You have an invitation to Seashell Bay: The new summer rom-com from Bella Osborne, is full of laughter, love and life’s twists and turns! Follow on down to find out the enticing details
Blurb
One ambitious businesswoman.
One irresponsible heir.
A deal that will turn both their lives upside down…
To save her business, All Things Crafty, Nancy is in desperate need of two things: help and money. After a pitch goes horribly wrong, Nancy is convinced she’s failed to secure either. But, when a potential investor recommends an assistant, she jumps at the chance to hire them – hoping it will help her land a much-needed deal.
Enter Freddy Astley-Davenport, a notorious socialite with zero work experience. He’s poised to inherit his family’s estate in sunny Seashell Bay, but only if he can hold down a job for six months first. Nancy is not impressed. Freddy’s late, rude and totally incompetent – and that’s just the first day!
Nancy is further horrified to learn of Freddy’s plan to take the assistant role in name only, then do the least work he possibly can, expecting Nancy to lie to his parents on his behalf. She has other ideas, though, and the pair butt heads from day one.
However, as they argue, sparks begin to fly…
An absolutely escapist, funny, feel-good summer romance. Fans of Cathy Bramley, Katie Fforde and Milly Johnson will adore Bella Osborne.
Today I have a cover reveal of Mortal Mission. Follow down to take a look at the cover and then the blurb. It certainly sounds an intriguing book for people interested in the space race, missions and crime. It is a Martian Murder Mystery.
Blurb
Astronauts are dying on the first crewed mission to Mars. Is it bad luck, or something far more sinister?
An international mission to search for life on Mars meets heated opposition from the religious right in the USA. Astronaut Hattie Fredericks’ dreams are realised when she is selected for the voyage, but her presence on the Starship coincides with a series of incidents which threaten to derail the mission.
After a near-miss while landing on Mars, the world watches as Hattie and the crew struggle to survive. But worse than the harsh elements are her suspicions that someone is trying to destroy the mission. After several crew members die, Hattie doesn’t know who to trust. And her only allies are 35 million miles away.
As the tension ratchets up, violence and suspicion invade both worlds.
Thanks to Harper Collins PR Team and Random T Tours for the opportunity to review Cat Lady. How could I resist a book called Cat Lady, having, presently having a wonderful, funny, energetic cat myself and having also grown up with Gemma who lived for 20 years. The cat in the photo below is of my current cat, Millie in still single figure age. The book itself has warmth, strength, friendship, relationships, family, humour and emotion. Find the blurb and my review below.
We’ve all known a cat lady – and we’ve probably all judged her too. But behind the label – the one that only sticks to women – what if there’s a story worth nine lives?
Told with Dawn’s trademark warmth, wit and irreverence, Cat Lady is a story about defying labels and forging friendships. It’s for the cat lady in all of us – because a woman always lands on her feet…
Millie enjoying Cat Lady. All I did was put it down and she was all over it.
Review
Within the book, wrapped in the cuteness of a cat, there is a great human story too and both together makes this quite different and compelling, perhaps in someways a gentle reminder or instruction to lead your life and see where it ends up, even through all its ups and downs that it throws at you, and, if you have a cat, to treasure every moment with it.
There are 5 parts to Cat Lady – Mother, Career Woman, Animal, Wife, Cat Lady. So far, so intriguing, I thought as I then swiftly went beyond the contents page and into a prologue and then the first chapter. The prologue is a memory of Mia’s 8th birthday, and more memories are revealed and resurface at the beginning of each part from a time before tragedy had struck in her family, shaping, at least in part, her later life. Then moves into the rest of Mia’s day as the first chapter begins, which is at a church, sitting in a circle of 5 people in a support group and what a motley crew they make.
Mia is married to Tristan and in the earlier chapters you can almost see her brain ticking overtime, so eager to please, but over planning with no inch for any go with the flow attitudes in her life. She also has a cat – Pigeon, whom Tristan isn’t a fan of, but readers certainly will be.
Belinda also tries hard to show that she too can be perfect and also constantly tries to outshine Mia in everything, since she was Tristan’s first wife, but totally messed it up in eye-popping, jaw dropping fashion. She’s still in Mia and Tristan’s lives as they have a son, making this complex and compelling to see where it all leads, as does all the paths life takes Belinda in.
Life does have its good and difficult bits. I won’t say what, but it does, in amongst all the debates that occur whether to go down a certain path or not, even though what occurs is incredibly sad and left me a little shocked for a moment, I’m sort of pleased that Dawn O’Porter has had the nerve and had been brave enough to write what she has. When readers get to a certain part in the book, I think they’ll know what I mean.
Today it gives me great pleasure to reveal the wonderful cover and the blurb for Milly Johnson’s new book – Together, Again. The book will be released in September 2022. For now, take a look at what it is about in the blurb below… I for one am looking forward to reading this book.
Sisters, Jolene, Marsha and Annis have convened at their childhood home the huge and beautiful Fox House following the death of their mother, the cold and impenetrable Eleanor Vamplew, to arrange the funeral and sell up. Born seven years apart, the women have never bonded and are more strangers than sisters.
Jolene, the eldest, is a successful romantic novelist who writes templates of beautiful relationships even though her marriage to the handsome and charming Warren is a barren wasteland.
Marsha, the neglected middle child has put every bit of her energy into her work hoping money would plug up the massive gap in her life left by the man who broke her young heart, only to find it never has. And now he has been forced back into her life.
Annis is the renegade, who left home aged sixteen and never returned, not even for the death of their beloved father Julian, until now. It is therefore a surprise to all of them to discover that Eleanor recently changed her will to leave everything to the daughter she considered a wretched accident.
Together, Again is the story of truths uncovered and lies exposed, of secrets told – and kept. It is a novel about sister helping sister to heal from childhood scars, and of finding, in each other, the love they have all been deprived of. Together, Again is about vulnerability and strength, acceptance and family.
Today I am so excited to reveal with Simon & Schuster UK, the absolutely gorgeous cover with beautiful spredges for the much anticipated book – The Language of Food. Check it out!
Check out bookshops, especially Coles and Blackwells to pre-order this beautiful edition.
Today I am excited to announce that I have a cover reveal for Violets, set to be published in 2022. VIOLETS is a powerful story of desire, violence and isolation in contemporary Korean society. Check out the blurb and the beautiful cover below…
Blurb
We join San in 1970s rural South Korea, a young girl ostracised from her community. She meets a girl called Namae, and they become friends until one afternoon changes everything. Following a moment of physical intimacy in a minari field, Namae violently rejects San, setting her on a troubling path of quashed desire and isolation.
We next meet San, aged twenty-two, as she starts a job in a flower shop. There, we are introduced to a colourful cast of characters, including the shop’s mute owner, the other florist Su-ae, and the customers that include a sexually aggressive businessman and a photographer, who San develops an obsession for. Throughout, San’s moment with Namae lingers in the back of her mind.
A story of desire and violence about a young woman who everyone forgot, VIOLETS is a captivating and sensual read, full of tragedy and beauty.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 