I have a guilty secret: I’m addicted to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! Consequently, when I heard Lisa Mary London used to work on the series and her book Reality Rehab could be just up my street I had to invite her on to Linda’s Book Bag. I was so intrigued by the character of Gloria in Reality Rehab that I asked Lisa Mary London what is in Gloria’s handbag. Luckily she agreed to tell me!

Reality Rehab is available for purchase (or should that be pooch – ase) in e-book and paperback here.

Reality Rehab

Faded soap star Gloria Grayson swaps banoffee pie for humble pie with a stint on reality TV.  But her last ditch bid to salvage her celebrity backfires, when the ex-husband from hell is sprung on her in front of 10 million viewers.

Can Gloria win back A-list status, happy ever after and her Rear of the Year title? Reality is stranger than fiction!

Faded TV star Gloria Grayson has hit rock bottom.  Sacked from her starring role in a top soap, divorced from hell-raising actor ‘Mad’ Tommy Mack, and obese from binge eating, her days as Britain’s sexiest blonde are well and truly over.

But her luck changes when cruel paparazzi photos relaunch her career, and she and her fat, feisty dog are booked to appear on TV’s Reality Rehab.

Gloria is incarcerated with an American psychotherapist, a rabble of D-list celebrities and umpteen cameras, then put on a starvation diet.  But worse is to come, with the shock arrival of her alcoholic ex-husband.

Tears and tantrums ensue as the divorced couple’s therapy sessions take over the show, and ratings soar.  The other celebrities are infuriated to be sidelined and Reality Rehab fast becomes The Tommy and Glo Show.

But Gloria and Tommy are hiding explosive secrets from each other and 10 million viewers – Reality is stranger than fiction!

Gloria’s Handbag Secrets

An Exclusive Guest Post by Lisa Mary London

In a world exclusive, Gloria shares the secrets of her bulging designer handbag – and when you hear what’s in it, you won’t be surprised it’s bulging!

Compact Mirror

As the former star of Britain’s top soap Jubilee Road, I’m told I’m ‘a national treasure’. I’m not sure I like that description – it sounds like I’ve been dug up!  Obviously there are wonderful perks to being a celebrity, like red carpet events, designer gowns and a beautiful mansion in London’s swanky Highgate.

But as the saying goes:  “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” (Hmmm… is it lunch time yet?) and like every superstar worth her salt (salt and vinegar crisps? Don’t mind if I do!) I guard my privacy jealously.

A downmarket paper recently printed unflattering photos of me putting the rubbish out in a ketchup-stained kaftan, claiming I’d gained weight.  The cheek of it!  I may have put on a few pounds recently, but that’s no reason for Britain’s best-selling tabloid to liken me to Jabba the Hutt!

I must be on guard constantly for sleazy photographers hoping to snap me in Tesco bulk buying banoffee pie, purchasing supersize Spanx or bending down to pick up Baby-Girl’s poop. So for me a handbag essential, is a compact mirror.

Not only can I check my lipstick, I get a crucial rear view to spot paparazzi’s long lenses when I’m relaxing in a restaurant and just about to deep throat an éclair.

Baby-Girl

My pedigree Maltipoo Baby-Girl stars in my new memoirs Reality Rehab and is also the book’s cover star.  Thanks to Reality Rehab, Baby is the world’s first four-legged reality TV star, and I’m afraid fame’s rather gone to her head.

She now has a wardrobe of designer clothes bigger than mine and will only leave the house wearing enormous celebrity shades.  She can’t get her tail out the front door without a hundred selfie and paw-tograph requests from adoring fans, she’s like a canine Kim Kardashian. Baby does her best to accommodate, but she doesn’t want to be accosted when she’s ‘taking care of business’, if you catch my drift.

So she gives stalkers the slip by snuggling out of sight in my oversized Louis Vuitton tote.  Baby’s always been the ultimate handbag dog and no one but me knows she’s in there.  And boy do I know it, as the shoulder straps cut into my flesh like a cheese wire through Edam, and I reflect I should ration her donut allowance!

Pooch-Snood

Baby-Girl’s adorable but her table manners are quite appalling.  When I serve her a plate of wet food, say a delicious coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon, half goes in her tummy and the rest covers her face from top-knot to toes.

So I put my thinking cap on, and solved the problem of Baby-Girl’s ‘gravy ears’ – the Pooch-Snood!  It’s my own invention, I had my dressmaker run it up.  The Pooch-Snood is like those ghastly snoods that were inexplicably popular back in the eighties.  It has gentle elastic that goes round Baby’s little face and holds her ears back,  allowing her full access to her dinner while keeping her fur clean and gravy-free!

Baby wasn’t keen at first, but when I uttered the words:  “No Snood – No Food”, she couldn’t get it on fast enough! I’ve had a collection of them made up in different fabrics to match her outfits. As Baby-Girl and I invariably stop off at an exclusive restaurant for lunch when we’re out and about, my handbag always contains a Pooch-Snood. I really must get the Pooch-Snood patented, it could be a bigger celebrity money-spinner than the George Forman Grill!

