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Rose and Myrtle Sylvester look up to their older sister, Peggy. She is the sensible, reliable one in the household of women headed by their grandmother, Grace Booth, and their mother, Mary Sylvester. When war is declared in 1939 they must face the hardships together and huge changes in their lives are inevitable. For Rose, there is the chance to fulfil her dream of becoming a clippie on Sheffield’s trams like Peggy. But for Myrtle, the studious, clever one in the family, war may shatter her ambitions. When the tram on which Peggy is a conductress is caught in a bomb blast, she bravely helps to rescue her passengers. One of them is a young soldier, Terry Price, and he and Peggy begin courting. They meet every time he can get leave, but eventually Terry is posted abroad and she hears nothing from him. Worse still, Peggy must break the devastating news to her family that she is pregnant. The shock waves that ripple through the family will affect each and every one of them and life will never be the same again.

Margaret Dickinson has published thirty novels in her career so far and is currently celebrating her 20th year and 20th novel as an author with Pan Macmillan. Her family sagas and historical romances have a huge following but until now I’ve not read one of her books so I decided to find out what I was missing out on! The Clippie Girls caught my eye because it is set in Sheffield, a city that I think of as my second home. I also love wartime historical novels and romances!

From the first pages, it’s clear that Margaret is an experienced and entertaining author; from the opening scene where the family listen to the announcement that war has been declared and the five women who form a family unit react in their individual ways, my attention was captured and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen to them all.

This is a warm, dramatic and enjoyable story of five women and the way that the Second World War changed their lives and their city. Although not overburdened with historical detail, the events of the Sheffield blitz are recounted and the heartbreaking impact of the bombings given a very personal and heartfelt touch through the individual experiences of the Sylvester women. I found the details of Rose and Peggy’s work as clippies on Sheffield’s trams fascinating too.

Margaret Dickinson skilfully weaves a a wonderful wartime romance into the novel as Peggy meets the handsome Terry but their story comes with a large dose of controversy as their relationship causes heartbreak and drama within the family and Peggy finds herself at the centre of a complex love triangle. Peggy and Terry’s story kept me turning the pages as fast as I could and as soldier Terry is posted abroad Dickinson cleverly kept the twists coming, maintaining the mystery of what the final outcome would be right to the end of the novel.

There are five strong women leading this novel and I liked them all. Gran Grace was a favourite with her no-nonsense approach and knack of knowing exactly what was really going on in each of her granddaughter’s lives. I also loved Myrtle who is the baby of the family but bright and clever and often made me smile. The relationships between the sisters and their mother and grandmother are lovely to read and I was rooting for them all to come through the story unscathed.

The Clippie Girls is a great family saga to cosy up with and I enjoyed the mix of romance, history and drama. I loved reading about the history of a city I know well and felt Margaret really captured the spirit of the city and its residents. I’ll be looking forward to reading more of Margaret Dickinson’s books in future.

4/5

I’d like to thank the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book.

Find out more about Margaret and her novels at: http://www.panmacmillan.com/author/margaretdickinson

 

Grace has always been best friends with Ella and Flick. The late-night chats, shared heartaches and good times have created a bond that has stood the test of time.

When Ella invites them to stay for a week in her cottage in South Wales, Grace jumps at the chance to see her old friends. She also hopes that the change of scenery will help her reconnect with her distant husband.

Then Flick arrives; lovable, bubbly, incorrigible Flick, accompanied by the handsome and charming Noah.

Carole Matthews has just launched a gorgeous new website where you can find out all about her books: http://www.carolematthews.com/

Today I’m welcoming author Janey Fraser to One More Page on the final stop on her Happy Families blog tour. Happy Families is Janey’s latest novel about the ups and downs of family life and was released yesterday! As a mum to three, Janey has lots of experience to draw on in her novels and is kindly sharing some of her funniest mum moments with us today. Welcome Janey!

I still cringe at this one….I took my then three year old to a rather smart NSPCC sale organised by the local smart mummy set. My son (the youngest of three) threw a very loud temper tantrum and hurled himself onto the ground, screaming furiously because I  wouldn’t buy him a wooden hobby horse. Everyone was looking and giving me filthy looks. Without meaning to, I found myself saying: “If you don’t behave, I’ll tell your mother when we got home.” The effect was instant. My son stopped yelling with shock. Surely I was his mother? The onlookers then gave me sympathetic looks. “Poor you, having to look after that child,” said one. “Some mothers don’t know how to instil discipline.” I put that episode in one of my books.

