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Blog tour: My One Month Marriage

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Welcome to my date on the blog tour for Shari Low’s My One Month Marriage, where I am lucky to be able to share a Q&A with the author of this delightful new novel!
Hi Shari! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of My One Month Marriage! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about?

A: The book opens a month after Zoe’s marriage, and she’s plonked in the midst of a pile of wedding gifts that need to be returned. Her husband is gone, kicked out after Zoe discovered he’d spent the night with someone else. Thankfully, her three sisters – Marina, Verity and Yvie – have all arrived bearing food and neon pink cocktails to cheer her up. But the comfort is short lived. While they’re dissecting her marital woes, Zoe gets a call that gives her a clue as to who husband cheated with. And to her horror, it seems that it might be one of the three women sitting in front of her. 

Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it tak…
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In conversation with... Elizabeth Buchan (#2)

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Hi Elizabeth! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Museum of Broken Promises! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about?

A: Thank you so much.

Half English, half French Laure Carlyle sets up a museum in Paris to which you can bring the objects which symbolize a broken promise in your life, thereby finding some redress and comfort. Why has she done this? The story goes back to her past life, to Prague before the Communist regime was overthrown and to Berlin just after the wall has been dismantled, and a story of danger, repression and a love affair which has marked her emerges.

Did you have the plot entirely figured out when you started writing the book or did it take an unexpected turn as the characters grew on the page?

A: I more or less knew who and what Laure was – someone at the beginning who was still to find true consolation for something she did earlier in her life. What I had not banked on was her relationship with her former employer, Pet…
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Book review: The Man Who Didn’t Call

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By Rosie Walsh
Published by Pan Macmillan

Synopsis: Imagine you meet a man, spend seven glorious days together, and fall in love.
And it’s mutual: you’ve never been so certain of anything. 
So when he leaves for a long-booked holiday and promises to call from the airport, you have no cause to doubt him.
But he doesn’t call. 
Your friends tell you to forget him, but you know they're wrong: something must have happened; there must be a reason for his silence.
What do you do when you finally discover you're right? That there is a reason – and that reason is the one thing you didn't share with each other? 
The truth.

How did this book end up in my hands? I chose to listen to the audiobook version of this novel via the BorrowBox app. This book had been on my radar for a while and I was happy to find it there!
Was it a page-turner? Absolutely gripping. I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook and basically took it wherever I went. Yes, even to the toilet!
Did the book meet my expectatio…
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Blog tour: The Last Act of Adam Campbell

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Welcome to the last stop on the blog tour for The Last Act of Adam Campbell by Andy Jones.
What has emerged so far during this blog tour is that this is an incredible novel and – if you’re not scared to have your heart broken a little (or a lot) – you definitely shouldn’t miss it. And I’d take it a step further and encourage you to read it regardless… the best things are often found just outside of your comfort zone after all.

But let me get to the best part of this blog as it is with great pleasure and honour that I now share a Q&A with the author himself…

Q: Hi Andy! First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the publication of The Last Act of Adam Campbell! Can you please briefly tell us what it is about?

A: It’s about a group of terminally ill cancer patients that meet in group therapy – a place where they don’t have to wear the brave faces they save for friends and family. Over time – time that is steadily running out – the group begin meeting on their own and decide to pu…
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Book review: Selection Day

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By Aravind Adiga
Published by Picador

Synopsis: Manjunath Kumar is fourteen. He knows he is good at cricket - if not as good as his elder brother Radha. He knows that he fears and resents his domineering and cricket-obsessed father, admires his brilliantly talented sibling and is fascinated by the world of CSI and by curious and interesting scientific facts. But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that he doesn't know… Sometimes it seems as though everyone around him has a clear idea of who Manju should be, except Manju himself.

When Manju begins to get to know Radha's great rival, a boy as privileged and confident as Manju is not, everything in Manju's world begins to change and he is faced with decisions that will challenge both his sense of self and of the world around him…

How did this book end up in my hands? I bought this book during a bookshop crawl in London as I feel it is important to support independent businesses.

Was it a page-turner? The writ…
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Blog tour: A Springtime to Remember

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Welcome to the blog tour for Lucy Coleman’s A Springtime to Remember!

First of all, here's the dreamy synopsis…

*** Paris and the Palace of Versailles have always meant a lot to TV producer Lexie. Her grandma Viv spent a year there, but her adventures and memories were never discussed, and Lexie has long wondered why they were a family secret. 

When work presents the perfect excuse to spend springtime in Versailles, Lexie delves into Viv’s old diaries and scrapbooks, and with the help of handsome interpreter Ronan, she is soon learning more about the characters that tend to the magnificent gardens, now and in the past.

In amongst the beauty and splendour of the French countryside, a story of lost love, rivalry and tragedy unfolds. Can Lexie and Ronan right the wrongs of the past, and will France play its tricks on them both before Lexie has to go home? Will this truly be a Springtime to Remember…? ***

With spring not quite yet at our doors, I love books that give you a chance to escape…
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Book review: A Christmas Carol

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By Charles Dickens
Synopsis:A Christmas Carol is the most famous, heart-warming and chilling festive story of them all. In these pages we meet Ebenezer Scrooge, whose name is synonymous with greed and parsimony: 'Every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart'. This attitude is soon challenged when the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, returns from the grave to haunt him on Christmas Eve. Scrooge is then visited in turn by three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, each one revealing the error of his ways and gradually melting the frozen heart of this old miser, leading him towards his redemption. On the journey we take with Scrooge we encounter a rich array of Dickensian characters including the poor Cratchit family with the ailing Tiny Tim and the generous and jolly Fezziwig.
How did this book end up in my hands? I began reading the ebook version …
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