Book Review - Don't Close Your Eyes by Holly Seddon

Amazon UK

Title:  Don't Close Your Eyes

Author: Holly Seddon

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Corvus

Publication Date: 6th July 2017 

Rating: 4 Stars

Robin and Sarah weren't the closest of twins. They weren't even that similar. But they loved each other dearly. Until, in the cruellest of domestic twists, they were taken from one another.

Now, in her early 30s, Robin lives alone. Agoraphobic and suffering from panic attacks, she spends her days pacing the rooms of her house. The rest of the time she watches - watches the street, the houses, the neighbours. Until one day, she sees something she shouldn't...

And Sarah? Sarah got what she wanted - the good-looking man, the beautiful baby, the perfect home. But she's just been accused of the most terrible thing of all. She can't be around her new family until she has come to terms with something that happened a long time ago. And to do that, she needs to track down her twin sister.

But Sarah isn't the only person looking for Robin. As their paths intersect, something dangerous is set in motion, leading Robin and Sarah to fight for much more than their relationship...

For the majority of the book I was really enjoying it, I was very curious to see just where it was going, and how it would turn out. However I can't help but feel the ending came out of nowhere, and its just left me feeling a bit unsettled and it just felt like the conclusion really didn't have enough explanation for my liking. 

However as I say the majority of the book I absolutely loved. It's a story of twins, Robin and Sarah, both as they are now, but also as children and their life growing up.  It was the chapters that were set in their childhood that I found myself really hooked on. 

But yet if I say what I want to about their pasts, I'll probably be giving away key spoilers, and equally their present situations aren't the easiest to explain. I will say that the twins have been estranged for many years, are completely different from each other, and yet they may be each others only hope. 

As children I felt really sorry for them, as adults I'm not sure how much I really liked or was drawn to either twin.  The book touches on many different issues and I felt they were all dealt with sensitively and with a feeling of realism towards them. 

Don't Close Your Eyes was well written and I did find large parts of it to be completely compulsive reading. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Corvus for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Guest Post - Five Career Highlights by Richard Evans - Blog Tour

1. During my time as US correspondent for the Evening News between 1968-1972, I covered one of the most volatile periods in American political history. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated and Richard Nixon won two Presidential elections. 

There was a police riot when students protested in Grant Park at Chicago ‘68 and huge liberal resentment towards the way Nixon was running the country. When he won a landslide victory over George McGovern in November 1972, the vast majority of newspapers in Britain went with the “Nixon Triumph” line. But, in my opinion, that was too simplistic. My instincts told me that Nixon was a crook. I couldn’t write that at the time because the true story of Watergate had not unfolded and there was no proof. 

But, equally, I felt it my duty to present the other side of the argument. So I wrote an op-ed piece for the Evening News with the headline “Four More Years of Nixon the Slick” with the sub-heading of “Why I fear for America under this cynical salesman.”

Peter Jenkins, the Guardian’s political columnist, was the only other British journalist reporting from America to take a similar line and evidently Lord Harmsworth, the right wing publisher of our Associated Newspaper group, was furious. 

The piece made it into the first three editions of the day but was taken out by the time the 5.00 pm edition hit the streets. It was the only time I had been edited out of the paper from above. But I was right and his Lordship was wrong. Nixon resigned once the Watergate tapes revealed his involvement in a crime. 

2. At the age of 18, seven months into my first job, Reg Hayter, who ran his free lance sports reporting agency in Fleet Street, sent me to cover the England Under 23 football tour to Bulgaria, Romania and Czechoslovakia for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and News Chronicle. Reg was taking a huge punt on a very green reporter but it was a challenge I relished and managed to fulfill. 
The trip behind the Iron Curtain in 1958 was fascinating in so many ways but, for me, the most memorable moment came when the England manager, Walter Winterbottom, decided he wanted a full practice match and only had 20 players, including himself. So he turned to the press corps and, as Peter Lorenzo and I were the only reporters remotely young enough to pull on a pair of boots, we played! 

