Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Shadows
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure.)
Today’s prompt: The Shadows.
At sunrise, every shadow in the city points toward the same locked door.
By noon, people have gathered around it, carrying keys they do not remember owning.
by 
Book Extract: Bob & Shirley’s Guide To Murder by Suzy K Quinn
Please join me in welcoming Suzy K Quinn to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Bob and Shirley’s Guide to Murder.
Bob and Shirley run a lovely country pub. They also solve murders …
A warmly funny, gloriously British cozy crime and murder mystery series that can be read as standalones or part of a series. Set in a village where the pub is the heart of country life and served with warmth, wit and a very good Sunday roast.
“Murder? In our quiet, little English village?
Great Oakley is a place of hanging baskets, tearooms and riverside walks. We’ve won ‘Britain’s safest village’ 10 years running. I keep three pound coins, a box of toffees and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol on my dashboard at all times, and I’ve never needed to lock my car.
Certainly, Bevvy Hogg was disliked. She ran the local Waist Watchers group, yet came to our pub for fish and chips, treacle tart and a bottle of Chardonnay every Friday. But I don’t think she was murdered …”
When Bevvy Hogg is found dead in the Goose and Gander pub garden, with an empty treacle tart plate beside her and several dress sizes slimmer than anyone remembers, Great Oakley’s winning streak as Britain’s safest village comes to an abrupt end.
Suzy has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
Bob and Shirley run the Goose and Gander pub in the Suffolk village of Great Oakley. When Bevvy Hogg, leader of the local Waist Watchers slimming group, is found dead in their pub garden, several dress sizes smaller than anyone remembers, the pair start investigating.
In this scene, Bob and Shirley go undercover at a Waist Watchers meeting. Bob is a fitness fanatic with absolutely no tact. Shirley is a larger lady who considers weighing scales the enemy of happiness. It goes about as well as you would expect.
Bob
The Waist Watchers meeting was certainly an experience. The logic baffled me. How do people think that sitting around, talking about food, will help them lose weight? It would be far better to spend their evenings having a long walk, which would not only burn off calories but also improve their moods.
Jade welcomed us with a ‘red light’ forbidden food list to stick on our fridge. It looked broadly similar to Shirley’s daily diet: beer, crisps, cider, wine, chips, butter, lard, pies and pastries.
Then we were ushered to a horseshoe of seats, semi-circling a table of weight-loss shakes, soups and chocolate bars.
We were supposed to ‘listen with two ears’ while others talked about their weekly food intake. But I soon cracked and demanded, ‘What’s this obsession with milky, frothy coffees from overpriced coffee shops? Milk is designed to help young animals put on weight. Obviously, it’s not a sensible choice for dieters. Why not just have a nice cup of tea? It’s much better for you, and also less expensive.’
On reflection, I shouldn’t have voiced my opinions so early on. It wasn’t the best way to build group rapport. In fact, Jade asked me to stop talking after I explained that the artificial sweeteners in her Glow Up shakes were scientifically proven to make you crave more sugary food.
by Book Review: Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle by Jaimie Admans
It’s always so exciting to welcome Jaimie Admans to Novel Kicks as we shine a light on her latest book, Winter Magic at Hollybrae Castle.
A Scottish castle, a fake marriage… and one very real Christmas romance?
After a window display goes disastrously viral – thanks to a malfunctioning animatronic Santa and an unfortunate encounter with Paddington Bear – Lula Haines finds herself without a job just weeks before Christmas. So she jumps at the chance to decorate Hollybrae Castle in Scotland for the holidays.
There’s just one complication: her handsome new boss, Oliver Bracewell, needs a fake wife for the festive season. To secure a promotion that could save his family’s castle, Ollie has been pretending to be a married father-of-two to impress the family-focused firm where he works. Now his bosses are coming to stay at Hollybrae over Christmas… expecting to meet his non-existent wife and children.
At first, playing along is easy as Lula is swept up in the magic of turning Hollybrae into the perfect festive escape with Ollie. But as Christmas draws nearer and she and Ollie grow closer, Lula begins to wonder if Hollybrae could become more than a temporary escape… and if the man she’s only pretending to love might actually be the one she’s been waiting for all along.
