Category: Great reads

Book Chat with Val Penny

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment on Book Chat with Val Penny

I’m delighted to welcome Val Penny back to my blog as my first guest in a new series of author interviews. Picture two writers having a cosy chat in a bar on the Royal Mile in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle…

Hello Val

I am so happy to join you on your blog today, Rosie. Thank you for hosting me.

You’re very welcome. Please start by telling me about your new book.

My new book is to be published on 6 March by SpellBound Books. The title is The First Cut and is the first book in my new series of Jane Renwick Crime Thrillers. It is about why Jane’s difficult childhood helps a series of murders to be solved.

What part of the writing process do you enjoy the most?

I most enjoy planning the stories and novels, deciding what difficult circumstances I can devise for my characters and how to resolve the issues I throw at them.

Where do you do your writing?

I enjoy writing while sitting cross legged on a large, comfortable chair with my computer balanced on my lap. Idiosyncratic? Yes. But then, I am a writer.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block, and if you do, what’s your cure?

I’m sure every writer suffers from writer’s block from time to time, but if writing is your job, it is a self-indulgent luxury to succumb to it. I tend to write something else, or bring my blog up to date and then return to the piece that is causing me an issue and fix the problem.

What inspired you to first put pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard, and start writing novels?

I took early retirement when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and there were times when I suffered severe side effects from my treatment. I could not go out, spend time with friends or indulge in many of my favourite hobbies, but watching daytime television got very old very fast, so I turned to reading. It was the only thing I had the energy to do and could do safely.

After a while, I got restless, but was still not well enough to do very much and I complained to my long-suffering husband about getting bored. It was then he challenged me: ‘If you know so much about what makes a good book, why don’t you write one?’ I did laugh. However, the challenge set, I have been writing police procedural crime thrillers set in Scotland ever since.

If you could pick one character from your books to meet in real life, who would it be and why?

I think it would have to be DS Jane Renwick, the main character of The First Cut. She is smart, sassy and quick-witted. She also has an extensive knowledge of fine art. I think a visit to the national Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh or The Burrell Collection in Glasgow would be fun and interesting in her company.

In a dystopian future you’re only allowed to keep one book from all the books on the shelves in your house. Which one would you choose?

Good grief! Only one? What would happen to all my other books?

If I could only keep one, it would probably be my copy of Roget’s Thesaurus. If I had pencil and paper, I could write and be sure that I used the correct words and that they were correctly spelt!

Thank you for hosting me on your blog today, Rosie. It is always lovely to chat with you.

The First Cut

It’s hard to escape a brutal past.  

A vicious killer is on the loose and victims include an academic and members of Edinburgh’s high society.  

DS Jane Renwick is banished to the side-lines of the case and forced to look on impotently when the hunt for the killer ramps up, because the Murder Investigation Team finds out that the killer is her relative.  

Has someone from Jane’s birth family returned to haunt her? Is one of her relatives be involved? Where will the killer strike next?  

This gripping police procedural is set in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  

The exciting novel is the first in Val Penny’s new series of Scottish thrillers.  

Buying link https://linktr.ee/spellboundbks

Author Bio

Val Penny has an Llb degree from the University of Edinburgh and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store.  Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction books, and novels. Her novels are published by SpellBound Books Ltd.  

Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud and lives with her husband and their cat.  

 Many thanks to Val for joining me.

The Book by my Bedside

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment on The Book by my Bedside

I’m starting my first blog post of the year with a resolution and a new feature – a book review. I’m a member of quite a few Facebook groups where the one question that pops up every December is what’s your favourite book of the year. As I find it impossible to remember anything without writing it down, one of my resolutions for 2022 is to keep notes of my bedtime reading so that I can answer the question honestly when the time comes this year.

I could do all this on the Goodreads website. I joined Goodreads long before I was a writer but keeping my virtual bookshelves up to date has fallen by the wayside. Goodreads is a useful tool for keeping track of books read, but I’m not setting any targets. I don’t want a reading challenge. I’ll read what I want, when I want to. That’s why I won’t join a book club. Having to read for anything other than pleasure is too reminiscent of studying for exams. The minute reading becomes a task it ain’t fun, no matter how intellectually enlightened I’m supposed to feel at the end of it. Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (English O’Level) left permanent scars. Old man goes to sea in a boat, catches a fish, ties fish to his boat, other fish eat his fish, he returns to port empty handed.  Did reading that book enhance my life? Not one iota. Totally pointless.

Many of the so called literary classics are far more likely to put teenagers off reading for life than instil a love of books. I do wonder who’s decreed some of these titles life enriching. Likewise, all those prestigious literary prize winners, and books listed in the Sunday papers as the “must reads before you die”.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude inexplicably falls into this category and is another book that left a permanent mark on my well-being – and not in a good way. Even worse, I read it under my own volition during my super school mom phase when it cropped up on my daughter’s US High school English syllabus and I wanted to be helpful with homework. If there’s one thing guaranteed to confuse your readers it’s to give multi-generations of the family all the same name. Just saying.

These “must read” lists are certainly not based on popular demand because talking of pointless stories, as in the ones above, we all know which author topped all the fiction charts in 2021 and is quite likely to do it again in 2022 with his latest offering.

