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 no the blog, I’m reviewing Coming Apart by Karen Heenan. I actually read this book in October/November, but I wasn’t really blogging much then. However, I did read some amazing books last year (check out this blog post for my top 8 books of 2023!). So I thought I’d do a few blog review posts over the coming months. The Blurb Here’s the blurb to give you a flavour of the book: Ava has always been poor,
Hi everyone, today is the 5 year anniversary since The Boy from the Snow was first published! All the way back in August 2016, I thought I might try to get my book published. While researching options, I came across Olympia Publishers, a small press who seemed particularly interested in new and unknown authors. I remember hitting ‘send’ on their online form, thinking that I’d never know unless I tried. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything back, but first they wanted
Hi everyone, today I thought I’d talk about my top 8 indie reads of 2022! I read some really great independent books last year. In fact every read was enjoyable, so if you’re an indie author and your book doesn’t make my list, it’s not that I didn’t love it. I had to be quite ruthless, otherwise I’d be hear all day! You’ll notice that several books are from the same author – excitingly some of my favourite authors released new
Hi everyone, Happy New Year! It’s been a while. I thought coming up with my 2023 author goals would be a great way to kick-start this year’s blog. So, without further ado, here are my goals for this year: 1. Have the 3rd Novel in my series Published The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed my first goal has carried on from last year! I’d hoped the 3rd novel in my series would be published in 2022, but the publication process
Hi everyone, today I thought I’d update you and reflect on the goals I set for myself in Jan 2022. Also, gosh, I hadn’t realised quite how long it had been since my last blog post. Something like three months! I’ve been focussing more on just writing recently. So as we near the end of 2022, here’s how I did on my writing goals. 1. Update on my 3rd historical fiction novel I really hoped the 3rd novel might have come
Hi everyone, this week on the blog I’m talking about why so many writers and readers love historical fiction. What makes it such a popular genre? Why do writers love writing it? Last Friday, it was my turn to host #FriSalon, a weekly chat where we discuss writing topics. (I really recommend it, both for the great chats and the wonderful community. Fridays 4pm GMT/11am ET). On Friday we chatted through this very question – so I thought I’d do a
This week on the blog, I’m talking about the concept of monarchy in our stories. You can probably guess what has prompted my thinking on this! As a Brit, the last few days have been quite different as we mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and Charles III acceding the throne. I’m very aware of contentious views on social media, but however you feel about the monarchy, it is a historic moment for the UK. The end of one monarch,
This week on the blog, I’m reviewing The Unsound Sister by Lelita Baldock. After really enjoying the author’s two historical fiction novels, I was excited to read this book, a contemporary murder-mystery thriller. Before we dig into the review, here’s the blurb to give you a flavour: The Blurb Are you responsible for a crime you can’t remember? Grant Huxley is dead. Found brutally stabbed in his hotel room in Beesands. His estranged wife Eloise Lane-Huxley and her sister June Lane
Hi everyone, this week on the blog I’m reviewing The Healer’s Secret by Helen Pryke. Before I give you my review, here’s the blurb to give you a flavour. The Blurb In this series opener, history, secrets, and a second chance await a troubled English woman in her family’s Italian villa. Jennifer’s life isn’t going as she planned. Fired from her job and on the brink of divorce, her only salvation lies at the bottom of a wine bottle. When her mother
Hello everyone, this week I’m talking about getting back into blogging. As the title suggests, it’s been a fair while since my last blog post! There’s been a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, July was a bit of a month in real life, with a couple of tough things happening. Then once that calmed down, I found I was out of the routine. The first half of July impacted my reading habits, too, so I haven’t been reading as many