Quick Spotlight

My Favourites: August Stationary Haul

IMG_2287 I am obsessed with stationary. I used to work in one of the big office stores so you can imagine how much of my monthly wage I actually ended up keeping hold of. You can never have too many pens, notebooks, pencils and colouring pencils. I don’t care how old I get, I will always love this time of year as its an excuse to browse all the new stationary. Why should it only be the kids and teenagers going back to school having all the fun in buying stationary? Exactly!

I wanted to share some of the stationary that um, cough, fell into my basket or more accurately, made a flying leap. I love things that help keep me organised (I need all the help I can get,) and seriously, I have so many pens but that still hasn’t stopped me buying more so my haul is a mixture of various things. Where I can, I have put a link to things in case you want to check it out (I have not been paid to feature any of these products – they are things I have brought and just wanted to share.)

 

Firstly, it’s The Weekly Times from Fox & Star. £11.95 + postage and packing. 

I’ve previously mentioned this on social media. I saw this in a haul I watched on You Tube and absolutely loved the look of it. There are fifty sheets in total and what I love about it is that it includes Saturday and Sunday too. A couple of desk planners I have brought in the past only cover Monday to Friday and for what I want to use it for, which is blog planning, this is ideal. It’s also not dated so it’s flexible in where in the year I decide to use it. I love the fact that it has a protective plastic cover and it’s so smart in appearance. I adore this desk planner and it is going to become a permanent item in my stationary pile.

IMG_2198IMG_2279
The second item in my haul are these Harry Potter themed notebooks from The Literary Emporium (£4 each.) 

If you’ve not guessed by previous posts, I love Harry Potter and get excited when I find Harry Potter themed things. I adore these three notebooks from The Literary Emporium. They are A5 in size and have 80 recycled pages so they are perfect for slipping into my handbag. I have been using the ‘Advanced Spells’ book for my to-do lists and it’s great for that too. The quality of the paper is lovely and the covers are quite sturdy (mine has survived a few trips in my bag which is a little like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag.) You can buy just one book at £4 or all three for £10. Bargain I reckon and a must for Potter fans who also love to write.

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Book Review: Magic Sometimes Happens by Margaret James

Magic Sometimes HappensBook 5 in the Charton Minster Series, London-based PR and promotions consultant Rosie Denham has just spent a year in Paris where she’s tried but failed to fall in love. She’s also made a big mistake and can’t forgive herself.

American IT professor Patrick Riley ‘s wife has left him for a Mr. Wonderful with a cute British accent and a house with a real yard. So Patrick’s not exactly thrilled to meet another Brit who’s visiting Minnesota, even if she’s hot.

Pat and Rosie couldn’t be more different. She’s had a privileged English upbringing. He was raised in poverty in Missouri. Pat has two kids, a job that means the world to him and a wife who might decide she wants her husband back.

So when Pat and Rosie fall in love, the prospects don’t seem bright for them.

But magic sometimes happens – right?

Who doesn’t like a story with an opening scene that grips you and won’t let go!

This is my second Margaret James novel (the wonderful ‘The Wedding Diary’ was my first) and being a dedicated Choc-Lit follower I had a pretty good idea of what to expect and was certainly not disappointed, being up to the exacting standards set by the first novel I read by this lady.

Moving swiftly along from one viewpoint to the next, the pace of the story never gives up. With the added bonus of revisiting past members of the Dehham family, this is like curling up on the sofa with familiar friends and enjoying a cost night in.

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Blog Tour: Mile High by Rebecca Chance – Author Interview

Mile HighI am very pleased to be welcoming author, Rebecca Chance to Novel Kicks today. Her novel, Mile High was released on 13th August 2015 by Pan.

First class is about to get dangerous . . . Pure Air’s new LuxeLiner is flying from London to LA – its inaugural journey – with a first-class cabin packed with A List celebrities. As the feuding crew compete to impress their famous passengers, the handsome pilot tries to win the attention of a pretty young stewardess.

But one VIP singer is battling something seriously sinister: watching her every step is a very determined stalker, someone who will go to any lengths to get the star to satisfy their desires. At thirty thousand feet there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide . . .

As part of her blog tour for her new novel Mile High, we got to chat with Rebecca.

 

Welcome Rebecca. Thank you so much for joining us. Your new book is called Mile High. Can you tell us a little about it and where the idea originated?

It’s a glamorous thriller set onboard a night flight from London to LA, on a very luxurious plane whose first class cabin is absolutely gorgeous! Because it’s a new route for the airline, there’s a whole gaggle of A-list celebrities aboard to publicise it – a beautiful singer who’s going through heartbreak, a very randy chef, an Oscar-nominated actress. And the airline boss too, who’s modelled on quite a famous one… But there’s also a stalker on board who’s determined to join the Mile High Club with the singer, so the tension builds all the way through to a very dramatic ending.

 

What planning did you undertake before beginning this book? Did you get any first hand accounts of what it is like to work as cabin crew?

OH yes! I have several flight attendant friends and they were fantastic at giving me advice and telling me all sorts of saucy behind-the-scenes stories! I sat down with them over drinks and listened for hours before I even started to outline as I wanted the book to be as accurate as possible.

