Wednesday 27 April 2016

REVIEW

Summer Nights at The Moonlight Hotel
by
Jane Costello



Review

I have read every one of Jane Costello’s books and always eagerly await the publication of the next one and so as soon as I received a copy of this I couldn’t wait to get stuck in! I have read some of the author’s books whilst lounging on a sun bed and have had many laugh out loud moments, but just couldn’t wait that long to read this one!!

Lauren, Cate and Emily are friends who have lived in the Lake District all their lives. As much as they love living there, they are always trying to find things to do. So when a dance class starts up in the local hotel called The Moonlight Hotel, what could possibly go wrong!

Lauren is a teacher who longs to pack her bags and go backpacking around Australia, whilst fellow teacher Edwin (who Lauren has fancied forever) is secretly planning to teach in Singapore. Will Cupid fire his arrow in their direction?

The girls love their dance class, especially when some fit guys called Joe and Will turn up! Things start to get interesting!! Emily takes a shine to Joe and Cate and Will become more than just dance partners!! Little did they all know that things were about to take a downward turn when they find out that the Moonlight hotel is to be sold – and worse still, who the new owner is!!

There was a great mix of characters in this book and I can honestly say, I liked all of them for different reasons! It never failed to disappoint with the LOL moments and I might even put my neck out to say I think this is the author’s best novel yet!!

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT! Hurry up with the next one please Jane!

* * * * *

Sunday 24 April 2016

**COVER REVEAL**

Time After Time
by
Hannah McKinnon


Another fabulous cover reveal from Avon Books UK. Love the look of this one and definitely one I want to read!. What do you think?



Hayley Cooper, a powerful but now struggling lawyer, fantasizes about what her life would be like if only if she’d made different choices. It’s understandable; the past two years have been hell. She barely sees her kids, her boss is trying to sabotage her, and her marriage is falling apart.

Burnt out, Hayley goes to sleep wishing for a different life. When she wakes up married to her first boyfriend, one she has not seen in over twenty years, she realizes there might be some truth in the saying “be careful what you wish for”. Over a single weekend, like Ebenezer Scrooge, Hayley gets to see her life on other side of the white picket fence – not just with her first ex, but with each of her past loves. But is the grass always greener, and will she ever want to go home?


Publication date 2nd June 2016


Friday 22 April 2016

The Chic Boutique on Baker Street
by
Rachel Dove
Plus
Giveaway





Genre: romantic fiction
Release Date: 21st April 2016
Publisher:  Mills & Boon

The perfect escape to the country…


Recently single and tired of the London rat race Amanda is determined to make her dreams of setting up an idyllic countryside boutique come true, and the picturesque village of Westfield is the perfect place to make a fresh start.


Local vet Ben is the golden boy of Westfield, especially to resident gossip Agatha Mayweather, who is determined to help Ben get his life back together after his wife left.

When a chance encounter outside the ‘chic boutique’ sets sparks flying between Amanda and Ben, Agatha is itching to set them up. But are Amanda and Ben really ready for romance?

The Chic Boutique on Baker Street is the debut novel from Rachel Dove, winner of The Prima Flirty Fiction Competition. You won’t be able to resist this heart-warming romantic story set in an idyllic Yorkshire village, full of lovable characters and laugh-out-loud moments…as Amanda finds her way to a second chance at life and love. This is the reading escape you’ve been looking for!


BUY LINKS



About Rachel Dove


Rachel Louise Dove is a mum of two from Yorkshire. She has always loved writing and has a had previous success as a self-published author. Rachel is the winner of the Mills & Boon Flirty Fiction competition.


Her first novel, Crossing Life Lines is out now in Kindle and paperback format.




Twitter - @WriterDove






GIVEAWAY

A £10 OR EQUIVALENT AMAZON GIFT CARD

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday 19 April 2016

Lad Lit - who'd have thought....

I must admit, when Steven Scaffardi contacted me to ask if I would like to be a part of his Lad Lit Blog Tour, I didn't know what he meant, but if you can have chick lit, then why not lad lit!! 