Which brings me very swiftly onto my first book review of 2022. Yes, The Man Who Died Twice has been my bedtime reading for the first half of the month.  It’s very easy to be critical, especially as an author who was unsuccessful in finding a literary agent or publisher prepared to take on her own cosy crime featuring a feisty pensioner. Envy is a nasty thing. We all know celebrities these days only have to be able to write a shopping list and they get snapped up by a publisher, blah, blah, blah.

The trouble is I’m actually a great fan of Richard Osman on TV, I like his sense of humour. His first book, The Thursday Murder Club appeared in my Christmas stocking in 2020, and my main complaint, with my author hat on, apart from the extremely complicated plotline, was the constant head-hopping between characters – and there were an awful lot of characters to keep up with.  I’ve lost count of the number of novel writing courses/workshops/articles I’ve been on/read where wannabee authors are told not to switch points of views between characters – or at least not that many characters! Everyone in this story threw in their five pennyworth. That aside, I recognised the book for it what it was – a novel deliberately written to have mass appeal by a witty TV scriptwriter/producer, and who can blame him for trying. The Marketing Department at Penguin must have been rubbing their hands with glee when the manuscript landed on their desk.

Back to my review. Basically, for anyone who has been shut in a cupboard for the last few months, The Man Who Died Twice picks up where the first caper left off, four diverse pensioners in a swanky senior living village, setting out to solve a crime – in this case involving M15 and some stolen diamonds. It’s all very implausible, quintessentially British, and just like the first book, it has all the hallmarks of effortlessly transferring onto the silver screen with Dame Judi Dench and Penelope Wilton tucking into their sandwiches as they take the mini-bus into town to catch a Mafia boss.

Perhaps because I was used to the writing style and I knew the characters and accepted their flaws (although I still find Joyce extremely annoying) I preferred this story to the first. If you’re after intellectual self-improvement, forget it. This is not the book for you. But if you’re up for a lightweight romp through the Home counties, are happy with short snappy chapters, can overlook the ridiculous plotline, and keep track of all the characters and their histories…you’ll probably be well satisfied.

A 3 out of 5 from me.

All’s Well That Ends Well…

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | Leave a Comment on All’s Well That Ends Well…

2021 has been a bit of a bumpy ride for all of us, and just when we thought things were getting better… the year seems to be ending as it started.

For me personally 2021 hasn’t all been doom and gloom. Along with the lows there have been highs, the biggest of which has to the publication of A Crisis at Clifftops. I proved I could do it – more to myself than anyone else, and I’m pretty proud of what I’ve achieved.  Not having had a highflying career, I don’t have a lengthy CV of professional accomplishments. Self-publishing and launching Clifftops probably comes third in my list of all-time personal triumphs, only surpassed by giving birth to my two daughters. Writing a book and sending it off into the big wide world is pretty similar to raising children. You do your best and just hope other people like them. It’s definitely a Proud Mamma moment when I see my babies altogether (and yes, the kids are pretty special too!)

Promoting my work still remains my biggest bugbear. I spent a large part of 2021 maintaining what I considered to be a chirpy social media presence with the aim of making myself more alluring to  potential readers. Of course it wasn’t enough to generate mega sales, but I exceeded my expectations and received enough good feedback to have the confidence to go ahead with a paperback version of Clifftops. I lack the mindset, skillset, stamina and patience to be a good marketeer and of course I should have been more prolific, telling my Twitter followers what I had for breakfast every day and posting artistic pictures of it on Instagram. But there’s only so many ways I can make yoghurt and berries look enticing, and none at all for a bowl of Weetabix and chopped bananas. Besides who actually cares?

What I do care about though is travel. Unlike breakfast cereal, travel is interesting, informative and enlightening. I love looking at other people’s holiday photographs and I am very happy to post up my own. With so many restrictions in place over the last twenty months opportunities to explore have been few and far between. Me & Mr T look back on our wonderful hike around the Isle of Wight as a highlight of the year, along with our road trip to Ireland. Both excursions provided scenic photo opportunities galore. 

We also just managed to squeeze in an escape to the sun before restrictions changed and spent a 10 days in Tenerife at the beginning of December. It was our first trip to Tenerife and will probably be our last. I didn’t post up an awful lot about it on social media because I didn’t find the place particularly inspiring, nor did I we have wi-fi in our hotel, which was actually a blessing in disguise because it made me realise yes I can live without Facebook 24/7, and in fact, I’ve hardly been on social media since we got back. Tenerife was good for re-charging the batteries, and although I say I didn’t find it inspiring, I did come up with a potential novel plot – Murder on the Mobility Scooter. I’ve never seen so many of the things in one place – they were everywhere, including tandems. I may send Eliza Kane off there at some point in the future to investigate a rogue tourist who takes revenge after been pushed off the pavement one too many times…

And talking of Eliza, her next adventure, The Puzzle of Pine Bay, is now pencilled in for launching in early summer 2022. Life has got in the way again and I’ve got side-tracked by other stuff. I’m also a perfectionist and I’m not going to rush something out there that I don’t think is ready. And that’s why I know self-publishing is the right route for me. I’m appalling at time management and need flexible deadlines!  

