I am happy to spotlight a Historical novel this morning which is a different kind of Historical war drama in the effect that this one is meant to uplift your heart whilst your reading it! I know for a long, long time in my readerly life I was much more consumed with the ‘other’ half of war dramas, but for me, as a reader, I’m happily finding myself more keen on seeking out stories like this one! The good news for readers like me who are more traditional (ie. reading either print or listening to audiobooks), the paperback for this lovely releasses this September whilst those who can read ebooks, happily you get to dive in this June!
This is a #newtomeauthor I’ve earmarked to want to read for quite awhile now. Sometimes there has been a gap in release dates between the UK and getting books stateside whilst other times I’ve not been able to seek out the stories I’d love to read by this publisher on the timeline of the pub dates but have a ready list of books and authors I’m still attempting to read through my local and regional libraries. This year, as my local library has resumed their purchase requests, I’m hoping I might be able to add a few titles into their collection.
This series [The West End Girls] began with the novel “The West End Girls” and continues now with Big Dreams for the West End Girls. I love reading serial Historicals and I am going to see if my library can acquire the first novel first and then, I’ll request the sequel (today’s featured book) lateron in Autumn at time of release.
The full list of book bloggers taking part in this lovely blog tour is at the foot of this post. Kindly make your loop through the route to find all the reactions to the story and the content assembled for the tour. I know I’m eagerly on pins awaiting my chance to dive into Ms Roberts novels – are you!?
Let me know if this inspiringly uplifting Historical war drama is on your TBR!
Big Dreams for the West End Girls Subtitle: Nothing Will Stop Her... Not even the war! by Elaine Roberts
Nothing will stop her – not even the war!
1914. Working in a bustling café on London's Shaftesbury Avenue, Joyce Taylor dreams of opening her own restaurant. But when the man she loves enlists in the war, and a surprise request comes through from her dying grandmother, Joyce's life gets turned upside down.
Struggling to keep the café afloat with her new-found responsibilities, it's not long before Joyce starts to feel the pressure might be all too much. Luckily, her supportive friends Annie and Rose are on hand to help. Despite all the madness, can Joyce find a way to make her dreams come true? And will her love story have a happy ending?
Annie, Rose and Joyce are three girls with very different dreams – but the same great friendship. From the author of the Foyles Bookshop series, Big Dreams for the West End Girls is a charming and uplifting WW1 saga, perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Rosie Hendry.
I hadn’t thought 2021 would have been a harder beginning than 2020, until of course I actually lived through the first bits of the year and noticed how much harder it has felt to see 2021 gain traction and footing in my life. For whichever reason, between the events of January and the turning tides of February, I’ve been reading less, blogging sporadically and tweeting every blue moon – compared to my regular habits across my blog and social feeds. In regards to reading – part of the slowdown has been due to multiple injuries which make it hard to hold a book or type to get the words onto my blog or social feeds as well.
This past weekend and Monday in particular were difficult as well – wherein if you were looking forward to seeing my review for the third novel in Edale Lane’s trilogy – kindly stay patient with me, as I’m still composing my thoughts upon it. I had to pull it yesterday due to a personal emergency and we took a family day to recover from it. I was hoping after January, February would be a bit kinder on us as a family but it has proved to be a hard-won kind of month where there is a bit more adversity but a lot of hope and promise for changing tides as well. Sometimes life is like that – you have to take the bitter with the sweet and find your way forward after the storms dissipate.
Whilst I am finding my way back inside books and sorting out my blog’s schedule – this lovely Q&A focuses on the characters and heart of “Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace”. A bit of a kind reprieve for me to highlight a story which feels like it would be a good lift of spirit – which is why I am thankful to spotlight it on the blog tour as a Digital First release and look forward to seeing if an audiobook edition makes it way to Scribd as has “Starting Over at Acorn Cottage” has ahead of it. This marks my second novel I’ve been able to spotlight for this author and I hope this year is the year I can start to listen to her stories.
