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Earlier today I posted my review of Linda Newbery’s excellent debut novel for adults, Quarter Past Two On A Wednesday Afternoon and as part of Linda’s blog tour to celebrate release, I have a copy to give away to one lucky reader!

It was the day when everything stopped.

At quarter past two on a hot afternoon in August, Anna’s beautiful, headstrong elder sister Rose disappears.

Twenty years later, Anna still doesn’t know whether Rose is alive or dead. In her early thirties now, she sees her future unfolding – with sensible, serious Martin and a grown-up, steady job – and finds herself wondering if this is what she really wants.

Unable to take control of her life while the mystery of her sister’s disappearance remains unsolved, Anna begins to search for the truth: what did happen to Rose that summer’s day?

To enter this giveaway just leave a comment in the box below and I’ll draw a winner using Random.org after the closing date.

This giveaway is open to UK residents only and will close at midnight on Sunday 31st August.

Good luck!

It was the day when everything stopped.

At quarter past two on a hot afternoon in August, Anna’s beautiful, headstrong elder sister Rose disappears.

Twenty years later, Anna still doesn’t know whether Rose is alive or dead. In her early thirties now, she sees her future unfolding – with sensible, serious Martin and a grown-up, steady job – and finds herself wondering if this is what she really wants.

Unable to take control of her life while the mystery of her sister’s disappearance remains unsolved, Anna begins to search for the truth: what did happen to Rose that summer’s day?

The cover for this novel caught my eye  – I love the image of the two girls on it and  I was intrigued by the title as soon as I read it. The title refers to the exact time that eighteen year old Rose leaves her house and disappears. Her younger sister Anna and her parents are left with the immediate impact of loss and fear followed by a longer term set of questions which, nearly twenty years later, Anna is determined to discover the answer to.

This is a complex and layered novel that builds up a picture of a seemingly ‘normal’ family trying their best to deal with the loss of a loved one, then reveals a web of past decisions and secrets that had me absolutely gripped and changed my view of the family members completely!

The narrative moves between the present; where Anna feels unable to put down roots and settle to a job or relationship and still feels heavily the weight of Rose’s presence in her life and her mother Cassandra is becoming increasingly fragile; to snapshots of the past as Rose and Anna grew up together and then delves further back into the family history with episodes from Cassandra’s life as she grew up, married and had children.

Loss, forgiveness and family are key themes, as is the way that past events and actions can reverberate into the future with unexpected repercussions and I was surprised more than once as I read at how my opinions of individuals changed as I read.

I found Anna particularly intriguing and although I started off as sympathetic to her, I didn’t find her particularly likeable for much of the book. But as I read on, I began to understand the motivations behind some of her seemingly strange decisions and as she began to delve further into Rose’s disappearance, I found myself wanting her to get the resolution she needed so much.

Similarly, I was very surprised at the strength of Cassandra’s story and the heartbreaking chain of events that led her to become the fragile person that we meet as the novel opens and was very much willing her to reveal all and find peace as the story progressed.

This is Linda’s first adult novel and I think it is a winner with a satisfying ending. The many layers and intriguing ‘what would you do if …?’ questions make it ideal for reading groups to dissect and discuss and I’m not surprised it was chosen to feature in the Radio 2 Book Club.

Linda is already an established author of children’s and young adult fiction and winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award. A Quarter Past Two On A Wednesday Afternoon is set to be just as big a hit in adult fiction – add it to your reading lists now!

5/5

A Quarter Past Two On A Wednesday Afternoon is out now in hardback and ebook formats.

I’d like to thank Naomi at Transworld for sending me a review copy of this novel.

Find out more about Linda and her writing at: http://www.lindanewbery.co.uk/

Having unexpectedly lost her husband and lacking the means to support herself, Josie DiSanti and her two daughters take refuge in the small town of Mill River, to live with Josie’s aunt, Ivy. The sisters, Rose and Emily, are inseparable growing up – until a shocking tragedy tears them apart.

Years later, Rose and Emily return to Mill River for the reading of their mother’s will, where they learn that Josie would do anything to force their reconciliation: the sisters must move into neighbouring houses for the summer and work together to locate the key to Josie’s safe deposit box, which contains their inheritance. And so, left with no choice, Rose and Emily reluctantly begin their search. But in a place known for its magic and miracles, little do they know that an even greater treasure awaits them . . . 

The Mill River Redemption is Darcie Chan’s second novel; following on from the New York Times best seller, The Mill River Recluse. Both books are set in the fictional town of Mill River but if like me, you haven’t read Darcie’s first novel, don’t worry, this is a complete standalone story although there are some linkages that only made me want to go straight out and grab a copy of The Mill River Recluse as soon as I’d finished reading this book. Having loved The Mill River Recluse, I can’t wait to read more from Darcie!