I was totally out of my depth but being of the same pitch as Johnny Haynes, Brian Clough, David Pegg, Bryan Douglas and Jimmy Armfield was certainly something I will never forget. 

3. I have been incredibly fortunate to work on so many great stories but I suppose the job that gave me the most enjoyment and satisfaction was commentating on Wimbledon from the BBC Radio box which offers the best view in the house. It took time to feel really at home but I was so lucky to have summarisers of the calibre of Fred Perry, Frew McMillan and  Christine Truman Janes sitting alongside me. Play by play on tennis is demanding but so much fun!

4. Of the twenty books I have written or edited, I feel “Open Tennis” was the most worthwhile because I was lucky enough to have an insider’s view of the tumultuous events of 1968 and 1973 which changed the game forever.  First Wimbledon went Open when chairman Herman David invited the pros to play and then, in a revolt against authoritarian amateur rule, the ATP pros boycotted the Championships in ‘73. The details needed to be written down quickly before word of mouth and fading press cuttings distorted the story. So I wrote it as it happened in “Open Tennis”. 

5. Of all the film stars I interviewed for Entertainment Tonight, it was the encounter with a director, David Lean, that stands out. Master of telling a story for the big screen, the man who made “Lawrence of Arabia” & “Dr Zhivago” was working on his last film, “A Passage to India” when I met him in Bangalore. His PR people were very nervous “He’s quite old, you know” but Lean was charming and totally professional, filming Alec Guinness from behind his camera just for us. It took no time at all. I love working with pros. 

I think you will agree with me that Richard Evans has clearly had a fascinating life and if you want to hear more then you will need to read The Roving Eye!

The Roving Eye: A Reporter’s Love Affair with Paris, Politics & Sport

Go. Be there. For the past six decades Richard Evans has followed that dictum  – being where the action was, not just as a tennis writer and broadcaster – 196 Grand Slams and counting – but through his years as a foreign correspondent in America, France and Vietnam as well as a spell as a roving global reporter for the US television programme Entertainment Tonight.

Evans, whose English family fled France in June 1940, also became a National Service Captain in the British army, without having to dodge a bullet which was not the case in Cambodia nor in Miami where he was struck by a cop during an anti-Nixon demonstration.

Evans was in Memphis hours after Martin Luther King was shot; campaigned through Indiana and California with Bobby Kennedy – “a unique politician” – before he, too, was assassinated and witnessed the pre-Olympic demonstrations in 1968 against the Mexican Government which ended in massacre.

He accompanied the Wimbledon champion and activist Arthur Ashe on two trips to Africa, witnessing the dark days of apartheid and was back in South Africa in 1990 covering Mike Gatting’s rebel cricket tour during the historic weeks that saw Nelson Mandela released and apartheid abolished.

Evans paints an insider’s portrait of Margaret Thatcher and No 10 Downing Street during the time he was with the Prime Minister’s daughter, Carol; a romance with the actress Gayle Hunnicutt and two marriages; friendships with Richard Harris, Michael Crawford and more Wimbledon champions than you could fit into the players’ box. He was also the last person to interview Richard Burton.

A life lived to the full, covering the globe with a Roving Eye – being there.

Amazon UK  | Barnes & Noble 

About the author:

Richard Evans has been a journalist since the 1960s where he began his career writing for the Evening Standard. He has covered tennis for outlets including the Sunday Times, Fox Sports USA and Tennis Magazine, reporting on more than 196 Grand Slams over the course of his career. Evans was the play-by-play commentator for BBC Radio at Wimbledon for twenty years and was a commentator for the Tennis Channel at the French Open and AO Radio at the Australian Open. He is the author of 18 books, including biographies of tennis legends, the official history of the Davis Cup, and most recently co-authoring Pain, Set & Match.

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Ringham7

Book Review - Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

Amazon UK

Title: Do Not Become Alarmed

Author: Maile Meloy

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 6th July 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship's comforts and possibilities seem infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship's safety.