The downside of being an indie author is that slipping off the social media radar is not good for business. Ebooks sales have slumped, but that’s only to be expected when I’m not constantly maintaining online visibility. But I have found other ways and means of spreading the word which are, quite frankly, far more enjoyable. An author talk postponed from 2020 finally took place in November and if I say so myself, I went down a storm, or maybe not a storm, this was the WI after all. I went down with a polite ripple. But I sold books, and acquired another booking. I’ve also got a potential library talk on the back of my first podcast. And in case you’ve not listened to the podcast, here’s the link. http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/podcast/episode-48-rosie-travers/ Friends and family have also been doing their fair of sales on behalf, and for that I’m very grateful!

As we tick off another year, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported my writing career throughout the last twelve months and to all those guests who joined me on the blog to talk about the locations which inspired their own writing. March to November was pretty full on working on and promoting Clifftops, and I’ll be continuing my social media break into the new year. I’m looking forward to polishing off Eliza Kane’s next adventure, and wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2022.

Me & Mr T after one too many Christmas sherries!

In the Spotlight – Lizzie Chantree

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Today, I’d like turn the spotlight on international best-selling author Lizzie Chantree. I’m always happy to share exciting book news, and Lizzie’s eighth novel, The Woman Who Felt Invisible, is published this week. I first me Lizzie back in 2018 when we had books with the same publisher. Lizzie is a prolific and inspirational writer, totally supportive to her fellow authors and always willing to hand out help and advice. She’s very active on social media and I’m totally in awe of her commitment and energy!

Lizzie started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now works as a business mentor and runs a popular networking hour on social media, where creatives can support to each other. Unsurprisingly, Lizzie writes stories about about women with unusual and adventurous businesses, who are far stronger than they realise. Her novels are full of friendship and laughter. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex.

Her new book, The Woman Who Felt Invisible, is an exciting, romantic story of love and new beginnings. Learning to love herself and be content on her own is the first step. But will Olivia be able to leave her past behind, follow her heart and find lasting happiness?

Blurb

Working as a stationery supervisor and a sitter to a pair of internet famous, delinquent dogs, wasn’t how former cyber-specialist, Olivia, imagined her life turning out.  Working in a tiny cubicle with a decrepit computer and being overlooked had suited her for a while, but now she’s fed up, lonely and determined to make the world ‘see’ her again. Old school friend, Darius, wants to fill Olivia’s days with romance, but their love of technology has taken them on very different paths. Gorgeous undercover policeman Gabe, is steadfast in finding out if Olivia was part of an online scam, but something doesn’t feel right and he suspects someone else was manipulating her life. 

Can love blossom from the most deceptive of starts? And can someone who feels lost, find a way to flourish against all odds?

Excerpt

This was it. This was Olivia Tenby’s life, now. This was how low she had come. At the age of forty-one, she was sweating her guts out in a house that felt like a furnace, babysitting two delinquent Labradoodle dogs called Bertie and Belle, while their owners swanned around getting even richer somewhere else. Wiping her palms across her face, feeling glad she’d discarded her top so that she couldn’t drip on it, she pressed a button. Music blared out of speakers set into the ceiling. This house had everything – lights that came on when you spoke to them, a vacuum cleaner that tripped you over while it scurried along the floor of its own accord, and a fridge that dispensed perfectly shaped ice cubes into crystal glasses.

Olivia looked around furtively for a moment, and then laughed and decided to go for it. Her job as dog sitter extraordinaire had begun two weeks ago. She’d been told to entertain the excitable animals in any way she could think of, as they were naughty and destroyed everything while the owners were out – which they always were. Olivia hadn’t even met them, which was baffling. They left her notes with instructions on how to stop the dogs eating the walls and making a mess of the thick pile carpets. She actually quite liked the job, it was as easy as walking in a straight line. Then she thought about how wobbly she always was after three vodka and cokes, and quickly pushed that picture aside. The dogs were bored and, although her job included giving the house a cursory swipe with a duster, it was always immaculate when she arrived. Something was a bit weird, though, as the place was incredibly hot. The dogs liked to slobber all over her, making her even hotter. So she’d taken to stripping off as soon as she sat down with the pooches, otherwise she’d probably pass out and be found weeks later, mummified in dog hair.

Book links: Lizzie Chantree.

Universal book buy link: The little ice cream shop: viewbook.at/IceCreamShopByTheSea

Universal book buy link: Networking for writers: viewbook.at/NetworkingForWriters

Universal book buy link: If you love me, I’m yours: viewbook.at/IfYouLoveMe-ImYours

Universal book buy link: Ninja School Mum: viewbook.at/NinjaSchoolMumRomance

Universal book buy link: Babe Driven: viewbook.at/BabeDriven

Universal book buy link: Love’s Child: viewBook.at/Amazon-LovesChild

Universal book buy link: Finding Gina: viewbook.at/FindingGina

Shh… It’s Our Secret: https://www.bhcpress.com/Books_Chantree_Shh_Its_Our_Secret.html
The woman who felt invisible: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09J98F32J

Social media links:

Website: www.lizziechantree.com

Author page: https://www.viewAuthor.at/LizzieChantree

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizzieChantree/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7391757.Lizzie_Chantree

Wishing Lizzie every success with her new book!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_chantree/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LizzieChantree/pins/

FB Groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/647115202160536/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lizzie-chantree

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lizziechantreeauthor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnCop-RlAcGqggZG3JfE-Mw

On Location with Rachel Brimble

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | 2 Comments on On Location with Rachel Brimble

It’s season finale time – and we’re staying in the West Country for our last On Location post of the year. I’m delighted to welcome author Rachel Brimble as my guest to talk about the beautiful city of Bath, the setting for her series of Regency novels.

