Book of the Month: February

 

Ivy Lane

 

by Cathy Bramley

 

From spring to summer, autumn to winter, a lot can happen in a single year . . .

Tilly Parker needs a fresh start, fresh air and a fresh attitude if she is ever to leave the past behind and move on with her life. As she seeks out peace and quiet in a new town, taking on a plot at Ivy Lane allotments seems like the perfect solution.

But the friendly Ivy Lane community has other ideas and gradually draw Tilly in to their cosy, comforting world of planting seedlings, organizing bake sales and planning seasonal parties.


As the seasons pass, will Tilly learn to stop hiding amongst the sweetpeas and let people back into her life – and her heart?

*     *     *      *      *

 



I'd heard a lot of good things about the Ivy Lane series (the book was originally published in four parts as an ebook) so when the complete novel was released as a paperback, I knew I had to read it and I wasn't disappointed. Cathy Bramley writes with such ease and warmth that I was quickly drawn into Tilly's world. You may think that working on an allotment would be quite sedate and peaceful - but not at Ivy Lane! With the seasonal events, parties and bake sales, Tilly is kept busy and the Ivy Lane allotment is jam-packed with fun and drama. There are lots of quirky, vibrant characters to get to know (Gemma was my firm favourite) and I loved every page of it.

My full review of Ivy Lane will be on here on the blog soon, plus I'll be taking part in the Novelicious Book Club on Wednesday 4th March (more details here)

 

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Blog Tour: Stranger Child by Rachel Abbott

 

Today I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Rachel Abbott's Stranger Child, with an interview with DCI Tom Douglas from the novel!

 

1. Tell us a bit about growing up in Manchester, Tom. What’s your family background?

I grew up in the north of Manchester, in a small industrial town. My dad was a blue-collar worker, and we lived in three-bedroomed terraced house. I don’t suppose my parents had much money, but they never made us feel that we were either rich or poor. We seemed to have enough, and that was all that mattered. I attended the local comprehensive school until I was eighteen, and then went to Manchester University.

2. You say ‘us’ in that sentence. Tell me a bit about your siblings.

I have – or rather had – one brother, Jack. He was a few years older than me, and a genius. He had his own computer company by the time he was in his late teens, and his business went from strength to strength. Jack and I got on okay – I was a bit in awe of his brain, to be honest. Sadly he was killed in a freak accident while out in his speedboat in the Adriatic Sea a few years ago.

3. I’m sorry to hear that. You often speak about your daughter Lucy; do the things that you see in your work in the police make you worry more about her?

They do, I’m afraid. I’ve just been dealing with a particularly difficult case involving a girl of around Lucy’s age, and it struck me – as it always does – how vulnerable children are. It’s not just to the menace we can see, but the menace that’s hiding. The fear of physical attack obviously worries me – as it does every parent. But I know what goes on in some homes, and I have to try not to be over-protective in how Lucy chooses her friends, because although I don’t want her exposed to some of the harsher realities of life, I know that I can’t protect her forever.

4. Can you tell me what made you want to join the police in the first place Tom?

A sense of justice, I suppose. My family, with the possible exception of Jack who lived in his own world, were great supporters of the underdog, and some of it rubbed off on me. And I have to say that I do love the mental challenge of trying to solve the worst of the crimes.

5. You have worked on a number of murders. Do you think we all have it in us to commit murder in certain circumstances or do you think it takes a certain type of person?

I am increasingly convinced that good people can, under certain circumstances, be forced to do bad things. And there are times when I think the victim is the guilty party, and the perpetrator is innocent – although of course the law wouldn’t uphold that. I’ve never felt inclined to murder somebody, but I have seen cases where I have understood what has driven a perfectly ordinary, sane person to commit murder.

6. You seem to enjoy a good working relationship with Becky – why do you think that is?

There’s something really sparky about Becky. She’s got a slightly cheeky edge to her, and she makes me smile. She’s a very smart young lady, and she challenges my thinking. I’m not particularly fond of sychophants, and she could never be called that. Her driving, however, puts the fear of God into me.

7. We hear you are a great cook! What is your favourite recipe?

I love to cook Indian food – but not just curry. I have a few great Indian cookery books that don’t have a single curry in them – just delicious dishes like spiced monkfish in a tomato and coconut sauce. But a lot of these dishes take all day to cook, so I have to be practical. My favourite quick dish is chicken in mascarpone and white wine sauce. I can make that in about ten minutes, and let it cook for another ten.

