Book Review: Heading Home To Lavender Cottage by Alison Sherlock
I am so excited to be welcoming Alison Sherlock back to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, Heading Home to Lavender Cottage.
With nowhere else to go, Harriet Colgan has returned to the sleepy village of Cranfield to sell her beloved aunt and uncle’s cottage, the only place she ever called home.
When she arrives at Lavender Cottage, Harriet discovers plans to replace the beautiful lavender fields, her uncle’s pride and joy, with an industrial warehouse.
With time on her hands, she realises she must fight to protect her family’s legacy and the village of Cranfield as well.
Workaholic businessman Joe Randall was expecting an easy purchase of the lavender fields. But suddenly his quiet life is disrupted by protests from angry locals, organised by Harriet.
Can Harriet show Joe that there’s more to life than just business? And can Joe change his mind and help Harriet save the lavender fields?
Over a long, hot summer, and with the help of a stray dog, perhaps Harriet and Joe can find their way home too.
*****
Having had to close her beauty salon in an expensive part of London, Harriet just wants to get back to Cranfield and Lavender Cottage, left to her by her late Aunt and Uncle.
Faced with having to sell the only place she’s ever called home, Harriet is struggling to stay positive. Can she and the community come together to bring the village back to life or will visitor Joe Randall ruin everything?
I have become such a fan of Alison Sherlock’s books. There is such a warmth about them. Heading Home to Lavender Cottage is the start of a new series and I couldn’t wait to get started.
First, the cover – just stunning.
by 
NK Chats To… Sarah Rodi
Hi Sarah. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me about your novel, One Night with her Viking Warrior, and what inspired it?
When her parents are killed at the hands of Danish raiders, a young Saxon girl, Rebekah, becomes the ward of her powerful uncle Cynerik. Alone at the fortress of Ryestone Keep, Rebekah’s only pleasure is riding, until she falls in love with a stable boy, regardless of his lack of status. However, her uncle wishes her to marry his son, Atol, a cold and corrupt young man. Envious of Rebekah’s relationship with Rædan, Atol seizes him and does the unthinkable…
Eight years later, a fleet of Danish ships sails up the river and lays siege to the fortress of Ryestone. The leader of the Northmen is instantly recognisable to Rebekah even though he is much changed. Rædan is back for revenge on those who destroyed his life. Seeing Rebekah at his enemy’s side, and with a daughter too, his anger – and attraction – burns. The Saxons offer the Vikings gold and silver to leave their lands, but Rædan demands something much more valuable – one night with Lady Rebekah…
I wanted to write a story where my characters have endured a lot – and I can’t think of anything worse than being parted from your loved ones and kept captive. These two characters really deserve a chance of finding their happy ever after. I loved creating Rebekah – she is beautiful yet strong – and Rædan is a true warrior yet kind and compassionate.
What’s your typical writing day like and do you have any particular writing quirks or rituals?
I actually work full time on magazines, so I have to fit my book writing in in the evenings. I put my daughters to bed then settle down with a coffee and some peace and quiet and try to write at least a few paragraphs, so I have something to work off the next evening, before I write some more. Chocolate definitely helps with the inspiration!
What are the challenges you found when writing your novel?
I always find the first few chapters the hardest, as you’re laying the groundwork for the plot and the characters’ personalities – basically setting up the story. I spend a month or two getting those first chapters right, and then the rest of the book usually flows quite naturally.
Which fictional character would you like to meet and why?
In my books? All my heroes… they’ve all been different, but swoon-worthy! In someone else’s book? Elizabeth Darcy
What elements make up a good story?
by Book Review: Patches Through Time by Sian Turner
I am very pleased to be welcoming Sian Turner to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her book, Patches through Time.
Casual antique dealer Jake Patch picks up an unusual object and can’t put it down. Literally. His find is a time travel device, and he hatches a bold plan to acquire objects from the past and sell them at modern day prices. But when the mysterious Infinity Glass leaves Patch stranded in a dangerous past, it falls to his teen daughter Cass to save him.
With hints of The Time Traveller’s Wife and Back to the Future and a smattering of Lovejoy, Patches through Time will send you spinning headlong into the past, then spit you back into the twenty-first century.
This book contains occasional profanities. Trigger warning: bereavement (parent, spouse).