Join me for the first date of this massive Blog Tour and I hope you enjoy maybe your first taste of "Lad Lit"! and you can download a free e-book as well.




Guest Post.....

One month, 39 blogs, five countries, three continents and a whole host of interviews, character Q&A’s, guest blogs, book reviews and the odd giveaway – I am taking lad lit global. From London to California, Bradford to Texas, Ipswich to Montana; the #LadLitBlogTour bus will be globetrotting from as far afield as Australia then back into Europe across Scotland and The Netherlands, and it all starts here in Kent, England at Boon’s Bookcase…


“And why are you doing this?!” I hear you scream from your favourite reading armchair. Because I believe lad lit has not been given the exposure it deserves. It’s almost like a nonentity! Pop into any high street bookstore or online book retailer and you’ll find categories for horror, suspense, thriller, religion, history – there is even a bloody pets section! That means that Fido the bunny rabbit who lives in your garden even has his own reading section.


But what about Nick Hornby? Or Mike Gayle? And let’s not forget the likes of Danny Wallace, Matt Dunn, Nick Spalding and Jon Rance. I could go on!


Where do all these great writers live? Comedy maybe. Chick lit possibly. Self-help perhaps (in the cases of some men!).


No, I’ll tell you where they live – in fiction. That’s right, fiction. The place where everyone lives! Stephen King drops by when he is not staying at his luxurious holiday home in horror. Sophie Kinsella lives there while her chick lit mansion is being renovated. JK Rowling stays over whilst her Fantasy castle is being relocated to Monaco. And as all these wonderful authors come and go as they please, poor old Hornby and co can do nothing but look enviously on, knowing full well that they have a perfectly good genre that bookshelves everywhere choose to ignore. Being confined to fiction is a bit like still living with your parents – you have no independence.


Sure, I’m being a little dramatic, so let me put it another way. After you have read a Helen Fielding novel and want to read something similar, you go and check out some of her chick lit peers and read an Adele Parks book. The same when you read Robert Ludlum and progress to Jeff Abbott, or when you pick up James Herbert after reading Dean Koontz.


But where do you go after reading Matt Dunn? Did you know that there a new kid on the block called Ben Adams who has been having some pretty decent success with his first two novels? Or after zipping through Mike Gayle’s awesome collection of books, would you automatically think about picking up something by Jon Rance?


That is why I’m doing this Lad Lit Blog Tour. Lad lit is funny, it’s endearing, it’s nostalgic, it’s emotional, it’s relatable; it’s everything you could want from a good contemporary novel. And despite the name, lad lit is for both men and women. When Chick Lit Plus reviewed my debut novel The Drought they said: “Steven Scaffardi's first novel is absolutely hilarious and will leave every reader, male or female, laughing out loud.”


The frustrating thing is that most readers have not heard of lad lit. In fact, most of the book bloggers who have kindly agreed to host me on this Lad Lit Blog Tour tell me they are not familiar with the genre, yet you only need to pop along to Goodreads to see that the majority of people who have read one of my novels respond with something along the lines of ‘laugh out loud’ funny, although you will find one reviewer that called The Drought imbecilic, but you can’t please everyone all the time. Besides, it is a story about a guy trying to break his dry patch endless streak. I guess that is a little imbecilic!


But back to the point in hand! Lad lit can’t simply keep sleeping on chick lit’s couch. We have gate-crashed that party for long enough, and even though it’s a relationship that makes sense, they both need a bit of space from each other to do their own thing.


So over the next 30 days, please join me as I attempt to fly the flag for lad lit (and of course do a little bit of promotion for my Sex, Love and Dating Disasters series) and if by the end of the tour, a few more people have picked up a lad lit novel and given it a read, then my mission is complete.


Thank you for having me Julie, you’ve been a wonderful host, but just like the littlest hobo it’s time for me to keep moving on. Maybe tomorrow I’ll want to settle down – and you can find out by joining me at My Book File.