One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone.

What follows is a heart-racing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children, as the distraught parents - now turning on one another and blaming themselves - try to recover their children and their shattered lives.

There are two main things I can take from this book, never go on a zip line shore excursion in Central America, and definitely never fall asleep while your children are in the sea. Although the second is a point that should in theory go without saying it was the key moment when a dream holiday turned into a nightmare for three families. 

The book starts with a nice family vacation, and I could picture the cruise ship, the buffet, the kids club and generally the feeling of being safe on board with all whims catered too.  It starts of nice and gently and my only disappointment was that the families didn't want to get off at any port. 

Well until after Christmas, at which point they figured they would do an excursion in what was meant to be the safest country on the cruise which is of course where a series of bad decisions leads to a brilliant book for the reader, but a horrific time for all involved in the story! 

As readers we are in the lucky position of seeing not only what happened to the children, but also to the parents so could feel the fear and worry from all sides.  It didn't matter which character the narrative went to, to focus on I was interested in the story and wanted to know what would happen next. 

I found myself despairing with the parents at what the local police appeared to be doing, while at the same time was scared for the children and the situation they have found themselves in.  It was just incredibly well written and being able to empathise with so many characters at once really impressed me. 

I am quite glad that I didn't read this while on my next cruise, and that I have a month to recover and build up some confidence for my own excursions!  Do Not Become Alarmed is a highly addictive read, that I couldn't read through fast enough. I was hooked from start to finish. 

Thank you to Viking and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Guest Post - Top Quality Bed & Breakfasts by Jennifer Joyce - Blog Tour

After deciding to set my latest book in a seaside bed and breakfast, I had to think about what would make the best meeting place for Mae, Willow and Melody. Here a few points I made about the top qualities I’d like in a B&B:

Make It Personal

For me, a bed and breakfast is more personal than a hotel. It should be cosier than a bland, uniform hotel room, the service should be more bespoke and friendly. I’m not saying hotel staff aren’t – and shouldn’t be – friendly, but it’s unlikely the receptionist is going to be cooking your breakfast if you’re staying in a big hotel. There’s less of a barrier between B&B owner and guest, I guess.

No Kim & Aggie Required

It goes without saying that the B&B should be clean (as should a hotel) but I’m not about to go on the hunt for little curly hairs under the mattress protector like the contestants on Four In A Bed often do. It’s an entertaining program, but it can get ridiculous at times! If you have to put your back out looking for a cobweb, you’ve probably gone too far. As long as there is clean bedding, the bathroom has had a good scrub, a hoover has had a run around the carpets and there are no obvious stains or cobwebs, you’re on the right track.

The Little Touches

While researching bed and breakfasts (read: watching back-to-back episodes of Four In A Bed and To B&B The Best), I came across the idea of leaving little welcome baskets for guests. I thought this was such a nice touch and the kind of attention to detail I was looking for. We’re not talking expensive hampers here, just a little basket of mini toiletries and a few treats, such as chocolates or biscuits.

A Friendly Host

This is so important when you’re staying in a bed and breakfast. Staying in such close proximity, you don’t have the same anonymity you would within a hotel, so you need a host who you feel comfortable around. Perhaps you will be sharing a communal space with this person from time to time, and they may be the person who deals with your breakfast requests in the morning. 
But you also need someone who knows when to take a step back, who knows the line between making sure you’re settled and fussing. You want to feel relaxed during your stay and while knowing you can ask for more towels if you need them is fantastic, feeling as though you have an extra participant on your trip isn’t quite so great.

Books

I’d love any B&B where there was a bookshelf where I could pick up a book I don’t have on my towering TBR pile and work my way through while on my trip (I will have taken several books of my own, obviously, but a bookworm can never have access to too many books). This isn’t strictly necessary, but it would put a smile on my face!

So those are the qualities I think are important – I’d love to know about yours too!

