In Promo Overdrive...

Sorry, but this last week or more has been nothing but mentions of my romantic comedy release, Hooked On You, but, well, when one of my books becomes available I just have to shout it from the rooftops to celebrate! I'm sure you understand.
Not only that, but I'm not rolling in money, so every bit of promotion I can do to get a copy sold is well...a necessity I'm afraid. Again, I'm sure you understand. :o)

Anyway, here's some more news about HOY. (Got to milk it for all it's worth while I can, sorry.)

HOY received its first review, which was seriously good, from the crew at Seriously Reviewed blog. Thanks very much to them.

Also, HOY is now available on Book Depository (free worldwide delivery don't forget!). Sadly, as yet, it doesn't have the cover on the page or much information, but you can still purchase it with, you guessed it, free worldwide delivery! Boy, they should pay me for all the advertising I do for them.
Click here to see HOY on TBD website.
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781601547484/Hooked-on-You

On a personal note, my eldest son, Jack, started his new job today as a legal trainee. We are very proud of him.

So go on, what are you waiting for? Go find HOY on the various online bookstores and grab a copy for yourself. It's good, I promise. :o)

Now on Amazon!

As mentioned on my previous post, my romantic comedy, Hooked On You, is my latest release and I found out that it is now online at various bookstores including Amazon UK http://tinyurl.com/ygx482z and Amazon USA http://tinyurl.com/ye2nkz3

Coming Soon...

My romantic comedy novel, Hooked On You, is now on the publisher's coming soon webpage!

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/hooked-on-you-p-3881.html

The actual release date is February 5th. I'm really excited that this story - about Katie falling in love with her boss - will soon be available for readers to purchase in either digital or paperback.

I'll have more details shortly.

Blurb

Katie Edwards is 28, single, and living the life--or so she thinks.

After leaving a groping boss, who enjoyed putting the personal in personal assistant, Katie lands a job as an assistant for Liam Kennedy, a sports freak. She hates sports, and not only is Liam a sports fanatic, but he's good at everything. The last thing Katie expects is to fall in love. But he’s simply sex on wheels. And the longer they're working together, the more she wants him.

Working for a sexy man sounded fabulous, but she should have been careful what she wished for, because gorgeous employers are a hazard to the heart. Now, Katie’s in lust and he thinks she’s a dizzy chick who only knows how to party.

How can she be professional when all she wants is to hop into his bed? Will he ever take her seriously enough to see how perfect they'd be for each other? Or is she doomed to be hooked on him forever?

Recently read

Over the Christmas and New Year break I managed to read two books (actually my eldest son's books), both were autobiographies, both are about men who made their mark in their respective careers and both English.

As a first generation Aussie from British parents I feel at home in both countries and feel both Australian and English. Therefore, I watch and read a lot of TV shows, movies and books from England, despite living in Australia.

For very different reasons I enjoyed both these autobiographies, and consequently ordered the next book of each one.

One of the UK TV shows I watch is Top Gear, the British version, and it was Richard Hammond, one of the presenters, whose autobio I read. It tells of his early start in his journalist career, his love of bikes and cars and how he managed to get a great job combining both. He and his wife also write about the crash that nearly ended his life and how they both overcame it.

Blurb;

Richard Hammond is one of our most in-demand and best-loved television presenters. In September 2006, he suffered a serious brain injury following a high-speed car crash.

ON THE EDGE is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his recovery, full of drama and incident. An adrenalin junkie long before his association with Top Gear, Richard tells the story of his life, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television and eventually to Top Gear. His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie and the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous, make compulsive reading. It was whilst filming for Top Gear that Richard was involved in a high speed crash, driving a jet-powered dragster. His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras.

Peter Kay simply makes me laugh. His a great comedian and this book, in his own style, tells of his childhood and how it shaped him to be the man he is. He's a Northerner, alas not a Yorkshireman, but we can forgive him on that one, but like most Northerners that have a talent and wit for finding the funny side of any situation and making it their own.