Steven Scaffardi is the author of the Sex, Love and Dating Disaster series. His first novel, The Drought, is the laugh-out-loud tale of one man's quest to overcome the throes of a sexual drought. After the stormy break-up with his girlfriend of three years, Dan Hilles is faced with the daunting task of throwing himself back into the life of a single man. With the help of his three best pals, Dan is desperate and determined to get his leg-over with hilarious consequences!


The Drought is available to download for FREE at Amazon between April 28 – May 2 or you can buy it now for 99p (eBook) or £8.99 (paperback). His second novel The Flood will be released on the Kindle on April 30 but you can pre-order a copy now for just 99p. The paperback version will be available on May 19.

Follow all of the fun on his blog tour by following him on Twitter @SteveScaffardi using the hashtag #LadLitBlogTour. More information about Steven and his books can be found on his blog.




The Flood....




One bet, four girls, eight weeks, multiple dates. What could possibly go wrong? 


Following his traumatic eight month dry spell, Dan Hilles is back in the driving seat and ready to put his dating disasters behind him.

But if only it were that simple.

After a drunken afternoon in the pub, fuelled by the confidence of alcohol, Dan makes a bet with his three best pals that will complicate his love-life more than ever when he brazenly declares that he could juggle multiple women all at the same time.

With just eight weeks to prove his point, Dan is about to find out how hard it is to date a flood of women without them all finding out about each other, especially when they come in the shape of an ex-girlfriend, a stalker, the office ice queen and the one that got away.

 The Flood is the hilarious follow-up to The Drought by lad lit author Steven Scaffardi, chronicling the adventures of unlucky-in-love Dan Hilles. Available at Amazon and all good book retailers from January 2016. 


The Drought........




Dan Hilles is a pretty regular kind of guy - regular job, regular bunch of mates, regular male aversion to shopping. But following his break-up with long-term girlfriend, Stacey, he finds himself single again. He's been out of the game for a while and is a little out of practice. Soon, the very irregular and increasingly worrying issue in Dan's life is the extended drought he finds himself suffering. And we're not talking the climate change, scorched earth, God I'm parched variety.


You've got to hand it to Dan though - it certainly isn't from a lack of trying. With stalwart mates Ollie, Jack and Rob on hand to lend their collective pearls of male wisdom and arrange the odd road trip, you'd think Dan's days of languishing in a sexual wilderness would be numbered. You'd think...


Even best friends can't help prevent the kind of surreal holes Dan just can't seem to help digging himself into. And with each failed attempt, his self-esteem plummets to the point where he wonders if 'little Dan' will ever work again.


Good job he has Kelly, his reliable and sympathetic colleague, to confide in. As a woman, she can perhaps shed some female light on why he's failing so miserably with the opposite sex, balancing out the testosterone-fuelled 'advice' from the lads. Surely Dan can't go wrong with Kelly teaching him the various intricacies of a woman's mind. You'd think...

Steven Scaffardi's first novel will have every guy laughing out loud in recognition and every girl secretly worrying - is this how men really think? A new talent to watch out for on the 'lad-lit' scene.





About the Author.........



"But a man wouldn't do or say that!" 

This was a common rant that could often be heard coming from the lips of Steven Scaffardi over the last couple of years after he was forced to endure yet another rom-com movie at the hands of his girlfriend. 

"And he definitely wouldn't turn into a vampire or a werewolf! That is just plain ridiculous!"

So after suffering yet another Matthew McConaughey chick-flick, Steven decided enough was enough and it was time to stand up for men the world over and write a book that spoke about the male perspective on relationships, and The Drought was born...

Published in September 2011, Steven's debut novel The Drought received fantastic praise for its hilarious take on how the male mind works when it comes to the opposite sex, being labelled chick-lit for men.

To help promote the book, Steven took to the open mic stand-up comedy scene in and around London in 2011, sharing his funny observations and self-deprecating humour about life as a 30-something man.