*****
When Jake Patch finds an unusual object gathering dust in an antique shop, what he thinks is a money maker soon turns into something he had not bargained for.
He soon finds himself with the ability to travel through time. However, this soon turns into danger when he finds himself stranded. Can his daughter save him?
I found the premise for this novel extremely interesting but really didn’t know what to expect having previously not read any of Sian Turner’s books. I am now a fan.
This book has been marketed as YA but I feel that adults will get a lot from it. I certainly did. Right from the beginning, I was hooked.
I felt that the time travel element was handled well and with a ‘realistic’ set of rules. Well, as realistic as a story about time travel can get. I got a bit of a Bill and Ted vibe about this novel.
by A Moment with… Colin Garrow
I am pleased to be welcoming Colin Garrow to Novel Kicks. He’s here with the blog tour for his novel, Blood on the Tyne: Red Snow – book 3 in the Rosie Robson series.
A dead body. A hoard of forged banknotes. A gangster out for blood.
Newcastle, December 1955. Returning home after a weekend away, singer and amateur sleuth Rosie Robson discovers a man lying on a baggage trolley with his throat cut. After the police get involved, an attack on Rosie and her boss prompts Inspector Vic Walton to find a safe house for the pair. But the bad guys seem to be one step ahead of them and Rosie is forced to track down a possible witness to the murder in a bid to learn the truth. Can the canny crooner solve the mystery before a Newcastle gang boss catches up with her?
Set on Tyneside, Blood on the Tyne: Red Snow is book #3 in the Rosie Robson Murder Mysteries series.
*****
Without further ado, it’s over to Colin who is chatting about creating a book series.
I assume that other authors, like me, create a series of books (ie a sequence featuring the same characters or setting/location) so the expectation that whatever readers loved about the first book will prompt them to read the others. But do we do it simply to have the same group of characters ready and waiting, therefore making the writing of additional books (in theory, at least) a bit easier? Or might it be to cash in on something that proves popular with readers? In my case, I have to be interested in what happens to my characters to keep me interested. Once I begin to lose that interest, there’s no point continuing.
With my Blood on the Tyne series, I originally started out with the idea of a character who would be a sort of British version of some of those American classics, like Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer. Aside from the fact that these are all male characters written by male authors, I wanted to write something that had that same sense of noir (dark themes and equally dark subject matter).
But when I tried to come up with a kind of English private eye with Chandleresque witticisms and classic one-liners, it just didn’t feel right. Also, I already had Terry Bell (from the Terry Bell Mysteries series) who kind of fitted that role, albeit in a more laidback and naïve way.
Ideally, what I wanted had to make sense without seeming contrived, so instead of a male PI, I came up with an amateur detective but made her female. Making Rosie Robson an unwilling investigator, who just happens to be in the wrong place when the poop hits the ceiling fan, I came up with a woman who works as a nightclub singer and is forced to come back to her hometown of Newcastle for her mother’s funeral. In doing so, she gets embroiled in a murder hunt and meets a potential partner in the shape of Detective Inspector Vic Walton.
I also wanted her to be strong as well as a bit vulnerable, so popped her in the mid-1950s so she’d have to deal with the kind of sexist and misogynistic attitudes that were commonplace at the time, as well as countering ideas about women’s roles in the home and workplace.
by Book Review: Local Girl Missing by J.A. Baker
I am so pleased to be welcoming J.A. Baker to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Local Girl Missing
Missing without trace…
When local woman Deborah goes missing, her colleagues Adrian, Yvonne and Merriel are all left in shock. Gossip around the office begins to swirl – what could have happened to Deborah? Is she dead or alive? And who could be responsible for her disappearance?
Everyone is terrified that they could be next…except the one person who has all the answers. The last person people expect.
Because Deborah is being held captive by a monster, a psychopath. But not a stranger… it’s someone she knows all too well…
*****
Deborah is being held against her will by a monster. However, this monster isn’t a stranger, it’s someone she knows well.
Whilst her work colleagues are reeling from her disappearance, someone knows the truth.
This was the first novel I’d read by this author. The premise of this book really caught my attention so I was happy to be invited onto the blog tour for Local Girl Missing.
Seriously, I know this term is banded about a lot but this book had me hooked from page one. I had to know more. I needed to know what becomes of these characters so one more page became one more chapter and before I knew it, I’d read it in one sitting.
by Book Club
