Audiobook Review: Salt & Honey by Candi Miller
We’re pleased to be welcoming Candi Miller to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Salt & Honey, book one in the Koba series.
‘Hide!’ shouts her father. Then he breaks cover to draw the hunting party away across the blackened plain. The child sees them shoot him. And murder her mother.
It’s the 1950s but Koba is a hunter-gatherer from an ancient living culture. She’s a survivor.
Alone in a cave, she fends for herself, talks to her ancestors, breaks taboos. She gains healing power and tries to ignore the warnings she feels. She trades with the teenage son of the family who orphaned her – bushcraft for jive dancing, salt for honey.
But now she’s in the greatest danger she’s ever faced: she’s falling for a white boy in Apartheid South Africa, where love across racial divides is brutally punished. She hears the axe shatter the bedroom’s wooden shutters but Koba won’t run.
Book 1 of this fast-paced saga introduces a striking character into romance-writing, offering readers a fascinating glimpse into a forgotten way of life and into recent black history.
*****
Salt and Honey is the story of a black African girl, Koba, orphaned by white farmers and then subsequently raised by them. Struggling to reconcile her situation with her heritage, she find herself falling in love with a white boy.
I was given this novel to review via Audiobook. The narration was superb. There are a lot of native African names and dialects with clicks in it and the narrator brought those to life wonderfully.
by 
Book Review: The Twin by Amanda Brookfield
I’m pleased to be welcoming Amanda Brookfield back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, The Twin.
A splintered childhood.
A family divided.
An ugly past resurfaces…
From birth, twins Cath and Rob are inseparable. When their mother dies, their bond deepens as their father hastily remarries a woman with a volatile temper whose sole focus is her own baby – Oliver – who arrives nine months later.
When, aged 48, Rob tragically dies, Cath’s world begins to crumble. Her grief compounded further by Oliver’s out-of-the-blue decision to attend Rob’s funeral, opening old wounds after three decades of estrangement.
Thrown together, the half-siblings are forced to confront a past that sends shockwaves through both their lives due to the huge discrepancies in their respective recollections. But could both their versions of the truth be correct…?
*****
When they lose their mother, the bond between twins, Catherine and Rob only deepens. However, when tragedy strikes, Cath is forced to face a past that threatens to overwhelm her.
Oliver doesn’t have good memories of a childhood that was plagued with bullying by his siblings. Can he find a way back to a side of his family that’s been lost for decades before he loses everything he holds dear?
The premise of this novel intrigued me so I was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for The Twin, the latest novel by Amanda Brookfield.
by Book Review: Hit For Six by Isabella May
I’m pleased to be welcoming Isabella May to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Hit For Six.
A simmering Fangirl Down X Rivals X Crazy Rich Asians (with a British twist)
LOLA is juggling two jobs to make ends meet; underpaid sales exec by day, and waitress in a cocktail bar by night.
MONTY is the captain of Bath Beasts cricket team and heir to a portfolio of luxury properties.
Girls like her don’t normally end up with boys like him. But when she accidentally bares all at his cup final, destiny (and the number six) ensures their match is a home run.
Unfortunately, Monty’s family has other ideas, doing all they can to prevent their golden boy from getting bowled over by the lowly Lola. Can their love survive the attacking shot? Or will they find themselves on a sticky wicket?
*****
Lola works two jobs trying to make ends meet. Monty is on the verge of becoming a professional cricket player. However, he’s the heir to his family’s vast wealth. Will Lola and Monty find love or will people get in their way?
Having been a fan of some of Isabella May’s previous novels, I was eager to get started on Hit For Six. From the blurb, it looked like a fun read and it absolutely was.
by Book Review: Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay by Eliza J Scott
It’s a pleasure to be welcoming Eliza J Scott back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for, Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay.
Every night, Jasmine Ingilby dreams of delicate sugar flowers and perfectly swirled buttercream. By day, she steals moments between her cleaning shifts to craft stunning cakes from her tiny kitchen, hoping to transform her passion into something more. But as a fiercely independent single mother of two, finding time to grow her fledgling business feels like reaching for the impossible.