 

What is your writing day like and where do you like to write? Do you have any writing rituals?

Get up around 9, have a very strong cappuccino, read through my Facebook and Twitter, read what I wrote the day before, tell myself I have to start writing before I turn on Judge Judy. Turn on Judge Judy….
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Book Haul: Six Books with Beautiful Covers

I can’t believe we are almost in the middle of August already. Time is really flying. I thought it was time for another book haul. I’ve been sent or brought some great books over the last month and here are six of the ones I am looking forward to reading and six books where I love the covers.

Bright ThingsAll The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (Penguin, 8th January 2015.)

I have heard so many good things about this book. It’s been recommended on You Tube as well as friends who have read it and said that it’s good. It’s a book I’ve been looking at for a while and so I brought it. The premise of it sounds interesting and relatable in that it deals with mental health. I am really interested and itching to read this book. The cover is pretty too. It’s due to be made into a film so I want to read it before it’s released.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the ‘natural wonders’ of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself – a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. How far will Violet go to save the boy she has come to love?

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Author Interview: Rosie Millard

jacket1 SquareHello Rosie, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about your route to publication? Had you always wanted to write a novel?

I think every journalist longs to write a novel, not least because our work is fish and chip paper the next day! I signed up for a Fiction Writing course with the University of East Anglia which I did every Tuesday night in London for six months, and The Square came out of that.

 

Can you tell us a little about your book, The Square and how the idea originated?

I wanted to write a satirical novel based in the present day and the garden square where I live in London seemed to be a very fertile starting point! I also wanted to make it a bit racy and fun.

 

What’s your favourite word?

Babies.

 

If you were to enter a talent show, what would you perform?

I would sing Any Dream Can Do from Joseph.

 

What song best describes you?

You Never Feel Happy, Until You Try, by c2c.

 

If you were only allowed to own three books for the rest of your life, which three would you pick?

A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

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Review: Polly and The Puffin by Jenny Colgan

IMG_0316Polly and The Puffin is the first children’s novel from author, Jenny Colgan whose previous novels include the Little Beach Street Bakery series.

Here’s the blurb:

Polly heard a CRASH downstairs. Was it a monster? NO! Was it a spider alien? NO!

It was a little puffin with a broken wing…

When Polly discovers an injured puffin, she and her mummy look after him in their cottage by the sea.

Slowly, Neil’s wing heals and Polly must prepare herself to say goodbye to her new friend. Will she ever see him again?.

Let’s get straight into it… I love this little book. It is so cute. When it arrived from Little Brown, it came with a sweet little cuddly puffin (whose name is Neil and he now sits on my desk.) For people who are not familiar with Jenny’s previous novels, Neil the Puffin first appeared in the Little Beach Street bakery series.

With it being a children’s book (I definitely don’t fit into the age range of its target audience,) I didn’t know whether I was going to like it but it’s so sweet and adorable.

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Quick Spotlight: Real Monsters by Liam Brown


 

Real Monsters  is due to be released by Legend Press on 1st March 2015.

‘Real Monsters is the story of two young lovers with a war wedged between them; a surreal and ferociously recognisable allegory for our war-torn times,’ says the author, Liam Brown.

It is the debut novel from Liam who is also the lead singer and guitarist for the band, Freelance Mourners.

It will be available in paperback and eBook formats. Click here to view the book on Amazon UK.

 

About Real Monsters:

We are surrounded by monsters. The lines are now so blurred, no one knows who the real enemy is anymore.

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Author Interview: Kate Riordan

Kate-imageThe Girl in the Photograph was released by Penguin on 15h January 2015. Inspired by the beautiful Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire, it’s the latest novel from author, Kate Riordan.

About the book:

When Alice Eveleigh arrives at Fiercombe Manor during the long, languid summer of 1933, she finds a house steeped in mystery and brimming with secrets. Sadness permeates its empty rooms and the isolated valley seems crowded with ghosts, none more alluring than Elizabeth Stanton whose only traces remain in a few tantalisingly blurred photographs. Why will no one speak of her? What happened a generation ago to make her vanish?As the sun beats down relentlessly, Alice becomes ever more determined to unearth the truth about the girl in the photograph – and stop her own life from becoming an eerie echo of Elizabeth’s . . .

 

In the video below, Kate talks about her inspiration for the book, her characters, what she wants the reader to take away from the novel and the themes of her novel. Click here to see a book trailer for The Girl in the Photograph. 

 

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Spotlight: Our Favourites Reads of 2014.

Happy New Year. As we say hello to 2015, it’s time to say farewell to 2014 but before we do, we wanted to have a quick look at the books we enjoyed reading in 2014.

rp_Bella-185x3001.jpg Mad About the BoyFirstly Bella, our Bella’s Scribblings columnist talks about her favourite book of 2014:

My favourite book of 2014 was Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. I was more than a little concerned before I started reading this as I had heard the spoilers and I totally loved the first two books. I had no need to worry. The writing was as superb as ever and so was Bridget. She is still an amazing character who is now coping as a single parent and trying to date again with expected hilarious results. The characters were all vividly drawn and I was quickly immersed in Bridget’s world. A terrific story and a top holiday read. Loved it!

