Audiobook Review: Butterfly Summer By Toni De Palma
It’s wonderful to be welcoming Toni De Palma to Novel Kicks and the review for Butterfly Summer.
Hollywood producer for the Bride-to-Be franchise, Anna is on top of her game. She’s helped generations of women navigate the ups and downs of romance. Ironic, since her own love life is a mess. When the Bride-to-Be finale is relocated to Ischia in Italy, Anna plans to use the opportunity to settle some family affairs. And perhaps solve an old mystery of her own. Delia. Decades before, at the age of seventeen, Anna had spent a summer with her aunt on the lush island.
Far from an idyllic vacation, she made few friends and learned her aunt had been hiding secrets from the family. Now she’s going back to sell her aunt’s house and finish up the show’s season finale. As the crew get ready to roll the cameras, all havoc breaks loose. The newest bride-to-be is missing. The groom’s partying has been all over social media. And the sale of the house is shrouded in mystery, with an anonymous buyer.
Both Anna’s personal and professional lives crash in on her. With only hours left until the finale, Anna must find a solution for the show. And face the events that still haunt her from that long ago summer.
*****
Anna has spent her life building up her career. Whilst she helps others with the concept of love, it’s an emotion she has shut herself away from. When her job takes her back to the place where she spent one important summer, she takes the opportunity to settle family affairs. However, when she arrives on the Italian island of Ischia, it’s matters of the heart that come to the surface.
The premise of this book sounded right up my street and so I jumped at the chance to review Butterfly Summer, the latest novel by Toni De Palma. This was my first opportunity to read work by this author and so I couldn’t wait to get started.
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Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Stranger
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 Stranger
You wake up to find someone making breakfast in your kitchen. They move through the space like they’ve lived here for years.
When you ask who they are, they smile sadly and say, “I’ve been waiting for you to finally see me.”
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: Midpoint
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room and the Plot Challenge.
Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on plotting a piece of fiction, one task at a time.
These will potentially help you master plot structure by writing all major plot points, then analysing how each element builds toward a cohesive story.
Task 4: Midpoint
The midpoint is where you raise the stakes dramatically. Shift the story’s direction. Move from “trying to solve the problem” to “fighting for survival/truth/redemption.”
Some of the key things to consider when completing this task:
- What does your protagonist discover or lose at the midpoint?
- How does this force them to change their approach?
- What was their old strategy? What’s their new one?
- What’s the point of no return?
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I’m very happy to be welcoming Louise Marley back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Murder at Raven’s Gate.
Beyond the village of Raven’s Edge stands the Gateway to the Dead – a crumbling stone arch marking the site where a long-ago battle raged and the dead were buried where they fell. But it’s the forgotten mansion hidden in the trees behind it that holds the real mystery…
Lady Peony has lived at Blackheath Hall for decades, invisible to the world – until a ghostly soldier begins knocking at her door. But Lady Peony is no fool. In her experience, where there are spirits, there are schemers. And someone wants her out of that house.
As DI Ben Taylor and DS Harriet March begin their investigation, bitter winds howl through Raven’s Edge and strange mists curl around the battle site. Harriet must untangle what’s real from what’s imagined. Is there truly a ghost haunting the old house, or is someone very much alive using supernatural tales as cover for their own deadly agenda?
Atmospheric, chilling and deliciously gothic, this cosy mystery wraps ancient legends and murder into one unputdownable story. Perfect for fans of Fiona Leitch, Agatha Christie and readers who like their crime with a shiver down the spine!
*****
The Gateway of the Dead, a stone arch just outside the village of Raven’s Edge, holds legends of battles and ghostly tales of fallen soldiers. When a body is found there in the present day, ghost stories resurface. Meanwhile, Lady Peony and her sister, Rose, live in a house nearby. They are facing their own problems – issues that soon split Harriet’s attention. DI Ben Taylor and DS Harriet March are soon enthralled in more than they bargained for. Can they decipher fact from fiction before someone else gets hurt?
I’ve previously read one of the prior novels in this series, Murder at Raven’s Hollow. I was therefore excited and intrigued to be invited onto the blog tour for the latest instalment in the English Village Mystery series.
by Book Review: The Eagle Will Rise By MJ Porter
It’s a pleasure to be welcoming back MJ Porter to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for their latest book, The Eagle Will Rise, book one in the Sundered Kingdom series.
The king is dead; for Mercia to survive, another must take his place.
Coelwulf, Mercia’s last king, is dead. His legacy and right to rule Western Mercia have been claimed by Alfred of Wessex, but all know Alfred was never to have Mercia. Neither were the Viking raiders, who now command the eastern-most parts of Mercia and the former kingdom of the East Angles.
Icel, the bastion of Mercia’s wars against Wessex and the Viking raiders, lies dying, but he refuses to abandon his beloved kingdom to her long-standing enemies.
Rudolf, the once-young ally of King Coelwulf the second, is summoned by Icel to attend upon him. Grudgingly, he arrives at Budworth, the task laid before him, audacious to say the least; rescue Coelwulf’s acknowledged heir, Æthelred, from Wessex, where he’s held prisoner by King Alfred. To do so, Rudolf must prevail upon the dispersed oath-sworn warrior band of King Coelwulf, and all of them, aside from him, have ignored Icel’s increasingly furious demands to attend upon him. If they won’t obey Icel, then why should they listen to Rudolf?
The fate of Mercia’s survival rests in the hands of a man who should long have been in his grave, and Rudolf, a boy who’s become a man in the most trying of circumstances. They must forge Æthelred into the emblem of Mercian survival. Or die trying. But first they must rescue Æthelred from someone who has always pretended to be Mercia’s ally, and who is anything but.
*****
Although technically the start of a new series, The Eagle Will Rise continues the history or Mercia but with the narrative passing from Icel to Rudolf. You don’t need to have read the previous series, but if you have then you will encounter a few interesting old friends in this new tome.
M J Porter has an uncanny ability to get the balance of pace, detail and language just right. The story pulls you though, there is enough detail to paint wonderful vivid images and imbue characters with depth and life whilst not weighing you down with unnecessary embellishments leading to a relaxing and engaging read – a rare treat.
by Book Club
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