Publication Day Push with an Author Guest Post: The Single Mum's Book Club by Victoria Cooke

Writing Through Lockdown

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that trying to ignite a creative spark during lockdown was akin to trying to start a bonfire with a pile of soggy leaves. Yes, there were the banana bread makers, the crocheting newbies and the DIYers but I wasn’t in the right place for any of that. There was so much uncertainty about the virus and on top of that, financial worry and concern for my children’s wellbeing. With all of that going on in my head, there wasn’t much room for dreaming up a perfectly flawed hunk and happily ever after. The first few weeks of lockdown 2020 is now a hazy blur of sunbathing, BBQs and afternoon cocktails with the daily walk thrown in to boot.

As I write this, I realise it sounds much better than it was. The truth is, we were muddling through. I went through a phase of wanting to watch dark things on TV and binged thrillers and anything remotely pandemic based. I was definitely not in the right frame of mind for anything warm, cosy and humorous. Having said that, we tried to make the most of it and enjoy our time together. We had water fights, did jigsaws and knocked out some pretty terrible cakes once we got our hands on a bag of flour. Sitting down to write wasn’t an option early on. My children are at an age where they’re too young for phones but old enough to know that Boris banning them from seeing their pals is pretty serious stuff. Once Zoom school kicked in, they were happy and occupied so it was time to start tapping out some words. If they worked, I worked and it was as simple as that. As lockdown went on and we all adapted to the change, we started to find little elements of joy, new places to walk, a new takeaway to try or family party nights. We had several weekly Zoom quizzes and the mood lifted a little. That’s when spending all of that time with my children sparked an idea.

I’d never written a heroine with children before. Charlotte in Who Needs Men Anyway? had a baby towards the end of the book and Ethan in A Summer to Remember had a daughter but I’ve never had a warts-and-all, thrown into the thick of it ‘mum’ as a main character before and it’s an experience I know well and many people can relate to so that made writing this book quite good fun. I even dedicated The Single Mums’ Book Club to my children which they won’t know until they’re older (and will probably hate it).

Anyway, writing through lockdown was a challenge and it took a while to find my mojo — as it turned out, I’d been feeding and cleaning up after my mojo for the best part of nine years!

The Single Mums’ Book Club by Victoria Cooke

Three friends, three single mums, one quest to find love…

It’s 8:30am and I’m already utterly exhausted. My son has lost his football boots, my daughter is ready for school dressed only in her vest and knickers, and of course, my 1-year-old has filled his nappy for what feels like the tenth time this morning.

As for my husband? He’s decided marriage doesn’t suit him, and well… buggered off.

All hope of ‘me time’ has but dwindled to sipping half a glass of wine whilst shouting after the kids. But everything is about to change.

I’m taking control of my life! I’ve joined… a book club.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Wow… live a little.’ But my fellow book clubbers, Amanda and Janey, are my lifelines. They understand the daily struggle because they’re mothers too.

And in between the prosecco, Doritos and googling everything about Mr Darcy on SparkNotes, they’ve convinced me to go on a date with my boss.

A single mum of three looking for romance… what could possibly go wrong?

A gloriously funny and relatable read for anyone who just needs a little more ‘me time’. Fans of Why Mummy Drinks and Has Anyone Seen my Sex Life? will snort with laughter at this utterly hilarious and heart-warming read.

US: https://www.amazon.com/Single-Mums-Book-Club-hilarious-ebook/dp/B08Z7WM5P5

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Single-Mums-Book-Club-hilarious-ebook/dp/B08Z7WM5P5

Victoria Cooke grew up in the city of Manchester before crossing the Pennines in pursuit of a career in education. She now lives in Huddersfield with her husband and two young daughters and when she's not at home writing by the fire with a cup of coffee in hand, she loves working out in the gym and travelling. Victoria was first published at the tender age of eight by her classroom teacher who saw potential in a six-page story about an invisible man. Since then she's always had a passion for reading and writing, undertaking several writers' courses before completing her first novel, 'The Secret to Falling in Love,' in 2016.