The same son threw a similar tantrum in the middle of a shopping centre and I dissolved into tears, mainly because I was stressed. I had to get back home to finish some work and this was the last straw. A punk mum with several rings through her body, stopped and patted med on the arm. “It’s all right,” she reassured me. “They all do it.”   I didn’t tell her that the work I had to finish at home, was a page which I then edited for a woman’s magazine. It was called HOW TO BRING UP YOUR CHILDREN.

I used to have a hatch back car and one day, after doing a supermarket shop with my three small children, I parked outside our house only to find that my eldest son, then aged eight, had leaned over into the boot during our journey and opened a can of lager, designed for my then husband. He’d sunk half a tin. Panicking I rang Casualty.  To my relief, the nurse didn’t seem that bothered. “Put him to bed, dear,” she advised. “And have a glass of wine yourself to calm down.”  This one wasn’t funny actually – it made me realise how easy it was for children to help themselves.

My daughter and two sons (then aged between two and nine) were arguing ferociously over tea. Unable to control them, I grabbed their toy cassette player and recorded the furore. Now, some years later, we play it back on birthdays. They all roar with laughter at how awful they were to each other. Now they get on really well.

Thanks Janey!

Happy Families is out now in paperback and ebook formats.

You can find out more about Janey and her books at: http://www.janeyfraser.co.uk/index.htm

Take Janey’s parenting survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MZGHGW9

Follow Janey on Facebook: 

Follow Janey on Twitter

Please do check out the other stops on Janey’s blog tour!

I’d like you to welcome a very special guest reviewer to One More Page today – my Mum! Mum has recently got back into reading and has discovered a love of romantic comedies after I gave her a copy of Trisha Ashley’s Chocolate Wishes to try. So when Trisha’s new book dropped through the door while my parents were visiting it seemed like fate and I persuaded her to review it as part of my Mum’s Month feature This is her first foray into the world of blogs and book reviewing (and I’m hoping it won’t be the last!) so please give a warm welcome to my mum, Sue!

James is everything Tish has ever wanted in a husband – she’s married a man who even her mother approves of. He’s handsome, dependable, and will make an excellent father – unlike Tish’s first love, the disreputable Fergal. Her teenage sweetheart abandoned her for a music career and now lives a typical celebrity lifestyle. Fergal broke her heart – James helped mend it.

Now, they’ve bought a cottage in the country. The next step – kids and a lifetime of domestic bliss. Well, that’s the plan. And even if James has a slight tendency to view the village pub as a second home, their relationship is still in pretty good shape after seven years of marriage. So why is marriage to Mr Right making her long for Mr Wrong?

It has been a long time since I have found enjoyment in my own reading; working in Primary education for many years my passion was to encourage the children and with a busy home and work life, I found I didn’t have much time for my own reading. I have now enjoyed several of Trisha’s books so much so that I now wait eagerly for the next publication. I like the way Trisha describes life as it is and puts on paper familiar thoughts and feelings – her books are very addictive!

I was hooked into this book by the prologue in which Fergal tells of his first encounters with his ‘Renaissance Angel,’ Leticia; the girl next door, lovingly known as Tish. Tish and Fergal’s first encounter is set in both their minds and forms the canvas for the story with both characters slipping back to this first encounter many times.

Good Husband Material is written in the first person; we meet Tish who describes her life after being left behind by handsome rock star Fergal Rocco when he chooses to tour with his band rather than settle for the more normal life and wait for her to finish university. I really enjoy first person narratives and as Tish’s life in the present is recounted with updates of Fergal’s  life at the end of each chapter I enjoyed getting to know Tish and the two elements of the story kept me turning the pages.

Each update confirms that Fergal has not forgotten Tish – they each think the other is happier in their new world, but deep down they want the life they should have had. With her thirtieth birthday approaching, Tish is determined to settle into the idyllic country life at the cottage, doing chores in the morning and writing her romantic novels in the afternoons – quite a contrast to rock star Rocco whose life is splashed across the tabloids. I liked that Tish comes across as very normal and as she tells her story I enjoyed her humorous thoughts and comments to herself – she is often very truthful, saying what many of us have felt like saying but never did!

I smiled many times and even laughed out loud at some of Tish’s comments. There were many times too when I felt like shouting at her to ‘wake up’.  Tish’s life seems quite idyllic; she has a lovely normal husband in the form of solicitor James, but deep down she yearns for what might have been and plays out scenarios in her fiction writing,  as does Fergal in his song writing. As Tish and Fergal’s worlds collide again the story kept me guessing as to what the outcome will be.

