Cover reveal! Mistletoe & Mayhem by Rebecca Ferguson

I am so lucky that today I am revealing the cover of Mistletoe & Maybem by Catherine Ferguson. But before I reveal its beauty to you, here's a bit about the book...

A warm and cosy festive tale you won’t be able to put down.

Lola Plumpton can’t believe her luck.

Christmas is coming and her gorgeous boyfriend, Nathan, has offered up his swanky apartment to host the Plumpton family’s festive celebrations. It looks set to be a Christmas to remember. And it is – but for all the wrong reasons.

As the 25th December draws closer, Lola unexpectedly finds herself missing some key components:

1. A job (but who needs one of those anyway, when you’ve got the ultimate family Christmas to prepare for?)

2. Money (no job equals no money, it turns out.)

3. A boyfriend (yup, Nathan the hunk has said adios to Lola – and in the *most* embarrassing way possible…)

4. Somewhere to host her fabulous family Christmas(because of course, no Nathan means no des res apartment.)

Lola’s at a loss about what to do. But one way or another, she’s going to make this the best Christmas her family’s ever had…

And here it is....

Gorgeous! I think you'll agree & I can't wait to get reading!

Cathy Kelly Launch Party plus Giveaway

Keep reading for a chance to win a signed copy of Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly!

Another day-another fabulous event that I have the privilege to attend! Last night was the launch of the absolutely stunning Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly. I was invited up to the rooftop of Orion and we celebrated in style with these stunning views...

And wine and nibbles too of course!

The whole room was filled with gorgeous books, I think you'll agree Orion has some fabulous authors!

Cathy was interviewed by fellow Orion author Fanny Blake, whose new book House of Dreams is out on the 5th November-so exciting! Cathy talked about her writing process and how she gets the inspiration for the names in her book. At one point she did say that after writing 17 novels, she was starting to run out of names and so fellow book blogger Zarina suggested that she should use her name-you can look out for that soon then! Cathy also talked about how, when she writes, her characters tend to take over and let her story meander along it's own course-that is when she's not being distracted by Pinterest and Buzz Feed of course!

We were treated to these wonderful goody bags by the lovely folks at Orion...

The goody bags contained a copy of Cathy's new book (which i had signed), a copy of Fanny's new book (with I did not manage to get signed-sad!) a copy of The Christmas We Met by Kate Lord Brown, a copy of Woman and Home-I'll look forward to reading that in the bath- and a lovely One Book Lane keyring-we were spoiled!!

It was great to meet Cathy-thanks to Sharon for taking this picture of us-she was so lovely and genuinely a delight to chat to! She was also lovely enough to sign my book!

I happened to have another copy of the book which I also got signed and if you would like to win it for yourself just leave me a comment below or send me a tweet telling me your favourite thing about autumn (you'll notice the lovely autumn leave on the cover of Between Sisters) and I'll announce the winner next week. I'm going to open up this competition to everyone because I want all the lovely readers to have the chance to experience the beauty of this book! Good Luck!

Thanks so much to Orion, Cathy and Fanny for such a lovely evening!

Book Launch: Christmas at Lilac Cottage by Holly Martin

On Friday I was lucky enough to attend the launch of Holly Martin's fabulous new novel Christmas at Lilac Cottage. This is the first novel in the White Cliff Bay series, with the next novel in the series, Snowflakes at Silver Cove following hot on its heels releasing at the end of October. There was a definite wintery theme to the evening with snowflakes and even mulled wine! It was just great to see a big display of paperbacks ready to be signed by lovely Holly herself!

There were even fabulous cupcakes which kept coming round to tempt us all (and to soak up the mulled win too of course)...

And to make it even more exciting, these had mini book covers on depending on what flavour they were-how fabulous do these look!

It was a great night with lots of lovely bloggers and of course some fabulous authors. Here's me chatting to the amazing Kat Black who I was thrilled to finally meet.

The whole evening was very enjoyable and it was so exciting to be able to see the book in all its glory and celebrate with Holly Martin who literally gives the best hugs, I highly recommend hugging her if you haven't already! I can't wait to read the book and get myself into the festive spirit and finally congratulations to this lovely author!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit 6.10.15

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

This seems like a little bit of a negative post today so I may not get to 10. There are things that I want to quit doing but I'm not goin g to dwell on them and I'm not going to beat myself up if I can't do them either!

1. Buying books I don't have time to read. This is still buying books so supporting the amazing authors so I should really change this to have more time to read all the books that I buy but that's just no realistic is it?