I was born and bred in the maritime city of Bristol but, in 2001, my husband and I moved to a small market town just a short 30-minute drive from Bath, along with our eldest daughter who was two at the time and our youngest daughter who was happily cooking away in my belly!

Back then, writing was little more than a pipedream that I’d harboured for as long as I can remember but, once we were living so close to Bath it quickly became my one of favourite places to visit and all sorts of story ideas began to float around in my mind.

Not that I did anything about them until a few years to later – I didn’t start writing properly until my youngest started school full-time in 2005. As a voracious reader of historical fiction and romance, as well as an avid watcher of each and every period drama that might grace our TV screens, to be so close to where so many famous scenes have been filmed is a constant thrill.

Bath has been used for BBC adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, not to mention films such as The Duchess starring Kiera Knightley and Vanity Fair starring Reese Witherspoon. Most recently, of course, it was used in season 1 of the fabulously successful Bridgerton.

One of my favourite places to visit is No 1 Royal Crescent which is open to the public for most of the year. Each room, it fantastic staircase, kitchens and small yard have all been retained as they might have looked during mid-late eighteenth century. I especially enjoy visiting when I am in the process of plotting a new series which I plan to set in Bath. This house has been used several times in my different books albeit in different guises!

Other famous Bath landmarks I have used in my books include Pulteney Bridge, Parade Gardens, Victoria Park, Sally Lunn’s Eating House, the Assembly Rooms, the Pump room and many of the pubs dotted around the city, some of which date back to early fourteenth century. The city is an absolute godsend to me and my work!

Every September (if circumstances allow), Bath hosts the Jane Austen festival will draws Janeites (devotees of Jane Austen) from all over the world. The events I have attended over the years have always been fantastic and vary from tours around the city, to balls, to regency markets and palm-reading. It’s two weeks of Jane Austen and Regency fun which culminates in the grand Regency Parade where hundred of people snake through the city side by side. Actors and the public dress up in Regency costume, including military uniforms, day dresses, ball gowns and clerical dress. It’s a wonderful sight to see and a date for next year’s diary for any Jane Austen fans!

So far, all of my historicals have been set in Bath and Pennington’s department store, which is the focus of the Shop Girl series, was inspired by Jolly’s on Bath’s famous Milsom Street… although Pennington’s is probably five times the size!

As for other real-life places which feature in my latest series, The Ladies of Carson Street, there are too many mentioned in their real or fictional guises to list them all, but Carson Street itself was ignited in my imagination by North Parade, a beautiful row of Georgian townhouses opposite Parade Gardens.

Bath is wonderful and I feel blessed to live so very close and be able to visit whenever I want…

Books 1 & 2 in the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy are available now with book 3 due for release in February 2022. Here are the buy links for A Widow’s Vow and Trouble For The Leading Lady.

mybook.to/widowsvow

mybook.to/leadinglady

You can find out more about Rachel and her writing at https://www.rachelbrimble.com

Many thanks to Rachel for taking part. I’ve visited Bath many times and it has to be one of my favourite cities in the UK. It’s a great way to end the series and I hope everyone has enjoyed reading about the locations I’ve featured over the summer. Hopefully you feel inspired to visit some of these amazing places, even if it’s just through the pages of a book!

On Location with Isabella May

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From Sydney to Scotland, I hope everyone is enjoying our series of armchair travel adventures. I’m delighted to welcome author Isabella May as my guest this week, and although Isabella lives in Spain, we’re actually staying quite close to home to explore her favourite location!

When you have spent toddlerhood through to your late twenties living in (arguably) England’s most mystical town – and you’re an author – it’s impossible not to feature said location in your books.

Glastonbury.

It’s a word that’s become rather iconic for mud, wellies, and Kate Moss et al posing for Hello! Magazine whilst glamping it up watching the biggest indie musicians in the world. But there’s so much more to my hometown than June’s annual music festival. In fact, the Glastonbury that most outsiders *think* they know, is actually Pilton; a village almost 7 miles away from the real town!

It’s fair to say that the ley lines and the quirkiness of the true Glastonbury have shaped every aspect of my creativity. Yet, for all its fame, Glastonbury rarely features in mainstream fiction. I may not be published with one of the Top Five, and I may not write formulaic commercial romcoms, but I am passionate about shining a spotlight on my former home, whenever a storyline permits. Glastonbury’s push and pull, its magnetism for lost souls and reinvention, and its hedonistic vibe make it impossible not to.

But there are layers to Glastonbury.

Beneath all of the cloaks, wands, crystals and mandalas, generations of farming folk and townspeople are rooted here to the town’s clay-rich earth. All of which makes for the ultimate story: a community steeped in the tradition of the land mingling with those in search of deeper meaning, fused with the generations of partygoers and the plain old eccentric. Glastonbury is a hotspot for plotting and character development. How can a storyline not take shape here?