Tish’s Granny was one of my favourite characters. She is portrayed as a nuisance especially to Tish’s mum,who lives with her but she tells it like it is and although passed off by Tish’s mum as a senile rambler, there is often more to her mutterings than Tish and her mum realise. I also liked Mrs.Deakin, the shopkeeper and news broadcaster for all that goes on within the village!

I thought this was an excellent funny and romantic read and I can’t wait for Trisha’s next book.

5/5

Thanks Mum – I’m looking forward to reading this now!

Good Husband Material is released on 28th March in paperback and ebook formats.

I’d like to thank Avon (Harper Collins) for sending me a copy of this book for review.

Find out more about Trisha and her writing at: http://trishaashley.com/ 

Follow Trisha on Twitter

Following on from the exciting announcement last week that HarperCollins are launching a new romance imprint, HarperImpulse, I’m delighted to welcome the newest member of the HarperImpulse team to One More Page today. Charlotte has just started work at HarperCollins and has kindly agreed to give us a behind-the-scenes look at her new job and all the gossip on the new imprint first hand. Welcome Charlotte!

Hello everyone! My name’s Charlotte Ledger and I’m Content Developer at HarperImpulse, the brand-new and incredibly exciting digital first romance imprint from the women’s fiction team at HarperCollins.  I’ve just recently (as in last week!) started here at HC and even though I’ve strode – well, scurried – through the hallowed revolving doors on Fulham Palace Road quite a few times now, I still can’t quite believe it.

I have always been an avid reader and book lover, devouring anything and everything from Catch-22 to Margaret Atwood and Tolkien, but since reading M M Kaye’s The Far Pavilions and watching my first episode of Dawson’s Creek when I was thirteen, I’ve never been able to resist a love story. Is there anything better than the thrill of a first love or when a story is so good, so powerful you literally feel your heart aching? And so my addiction for all things romance led to two very happy and fun-filled years at Romance HQ itself, Mills & Boon… and now, incredibly, HarperImpulse!

I can’t begin to describe how exciting it is to be working on an imprint at its very beginnings. Though that does mean that no day has been the same since I started! Usually, I battle my way through the Hammersmith traffic to get into the office just before 9am and, as a self-confessed tea addict, the first thing I do is make a nice cuppa. Then it’s time to log on and check the e-mails – both mine and the HarperImpulse e-mail – and start to log all the submissions that have come in that day. The rest of my day is spent in meetings discussing the really fun stuff such as logo designs and cover art, helping to create content for our Facebook and Twitter pages and liaising with our other amazing departments – Production, PR and Marketing to ensure HarperImpulse is well and truly starting with a bang! Just come in are these fab postcard designs – what do you think? Or maybe we should try bookmarks…? We’d love to hear your thoughts and you can contact us our HarperImpulse Facebook page and twitter .

But really, HarperImpulse is about passion; it’s about pushing the boundaries of the genre and discovering new writers who dare to be different. And that’s why my absolute favourite part of my day is when I get to settle down with my Kindle and read all the fabulous submissions we’ve been sent – from a sexy and heart-wrenching New Adult to a wickedly fun Regency romp. The diversity of our submissions has been astonishing – as has the sheer volume! Since our call went out last Thursday we have received an incredible amount of manuscripts. The support from writers and readers alike has been phenomenal and everyone involved at HarperImpulse is so very grateful. Special thanks to Amanda for letting me witter on about romance here on her fantastic blog, One More Page!

I’m going to be keeping you updated on everything Impulse in the coming months but would love to hear from you in the meantime. Currently I am obsessing about New Girl (especially Nick and Jess’s ‘will they, won’t they’ relationship), New Adult/Young Adult romances, and particularly if they remind me of classic 90’s shows My So Called Life and Party of Five, and Paul Hollywood – patisserie porn anyone?! And I LOVE to chat about my obsessions so if you do too you can follow me on twitter @girl_on_a_ledge.

Don’t forget too that our inbox is always open so make sure you send in your stories to !

Until next time…

Charlotte x

Thanks so much Charlotte! I share your New Adult romance and Mr Hollywood obsessions Look out for more posts from Charlotte soon and do say ‘hello’ in the box below.

