Book Cover Art - Chick Lit and Chick Lit 40+

Just want to share some of the gorgeous covers from Chick Lit and Chick Lit 40+ plus

ALL MY REVIEWS CAN BE FOUND IN THE REVIEWS SECTION

DizzyC

Guest Author - Caroline James

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 283 pages
• ASIN: B007RFBZPA

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Caroline James, Author of Coffee, Tea, the Gypsy and Me.


Caroline, thank you for being guest author today.

Photo courtesy of the author

Caroline James

On Coffee, Tea, The Gypsy & Me… and what inspired her to write this book…

I grew up in Cheshire and attended a very strict girl’s grammar school.  I hated it and felt a large part of my education went astray as I refused to conform.  Writing was always a secret, something I did furtively; I never dared show anyone my words and spent a large part of my life filling journals and filing away work that would never surface.  Probably just as well, it wasn’t very good!

In the 1980’s I moved to Cumbria and fell in love with the Lake District.  The beauty of the wild open fells and stunning lakes and mountains has inspired so many writers and artists but it took a couple of decades for me to finally pen my first novel.  I revisit as often as I can and there is a lovely little town that has always had a special place in my heart.  Appleby-In-Westmorland lies on the banks of the River Eden and is best known for the annual gypsy horse fair.  Hated by the locals for the disruption it brings, the world famous fair is protected by a charter granted by James II in 1685 and is the largest of its kind, attracting a huge gypsy gathering each year.  The field overlooking Appleby is known as Gallows Hill, due to its usage in earlier times and thousands of travellers set up camp here.  During the fair, horses are everywhere – in the river, on its banks and along the roadsides – you can even see them tethered outside shops and pubs.   Young people don their finest clothing and show off and half naked men race their horses along Flashing Lane throughout the day.  I loved the fair and the characters and the scenes I witnessed inspired me to write Coffee, Tea, The Gypsy & Me…

Set in a late 1980’s when shoulder pads, frilly necklines and Princess Di bows reigned supreme, heroine Jo finds herself alone with her baby son in rural Westmarland, after her cad of a husband disappears into the Spanish sunset with their young nanny.  Having successfully sold their pub and with money in the bank a heartbroken Jo is feeling a fat, frumpy failure and on the spur of the moment buys Kirkton House, a run-down guest house.  With the help of a cast of colourful local characters she soon converts the lovely old building into a country house hotel and opens her new business two weeks before the annual gypsy horse fair.  A week before the fair, the mysterious John Doherty walks into her life and completely steals her heart.  Assisted by Hattie, a local woman who becomes a friend, Jo’s business succeeds and a new Jo emerges, attracting the attention of just about every man who comes within her radar.  From Robert Mann - the estate agent and Pete Parks, the local garage owner to Hugh Mulberry who has more than a weekend’s grouse shooting on his mind.  Jo dodges them all.  Her heart yearns for the evasive John who appears when she least expects him much to the disgust of Hattie, who’s convinced he’s a no good gypsy. 

It’s Fair Week, and with a full hotel Hattie falls for Bertie, a widower from Ireland and Jo is concerned by John’s growing friendship with Jinny Atkinson, wife of an affluent local businessman.  Jo’s errant husband turns up out of the blue and finds a much changed woman.  He determines to win her back and begins a campaign.  But Black Monday is looming, the stock market crashes and tourism dries up.  With difficult days ahead, Jo has to reinvent her business to survive.

I am returning to the fair this year to do an interview.  A production company is making a documentary on Romany travellers and customs and I’m looking forward to going back but wonder if it will still feel the same?  Many people ask me if the love interest in the book – gypsy John, was based on a real person to which I always reply “It’s a story, pure fiction!”  And it is… isn’t it?

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for having me as a guest author xx

Coffee, Tea the Gypsy & Me… is available on Amazon Kindle and will be published in paperback by Ramjam Publishing in July 2012.  Caroline’s second novel ‘The Agent’ will be published later this year.  Please visit www.carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

Jubilee Giveaway Blog Hop

Ellie over at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm  is hosting a Jubilee Book Giveaway hop.





This is a UK only giveaway due to postage costs.  Sorry Int readers.


I have 3 books to giveaway.


A)   ONE MOMENT, ONE MORNING by SARAH RAYNER


B)    THE BLACKSTONE KEY by ROSE MELIKAN


C)    HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY by AUDREY NIFFENEGER


Please fill in the form to enter the UK only giveaway, ends  Friday 8th June 2012


Pls see Giveaway policy

Saturday Snapshot! 2nd June

Hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books

I am linking to Alyce's Saturday Snapshot feature.

It is JUNE! Almost halfway thru the year.

We have had a glorious couple of weeks weather-wise and it was time to start sprucing up the garden. It is only a small garden but had been neglected over the winter.

AJ has inherited his Grandad's green fingers (dad is a Gardener), and wanted his own little garden. Unfortunately he will not get the garden shed he requested.  There isn't the room.

AJ's corner plot

Watering his new plants in.

DizzyC

Award time!

I would like to thank the lovely, Nicky Wells, Author, for this award.

Please do pop over to her blog and say Hi!


Also, thank you to the lovely Susan Buchanan, Author, 
and Mama J Hearts 


for The Versitile Blogger award

DizzyC

Book Cover Art - Historical Fiction

Just wanted to share some of the gorgeous book covers from my historical fiction reads

Reviews for all of these reads can be found  under the reviews tab.

DizzyC

W.I.P. Wednesday - 30th May - Anne Berry

Today I have the pleasure of featuring Anne Berry

photos courtesy of the publisher

The red letter day is nearing fast for me with the publication by Ebury books, Random House, of my third novel ‘The Adoption’ on June 21^st. Let me tell you exactly what it is like. I am nervous, excited, and in something of a rapture as I look at the superb finished product, my novel in its smart little cover. It reminds me heartbreakingly of seeing off my children off in their crisp school uniforms on their first day of school. How will they fare in the big bad world? Will their words find the hearts of the readers? And will they fall in love with the characters as I did? Will they laugh? Will they cry? And as they finish the final page will they feel they have had a feast and are well satisfied?

What really helps at this nail biting moment is when your publisher, for me the exceptional Gillian Green, has chosen a cover that you love, that is perfect for your narrative, that captures the soul of your book. The cover of ‘The Adoption’ with its soft colours and authentic photograph of a little girl in an old fashioned crocheted bathing suit does just that.

 The story of ‘The Adoption’ is told by three narrators, the birth mother Bethan, the adoptive mother, Harriet, and the adopted child, Lucilla herself. It begins with star crossed lovers at the close of the Second World War and spans nearly sixty years. I found the research for this novel fascinating and appalling. It was just so easy to adopt a baby after the war. No checks on the adoptive parents. Handover the child like a bag of sugar and rubber stamp a piece of paper. Adoption is such a hot topic at the moment but for the opposite reason. It is taking far too long with many children denied loving homes while red tape ties itself up in ever increasing knots. David Cameron is promising change . . .

But we authors are fecund creatures, and as I wave off ‘The Adoption’ with a lump in my throat, my second novel, ‘The Water Children’ is being published in America. News of my first novel, ‘The Hungry Ghosts’ continues to reach me from near and far. Meanwhile as I prepare to let go of my fourth novel, the characters in my fifth novel become increasingly rowdy demanding my attention.  So this dear readers is what I am up to. You know what, it was easier having children!

The Adoption by Anne Berry, 21^st June 2012, hardback, £12.99