Healthy Snack

As a busy actress and working mother to a Maltipoo I take my health very seriously and try to get my five a day. To that end, I make sure my handbag always contains a Terry’s Chocolate Orange.  Vitamin C’s so important don’t you think?

My Diary

As Oscar Wilde famously said:  “I never travel without my diary, one should always have something sensational to read on the train”. How right Oscar was, and my new memoirs Reality Rehab are a handbag essential. It’s an effervescent tale, packed with laughter, tears and cliff hangers galore, and I can hardly believe it all happened to me. But it did – and I’ve got the mental scars to prove it!

Baby-Girl and I had many hair-raising adventures when we appeared on TV’s Reality Rehab and were both put on a starvation diet.  It was no picnic, believe me (Ooh Picnics, I love those!) and when the Producers sprung ‘Mad’ Tommy Mack, the ex-husband from hell on me, all hell was let loose! I can’t reveal any more, you’ll have to read the book for yourself. But believe me, my ex-husband’s so bad he should have a bounty on his head. We split over his affair with a certain dyed redhead actress, but that’s another topic (Bounty… Topic… I’m starving again and I’ve only just had lunch!)

As I mentioned, my talented little fur-ball’s a leading character in Reality Rehab. I wrote a no holds barred account of her behaviour in the rehab house, and all I can say is – thank God she can’t read, and won’t sue!

(Linda – I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from finding out just what Gloria has in her handbag – or why!)

About Lisa Mary London

Lisa Mary London went from Chief Reporter on a sleepy Cotswold newspaper to become Celebrity Producer on some of Britain’s best-loved TV shows.  Her TV credits include An Audience with Ken Dodd, A BAFTA Tribute to Julie Walters, The British Comedy Awards and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! She’s worked with stars from Tony Curtis to Ant and Dec, and her debut novel Reality Rehab features around 200 famous names.

‘There’s never a dull moment when you’re working with the stars’, says Lisa. ‘One minute you’re sipping champagne with Pierce Brosnan, the next you’re standing in the Ladies’ minding Barbara Windsor’s handbag.’

Reality Rehab is based on her real life, behind-the-screen experiences as a Celebrity Producer.

A journalist by profession, Lisa has written for the Daily Mail and was briefly a News of the World reporter, but made her excuses and left before anyone was imprisoned for phone hacking.

You can follow Lisa on Twitter @lisamarylondon and visit the Reality Rehab website. There’s more from Reality Rehab star Gloiria on Facebook and you can follow Gloria on Twitter too!

I have a confession – I’ve never read anything by Terry Pratchett until A Slip of the Keyboard was chosen for my U3A reading group.

A Slip of the Keyboard was published by Corgi, an imprint of Transworld on 25th September 2014 and is available for purchase here.

A Slip of the Keyboard

Terry Pratchett in his own words

With a foreword by Neil Gaiman

Terry Pratchett earned a place in the hearts of readers the world over with his bestselling Discworld series – but in recent years he became equally well-known as an outspoken campaigner for causes including Alzheimer’s research and animal rights. A Slip of the Keyboard brings together the best of Pratchett’s non fiction writing on his life, on his work, and on the weirdness of the world: from Granny Pratchett to Gandalf’s love life; from banana daiquiris to books that inspired him; from getting started as a writer to the injustices that he fought to end.

With his trademark humour, humanity and unforgettable way with words, this collection offers an insight behind the scenes of Discworld into a much loved and much missed figure – man and boy, bibliophile and computer geek, champion of hats, orang-utans and the right to a good death.

My Review of A Slip of the Keyboard

A Slip of the Keyboard is a collection of non-fiction pieces by Terry Pratchett with a foreword by Neil Gaiman.

Reading A Slip of the Keyboard I had to ask myself why I had never tried any of Terry Pratchett’s writing before. This collection covers so many topics with authority, wit, generosity, rage and compassion that I was totally hooked.

I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the book signings and the writing process and actually think there is much good advice for aspiring writers there, particularly the concept of getting straight on with the next book. I thought the style was intelligent, and humane – and I’ve rarely come across better use of the elipsis!

Having watched several people I love dwindling to a painful death I found Terry Pratchett’s arguments in favour of assisted dying resonated completely with my own. I thought these passages, given Terry Pratchett’s own looming death, were very touching, even whilst he retained his humour and vigorous writing.

A Slip of the Keyboard is a true cornucopia of wonderful writing. How many memories are true and how many a fabrication I have no idea. What I do know is that not having read Terry Pratchett’s writing before I have been missing out.

About Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of fifty bestselling books. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature. Worldwide sales of his books now stand at 70 million, and they have been translated into thirty-seven languages.

Sir Terry Pratchett died on 12th March 2015.

You can visit the Terry Pratchett website here. There is also a Facebook page.

