#UnderTheMistletoe #Lakeland voucher competition @AvonBooks

Letting you know about this fab competition run by Avon Books UK in the run up to publication of Under the Mistletoe.

ENTER HERE

And be in with a chance of winning a £100 Lakeland voucher! To enter, all you have to do is answer one simple question by Wednesday 27th October at 23:59pm. Terms and conditions apply. Good luck!

Under the Mistletoe will be published on on October 28th 2021. Don’t miss out! Preorder it here:

Preorder Under the Mistletoe in paperback

Preorder Under the Mistletoe as an ebook

Preorder Under the Mistletoe in audio

Christmas. A time for family, friends – and rekindling old flames…. 

When Laurel returns to the village of Middledip, she’s looking for a quiet life. Adjusting to her recent divorce, she’s ready to spend some time getting back on her feet amidst the glorious snow-dusted countryside.

Yet, life in Middledip is far from straightforward. Coming to the aid of her sister, Rea, as she navigates her own troubles, Laurel barely has a moment to think about where her own life is going.

However, time stands still when she sees her old flame, Grady Cassidy – and it’s soon as if they’ve never been apart. But through her happiness, Laurel remembers why she left the village all those years ago, as she recalls a dark night and Grady’s once-wayward brother, Mac….

Can Laurel learn to forgive and forget? Or will her chances of Christmas under the mistletoe with Grady remain a dream?

An enchanting, festive story, perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Carole Matthews. 

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Two weeks to publication – and everything looks different

Summer on a Sunny Island will be hitting shelves and devices in two weeks and the promo looks a little different this time. No physical launch party, radio interviews booked by phone and only virtual events. I have to say I’ve had a great time doing these virtual events with Avon Book Fest, MyVLF and Curl Up With Cathy.

I’ve also recorded a piece about Summer on a Sunny Island for Blake Friedmann, the wonderful agency that represents me, to go out to publishers in other countries. That took me nearly all morning, by the time I’d carried my laptop around the house to find the most flattering light, decided what to say, stood some of my books up in the background and applied make-up. The recording took twelve goes and I wish I’d kept the outtakes now! I swore, flapped my hands, pulled faces, groaned and banged my head on the wall.

I’ve also been invited to take part in Facebook Live events for Tamworth Book Club on May 7th at 10.00 am; with Kim Nash on 5th May at 8.00 pm and, hopefully, I’ll be on BBC Radio Northampton on publication day, 30th April about 10.30 am, even if it has to be by telephone rather than whizzing over there to join lovely Bernie Keith in his studio.

People have been so lovely in inviting me to take part in online or radio events! It gives me a glow that so many take #BeKind to heart. Readers have also asked me how they can support me and other authors while we continue to write the books that earn our livings in tricky times and when some people have diminished disposable income. Here are all the ways I can come up with:

If you know you’re going to buy a book, why not preorder it? There’s no added cost to you but it can help with print runs, selling the books into retailers and, very importantly, chart positions. You can preorder Summer on a Sunny Island here:

Summer on a Sunny Island on UK Kindle

Summer on a Sunny Island on Kobo

Summer on a Sunny Island on Apple

Summer on a Sunny Island paperback

Summer on a Sunny Island audio

Buy new books. There are often a lot of book bargains about, especially ebooks. If you prefer print, some of the supermarkets are doing great work in keeping books on shelves and keeping open. Independent or High Street book shops and online retailers are doing home delivery.

Use a subscription service. Audible or Kindle Unlimited are just two ways to access books for a monthly fee.

Borrow ebooks and audiobooks remotely at your library. Many libraries have relaxed their rules so you can join remotely now. Luckily for authors, ebooks and audiobooks loans have just been included in the Public Lending Right scheme so they’ll earn a few pence for every loan.

Review the books you read … especially if it’s a good review. (My personal rule is that if I don’t enjoy a book I don’t finish it, ergo I don’t review it. But everyone makes her or his own decision.) Authors appreciate every single review. If you want to read books slightly ahead of release you can even join Netgalley and request books in return for a review. You won’t get everything you request but that’s a book bargain if ever I heard of one!

Sign up to free author newsletters. You can click to sign up to my newsletter here. Get news of releases, offers and events or maybe the occasional competition.