Enjoy this extract from ‘Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace’:
Tressa was grateful for her job because it allowed her to paint. She was an artist, a properly trained one at that, her mother would tell you if you asked, having gone to art school in Plymouth. Tressa sold her paintings and prints of the Cornish sea from a website under the pseudonym The Cornish Mermaid; the sales topped up her income to pay for living expenses and canvas and everything else was cream.
Her mother Wendy said that Tressa was the oldest twenty-six-year-old in the UK. She spent her money on not much else besides her art. All her friends were still drinking and dancing all night but Tressa was a loner, not so much by choice as by circumstance. She was shy and she had struggled to stay in contact with friends from school or university, all of whom seemed to be getting engaged or married now. A few of them even had babies. She sent little paintings off to her friends, celebrating their news, and drew cards for the babies and posted them to faraway places but no one wanted to come to Port Lowdy and stay at Mermaid Terrace. If Tressa ever pulled an all-nighter it was in front of her easel waiting for the moon to slide behind the clouds when it was the sun’s turn to take over.
‘How will you ever meet someone?’ her mother asked. ‘You’ll never find anyone there. Come on home and find love. We will buy you a place, and you can rent out your house there and come back to it later on.’ Wendy kept trying to coax her daughter to return to St Ives but Tressa didn’t believe in finding love. Love wasn’t lost, so why should she go looking for it? It would come if it was ready and if love never found her, she had her cat and her art and that was enough, she told herself. There was no one in Port Lowdy worth swinging hands with. She knew nearly everyone in the village and there were no eligible men under the age of sixty. Older men had never been her thing.
There was another artist she’d had a thing with for a while, who she used to see in St Ives, but it wasn’t serious and they both knew it. She didn’t want to live there and he didn’t want to come to Port Lowdy. It was unspoken that their connection was merely physical and a mutual appreciation of art and nothing more. He was nice enough but not enough to want more from him.
The sound of her boss, George, talking on the phone welcomed Tressa to another day at work, as she put her bike into the storage room and then went into the kitchen to make them both a cup of tea. Her job at The Port Lowdy Occurrence had been a happy accident after his wife Caro left work to be more involved in with their grandchildren. It wasn’t full time but it gave her enough time to paint and stare out the attic window from her terrace house at the ever-changing colour of the sea.
‘Can I see you, Tressie?’
‘Sure,’ said Tressa. ‘Want your tea?’
‘Yes and bring the digestive biscuits,’ George said sombrely.
A morning digestive meant George was trying to solve a serious problem.
Tressa took the mugs to his desk and sat down facing him, the biscuits tucked under her arm, and she placed them between them.
I love how this story isn’t taking a traditional trajectory of her life – wherein she is living against what society expects and even what her Mum wants for her as well. She’s listening to her heart and she has an independent mind about love and life and the course of tides we all travel through during different seasons. I immediately felt connected to Tressa and look forward to learning more about her when/if this becomes either an audiobook or print release!
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful convo!
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace Subtitle: Love comes when you least expect it... by Kate Forster
Love comes when you least expect it...
Tressa Buckland likes her quiet life in Port Lowdy, with its cobbled streets and colourful terraced houses overlooking the sea. Her job at the local paper allows her to pursue her art in her free time, with no one but her tabby cat Ginger Pickles to mind her in Mermaid Terrace. But then the owner of the paper is called away on an emergency, and it's up to Tressa to run the paper for six months. Her first task: find a new part-time journalist.
Dan Byrne is the angriest man in Ireland – or so the readers of his very successful column, 'Dan takes on the world', think. But after a story goes south and he loses his job in Dublin, Dan has no choice but to start afresh. When an opportunity comes up in sleepy Cornwall, Dan and his Golden Retriever Ritchie set off for a new adventure.
For Tressa, Dan's arrival to Port Lowdy changes everything. Tressa tries not to look too deeply at her own life, but Dan sees a story to uncover in absolutely everyone – even her. The two of them couldn't be more different... yet, if they can find a way to work together, they may just breathe new life and joy into this sleepy seaside village.
