Sunday 23 November 2014

New Book Release: Milked by Lisa Doyle

Milked by Lisa Doyle has just been released by Simon and Fig, an independent US publisher, specialising in Chick Lit, Lad Lit & Women’s Fiction! Check out this book and you can see where to buy from on the publishers website.

Synopsis
By and large, Amanda Keane makes pretty good decisions. Okay, she might not have the best taste in men, but she’s got great friends, a good job, and an independent spirit. That is, until her 30th birthday ushers in a whirlwind romance with a sexy Irish musician who leaves her, not at the altar as she imagined, but accidentally pregnant. And when he disappears, she’s downsized out of a job, her apartment is robbed, and lapsed health insurance coverage leaves her with a C-section to pay for, Amanda is launched headfirst into the life of a broke single mom. But her friend and uber successful ob-gyn, Joy, clues her in to an unlikely temp position with one of Chicago’s celebrity elite that just may be the answer to all her woes. Or could it be just the beginning?

It’s with serious trepidation that Amanda embarks on her surprisingly lucrative new career: underground wet nurse to the offspring of Chi-town’s rich and famous. Amanda must quickly understand how to live at the whims and mercy of the one percent as she deals with the irony of nursing – and loving – someone else’s child, while still making ends meet for her own daughter. And then there’s Cute Daycare Dad (aka Dan), who’s obviously interested in her. But can she afford to tell him what she really does for a living? Is her new job (something she thought went out with the 19th century) a shameful thing? Just another way of selling her body? Or does it have something to teach her after all? 

A novel of motherhood, its many demands, and all the little triumphs along the way, MILKED is a warm and witty debut about making tough choices and traveling the roundabout road to happiness.


About the Author, Lisa Doyle
Lisa Doyle is a communications manager and freelance writer based in the Chicago area. A native of Hinsdale, Illinois and a graduate of Miami University, she spent several years editing business-to-business publications for the personal care industry before moving to the nonprofit sector, and currently works in advocacy for homeless families at Bridge Communities in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She has written for major beauty trade publications (Global Cosmetic Industry, Skin Inc, Salon Today, Modern Salon, Renew, Suburban Life) and is a contributor to WOMEN REINVENTED: TRUE STORIES OF EMPOWERMENT AND CHANGE (LaChance Publishing, 2010). 


Doyle is represented by Claire Anderson-Wheeler of Regal Literary, Inc., a full-service agency based in New York. 

For more about Lisa, please visit her website.
On twitter she’s @bylisadoyle
For buy links, please go to www.simonandfig.com.

Monday 10 November 2014

Home for Christmas Film

So, as you may know I am a massive fan of Cally Taylor's books, and was really excited to here that 'Home For Christmas' was being made into a movie. The book is really excellent, humorous and romantic, I think everyone can relate to Beth really easily.

I hope to catch the showing in Bath on the 11th of December, but there are screenings all around the UK - Check out the website for booking here. Make sure to pre-book though, as they will only be screened it there is enough interest.

Cally talks about the background behind the film below

As you may know the film has been developed by a small independent film company based in Brighton called JumpStart Productions. One of the owners of JumpStart, Nathalie Grace Miles, read the book when it came out in 2011 and fell in love with it. Home for Christmas is set in the fictional Picture Box cinema in Brighton and it's based on the Picture House cinema The Duke of York's, which is where Nathalie happened to work. I've always dreamed of seeing one of my books as a film (most authors do!) and I figured that, even if I just got to see it on DVD it would still be an amazing experience. You hear so often of authors selling the film rights to their books and nothing happening so I never dreamed the film would actually get made - but it has!

The film stars April Pearson (from Skins and the slasher film Tormented) as Beth Prince and Karl Davies (from Emmerdale, Kingdom, Happy Valley) as Matt Jones, Lucy Griffiths (True Blood) and Derren Nesbitt (Where Eagles Dare).

The film was financed by JumpStart putting on an auction night, through crowdsourcing website indiegogo and via private funding. 
 
