New release – now available for pre-order

When a book comes out it makes all the years of hard work – and yes, sometimes it can takes years! – worthwhile. In about a second of seeing the front cover (such a brilliant moment), all that fades away and you’re left with a beautiful thing that’s testament, certainly not just to your own work, but to everyone else’s too – the publishing team, editor, proofreader and, of course, friends who helped and supported you along the way.

Until I had a book published, I must confess to having no idea about the amount of time and knowledge that went into it from everyone involved. Now I know, it makes me so grateful to everyone who made it possible.

With Little Village of Second Chances – my new book, which is available now for pre order – I got an opportunity for the first time to write an acknowledgements page. I’ve dedicated each of my past books to someone special, which is great, but it can be difficult choosing one when so many deserve a mention. That’s why it was so nice to write the acknowledgements page this time – to say thank you to everyone. My palms are slightly sweaty now as I hope I didn’t forget anyone.

That’s the acknowledgements, but what about the book? Probably the best way to give you a flavour is to share the blurb. Here it is:

Surely everyone deserves a second chance?

Ex-fireman and edible flower farmer Shay McGillen has plenty of reasons not to give Sarah Pickering even one chance when she turns up in his small Yorkshire village. After all, she is only there to try and convince him and his fellow villagers to sell up so her company can build a bypass. If Sarah thinks she can make Shay give up his farmhouse and his business, she has another thing coming!

But when an unexpected blizzard leaves Sarah stranded in Shay’s home, he soon realises that they are far more alike than he could have ever imagined – and perhaps both of them deserve a second chance …

If you like the sound of Village of Second Chances and want to read the full story, you can pre-order through Amazon here: https://smarturl.it/9wvutt

Very exciting announcement

I’m truly delighted to announce that I’ll be writing three novels for fiction publisher, Choc Lit.

The first, The Village of Second Chances, will be out in summer 2020 and is set in and near York – close to where I grew up. Although I live a long way from York these days, I took a trip back there a few weeks ago and took a few snaps of the places I remember that inspired the story.

I can’t wait for the first book’s release, and to start penning the second!

Are book clubs too snobby?

Book clubs are popping up in pockets up and down the country. They’re a great reason for avid readers to get together over a glass of wine (or three) and discuss the latest novel on the agenda.

I realise in some book clubs, it’s less about the book and more about the social aspect, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Whereas in others, the literary discussions are taken more seriously – and there’s nothing wrong with that either. Whatever floats the members’ boats seems to me to be the best way.

I do have an incy wincy bit of an issue with book clubs in general though, and that is there doesn’t often seem to be an appetite to read and discuss books that aren’t considered on the ‘literary’ side, or ‘upmarket’, as some might say.

I’m sure there are some clubs, who do choose books that are considered more accessible – the ‘holiday’ type read if you will, modern romance, erotica. But, as a whole, whenever I ask a friend what their club is reading, it’s almost always one that’s rather highbrow. Their showing me the book is often accompanied with an eye roll or a lip curl (from them, not me), and even a vocal complaint that they’d rather read something more cheerful / easier-to-read / less serious, etc. 

So, um, why don’t they give it a try?

I realise it’s good to read a bit of everything; that sometimes you cannot and should not judge a book by its cover; that the best reads aren’t necessarily the easiest or most light-hearted. I also realise that there’s nothing at all wrong with literary fiction or highbrow books. However, there does, I’m afraid, appear to be a level of snobbishness surrounding many book clubs that means genres such as romance or chicklit rarely appear on their reading lists. 

People I meet often ask me what my latest book’s about and say it could be something they put forward to their book club. When I tell them it’s a romance or an erotic romance, every single one so far has said something along the lines of “Oh, I don’t think that would be suitable for the book club.” This is often followed by “Of course, I’d love for us to read something like that, but the other members would probably throw me out!”

Surely, if they’d love to read ‘something like that’, then there are other members who would too.

Isn’t it a shame that we feel we can’t introduce a romance or erotic romance to the book club because the genre isn’t considered intelligent enough? Romance / erotica  is the highest grossing genre. At $1.44 billion, it brings in twice the income of the next best-selling, which is crime. And yet, many book club members are too embarrassed to suggest reading such a novel in fear of their peers thinking them stupid, common or tasteless.

Come on, book-clubbers – isn’t it time to mix it up a bit? Or maybe you’re part of a book club that does embrace all sorts of genres or are dedicated to romance, holiday reads, cosy mysteries or whatever it may be. Knowing that would make me feel warmer about the world.

A Quick Good News Flash

It really perked me up last week when I received an email from the Ulverscroft Group saying they’d like to make one of my books into large print. As one of the leading worldwide publishers of large print, this was a great privilege, and it’s nice to know that one of my manuscripts will be available for a whole new audience.

The book in question is ‘Saving Alice’ which first came out in April this year as a My Weekly Pocket Novel. Pocket Novels are only on the shelf for two weeks (although I believe they can be back ordered online through the My Weekly website), so it’s great that the book will soon have a new life.

Who knows – one day it might even be available from the library. That would be a good day!

https://www.ulverscroft.com/

Countdown to the romance writers’ event of the year!

This July, as every July, it’s the UK Romance Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) annual conference.  Held at a different university every year, the conference is where hundreds of established and aspiring British writers come together to listen to expert talks, meet fellow authors, enjoy a gala dinner and – all importantly – meet publishers and editors.

Being based in the South East of England, London is a short train journey away, Brighton is down the road, and there must be at least 10 universities within a two-hour radius.  But, alas, for some reason the conference is always a six-hour journey for me.  This year it’s in Leeds – blummin’ miles away!  Although handy for the northern contingency, of course.

It’s great to meet up with the friends I’ve made there – many of whom I haven’t seen since last year’s conference.  And you always pick up a nugget or two of information to help with the writing, which is what it’s all about.

However, the biggest pull for me (and many others) is the opportunity the conference offers to have a 10 minute ‘industry appointment’ with either an editor, a publisher, or both.  This year I’ll be meeting with two editors, who hopefully won’t send me off sobbing into my manuscript.

For new writers there’s a New Writers’ Scheme, which involves published authors reading your story (anonymously) and offering critique.    I was already published when I joined, so didn’t qualify, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it, and many writers have gone on to become published following their involvement in this scheme.

So, if you are an aspiring writer and are considering joining the RNA I’d say do it, do it do it!  Do it now!