My first novel, ‘Oh! What a Pavlova’, looks at Glastonbury from an unconventional point of view; that of a successful professional young woman called Kate, who feels trapped there in the confines of comfort zone life – and an abusive relationship – when she is not traveling the world with her career. All she wants to do is escape the place and the limitations it has unwittingly put on her. It’s been fascinating to contrast that writing experience with my second novel, ‘The Cocktail Bar’, where we see rockstar, River Jackson, pine for his hometown so much that he returns there from his South American music tour (much to the disdain of the cider drinking locals and the hash-loving hippies) to open a cocktail bar!

In other novels in my backlist, I’ve simply made mention of Glastonbury here and there, until I wrote ‘The Cake Fairies’; a timeslip romcom that sees professional bakers, Polly and Annabelle, visiting the town’s local Tor fair, where they meet a fortune teller who transports them from 1969 to 2019… an act which feels totally ‘Normal for Glastonbury’, to quote the name of the town’s infamous blog, penned by the wonderful Vicki Steward.

Side note: Vicki has written a fantastically witty book about the town and I simply have to include a link to it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Normal-Glastonbury-Life-Englands-Magical/dp/B091F8PKVJ/

Moving on to the second of my 2020 novels, ‘The Chocolate Box’, we see an unlikely workplace reunion of former private school pupils from the town’s fancy school; a fate sealed with a Jumanji-style box of chocolates…

And in 2021, Glastonbury has provided me with just as much inspiration as ever! ‘Bubblegum and Blazers’ was published in June, and is a romcom set on a reality TV show (which I may have based in my former secondary school, wink, wink). That book was a delight to write and really helped me escape during the toughest months of the pandemic. Then in September this year, B&B was joined by ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bar’ where we witness the return of River Jackson from ‘The Cocktail Bar’… and this time he’s back to run a retro VW camper van selling decadent hot chocolate and gingerbread biscuits in Glastonbury and the surrounding villages – as you do.

Whilst my current manuscript focuses on Weston-super-Mare and the Algarve (and copious amounts of gourmet custard tarts), and book 10 will be set in sunny Spain, where I currently live, there’s no doubt the carrot dangle of Glastonbury will prove impossible to resist for long…

In the meantime, I’d love to see it represented more accurately in bestselling fiction. As I have hinted above, it’s not just the beauty of the Tor, the Abbey, the Chalice Well, the Holy Thorn, and Gog and Magog that deserve our attention, but the real people of Glastonbury. These everyday characters do more than flit in and out for a weekend of mud, music, and magic mushrooms, they are the town’s beating heart, and they are brimming with stories to share with bookworms far and wide.

You can buy Isabella’s latest release, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bar’ here:

mybook.to/twinkletwinklelittleb

About Isabella

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. Having grown up on Glastonbury’s ley lines however, she’s unable to completely shake off her spiritual inner child, and is a Law of Attraction fanatic, as well as a Pranic Healer.

After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!

All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her cross-genre novels, fused with a dollop of romcom, and a sprinkle of magical realism.

You can follow her Foodie Romance Journey series at the following hang-outs:

www.isabellamayauthor.com

Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/@IsabellaMayBks

Instagram – @isabella_may_author

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMayAuthor/

Many thanks to Isabella for taking part – aren’t her book covers just mouth-wateringly gorgeous? Me and Mr T spent our brief honeymoon staying in Wookey, just a few miles outside Glastonbury, and we’ve visited the town many times since. It holds a very special place in our hearts too.

On Location with Margaret Amatt

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With its dramatic and diverse landscape, Scotland has always been a popular location when it comes to art and literature. We’re in for another travel treat this week as author Margaret Amatt tells us about the Scottish island which captured her imagination and provided the inspiration for her writing.

My book series, Scottish Island Escapes, is set on the glorious Hebridean Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland. This has been one of my favourite holiday destinations over the years and I’ve visited it in every season. Each visit has provided me with happy memories, gorgeous views and lots of inspiration!

It was twenty years ago, in 2001, I first travelled to the island, just for a weekend as I was gate-crashing my sister’s island-hopping trip. The two of us were young and carefree and booked a B&B for the night in a place called Fionnphort. As children we’d spent many a summer on another Scottish island, the Isle of Bute. Now, Bute is a fairly small island. You can drive around the whole thing in less than an hour. Mull is not! Mull is the fourth largest island in Britain and the roads are almost all single-track. It takes a looong time to get around. Neither my sister or I realised this and hadn’t bothered to read a map! It took us over an hour to reach the B&B from the ferry, more than double the time we’d imagined.

The shock of discovering just how big a place it was however vanished in the utterly jaw-dropping scenery. Around every twist on the road (and there are plenty of them!), was another view: a splendid mountain, a sparkling loch, a pretty woodland or the sea. And what a sea. All around Mull and its neighbouring Isle of Iona, the ocean is a glorious turquoise colour, sometimes resembling the Mediterranean more than Britain!