Blurb;

Peter Kay's unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread, everyman appeal. These vivid observations coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience's shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker. In his award winning TV series' he creates worlds populated by degenerate, bitter, useless, endearing and always recognisable characters which have attracted a huge and loyal following. In many ways he's an old fashioned kind of comedian and the scope and enormity of his fanbase reflects this. He doesn't tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life: elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake, your mum's HRT...His autobiography is full of this kind of humour and nostalgia, beginning with Kay's first ever driving lesson, taking him back through his Bolton childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school and leading up until the time he passed his driving test and found fame.
Peter Kay was born in Bolton in 1973. After leaving school with a GCSE in art, he held a series of jobs including working as a cinema usher, mobile disc jockey, in a factory packing toilet rolls, garage attendant and in a bingo hall. After a Btec in Performance Studies, he went on to win the 1997 So You Think You're Funny contest at the Edinburgh Festival and was nominated for the Perrier Award the following year. Peter Kay's first TV series was That Peter Kay Thing, followed by Phoenix Nights series 1 and 2. The series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere was a spin off from Phoenix Nights. Peter Kay has played a cameo role in Coronation Street, has appeared in the recent series of Doctor Who and recently starred as Roger DeBris in the smash hit Mel Brooks musical The Producers in Manchester.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!
I hope that this year is fantastic as 2009 wasn't as good as I had hoped.
This time last year I received an email from my agent saying they were closing down after the death of the principal agent. So the start of 2009 was already dismal and writing wise didn't improve really.
This year I'd like, instead, an email from an agent accepting me!
I'd also like a year with no family drama, no trips to the hospital or dentist or anyone with the word Doctor in their title.

However, I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be great with lots of new beginnings!
It would be fabulous if this year we could finally buy a new house and our plans to go to England become a reality, but more importantly I sincerely hope my family stays safe and well, and well I'd be over the moon if a lovely publishing contract came my way too.
Is it all too much to ask for? I hope not.

Anyway, from me to you, the reader, the friend who reads this blog, or just a passer-by I wish you the very best of what 2010 can give you.

Merry Christmas!

Here in Australia the Christmas rush is over and the presents unwrapped and all the food eaten. It's late Christmas night and I just rang my brother Michael and his family in England to wish them a happy Christmas.

I thought I would wish everyone who drops by this blog a most splendid Christmas too and a very happy, safe and enjoybale 2010!

Me and my kids on Christmas day (several hours ago) Jack, Josh and Ellie. Hubby Mark is taking the photo.

Kitty McKenzie - historical mainstream.

Blurb York, Yorkshire. 1864

Suddenly left as the head of the family, Kitty McKenzie must find her inner strength to keep her family together against the odds. Evicted from their resplendent home in the fashionable part of York after her parents’ deaths, Kitty must fight the legacy of bankruptcy and homelessness to secure a home for her and her siblings. Through sheer willpower and determination she grabs opportunities with both hands from working on a clothes and rag stall in the market to creating a teashop for the wealthy. Her road to happiness is fraught with obstacles of hardship and despair, but she refuses to let her dream of a better life for her family die and she learns that love and loyalty brings its own reward.

Excerpt:

In the plush red dining room of Kingsley Manor, Dorothea placed her linen napkin delicately beside her plate. At the end of the dining table, her daughter sat majestically, nibbling her food.

Dorothea glanced at John before squaring her shoulders. “Earlier today, I called to make acquaintance with Benjamin’s fiancée.”

Georgina choked on her food and her eyes narrowed. “May I ask you not to mention that woman in my presence, Mother?”

“Why? She is of a decent sort and shall make Benjamin a fine wife,” persisted Dorothea. “He loves her. Why aren’t you happy that he’s found a woman who will make him content?”

“I’ll not have it! Do you hear?” Georgina rose quickly to her feet, dismissing a helpful servant with a toss of her head.“Calm yourself.”

“Don’t interfere, Mother. I shall not see Benjamin married to some fortune hunter who owns a teashop! Why the shame of it would kill me.”

John lowered his knife and fork. “My dear, Dorothea is right. Benjamin needs a wife of intelligence. He would go mad within a month with anything less.”

Georgina’s cold glare silenced him. “That trollop will never be my daughter-in-law. Neither will she rule this house!”

The two serving maids glanced at each other in fear.“You’re spoilt, Georgina. You have been since the cradle. Only this time you will not get your way.” Dorothea rose also, such was her determination. “I’ll not let you ruin that boy’s chance of happiness. He loves her and she loves him. I’ll do all in my power to see them wed.”

“Love? She wants his money and the position of being married into a wealthy family. We would be the laughingstock of all our friends and acquaintances.” Georgina’s once beautiful face twisted with spite. “It shall never take place, Mother. I shan’t let it! I’d rather him dead before married to that girl.” She stormed from the room in a rustle of silk skirts and lingering perfume.

Dorothea sat down gingerly, her bones creaking with the effort. “She must be stopped, John. I love her, but at times I do not like her.” She shook her head and reached for her wine.

“Together, we shall make certain they marry. I’ll write to Benjamin and tell him to send for Kitty.”