When a book looks as gorgeous as Tremarnock Summer by Emma Burstall, it’s so disappointing when I haven’t had chance to read it yet. However, I am lucky enough to have an extract from Tremarnock Summer to share with you today.

Tremarnock Summer was published by Head of Zeus in e-book in May and will be released in hardback in the autumn. Tremarnock Summer is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

Tremarnock Summer

Bramble Challoner has had a very normal upbringing. She lives in a semi in the suburbs of London with her parents and works at the call centre down the road. She still goes out with the boy she met at school. At weekends they stay in and watch films on the telly and sometimes hold hands. Bramble is dying for an adventure.

So when her very grand grandfather, Lord Penrose, dies, leaving his huge, rambling house in Cornwall to her, Bramble packs her bags immediately, dragging along her best friend Katie. The sleepy village of Tremarnock had better be ready for its newest residents…

An Extract from Tremarnock Summer

BACK IN LONDON, Cassie was standing in the bedroom doorway, clutching a pile of Bramble’s ironed clothes so tightly to her bosom that it looked as if they’d have to be wrenched away.

‘You can still change your mind, you know. You don’t have to go.’

Bramble herself was sitting on the end of the bed with a blue canvas holdall, half-full and open, beside her, while another, zipped up and bulging, was on the floor at her feet.

‘It’s something I need to do,’ she said gently, trying to ignore the tears pooling in the corners of her stepmother’s eyes. ‘You do understand, don’t you? I have to give it a try.’

Cassie let out a small sob and Bill, standing behind, put a protective arm around her shoulders.

‘Remember, you can always come back if you don’t like it. There’ll be no shame in it.’ His eyes, too, were suspiciously glassy and there was a wobble in his voice that he couldn’t disguise.

Bramble jumped up and flung her arms around both parents, so that they were huddled together like small animals clinging to each other for warmth and comfort.

‘It’s only Cornwall. It’s not that far,’ she said – uncertainly, for right now she felt as if she were emigrating to Australia. After all, she’d lived her whole life in Chessington and, bar the occasional week in Tenerife or Mallorca, had barely ventured outside the M25.

‘They do things different there,’ her father said ominously, knitting his unruly grey eyebrows. ‘Instead of buses and cars, you’ll see fields and sheep and…’ He paused and rubbed his chin. ‘…and half-wits.’

Bramble laughed; she couldn’t help it. ‘Half-wits? What on earth do you mean?’

Her father nodded wisely. ‘Inbreds. They go in for it; it’s a known fact. There’s not much choice, y’see.’

‘Da-ad, I can’t believe you said that.’

Bill shrugged. ‘You can think what you like, but it’s true. It’s not for nothing they’re described as wurzels with a piece of straw sticking out of their mouths. They’re not quite all there, most of ’em.’

Bramble pursed her lips. There was no point arguing. Her father had tried every tactic known to man to persuade her to stay, but to no avail. The inbreeding theory was but the latest in a long litany of excuses as to why she shouldn’t go. Chances were, he no more believed it than she did, but he was desperate.

‘When are you coming to visit?’ she said hopefully, but Bill only growled.

‘Said I’d never set foot in that man’s place, not after what he did, and I never will.’

‘Nor me,’ said Cassie, all choked up. ‘Never.’

‘But he’s dead,’ Bramble cried. ‘And it’s not his manor any more, it’s mine!’

About Emma Burstall

Emma Burstall studied English at Cambridge University before becoming a journalist for local and national newspapers and women’s magazines. She lives with my husband in South West London and has three children and two fat cats called Pablo and Dolly. As well as visiting Cornwall, Emma likes reading (a lot) and running in Richmond Park with her friends (slowly).

Emma’s books are all warm, heartfelt tales about women, love, life, relationships and families.

You can follow Emma on Twitter @EmmaBurstall, find her on Facebook and visit her website. There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My grateful thanks to Clara Diaz at Little Brown for an advanced reader copy of The Summer of Serendipity by Ali McNamara in return for an honest review. I enjoyed reading The Summer of Serendipity so much that I’m thrilled to be part of the launch celebrations.

The Summer of Serendipity was published by Sphere, an imprint of Little Brown, on 13th July 2017 and is available for purchase in e-book and paperback here.

The Summer of Serendipity

One summer, property seeker, Serendipity Parker finds herself on the beautiful west coast of Ireland, hunting for a home for a wealthy Irish client. But when she finds the perfect house in the small town of Ballykiltara, there’s a problem; nobody seems to know who owns it.

‘The Welcome House’ is a local legend. Its front door is always open for those in need of shelter, and there’s always a plentiful supply of food in the cupboards for the hungry or poor.

While Ren desperately tries to find the owner to see if she can negotiate a sale, she begins to delve deeper into the history and legends that surround the old house and the town. But for a woman who has always been focussed on her work, she’s remarkably distracted by Finn, the attractive manager of the local hotel.

But will she ever discover the real truth behind the mysterious ‘Welcome House’? Or will the house cast its magical spell over Ren and help her to find true happiness?

