New Publication Spotlight: The Custard Tart Cafe by the Sea by Isabella May

The Custard Tart Cafe by the Sea by Isabella May

Willow has opened a custard tart cafe at the end of a popular English seaside pier. Her unique and magical spin on the Portuguese pastel de nata has customers queuing outside the door to taste them.

Tiago’s grandparents are purveyors of The Real Deal: authentic custard tarts made in the Algarve region of Portugal, where his family have been lovingly baking them for centuries. When he moves to England for a new job and chances upon Willow’s wondrous wares, he is out for war. At least that’s his intention. But when serendipity brings Willow and Tiago back together at the departures desk in Bristol airport - destination Faro - outrage isn’t the only spark that flies...

Weston-super-Mare and Portugal are about to collide!

https://mybook.to/custard

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. She grew up in Somerset on Glastonbury's ley lines and loves to feature her quirky English hometown in her stories.

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 romcoms.

Isabella is also a Pranic Healer and a stillbirth mum.

www.isabellamayauthor.com

Twitter - @IsabellaMayBks

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

Instagram - @isabella_may_author

#BookBlogTourStop A Spotlight on: The Cocktail Bar by Isabella May

The Cocktail Bar by Isabella May

Rock star, River Jackson, is back in his hometown of Glastonbury to open a cocktail bar… and the locals aren’t impressed.

Seductive Georgina is proving too hot to handle; band mate, Angelic Alice, is messing with his heart and his head; his mum is a hippie-dippy liability; his school friends have resorted to violence – oh, and his band manager, Lennie, AND the media are on his trail.

But River is armed with a magical Mexican elixir which will change the lives of three lucky people. Once the Mexican wave of joy takes a hold of the town, he’s glad he didn’t lose his proverbial bottle.

Pity he hasn’t taken better care of the real one…

https://mybook.to/TheCocktailBar

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. She grew up on Glastonbury's ley lines and loves to feature her quirky English hometown in her stories.

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.

Isabella is also a Level 4 Pranic Healer and a stillbirth mum.

www.isabellamayauthor.com

Twitter - @IsabellaMayBks

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

Instagram - @isabella_may_author

Giveaway to Win Kindle Copies of all of Isabella May’s Eight currently published books in the Foodie Romance series (Open INT)

Prize includes, The Cocktail Bar, Oh! What a Pavlova, Costa del Churros, The Ice Cream Parlour, The Cake Fairies, The Chocolate Box, Bubblegum and Blazers, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Release Day Spotlight: The Cake Fairies by Isabella May

The Cake Fairies by Isabella May

1960's Somerset is no fun for cousins Polly and Annabelle Williams. Mourning their non-existent love lives, and the mundanity of village life, their only pleasure is baking - until a chance encounter has them magically transported to the bright lights of London... in 2019!

Promised a chance of love, first they must teach the people of the future about the simpler pleasures of life by becoming Cake Fairies. Over the course of a year they set off on a delectable tour of the UK, dropping off cakes in the most unexpected of places and replacing the lure of technology with much sweeter temptations.

But will their philanthropical endeavours lead them to everlasting love? Or will they discover you can't have your cake and eat it?

Amazon UK      Amazon US 

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.

Cake, cocktail, churros, ice cream and travel obsessed, she also loves nothing more than to (quietly) break life’s rules.

The Cake Fairies is her fifth novel.

Twitter - @IsabellaMayBks

Website

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

Instagram - @isabella_may_author

Book Birthday Blitz: Oh! What a Pavlova by Isabella May

Oh! What a Pavlova by Isabella May

Kate Clothier is leading a double life: a successful jet-setting businesswoman to the outside world, but behind closed doors, life with Daniel and his volcanic temper is anything but rosy.

Some days – heck, make that EVERY day – cake is her only salvation.

Slowly but surely, the cities she visits – and the men she meets – help her to realise there IS a better future.

And the ley lines of Glastonbury are certainly doing their best to impart their mystical wisdom…

But will she escape before it’s too late?

Purchase Link: myBook.to/pavlova

I love the enticing cover, however, the saying goes, "never judge a book by its cover" and this rings true with Isabella May's début novel. I was expecting cake, lots of it, but the reality is a few crumbs.

Kate Clothier is a publishing executive and lives with Daniel whom she met whilst studying at university. Ten years later, they are involved in a long-term abusive relationship. She lives for and relishes the chance to escape her volatile home life as she travels around the world with her job. Will she ever find the courage to walk away from the man who's turned into a monster?

Perplexed by Kate's begrudging acceptance of Daniel behaviour, they're neither married, have children nor financially dependant on each other. So wondered why she stayed and put up with the domestic violence. She's constantly seeking out comfort and emotional support from her male business trip acquaintances even when these liaisons didn't always go according to plan. Her behaviour didn't make sense (to me). Maybe if the novel had hinted on what triggered Daniel's angry and aggressive outbursts and devoted more scenes with Kate and Daniel together, the reader may have understood their dynamics as a couple?

While the idea is fun and original, I didn't fully appreciate the references to cakes littered through the narrative because I didn't understand them. With a friend described as a “Coffee and Walnut Cake, the ultimate listener” and Daniel, “I thought he was a Black Forest Gateaux but he was Marble Cake through and through”, what did this mean? I found the author's writing style chaotic and difficult to follow, especially during the first few chapters. I constantly had to re-read passages to get the gist of what was going on because I felt bombarded by over descriptive text as well as the narrative flip flopping back and forth with inner thoughts and back story threaded in between. Some people will love the dizzy pace and constant drama. I, however, found it confusing and exhausting.

It's a little rushed, but there's a satisfying 'happy for now' ending for Kate as she begins a new chapter in her life, so all's well that ends well.

***arc generously received courtesy of Crooked Cat Books***

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalucia, Spain with her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the sea and the mountains. When she isn’t having her cake and eating it, sampling a new cocktail on the beach, or ferrying her children to and from after school activities, she can usually be found writing. As a co-founder and a former contributing writer for the popular online women’s magazine, The Glass House Girls – www.theglasshousegirls.com – she has also been lucky enough to subject the digital world to her other favourite pastimes, travel, the Law of Attraction, and Prince (The Purple One). She has recently become a Book Fairy, and is having lots of fun with her imaginative ‘drops’! Costa del Churros is her third novel with Crooked Cat Books, following on from the hit sensations, Oh! What a Pavlova and The Cocktail Bar.

www.isabellamayauthor.com

Twitter - @IsabellaMayBks

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

Instagram - @isabella_may_author

Giveaway – Win a signed copy of The Cocktail Bar (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway