Sweden.

And Ruby? She’s determined to stay out of trouble. With the help of a psychic newspaper editor, a tooth witch who transforms coins into teeth, and a forbidden library guarded by the entire town, she just might cure her summer boredom for good.

The Cure for Summer Boredom is available for purchase from Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, and many other booksellers through the links here.

About Katherine Luck

Katherine Luck is a writer based in Seattle. She is the author of the novels In Retrospect and The Cure for Summer Boredom. Her articles and short stories have been featured in Reuters, The Amistad, Seattle Woman Magazine, Oregon Literary Review, and Crosscut.com. You can read more of her work, including the “Dead Writers and Candy” series, on Katherine’s website.

You can follow Katherine on Twitter @katherineluck.

My enormous thanks to Jasmine Marsh at Hodder for sending me a copy of The Balcony by Jane Delury in return for an honest review.

The Balcony will be published by Hodder and Stoughton on 26th July 2018 and is available for purchase here.

The Balcony

What if our homes could tell the stories of others who lived there before us?

To those who have ventured past it over the years, this small estate in a village outside Paris has always seemed calm and poised.

But should you open the gates and enter inside, you will find rooms which have become the silent witnesses to a century of human drama: from the young American au pair who developed a crush on her brilliant employer to the ex-courtesan who shocked the servants, and the Jewish couple who hid from the Gestapo to the housewife who began an affair while renovating the rooms downstairs.

The house has kept its inhabitants secrets for a hundred years. Now, they are ready to be brought to the light. . .

My Review of The Balcony

One house with ten interwoven stories spanning over a century.

When I began reading The Balcony I hadn’t actually read the blurb and was initially thrown by the fact that I had what seemed to be totally discrete and unconnected stories. My preconceived ideas were quickly challenged and I found myself immersed into a lyrical and enchanting world based around one house and its occupants.

The quality of Jane Delury’s writing is so sophisticated and actually quite tense and disconcerting so that I felt reading The Balcony was like having something tantalising and beautiful just out of my grasp. I loved the atmosphere of the writing and could appreciate its depth and richness but I can’t quite define why it is so impactful. Having the one house as a backdrop gives a coherence and balance that is perfectly poised.

The way in which history swirls on the page, with links between the stories being uncovered a bit like fairy tale treasure, is spellbinding. Sometimes it is the characters who reverberate through the tales, sometimes a theme and sometimes something tangible like peg solitaire or Russian dolls. Indeed, the Russian dolls are an apt metaphor for the structure of the stories. Each is different and unique in its own right but connected and understandable in relation to the others.

And the themes depicted here are universal ones that permeate humanity; love, hate, death, birth, jealousy, survival, war, identity are all here, making for a book that a reader can return to several times over and still find something new and relevant.

The Balcony was unexpected. Each story stands alone and is satisfying to read, but taking the collection together, seeing the connections intertwine and having those moments of clarity and understanding elevate The Balcony into a truly mesmerising read. I thought it was intelligently written, beautifully constructed and fascinating. I really enjoyed it.

About Jane Delury

Jane Delury grew up in Sacramento, California and attended UC Santa Cruz. She spent her junior year abroad in Grenoble, France, and she returned to the University of Grenoble after UCSC to complete a master’s degree and to teach English. Following several years in France, she moved to Baltimore to study fiction in the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. Her short stories have appeared in Glimmer Train, The Southern Review, The Yale Review, Five Points, Narrative, and other publications.

She has received a PEN/O. Henry Prize, a Pushcart Special Mention, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Story Award, a VCCA fellowship, and grants from the Maryland State Arts Council. She holds a BA in English and French literature from UCSC, a maîtrise from the University of Grenoble, and an MA from the Writing Seminars.

She is an associate professor of creative writing and English at the University of Baltimore, where she chairs the School of Communications Design.

You can follow Jane on Twitter @JaneDelury, or visit her website for more details.

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.

My enormous thanks to the poet Ankita Singh for sending me a copy of her latest anthology Scattered Constellations in return for an honest review.

Scattered Constellations will be released on 31st July 2018 and is available for pre-order here.

Scattered Constellations

Words tumble out, with no pause;
From the pen, my anelace,
That I hold so graciously,
(In awe of its majesty, its power)
In my hand.

They form thoughts, hopes and musings;
Reflect my soul, my entire being,
And spread across the page,
Like scattered constellations
Across the sky.

Scattered Constellations is a YA Free Verse Poetry collection.

My Review of Scattered Constellations

A collection of poetry looking at all aspects of love.

I really enjoyed reading Ankita Singh’s collection Scattered Constellations and all the way through I kept thinking ‘Oh, that’s exactly how I used to feel when I was a young woman’ or ‘I would have been so helped by these poems when I was struggling with the concept of love as a teenager,’ without actually realising until afterwards that I was reading an anthology aimed at the Young Adult (YA) market! I think this goes to show what an excellent collection this is for readers aged 15-25.

Ankita Singh explores all kinds of love in her poems. There is everything from burgeoning sensuality to familial, same sex, unrequited, mutual, controlling and prevented love so that there really is a poem for everyone between the pages of Scattered Constellations. I found the poems Gold and Colour especially poignant because sadly we still live in a world where the hue of someone’s skin can affect every aspect of their life – even love.

Scattered Constellations made me think of W.B. Yeats’ ‘tread softly for you tread on my dreams’ because Ankita Singh explores so vividly how love is the stuff of dreams, of the mind and soul as well as the heart. She doesn’t use elaborate language or self-consciously literary techniques in presenting her poems so that they feel real, true and authentic. I think Ankita Singh is a very perceptive and talented young post and definitely one to watch.

Scattered Constellations is well worth dipping into as I’m sure you’ll find a poem that tells your story too.

About Ankita Singh

Ankita, though lives in the historical city of Aurangabad, spends most of her time between the pages of a book. If she’s not reading, she can be found scribbling ideas into her journal or petting her cat, Harry.

Ankita’s poetry collection ranked among the Top 15 while on Wattpad, a feat that she’s extremely proud of. She used to write under the pen name ‘Swibells’ until she realised that her own name isn’t all that bad. (Though she still manages to use her pseudonym at times!)

She’ll soon be starting her Bachelor’s in Arts, and is shocking excited about it! (She’s 18!)

Ankita is also an avid blogger at Anky’s Book Bubble, a blog where all she talks about is books! She loves interacting with her fellow bibliophiles, so don’t hesitate in contacting her through her blog, via Facebook, Instagram or on Twitter @AnkySwibells.