My Review of The Summer of Serendipity

When Serendipity (Ren) Parker and her assistant Kiki head to the west coast of Ireland house hunting for a client, they find more than just the perfect house.

I loved The Summer of Serendipity. It is unashamedly women’s fiction with the kind of warmth and romance that makes it such a pleasure to read. I’m not usually one for any element of magical realism, but the mythology, superstition and omens of ravens and stags worked highly effectively and convincingly to enhance the story without dominating it, so that they were broad brush strokes that could be accessed on many levels from spirituality to coincidence to suit the reader’s taste.

I thought the sense of place was excellent. I’ve never been to Ireland, but Ballykiltara had all the elements I imagine, from Guinness serving pubs to misty lakes and changeable weather, making for an area I could picture vividly in my mind’s eye.

However, what made The Summer of Serendipity such a lovely read was the characterisation. From Ren to Finn and Fergal the dog I found each person distinct and realistic so that I could easily imagine chatting to them in the town of Ballykiltara. The gradually uncovered back stories to Ren and Finn gave them added depth and appeal too.

I thought the quality of Ali McNamara’s writing was so good. The prose flowed so that there was never any awkwardness, making for a highly pleasurable reading experience and the dialogue felt absolutely perfect. But aside from the quality of writing, a great sense of place and warm human characters, it was the attention to detail in the plot I most enjoyed. Ali McNamara knows her mythology and there is a smashing mystery to be uncovered here too surrounding Welcome House.

The Summer of Serendipity is a lovely summer read. My only regret is that I haven’t read Ali McNamara before. I shall be putting that right immediately.

About Ali McNamara

Ali McNamara attributes her over-active and very vivid imagination to one thing – being an only child. Time spent dreaming up adventures when she was young has left her with a head bursting with stories waiting to be told.

When stories she wrote for fun on Ronan Keating’s website became so popular they were sold as a fundraising project for his cancer awareness charity, Ali realised that not only was writing something she enjoyed doing, but something others enjoyed reading too.

You can visit Ali’s website, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

You have no idea what a thrill it is today to be able to share with you the brand new book, Coming Home to Island House, from Erica James. I was so excited to meet Erica at the Deepings Literary Festival in my home town earlier this year and to have afternoon tea with her. She’s so lovely that it is a privilege to be bringing details of her latest novel and it’s one I simply can’t wait to read.

I have also previously reviewed another of Erica’s books, The Dandelion Years here.

Coming Home to Island House is to be published by Orion and is available for pre-order here.

Coming Home to Island House

The Devereux family has not been close for what feels like the longest time. Jack, who after the death of his first wife played the absent father to his children, has reached an age where he begins to reflect on the mistakes he’s made – and he’s made quite a few. When he suddenly passes away, his new wife Romily calls his children back to Island House, the idyllic place of their childhoods. According to his wishes, they must spend seven days together in the house or risk being written out of his will entirely.

Set in the lead up to and during the Second World War, this is a moving and ultimately life-affirming novel about the importance of family and finding your way back to each other.

About Erica James

With an insatiable appetite for other people’s business, Erica James will readily strike up conversation with strangers in the hope of unearthing a useful gem for her writing. She finds it the best way to write authentic characters for her novels, although her two grown-up sons claim they will never recover from a childhood spent in a perpetual state of embarrassment at their mother’s compulsion.

The author of many bestselling novels, including Gardens of Delight, which won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, and her Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, Summer At The Lake and The Dandelion Years, Erica now divides her time between Suffolk and Lake Como in Italy, where she strikes up conversation with unsuspecting Italians.

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

I’m delighted to be part of the launch celebrations for The Upstairs Room, the debut novel by Kate Murray-Browne, even if I’m not sure I’m brave enough to read the book! I ahve a brilliant extract to share from The Upstairs Room today.

The Upstairs Room will be published by Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, on 27th July 2017 and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Upstairs Room

Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in East London. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and becomes convinced it is making her ill. Whilst Richard remains preoccupied with Zoe, their mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, Eleanor becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the house’s previous owners – including Emily, whose name is written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room.

An Extract from The Upstairs Room

They proceeded through the house. The basement, empty now, had been converted for a lodger – a bedroom, living room and a shower room under the stairs. It looked hasty and cheap, as though the shower might come away from the wall. ‘Can you imagine converting this into a kitchen/dining room?’ Michael asked. Richard could. ‘I don’t know if you guys like entertaining but imagine knocking all this through, dinner parties looking out onto the garden . . .’

They moved back upstairs. A greying bathtub. Heavy curtains. Everything – beds, armchairs, banisters – weighed down with blankets and quilts. Eleanor imagined touching them; they would be clammy. Four bedrooms. ‘So, the ven­dors are a family, a couple with a little girl, no onward chain. They want to move really quickly on this one, which I’m guessing is going to be good for you guys too. You’ve got kids, right? Two girls, lovely – a bedroom each for you and your little ladies and then you’ve got a spare room, or a study . . .’