Earlier today I reviewed the excellent Austenland  by Shannon Hale. Austenland and Midnight in Austenland are being released in paperback by Bloomsbury on Thursday (28th March) and to celebrate I have two sets of both novels to give away!

As big fans of costume dramas of all kinds, we thought we’d have a bit of fun with this competition …

Austenland is all about dressing up and taking part in an authentic Austen experience so we’d like you to post a picture (or a link to a picture) of the costume you’d most love to have or wear if you were to star in a period drama or go to a Regency/Victorian/Georgian theme park like Austenland!

You can post your links and photos below or tweet them to us and using the tag #Austenland.

The image could be from a film or TV adaptation of a classic or from a  costume showroom or museum or it might even be one of your own. We can’t wait to see them!

I’ll choose my two favourite costumes after the closing date and the winners will be announced on Tuesday 2nd April. 

This giveaway is open to worldwide and will close at midnight on Sunday 31st March. 

Good luck!

The blog tour for Janey Fraser’s new novel ‘Happy Families’ starts today over on Bookclub Mum’s Blog. Check out the full schedule below and please do stop back on Friday when the ‘Happy Families’ blog tour stops off at One More Page!

Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Hands up who loves the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride and Prejudice? … Not just me then?! This year is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s enduringly popular novel and is being celebrated with a whole slew of Austen-themed adaptations and publications.  Austenland is something a little different; turning the spotlight on Austen’s fans. Austenland will speak to anyone who likes a good regency romance and has enjoyed TV series’ such as Lost in Austen.

In Austenland we meet Jane Hayes who is obsessed by Mr Darcy to the point where none of the men she dates can quite live up to her hero and she’s beginning to despair! When she’s feeling down, Jane seeks comfort in the smouldering glares of Mr Firth’s Mr Darcy. She know’s she’s got a problem and guiltily hides her BBC DVD box set but as her eagle-eyed Great Aunt Carolyn spots her secret on a visit to her apartment, she sets off a chain of events that will change Jane’s life!

Jane is bequeathed a three week holiday to Pembrook Park, a Regency-themed retreat where she is given the chance to live out her Austen-style fantasies in the heart of the English countryside. Austenland is a wonderfully escapist read and I  loved the details that Shannon Hale put into creating the perfect adventure back in time for her heroine. As Jane arrives in a horse and carriage and is given a made to measure Regecy wardrobe together with a lesson in the complex rules and codes of Regency social etiquette she wonders what she has let herself in for!

But Jane is also a bit of a rebel and it was this side to her character that really endeared her to me. As she smuggles her mobile phone into Pembrook Park and finds herself attracted to one of the park’s gardeners, I was willing her to have the time of her life on her Austen adventure! This is a book that examines what happens when your literary fantasises spill over into the real world and as Jane meets the handsome Colonel Andrews and imposing Mr Nobley the scene is set for a funny and romantic jaunt into the realities of Austen England.

Jane veers between wanting to live out the fantasy and knowing that its really not good for her and feeling silly, but as the story progresses we see her relax and begin to enjoy her holiday. Each chapter begins with an entry chronicling the ups and (mainly) downs of Jane’s love life which gives a good insight into how she is in the present and also bring a lot of humour to the story.

Austenland is a sweet quick read at just under two hundred pages and the ‘will they/won’t they’ romance of the story kept me turning them as fast as I could. There were plenty of unexpected twists to hold my interest and I particularly enjoyed the twist at the end of the novel which I really didn’t see coming! I’m looking forward to going back to Pembroke Park for Midnight in Austenland which is also published by Bloomsbury this week.

4/5

I’d like to thank Eleanor at Bloomsbury for sending me a review copy of this book.

Please stop back later today when I’ll be launching a fab giveaway to win copies of both books!

Austenland and Midnight in Austenland are both released in paperback and ebook formats on Thursday 28th March by Bloomsbury.

Find out more and read an extract of Austenland on the Bloomsbury website.

Today I’m delighted to welcome Eleanor Prescott to One More Page. I recently read (and loved) Eleanor’s second novel, Could it be I’m Falling in Love? and she kindly agreed to answer a few questions on the book and her writing. 

Eleanor’s previous work in PR included a job in the press office of MTV! However, since the age of 7 and the discovery of her first Enid Blyton, she always wanted to be a writer. A mixture of maternity leave and luck gave her the chance to try my hand at writing resulting in her lovely debut novel, Alice Brown’s Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating. Eleanor lives in Kent with her husband, son and daughter and is currently working on her third novel. Welcome Eleanor!

