This week on the blog I review Empire’s Legacy, an alternative historical fiction by Marian L Thorpe. I originally wrote this blog post when I first read this wonderful series last year. It helped me fall back in love with reading and went a long way in getting me through the pandemic! So, I thought I’d pull this from the blog and update it a bit/republish. PS Thorpe has published fourth novel in this series, Empire’s Reckoning and also a novella,
Thought this week I’d give an update on my writing and how I’m doing with the goals I set back in January. It’s been a busy three months! 1. Proofread my 3rd historical fiction novel This was my first, main goal. Most of 2020 was spent deep into the edits of my 3rd novel. For a while I even had ‘editor’s block’. By January 2021, I knew it just needed a final proofread, to get it as ready as possible for
‘Finding You’ is the third book of the author I’ve read. It follows ‘The Vintage Bookshop of Memories’ and the novella ‘Christmas at the Vintage Bookshop of Memories’. You can check out all three books here. Both of Holland’s previous books are romance dramas, whereas here she delves brilliantly into a mystery. Laura is a young woman from Manchester living homeless on the streets of London. She is on the run, alone and not knowing who to trust. After she meets
This week on the blog, I’m reviewing the complete edition of ‘I, Richard Plantagenet’ by J.P. Reedman. It’s been a while since my last historical fiction read and I was not disappointed by diving into this one. This edition actually contains two novels, ‘I, Richard Plantagenet: Loyaulte me Lie’ and ‘I, Richard Plantagenet: Tante le Desiree’. Both books explore the life of Richard III from his first person perspective. These books were a fascinating read. Both are written wonderfully, with the
This short story was originally published this blog post in September 2018. It was in response to the #TurtleWriters image prompt below, but it didn’t transfer to my new site. I thought I would edit it and re-post it. Thanks again to @RosettaYorke and @HillBillyHorror for the prompt! Warning that this short story is a horror. There’s nothing gory about it but it might not make for the ‘nicest’ reading! I stared at the ruins of the church, eerily stood in
Today’s blog will talk about the real history of Rheged, where my historical fiction series is based. I originally posted this back in 2018, but it didn’t transfer when I set up this new website. When I first wrote it my second novel was in the process of publication and I had just started work on the third. The week before Christmas I finished my second round of major edits on my 3rd historical fiction novel. As I’m now proofreading it
I first came across this book after seeing a Christmas-themed trailer on social media (also made by this talented author). Fantasy is a genre I’m falling more and more in love with and I knew this would be the perfect novel to curl up with for the start of 2021. Meet Matthew, a 12-year-old boy, a quick-witted ‘ordinary’ hero that everyone can root for. During a tour of the British Museum, Matthew suddenly comes face to face with the haunting figure
Happy New Year all! For my first blog post of 2021, it seems fitting to talk about the goals I want to set for this year. Yesterday I sat down and scribbled a few ideas for what I’d like to achieve by the end of 2021. Here’s hoping I can get this all done! 1. Proofread my 3rd historical fiction novel and get it ready for submission This is a big one. I’m setting myself a rather optimistic goal for my
Way back at the start of 2020, I set my goals for the year in this blog post. This is probably my last blog post before 2021 so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how many goals I met! Here were my goals: 1. Finish first round of edits of my historical fiction novel I actually met this goal all the way back in March, just in time to start prep for Camp NaNoWriMo in April
Right from the first page, I knew Skyview was going to be epic. The story starts with meeting our hero William Ward, an employee who works at the family business, the Interlaken Beer Company (IBC). William’s bloodline dates back to the original Ward, one of the IBC’s founding members. After a work party, William discovers that there is a fortune, his ancestor’s share of the IBC He embarks on a quest to trace his ancestor’s movements through history and find the