They were on the top floor. Eleanor began to feel slightly peculiar here – it was almost airless, as if they were too far from the central nervous system of the house. There was only one room he hadn’t shown them. Michael stopped with his hand on the door and said, ‘OK, so you’re gonna need to use your imagination with this one.’ He stumbled; there seemed to be a little resistance from somewhere and then the door gave and swung open too fast.

Inside, the walls were covered in writing – a child’s writ­ing. The name ‘EMILY’ appeared again and again in capitals, sometimes very small, sometimes huge, covering almost all of the white. There were frantic scribbles – large clouds of line – and faces: dwindling to pointy chins with tiny dash-like mouths and enormous eyes.

Despite the blaze of black ink on the walls, the rest of the room was curiously still. The bedspread – a cheerless shade of pink – was smooth as glass. A collection of toys, which struck Eleanor as vaguely old-fashioned, was arranged in a neat pile on the pillows. There was no other furniture, only a leather suitcase in the corner of the room.

Richard laughed uneasily; Michael was embarrassed. ‘Yeah, so this isn’t quite . . .’ he attempted. ‘You know what some kids are like.’

‘This isn’t normal though,’ Eleanor said. ‘Why didn’t someone stop her?’

‘Well, the vendors are a bit . . .’ He stretched his mouth out into a triangle. ‘But all you need is a coat of paint and that room’s as good as new.’

(I’m not sure I believe him! – Linda)

About Kate Murray-Browne

Kate Murray-Browne was born and lives in London. She worked in publishing for ten years, previously at Faber & Faber, before becoming a freelance editor. She is also a visual artist and has exhibited work in a number of different galleries. The Upstairs Room is her first novel.

You can find out more about Kate through her website.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

One of the joys of blogging is finding new to me authors and I’m delighted to welcome J.T. Bishop, author of Curse Breaker to Linda’s Book Bag today. I’m always fascinated by how writers come to be writers and luckily, J.T. Bishop has agreed to tell me a little about the extraordinary abilities she believes we all have in a fascinating guest post.

Curse Breaker is the fourth in J.T. Bishop’s Red Line series and is available for purchase here.

Curse Breaker

She’ll risk her life to break his curse, but revealing the truth could be far more dangerous.

In high school, a friend’s mother blames Grayson Steele for the tragic death of her daughter. Now, years later, Grayson is wealthy and successful, but on the brink of suicide. Because the women he loves are dying. And he can’t stop it.

Knowing about Grayson’s circumstances, Gillian Fletcher derives a plan. Catch the killer who’s making Grayson Steele’s life a living hell. But there’s only one way to do it. She has to be the bait.

As Grayson and Gillian’s plan takes shape, they must not only expose a killer, but also their feelings for each other. The further they go, the more secrets they will reveal. Secrets that will illuminate not just a murderer, but shocking truths that neither may be prepared to face.

Truths that will change their future forever.

Extraordinary Abilities

A Guest Post by J.T. Bishop

What’s it like to have extraordinary abilities? It’s a theme I follow in my books and I find fascinating to explore. I’m not necessarily talking about the superhero variety of mega abilities where you shoot webs from your hands or laser beams from your eyes, but more of the common extrasensory variety. Those things we sense or feel outside of the five senses. Those are of interest to me because I believe they exist and make for a good twist in a story. They allow me a little more license with my characters. Someone in a tight spot? You don’t need a weapon or a black belt. Just have them swing a door shut with their thoughts. Or communicate telepathically to keep up their cover story. Or have them direct an animal to jump on the bad guy to make their escape. The possibilities are endless.

I think one of the reasons I find this theme interesting is because I think we all have a sixth sense. Maybe not to the degree of moving objects with your mind, but more on the intuitive level. It’s not just about what we do, but what we feel, and believing in it. Once you do and you start to tune in, it’s amazing how reliable it is. The hard part for most, I think, is listening and trusting. This little voice is pretty quiet at best and you really have to lean in and pay attention to the whisper. It can be as soft as a feather against your skin. The tricky part is to act on the whisper, especially if the whisper takes you in a direction you did not expect.

I had whispers for years about my writing. And I didn’t listen. Yes. I dabbled here and there, wrote a few things, but nothing serious. After a while, the whisper got louder, which can happen if you ignore it. When I got the idea to write about a group of extraterrestrials that live on earth and whose origins are unknown among humans, the whisper became a shout. I started the story just for fun and couldn’t put down the pen. Two years later, I had a trilogy on my hands, with three more books in the works.

It’s amazing what a little whisper can do.

And so now I find myself writing about characters who have that whisper too. They must make the choice whether or not to follow their destiny and listen, despite the fear. So my question for you is, what is that whisper telling you? It told me to write. Is that an extraordinary ability? You could look at it that way. Some people are extraordinary cooks, teachers, singers, animal trainers, salespeople, and on and on. What is your extraordinary gift? Is that whisper guiding you, too?

Comment below and tell me what your extraordinary gift is and what your whisper is telling you. Is it time to listen?

