Book Review: Nobody Puts Romcoms in the Corner by Kathryn Freeman
I’m pleased to be welcoming Kathryn Freeman to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for Nobody Puts Romcoms In The Corner.
Not an expert, not even close, not in any of this. But nobody will try harder than me to make you happy.
Sally is a classic romantic and Harry is a classic cynic, but when a drunken bet leads the new flatmates to (badly) recreate ‘the lift’ from Dirty Dancing, and the video goes viral (#EpicRomcomReenactmentFailure), they both realise there’s potential financial benefit in blundering their way through the romcom lexicon for their suddenly vast social media following.
Now, as Harry and Sally bring major romcom moments to new life – including recreating that classic diner scene – their faking it turns to making…out and suddenly they’re living a real life romcom of their own! But like all the greatest love stories, the road to happily ever after is paved with unexpected challenges for this hero and heroine…
*****
Sally doesn’t quite know what to make of her new lodger, Harry. He’s mysterious and yet, there is something about him. She reasons to herself that it’s only a crush and that it will pass….won’t it?
Harry is annoyed that he’s had to find somewhere to live despite the fact that he has a perfectly good house. If only his cheating girlfriend would move out of it.
When a re-enactment of Sally and Harry doing the Dirty Dancing lift goes viral, they decide to film more iconic movie moments but can real life really be like a good rom-com?
With the greatest chance of being cheesy, this novel had me at hello! See what I did there? Haha.
From page one, I was hooked. I immediately fell in love with Sally. She’s a wonderful character who tries her best for the people she loves. I seriously want to visit her cafe.
by 
Book Review: Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell
Love is messy. Love can make us feel alive. It can also bring us down. Sometimes we look for it in all the wrong places. This is a novel about longing, desire and dreams; about passion and risk and all the places in between.
Maggie is pregnant with Circus Palmer’s child. This may be her last chance, but she craves her freedom.
Pia is Circus’s ex-wife, still in love with the fantasy of the man who conjured jazz tunes for her into the night, but who left many years before.
Koko, Circus’s daughter, is lost in the maelstrom of teenage years, the confusion of awakening desire and yearning for the father she barely knows.
Peach is a barmaid who just wants someone to see the person she is inside.
Odessa is on the run from a mistake that can’t be undone.
And then there’s Circus, Circus Palmer, a jazz trumpeter whose moment of glory is fading. Selfish, damaged, scared, perhaps the only person Circus is fooling is himself.
Delivered in a lush orchestration of diverse female voices, Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm is a provocative and gripping novel about the desire to be loved, and the need to belong.
*****
Circus Palmer seems to be at the centre of the lives of many women.
His ex wife, Pia, is trying to navigate being a parent to a teenager without much help from Circus.
Peach is wanting someone to see her and she had hoped Circus would be it.
Koko, Circus’s daughter is trying to discover the world without her Dad.
Odessa is trying to forget about a mistake she made.
Maggie is pregnant and she is not sure what her next move will be or whether she will see Circus again.
The premise of this novel intrigued me and I was pleased to have the opportunity to read Laura Warrell’s debut novel.
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: Ride Transportation
Today is a straight forward writing prompt. Try and write from a third person narrative and include more than two characters.
Your character is visiting a theme park. One of the rides is styled like an old hotel which has had a mysterious thing happen to it.
The ride is functioning normally but, when you’re in the middle of the ride, there is a bolt of lightening. There is such a loud crash, you close your eyes.
When you open them, you find that the hotel environment looks new, you’re dressed differently as is everyone around you.
You’re in the lobby and it’s not long before you realise that you’re no longer experiencing the ride, you’re standing in a hotel in a famous city in the 50s.
Continue the story.
by Novel Kicks Book Club: The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom
Hello February.
I am super excited to get started on the book this month. It’s one that has been on my TBR pile for a long time. I am a huge fan of this author since reading Tuesdays with Morrie.
This month’s book is The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom.
As usual, this book club is open to anyone who wants to take part whether you’re new to the book or have read it before. It’s all from the comfort of your arm chair, sofa, bed. I would also say garden but maybe not at the moment.
I have posted a question in the comments to get the discussion going. I look forward to discussing this book with you.
*****
About The Stranger in the Lifeboat –
Adrift in a raft after a terrible shipwreck, ten strangers try to survive while they wait for rescue.
After three days, short on water, food and hope, they spot a man floating in the waves.
They pull him on board – and the survivor claims he can save them.
But should they put their trust in him?
Will any of them see home again?
by A Moment With…Isabella Muir
I am delighted to be welcoming Isabella Muir and the blog tour for her book, A Notable Omission to Novel Kicks today.
A 1970s debate on equality is overshadowed by a deadly secret…
Spring 1970. Sussex University is hosting a debate about equality for women. But when one of the debating group goes missing, attention turns away from social injustice to something more sinister.
It seems every one of the group has something to hide, and when a second tragedy occurs, two of the delegates – amateur sleuth Janie Juke, and reporter Libby Frobisher – are prepared to make themselves unpopular to flush out the truth. Who is lying and why?
Alongside the police investigation, Janie and Libby are determined to prise answers from the tight-lipped group, as they find themselves in a race against time to stop another victim being targeted.
In A Notable Omission we meet Janie at the start of a new decade. When we left Janie at the end of The Invisible Case she was enjoying her new found skills and success as an amateur sleuth. Here we meet her a few months later, stealing a few days away from being a wife and mother, attending a local conference on women’s liberation to do some soul-searching…
*****
A Notable Omission is the fourth novel in the Janie Juke series, crimes and mysteries set during 1969 and 1970. Here Isabella Muir provides some insight into what attracted her to this particular historical period…
Delving into the past
When I first conjured up Janie Juke I knew that her story had to be set in the 1960s. It’s an era I have always loved. My older brother and sister both grew up during the sixties, so I’m lucky to have first-hand memories of all kinds of wild events. My sister was at the Rolling Stones concert on Hastings Pier in 1964 when tickets probably cost a few shillings. My brother was a real mod, with a scooter, and the ‘mod’ uniform of a Parka jacket, with fur-lined hood. He didn’t take part in the crazy event in 1964, when 5,000 mods and rockers planned to storm Hastings sea front to create the ‘Second Battle of Hastings’ and the police had to fly in extra officers to control the crowds, but he may well have inevitably watched from the sidelines.
I remember sitting gazing at my sister when she put on her makeup before a night out. She aimed for that ‘bare-faced’ sixties look with just a touch of face powder. All the focus was on the eyes, with white or sometimes bright blue eyeshadow and thick black mascara and eye-liner, trying to emulate the sixties model, Twiggy. She would spend hours back-combing her hair into a bouffant style and then use oceans of hair spray to keep it just perfect.
by Book Club