What was your inspiration for Could it Be I’m Falling in love?

Lots of little moments, really.  I spent many years working at MTV, so I got to see lots of celebs very close up and was always fascinated by how different their working lives were to mine.  Being a celeb is a full time job, and you’re never allowed to have a grumpy/tracksuit bottoms day ‘off’.  Through doing my job I got a tiny taste of celebrity life without ever actually being one… like walking down red carpets  (escorting stars – not in my own right, of course!), or getting papped coming out of a nightclub (again, escorting celebs to their cabs).  Lots of celebs seem very confident on the outside, but very insecure on the inside.  It struck me that the attention and money and clothes are something you can get very addicted to, but what happens when these things disappear?  Can a celeb ever go back to being private and ‘ordinary’ – and can they cope with the world losing interest?

Ex-pop star Woody is a window cleaner in the story; if you could have a celebrity (or ex-celebrity) window cleaner, who would it be?!

Most celebs look like they’d blow over in the wind – I’m not sure they’d have enough elbow grease to clean my grubby windows.  But Idris Elba, maybe?  He’s quite… erm, scenic.  And he looks like he’d be handy with a squidgee.

I love your heroine Roxy’s #roxysays tweets; as it’s Mums month on the blog, what top tip would Roxy tweet for the Mums out there?

CBeebies. Mr Bloom. Well fit.

The characters in Could it Be I’m Falling in Love are wonderfully varied including  a typecast soap star villain who just wants to make rom-coms, a failed weather man, an ex-MP, a one time model who found herself at the centre of a love scandal and a WAG; who was your favourite to write and why?

I loved writing Roxy – all her failings and all.  She’s so relentlessly optimistic, and beneath the orange she’s got a good heart.  Plus I loved being able to have fun with her language.  But my biggest soft spot is for Simon, the ex-soap villain. He’s so mild, but so set in the minds of the public as a bastard.  Everyone kicks him, from his kids, to his agent, to the grannies shopping in Waitrose.  I enjoyed writing him the most.  And of course, he massively loves his wife, which is always a very good thing.

Who would play Roxy, Woody and ‘down-on-his-luck’ Hollywood film star Austin Jones in the film version of the book?

I love it when someone is cast completely out of type…. like when Helena Bonham Carter played Mrs Potter in the TV adaptation of ‘Toast’.  So I’d go for someone unexpected as Roxy, like Rosamund Pike.  She always seems so cool and classy – I’d love to see her falling out of nightclubs and drunkenly dyeing herself orange!   But then again, maybe an out-and-out bad girl would be fun?  If Lindsay Lohan could pull off a British accent she’d be a perfect!

And for Woody….  I like the idea of someone who’s really been a singer.  Or Tom Hardy, perhaps?  And I quite fancy Colin Farrell as Austin.

If you could live a day in the life of one of your characters who would it be and what would you do?

Austin – Oh to have the chance to behave so badly!

And finally, what can we expect next from Eleanor Prescott

I’ve started work on my next novel.  It’s tough, starting back at the beginning with a blank page, knowing how many hundreds (if not thousands of hours of work lie ahead), but I’m hoping to finish a first draft later this year.

A huge thank you Eleanor and I totally agree with Roxy on Mr Bloom

Find out more about Eleanor and her books at: http://www.eleanorprescott.com/

Follow Roxy Squires on Twitter

 

I love discovering new authors and Amy Brill’s debut, The Movement of Stars sounds like an excellent historical romance read. Set in 1845 and based on the life of the first female astronomer in America, I absolutely love this cover and am looking forward to reading Hanna’s story. The Movement of Stars is published by Michael Joseph in paperback and as an ebook on 9th May.

A historical romance about forbidden love and one woman’s ambition – based on the life of Maria Mitchell, the first professional female astronomer in America

 A love story written in the stars…

 It is 1845, and Hannah Gardner Price dreams of a world infinitely larger than the small Quaker community where she has lived all 25 years of her life – for, as an amateur astronomer, she secretly hopes to discover a comet and win the King of Denmark’s prize for doing so.

Then she meets Isaac Martin, a young black whaler from the Azores who, like Hannah herself, has ambitions beyond his station. Drawn to him despite their differences, Hannah agrees to tutor Isaac in the art of navigation. As their shared passion for the stars develops into something deeper, however, Hannah’s standing in the community is called into question, and she has to choose: her dreams or her heart.