In August...

... I read:

• The Wedding Diaries by Sam Binnie
• It Happened In Venice by Molly Hopkins
• One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner
• The Light Behind The Window by Lucinda Riley
• The Bad Boyfriend's Bootcamp by Poppy Dolan
• The Road Back by Liz Harris
• The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson
• The Au Pair by Janey Fraser

... Started and finished the third draft of Book 2

... Gave my blog a mini makeover and a new address

... Had my first Guest Post

... Interviewed Amanda Jennings, author of Sworn Secret

... Read my 50th book of the year

... and baked Blondie Cupcakes as part of my Saved By Cake Challenge


The most popular posts at the end of the month are:

• Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood
• Rejection Number One
• Sworn Secret by Amanda Jennings
• Saved By Cake Challenge
• Saved By Cake Challenge - March
• Saved By Cake Challenge - June
• Monsoon Season by Katie O'Rourke
• Birthday & Chinese New Year
• Christmas Songs Quiz

The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson

 

 

Tamia and Scott shouldn't have ended up together; she was studious and from a respectable family while he was part of the infamous Challey clan. Everyone knew the family was bad news but Tamia saw something different in Scott. They became friends, fell in love and married, living happily ever after with their beautiful daughters.

 

Until one day the police knock at the front door and Scott is arrested, accused of serious sexual assault. Worse, the accuser is one of Tamia's closest friends.

 

Tamia is thrown into turmoil, the illusion of her life shattered. Someone is lying - either her husband or her best friend and she can't be sure who. Scott would never do such a thing, would never risk losing Tamia and their girls but why would her friend, someone so close to Tamia and her daughters, try to destroy her life?

 

As the police investigate the case, Tamia unearths well hidden secrets that neither her husband or her best friend want her to know. The illusion of her marriage and friendship is further shattered and Tamia isn't sure she'll ever be able to put them back together again. And when one of them ends up dead - murdered in their own home - Tamia's life as she knows it can never be recovered.

 

I'm a huge fan of Dorothy Koomson and, despite only discovering her wonderful books last year, she is one of my favourite authors and The Rose Petal Beach is another example of why. Dorothy Koomson's writing is exquisite, seemingly simple and flowing yet powerful, bringing the reader into the very centre of her characters' lives. I always feel as though I am there, feeling every emotion they are going through. Her characters are complex - nobody is perfect or bad to the core - but that only makes them more believable, more real.

 

Tamia is at the centre of the story, pulling everybody together. I really felt for her as her life crumbled around her as yet more secrets came to light. Whether the assault actually happened or whether it was revenge for a rejected advance, Tamia's life will change. She is caught in the middle and, through no fault of her own, she will lose someone important to her. Though she may not have always felt like one, Tamia is an extremely strong woman. She showed great strength and restraint as she dealt with the horrific turn her life was taking and had an amazing amount of compassion for those around her, whether they deserved her kindness or not.

 

Dorothy Koomson's writing and storytelling is as beautiful and full of raw emotion as ever but as well as being an emotional tale, The Rose Petal Beach is a gripping thriller that keeps you guessing with each new event and revelation. Who had it in them to kill and why? I absolutely loved The Rose Petal Beach and it took great effort to put it down as I was desperate to know who the murderer was and what would become of Tamia.

 

 

The Rose Petal Beach is published today.

Thank you to Quercus for sending me a copy to review.

Book 2 - Final Read Through

I finished the third draft of Book 2 on Friday so now I'm having a final read through before I start (eek) submitting to agents. It's amazing, after three previous drafts, that I can still find mistakes and huge glaring ones like a character changing her name part way through. She's only a very minor character but you would have thought I'd have picked up on it sooner. There are a few little mistakes, like spelling errors (but aren't picked up in spell chacker because they are a word - just the wrong one) and I still find myself cutting bits here and there.

Reaching the end will be fab but also a bit scary as it means my writing will have to be let out for others to see.