Darcie Chan’s writing reminded me of some of my favourite authors and I think The Mill River Recluse with it’s quirky characters, close knit community and family tensions and mysteries will appeal to fans of Beth Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen. This is a tale of love, family and grief but despite heartbreaking moments, I found it an uplifting read filled with wise words.

The story focuses on Josie Di Santi and her two daughters, Rose and Emily and the main story line is split between their past, starting in 1983 as Josie and her young daughters flee to Mill River in the wake of tragedy and the present where Emily and Rose no longer speak and return to Mill River following the death of their mother.

Told in alternating chapters that eventually meet in the present, I enjoyed getting to know Josie, her family and the occupants of Mill River and seeing how the characters changed over time. Chan builds a picture of a warm and welcoming community at the heart of which is Josie’s Auny Ivy, who she seeks refuge with following the death of her husband.

Ivy was one of my favourite characters in the book and I wish I could visit her fabulous shop, The Bookstop. A love of reading and books is a key theme and I loved how Darcie wove books into the story. The novel features a list of Darcie’s own favourite books at the end, many of which get a mention in the story and all of which I’ve now added to my own reading list

Rose’s book-loving son, Alex was another favourite character and his story really pulled on my heartstrings! I also enjoyed reading about Josie as she put her life back together and seeing how the family grew up. The contrast between the young Rose and Emily and the sisters in the present is stark and the mystery of their estrangement kept me guessing and turning the pages, as did the challenge that Josie sets them in her will.

Chan writes with warmth and sensitivity but also with a wonderful sense of humour and there are many moments that made me smile while I read The Mill River Redemption as Rose and Emily are forced to live side by side and work together to claim their inheritance. This is a gripping read filled with surprises and I didn’t want it to end. I’m excited to see that Darcie is working on a third Mill River book and can’t wait to visit the town again.

A perfect read to cosy up with this autumn!

5/5

The Mill River Redemption by Darcie Chan (Sphere) is published tomorrow (26th August) as an eBook.

Find out more about Darcie Chan and her writing at: http://www.darciechan.com/

Today I’m welcoming the lovely Lynn Marie Hulsman back to One More Page to tell us about the location inspiration for her new novel, Summer At Castle Stone. Lynn Marie lives in New York with her family and her favorite thing to do is write Romantic Comedy. Welcome Lynn Marie!

Of all the experiences I’ve had in my life, travel ranks as one of the most important. It falls only below giving birth and becoming a mother, moving to New York City and making it my home for life, and publishing as a contracted author. When I’m not traveling, my favorite pass times are reading and writing. Being sucked into the “world” of a novel thrills me. I enjoy living vicariously through a book’s characters. What is it like to taste the cuisine of a place? What does a city sound like before dawn? How do the streets smell at high noon?

When I write fiction, I feel a thrill when I’m in a character’s skin, sensing what she is sensing. Now, as a novelist, it’s nearly impossible for me to visit somewhere without taking mental notes of what it’s like to navigate my days and nights in a place that’s unfamiliar to me.

When I co-wrote the cookbook The Irish Pantry for chef Noel McMeel, I was given the opportunity to travel to Ireland to do research, and to trail him in his kitchen and restaurants. From the moment I landed in Dublin, I felt a shift. Everything moved more slowly than in New York City, where I live. The stakes of little things, such as getting ahead in the customs queue or finding the best seat on the bus to the city center, seemed lower. For me, Ireland felt like the right place at the right time.

I’d been stressed, and feeling depleted. I had been buying into ideas that made me suffer, such as comparing the décor and size of my apartment to those of acquaintances whose spouses work on Wall Street, and worrying that if my kids didn’t get into the “right” middle school that they’d surely never get into the “right” high school, or university and were therefore doomed for life before reaching the age of 10. Without trying to sound like a drama queen, I realized on the spot that Ireland offered me the chance at a spiritual awakening.

During that trip, I stayed in and cooked with old and new friends, taking the time to really listen people as they talked instead of making to-do lists in my head. On the train trip north to Fermanagh, I looked out the windows at the countryside instead of burying my face in my phone. Instead of spending an hour doing my hair and makeup, and choosing an outfit, I used that hour to walk the lanes of the village with my friend’s big, slobbery Labrador retriever, observing the difference in the trees and shrubs to what I knew in New York, and my birthplace, Kentucky.