Follow authors on their social channels. Share your love with friends/your book club/ your followers. Here are my social media links.

Facebook profile

Facebook author page

Twitter 

Instagram 

LinkedIn

And follow blog tours! Thanks to all the lovely book bloggers who have joined my blog tour or invited me onto their blogs. As well as the usual reviews, I’ve written special posts for Strange Tales, Lucy Literati, Being Anne, My Reading Corner, Written by S J Smith and the Heart of Romance and will reblog all those posts.

Why I’m still writing despite Covid-19 #WritingCommunity

I’ve seen quite a few authors talking on social media about whether they should be writing during the current Coronavirus outbreak. Some feel too anxious, because of what’s going on around them; others feel it’s somehow wrong.

Whether I could or should continue writing hadn’t even occurred to me as a choice so these conversations have made me question myself. Am I insensitive? Or do I bury my head in the sand and hope real life will go away?

Maybe one or both, but I don’t think my willingness to plan my summer 2021 novel while I await edits on this year’s winter novel, A Christmas Wish, is due to either of those things.

Writing and reading are my escapes. Owing to external events, I’m actually working harder than usual. My editor and most of her team are working from home to keep producing my books. If I said I couldn’t write I would be letting them down. Missing deadlines would create timetabling issues for us all in the future, as well as endangering a career it has taken decades to build. Writing’s my job. A whole lot of people are working during the Covid-19 crisis. They don’t have other options and I’m not giving myself any either … especially as my editor is an author too and has written 46k in the lockdown alongside her day job. 😊 Some people have been laid off or put on furlough and must think me fortunate to have a job I can continue.

I admit to wondering about how the publishing landscape is changing but I feel that if I write my books then maybe getting them out to readers will fall into place. It would have been much worse if I’d been writing fifty years ago with no ebook or audio to sell, no social media to allow me to talk to the world, no remote ebook or audiobook borrowing from libraries. Also, the paperback supply chain’s still working! Independent booksellers and High Street chains, as well as internet retailers, are selling online for home delivery.

I’m not able to get out to author events but there are virtual substitutes that have the bonus of being free to watch – see my Avon Book Fest event with Fiona Gibson and Lorna Cook HERE or my chat with Cathy Bramley HERE. On Wednesday 15th April at 7pm (London Time) I’ll be on MyVLF with Heidi Swain, Rachel Marks and Hayley Doyle.

Summer on a Sunny Island is available for preorder and will be published in paperback, ebook and audio on the 30th of April 2020. Whatever promo needs to be done, I’ll do it … because? It’s part of my job!

Preorder Summer on a Sunny Island here:

Summer on a Sunny Island on UK Kindle

Summer on a Sunny Island on Kobo

Summer on a Sunny Island on Apple

Summer on a Sunny Island paperback

Summer on a Sunny Island audio

 

 

 

 

North America here I come! #News

 

Super-thrilled and privileged to announce that The Christmas Promise will soon be published in paperback in Canada and the US, scheduled for release 29 October 2019.

Preorder in Canada here

Preorder for the US edition will soon appear here

I love the cover – it’s so pretty and eye-catching! If you’re a reader in North America, keep a lookout for it. And if you can send me a #shelfie, that’s even better. I’d love to see that. Thank you in advance if you can help me out.

On a snowy December evening, Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava. Sparks fly, and not necessarily the good ones.

Times are tough for Ava – she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully, and worst of all, it’s nearly Christmas.

So when Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special, she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet…

Readers LOVE The Christmas Promise – and soon you will too!

“Simply gorgeous Christmas story with a difference” Reader review

“Superb novel!” Reader review

“Perfect pre-Christmas read. I promise.” Reader review

“When a book keeps you reading until five o’clock in the morning, it’s a sure sign of a fantastic read!” Reader review

“Original, poignant, relevant and romantic.” Reader review

“A wonderful cosy Christmas read.” Reader review

I love #Norfolk

 

I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite pix from my research trip in north Norfolk last year, as the book I was conducting research for was A Summer to Remember – and, wow, it’s now almost time for the book to come out!

Top left is the gateway of All Saints Church, Thornham. I stayed at a nearby pub, The Orange Tree, and enjoyed wandering around the village. Nelson’s Bar, in A Summer to Remember, is situated between Thornham and Titchwell. I pushed them aside a little and created a headland that juts out in the salt marshes and put Nelson’s Bar on top of that.