Thank you so much Jennifer I love your thoughts on B&Bs and look forward to seeing how The Little Bed and Breakfast by the Sea shapes up!

About the author

Jennifer Joyce is a writer of romantic comedies who lives in Manchester with her husband and their two daughters. Her latest novel, The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea is out now. You can find out more about Jennifer and her books on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jenniferjoycewrites

Twitter: www.twitter.com/writer_jenn

Instagram: www.instagram.com/writer_jenn

Blog: www.jenniferjoycewrites.co.uk 

Escape to the seaside this summer!

Mae loves running her little Bed & Breakfast, it’s the perfect place to raise her adorable four-year-old daughter! And no matter how persistently local vet, Alfie, chases her, she just doesn’t have time for men in her life.

Willow is busy building her dream home with her husband, Ethan, but with every month that passes she secretly worries that her happy ever after will never come true…

Melody only intended to stay in the bustling seaside town for a few days to capture the perfect photo. But when she meets Hugo – the charming man in the ice cream van – she decides to stay a little longer!

One thing is for sure, summer at the little Bed & Breakfast by the sea certainly has a few surprises in store…

Book Review - Summer's Lease by Carrie Elks

Amazon UK

Title: Summer's Lease

Author: Carrie Elks

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Piatkus

Publication Date: 13th July 2017

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Meet the Shakespeare family: four sisters, four stories . . . four ways to find true love

Cesca Shakespeare has hit rock bottom. Six years after the play she wrote bombed at the box office, she's unable to hold down a job, keep an apartment, and worst of all her family have no idea how far she's fallen. So when her fairy Godfather offers her the use of his friend's Italian villa for the summer, she grudgingly agrees to try writing a new play. That's before she finds out the house belongs to her arch-nemesis, Sam Carlton.

When Hollywood heart-throb Sam Carlton sees his name splashed across a gossip rag, all he wants to do is hide. That's how he finds himself traveling to Italy, deciding to spend the summer in his family's empty villa on Lake Como. Except when he arrives it isn't as empty as he'd hoped.

Over the course of the hot Italian summer, Cesca and Sam have to come to terms with their pasts. What begins as a tentative friendship quickly grows into an intense attraction - and then a scorching fling. But they can't hide from reality forever . . . as their different worlds collide, Sam and Cesca face a choice: is this just a summer romance, or could their love weather even the coldest winds?

For six years, Cesca Shakespeare's life has been a complete mess, shes been flittering from job to job with not much success, not admitting to her family she needs help and barely able to put pen to paper and write despite being a promising playwright. All of this is thanks to Sam Carlton and what happened 6 years ago. 

Hugh her godfather suggests getting out of London for the summer and she is gifted a house sitting job in Lake Como. Not long into her stay in Italy, she discovers that is is the Carlton's house she is staying in, and then Sam appears! 

From that moment on there is crackling chemistry between the two of them even if not obvious to them at first.  I loved the initial dialogue between Sam and Cesca, and generally found myself enjoying all of their interactions. 

Set over a summer in a stunning Italian villa, with a potential Italian love interest too,  its a sizzling story, of romance but also of Cesca rediscovering herself, and Sam finally facing some family demons. But whether it is just a summer romance is for you to read yourself to find out! 

Cesca is just one of the four Shakespeare sisters who I believe will be featuring in the next books of the series. From what I have seen of them, I am looking forward to meeting them all in a more up close and personal way! 

 This is the first book that I have read by Carrie Elks, and I thoroughly enjoyed her writing. The story moved along a good pace, and I found the book to be a fast and incredibly entertaining read. Having read this I will definitely try to get around to her past books a lot quicker! 

Summer;s Lease is s summer scorcher of a book that is great for reading on a hot summers day when you want to imagine you are house sitting in Italy, but also would be a great winter read, to try to warm you up! 