8. What music do you like to listen to at home?

Thanks to Jack I have very eclectic tastes in music. He was into Whitesnake and the like at a time when I was more interested in pop music. He used to drag me into his bedroom to listen to “the good stuff” and as a result I will genuinely listen to anything. As long as it’s not Michael Bublé, that is.

9. In a recent well-known crime case, you ended up in Alderney - how did you find the island?

I wish I could have stayed for longer, and I’ll certainly go back there with Lucy for a holiday. The beaches were just incredible – it was like being in the tropics when I looked out of my hotel window at the white sand and the turquoise sea. The people are incredibly friendly too, and it’s virtually crime free – so I’d have to find a different job to live out there. But I can certainly see the attraction.

10. What about your personal life, Tom? As I understand you’re divorced, so you must be quite a catch for some young lady. Is there anybody on the scene at the moment?

Am I allowed to smile at that question? I’m afraid my answer has to be ‘no comment’.

 

 





Review: Charles_HRH's Guide To Great Britishness

 

 

Popular parody account, @Charles_HRH has been unleashed beyond Twitter with his very own guide book, giving advice on all things British. The Royal family, London Underground and Britain's diverse culture is covered within the pages.

 

I've been following 'Prince Charles' on Twitter for quite a while, so I was excited to learn that there would be a book released and hoped it would be as funny as the tweets - and I wasn't disappointed. The book is hilarious (unless you're French. Charlie likes to poke fun at the French at every opportunity) and I laughed out loud A LOT.

 

The book is divided into seven chapters, covering everything from the history of Britain, the royals and government, culture and daily life, capital cities and the best of British, so there is plenty of scope for a good old piss-take. Some of the facts and advice were questionable but it is all very tongue in cheek and made for such a fun and witty read. I read the whole book in a couple of (immensely enjoyable) days.

 

Great Britishness isn't my usual kind of read (it doesn't have an actual storyline, which is usually pretty important to me) but I loved it.  The book is divided up into bite-sized sections so you can easily dip in and out (but I found it difficult to put down and read pages and pages at a time). It's such an amusing, quirky read.If you're a fan of the Twitter account, you'll love the book. And if you're not following @Charles_HRH, why not? Go and follow and then enjoy the book!

#AmWriting Weddings

 

 

Three of them, in fact. If I add another and a funeral, I'll have myself a Richard Curtis film!

 

Book 3 - aka the A Beginner's Guide To Salad sequel - is centred around all things wedding-y. Ruth and co will be back, along with some newbies. I'm over half-way through the second draft now and I'm loving being back in Ruth's world again and finding out what she and her friends are getting up to two years after we left them.

 

Although this is the second draft of the book it sometimes feels like the first all over again as it needed a complete overhaul. I wasn't happy with the way the first draft turned out, so I had a looooong think about where I thought it had gone wrong and how I could change it. This meant cutting out almost a third of the book (ouch) and I'm busy rewriting new scenes with a character that started off pretty minor but has shoved herself into the limelight.

 

This book will follow the same format as A Beginner's Guide To Salad with the three narratives, but this time it's going to be an all-female narrative. Ruth will be one of them, but I'm not going to tell you who the other two are just yet.

 

Cover Stars: As Good As It Gets by Fiona Gibson

 

My very first Cover Star of 2015 is As Good As It Gets? by Fiona Gibson

 

Charlotte Bristow is worried about her husband Will. With her 16-year-old daughter Rosie newly signed to a top modelling agency, and Will recently out of a job, things are changing in their household.

As Will dusts down his old leather trousers and starts partying with their new, fun neighbours, Charlotte begins to wonder what on earth is going on.

So when Fraser, Charlotte’s ex – and father of Rosie – suddenly arrives back on the scene, she starts to imagine what might have been…

 

*     *     *     *     *

 

I love the cover for As Good As It Gets as it's so bright and cheerful with its warm blues and pinks. I especially love the green and pink dress that the character is wearing. As she's peering over the fence, I'm wondering what she's spying on and there's only one way to find out what - by opening the pages and diving in!

 

 

If there's a cover you're bursting to shout out about, let us know by joining in Cover Stars!