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace is a heartwarming new village romance about the power of love and kindness, from the bestselling author of Starting Over at Acorn Cottage.
Today is my second Head of Zeus Christmas interview with an author I’ve learnt more about hosting blog tours for this publisher ahead of being able to source her stories! Let’s give a warm welcome back to Ms Baggot as earlier in the year I hosted another lovely convo with her as well! My converstion today will wrap-up my featured posts, guest features and other delights I get to share and host on behalf of Head of Zeus for 2020! I’ve only been hosting with them off/on for the last two years and I must admit, I’ve had a lot of wickedly delightful moments talking with their authors and learning more about the stories they are publishing every year. This also marks my final Christmassy interview for the season but there is more #blogmas Christmassy content coming until the dawning hours of New Year’s Eve!
This particular story is a Contemporary Christmas Romance set in Paris – a setting I regularly visit in Historical Fiction (generally in war dramas) and a city which I very rarely get the chance to see through a Contemporary lens! My heart has been with Paris though recently especially due to the fire at Norte Dame Catheral and other well known tragedies which have happened in the city. The most heartwarming end cap on the fire for me was when I heard about the bees and how they were unharmed, saved and are still living out their lives as only bees can as they not only survived the fire but they preserved a bit of the catheral which has been a beacon of hope for so many over the generations it has stood as a landmark in Paris.
I happily just found out that “A Perfect Paris Christmas” is currently available via Scribd on audiobook – I did not have the chance to listen to it ahead of my tour stop as I was struck down with a moderate migraine this week however, it renews my hope more titles I desire to read and/or hear in audio by Head of Zeus are inbound to Scribd! For those who read ebooks, there is a copy for you, too! Happy Christmas, dear hearts!!
Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘A Perfect Paris Christmas’:
As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!
I have such a fond affection for Christmas (as a holiday and as a season) to where I love to spend my Decembers with a bit of a reprieve from hosting book reviews and focus strictly on guest features and/or showcases of stories wherein I might have extracts to share OR other #behindthebook insights which will help us all sort out which books are good fits for us as readers and which ones might be best for others instead. I love having my Decembers full of #blogmas posts, however, I believe this year, for 2020 I might have exceeded my personal expectations of what I can feature from 1st to 31st December!
This particular story stood out to me because of the Hope it has for knitting our lives together even when it doesn’t appear the timing is right for anything to go well. Sometimes you have to embrace the serendipitous nature of how our lives can take a circuitous route into our future and at other times, taking a leap of faith chance to go ‘somewhere’ new is just what we need in order to find ourselves exactly where we need to be! I love this about the premise and of course, having two people continuously meeting up with each other in ways that may or may not feel as if it were predestined is my kind of Christmassy Romance as well!
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful holiday inspired Q&A!
A Perfect Paris Christmas Subtitle: Can one handsome stranger show her how to love again? by Mandy Baggot
Keeley Andrews knows more than anyone that you only live once. So when she receives an invitation to spend two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, she jumps at the chance.
Ethan Bouchard has had the worst eighteen months of his life. He's ready to give up on everything, including his hotel chain. So when he meets Keeley, it simply isn't the right time.
As Keeley and Ethan continue to bump into each other on the romantic Parisian streets, they can't help but wonder whether this is fate telling them to let go of the past and leap into the future...
Head to Paris this Christmas and fall in love under the lights of the Eiffel Tower with best-selling author, Mandy Baggot.
Happy December, Happy #blogmas, everyone! Each year, for the past several years I’ve been engaging with you during this special month of posts which are inter-connected to either Christmas or a genre of interest which is being celebrated during the chase up to Christmas and/or New Year’s. I have been enjoying curating the guest features, spotlights and other showcases each year I’ve participated in #blogmas and this year, is no exception! I have a wonderful sequencing of posts for you – including a few author interviews featuring Head of Zeus authors which I’m quite excited about!