Thank you to Netgalley and Piatkus for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain - Rachel Reads Randomly Book #67

Amazon UK

Title: The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters

Author: Nadiya Hussain

Format reviewed: Paperback

Source: Competition Wins

Publisher: HQ

Publication Date: 12th January 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

lThe four Amir sisters – Fatima, Farah, Bubblee and Mae – are the only young Muslims in the quaint English village of Wyvernage.

On the outside, despite not quite fitting in with their neighbours, the Amirs are happy. But on the inside, each sister is secretly struggling.

Fatima is trying to find out who she really is – and after fifteen attempts, finally pass her driving test. Farah is happy being a wife but longs to be a mother. Bubblee is determined to be an artist in London, away from family tradition, and Mae is coping with burgeoning Youtube stardom.

Yet when family tragedy strikes, it brings the Amir sisters closer together and forces them to learn more about life, love, faith and each other than they ever thought possible.

I really enjoyed this book, and found it gave me an interesting insight to a Bangladeshi family that lives in England, and its a fusion of Easts meets West. 

The Amir sisters are all very different people, and the narrative is split into all four of the sisters, for a chapter focusing on each at a time. The one thing they all have in common is they don't tell their parent's everything and all seem just a bit frustrated about how their brother appears to be the favourite at all times, despite being male. 

There is Fatima who is the eldest sister, she still lives at home, and is determined she may eventually pass her driving test. She also appears to be addicted to squeezy cheese, and isn't really sure of her own identity. Then there are twins Farah and Bubblee. Farah is married to Mo, and is the daughter to tries to do the most for her parents and her family, but she is hiding things from her family. Bubblee doesn't always see eye to eye anymore with Farah and lives in London, and is more of a feminist. Lastly there is Mae, the baby of the family, who is still at school but also is doing wonders with her social media project. Mae can always be found recording her family, at least until she posts something to her blog that takes off overnight! 

However when disaster hits for the family they all need to pull together and with it, so many secrets and shocks come out into the open over the course of the book. Some of them I was able to guess slightly ahead of time, but I still liked seeing how the sisters rose to various occasions. 


Their parents are rather traditional, and arguably stereotypical, especially when it comes to constantly trying to make sure their daughters get married or have children. Early on I noticed I was giggling quite often at the dialogue, and I really enjoyed reading a family experience that is so different in some respects to my own, but equally that I could see some big similarities with my own religion. 

This was a story that really spoke to me, and has some great messages within it. I am looking forward to getting stuck into other books by the real author of this book. 

Always tricky for me when you give me a tie, but since I have been tempted to read this pretty much since I won it, I had to pick this over The Waiting Game. My other reasoning was as this is a trade paperback that I have, it will take up slightly more space when I pack up my books to move house, so thought I would make it a bit easier on myself!

Rachel Reads Randomly will be back in September. 

Coming Up on Rachel's Random Reads...

...well coming up may imply there will be things happening, but strictly speaking that may not be the truth!

If you were expecting a new Rachel Reads Randomly Vote post today, then I am sorry, so was I until it turns out that it was more wishful thinking that I would be able to continue blogging normally until I went on holiday. 

Basically my timeline for the new couple of weeks is:

Until 19th July - blog will be running as normal....so long as I read about 3 more books to fill in the gaps in my scheduling. Except for my regular Monday feature. 

20th - 30th July - I will be on a Greek Island Cruise, sunning myself and basically dreading returning to the stress once I am back for on

3rd August I will be moving house. I have been stressed about this for months, especially with the need to downsize my entire life, as it turns out I have a lot of stuff. But the move is going ahead, and its due to this that I am already now running out of time to prep blog posts or even read. 

My reading speed has dropped to a book every couple of days, instead of my normal much quicker average. 

I had already decided that I am blocking off too much advance scheduling and basically from the time I go away until start of September, there will be some posts, I've got 5 guest posts scheduled in for blog tours (at least I hope those will all work), and there may be some reviews as I will still be reading. 

However it won't be at the same rate that I normally love running my blog, so I ask for your patience and understanding this summer, and if I have one of your books waiting for review on my TBR...well the plan is to get to it eventually, I just don't know when. 