Top centre and bottom right are shots of the vibrant seaside resort of Hunstanton, the nearest big town to Nelson’s Bar.

Top right and left centre are from Brancaster Staithe where there’s a sailing club. I had fun watching all the activity without feeling the actual urge to go out on the water myself.

Bottom centre is part of a footpath in the salt marshes near Thornham. I loved the salt marshes. Some of the grasses were taller than I am so I didn’t venture down those paths even though, to my surprise, I got a great mobile phone signal on the salt marshes! As Nelson’s Bar does not have a good mobile signal and only scant broadband, checking my phone for signal was a constant preoccupation of the trip.

I hope you like the pix. There are probably a hundred more but I just picked out a few.

A Summer to Remember will be published in paperback, ebook and audio on 2 May 2019.

 

 

Cover reveal! A Summer to Remember #ASummertoRemember @AvonBooksUK

It’s my absolute pleasure to share with you the beautifully summery cover of my next book –

 A Summer to Remember.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

A Summer to Remember will be published in paperback, ebook and audio on May 2nd 2019.

And here’s the blurb:

A Summer to Remember is available for preorder now!

#CoverReveal One Summer in Italy #excited

It’s my pleasure to reveal the LOVELY cover for One Summer in Italy! I absolutely adore it and want to rush back to Italy this very minute.

If you buy the book you will find news of a lovely opportunity in the back! Can’t tell you any more right now but … look out for it.

And here’s what happened, one summer in Italy:

When Sofia Bianchi’s father Aldo dies, it makes her stop and look at things afresh. Having been his carer for so many years, she knows it’s time for her to live her own life – and to fulfil some promises she made to Aldo in his final days.

So there’s nothing for it but to escape to Italy’s Umbrian mountains where, tucked away in a sleepy Italian village, lie plenty of family secrets waiting to be discovered. There, Sofia also finds Amy who is desperately trying to find her way in life after discovering her dad isn’t her biological father.

Sofia sets about helping Amy through this difficult time, but it’s the handsome Levi who proves to be the biggest distraction for Sofia, as her new life starts to take off …

Things I didn’t know would happen to a novelist

It’s 21 years since I sold my first short story and 13 since I sold (or my then-agent sold) my first novel but I’m still surprised – even shocked – by certain aspects of being an author. I thought I’d share some with you.

• Fresh ideas can be hard to come by, not because too many people have written about them before – but because I have!
• Likewise, character names. (If anyone ever wants to gather all my character names together in one document, please do let me know. I can help you achieve that ambition.)
• People asking for my help. I’m afraid I have to disappoint a lot of people over this one. Please see ‘Time Pressure’ below.
• People asking for charitable donations. I’m so sorry I can’t fulfil all of these requests. I try to give time as a speaker when I can but I’ve stopped donating signed books because over one-third of the donation goes straight to the Royal Mail in postage.
• Time pressure. Writing to an agreed schedule is different to writing if and when I feel like it.
• People telling me what I meant when I wrote something. It’s always interesting to hear these interpretations and compare them with my own thoughts on the subject. Sometimes I wish I had meant whatever it’s thought I meant because it makes me look brainier or more insightful than I am.
• Lovely messages on social media. These are such a privilege. Seriously. They make my heart dance and sing.
• People waiting for my next book. (Cue dancing, singing heart again.)
• Being in magazines – just me, not even my books.
• Needing patience when it comes to contracts and similar transactions. (Patience never has been my best thing.)
• My characters getting fan mail of their own. (Isn’t that awesome?)
• Occasionally needing a skin like a rhinoceros and a back like a duck. (You’re trying to draw this in your mind now, aren’t you?)
• It being perfectly legitimate to spend working hours perusing magazines or watching TV for ideas or research. Ditto travel to other countries.
• People actively wanting to help with research.
• Team Sue Moorcroft, my street team, even existing. (You can read about – and even join – the street team here.)
• Being taken out to lunch or sent gifts.
• Being asked to talk about myself. Really. And even getting paid for it.
• Being asked to read other authors’ books and supply a quote. I can’t do all of these either, for a wide variety of reasons, but it’s lovely all the same and it makes me feel better about giving to my publisher the names of other authors who might quote for my books.
• People wanting to receive my newsletter or share my posts.
• Being able to go to parties, lunches, talks and conferences in the names of education and networking.
• Being able to set my travel to/from events and cost of tickets and other relevant costs against tax.
• Thinking of a lot of ideas for blog posts around the publication of a book.
• The rush of excitement that accompanies publication.
• The heady disbelief when a book surpasses my wildest dreams (like The Christmas Promise getting to #1. The Little Village Christmas and A Christmas Gift becoming Sunday Times bestsellers. Just for the Holidays being nominated for a Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Sorry. I try and introduce these facts to conversations whenever remotely possible.)
• And receiving copies of my books, seeing the cover art and marketing plans.
• People thinking they see themselves in my characters. I try never to let this happen but maybe it’s unconscious?
• People saying they know where Middledip is. It’s on a big piece of paper in my study and that’s it, I’m afraid.
• Doing exciting research. (Helicopters, travel abroad, meeting interesting people.)
• Emails often being exciting.
• People reading my blog.

