New Release Spotlight and Review: A Shop Girl At Sea by Rachel Brimble

A Shop Girl At Sea by Rachel Brimble

Genre: Historical romance

Publication Date: 9th April 2020

Publisher: Aria Fiction

Series – Pennington's book 4 (all books can be read stand alone)

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Bath, 1912.

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Amelia Wakefield loves working at Pennington's, Bath's finest department store. An escape from her traumatic past, it saved her life. So when Miss Pennington sets her a task to set sail on the Titanic and study the department stores of New York, she couldn't be more excited – or determined!

Frustrated with his life at home, Samuel Murphy longs for a few weeks of freedom and adventure. Meeting Amelia on board the Titanic, Samuel can't help wonder what painful history has made the beauty so reserved. But he already has too many responsibilities for love.

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Ruby Taylor has always kept her Pennington co-workers at a distance. Making sure her little brother is safe has always been her priority. But when that means accepting Victoria Lark's offer of sanctuary, more than one of Ruby's secrets is under threat of being revealed...

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A riveting and uplifting saga, perfect for fans of Elaine Everest and Fiona Ford.

Amelia Wakefield loves working for Pennington's in Bath, working as acting window designer. When her boss proposes a trip to New York to find out how the departments stores in the city operate, it's both a surprise and an opportunity of a lifetime. Even more, when she and fellow worker Mr Weir are booked to travel on the inaugural sailing of the Titanic. On board, she meets crew member, Samuel Murphy, but as tragedy strikes, Amelia has to decide where her heart and loyalties lie.

Meanwhile back in Bath, window design assistant, Ruby Taylor is trying to escape from her abusive mother. Help comes from another work friend and widow, Mrs Victoria Lark. She offers Ruby and her young brother a safe home. Only, Ruby has a secret which burns deep, as does Victoria.

Seaman Samuel Murphy is a crewman working on the Titanic. New York-bound he hopes the trip to America is a stepping stone to a new future. He meets Amelia, a shop-girl during the Atlantic crossing an unexpected complication. However, when the ship hits an iceberg, the unfolding events seal his fate for the future.

This is another beautifully written novel by Ms Brimble, set in 1912, two plot lines following Pennington's staff; Amelia's adventure to New York and the blossoming friendship between Ruby and Victoria.

The Titanic scenes are adrenalin-fuelled as the two love birds act on what they believe is important as time is rapidly running out for them to try to remain safe. The poignant scene between Amelia and Mr Weir is heart-breaking, highlighting the dilemma faced by those who put other peoples safety before their own.

The close friendship between Ruby and Victoria is dealt with sensitively at a time in history when such a relationship was illegal. The reactions of fellow workers amplify the precarious situation both women are living where gossip and innuendo draw attention to them when they are trying to portray their living arrangements as a practical arrangement for Ruby and her brother.

The theme throughout the novel is one of overcoming hurdles and adversity in life. Amelia, Samuel and Ruby find their strength to follow their hearts, accepting life is too short to not follow your dreams and desires. For anyone looking for historical romances in and around the second decade of twentieth-century England, I highly recommend this and the other novels in the Pennington series.

***arc generously received courtesy of Aria Publishing***

Amazon UK          Amazon US 

Rachel lives with her husband and their two daughters in a small town near Bath, England.

She is the author of over 20 published novels including the Pennington’s department store series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin).​

In July 2019, she signed a three-book deal with Aria Fiction for a Victorian trilogy set in a Bath brothel which will feature three heroines determined to change their lives and those of other women. The first book is due for release in Autumn 2020.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

To sign up for her newsletter (a guaranteed giveaway every month!), click here:

Website: https://rachelbrimble.com/

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New Release Spotlight & Author Guest Post: The Lazarus Charter by Tony Bassett

The Lazarus Charter by Tony Bassett

​Genre:  Spy thriller

Standalone sequel to Smile Of The Stowaway

The Lazarus Charter may be a work of fiction. But it’s a book that’s grounded in reality. It’s set in a Britain in which foreign agents seem to be free to swan in and out across borders, committing state-sponsored acts of terrorism as they travel.