(Oh, yes, do tell us what your gift is and whether you have a whisper telling you to do something creative.)

About J. T. Bishop

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, J. T. Bishop began writing in 2012. Inspired by a video that theorized the meaning of the end of the Mayan calendar, J. T. began the Red-Line trilogy. The video surmised that the earth was the central hub of activity for extraterrestrials thousands of years ago. J.T. didn’t know whether that was true or not, but it did spawn an idea. What if those extraterrestrials were still here? Two years and a lot of work later, the first three Red-Line books were complete, but she’s not done. The Red-Line saga develops as she continues to write new books.

You can find out more about J.T. Bishop on Facebook, via her website and by following her on Twitter.

 

I have been desperate for House of Secrets by Lynda Stacey to reach the top of my TBR pile ever since I was involved in the e-book cover reveal a year ago. Sadly, life (and death) has intervened and it still hasn’t got to the top but House of Secrets is now available in paperback and I’m excited that Lynda is on the blog today to tell me more about her central character Madeleine. I’m also thrilled to have an extract from House of Secrets for you too.

House of Secrets is available for purchase through the publisher, Choc-Lit, links here.

House of Secrets

A woman on the run, a broken man and a house with a shocking secret …
Madeleine Frost has to get away. Her partner Liam has become increasingly controlling to the point that Maddie fears for her safety, and that of her young daughter Poppy …

Desperation leads Maddie to the hotel owned by her estranged father – the extraordinarily beautiful Wrea Head Hall in Yorkshire. There, she meets Christopher ‘Bandit’ Lawless, an ex-marine and the gamekeeper of the hall, whose brusque manner conceals a painful past.

After discovering a diary belonging to a previous owner, Maddie and Bandit find themselves immersed in the history of the old house, uncovering its secrets, scandals, tragedies – and, all the while, becoming closer.

But Liam still won’t let go, he wants Maddie back, and when Liam wants something he gets it, no matter who he hurts …

Madeleine

A Guest Post by Lynda Stacey

On the 4^th July my novel House of Secrets was turned into a paperback and I couldn’t have been prouder at the moment I got to take it back to where it all began, the beautiful Wrea Head Hall hotel in Scarborough.

Lynda on the staircase at Wrea Head Hall

It was at this time, I got to look back at how I created Madeleine, the heroine of House of Secrets.

What happened to Madeleine before the story began?

Madeleine is a young, widowed mother. We meet Madeleine at a time in her life when she’s already overcome many obstacles, most of which she’d thought were her worst nightmare, that is until our story begins.

Madeleine fell in love at school with her childhood boyfriend, Michael. They married young, much to everyone’s disapproval and lived together in a second floor flat which they made into a home.

But, one morning Madeleine kissed Michael goodbye as he left for work. But it isn’t long before the police are at the door, Michael has been killed in a car accident and Madeleine is left widowed, while heavily pregnant. The shock sends Madeleine into early labour and Poppy is born so prematurely that Madeleine spends many a night sitting by her incubator, praying that she survives, whilst making promises to protect her and love her.

However, just a couple of years later, Madeleine meets Liam. He’s enigmatic, caring and falls into her life in a way that becomes all encompassing. But, Madeleine soon realises that she’s made a big mistake … and this is where our story begins …!

What makes a good heroine?

A good heroine is always someone the reader can relate to and identify with. I always give my heroines a history, a life and a family, after all, we all have parents, siblings and distant aunties, don’t we? So, the characters within a novel need to have that too.

I feel that by doing this, it gives them depth of character and a personality that can’t be ignored. They don’t necessarily have to be sexy, they don’t all have to be tall, blonde and straight out of a magazine. But, I do feel that they need to be a good person with dreams, hopes and wishes. They need to have a goal in life, something to achieve, something to aspire to and the novel needs to take them on a journey to achieve this.

But most importantly, the reader needs to feel that they are taking the journey with our heroine and that by the end of the novel, they’ve reached a good and satisfactory conclusion to the story.

Who would be the perfect Madeleine in a film?

I think Michelle Keegan would be the perfect Maddie. She’s very down to earth, normal and would bring a realism to the character that readers would identify with. Yes … Michelle Keegan would be my Madeleine.

An Extract from House of Secrets

From Madeleine’s point of view …

Madeleine covered her eyes in an attempt to shield them from the early morning sun. It burst in through a tiny slit in the bedroom curtains and shone directly at her. She lay for a few moments, waiting for her eyes to become accustomed to the light before peering across to where Liam slept.

She took a deep breath and inched her body between the crisp white sheets towards the edge of the bed in an effort to widen the gap between herself and her naked lover. Then she lay as still as she could, not daring to move, as she watched him sleep. She used to love watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, his deep, slow, untroubled breaths and the way he slept on his back with his arms spread outward, as though surrendering in a childlike, unconscious state. But he’d changed. Now, she didn’t know whether to love him or to hate him, at any given moment.