Just when her hard work seems about to pay off, Jasmine’s carefully balanced world begins to crumble. Her landlord puts a ‘For Sale’ sign outside her rented home. Then a figure from her past returns to town, reopening old wounds Jasmine thought had long healed and causing trouble at school for her young children.
Then Max Grainger – her childhood best friend – unexpectedly returns to Micklewick Bay after twenty-five years away, and Jasmine is blindsided by the emotions his presence stirs. Now a successful businessman with a son of his own, Max seems determined to solve all her problems. But years of self-reliance have built walls around Jasmine’s heart that even the sweetest gestures struggle to break through.
Will Jasmine’s fear of getting burned again stop her from accepting help when she needs it most? Or will the loyal support of her friends help her discover the perfect recipe for love?
A heartwarming, emotional read about second chances, friendship, and finding the courage to believe in yourself, perfect for fans of Jessica Redland, Jenny Colgan, and Phillipa Ashley.
*****
Jasmine is spinning a lot of plates. As a single mother with several jobs, she doesn’t have time for a lot, especially love. However, when old friend Max returns to Micklewick Bay, could space be made for love after all?
Being a big fan of Eliza J. Scott’s novels outside of this series (I’m really not sure how this is the first time I’m discovering these books) I was really excited to be invited into the blog tour for Cupcakes and Kisses at Micklewick Bay.
Although this is book five in the Micklewick Bay series, it can be read as a standalone.
Eliza J. Scott has a wonderfully way of pulling you into her stories from page one by creating endearing, relatable characters.
by NK Chats To…Liz Mistry
Hello Liz. Thank you so much for joining me today and for inviting Novel Kicks onto your blog tour. Can you tell me about your novel, Deadly Reckoning?
The short answer is: A body, a missing child, and a vengeful sister dash detective’s Jazzy Solanki and Annie McQueen must race against the clock to stop a killer with a personal grudge. This one is all about coming to terms with her Jazzy’s relationship with her sister and her brother there’s a lot of twists and a lot of turns in it themes are all about nature versus nurture mental health coping with PTSD and with all of that going on struggling to catch a killer who’s quite diabolically clever
Which songs would make up a playlist for your book?
I’ve just been looking at some songs that might relate to Deadly Reckoning and one that springs to mind has got to be a Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads.
I played it a few times whilst I was writing to get me in the mood for writing about Jazzy’s sister, Mhairi, who is the antagonist in Deadly Reckoning.
Another one I listened to, will probably seem a strange choice, but those of you have read the book will understand. It is Wild Mountain Thyme and there’s two versions that I really like one is by The Silencers and the other is by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers not Peppers but Pipers and both Scottish bands.
Another song that appealed to me whilst I was writing it was Tainted Love by Soft Cell – an all time favourite and quite appropriate for Deadly Reckoning
What are the challenges and advantages when writing a book that’s part of a series?
The advantages are of writing a series are that as an author you get to know your characters more and more as the series goes on and, in each book, you can reveal a little more about each of the characters. I’ve got two main characters in Jazzy and Queenie and their stories tend to be front and foremost but I’ve also got stories in my mind about the rest of the Jazz Queens and that’s Fenton (Haggis) and Geordie 
(Misty Thistle) so the advantages are that you you get into their lives they become real characters to you. The disadvantages are that you become too attached to them and sometimes you don’t want to put them through the mill and I have to say we’re writing crime fiction so, yeah, we need to put them through the mill.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals?
I don’t have a typical writing day because I’m a bit of a procrastinator but when I’m writing I do have I’ve got some multi-coloured fairy lights lit in my room – when you’re writing dark fiction you can’t have too much light in your life. I have my candle on – I like to have a multi-sensory environment. If I’m editing or doing social media I tend to have a musical accompaniment of some description – usually from my playlist, but other than that no I don’t really have any rituals… I mean I don’t wear my knickers on back to front or anything like that although I’ve heard that some authors do.
by Book Club