When I returned to New York from that trip, the sights, sounds, and smells of Ireland stayed with me. An idea for a new novel, which was to become Summer at Castle Stone, slowly took shape. I’d write down a note here about the smell of baking soda bread, and another there about the voices I heard at the early morning green market near Great Georges Street in the North end of Dublin. I could see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the world, but what was the story?

The answer lay in my bones, of course. The story’s roots were in food, cooking, restaurants. I’d traveled through the world. It needed only finishing touches from my imagination. But who would live there? A jaded girl, of course, exhausted and world-weary from shadow-boxing against opponents whose defeat didn’t matter. Boom! There was Tom O’Grady. Zip! There was Shayla Sheridan. They meandered around my mind picking up my memories of turf fires in 17th-century thatched-roof cottages, of colcannon and cod served with pints of stout that were meals unto themselves, of charming men with mischief in their eyes and flirty words that bordered on insulting but drew me in with their witty challenge, of the kind of damp, cold air that slowed my blood to a crawl, making rushing anywhere impossible, even if I’d been inclined to accomplish much.

I suppose it wasn’t strictly necessary to return to Ireland early this summer in order to gather more information for the final, polishing details of Summer at Castle Stone, but I’m glad I did it. Had I not, I wouldn’t have experienced County Wexford, my new favorite place in Ireland. Its combination of sophisticated arts community and unspoiled, rural village life left its mark on me. Visiting grand estates such as Wells House informed my book. So did spending time with locals ranging from George Lawlor, the Lord Mayor, Billy Roche, the celebrated playwright, Maria Nolan, who spearheaded the organization of the Wexford Literary Festival, to my dancing partner at Screen Village’s local pub – Freddie’s Bar – who was described as “a maverick, that fella” by a local Irish mammy.

The details of rugged, wild, beautiful, ancient, wise old Ireland burned into my brain won’t lose their sharp edges soon, I predict. The impact was too great. I predict I’ll write more books set on The Emerald Isle. But not without another visit or two first…

Thanks Lynn Marie!

Summer At Castle Stone is out now in ebook formats. Click the image below to find out more and please do check out the other stops on Lynn Marie’s blog tour!

 

In celebration of the release of Fanny Blake’s excellent new novel, With a Friend Like You, Fanny’s lovely publisher Orion has given me three copies to give away to lucky readers!

This is my favourite of Fanny’s novels yet and is warm, funny and thoughtful; getting right to the heart of complicated but wonderful female friendships!

To enter this giveaway just leave a ‘pick me’ comment in the box below and I’ll draw three winners using Random.org after the closing date.

This giveaway is open to UK residents only and will close at midnight on Monday 25th August.

Good luck!

Today I’m delighted to welcome Fanny Blake back to One More Page on the latest stop of her With A Friend Like You blog tour. Fanny loves reading and started her career as an Editor before moving on to write books of her own. She is the books editor of Women & Home magazine and has also been a judge for a number of literary awards including the Betty Trask Award, the Desmond Elliott Award, the Romantic novelists’ Association Award, the Costa First Novel Award and the Costa Short Story Award. With A Friend Like You is Fanny’s fourth novel and is out now. Welcome Fanny!

Being the books editor of Woman and Home is my dream job. For more years than I care to count, I’ve been reading and recommending books on their monthly book pages. I’m lucky to work on a magazine with an editor who loves books and believes in the pleasure of reading. Almost every day, the postman turns up with anything between two and ten book proofs from publishers. I read as many as I can and choose which ones to feature, making sure there’s something to appeal to almost every taste. I used to commission a short story every month from established authors, too. However this year we rang the changes and now we’ve upped the book coverage from one to two pages and dropped the story. Instead I interview one author every month, getting a portrait of the person behind the bestseller.

 Before I was a writer, I was a publisher so my whole life has been spent reading for a living: reading quickly, at that. Although I didn’t originally plan to be a writer, I do believe that reading is a really important part of a writer’s life: reading and of course actually doing the writing. Talking about it is much easier!

I took a roundabout route to writing novels. After publishing, I became a journalist and then began writing books that tied in with TV series, as well as ghosting autobiographies. All of this taught me so much, not least that I could actually finish a book. But I also learned about structure and voice. The more I wrote, the more I began to have ideas for my own novels and the more I wanted to write them.

When it came to writing my first novel, What Women Want, I found that all my experience helped no end. That has continued to be the case right up to my latest With a Friend Like You. It may make me very critical of my own efforts, but at the same time everything has dovetailed wonderfully well. All the reading I do for Woman and Home makes me keep going and aspire to being a better writer with every novel I write.