The film went into production in April and May this year on location in Brighton and Swansea. I was lucky enough to go and watch a day's filming at the Duke of York's cinema (you can read about my experience here: Writing about writing...and other random waffle.: Home for Christmas the film: aka watching a figment of your imagination become real)

Now it's been made JumpStart, in connection with Picture House and Our Screen, are putting on screenings at various Picture House cinemas across the UK (Full list here - Screenings - and more are being added) Unlike regular cinema screenings this is an 'on demand' way of getting independently made films out there i.e. they'll only be screened if there's enough interest and pre-bookings. And the pre-bookings need to be made by the end of November. 

Also if you want to read the book here is the synopsis and cover :)

Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she's finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox - a charming but rundown independent cinema - and has a boyfriend who's so debonair and charming she can't believe her luck! There's just one problem - none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn't look like Aiden's going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear I love you' for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands - and instantly wishes she hadn't. Just when it seems like her luck can't get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he's determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?





Sunday 9 November 2014

#SundayChallenge week 6 and 7


Firstly, thank you to Ana at This Chick Reads for hosting #SundayChallenge, and also to Paris at  Paris Baker's Book Nook for hosting #SpookyReadsWeek


#SundayChallenge - Week 6: 26th October - 2nd November!
Read ONE book that is the author's debut or the first book you have read from that Author

OK I am a week behind in my #SundayChallenge posters, the last week has been very busy so I haven't had time  to put together my thoughts on week 6, so here is what I read that week. Which also coincided with Paris Baker's #SpookyReadsWeek, for which I planned to read a debut thriller to coincide with #SundayChallenge and Sebastian Gregory's new book 'The Boy in the Cemetery'

The debut book I chose to read was Daughter by Jane Shemilt. The synopsis really intrigued me and for the most part I liked it. I will write a review of this soon for a more complete overview about what I did and did not like.


Sebastian Gregory's book was a whole lot more successful, delightfully disgusting and really creepy, the perfect read for #SpookyReadsWeek! Fans of Sebastian's previous books  will not be disappointed




#SundayChallenge - Week 7: 2nd November - 9th November!
Read ONE book that is a rom-com or a LOL book

As I mentioned above this week has been busy, and I have really struggled to read for any long amount of time. The book I chose was 'The Stall of Second Chances' by Dana Bate. This book was really enjoyable, and once I could sit down for an extended amount of time (thank god for train journeys!) I absolutely soared through this book. With all the talk of delicious food, I was constantly craving the delicious delights this book mentioned. I will be reviewing this on 2nd of December.


This weeks challenge  (9th-16th November) is to read one Christmas themed book, you could win 'Yours Truly' by Kirsty Greenwood, I adore this book so check it out!

What is #SundayChallenge?
#SundayChallenge is a challenge among a group of readers on twitter, previous examples of challenges range from "Read 3 paperback/hardback books" to "Read 1 book that is released in September/October 2014". It starts every Sunday at 1pm and you have one week to complete the challenge, so ends at 1pm the following Sunday. It is hosted by the lovely Ana from ThisChickReads.com, check out her blog it's awesome, and also make sure to follow her on twitter @ThisChickReads! Ana has even started sorting out prizes for participants, so thank you Ana, you're doing some amazing work! If you want to participate, once the challenge is announced on ThisChickReads twitter, just reply to Ana's tweet saying you'd like to join, simple!

Tuesday 4 November 2014

'The Christmas Party' by Carole Matthews


Synopsis
Louise Young is a devoted single mother whose only priority is providing for her daughter, Mia. Louise has a good job in a huge international corporation and she's grateful for it. The only problem is her boss who can't keep his hands to himself, but Louise can handle him. What she really doesn't have time for is romance - until she meets the company's rising star, Josh Wallace. 

Louise usually says no to evenings out but she's decided to let her hair down tonight. It's the office Christmas party, she has a pretty dress to wear and she's looking forward to some champagne and fun. She's completely unaware that others around her are too busy playing dangerous games to enjoy the party - until she's pulled into those games herself... 



