Novel Kicks Book Club: Us Three by Ruth Jones
Hello April.
We are a 1/4 of the way through 2025. The clocks have gone forward and we finally have the longer evenings in front of us.
Dare we even think about dusting off the garden furniture or planning trips to our favourite park so we can read in the fresh air? Or are you like me and plan to make some reading time in your comfy space at home?
Wherever you decide to take your books, I hope you’ll join me in reading this month’s pick. I am excited for it as it’s one I have been wanting to read for a while.
Us Three by Ruth Jones.
Despite being a fan of Gavin & Stacey, I am yet to read one of Ruth’s novels. I am very eager to get started.
So, how does our book club work? Anyone can take part, whether you’ve read the book or will be reading along with me. The best part, you don’t have to leave your house to take part. It can all be done from the sofa, armchair or bed. You can also join in at any point in the month.
I have posted a question below to get the conversation going.
I am really looking forward to discussing this book in the comments with you.
by 
I’m so delighted to be welcoming Sharon Booth to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest book, Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall.
The first in a delightfully warm, cosy and romantic new series with a fantasy twist, for fans of the BBC series ‘Ghosts’.
Can Callie give some needy ghosts their happy-ever-afterlife, while making Rowan Vale her own forever home?
When cash-strapped single mum Callie visits the beautiful Cotswold village of Rowan Vale on a school trip with her daughter, she is enchanted. It’s run as a living museum, with a steam railway, vintage teashop, Elizabethan manor house and old water mill allowing tourists to see history in action.
But there’s more to Rowan Vale than meets the eye…
To Callie’s surprise, the owner of the village, elderly Sir Lawrence Davenport, requests a meeting with her. It appears Callie has been observed talking to several villagers she shouldn’t be able to see – as they’re ghosts.
Sir Lawrence then makes an astonishing offer: to sell Callie the whole estate for a tiny sum, if she agrees to protect the village’s present tenants and make sure the headstrong ghosts are represented too.
With a spectral lord of the manor and his imperious wife, a naughty 1940s schoolgirl and the man who once taught William Shakespeare among them, it seems Callie’s role as owner wouldn’t be easy.
And that’s without the added complication of Lawrie’s disinherited grandson, the gorgeous Brodie.
Rowan Vale and Callie may need each other. But is this a match made in heaven or hell?
Fans of the BBC’s Ghosts, or books by Lucy Jane Wood, Laurie Gilmore and Heidi Swain will love this heart-warming and magical novel.
*****
As a child, Callie could see and communicate with ghosts but the ability disappears when her family are not supportive. However, when her visit to the village of Rowan Vale re-awakens her gift, her life quickly changes forever.
The premise of this book caught my attention and so I leaped at the chance to be part of the blog tour for Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall, This was also the first book I’ve read by Sharon Booth.
by Book Review: The Last Mrs Sinclair by T.J. Emerson
Please join me in welcoming T.J. Emerson to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest novel, The Last Mrs Sinclair.
What would you give for the perfect life?
Leah Williams knows exactly what she wants from life – comfort, luxury and security. All the things she would have had if her childhood hadn’t been derailed by her father’s bad decisions. And then she meets Miles Sinclair. After the death of his wife last year, Miles is ready to start living his life again, and Leah knows just how to help him… what could be so wrong with that?
When Miles takes Leah to his chateau in the South of France, she’s excited to get a taste of the life she deserves, even if it means enduring the presence of Miles’ cousin Vivienne, who seems determined to insert the memory of his dead wife into every conversation.
But the Chateau Clairvallon has a history, not least as the place where the last Mrs Sinclair died. And as Leah discovers more about the accident that took her predecessor’s life, she begins to realise that the family she’s set her sights on isn’t quite what it seems.
What happened that summer?
Was it really an accident?
And is Leah in danger?
*****
Leah Williams is looking for a life of comfort and security. What’s wrong with that? With Miles Sinclair, she thinks she may have found that, despite the age gap. When he takes her to his family estate in France and proposes, the life she is seeking is in her reach.
The only obstacles… Mile’s cousin, Vivienne and the ghost of the last Mrs Sinclair.
This was the first chance I’ve had to read any of T.J. Emerson’s novels. The premise sounded so good and I’m delighted to have been invited onto the blog tour for this book and couldn’t wait to get started. I am going to try and review this as spoiler free as I can.
Leah Williams wants secrurity and comfort. She wants to marry for that rather than for love. Not my idea of a happy life but it’s not sometihng I am going to judge the character for. Throughtout the book, the voice of her mother appears in her head, motivating her in her quest for a comfortable life. The ghosts of parents like that can and does have an influence on our main character.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Into A Magical World
It’s Friday which means it’s time to start writing some fiction.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing flash fiction prompt.
The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can.
Don’t edit, just write. Once you’re done, you’re welcome to share in the comments but there’s no obligation.
Today’s prompt: Into a magical world.
Whilst working in the garden, your character turns around to see that a big white door with a blue frame has just suddenly appeared in front of them.
On the door handle, there is a sign instructing them to ‘open me’.
Your character walks up to the door and steps through.
Continue the story.
by Cover Reveal: First Contact, Second Chances by Fay Abernethy
I’m very excited as I help to reveal the cover for First Contact, Second Chances, the upcoming book by Fay Abernethy.
Everyone deserves a second chance. Even humanity.
Ex-British Army officer Joe Llewellyn is captain of the Shantivira, the alien space station secretly protecting the Earth from invasion. After Joe reveals the Shantivira’s existence to the UN, everyone wants a piece of him. Except his mother. They’re no longer speaking.
But it’s not only Joe’s relationship with his mam which is in jeopardy. His alien bosses have given him an ultimatum: either he persuades Earth’s authorities to completely restructure the global economic system – to distribute resources fairly without exceeding ecological boundaries – or the space station will be reallocated to another, more deserving planet.
With vicious, cannibalistic space pirates prowling the galaxy, brutally stripping and enslaving entire worlds for profit, Joe can’t afford to fail.
This third instalment of The Shantivira fantasy solarpunk series is a must-read for fans of Becky Chambers, Ben Aaronovitch, Ursula Le Guin, Doctor Who and anyone who enjoys supernatural sci-fi.
OK, so now we know a bit about the book, let’s reveal the cover. Ready? Drumroll…3…2…1…
by Book Club
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