Book after Book

About DCR Bond DCR Bond (Debbie) was born in London, but grew up Jamaica, then Zambia, and dimensions of this international upbringing feature in her writing. As a child she was encouraged to write and wanted to nurture her talent and become a journalist. She never did; instead, she studied law, then qualified as an accountant and worked for twenty years in the City. She’s not sure she ever really enjoyed that job. Now freed from the shackles of the day job, DCR Bond has reverted to her childhood passion and loves her new career. Her women's fiction novels are light-hearted, visual, fast-paced, and easy to read, with strong credible and relatable characters. When Debbie is not writing, she can be found playing tennis (badly), bridge (a little better), in the gym, walking her dogs on Exmoor, or tending her garden - she loves cooking her own produce for friends and family. She lives with her husband in rural Devon, surrounded by their miniature bull terriers and s mall flock of free-

Welcome to the blog tour for Best Men  by Sidney Karger! More about the book… First comes lust. An hour after meeting a hot stranger at a bar, Max is with him on the rooftop of his Manhattan apartment, making out. Then comes hate. Just five minutes later, Max is bolting back down twelve flights of stairs, hoping never to see him again. Then comes your best friend’s wedding. So the last person Max wants to turn up at his best friend’s wedding – where he is official Gay of Honour to the bride – is that very same hot stranger. Or for him to be a Best Man too – for the groom. Now the co-Best Men are in a fight to the death over who will be the actual best. But although Max wants to keep his friend close, he discovers he wants to keep his enemy even closer... More about the author… Sidney Karger is an award-winning screenwriter for film and television. He is a contributing writer for Saturday Night Live and McSweeney’s, and a former writer/director with Comedy Central and MTV, among other n

My reading recommendation today is... Vita and the Birds  by Polly Crosby! More about the book… 1938:  Lady Vita Goldsborough lives in the menacing shadow of her controlling older brother, Aubrey. But when she meets local artist Dodie Blakeney, the two women form a close bond, and Vita finally glimpses a chance to be free. 1997:  Following the death of her mother, Eve Blakeney returns to the coast where she spent childhood summers with her beloved grandmother, Dodie. Eve hopes that the visit will help make sense of her grief. The last thing she expects to find is a bundle of letters that hint at the heart-breaking story of Dodie’s relationship with a woman named Vita, and a shattering secret that echoes through the decades. What she discovers will overturn everything she thought she knew about her family – and change her life forever. More about the author… Polly grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives in the heart of Norfolk with her husband and son, and her very loud and much lo

Welcome to the blog tour for Henry VIII: The Heart And The Crown by Alison Weir! More about the book… A second son, not born to rule, becomes a man, and a king... In grand royal palaces, Prince Harry grows up dreaming of knights and chivalry - and the golden age of kings that awaits his older brother. But Arthur's untimely death sees Harry crowned King Henry of England. As his power and influence extends, so commences a lifelong battle between head and heart, love and duty. Henry rules by divine right, yet his prayers for a son go unanswered. The great future of the Tudor dynasty depends on an heir. And the crown weighs heavy on a king with all but his one true desire. HENRY VIII. HIS STORY. Alison Weir's most ambitious Tudor novel yet reveals the captivating story of a man who was by turns brilliant, romantic, and ruthless: the king who changed England forever. More about the author… Alison Weir lives and works in Surrey. Her books include Britain's Royal Families, The Si

Welcome to the blog tour for The Funeral Cryer  by Wenyan Lu! More about the book… The  Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job as a professional mourner and under-appreciated by The Husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of break-up. But just when things couldn't be bleaker, The Funeral Cryer takes a leap of faith - and in so doing things start to take a surprising turn for the better… Dark, moving, and wry, The  Funeral Cryer  is both an illuminating depiction of a 'left behind' society - and proof that it's never too late to change your life. More about the author… Originally from Shanghai, China, Wenyan Lu is the winner of the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2020. Wenyan holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Her unpublished historical novel T

Welcome to the blog tour for If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come by Jen St. Jude! More about the book… On the morning Avery Byrne plans to end her life, the world discovers there are only nine days left to live: an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery fights her way home - determined to save the girl she has been in love with her whole life. But can Avery also learn to save herself and find hope again in the tomorrows she has left? More about the author… Jen St. Jude is a Lambda Literary Fellow, who holds creative writing degrees from Colby College and Harvard University Extension School. She works in talent acquisition at Boston Consulting Group and serves as an editor at the Chicago Review of Books, Arcturus Magazine, Burning Worlds - Climate Change in Art & Literature, and Just Femme & Dandy Magazine. Jen grew up in New Hampshire apple orchards but now lives in Chicago with her wife and catlike dog.  My impressi

Welcome to the blog tour for Sylvia by Maithreyi Karnoor! More about the book… Longing to connect to his ancestral roots, Cajetan Pereira has taken up residence near one of the rare and mystical Baobab trees in South India. Into his world walks  Sylvia, a young woman in search of a story. They bond over their new-found relationship, until one day consumed by regret, Sylvia disappears. In a rich kaleidoscope of tales, Sylvia is glimpsed in the lives of other characters as a colleague, friend, wife, and lover, until she comes back into focus as she finds herself becoming whole once more – but is it too late? Brimming with exquisite prose,  Sylvia  is a beautifully woven tapestry of the ways in which we leave indelible imprints on each other’s lives. More about the author… Maithreyi Karnoor is a Charles Wallace India Trust Fellow in creative writing and translation at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She has been shortlisted for The Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize for A Handful