Book of the Month: March

 

The One Plus One by JoJo Moyes

 

One single mum

With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it's hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn't. Because you have to . . .

One chaotic family

Jess's gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she'll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess's teenage stepson, can't fight the bullies alone.

Sometimes Jess feels like they're sinking . . .

One handsome stranger

Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it's like to be lonely. And he wants to help . . .

One unexpected love story

The One Plus One is a captivating and unconventional romance from Jojo Moyes about two lost souls meeting in the most unlikely circumstances.

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

 

Although I've heard many great things about the author, The One Plus One was the first JoJo Moyes book I've read so I wasn't sure what to expect. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was immediately drawn into the story. Jess' family has its problems, but they stick together despite everything that is thrown at them and I really warmed to them. I thought JoJo's writing was warm, witty and heartfelt and I enjoyed every single moment of the book, so much so that I felt a bit lost when it was all over.

 

 

You can read my full review of The One Plus One here.

 

 

Click here to see all Books of the Month

 

Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson

 

 

Every morning, Christine Lucas wakes up not knowing a thing about her past. She doesn't remember the husband lying next to her, the house they are living in or what caused her to lose her memory. Every morning, her husband, Ben explains, knowing Christine will have forgotten again by the following day.

 

But then Christine starts to see Dr Nash, and the pair slowly start to make progress with Christine's memory, piecing together fragments of her past.

 

Before I Go To Sleep has been waiting on my kindle for a long time but, as the film will be released soon, I thought it was about time I read it. I've heard lots of great things about the book, so I wasn't surprised when I was immediately hooked, drawn into Christine's bewildering world of lost memories. I was so desperate to find out what had happened to Christine that I read the whole thing in a day!

 

I immediately felt for Christine as she tries to adjust day after day. She doesn't remember anyone - friends, family or even her husband, Ben, which must be so frightening and frustrating. I wasn't sure how Christine's story would be told - would we see her waking up each day and having to learn everything from scratch, which would have been quite repetitive? - but I thought it was quite clever how the story was put across in a more fast-paced way. Almost right from the beginning, we know something isn't quite right, so I was keen to keep reading to see how the story would unfold and what memories Christine had lurking at the surface.

 

I thought the book was a fantastic read, with plenty of twists and intrigue to keep you guessing and turning the pages. And now I can't wait for the film!

Blog Tour: Hopelessly Devoted To Holden Finn by Tilly Tennant

 

 
Today I'm pleased to be taking part in the Hopelessly Devoted To Holden Finn blog tour, with an interview with the author, Tilly Tennant.

 
Can you tell us about your book?
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn is about Bonnie, a thirty-five-year-old single mum who has dreadful luck with men and an enormous crush on the most unattainable man of all, pop megastar Holden Finn. In a bizarre quirk of fate, Bonnie suddenly finds herself on Holden’s radar and her life is tipped upside-down.
 
What was your inspiration for Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn?
I’m the first to admit that I suffer from the most inappropriate celebrity crushes and the question has often popped into my head of what would happen if I met one of them in a situation that enabled us to become friends. It was only natural that at some point I would write about it.
 
What has been your greatest experience of being a published writer?
The support from readers, bloggers, other authors and the bookish community in general has been far greater than I expected and a wonderful experience. I’ve made fantastic new friends both online and in real life and no matter what else happens, that alone has made all the long hours writing worthwhile.
 
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
My advice is terrible so I would advise other writers not to take it!
 
What was the first book you ever bought yourself?
Moonfleet by J Meade Faulkner is the first book I remember buying as a young teenager. It sticks in my mind because I got it in the gift shop at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight where some of the book is set.
 
What was the last book you read?
Unwoven by Jack Croxall. I was supposed to be proofreading it for him but I adored it so much I got lost in the story and forgot to check for typos!
 
Finally, what are you working on at the moment?
I’m working on another novel that is set in the town of Millrise where Hopelessly takes place but with a new bunch of residents. The protagonist, Ellie, is a journalist on the local newspaper who finds herself in the middle of a story that will change her own life forever. I can’t say a lot more than that right now so I’ll just be as enigmatic as I can at this point!
 