That was my first trip and I only touched on a small part of the island. I made a note to return and explore more. Since then, I’ve been back to the island almost every year and often more than once. I’ve travelled there in all weathers, including a memorable new year spent in the Island’s main town of Tobermory. Mull is a photographers’ paradise. There’s barely a place on the island that isn’t a beauty spot. Some trips, I’ve stopped the car every few seconds to snap pictures from the road of passing scenery I can’t bear to miss!

For many years, I was a closet writer and wrote only for myself. All my early work falls into that category and I wouldn’t want it to be anything else. What it meant however was that when I came to publishing my books, I had already written several works. During 2019 was when the dream started coming together for real. I had a story in my head that had been with me ever since my first trip to Mull. I’d only been a gate-crasher on that trip, and when my sister carried on her tour of the islands, I took public transport back home. That trip alone included a somewhat eventful bus trip, but that’s another story. Since then however, I’d wondered how someone from a totally different place would react to living on an island. I’m Scottish born and bred, so single-track roads and crazy weather don’t faze me too much. But what if someone from London, say, had to go to Mull, and even worse had to use public transport? What if they, like me, hadn’t investigated the size of the place, or didn’t realise buses could only get you so far. The more I visited mull the more potential for stories built in my imagination.

The original book I set on the island used the storyline I mentioned above, but as I wrote it, it evolved in my mind and I realised there was so much more than just one story here. I shook things up and decided to make a series of five books. The series called Scottish Island Escapes was born. There’s a book for every season plus a Christmas one due out this October. The original book became book four, An Autumn Hideaway. The lead character comes to Mull seeking her estranged mother but instead she meets a grumpy and enigmatic local who isn’t impressed with her lack of basic planning skills. As the story evolves, they form an unlikely bond, making it all the more difficult for her to leave when her time on the island is up. Let’s hope she finds her happy ending on the gorgeous Isle of Mull with rainbows around every corner.

I’m planning to continue the series next year and with so much inspiration to draw from, I’ll be spoiled for choice. Because it’s a place so special to me, I’ve written in a lot of real villages, beaches and features, but invented the names of houses, hotels, farms etc. This has made a lot of my readers want to visit Mull themselves! Even my editor thinks I should be on commission from the local tourist board – an interesting idea! If you’re inspired to read the series or are curious to find out more please follow this link:

www.margaretamatt.com/linktree

About Margaret Amatt

Margaret Amatt is a Scottish author based in Highland Perthshire. She lives with her husband and young son in a beautiful glen surrounded by woods, hills and wildlife, and close to the River Tay.

Margaret has four published books and more in the pipeline. She has also won a short story writing competition at Pitlochry Festival Theatre and had her winning piece performed live in the auditorium.

For more information please visit.

www.margaretamatt.com

or sign up for Margaret’s newsletter at:

https://www.margaretamatt.com/subscribe

Blurb for An Autumn Hideaway

She went looking for someone, but it wasn’t him.

After a string of disappointments for chirpy city girl Autumn Elworthy, discovering her notoriously unstable mother has run off again is the last straw. When Autumn learns her mother’s last known whereabouts was a remote Scottish Island, she makes the rash decision to go searching for her.

Taciturn islander Richard Linden has his reasons for choosing the remote Isle of Mull as home. He’s on a deadline and doesn’t need any complications or company. But everything changes after a chance encounter with Autumn.

Autumn chips away at Richard’s reserve until his carefully constructed walls start to crumble. But Autumn’s just a passing visitor and Richard has no plans to leave. Will they realise, before it’s too late, that what they’ve been searching for isn’t necessarily what’s missing?

Buying link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B095289PRN/

Many thanks to Margaret for taking part and sharing her gorgeous pictures. Margaret definitely should be working for the island tourist board – although I’d just like to point out that Mr T and me still have nightmares about driving around those roads in Mull after our road trip to Scotland last year!

On Location with Lynne Shelby

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | 3 Comments on On Location with Lynne Shelby

Continuing our armchair travels, this week we’re heading off for some well-deserved sunshine with my special guest Lynne Shelby.

I never know what’s going to inspire me to write a book. Very often it’s an overheard conversation on a bus or train, or a photograph, but with my new novel, Love On Location, it was the location – a Greek island – that inspired me before I had any ideas about the characters or plot.

I was on holiday on the island of Kefalonia when I knew that I simply had to write a book set in beautiful Greece. The off-the-beaten-track place where I was staying consisted of just a few typically Greek sugar-cube-style villas, each with its own turquoise swimming pool. Right next to a small rocky beach, with nothing to see along the coast in either direction, and reached by a dirt road, it was like a picture postcard. There was even a wooden table at the top of the beach, under an awning of palm leaves, which became my writing room, and sitting there, looking out over the impossibly blue Aegean to the horizon where the sea merged into the sky in a haze of heat, the outline of the story that eventually became Love On Location, began to take shape. When my heroine, Laurel, a screenwriter, and my hero, Jason, join a film crew on location in Greece, they stay in a villa very much like the one I stayed in, and Laurel writes her film script at the same table shaded by palm leaves where I started jotting down ideas about her story. 