2. Having to say to no to what I know are wonderful books offered to me for review. I've had to turn down more and more recently because I've just had so little reading time and I hate it but its better than wasting the books and I have just enough time to talk about them on Twitter instead!

3. Never being able to get round to books I miss the publication day for. Like many people, I rush out to get books on publication day or I'm lucky enough to get them early, but if I don't read them close enough to publication day then the next publication day comes along and I get all excited about those books and don't have time ot read the older books. I'd quite like to take a resolution to read what I want when I want!

4. Continuing to read books I'm 'just not that into'. This is wasting my time and I really don't enjoy writing bad reviews either, not matter how constructive they are!

5. Having blog envy. My blog is mine and I shouldn't be jealous of other people's blogs, they belong to them and mine is special and unique to me. I know I'm neglecting it a little at the moment but it knows I still love it!

Bookish things I DON'T want to quit!

6. Saying yes. This whole blog started up because I said yes and I have had some of the most amazing times because I said yes to bookish events and yes when people asked me if I wanted to join them, seriously some of the best nights and met the best people.

7. Trying new things. It is easy to stick to the authors you know. You feel a sense of loyalty to them and you know you'll love everything they write but I have made some excellent discoveries by trying out new authors or even new genres so I'm definitely not quitting this one!

8. Shouting about books from the rooftops! My colleagues, my family and even the children I teach must be fed up of me pushing books on them and shouting about books by now but there is no way I am not going to shout about my love of books in real life, on twitter and anywhere else I possibly can!

9. Giving time to reading. Yes I have lots of deadlines to meet at work, yes I am completing a masters, yes my other half and I both work long hours but I make time for reading. Whether that means listening to an audiobook on my commute or reading a book whilst waiting for my dinner to arrive in a restaurant, there are moments and they are worth giving over to the love of a good book.

10. This blog. I have mentioned a couple of times now that I feel the blog is slipping a little because things are so full on work-wise at the moment, however I love this blog and there is no way I am going to give it up. yes sometimes I have to stay up a little later or get up a little earlier to post something. Sometimes I need to blog whilst being driven somewhere in the car but I love this blog, I love reading and I love talking about books so this is definitely something I am NOT going to quit!

Guest Review: Here Come The Boys/Ladies Who Launch by Milly Johnson

Angie Silveroak and her husband are taking a much-needed holiday on the cruise ship Mermaidia, so the last person she hopes to bump into on the first night is her one-time best friend Selina and the man Selina stole from her and married twenty years ago.

And what she needs even less is to be marooned in Malaga with Selina when both of them manage to miss boarding the ship in port. 

It will take three days for them to travel across Europe to catch up with the ship again in Croatia. And in the company of each other twenty-four/seven, a lot of old baggage is going to be unloaded. 

Angie Silverton and Selina Molloy have not always been friends. Best pals at school, they fell out over a man, and it was only when they both missed a ship in Here Come the Boys that they found friendship again.

Now they are reunited again and life since their adventure on the Mermadia has been anything but boring. Did Selina stick with her horrible husband Zander? What happened to Angie and Gill when they stepped off the ship? And what does the future hold for the friends?

Join Selina and Angie as they take afternoon tea at The Sunflower Cafe to find out. 

Review: Having thoroughly enjoyed Here Come the Girls, which I actually listened to as an audio book while on a P&O cruise, I was really looking forward to reading this novella.  It was well worth the wait. Although a short story, it is not lacking in content.  There is drama, romance, adventure and, of course, humour aplenty.

Once again, the action takes place on the cruise ship Mermaidia, this time sailing from Southampton to the Adriatic. The main players are Angie and Gil on their first cruise, and Angie's one-time best friend, Selina, who has come on the holiday with her husband, Zander. I don't want to give away the plot, but suffice it to say that the girls have a bit of an adventure and not all of the action takes place on the ship. There are plenty of other interesting and entertaining characters on board, some of whom are instantly recognisable to anyone who has been on a cruise. Milly has also included a couple of individuals from Here Come the Girls.

Milly has followed this story up with a short story called Ladies Who Launch, in which we see Angie and Selina a year and a half after the cruise visiting the Sunflower Cafe (from Milly's latest novel Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Cafe) for one of their famous afternoon teas. It is lovely to find out during their conversation what actually happened at the end of the cruise. So often, I am left wondering what happened next at the end of a book. In this case I know - thanks Milly Johnson.  In this story, as well as introducing us to the Sunflower Cafe, we also meet some of the characters from the next book.