And it’s set in a Britain in which military targets thousands of miles away can be obliterated by drone weapons being operated by the touch of a button in an office somewhere in London.

The Lazarus Charter is my second novel. It features the couple who appeared in my first book, Smile Of The Stowaway -- school teacher Bob Shaw and his wife Anne. That book concerned an immigrant accused of murder.

But in this sequel, the pair become immersed in a world of espionage as they struggle to understand how a Government scientist friend has come back to life five weeks after his funeral.

As the story progresses and the Shaws learn some dangerous secrets, they are forced out of their home and are confronted by ruthless enemies -- whose identity is, for a while, shrouded in mystery.

I felt compelled to write the novel partly because of the growing dangers posed in this country by foreign agents who seem to believe they can act without regard for the law.

Like so many people, I have been outraged at the way these agents have been free to smuggle deadly, unstable poisons into Britain and then use them to eliminate lives.

For more than a decade, there have been a spate of deadly incidents. One of the most dramatic was the polonium poisoning murder of British-naturalised Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko, aged 44, on November 23, 2006.

I was a national press journalist at the time and remember the white tent erected outside the Litvinenko home in Muswell Hill. I also recall the startled faces of Russian neighbours in the street, who were too frightened to speak out.

In more recent memory comes the attempted murder with novichok of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal on March 4, 2018 in Salisbury – which led disgracefully to the death four months later of an entirely innocent party, Dawn Sturgess, also 44. Others who have offended the Kremlin – mainly Russian oligarchs – have succumbed to mysterious ends.

These foreign agents of death shun conventional weapons, preferring exotic poisons that risk endangering the lives of far more people than just their intended targets. My novel features two Russian agents who use poison as part of their everyday arsenal.

The British people have been lulled into believing the dangers and fears of the Cold War era that haunted our parents’ generation are gone. I sincerely hope that, if it achieves nothing else, my book will help ensure we all wake up to the realities of life in these challenging times.

Thankfully, the Johnson Government is now talking about beefing up our espionage laws. One suggestion is for a government department to hold a register of foreign agents. The Official Secrets Act and treason laws may also be updated.

Maybe the Government should have acted sooner. Maybe an earlier shake-up in Whitehall after Alexander Litvinenko’s death could have helped save the life of innocent mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess.

Bob Shaw is baffled to see a man in a brown coat at a bustling Underground station. Surely it can’t be his friend, the scientist Professor Morley? Morley perished weeks before in a blazing car. Is the man an impostor or did his friend fake his death?

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This fascinating and ingenious thriller tells of Bob’s battle to find out the truth, helped by his wife Anne.  They are confronted by ruthless enemies and forced to flee their home in this fast-paced spy thriller from the author of Smile Of The Stowaway.

Amazon US          Amazon UK

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Tony Bassett, who was born in West Kent, grew up wanting to be a writer from the age of nine when he edited a school magazine. After attending Hull University where he won a `Time-Life' magazine student journalism award, he spent six years working as a journalist in Sidcup, Worcester and Cardiff before moving to Fleet Street. Tony spent 37 years working for the national press, mainly for the `Sunday People' where he worked both for the newsdesk and the investigations department. He helped cover the Jeremy Thorpe trial for the `Evening Standard', broke the news in the `Sun' of Bill Wyman's plans to marry Mandy Smith and found evidence for the `Sunday People' of Rod Stewart's secret love child. On one occasion, while working for `The People', he took an escaped gangster back to prison. His first book, `Smile Of The Stowaway', is one of four crime novels Tony has written over the past three years.  He has five grown-up children and eleven grandchildren.  He lives in South East London with his partner, Lin.

Website:  www.tonybassettauthor.com

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