Please Don’t Stop the Music by Jane Lovering

Book reviews By Feb 02, 2011 3 Comments

Jemima Hutton is determined to build a successful new life and keep her past a dark secret. Trouble is, her jewellery business looks set to fail – until enigmatic Ben Davies offers to stock her handmade belt buckles in his guitar shop and things start looking up, on all fronts. But Ben has secrets too. When Jemima finds out he used to…

Does Twitter sell books?

Authors, Books, Reading By Jan 17, 2011 31 Comments

In 2010, I added to my world of books by building Twitter Towers* and here they are in all their glory. Unsurprisingly, Twitter Towers are made up of the books that I heard about through the social networking site. I know, I know. You don’t have to look at me like that… Even with my prodigious level of book-squirreldom, I was a little taken aback at just how many books I managed to accumulate in one year!

Welcome to my World by Miranda Dickinson

Book reviews, Books By Jan 12, 2011 9 Comments

This is an even better read than Fairytale and I pretty much gobbled it up in one sitting. Welcome to my World tells the story of Harri, a travel agent who hasn’t actually been on holiday anywhere outside the UK yet, which is in stark contrast to her best mate, Alex, who has recently returned home to the Black Country village of Stone Yardley, after extensive travelling.

The Hating Game by Talli Roland

Book reviews, Books By Dec 20, 2010 9 Comments

From the original quirky purple and pink cover (which has since changed for the ebook at least) and the title and blurb of Talli Roland’s debut novel, The Hating Game, I knew that this was no cosy, formulaic boy-meets-girl chick-lit romance and I was looking forward to reading it all the more because of that. I wanted a feisty heroine who wouldn’t melt into a puddle within metres of her dream man. I wanted a strong voice and some of the sharp wit I’d come to know from Talli’s tweets and blog posts and I wanted a great story in an unusual situation or setting with its own set of highs and lows, featuring characters that seemed more like real people than characters in a book. Talli delivers on all counts.

Tweeting Miranda Dickinson

Authors, Books By Dec 16, 2010 7 Comments

This time last year when I was still flailing around trying to figure out how Twitter worked, one of the first authors I started following was Miranda Dickinson. Her debut novel, Fairytale of New York, had just been published. For an aspiring author, it was fantastic to follow someone whose dream of publication had so recently come true and who was excited enough about that, let alone people’s positive reaction to her book and how incredibly well it was doing. (It was a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller and shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2010.)

The Hating Game Web Splash

Book launch, Books By Dec 01, 2010 2 Comments

One of my lovely and talented writer pals, Talli Roland, launches the ebook of her brilliant, witty and fast-paced debut novel, The Hating Game, today and you can make it a bestseller. Here’s what you do: Help Talli Roland’s debut novel THE HATING GAME hit the Kindle bestseller list at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk by spreading the word today. Even a few sales in a short period of time on Amazon helps push the book up the rankings, making it more visible to other readers.