The other island that inspired the location of the book is Santorini, another incredibly beautiful place, famous for its views over a sea-filled caldera, the remnants of a volcano that erupted three thousand years ago and gave the island its crescent shape. The first time I visited was on a cruise, with just one day ashore, but I found the landscape of sheer cliffs plunging into the sea absolutely stunning. A few years later, on an island-hopping holiday, I visited Santorini again and had more time to explore. When I came to write Love On Location, I wanted Laurel and Jason to see the same picturesque villages of white houses with blue shutters at the windows and cobbled streets, and the views of the caldera that I’d found so breath-taking. The island is also famous for its gorgeous sunsets, and watching the huge orange globe of the sun sink into the sea from a cliff-top village, I couldn’t help but think how I might write this romantic scene into a book. Santorini also has some fascinating ancient ruins – the remains of the city of Akrotiri – and a visit there inspired me to make my hero, Jason, an archeologist who is just as passionate about his work as Laurel is about the movies.

When it came to writing the first draft and choosing the island that would be the setting for Love On Location, I couldn’t decide between Kefalonia and Santorini, as both had places that were ideal for certain scenes in the book, but neither had everything I needed. In the end, I merged the two islands into the fictional Kyros. Not that anyone needs the excuse of research to visit the Greece, but after I’d written the book, I took another trip to Santorini, to remind myself of small details about the Greek islands that I might have forgotten, and the sounds and scents that do so much to create a sense of place.

I hope that in Love On Location, although Kyros is fictional, I’ve managed to convey the real atmosphere of an idyllic Greek island.

About Love On Location

When Laurel Martin is hired to rewrite the script for a new timeslip movie, she expects the historical advisor hired by the studio to be an elderly academic who won’t interfere too much with her writing. But when she meets Professor Jason Harding, a young and unexpectedly handsome archaeologist who has his own ideas about the script, she realises the job isn’t going to be as simple as she first thought.

As their work takes them from arguing over historical details in a cramped London office to discovering the hidden beauties of a Greek island, Laurel and Jason’s relationship starts to echo the romance of their script.

Will movie magic lead to a real-life love story?

Buy Link

Amazon.co.uk: Lynne Shelby: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle

Website: www.lynneshelby.com

Twitter: @LynneB1

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LynneShelbyWriter

Instagram: lynneshelbywriter

Author Biog

Lynne Shelby writes contemporary women’s fiction/romance. She was first published when her debut novel, ‘French Kissing’ won a national writing competition. She has done a variety of jobs from stable girl to child actor’s chaperone to legal administrator, but now writes full time. When not writing or reading, Lynne enjoys visiting the theatre or exploring a foreign city, writer’s notebook, camera and sketchbook in hand. She lives in London with her husband, and has three adult children who live nearby.

Many thanks to Lynne for taking part and for giving us a taste of Greece. I think it would be hard NOT to be inspired by those wonderful views, and I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing I was there right now!

On Location with Natalie Normann

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | 1 Comment on On Location with Natalie Normann

After all the excitement of my book launch (which was very successful, thank you for asking), I’m very happy to put my feet up this week. Continuing my series of literary travelblogs, I’m delighted to welcome Scandanavian author Natalie Normann who takes us on a journey to her native Norway.

Where I go to be inspired

When my dream to write in English suddenly appeared (it did), I panicked. I had a wonderful editor, a contract for two books and the brief was to write contemporary romance from Norway.

Honestly, there was really only place that would do. My hometown. I love my memories of growing up there, and wanted to see if I could capture that in a story.  Most of my writing career I had avoided it, thinking it would be to small, to local, to far away from everything.

I grew up in Haugesund, a small, but historically important, town on the west-coast. It was called ‘the most isolated town’ in the country, because it’s stuck between two long fjords and a mountain plateau. The easiest way to travel anywhere was by boat.

When I was a teenager, the only interesting thing in town was the library. I knew there was history, but there was no drama, no romance, nothing that caugth my interest. And that was despite the Viking history of the area …

Growing up, I thought Haugesund was all about fish and ships, then oil and oil platforms, cannery factories, herring oil factories (and the horribly smell that came from them). None of it caught my imagination. I didn’t like herring (still don’t), I couldn’t go to sea because I was a girl, and working in the oil industry was for people who liked maths and had a lot more practical abilities than I ever had.

So, shortly before I turned 18, I was off to Uni in Oslo. I was going to study literature, become a proper writer, and never write about my hometown. I achieved the first two, and failed splendidly with the third. My first book was set in Hamburg, the next books were all set in Oslo.

And then I started writing historical romance series, and discovered how interesting and fascinating the history of a small shipping town can be – when you start digging through the local history, getting to know the people who lived there, how they lived – I also discovered how important this little strip of land had been way back when the Vikings roamed the shore.

I’ve asked myself why I find writing about my town so fascinating. I haven’t lived there for many years, but I do think the place a person grows up, imprints on you. It becomes a part of your voice when you write. If you let it.

When I write, I try to use everything that I love about the landscape, but also the history and the people. I don’t write about actual people, but there’s inspiration there too.  Norway used to be a place of hardship, with poverty and nothing much to show for your efforts. It’s changed now, of course, but the culture is still there. And when I do research, I find inspiration in the people I meet from the past. Maybe writers are ghosthunters who don’t kill ghosts, but write about them instead.