Oh and to prospective authors that may be wanting to ask me for a review - my review policy states I'm too busy at the moment, I really do mean that, asking me to make an exception for you isn't necessarily going to please me!!

Other than that I'll be about on social media as much as I can, probably even while I'm on holiday, but hope to be back in September, maybe with my new business ready to launch too (fingers crossed)! 

Book Review - The Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop by Tracy Corbett

Fab Firsts is my new regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

This is Tracy Corbett's debut book. 

Amazon UK

Title: The Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop

Author: Tracy Corbett

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Avon

Publication Date: 3rd July 2017

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The summer romance novel everyone is talking about!

Evie is busy running the Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop and praying for an uplift in sales as soon as possible. She might be in the market of selling romance, but for Evie a new man is the last thing she needs!

That is until plumber Scott Castillo turns up to fix her boiler. She’s definitely not interested. But then, why does she keep ogling his rather attractive forearms? She’s been fooled before - she isn’t about to fall head-over-heels for some smooth-talker, right?

When he isn’t trying to balance paying the bills with caring for his sick mother, Scott has stepped in to help parent his 18-year-old nephew, Ben. Between that and working full time Scott doesn’t have time for romance. Until he meets Evie…

Love doesn’t always bloom the way you expect but for the customers of the Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop it might just be the perfect time for romance…

What a lovely story, focused around three main families and a lovely flower shop. It's a gentle story of relationships, but family and romantic, and is just a really relaxed book to read. 

There is Evie who would like to buy The Forget-Me-Not Flower Shop, if only she can raise the funds, the last thing she wants in her life is a new man, but there is just something about Scott the plumber that gets under her skin. 

Scott is struggling, he has a problem that he tries to hide from everyone, and is looking after his mother who is disabled from a stroke, as well as his 18 year old Nephew, Ben.  Ben has fallen in love but not everyone agrees with his relationship with Amy. 

Amy's parents have a horrible dynamic in their relationship and I really feel sorry for Patricia, her mother. No-one deserves to have a husband like David. Patricia plays tennis with Martin, who is married to Laura. Laura is Evie's best friend, and runs a wedding dress shop, but isn't too happy in her marriage either. 

The chapters either focus on Evie, Laura or Patricia and it took me a while to fully work out the relevance of where most of the characters would encounter each other, and I've only mentioned the basics!  

It's the story of  how peoples lives interrelate, and although at times I was slightly confused, I did really enjoy what I was reading. I found myself on numerous occasions frustrated that the characters hadn't got together sooner. 

I enjoyed this book, especially all the flowers and also Evie's new dog who has a real bit of character to him. However my favourite things in the book overall was probably Evie's shoes, I loved the creativity of the different novelty shoes she was finding as bargains on Ebay, or in charity shops. They were quirky and just added a new facet to her personality. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Fab Firsts - Q&A with Ginger Black

Fab Firsts is my new regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

Thank you for featuring Ginger Black in your Fab Firsts blog.  Ginger Black is the pen name for the writing partnership of Gaynor Pengelly and Julia Thum, and our debut novel, Riverside Lane, is published by The Momentum Publishing Company.

Riverside Lane is a village mystery set in springtime by the banks of the river Thames.  Tautly paced and sumptuously located, it peels back the genteel façade of a picture-postcard hamlet, while gently satirising English manners. One reviewer describes it as “the literary equivalent of a glass of Pimms” which we think sums our novel up delightfully.

Riverside Lane started out as a ‘fun thing to do’ but quickly turned into a serious project as we discovered our writing chemistry. It was written in snatched hours before our families awoke and late into the night after a busy working day. It took three years to complete and we learned an awful lot along the way.  We are now half way through our second novel, and it is progressing much faster!

We were advised early on that, as debut authors, we should submit our manuscript to independent publishers who are more able and prepared to take a risk on unknowns.   This turned out to be good advice. After receiving three offers to publish we chose a start-up imprint called The Momentum Publishing Company, which crowd funded our novel. We also have an ebook version published by Endeavour Press.