With a Friend Like You (Orion) and The Secrets Women Keep (Orion) by Fanny Blake are both out now.

Find out more about Fanny and her books at: http://fannyblake.co.uk/

Please do check out the other stops on Fanny’s blog tour and look out for a chance to win a copy of With a Friend Like You later today here on One More Page!

 

I’m very excited that The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens tonight and doubly excited to have Claire Sandy as guest on One More Page to celebrate her new novel, What Would Mary Berry Do? The perfect read for fans of The Great British Bake Off, this is a story about family life, unfriendly rivalry and flat Victoria sponges! 

Claire Sandy lives in Surrey with a husband and a daughter and loves lots of things, such as baking, reading, writing, eating, chatting about matters of global importance with her nine year old, dressing up her dog and inventing new things to do with gin. She’s worked at many things – advertising, radio jingles, a wool shop – and thanks her lucky stars that writing What Would Mary Berry Do? involved every single item on her list of loved things. Welcome Claire!

Writing for a living is what I’ve always wanted to do. I was derailed for years on end, and I don’t regret one moment of my wool shop manageress-ing, my radio producing, my voiceover agent-ing or even my wine bar waitressing, but it was nice to finally get paid to write.

I knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it looked. By now, we all know that about practically everything , right? And I knew it wouldn’t be plain sailing; many writers before me had waved their rejection letters like bunting. But one thing I didn’t suspect; how wonderful it would be.

Having a manuscript on the go is like having a lover. A secret lover, at that. You don’t want to talk about this lover because nobody would quite understand. You don’t want their paws all over his flesh. He’s yours and yours alone. You’re interested in every inch of him, every childhood memory, each ambition, which flavour Cornetto he prefers.

When you’re out and about you fantasise about getting back to him again, closing the door so it’s just the two of you. Time loses its meaning when you’re together. You lift your eyes and half a day has gone by.

OK, I’m stretching my metaphor here. But not that far. Nobody prepared me for how attached I would feel to my manuscript. Time spent either tinkering aimlessly, or speeding ahead, or reading it for the umpteenth time, or even staring at that shrub outside my window that I now know so well, is all precious.

Some writers claim that writing is therapeutic. None that I’ve met, I hasten to add. Any writers I meet are too busy trying to catch the waiter’s eye to ask for another bottle and lamenting the nearness of their deadline, to quack such touchy-feely stuff. We’re professionals. If we wrote to work out our demons I doubt anybody would want to read it. I mean, you’re busy folk; d’you really want to hear how my potty training affects my relationships? We don’t wait for the muse to bite (is that what muses do? Maybe they nudge or prod or bake cakes) because we have deadlines to meet and publishers to appease.

Oh, and lives to lead. I’m not sure who I thought would do the laundry and burn my daughter’s fishfingers when I became a Proper Novelist, but I didn’t think it would be me. Perhaps I could persuade the muse to do the washing up; she’s certainly been dragging her feet lately.

Thanks Claire!

What Would Mary Berry Do? is out now in paperback and ebook formats. 

*** This is a work of fiction, in no way endorsed by Mary Berry, and where neither Mary Berry herself nor her recipes feature. ***

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

 

 

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and he still loves her – but that almost seems besides the point now.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells him that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her – he is always a little upset with her – but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts…

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Confession time! Landline is the first book by Rainbow Rowell that I’ve read. Despite the fact that I have gorgeous editions of all of her books to date on my shelf, like so many other books since I’ve been book blogging, the ones I’ve bought myself have sat waiting patiently for me to read them. I plan to change that while I’m on my summer holidays though!

So, back to the point; Landline is the first Rainbow Rowell book I’ve read and I loved it. Rainbow’s writing is smart, funny and perceptive and right from the off I liked leading lady Georgie. One of the reasons I liked her most is that she’s far from perfect but she’s a really good representation of the constant juggling that goes with being a working Mum. I had so much empathy with her as she worried what her job was doing, not just to her relationship with her daughters but her husband too.

Set in the run up to Christmas, Georgie and her writing partner finally get the chance to pitch their show to a big network. The problem? They have to write 5 episodes in a week and Georgie is supposed to be leaving the next day to spend Christmas in snowy Omaha with her family and in-laws.  Georgie stays behind and as her world begins to fall apart a little she heads to her mum’s for some TLC. It’s there that she discovers she can talk to her husband in the past via her mum’s old landline phone!