Today kicks off my Head of Zeus Christmas interviews with a #newtomeauthor, Ms Barone whose written a delightful Contemporary Christmassy Romance whose title first winked a dash of curiosity for me to pursue! I’ve since learnt this is one of three novels set round a theme of interest in ‘Cornish’ – whilst my conversation with Ms Barone tucks into the story a bit as we discuss her characters whilst I also wanted to broach a few questions about Christmas as a season and as a holiday we mutually love to celebrate.
I hope this will become one of the stories I can read next year for Christmas as it is strictly digital first right now for those who read ebooks! Once the titles I’ve featured by Head of Zeus go into audiobook editions, I have a better chance of finding them – as I am grateful Scribd carries their stories. Right now for those who read ebooks the first two stories of Little Cornish are available on Scribd for you. If they don’t go into audio, I’ll have to wait for the print editions to read them.
Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘No Room at the Little Cornish Inn’:
As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!
I have a soft spot for stories set before, during and after the Christmas and/or New Year holidays – every year, I love to binge watch Christmas movies on tv (esp Hallmark or Lifetime) as much as I have small collection of beloved Christmas movies on dvd which I also love to binge watch every December & January. For me, Christmas extends to Twelfth Night in January and even a bit beyond – as I generally get into the festive spirit the week of Thanksgiving and have it until just before the start of February. Winter also marks my favourite season of the year – when the humidity is finally gone and I can pull out my sweaters and long sleeved shirts whilst enjoying the brisk colder air!!
What stood out to me of course is the overlay from “the” original Christmas story into a Contemporary Christmas Romance such as this one – where the story moves from having no place to stay to having a corporate woman on holiday with her son having to sort out why this particular Inn is malfunctioning. I’ve seen this played out a few times in Hallmark movies (ie. starring Brennan Elliott and/or Candace Cameron respectively) and I’ve always enjoyed them. There is something to be said for someone coming into a business at the moment its faltering and struggling to right its sails – you never know if it will fold, merge, sell or re-stablise and there is joy in the journey towards the ending seeing how hearts spark to life and sometimes in the midst of that kind of chaos romance can bloom!
This is why I was keen on learning a bit more about this story and why I am truly grateful I could interview the author during her blog tour this December.
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful holiday inspired Q&A!
Rosie Anderson was hoping to whisk her young son Danny away for a lovely Christmas with family, far from the hustle and bustle of her life in London. But then her boss at the head office – aka Susan the Sacker – suddenly assigns her to go in incognito and save a tiny inn in Cornwall from being closed permanently. Rosie doesn't know why The Old Bell Inn is performing so badly but it's on her to sort it out!
Hours in the car later, Rosie arrives at the inn to find she's been double booked – there are no rooms left. And she isn't there for more than a minute before she's butting heads with the manager, Irishman Mitchell Fitzpatrick. He seems to dislike her on sight, so it's confusing that he seems to get on so well with Danny... But if he's as terrible as his reputation, Rosie will have to be the one to fire him.
This really isn't the Christmas Rosie was dreaming of. But maybe, just maybe, it could be a whole lot more...
A sweet and uplifting Christmas romance, No Room at the Little Cornish Inn is perfect for fans of Philippa Ashley, Holly Martin and Jenny Hale.
I’ve crossed paths with Ms Halton in the past whilst hosting another blog tour for her as much as I’ve interacted with her on #bookTwitter a few times as well. It is my intention to start listening to her stories in audiobook – either through Scribd or my libraries, as whenever I’ve sampled her narrators, I find myself compelled to hear the fuller story! It is simply a matter of time and sorting out which is available to me.
I’ve been trying to keep better informed about the stories releasing by authors of my #mustread list over the years, but sometimes I do fall a bit short knowing which of their stories has come out which is one keen benefit of being a book blogger as it enables me to keep a better eye on their releases! I love visiting with my fellow book bloggers for this same reason as even if a book hasn’t come across my own radar, someone else in the book blogosphere has had the pleasure of finding it for me! And, of course vice versa applies to me as well for helping my fellow readers and book bloggers! It has become a lovely niche community of the bookish wherein each time we all attempt to highlight a story or blog our curiosities about one – we are in fact, helping to spread the word about the stories themselves. Thereby it is always a pleasure of joy to re-host an author I am so keenly happy to be featuring on my blog ahead of reading their stories!