Her third novel, Who Needs Men Anyway? became a digital bestseller in 2018 and her debut, The Secret fo Falling in Love was optioned in 2020.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16345710.Victoria_Cooke

https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaCookeAuthor/

https://twitter.com/VictoriaCooke10

https://www.instagram.com/victoriacookewriter/

Book Blog Tour Stop: Janey Trelawney's Year of Surprising Triumphs by Georgia Hill

Janey Trelawney’s Year of Surprising Triumphs by Georgia Hill

Janey’s life becomes more disaster movie than romcom when the ruthless Becca steams in to manage Cheney House. Her job as head gardener in peril and her self-confidence in tatters, Janey must fight back. Finding an ally in Will, who’s more Clark Kent than Superman, it’s up to them to save the day while owner Clare is away having her Shirley Valentine moment. It doesn’t help that everyone is in love with the wrong people!

Why can’t people love the one who loves them back?

Will Cheney House survive - and will Janey ever get her When Harry Met Sally happy ending?

Find out in this warm-hearted romance from the author of the best-selling Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café, full of Gregory Peck look-a-likes, snowdrops, cake, and a cocker spaniel called Camilla.

Amazon UK                Amazon US 

Georgia Hill writes warm-hearted and up-lifting contemporary and timeslip romances about love, the power and joy in being an eccentric oldie and finding yourself and your community. There's always a dog. It's usually a naughty spaniel of which, unfortunately, she has had much experience. Her books are firmly rooted in small seaside towns similar to the one she lives in and she loves history especially when it insists on rearing up and battering at the present.

As a child she had an invisible friend called Gonky who lived on the third stair from the bottom. As an adult her invisible friends inhabit her head and refuse to leave until she commits them to paper. Readers of her books can escape into a warm bath of words and, no matter what challenges her characters face they will, ultimately, have a happy ending.

Twitter @georgiawrites

Website www.georgiahill.co.uk

Instagram georgiahill5681

Facebook georgiahillauthor

Publication Day Review: How To Train Your Earl by Amelia Grey

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR EARL 

by

Amelia Grey

(St. Martin’s Paperbacks, April 27, 2021, $7.99).

How To Train Your Earl is a Regency Romance.

Widow, Brina Feld unties a mystery man at a masquerade ball in Paris. He kisses her before disappearing. Back in London, she meets the man again and he wants to marry her. Only, she doesn't want another husband therefore when the scoundrel places a wager with his intent to marry her, she sets him impossible tasks, sure he will fail. However, she underestimates his determination...

When Zane Browning, Earl of Blacknight sees a woman walking along the street in London, he instantly recognises her as the one who untied him in Paris… someone who has occupied his mind ever since. So, he places a wager and announces his plan to propose marriage by the end of the season. However, Mrs Feld adds conditions to his attempt to court her...as a betting man, he embraces the challenge and encounters unexpected hurdles.

This is the first time I've read a novel by Amelia Grey and enjoyed this light-hearted romance. Both the protagonists are fun characters and I enjoyed the entertaining antics during their courtship. The narrative kept my attention all the time when Brina and Zane were the focus, but some of the side plots were a bit dry sometimes. Also, the hero's name didn't fit the setting of the novel; too contemporary. Additionally, gorge would have been a better word to use than canyon when describing English countryside.

Overall, I'd recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical romances set in the late Regency period and meanwhile, I'm going to catch up with Brina's friends in their novels.

***arc generously received courtesy of St Martin's Press via NetGalley***

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Amelia Grey, comes the third book and final book in the First Comes Love series, A roguish earl must fight using his honor and not his sword to win his lady’s hand in this sexy regency romance.

Brina Feld has settled into a life devoted to helping others since the sinking of the Salty Dove left her widowed. She has no need for a man in her contented life. But when the notorious and handsome Lord Blacknight returns and awakens her desires, her peace and serenity vanish. If she agrees to an alliance with him, she knows she will have to battle her heart to keep from being snared under his spell.

Zane, the Earl of Blacknight, was never supposed to inherit the earldom, so he didn’t much care to lead a respectable life before then. Fistfights, card games, and drinking are the order of the day. Now he’s determined to change his rakish ways and he knows the proper lady who can help him. There’s just one problem: He's already bet he’ll win her hand before the Season is over. With her resolve to out-scheme him, how can he show her that his love is true?

Amazon US               Amazon UK

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author AMELIA GREY read her first romance book when she was thirteen and she’s been a devoted reader of love stories ever since. Her awards include the Booksellers Best, Aspen Gold, and the Golden Quill. Writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, she won the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have sold to many countries in Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and most recently to Japan. Several of her books have also been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Amelia is the author of over twenty-five books. She’s been happily married to her high school sweetheart for over thirty-five years and she lives on the beautiful gulf coast of Northwest Florida.  