Holding her breath, she noticed his eyes flicker and knew that as soon as he woke, she’d have to quickly judge whether he was in a good mood or bad. Whether he’d want to make love or argue and, right now, she was tired and didn’t feel in the mood to do either. Closing her eyes, Madeleine lay back against the pillows, only to feel Liam’s hand pushing the sheets down to uncover her.

‘You awake, Maddie darlin’?’ his soft Irish tone mumbled in her ear.

Liam’s hand started to move over her body in soft, gentle, caressing strokes. Madeleine felt herself relax. This was Liam in a good mood. For a moment she enjoyed the simple feeling of tenderness, along with the feel of his hand moving sensuously over her body. It was what she’d enjoyed so much at the beginning of their relationship and a small part of her wondered if he could change, if they could both change, and if once again she could have the loving and caring Liam, without the nasty side she’d experienced of late.

She inhaled deeply and then caught her breath as Liam’s hand travelled down to her thigh. There had been a time when she’d have felt waves of excitement, times when she’d wished for him to be closer and, more often than not, it had been her that had instigated their lovemaking. But that was before. Before she’d moved into his house with her daughter and before he’d taken control of everything she did. Madeleine thought back to when she had first met him, how generous, caring and loving he’d been, which made her wonder why he had changed, if the arguments were her fault and whether it was her that made him angry. Maybe he regretted allowing her to move in, or perhaps he simply didn’t like the fact that she was a mother, with a very young daughter.

About Lynda Stacey

Lynda, is a wife, step-mother and grandmother, she grew up in the mining village of Bentley, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire.

She is currently the Sales Director of a stationery, office supplies and office furniture company in Doncaster, where she has worked for the past 25 years. Prior to this she’d also been a nurse, a model, an emergency first response instructor and a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor … and yes, she was crazy enough to dive in the sea with sharks, without a cage. Following a car accident in 2008, Lynda was left with limited mobility in her right arm. Unable to dive or teach anymore, she turned to her love of writing, a hobby she’d followed avidly since being a teenager.

Her own life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots, along with (as in all romances) very happy endings.

Lynda joined the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the umbrella of the New Writers Scheme and in 2015, her debut novel House of Secrets won the Choc Lit & Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Star competition.

She lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her ‘hero at home husband’, Haydn, whom she’s been happily married to for over 20 years.

You can follow Lynda on Twitter and visit her website.

I’m so pleased to welcome David Jester, author of An Idiot in Marriage, to Linda’s Book Bag today. I do intend to finish writing my own novel one of these days so I’m always really interested in hearing how other writers have come to be published. David has a smashing post telling us how he went about getting his novels published.

An Idiot in Marriage is the follow up to David’s An Idiot in Love and was published by Skyhorse and is available for purchase in e-book and paperback here.

An Idiot in Marriage

Kieran McCall’s youth was a series of misguided attempts at love—a succession of sexual failures that always ended in disaster but somehow led to something worthwhile. As an adult, his failures looked like they were behind him. He married the love of his life and they had a child together, but chaos was never far away.

An Idiot in Marriage follows Kieran McCall as he learns to live with the strains of married life and parenthood, from dealing with incompetent babysitters and dirty diapers to neighbors from hell, stray ducks, and a best friend who still thinks with his dick.

Kieran McCall grew up, but he never matured and he never changed. He’s still a little immature, he’s still a little naïve, and he’s still massively incompetent. Kieran may be older, but he’s definitely not wiser. And if he doesn’t shape up, he may risk losing it all.

From Self-Publishing to Traditional Publishing: My Journey

 A Guest Post by David Jester

I tried to make it as an author for nearly 10 years before it finally happened. And it didn’t happen in the traditional sense, I just got so tired of rejections, of dealing with agents and publishers, that I decided to do it myself. In 2012 I realized I had finally written a book that I deemed to be perfect. I had seen so many flaws in my books before then, but I was 100% happy with this new novel. That’s a rarity for any novelist, so I knew I was onto something good.

Three weeks later I had been told by several different agents that the book, An Idiot in Love, was too niche and wouldn’t sell more than a few hundred copies. I couldn’t believe that and I certainly couldn’t accept it. So, I decided to self-publish. I knew nothing about the process, but I figured it out quickly and I sold over 10,000 copies in the first month.

I resisted the overwhelming urge to email those agents with an “I told you so” and an obligatory “nuh huh nah nah nah” and I went on to write and publish more books. Within two years my books had been downloaded nearly half a million times and then I made the decision to get into traditional publishing.

 Why I Did It

The first thing people ask when I tell them this story is, “Why?”. The truth is, I panicked. I was working around the clock to write, publish and market my books and I was alone. I had the support of a loving partner (who also helped to create my covers) but for the most part, it was just me.

The life of an author is a lonely one as it is, but when you’re a successful self-published author it’s even worse. You have to do everything. You have to deal with all of the stress and the worry yourself. I knew that at any minute my books could stop selling and I would have nothing again. It was because of this that I started to freelance, which also worked very well for me. In a few months I was freelancing full-time and earning a very good wage, but I was juggling so many different things that I would go days without sleeping just to stay on track.