About Mad About The Boy (Jonathan Cape, 2013.)

What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th? Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating? Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice? Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant? Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood? Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day? Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and rediscovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call ‘middle age’.

Click here to read Bella’s Scribblings.

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Quick Spotlight: Map My Heart by Dom & Ink

MAP_MY_HEART_LARGE_Br300dpi_1024x1024It’s so near to Christmas now. I can’t believe we are only two weeks away. I am forever on the look out for great christmas presents for the writers in my life and I think this would make a great gift.

It’s called Map My Heart. I am loving this book. It is a relationship journal, similar to The Art of Getting Started. I am getting a slight obsession with these interactive books.. can you tell?

It’s from Huck & Pucker and it’s currently only £5 inc post and packing so it’s a bargain (until 12th December 2014.)

This book is about relationships. It’s about how people meet, fall in love, break up, wallow, and then pull themselves together again for round number two. It’s about dating and rejection and all the joy and the crap that goes with it. It will make you laugh and think, pour out your innermost thoughts and doodle away your angst. It will be your best friend and your counsellor; you can’t drink cheap wine with it but you can scrawl swear words on it and rip it up, should you feel the urge. In short, this book will make you feel better when your heart is being battered and bashed on the rollercoaster of love.

 

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Quick Spotlight: Memory Stick

memory stickI am a HUGE fan of interactive books. Not only does it help with the creativity of finding new ideas (as you never know how they are going to strike,) it also gives my critical editor a night off and lets me just have fun where my writing is concerned.

Memory Stick by Polly Smart is available from Huck & Pucker (August 2014.) I love this book and I think it’s great for storing all your ideas for stories and creative projects and there is no danger of it corrupting like a computer USB stick would. It’s a scrapbook of your ideas and thoughts and I am liking making my way through it.

Here’s the blurb:

Need a place to store all those moments, ideas and experiences, both crazy and everyday? Fill this journal with memories to create a record of who you are and what makes you tick. Download your brain into MEMORY STICK! A scrapbook of thoughts, happenings, hurrahs, ideas and conversations I have had.

 

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Quick Spotlight: The Art of Getting Started by Lee Crutchley

http://leecrutchley.co.uk/

http://leecrutchley.co.uk/

For fans of books like Wreck This Journal and The Pointless Book.

The Art of Getting Started is a little interactive journal. It’s great to kick-start creativity or if you’re like me, something to do when you need time away from a project that is giving you trouble and you want to distract your mind.

What drew me to this book is all the fantastic activities in it. There’s drawing and writing exercises (including list making. Perfect for me. I love lists.) This book had me at the first page as it asks you to fill it with positive words. It’s also filled with great quotes to inspire you too. A small thing but it’s also small enough to fit into your handbag so you can carry it with you if you wanted to.

I am enjoying making my way through this book and I wanted to share it with you.

About The Art of Getting Started: 

The ideal companion for all creative minds – The Art of Getting Started is the long missing piece of the creative puzzle. As a self-professed procrastinator, illustrator Lee Crutchley knows the ‘first blank page’ all too well and has used his expertise to devise a unique variety of impulsive habits to kick start the brain. Through a series of hand-written tasks and challenges Lee leads the reader through a range of lively prompts to shift the perspective and get those creative juices flowing again in new and surprising ways.

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More Books To Kick Start Your Writing

As a new writer, the first battle for me was knowing where to begin. With so many ‘how to’ books on the market, it’s hard to pick which one could be right for you.

We posted our ‘five books to kick start your writing,‘ last year. As there were so many I wanted to pick, here are a few more I think you may find helpful as you find your own path to writing your first book.

 

on-writing-cover

 

On Writing – Stephen King.

I have lost track of the amount of people who have recommended this book to me. Whenever I am talking about ‘how to write’ books with other writers, this book (along with Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott,) will always comes up accompanied by the sentence, “have you read it? You should, it’s fantastic.” Part memoir, it also offers invaluable advice and a tool kit for aspiring writers. Stephen is one of the most successful writers so I don’t think you can go far wrong with On Writing. (Hodder Paperbacks.)

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Quick Spotlight – Uglies

Simon & Schuster Childrens Books (29 Mar 2012)

Simon & Schuster Childrens Books (29 Mar 2012)

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Set in the future, in a time when people live in small independent cities and everyone is pretty. Well not at first, but on your sixteenth birthday you are given an operation to turn you from an ugly into a pretty. For 15-year-old Tally Youngblood, this day cannot come quick enough. That is, until she meets another young girl named Shay, who is not so eager to get the operation. Tally quickly learns that all is not as it seems and that being ‘Pretty’ may come with a price.

I quite enjoy reading young adult books, as they are often fantastic and supernatural; easy reading with lots of action and this book did not disappoint. I read it in a night as I just had to keep turning the pages to find out what would happen next. The characters are well-formed but not overly complex and the storyline is predictable yet very well delivered; all the things to look for in an easy, fun read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. So much so that I went out and bought the sequels.

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