Book Cover Reveal: Between You and Me by Carol Mason

Between You and Me by Carol Mason

Is her new husband really who she thinks he is?

When young doctor Lauren Matheson meets Joe, an older divorced businessman, at a glittering poolside in California, it’s a chance encounter that seems life-changing for them both. Back home in London, their feelings only strengthen. But Lauren soon discovers that building a happy future with Joe is going to be an uphill struggle…

She’s determined to be a good stepmother to his children, four-year-old Toby and complicated teen Grace. But under the watchful eye of Meredith, Joe’s intimidating ex-wife, Lauren can’t seem to do a thing right. Why won’t Joe ever take her side against Grace? And what really happened between him and Meredith?

As her husband retreats into a cold, secretive version of the dashing man she met in California, Lauren starts to wonder if she’s made a costly mistake. Was Joe ever the man she thought she married?

https://amzn.to/2Pu9BCM

Publication Date – 22^nd June 2021

Carol Mason is the Amazon Charts and Kindle #1 bestselling author After You Left (more than 300,000 copies sold), The Secrets of Married Women, The Last Time We Met, The Shadow Between Us, Send Me A Lover and Little White Secrets which hit the Bookstat digital bestsellers list top 3 in the week of its launch. She was born in the North East of England where most of her novels are set. She now lives in Canada with her Canadian husband, a rescue dog from Kuwait and a three-legged cat. When not writing, Carol loves to read, cook and binge watch Netflix.

https://www.facebook.com/CarolMasonAuthor

https://twitter.com/CarolMasonBooks

https://www.instagram.com/carolmasonauthor/

Publication Day Review: The Night Train To Berlin by Melanie Hudson

Two lost souls brought together by the chaos of war.

A train journey into the past.

A love that echoes through time.

Paddington Station, present day

A young woman boards the sleeper train to Cornwall with only a beautiful emerald silk evening dress and an old, well-read diary full of sketches. Ellie Nightingale is a shy violinist who plays like her heart is broken. But when she meets fellow passenger Joe she feels like she has been given that rarest of gifts…a second chance.

Paddington Station, 1944

Beneath the shadow of the war which rages across Europe, Alex and Eliza meet by chance. She is a gutsy painter desperate to get to the frontline as a war artist and he is a wounded RAF pilot now commissioned as a war correspondent. With time slipping away they make only one promise: to meet in Berlin when this is all over. But this is a time when promises are hard to keep, and hope is all you can hold in your heart.

From a hidden Cornish cove to the blood-soaked beaches of Normandy in June 1944, this is an epic love story like no other.

AmazonUS                Amazon UK

A dual timeline novel. Night Train To Berlin ties together the history of an emerald green dress, a clock and a night train journey from London Paddington To Penzance.

In 1944, Lady Eliza Arbuthnot (nee Grey), is a wartime artist and meets former RAF pilot, Joseph Alexander (Alex) Levine on the night train to Cornwall. Both are alone with tough personal decisions to make. They share a table in the dining car and over the course of the evening, they get to know one another. On arriving in Cornwall, they part ways only to meet again and begin a heart-wrenching relationship set against the backdrop of WWII.

Armed with her suitcase and violin, Ellie Nightingale boards the night train to Penzance. She is travelling to a cottage she has spent many childhood holidays. On-board, she meets Joe Burton from Leeds. Over the course of the journey, they realise a mutual coincidence, sparking the beginning of a tentative romance.

The author skilfully weaves the past with the present as the links between the two couples are unravelled. The synchronisation of the train journeys makes it easy to follow important aspects of their stories. The strongest timeline is Eliza and Alex's in WWII which includes vivid descriptions depicting the horror of war particularly around the time of the D-Day landing and beyond.

All the characters are likeable and relatable, although Eliza's attitude is questionable sometimes. Alex is a proud war hero, who takes risks. Ellie is sweet, in a fragile way. Joe is the one we don't learn so much about.

The ending is satisfactory. Ellie and Joe are happy for now while Eliza and Alex's is ambiguous. It leaves the reader to contemplate what happens subsequently. Although it's difficult to fully grasp what the author intends for us to understand. Overall, a captivating novel with an encompassing, epic love story.

***arc generously received courtesy of 0ne More Chapter via NetGalley***

New Book Publication Spotlight: Aegean Sun, The Kafenion by Stephanie Wood

Aegean Sun: The Kafenion by Stephanie Wood

The Kafenion has much more to offer than just coffee and cake!

