Thank you for dropping by my blog. I post about a variety of topics including book reviews, my author journey, the writing craft and more. All my blog posts are listed below, but if you fancy looking at a particular topic, you can check the drop down menu on 'blog' on my main site menu. New blog posts added weekly, Monday or Tuesday afternoons GMT. Hope you enjoy!
Hi everyone, this week I’m listing my top 5 indie books of 2023. Happy New Year! I thought it would be a great way to kick off 2024 by looking back at my top 5 indie books of 2023. Here they are, in the order I read them! The Forever Cruise by Deborah Klee I really enjoyed this book. Deborah Klée’s unique novel focuses on retired people residing permanently on a cruise ship. The story follows 3 women – Alice, a
Hi everyone, this week on the blog I thought I’d do some reflecting on 2023 and the author goals I set at the beginning of the year. It’s been a busy year, including moving house and participating in three NaNoWriMo events! Without further ado, here’s how I got on with my author goals this year. 1. My Dark Ages series It’s been a good year for my historical fiction series! The third novel in my series, The Reckoning of Rheged, came
Hi everyone, today on the blog I’m excited to interview historical fiction author Karen Heenan. Without further ado, let’s get into the interview! Karen Heenan – Introductions Introduce yourself! Tell us who you are, where you are in the world and what you like to write. KH: My name is Karen Heenan, and I live in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, a little town directly outside Philadelphia. I write mostly historical fiction – at least, historical is all I’ve published to date. The other
Hi everyone, today I thought I’d tell you a bit more about my NaNoWriMo 2023 project. If you’re unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo (Nano for short) is an annual writing competition. Writers challenge themselves to write about 1600 words every day throughout November, with the goal of having a 50k novel by the end of the month. You can find out more info about the challenge here. This is my 6th year of doing NaNoWriMo and I’ve been excited to get started today! My
This week on the blog, I’m reviewing Coming Closer by Karen Heenan. This is the second novel in her Depression era historical fiction series. I absolutely loved this book! You can find my review below, but first here’s the blurb to give you a glimpse: Coming Closer – the Blurb It’s hard to leave the past behind Recently widowed Ava has moved to Philadelphia, determined to start over. With her children and blossoming career as a dressmaker taking up all her
This past weekend, I got the wonderful experience of attending a poetry workshop, hosted in an independent bookshop, The Berwyn Bookshop, in North Wales. The wonderful poet, who goes by the pen name of Lowrey E Gray, was interviewed in an independent bookshop in North Wales. A Special Reconnection While the poetry workshop would be my cup of tea anyway, it was incredibly special because the poet also happened to be my former GCSE English teacher (when I was 15-16, to
Hi everyone, this week I’m reviewing Battle for the Black Queen by Niamh and Rebecca Schmid. It’s the latest in their TetraWorld series combining medieval fantasy, steampunk and sci-fi. I love this series, so it’s no great surprise I loved their latest entry! You’ll see my review below but for now, here’s the blurb to give you a flavour of the book: The Blurb Astra is safe in Litash….Or is she? After her presence is revealed to the Court of Litash,
Hi everyone, this week I’m reviewing The Last Act by Deborah Klee. Needless to say I really enjoyed this book, but before I get into the review, here’s a blurb to give you a flavour: The Last Act – The Blurb It is 1980 and Jojo Evans is living the dream. Perfect job, perfect man, perfect life – but is it all an illusion?Jojo doesn’t think so – she cannot believe her good fortune, working as magician’s assistant to her charismatic boyfriend, The
Hi everyone, this week I thought I’d update you on the author goals I set way back in January 2023. How I’m doing with them all, how many I’ve met or whether I’ve got any goals left to meet now we’ve hit September. 1. Publish my 3rd novel in my series Excitingly, just over two months ago, I hit this goal! My small press published The Reckoning of Rheged, back at the end of June. The publication process ended up being
When my husband and I went on holiday a couple of weeks ago to Northumberland, I didn’t realise it would become a research trip! Northumberland is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. I’ve mentioned visiting Cumbria a lot. Not just because of it is a stunning location, but because it is the modern-day equivalent of Rheged, the setting of much of my historical fiction series. Northumberland, then, is where much of the enemy kingdom, Bernicia, was based. A big battle