If I’ve missed out anything you have on your list, please add it in the comments!

 

Cover reveal!

Here it is! I’ve been dying to show you this for ages – the cover of Just for the Holidays.

 

 

ebook cover of Just for the Holidays to be released on 18 May 2017 (Avon, HarperCollins)

I’m thrilled with such a stunning cover.

The paperback, which will be released on the same day as the ebook, will have lots of lovely purple foil and I can’t wait to have a copy in my hands! (For those of you who like audiobooks, it, too, will be released on 18 May 2017.)

 

Here’s the blurb:

The #1 bestselling author returns for summer! Grab your sun hat, a cool glass of wine, and the only book you need on holiday…

In theory, nothing could be better than a summer spent basking in the French sun. That is, until you add in three teenagers, two love interests, one divorcing couple, and a very unexpected pregnancy.

Admittedly, this isn’t exactly the relaxing holiday Leah Beaumont was hoping for – but it’s the one she’s got. With her sister Michele’s family falling apart at the seams, it’s up to Leah to pick up the pieces and try to hold them all together.

But with a handsome helicopter pilot staying next door, Leah can’t help but think she might have a few distractions of her own to deal with…

A glorious summer read, for you to devour in one sitting – perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews and Trisha Ashley.

Whether your holidays plans this year will involve somewhere exotic or a ‘staycation’ at home, I think that Leah’s holiday will make your summer look better. You can already pre-order Just for the Holidays. Grab your sunscreen!

And for those of you who followed my adventures in a helicopter, it’s this book I was researching!

 

Hattiness is a state of mind

Since I decided to give Ava Bliss in The Christmas Promise the career of milliner I’ve taken a lot more interest in hats. Before I go further, here’s a quick summary of terms:

But, basically, Ava makes hats for people, to order, by hand. Abigail Crampton of Abigail Crampton Millinery was my research source and now she’s making a couture hat for me! A cocktail hat, very evening-y and gorgeous. I’ve had the first consultation and on Tuesday I’m visiting her studio again for a fitting. (Pause for excited shiver.) I had a wonderful time trying on Abigail’s sample hats and choosing colour, fabric, shape and decoration. I can’t wait to see the next step!

Meanwhile, the fab team at Avon Books UK sent out lots of fun DIY hat-making kits and here’s what I came up with from mine:

I can see your looks of astonished admiration from here! 🙂 (If I squint a lot.)

Tomorrow (6 October) is ebook publication day, which is mahoosively thrilling. (Trying to find synonyms for exciting.) Oh, go on then, I’ll remind you what the ebook cover looks like:

The paperback and audio book will be published on the 1st December but don’t forget that you have one exclusive opportunity to grab the paperback well ahead of publication at a special event in Nottingham:

Stock has been released to this store for this special event so why not come along and help me launch the book? I’ll be happy to sign all books purchased, of course! (A signed book makes a lovely Christmas present.) NB I will be wearing the hat Abigail makes me to the launch rather than the one I made myself …

Huge thanks to all the lovely readers who have already ordered The Christmas Promise.

If you’d like to buy, too, you can choose your favourite platform here.