Email me at jenniferjoycewrites@gmail.com

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Guest Post: Jenny Kane

Creating, with a Coffee Cup to Hand

Okay- I admit it, I have a serious coffee shop habit! I am addicted- not just to the caffeine- but to the coffee and teashops themselves. I just love them- all of them! I love to watch the people around me, to smile at strangers to see how they respond, to wrap my hands around a coffee mug and inhale the aroma of the drink within. For me, there is something very soothing about these places. Whether they are jammed packed and noisy, or as quiet as the proverbial grave, with myself as the only coffee swiller in residence, I simply feel at home in cafes.

It won’t surprise you to learn then, that every novel I have ever written has taken shape in various coffee shops up and down the UK. I can’t write at home, with the distractions of ironing and dusting, so I pen all my words at cafe tables. There is even a plaque on the wall of my cafe, denoting where I write! It seemed totally natural to me therefore, that when it came to creating my first non-erotic novel, to make a coffee shop the focal point of the story.

This month, I’ve been sat at my usual table in a local coffee shop each day, working on my latest novel, Another Glass of Champagne, the fourth in my Another Cup of... series.

It is eighteen months since the first in this contemporary romance series, Another Cup of Coffee, was released. I never dreamt it would lead to three more books!

Another Cup of Coffee Blurb-

Thirteen years ago Amy Crane ran away from everyone and everything she knew, ending up in an unfamiliar city with no obvious past and no idea of her future. Now, though, that past has just arrived on her doorstep, in the shape of an old music cassette that Amy hasn’t seen since she was at university.

Digging out her long-neglected Walkman, Amy listens to the lyrics that soundtracked her student days. As long-buried memories are wrenched from the places in her mind where she’s kept them safely locked away for over a decade, Amy is suddenly tired of hiding.

It’s time to confront everything about her life. Time to find all the friends she left behind in England, when her heart got broken and the life she was building for herself was shattered. Time to make sense of all the feelings she’s been bottling up for all this time. And most of all, it’s time to discover why Jack has sent her tape back to her now, after all these years…

With her mantra, ‘New life, New job, New home’, playing on a continuous loop in her head, Amy gears herself up with yet another bucket-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest...


The coffee shop that features most within Another Cup of Coffee is Pickwicks, a tucked away cafe in Richmond, run by the ever bubbly Peggy, and her husband Scott. It is there that, newly arrived in London from Scotland, Amy Crane finds a refuge from her troubles, a temporary job, a possible future, and a potential friend in Kit.




In my latest work in progress (which should be out in Summer 2015), Amy, Jack, Kit and the Pickwicks crew are all five years older. Life has dealt them each a life changing situation to overcome- all of which should (if things go to plan), lead to the chance to celebrate...

Of course, until I have consumed a great deal more coffee myself, and written at least another 80,000 words, the Pickwicks regulars won’t be getting anyway near that glass of champagne!!

If you’d like to read Another Cup of Coffee, you can buy it from all good bookshops, as well as from Amazon UK and Amazon US




Many thanks to Jennifer for letting me stop by today,

Happy reading,

Jenny xx



Bio-

Jenny Kane is the author the contemporary novel Romancing Robin Hood (Accent Press, 2014), the best selling contemporary romance novel Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), and its novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), and Christmas in the Cotswolds (Accent, 2014).

Jenny’s third full length romance novel, Abi’s House, will be released in early 2015.

Jenny is also the author of quirky children’s picture books There’s a Cow in the Flat (Hushpuppy, 2014) and Joe’s Letter (Coming soon from Hushpuppy)

Keep your eye on Jenny’s blog at www.jennykane.co.uk for more details.

Twitter- @JennyKaneAuthor

Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRomance?ref=hl 

Jenny also writes erotica as Kay Jaybee.

If you would like to appear here on the blog via a guest post, email me at jenniferjoycewrites@gmail.com

More details here

Book Crafts: Stationery Pot

 

 

One book proof. One year. What can I make?

 

Stationery Pot

 

Like any normal (ahem) stationery-obsessed person, I have a lot of pens and markers and scissors and - well, you get the picture. So, as I am also pretty bookish, I decided to make a book-themed stationery pot for my desk.

 

 

 

It was really easy to make (and all those years of watching Art Attack has paid off. Thanks, Neil). I washed and dried an empty tin and covered it in sections of book using Art Attack paste (or PVA glue and water if you've never watched Art Attack). Then all I had to do was leave it to dry and then fill it with stationery! I'm pretty sure I should have bought more for the occasion though...

 

 

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