Writing Book 2 - Part 3

Draft Three

I don't have any rules about how many drafts I'll do for a book. Each books takes as many drafts as it takes to make it the best it can possibly be. I did quite a lot of work during the second draft of the book, but I still wasn't happy with certain parts so moved onto the third draft. There were a few things I needed to work on, like the pacing in some places and the plot gets a little heavy at times, so I wanted to lighten it with a bit more humour, and I had little niggly bits to sort out, like the name-switching of a very minor character who was called both Mike and Mick (which, to be fair, are practically the same). But the main focus was on the ending. It was a bit wishy-washy for my liking, so a lot of the scenes were heavily tweaked or completely cut and re-written. The ending is a lot stronger now, with the main character moving it along rather than being a bit of a bystander.

I'm now happy with how the book reads at this stage, so I'll do another read-through (and no doubt tweak here and there), and then it'll be sent off to an editor.

A Beginner's Guide To Salad: The Playlist

Ruth, the main character from A Beginner's To Salad, is a massive fan of cheesy pop, so I've put together a playlist of some of her favourite hits. Enjoy! (I know Ruth will)

Ruth loves nothing more than curling up in front of the telly with a family-sized bar of chocolate. She doesn’t do diets and she certainly doesn’t do exercise. But all that changes when she’s invited to her school reunion.

Bullied at school for being overweight, Ruth’s first reaction is to rip the invitation into a million pieces. But then Ruth hatches a plan. She’ll lose the weight and arrive at the reunion looking gorgeous and glamorous, leaving her old classmates in awe. Especially her former crush, Zack O’Connell.

With the help of her friends and a new, unbelievably hot colleague, Ruth begins her transformation. With six months until the reunion, losing weight will be a piece of cake, right?

Amazon UK | Amazon US

Guest Post: Katie O'Rourke

 

This Is How I Write

It was during my last semester of college that I was introduced to "creative nonfiction" and that was the bridge that led me to write fiction (after years of writing angsty, introspective poetry). People who know me well can find the sections in my novels that have been "stolen" from real life. The danger in writing autobiographical fiction is that people begin to make assumptions about the rest of the novel. All of my characters are created from fragments of actual people, but none of my characters are based on a single person. So if someone recognizes themselves in my fiction, the risk is that they will think everything about that character is based on how I think of them.

In my most recent novel, A Long Thaw, there's a section where Abby is creating a collage. It's an apt metaphor for the way I write:

This is her hobby. She pretends that it’s soothing to create collages on the covers of photo albums or journals. The truth is that she stresses over them, fitting the pieces together like a schizophrenic puzzle. A long triangle of a navy blue satin gown, the sun setting on a horizon, a pair of eyes clotted with mascara, a phrase usually from an advertisement for cosmetic surgery, something like be your best, disempowerment repackaged, out of context. She gives them as gifts, personalized.

It's funny; I didn't recognize the symmetry when I wrote this. It was not intentional. But this is the way I write, taking something true and repackaging it, changing the context so that it means something different in the story than it meant in my life.  

The other part of the metaphor is the way that I often present my writing as a pleasurable hobby -- and there is a significant element of pleasure that I get from it -- but the truth is more complicated. My writing is something I stress over, fitting the pieces together, peeling them apart, resetting the glue. The pleasure comes in fits and starts, sometimes only with the relief of having it done.

Right now, my current work in progress is eating at me. I think about these made up people all day. I decorate their kitchens and imagine their first heartbreaks and research their path through dental school. They're with me, always, nagging at me to finish their stories.

And on that note, I need to go write about a kitchen.

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-ORourke/160189977408812

 

Available here

 my first book:

 

Available here

 

Blog Tour: Keep Your Friends Closer by Paula Daly

I loved Just What Kind Of Mother Are You? last year, so I've been looking forward to Paula Daly's new release, Keep Your Friends Close. When the opportunity to take part in the blog tour presented itself, I jumped at the chance. I'm so pleased to be sharing the first chapter of Keep Your Friends Close with everyone, which you can read here

 

 

Natty and Sean Wainwright are happily married. Rock solid in fact. So when Natty's oldest friend, Eve Dalladay, appears - just as their daughter collapses on a school trip in France - Natty has no qualms about leaving Eve with Sean to help out at home.

Two weeks later and Natty finds Eve has slotted into family life too well. Natty's husband has fallen in love with Eve. He's sorry, he tells her, but their marriage is over.

With no option but to put a brave face on things for the sake of the children, Natty embarks on building a new life for herself.

And then she receives the note.

Eve has done this before, more than once, and with fatal consequences...