Steven is now busy working on his second novel, a follow-up to The Drought called The Flood. He is hoping to emulate the success of fellow lad-lit writers such as Mike Gayle, Danny Wallace, Nick Spalding, and the undisputed king of lad-lit, Nick Hornby.


Free e-book Giveaway.....




Monday 18 April 2016

** COVER REVEAL **

One Hot Summer
by
Kat French



Another stunning cover reveal from Avon Books and one I certainly hope I will get the chance to review! What do you think? I have heard on the grapevine that this could be her best novel yet and if it's anything like The Piano Man Project and one of my favourites Undertaking Love, I absolutely cannot wait!!



Publishes: 2nd June in PB and EB

Being married to a celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when that celebrity has a very public affair with his co-star…

Alice McBride is determined that the one thing she won't lose in her marriage breakup is Borne Manor, her beloved home, but she gets more than she bargained for when she rents it out for the summer and a sexy cowboy comes to stay.

Country music star Robinson Duff has had his own share of heartbreak and needs somewhere quiet to hide out for the summer. Neither Alice nor Robinson are in any position for romance; the timing is terrible and they're both rebounding like out of control frisbees.

Can a holiday romance help mend their broken hearts. Or will it just make things even worse when the long hot summer comes to its inevitable end?



Tuesday 12 April 2016

Perfect Weddings
 By
 Lynda Renham

Guest Review by Julie Williams


Happy publication day to Lynda Renham for her new novel Perfect Weddings! A big thank you to Julie W for guest reviewing this book. Isn't the cover fab?!




Amy Fisher, a mortician, is cruelly jilted at the church by the love of her life Greg Martin. As Greg doesn’t contact her she can only presume that the reason she was dumped is because of her weight. 

After an intense effort to lose weight with her friend Rosie, Amy comes out the other side with not only a ‘new ‘ body but also her dream career of a wedding planner and names the business Perfect Weddings  as she has now called herself Amy Perfect.

Business is booming as she has the reputation of being the best in her field that is until Amy is asked to plan Georgina Winter’s wedding whose groom just happens to be Amy’s ex Greg! 

Suddenly Amy’s usual organised, meticulous life is thrown into disarray as she tries to appease Georgie but at the same time this is one wedding she doesn’t want to be perfect.

Fun and frolics ensure more drama and laughs when new client Chardonnay requires Perfect Weddings services. She and her fiancé Gary are two characters that make this book shine. You will have to read the book to see how it all pans out and who gets their perfect weddings.


This book has it all, entertainment, laughter, love and even a sheik. Lynda Renham always produces books that make me laugh and Perfect Weddings did not disappoint. 



Many thanks Lynda for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Monday 11 April 2016

How Many Wrongs Make a Mr Right?
by
Stella Hervey Birrell

Cover Reveal 
Extract



How Many Wrongs make a Mr Right is Stella Hervey Birrell’s debut, a chick-lit-with-grit novel set in the Lake District and Edinburgh. 


Read on for an extract:

We go straight through the living room and the kitchen and out to Gerry’s little backyard. Sid is poking at the barbecue, and there’s someone sitting on the low wall with his back to us. It’s a perfect evening, the sun is low, but it’s still warm. The light is that lovely pinkish colour which makes everything look like you’ve got tinted sunglasses on. I can hear a blackbird whistling in another garden, and Sid is mocking Gerry’s barbecuing skills. But I don’t really hear what they’re saying, because the man sitting on the low wall turns round, and bloody hell. He’s drop dead gorgeous.

You know people sometimes say, ‘Well I just knew straight away, the first time I met my husband/partner etc. I just had a feeling about them.’ Well this is definitely, definitely that feeling. His presence has pushed all the air from my lungs, and my tummy does a dip thing like when you miss a step, and I feel an instant connection with this man. He’s smiling at me now, and holding out his hand.

‘Melissa, this is James,’ says Gerry, tipping me a surreptitious wink.