Both Here Come the Boys and Ladies Who Launch are wonderful reads. As with Milly's other novels, they are entertaining with some lovely Yorkshire humour.  Be warned though, if you've never cruised before, and even if you have, you may well find yourself off to the travel agents for a few brochures. 

Review: Killing Monica by Candace Bushnell

Pandy "PJ" Wallis is a renowned writer whose novels about a young woman making her way in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films. After the success of the Monica books and movies, Pandy wants to attempt something different: a historical novel based on her ancestor Lady Wallis. But Pandy's publishers and audience only want her to keep cranking out more Monica-as does her greedy husband, Jonny, who's gone deeply in debt to finance his new restaurant in Las Vegas.

When her marriage crumbles and the boathouse of her family home in Connecticut goes up in flames, Pandy suddenly realizes she has an opportunity to reinvent herself. But to do so, she will have to reconcile with her ex-best friend and former partner in crime, SondraBeth Schnowzer, who plays Monica on the big screen-and who may have her own reasons to derail Pandy's startling change of plan.

Review: having loved everything Candace Bushnell has written before I was really looking forward to this novel. The reader is dropped right into the action, a little disconcerting at first but definitely necessary after everything this book has to throw at you, you don't have time to stand around getting your bearings. PJ Wallace seems to have it all in New York so be prepared for fabulous scenes with New York socialites, clubs and shopping, very Liptstick Jungle, very Sex and the City, only it seems that Pandy isn't quite ready for all of this and so throughout the book we hear her kind of inner turmoil at all of this and get the sense that she would rather be rucked up somewhere much more relaxing on her own with her thoughts and her writing. 

Drama seems to find Pandy though and so there are moments in the novel where you literally will struggle to believes what is happening to this character. The storyline is definitely as fast paced as it is dramatic. This sometimes meant that I struggled to follow which character was which and then there the illusion character of Monica. Monica is a creation written by our main protagonist but she is also part of Pandy herself and is also played by Pandy's former best freind which gets really really confusing. The symbolism behind the real Monica and the fictions Monica is quite interesting and would be intriguing to track upon a reread of this novel I am sure. 

Obviously I loved the fact that a lot of this book is set in New York and it is really quite fun to have a book that is about a writer under pressure to write another book in a very successful series when she really really doesn't want to. The writing style is quite pacing and a little brief in parts leaving the reader to make up their own mind about what exactly is going in between two characters. The characters felt very realistic and so were easy to relate to and there is one big secret which  sure will keep many readers guessing towards the end. This book offered me a certain amount of escapism from the real world but definitely required my full attention when reading to keep track of who was who and what was what. 

Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

With the Wife Project complete, Don settles into a new job and married life in New York. But it's not long before certain events are taken out of his control and it's time to embark on a new project . . .

As Don tries to get to grips with the requirements of starting a family, his unusual research style gets him into trouble. To make matters worse, Don has invited his closest friend to stay with them, but Gene is not exactly the best model for marital happiness. As Don's life with Rosie continues to be unpredictable, he needs to remember that emotional support is just as important as practical expertise.

Review: Having loved The Rosie Project so much I was so so excited to begin this book. I dove into it straight away and then, I'm afraid I got a little bored... So, having reached the halfway pint I walked away from the novel. I left it for nearly a year and then read it in just about one go. I can't say that I enjoyed it lots more on the second attempt but I remembered why I love Professor Don Tilman so much! There were some fabulous funny moments in the novel, just like in the first book staring everyone's favourite Geek, some real laugh out loud blunders that don gets himself into so definitely be prepared to laugh! There are also some very real moments of how new parents having to cope with a rollercoater of emotions when they decided to make that jump towards parenthood and I think these were the moments I struggled with the most because I would be laughing and then I would be worried about what was going to happen in a very serious situation. 

Don is a lot more empathetic in this novel than in the previous book, his time living with Rosie obviously having taught him a lot. Rosie is just the same and I really like her in this book. Don's friends are very involved in this novel and I did have a little trouble keeping track of who was who, I'm not going to lie! Their involvement leads to a lot of hilarity though because Don is trying to do the right thing based on why they have told him and so he ends up in some compromising, unwise and sometimes illegal positions-funny though! 

I did feel at points in this book that Don's autistic nature was really misunderstood and this was very interesting because I think it is a great thing to raise awareness of the fact that autism is so generalised by people in society and yet can affect each person in a very very different way. I think it's great that a Don can bring about this awareness but I also really just wanted to know what he was going to do about Rosie and the baby. Overall I did struggle a bit with this novel but this will in no way deter me from picking up what Graeme Simsion has to offer in the future! 

To order your copy and see for yourself, click here!