My 50th Book Of The Year

At the moment I'm reading The Au Pair by Janey Fraser, which is my 50th book this year. I've already thrashed the amount I read last year!

I've read some fab book so far this year so thought I would recommend a few that have been particularly great.

Women & Children First by Gill Paul

 

 

 

Heaven Can Wait by Cally Taylor

 

Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood

 

 

 

Sworn Secret by Amanda Jennings

 

The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson

 

 

What are you reading at the moment? And what would you recommend?

It Happened In Venice by Molly Hopkins

 

Evie and Rob split up after he was unfaithful but, after two miserable months apart, they are back together. Evie has promised to put the past behind them and not throw Rob's infedility in his face but it is proving to be more difficult than she imagined.

Still, Evie has no choice but to move on as she loves Rob and can't face the thought of not having him in her life. She agrees to start their relationship afresh with no more secrets between them. Rob asks Evie to move in with him and although she wants nothing more than to live with him, she can't bring herself to break the news to her best friend and flatmate, Lulu.

As well as moving in together, Rob wants Evie to give up her jobs, both waitressing and being a tour guide, a job Evie adores.  Evie isn't sure she wants to give up the freedom of earning her own money and travelling through Europe for her work.

But there are more problems ahead than Evie's loss of independance when Evie and Rob's 'no more secrets' pact begins to unravel.

It Happened In Venice is a great read with fun, quirky characters. Evie kept me amused as she told her story and there were plenty of laugh out loud moments. I loved the relationship - or lack of - between Rob and Evie's best friend, Lulu. They didn't get along at all, which is hardly surprising under the circumstances. Rob had already hurt her friend once and didn't want it to happen again. Evie was stuck in the middle as Rob and Lulu constantly sniped at one another and while I felt a bit sorry for Evie, I found the jibes very funny.

I would have liked to have seen the men in Evie's life to be a bit less aggressive as they all seemed to have extremely short tempers and bossed her around an awful lot, which isn't very attractive in a hero and meant I found it difficult to warm to them. Even still, Evie more than made up for it. I loved her character and really enjoyed It Happened In Venice, both for its humour and for the mystery of who Evie would end up with.


It Happened In Venice is published on Thursday (30th August)

Thank you to Sphere for sending me a copy to review

The End... For The Third Time

 

 

I've done it! The third draft is complete and now has a word count of 84,488, which is pretty close to my 85,000 aim. I managed to cut 9,604 words and it was much easier than I imagined. I'm hoping it's a better draft after losing all the pap.

The final sigh count was 12, with 9 eye rolls. Must do better next time.

I'm going to have a final read through, starting on Monday and then, if all is well, it'll be time to write the dreaded synopsis. And then the even more dreaded submission process. I've bought Nicola Morgan's Dear Agent so I'll be reading through that for some tips.

But for now, *phew* *collapses*

Saved By Cake Challenge - August

I have decided to challenge myself to bake a different cake/biscuit from Marian Keyes' book, Saved By Cake, each month, between March and December. I am a beginner at baking and use the same recipes over and over again so it'll be nice to try something new. I will take photos and post them on here each month - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Blondie Cupcakes

I think I must have been living under a rock because I'd never heard of a blondie before I opened Saved By Cake. For other rock dwellers, a blondie is like a brownie but made with white chocolate.

Waiting to go in the
oven

Like all the other recipes I've attempted in Saved By Cake, it was very straight forward and easy to understand. I was a bit wary of melting the chocolate as it warned that white chocolate burns at the drop of a hat (and I'd burned the caramel to smithereens while attempting the Millionaire's Shortbread) but it turned out absolutely fine - woo!

As I mentioned last month, I'm not a huge fan of nuts so I only used about half and they came out lovely with a nice flavour of nut and a bit of a crunch but not too overpowering for an anti-nut person like me.

The Blondie Cupcakes were really quick and easy to make but they've been a big hit in the Mama J family so I think I will be making them again in the future.

For more Saved by Cake Challenges click here