‘Hi, nice to meet you,’ I say. Oh my, I’m going to remember this moment for the rest of my life. This is going to be the story I will be telling our grandchildren, when they ask how I met their granddad.

‘Melissa. Melissa?’ Gerry has clearly asked me something. He looks very pleased with himself for being a top matchmaker, and everyone in the garden has noticed I can’t take my eyes off James. And I’m still shaking his hand! ‘I said, would you like a beer?’ Gerry clarifies, now openly laughing at me. I admit at this point I deserve it.



About the Author

Stella Hervey Birrell is an emerging writer of women’s fiction living in East Lothian, Scotland. She has lived in various places in Scotland and England and has had various jobs, none of which have paid particularly well. Her experience of Mr Wrongs is unparalleled, but she found a happy ending with her husband and two children, even though there appears to be a lot of laundry in ‘ever after.’

How Many Wrongs… is her first novel, and is published with Crooked Cat Books.
Stella also writes short stories, sings in a band, yells at her kids a lot and most days can hardly believe her luck.



How to find me! Please come and say ‘hi’ in one or more of these places

Twitter is @atinylife140
I can also be found wandering the streets of various East Lothian villages.



To purchase Stella’s book, please use one of the following links:

UK Amazon
US Amazon
Kobo
Nook
iBooks
Search ‘How Many Wrongs make a Mr Right?’ in the iTunes Store


Sunday 10 April 2016

COVER REVEAL

Milkshakes & Heartbreaks At The Starlight Diner
by
Helen Cox




Publishes: 4th July
Ebook only

Next time you’re in New York, take a turn off Broadway onto East Houston Street.

There, you’ll see it: The Starlight Diner. A retro eatery curious enough to delight tourists and locals alike. Fifties tunes stream out of the jukebox long into the night, and it serves the tastiest milkshakes in the five boroughs.

Esther Knight waitresses at The Starlight Diner. She’s sharp, sarcastic, and she’s hiding something. Nobody at the diner knows why she left London for New York – or why she repeatedly resists the charms of their newest regular,
actor Jack Faber.

Esther is desperate to start a new life in the land of the free, but despite the warm welcome from the close-knit diner crowd, something from her past is holding her back. Can she ever learn to love and live again?

I just LOVE this cover and really look forward to it's publication in July!

Friday 8 April 2016

The Missing
by
C.L. Taylor


You love your family. They make you feel safe. You trust them.
But should you…?
When fifteen-year-old Billy Wilkinson goes missing in the middle of the night, his mother, Claire, blames herself. She's not the only one. There isn't a single member of Billy's family that doesn't feel guilty. But the Wilkinsons are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn't until six months later, after an appeal for information goes horribly wrong, that the truth begins to surface.
Claire is sure of two things – that Billy is still alive and that her friends and family had nothing to do with his disappearance.
A mother's instinct is never wrong. Or is it?
Sometimes those closest to us are the ones with the most to hide…


Review

I loved C.L. Taylor's previous two books The Accident and The Lie and I have been waiting in anticipation to read her latest The Missing - and it didn't disappoint!

Claire Wilkinson is trying to come to terms with the disappearance of her teenage son Billy, who has been missing for six months, but the not knowing whether he is dead or alive is affecting all aspects of her life, from her relationship with her husband Mark, to her health.

Jake is Claire's other son, who is also finding it difficult to deal with Billy's disappearance and with his girlfriend Kira living with Claire and Mark, things can be very stressful and it is only a matter of time before the Wilkinson family start to suspect each other.

This is another gripping novel from the author and a real page turner. It wasn't full of suspense as in her previous novels, but that didn't make it any less addictive! It deals more with the relationships between a close family and how in times of grief and stress, you can turn against your nearest and dearest, if you have a secret to keep............

My advice as you are reading this book is "Trust no one, suspect everyone"

Sorry, but C.L. Taylor can't write quick enough for my liking!! roll on the next one!!