At a time when large publishing conglomerates are finding it hard to take a risk on an unknown author, crowd funding a book is a viable alternative. This is where independent publishing companies come in. They are often willing to sign to authors who do not fit the mould in mainstream publishing. They can prepare your work to be read and enjoyed – editing, book design, printing – and crucially get your book to the right audience and ensure they read it.

Independent publishing companies are not a self-publishing or print-on-demand service provider; they believe in the books on their list, having either commissioned them or responded to them as submissions.

Riverside Lane hit the bookshelves late last year and thanks to our slick marketing campaign (even though we do say so ourselves!), our novel has nearly sold out and set to go into a second print run.

If we were to offer advice to first time authors, it would be:

1.  Don’t send your manuscript off to early – put it in a bottom drawer and come back to it in a few months;
2. Submit to an independent publisher. It worked for us;
3. Get up to speed with social media. The days of rattling out a thrilling story and signing to a literary agent have gone. Today’s authors must juggle creativity with entrepreneurial flair, good PR and marketing skills, as well as a thorough understanding of social media are essential skillsets;
4. Write because you love it and never give up!

  

Rachel, you have asked us lots of lovely questions about our “firsts” and so we hope it is OK that we have both chipped in with our answers?  

Of course it is ladies, I would love to hear from both of you. 

The first book you bought  -

(Julia) either one of the Thelwell series or the adorable Olga da Polga which I still have and have read to muy children many times

(Gaynor) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, a science fiction fantasy full of adventure and wonder that made me rethink my dislike of math’s and science.

The first person you fell in love with –

(Julia) I have to leap in here and shout Alvin Stardust from the rooftops!  I totally adored him.

(Gaynor) My lovely father, Jim.  I truly believe a daughter’s good relationship with her father sets her up for life. He shaped my self-esteem, confidence, self-image and opinions of men and had so many positive influences on my life .

The first holiday you went on –

(Julia) Bude in Devon and I still remember how cold that sea was!

(Gaynor) I was born in Malta, so the beautiful beaches and rockpools of Gozo and Sicily are my earliest holiday memories.  Whenever I watch Inspector Montalbano on TV, I am transported back there.

The first prize you won –

(Julia) I never win prizes but I did get the odd rosette on my little fat pony at the local gymkhana.  I still have them

(Gaynor) I won the Year 7 School Art’s Festival for my play Alice’s Dream, which I wrote, produced, directed and starred in.  It was my greatest moment! (I should probably say I was the only entry).

The first album you purchased –

(Julia) Alvin Stardust of course!

(Gaynor) Blondie: Parallel Lines. As a school kid, Debbie Harry was the coolest woman on earth, I loved her style, I loved her hair, I wanted to be her.

The first sport you enjoyed participating in –

(Julia) Mmmm – not sure I would really use the words enjoy or participating when it comes to me and sport!

(Gaynor) I was useless at sport at school, does ‘winding up my two brothers’ count?

Embarrassing moment you can remember - 

(Julia) In my first meeting when I was in the PR industry, I was asked a question by the client and, not knowing the answer, I turned to my boss and said, “Mummy you probably know the answer to that one!”  My boss, who was a lot older than me and had something of a complex about her age, was not best impressed.

(Gaynor) After landing my dream job as a journalist, I was sent to a swanky London hotel to interview a prominent chief executive.  I looked good and felt pretty confident as I sashayed across the foyer to meet him. We shook hands and I made a little ceremony of removing my notepad and pen.  After a couple of minutes, he tentatively asked if everything was all right with my skirt.  To my absolute horror, I realised it was tucked into my knickers! Worse still, a group of American tourist shouted over: ‘I’ve never been to London before, but with such stunning views, I sure will visit again!”  Luckily it broke the ice, I got a wonderful interview and years later, I’m still in touch with the CEO.  I describe it as my most embarrassing moment, he laughingly calls it ‘a cry for help’.