I loved how Rainbow worked the ‘magic’ telephone line into the story so that I actually felt it was believable.  I love stories with a little bit of magic in them and with Landline I think Rainbow Rowell gets it just right. Landline reminded me a little of classic films like Big or 13 going on 30

As I read, I felt like Rainbow really ‘got it’ and it was refreshing to see a love story that was so real. Landline is perceptive and heartbreaking but also magical and uplifting. I thoguht the ending was brilliant and I could absolutely see this book as a film. Romantic, funny, sad and real, Landline left me with a warm glow and I can’t wait to read the rest of my Rainbow Rowell collection!

4/5

Landline is our now in Hardback and ebook formats.

Find out more about Rainbow and hr writing at: http://rainbowrowell.com/blog/

With thanks to Orion for providing a review copy of this novel.

I’m so excited to have Paige Toon as my guest on One More Page today! Paige has been one of my favourite authors for a long time now and her latest novel, Thirteen Weddings is a brilliant summer read. To celebrate Thirteen Weddings Paige has embarked on a thirteen stop wedding themed blog tour and today shares with us the details of her very own wedding day. Welcome Paige!

I’ve always been a bit of an optimistic pessimist. I try to think the worst so I won’t be disappointed. I think the biggest mistake I made when I got married was to completely forget to adopt this philosophy. I had thought about my wedding day all my life. It’s supposed to be the Best Day of Your Life – but jeez, talk about putting the pressure on!

My husband and I were one of the first of our group of friends to tie the knot, so we didn’t have a lot of experience in how to do things. Looking back, I really wish we’d hired a wedding planner – although in reality, I’m a bit of a control freak and we also didn’t have a lot of money.

I was so tied to the organisation of our wedding that I found it hard to enjoy the day. I noticed every little thing that went wrong. Nobody else did, it was just me. In fact, lots of people said it was the nicest wedding they’d ever been to – including my husband, so I really wish I’d been able to step back and enjoy it more.

Aside from the amazing man I married (that goes without saying, surely!), my favourite bit about the day was wearing my dress. I didn’t have high hopes for finding a dress that I’d look good in – I never, ever wore white. So when I found it, it was a very happy moment indeed. (You can see a picture of it on shazsbookboudoir.blogspot.co.uk.)

I also loved the church we got married in: St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden. In fact, I used this church for Thirteen Wedding’s thirteenth wedding, and borrowed some facts for the book, like the sound of the buskers in the plaza behind the church. My best friend, Bridie, came over from Australia to be my Matron of Honour, and some of my closest family members did, too.

After the service, the congregation piled on to a couple of red London double decker buses and had a champagne tour of the Christmas lights while we went on to the reception venue – the Barbican Garden Rooms – to do the photographs.

As for the things that went wrong, there were plenty, but here are but a few…

During the service, I couldn’t get my words out because I started to cry, which was highly embarrassing! I felt like I didn’t have enough time to compose myself before it was my moment to speak again, so every time I spoke, I was laughing with embarrassment through my tears. I can’t tell you how many people asked me afterwards if I was laughing or crying – it was mortifying!

I wish, wish, wish we’d splashed out on proper wedding photographers like Lina Orsino (who helped with the research and also features in Thirteen Weddings) and her partner Tom (linaandtom.com) because most of our shots had flash, so we looked very bright and the background looked very dark. The official photographs looked dreadful and my husband and I both wish we’d gone on the buses with everyone else instead. I never got a single shot of me with my brother, and that still upsets me, but we made up for it at his wedding, thankfully!

Two nights before the wedding, we finally put a playlist together for the DJ – it wasn’t a typical wedding list, but we put a lot of thought into it, from the chill-out music to start with, finally building up to some cooler, indie songs and ending with the cheese. But then the wedding DJ didn’t have any of our music, and the person who took it on instead, played the playlist in any order so we had the cheese played during dinner. Argh!

We went on our honeymoon very early the next morning, so didn’t have any time at all to dissect the day, or to see close friends and relatives who’d come from overseas. I think since then, people generally realise it’s good to have a break before going on their honeymoon, and this is the one thing I’d recommend for anyone reading this.

All in all, though, I can’t really complain. I’m still happily married to my hubbie eleven years later, and that’s the main thing.

Thanks Paige!

Thirteen Weddings is out now in paperback and ebook formats.

Please do check out the other brilliant stops on Paige’s blog tour which includes deleted scenes, song and picture inspiration for Thirteen Weddings, a character interview with Bronte, how Thirteen Weddings links to Paige’s other books plus a competition to win your name in her next book! 

Read my reviews of Paige’s books

A note from Paige: Sign up to my book club, ‘The Hidden Paige’, at www.paigetoon.com for free short stories, competitions and the chance to find out more about me and my characters and what we’re all up to.

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