I chose to go to a traditional publisher because I knew they would take a large chunk of that burden off my shoulders. I wouldn’t have as much control, I would be risking those sales and that success, but in the long run, it felt like a good decision. And thankfully, it was.

 Why I Prefer Traditional Publishing

It takes a lot to unnerve me and to stress me out. But it still happens. Writers are generally a very temperamental bunch. We don’t like being critiqued. We don’t like bad reviews. After all, we work alone, we submit alone and we publish alone. We put our hearts, souls and time into a project that is 100% us, and when that gets picked apart, it’s understandably very hard to deal with.

One of the benefits of traditional publishing is that you have the support of editors, publicists, designers and a sales team behind you. They will arrange for critical reviews and they will support you whether they are good and bad. They will help with the editing and the construction of your novel; they will get your book into newspapers, onto shelves and on all major retailers.

As an author I earn less now than I did then, there’s no doubt about that. But I work less, I feel better about it, and all of that extra time allows me to get involved with other projects, to freelance more and to put my skills to good use elsewhere.

If I had to make the decision again, I would do exactly the same thing. And I’d recommend that any successful self-published author out there does the same thing.

(How interesting David. I wonder what self-published and conventionally published authors think?)

About David Jester

David Jester is the pen name of a horror and comedy author living in the North-East of England. David has been working as a full-time writer since the age of 18, when he published his first short story. In his late 20s, towards the end of 2012, David self-published An Idiot in Love to great acclaim. Within 6 months this comedy novel had achieved Amazon bestseller status in the UK, US, Canada and Italy.

Throughout the next two years he published several other novels, novellas and short stories as David Jester. He also rewrote some of his older books and published these under a different pseudonym. In his spare time, David worked as a freelance writer, assisting with film scripts, comic books, novels, content writing, copywriting, and more.

In 2015, David began working with San-Francisco based agent Peter Beren, and together they sold all of his previously self-published books, as well as two un-released titles, to Skyhorse Publishing. In 2016, David began to spend less time on his freelance work and devoted more time to his role as an author.

You can follow David on Twitter @DavidJester, find him on Facebook or visit his blog.

What better day to review a book that includes Jane Austen than on the anniversary of her death? I was so lucky to have a fascinating guest blog from Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney on the publication day of A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden Friendships of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf that you can read here. Today I’m sharing my review.

A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden Friendships of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf is published by Arum Press and is available for purchase here.

A Secret Sisterhood

The Hidden Friendships of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf

A Secret Sisterhood uncovers the hidden literary friendships of the world’s most respected female authors.

Drawing on letters and diaries, some of which have never been published before, this book will reveal Jane Austen’s bond with a family servant, the amateur playwright Anne Sharp; how Charlotte Brontë was inspired by the daring feminist Mary Taylor; the transatlantic relationship between George Eliot and the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe; and the underlying erotic charge that lit the friendship of Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield – a pair too often dismissed as bitter foes.

In their first book together, Midorikawa and Sweeney resurrect these literary collaborations, which were sometimes illicit, scandalous and volatile; sometimes supportive, radical or inspiring; but always, until now, tantalisingly consigned to the shadows.

My Review of A Secret Sisterhood

I have to confess that it has taken me some time to read A Secret Sisterhood as there is so much information to absorb I needed time to reflect and consider what I’d read. The style of the book is very accessible and balances quotation and research with original writing perfectly. At times this is more like reading a narrative than an academic study and it just goes to show what wonderful writers both authors are. Their own friendship shines through the pages.

The quality of research that has gone in to A Secret Sisterhood is impeccable. Whilst several facts are already well documented, Midorikawa and Sweeney present them with a fresh eye. They also include new material and occasionally some conjecture so that the reader is left to form their own opinion too. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book and the details of quotidian life really bring the text alive. I also really appreciated the understanding of feminism that underpins much of the book and the debunking of so many stereotyped views of these women. They come to life between the pages of A Secret Sisterhood so that they are no longer the conventional creatures we have known for so long.

A Secret Sisterhood is a must read for any fan of Austen, Bronte, Eliot and Woolf, but equally for anyone interested in history, society and literature. The bibliography and footnotes make for fascinating reading and again, it took me ages to read the book because I found myself following up some of these independently. A passing reference to Roger Fry had me looking up his paintings, for example. I think A Secret Sisterhood is a book to be savoured and returned to frequently over the years.

About Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney

Writer friends Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney are the authors of A Secret Sisterhood: The Hidden friendships of Austen, Brontë, Eliot and Woolf. They also co-run SomethingRhymed.com, a website that celebrates female literary friendship. They have written for the likes of the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and The Times. Emily is a winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, Emma is author of the award-winning novel Owl Song at Dawn, and they both teach at New York University London.

You can follow them on Twitter via @emilymidorikawa and @emmacsweeney, and Emma has an author page on Facebook as well as a website. Emily’s website is here and her Facebook page here.