Your first pet –

(Julia) Sorry – there’s a theme here – Ping Pong the little fat pony who looked just like one of those Thelwells from the books I used to adore.   I used to gallop about on him everywhere and he was good as gold but whenever anybody else got on him we would buck them straight off. 

(Gaynor) Jamie the Labrador, he was the greediest dog on earth and could not be trusted around food. He would snatch sandwiches out of the hands of children at picnics and drool like crazy underneath the dinner table. He was, however, super useful as the clandestine recipient of unwanted vegetables when my mother wasn’t looking.

Choice of alternative career if you weren’t an author - 

(Julia) I always wanted to be an actress as a child but that industry is even harder to break into than writing so, inspired by his wonderful books, for my next career I would like to be a female version Oliver Sacks.  It must be so wonderful to  understand how our brains and minds work like he did.

(Gaynor) I greatly admire my friend, Dr Margaret Mountford, Lord Sugar’s former side-kick on the Apprentice. First a high-flying City lawyer, then a TV presenter, now a professor of papyrology (reading ancient scripture) and trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society, now that’s a career!

Toy that you recall loving –

(Julia) I still have him; Bunny Cuddles, a brown and white fluffy rabbit whose tail fell off.

(Gaynor) My first Tiny Tears Doll.  You could feed her from a bottle and she wet her nappy. Later, I restyled her hair with paper scissors and used pen to ‘make-up’ her face. She was ruined but I loved her all the more.

Thank you so much Julia and Gaynor for sharing all of that with us.  I have loved reading this interview. 

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Book Review - The Hen Party by Emily Benet - Blog Tour

Amazon UK

Title: The Hen Party

Author: Emily Benet

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied copy

Publisher: Little Cactus Publishing

Publication Date: 29th May 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Film Director, Kate Miller, is in serious trouble. The entire cast and crew of the reality TV show The Hen Party has gone missing while filming in Mallorca. To make matters worse, the network boss has just flown in and will be arriving any minute to check up on her production.

Kate thinks it's all her fault. She hasn't exactly been following the guidelines.

But if she is to blame, why were the hens arguing among themselves? And why is the groom-to-be calling her in tears?

Kate doesn't know the half of it. The hens have their own secrets and it's only matter of time before they all come tumbling out. 

A party of eight arrive on the island, but not everyone's going home.

Hilarious and oddly compulsive at the same time, if this was on TV this would be the equivalent of "car crash" tv, ie, when things go completely wrong but you can't tear your eyes away from it. That is what the hen party in this book is like. 

For its a hen party that is being filmed for a reality show, and features a director who hates hen parties but has her own agenda for trying to turn frivolous TV into something a bit more serious, not that the contestant or other people filming it have any idea what Kate is about to try and get away with. 

The book starts oddly on Day 5 of the 7 day trip to Mallorca, with Kate not being able to find any member of the crew or the hens, followed by the arrival of her boss who wants to know why there is no filming and just what is going on. 

The chapters progress so that we get the full live action of the first 5 days of the hen party from various of the girls points of views. I knew this was the book from me early on in Day 1, reading about the scenes on the plane to Palma, Mallorca, and recognising the characters from just about any trip to the island! 

The alternatives to the plans that Kate have are quite different to what you would expect from a hen trip to Mallorca, and even those don't really go as smoothly as you may expect. 

You get a good feel for the 5 members of the party, there is Fiona, the bride, Jem the potential sister in law, Clare and Sam the childhood best friends, and Chi the colleague who barely knows anyone. All of them appear to be hiding things from each other and from Fiona.  As the events unravel I just couldn't put the book down, I was hooked on knowing what would happen next. 

The whole book is written with a great sense of humour and its fast paced, easy to read. I found myself smiling for so much of the book, and just found it to be my sort of book. This is the third book I have now read by Emily Benet and she keeps outdoing herself, as this is my new favourite by far! 

Thank you so much to Emily Benet for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.