Review
I haven't read many of Carole Matthews' amazing 25 books, but every one I have read I had really enjoyed, especially her Christmas novels. They are so amazing, you really care for all of the characters. This book is no different. 

This book is about, unsurprisingly, a Christmas party, and tells the story over a period of about 3 days, most of which focuses on the Christmas party itself, I can't think of another book I have read that focuses on such a short time period, however this is not a bad thing, quite the opposite, it means you get incredibly detailed viewpoints from all the characters. It is really fantastic! I would love a whole 'War and Peace' length novel with this world we are bought into, I cannot get enough of what Carole writes!

This book was a good start to my festive reads, I love Christmas parties, and this one sounded amazing, even if you remove all the drama that occurs. The open bar, the extravagant setting and being so close to Christmas, the perfect sounding party!

 You are first introduced to Louise, a single mum who is looking forward to starting a good job so she can provide and move out of her parents house, however she doesn't appreciate her letchy boss, Tyler! Louise seemed such a sweet person, someone you would want as a best friend. She was caring and shy, I found myself hoping that everything went her way.

Tyler, despite how despicable he was with his cheating and thinking he was gods gift to all women, he provided some great comedy moments, and I actually felt quite sorry for him, and that's a beautiful thing in itself, it's very rare that I feel sorry for a character that I know I shouldn't like at all! One scene in particular towards the end had me laughing out loud, causing me to try to explain the whole story to my boyfriend so he would understand why it was so funny.

The other viewpoints were from Kristen, Tyler's wife who I felt bad for but never really warmed to her as much as I did Louise and Melissa, Lance's wife who was quite similar to Kirsten in a way, but actually I found her more likable, sure she made mistakes, but after getting hurt and learning her lesson she seemed stronger and more determined.

As well as the humor and romance you come to expect, another scene, involving Lance had me quite sad, showing that this book has it all. This is another stunning book from Carole!   



Order on Amazon now!

Published by: Sphere

Gratefully received from the Publisher for review.


Want to wind down after a long day of Christmas shopping with a good book and a glass of Christmassy goodness? I will talk about a nice non-alcholic version of the Christmas Classic 'Mulled Wine' I drank which I think suits the mood of this book.

What better way to start off the Christmas book season than Mulled Wine. I thought I would try a non alcoholic version and I found this recipe online. Wow, despite my initial reservations due to the 'not-remotely-mulled-wine-esque' colour, it was amazing, warming and that hint of spice, not as heavy as mulled wine, but really delicious and is definitely reminiscent of the alcoholic version. I'm definitely making this in future and am sorely tempted to add some Cranberry juice for extra fruit and colour goodness, an extra mulled wine sachet, and then, being the cinnamon addict I am, a couple of cinnamon sticks too!

Monday 3 November 2014

Guest Post: The Inspiration behind 'The Boy in the Cemetery' by Sebastian Gregory

I would like to think that the inspiration for The Boy in the Cemetery had not come from me at all. That I do not have a place in my head where the dead never die and still walk the earth, protecting their secrets and passing the time by creating elaborate sculptures from the bones of the long departed.   Unfortunately though, that is not the case, so the question would be why I would write about such things. Yes, there are horrible and upsetting scenes that happen in the story, both in the supernatural and real world.  I wanted to write about how a friendship would work when two wounded souls found each other, even though they are separated by two hundred years and a heartbeat.   I also wanted to tell a young adult story that had adult themes and issues that affected young people. I did not want to shy away from the subject just because it was unsettling and awful, but I wanted to show there is always someone who can show kindness and a way out of even the most terrible of situations. In all my stories so far I have always been inspired to write about the power to overcome despite the trials and sometimes adverse childhoods.

Sebastian Gregory’s THE BOY IN THE CEMETERY is only £0.99 for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.



THE ASYLUM OF FAIRY TALE CREATURES is free for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.

THE GRUESOME ADVENTURES OF ALICE IN UNDEADLAND is £0.99 for a limited time on Amazon, Apple and other retailers.

Look out for A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY, coming in December.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...