The Kafenion is undergoing its regular seasonal change from traditional coffee shop and local hangout to summertime hotspot for the massive influx of tourists who visit the Greek island each year.

The furniture has been updated, the new signs for more specific coffee types have been installed, the basic cookies have been replaced with a tempting range of cakes and desserts and a fresh coat of paint has added an optimistic glow to the place, which always attracts the many visitors who are looking for a treat.

Jane has been working on the island for a few years and finds a job in the kafenion for her friend Helen, who is hoping for some fun and romance during the summer.

Xenon and Kyriakos both make regular deliveries of fresh produce to the kafenion and they find other reasons to want to visit when Jane and Helen are around, but are they both interested in the same girl?

Georgina discovers the kafenion while searching for information from her mother’s past, but does Pericles have all the answers or will he just cause more confusion?

Visit the kafenion during a Greek summer season to see how the staff and their regulars navigate their way through complex working and romantic relationships.
This is the eleventh book of standalone reads in the Aegean Sun series.

Ideal for fans of contemporary romance writers Sandy Barker, Kate Frost and Jo Thomas

Amazon UK               Amazon US 

Stephanie Wood writes contemporary fiction in the form of novels, novellas and short stories and you can find the running order of her titles on the ‘look inside’ of any book.

She published the AEGEAN SUN series of books as a fly-on-the-wall vision of life in a Greek resort during the summer season, using her extensive experience as a holiday rep to bring some unusual incidents to life on the page. The series began as an exploration of the various ways in which tourists make the most of their holidays and how they interact with the locals while they are visiting. The later books in the series have taken a closer look at the locals themselves and show how their lives and relationships are sometimes changed by the regular influx of seasonal visitors.

The CHRISTMAS ON THE CLOSE series is set in a British suburban cul-de-sac over the festive period and visits each house individually to discover how the neighbours who live there celebrate the season in their own special way.

Stephanie lives in Lancashire where, apart from reading and writing, she loves gardening and cycling and is a huge fan of the soaps Emmerdale and Neighbours. If you would like to sign up to her newsletter list (with around four messages per year) you can do so on the contact page of her website and, as a thank you, will receive the free short story THE ZIA SUNSET EXCURSION.

Website: www.stephaniewood.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephaniewooduk

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8198175.Stephanie_Wood

New Book Release Spotlight: Hollywood Hero by Madelle Morgan

Hollywood Hero, Hollywood in Muskoka Series, Book 3 by Madelle Morgan

Unrequited love is hell on earth

Personal assistant Wendy Davila is in love with her boss, Halden Armstrong, megastar of the Apollo superhero film franchise. But she can’t compete with the succession of stick-thin blond beauties he’s caught and released. Or can she? When Halden asks Wendy to accompany him on a fishing trip to Muskoka, it’s her chance to remake her dark-haired, curvy Latina self into his ideal woman and cast her hook for Halden.

Can he trust her?

Halden has been burned by love. The last thing he wants is a woman like his ex who faked it until she landed him. Wendy is special, and the private trip is an opportunity to explore his feelings for her. However, the Greek god has an Achilles’ heel. Can he trust Wendy with a secret that could ruin his career? And will she still care for him when she learns the truth?

When Apollo falls off his pedestal, Wendy must decide if the man she adores is a keeper.

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X3QWD3B

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08X3QWD3B

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08X3QWD3B

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/hollywood-hero-1

Apple Books  https://books.apple.com/us/book/hollywood-hero/id1556258012?ls=1

Growing up, Madelle enjoyed nineteen summers at her grandparents’ cottage on Georgian Bay in the beautiful District of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, named by National Geographic Traveler magazine as one of their top 20 Best of the World Must-see Places.

Muskoka is Canada’s summer playground for many wealthy families and Hollywood celebrities. The Hollywood in Muskoka series updates the upstairs/downstairs trope: successful people in the film industry on vacation fall for service providers.

Madelle lives in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, with her husband and their labradoodle Raven. She dreams of owning a waterfront cottage. Or at least a pool.

Amazon.com

Goodreads.com

MadelleMorgan.com

Pinterest.com/madellem

Twitter.com/madellemorgan

Facebook.com/MadelleMorganAuthor

Giveaway to Win an eBook boxset of Hollywood in Musoka Books 1-3 (Open INT)

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