Which is why Summer Island and Christmas Island are both set on a small island just outside of my hometown. I loved exploring memories of trips to islands, of the weather, the stunning landscape and all the quirky characters I know are there. Even in real life.

Also, I had so much fun in making Nordic less Noir. Yes, the winters are bleak and cold, but they are so much more than that. And the summers are glorious, even if the water is can be so, so cold.

 About Natalie 

Natalie Normann grew up in a small shipping town on the west-coast in Norway. She wanted to be a writer as soon as she realised that books were written by real people. Her debut novel was published in Norwegian in 1995. Since 2007 she has written Historical Romance in Norwegian and recently published her 66th book. Summer Island and Christmas Island are her first books in English. 

Links to social media and buy links: https://linktr.ee/NatalieNormann

Many thanks to Natalie for taking part and providing an insight into her writing. Norway has always been on my wish list of places to visit, fingers crossed I’ll be able to make it in the not too distant future!

On Location with Sharon Booth

Posted on | by Rosie Travers | 5 Comments on On Location with Sharon Booth

While I recover with my feet up after my epic hike around the Isle of Wight, I’m delighted to hand over this week’s post to author Sharon Booth. Continuing our locations theme, Sharon talks about a beautiful part of North Yorkshire which is very close to her heart.

The Whole of the Moon, my latest release, is the fourth and final book in the Kearton Bay series. Kearton Bay is a fictional village on the North Yorkshire coast, but it’s strongly inspired by the real-life village of Robin Hood’s Bay, just a few miles south of Whitby.

Robin Hood’s Bay was somewhere I discovered when I was fourteen and staying in a holiday cottage near Whitby with my parents and siblings. I was enchanted by this pretty village, with its twisty cobbled streets, narrow passageways, chocolate box cottages and gurgling beck.

The stone or whitewashed walls and red roofs of the buildings are a stunning sight to behold as you gaze down the steep hill which leads to the seafront. It’s a beautiful walk down to the beach — not so great when you’re struggling back up, though!

Robin Hood’s Bay has a long history of smuggling, and it’s rumoured that a bale of silk could get from the beach to the top of the hill without ever seeing daylight, thanks to the secret passages and tunnels beneath the houses. It was bound to stir my imagination.

In the third book in the series, Once Upon a Long Ago, I used those passages and tunnels as part of the story. It was set around the beautiful Elizabethan Kearton Hall, but I’ll admit that the real-life inspiration for that house comes from Burton Agnes Hall, which is actually near Driffield, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It’s one of my favourite stately homes, and I visited it lots of times to get a good idea of the layout and figure out where the entrance to the secret passage would be.

Kearton Bay is one of several fictional towns and villages I’ve created in that part of North Yorkshire, which make up my book world. Places like the market town of Helmston (which is based on Helmsley), Moreton Cross, Bramblewick and Farthingdale are also mentioned in the books, and they’ve featured in other series, too. In Saving Mr Scrooge, one of my Moorland Heroes books, for example, the heroine lives in Moreton Cross and the hero in Farthingdale. Bramblewick spawned an entire series of its own.

I refer regularly to Whitby and York, as I feel that anchors my fictional settings in the real world, and makes it easier for readers to imagine where my characters live and what sort of landscape they work in.

The heroine of The Whole of the Moon, Rhiannon, lives in The Hare and Moon pub, which stands on the seafront of Kearton Bay. It’s an old, whitewashed inn, with a red roof and stunning views over the North Sea. In real life, there’s a pub which stands on the very same spot, though it’s not as old as The Hare and Moon, as it started life in 1828 as The New Inn. Today it’s called The Bay Hotel and marks the end point of Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay.

I love it when readers recognise Robin Hood’s Bay from the descriptions in my books. I don’t work for the tourist board, and I’m not on commission, I swear, but I would recommend a trip to this picturesque spot on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s absolutely beautiful and I love it — even more so now I picture it as the home of my characters. When I visit these days, I can’t help but look out for a glimpse of Rhiannon, Rose, Eliza or Lexi. We can but dream!

Author Bio

Sharon Booth writes uplifting fiction with a touch of magic. Happy endings are guaranteed for her main characters, though she likes to make them work for it.
Sharon is a member of the Society of Authors, the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and an Authorpreneur member of the Alliance of Independent Authors.
She loves Doctor Who, Cary Grant movies, hares, and horses – not necessarily in that order.
Sharon grew up in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and the Yorkshire coast and countryside feature strongly in her novels.

Her stories are set in pretty villages and quirky market towns, by the sea or in the countryside, and feature lots of humour, romance, and friendship. If you love gorgeous, kind heroes, and heroines who have far more important things on their minds than buying shoes, you’ll love her books.

For all Sharon’s latest news sign up to her newsletter. All subscribers get a free and exclusive novella, and there’s a chance to win a prize every month!

Sharon now has a readers’ group on Facebook where readers of her books are very welcome to chat to her and to each other.

You can visit her website for information, or find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as other social media sites. For all links visit:

https://linktr.ee/sharonboothwriter

You can buy The Whole of the Moon at https://getbook.at/kb4

Many thanks to Sharon for taking part. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit Robin’s Hoods Bay and Whitby for the first time a couple of years ago and it really is a spectacular part of the country. Sharon’s post has definitely whetted my appetite for a return visit.