Book Review: Magic Sometimes Happens by Margaret James
Book 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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Competitions: September’s Mystery Book
Fancy a book surprise through your letterbox? Welcome to September’s Mystery Book Competition.
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
The prize for this competition is a book but the identity of that book will not be revealed until the lucky winner receives it. It could be a recent new release or a well-known classic. Who knows? We may reveal the genre but the book title is a surprise. If you feel like having a guess in the meantime though, that’s OK, just comment below (you don’t need to guess to enter. You just need to leave your name. The guessing is just for fun.)
All we will reveal about September’s choice is this book includes a murder mystery. The main protagonist is an interesting narrator who likes investigating, lists and patterns. This has been described as a remarkable book.
How to enter:
Comment on this post before the closing date which is Tuesday 29th September 2015 at 23.59. One winner will then be chosen at random from the entrants and announced on the Novel Kicks blog on Wednesday 30th September 2015. If you fancy having a go at guessing what book it could be, that’s OK too although it’s not compulsory.
by Writing Room: Current Affairs Writing Prompt
Tuesday 1st September 2015 – Current Affairs.
Today’s prompt…
Pick up a newspaper or go online to any news site. Pick a news article that interests you and use that as inspiration for a story. Put in an unexpected twist. Try to write at least seven hundred and fifty words and feel free to share by posting in the comments below if you wish to.
Have fun.
by Blog Tour: Gilly MacMillan Talks About Her Writing Process
I’m pleased to welcome Gilly MacMillan to Novel Kicks today. As part of the blog tour for her novel, Burnt Paper Sky, Gilly shares details about her writing process.
After I finished writing Burnt Paper Sky, I made a resolution, and that was to make sure that my writing process for my second book would be much more organized and efficient.
I had started Burnt Paper Sky with little more than an idea of the type of book I wanted to write, an opening scene, and a vague concept of what I wanted the fate of the missing boy to be. I also had a piece of paper with a rough pencil sketch showing where the plot points should probably go, once I’d thought of them. That was it. The rest I made up as I went along, with the result that I got so much wrong in my first draft that I had to spend over a year rewriting it.
So, for my second book, I had better intentions. I would plan it, I thought, I would organize the material and map out the plot, the pacing and the characters and do all the things that I’m probably supposed to do, and might have been taught to do had I been on a course.
That resolution lasted about two days, during which I stared at a blank page that had ‘synopsis’ written at the top and couldn’t think of a single bit of detail to put down. I was absolutely paralysed. I had an idea for the book, and a main narrator, but still I couldn’t do it. Grey mist had descended.
What that showed me is that I am, resolutely, a seat of my pants, make it up as you go along writer, and that’s because, simply, I get my best ideas when I’m actually writing. That’s when the characters develop and interact with one another, and become rounded, and that’s when ideas begin to spark. I get some fireworks in the grey mist.
So I’ve had to accept that, much as I’d like it to be different, and more predictable and controlled, my actual process is a bit messy and very intense.
by September’s Book Club: The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon
Book Corner is our monthly online book club. Anyone can join.
How it works…
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
This month, our pick is: The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon.
About the book…
Imagine a world without words. A world in which books, libraries and newspapers are things of the past. A world where personal devices provide all you could want or need.
Anana Johnson and her father, Doug, are hard at work on the final edition that will ever be printed of the English Dictionary. But one evening, Doug disappears and Anana unearths a single written clue: ALICE.
by Book Club