With heaps of tartan, tinsel and Christmas magic, this uplifting romance is perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Heidi Swain, Cressida McLaughlin, Ellie Henderson or Jessica Redland!
*****
When a window display goes wrong and Lula loses her job weeks before Christmas, she isn’t sure what she is going to do.
When a job advert decorating a Scottish castle catches her eye, it seems too good to be true. Sure enough, Lula finds out that there is a big catch.
Long term visitors to this blog will already know that I am a HUGE fan of Jaime Admans. So, whenever the chance to take part in a blog tour that involves one of her novels comes up, my hand will go up and I will shout ‘me, me, me’ at the blog tour organiser.
Jaime Admans and Christmas. Absoflippinglutly. I couldn’t wait to get started.
On first glance, the plot of this novel may seem a little far-fetched. A woman agreeing to be a pretend wife to a total stranger whilst travelling to a remote castle sounds more like crime than romance. It didn’t take the author long to not only make me believe that it’s possible but that it was only ever going to be romantic.
by Book Review: A Christmas Proposal by Rose Warner
I am pleased to be welcoming Rose Warner to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, A Christmas Proposal.
She lost everything in the Great War – her brothers, her fiancé, her way of life. Will this new war bring back long-buried feelings?
Beatrice is settling into life in the countryside, along with Victoria and Nell, as a teacher evacuee. Her world is turned upside down again when she meets David, the new doctor at the military hospital, whose kindness and gentleness warm her frozen heart.
Her remaining defences crumble entirely when the family of one of her pupils is killed in an airstrike, and she can no longer deny her motherly affection for the child.
But is Beatrice willing to risk the loss and heartache that comes with love in wartime? When David volunteers for military service and history threatens to repeat itself, Beatrice must dig deep to find the courage to live the life she’s dreamed of…
A gripping, festive Second World War saga for fans of Daisy Styles, Katie Flynn and Elaine Everest.
*****
Having lost her brothers and fiancé in the Great War, Beatrice has accepted her life as a spinster. She has settled into the village of Hazelbury, having been brought in from London to teach Evacuee children. She now gets on well with her fellow teachers, Victoria and Nell, and is set on eventually becoming a headmistress of her own school once the war is over. What she doesn’t count on is the arrival of Dr. David Stanley. Can Beatrice allow herself to love again when there is a chance that she will once again lose all she holds dear?
It’s that time of year. The Christmas themed novels are beginning to appear. When I got invited onto the blog tour for A Christmas Proposal by Rose Warner, I jumped at it.
by Book Review: A Calamity of Waters by Chloe Turner
JANUARY 1607. THE SEVERN VALLEY. THE GREATEST FLOOD IN LIVING MEMORY.
Habren has never quite forgiven herself. Her father only sings bawdy carols for farthings these days, none of the sweet songs he used to sing their mother, and perhaps it’s no wonder her sisters Syble and Margret have put many leagues between themselves and their old home. But then Syble summons her to Gloucester, and if Habren can keep on the right side of their pin merchant master, perhaps it’s the chance she needs to make up for the past.
Then the river rises. In a single January morning, the Severn floods the vale and upends every life in it. And somewhere down that swollen estuary is Ambrose, the man Habren loves.
With Syble and new friend Raynould beside her, Habren sets out for Bristol to find him, through a city the flood has torn apart. And as they search, secrets they have kept close to their hearts begin, one by one, to surface.
*****
Habren has always felt in the way, especially when it comes to her sister, Syble. So, when she is sent to work with her sibling in Gloucester, she sees this as a chance to make up for the past. However, she will find life is just as hard under the tyranny of her new employer. When disaster strikes, Habren, Syble and their friend, Raynould go on a perilous journey. Can Habren find the happiness she has wanted all her life?
This novel was my introduction to Chloe Turner. I didn’t know what to expect. I do love historical fiction so I couldn’t wait to jump in.
by Book Club