She is also known as Lucy Coleman (wherein I have hosted a blog tour for her releases as well!) which I love knowing as authors today publish under differnet names for different reasons. Such as exchanging one genre for another or publishing with different publishers. If you were curious about Ms Halton, I hope you’ve found her stories as Ms Coleman, too!
I enjoy finding stories which focus on a certain part of our lives and perhaps whose end game doesn’t involve a romantic connection but there could be a romantic thread inclusive of the story itself. Meaning, I love how this story involves family and the drama of family as much as it talks about different generational ages of people involved. Those are the interesting stories to discover because they tuck us into the life of a woman ‘behind’ the scenes of her life and into the corridors of where she is living the most out of her hours. This is one reason I enjoy reading ‘Women’s Fiction’ and haven’t sorted out why it has such a bad reputation recently on social bookish channels.
To me Women’s Fiction is an evolution of a woman’s life from different perspectives of that life she’s living whilst endeavouring to give us an emotional portrait of how she’s chosen to live her life as well. Sometimes it focuses on a particular moment of her life as well or a transitional period of her life or even an adverse circumstance; each story is uniquely told with the perspective of cluing us more into her journey and the growth she’s experience as she’s lived her life. In essence to capitalise on everything which evolves through her living experiences and the ways in which her life has developed before and after we’ve met her which makes for keen reading.
I especially love finding stories of either redemption or second chances – stories wherein someone is looking for a new chapter to begin in their lives and perhaps taking a chance of relocation. For these reasons I felt this story was a wicked good fit for me as reader and hope you might consider it being a good fit for you, too!
Why I wanted to host a spotlight & extract
for this new Women’s Fiction ‘Coming Home to Penvennan Cove’:
As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!
As said, this is an author I’m especially keen on reading in future and it is only a matter of time before I queue her stories into my readerly life. I have had the tendency of finding her holiday stories in the past but as I am a reader who loves reading Women’s Fiction – this particular release caught my eye recently! What I found brilliantly motivating about it really is the non-traditional characters populating the story itself and how this is a story about life rather than focusing directly on a romance.
This is why I actively try to read both Romance & Women’s Fiction as the latter chooses not to focus directly on the former but rather the moments in and round a women’s life which isn’t necessarily hinged to finding love and sustaining a relationship. Those are the moments which are exciting to read as a reader as we’re all living our lives and having unexpected moments percolate into our hours and yet, more oft than naught those ordinary moments are not always explored in Contemporary Lit in either genre of interest.
From what I’m gathering about this new release – Kerra wants to help out her family and yes, there might be a beau on the side but her first intentions are to aide her fam, sort out her life thereafter and then, perhaps consider an old flame! To me that is the perfect mix of what I’m currently seeking out of my wanderings in Women’s Fiction as it hones in on how sometimes you must put both yourself and your fam first even ahead of a dash of romance!
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy the extract from this story!
Can Kerra's Cornish hometown offer the fresh start she needs?
When Kerra left the quiet Cornish town of Penvennan Cove for the bright lights of London she didn't look back. But after the death of her mother, she's decided it's time to face her past and return to the place she called home. Her father needs her, and perhaps she needs him more than she's willing to admit?
Tackling town gossip, home renovations and a flame from her past, it's not quite smooth sailing for Kerra. Ross is the bad boy she was meant to forget, not a man who still sets her heart aflutter. As he helps bring her dream home to life, they begin to break down the barriers that have been holding them back and in the process learn things about themselves they never thought possible.
As friends old and new come together, the future in Penvennan looks bright.
Perfect for fans of Milly Johnson, Phillipa Ashley and Julie Houston.
Big Dreams for the West End Girls
Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace
A Perfect Paris Christmas
No Room at the Little Cornish Inn
Coming Home to Penvennan Cove