“It will take months for the letter to arrive and months for a reply. However, it is wiser for them to be in Australia than here, for Georgina will never give them a moment’s peace.” Dorothea gazed around the beautiful room with its decadent furnishings, rare Chinese silk wallpaper and lavish tableware. She could quite clearly see Kitty as mistress of all this and knew in her heart it was where the young woman belonged, but would it actually happen?

A sudden shiver tingled down her spine.

Purchase Kitty McKenzie at all online bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Powell's and Amazon http://tinyurl.com/rced5

Also can be ordered at your local bookstore or library. ISBN 1599982625

I Support My Local Library

A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call from Helen who works at my local library. She asked if I would like to be spotlighted on the library's website as a library friend. I said sure.
It felt a good thing to do, as I use my local library all the time and the staff are truly lovely and have been supportive of me and my books in the past.
All I had to do was tell them what I'm reading or have recently finished reading. Too easy.
Click on the link to check out their website.
http://www.library.wsc.nsw.gov.au/index.cfm?objectid=F287566B-FEA3-0007-8B92594E51E1D86D#Bedsidetable

Of course, I've now finished reading Parky's biography and am now reading The Other ANZACs by Peter Rees - a non fiction book about WWI war nurses from Australia and New Zealand who served with such courage and compassion.

Support your library, because if we don't, then one day we might not have them at all.

An Audio Book!

Great news. My historical saga Woodland Daughter has been offered to go into audio by Isis UK, via my publisher Robert Hale. This will be my first audio book and I'm so very excited.

At the moment Woodland Daughter is available in hardback and also Large print.

Blurb

Throughout her years of devoted service to the Bradburys, Eden Harris has hidden a secret that would affect them all, a secret shared only with her husband, Nathan and grandfather. But an enemy returns, shattering her world and exposing her secret.Then, robbed of Nathan, she must flee from the country estate. However, her attempt to start anew is not so simple as the past haunts her. Now Eden must gather her strength and look into her heart to accept what the future offers.

Large print cover.

Woodland Daughter can be purchased from Amazon UK and The Book Depository, which has free world wide postage.

3 Books

Just finished - The Devil's Brood by Sharon Penman. (historical)

I really enjoyed reading this Sharon Penman book, her third in the story of Henry II's family.

Penman has a talent in mixing historical detail and family fueds with equal measure so that the reader feels as though they are right in amongst the warring family. There are no winners as son fights father, father fights mother and their polictical enemies and friends all combine to make this true story exciting and interesting.

Blurb

Where the second novel in the trilogy, Time And Chance, dealt with the extraordinary politics of the twelfth century, climaxing with the murder of Thomas Becket and Henry’s confrontation with the Church and self-imposed exile to Ireland, Devil’s Brood centers on the implosion of a family. And because it is a royal family whose domains span the English Channel and whose alliances encompass the Christian world, that collapse will have dire consequences. This is a story of betrayal as Henry’s three eldest sons and his wife enter into a rebellion against him, aligning themselves with his bitterest enemy, King Louis of France. But it is also the story of a great king whose brilliance forged an empire but whose personal blind spots led him into the most serious mistake of his life.

Currently reading - High Potential by Ber Carroll. (chick lit)

I've not read this Irish/Australian author before, and I first noticed her books through a publisher's newsletter. Then I saw her book, High Potential in my local library and decided to try it. So far, it's okay actually, so that's good!

Blurb

Katie Horgan is going places: soon she’ll be a partner in the prestigious law firm where she works. But her love life is going nowhere – until she meets Jim Donnelly. Jim is brilliant, handsome and, like her parents, Irish. The only problem is that he already has a girlfriend.
When Katie is sent to Ireland as part of her training, she happily settles into life in Dublin where she works in a clinic that provides free legal advice to the homeless. She befriends Mags who makes it her business to initiate Katie to Dublin’s social scene. Then Jim Donnelly comes home on a visit, their relationship deepens, but everything begins to unravel …
Bit by bit, the truth comes out, about Jim, Mags, and the reason that Katie’s parents left Ireland – and Katie learns that life and love are not as black and white as she always thought.

Reading Next - Michael Parkinson (biography)

I've watched Parky for years and when I saw his autobiography I bought it for my father-in-law for Father's Day. Now he's fuinished reading it and so has my eldest son, I'm going to read it too.

Blurb

From prize-winning journalist to chat show king on a show voted one of the top ten British TV programmes of all time, Michael Parkinson’s starry career spans over four decades. Now an international celebrity himself, the man from a humble but colourful Yorkshire mining family who can tease out the secrets of even the most reticent star guest, at last reveals his own story, with the easy manner and insight that has kept his audiences fascinated.
His distinguished career has involved working on highly acclaimed current affairs and film programmes. His wide interests and expertise include jazz, film, football and cricket. Witty, humorous and blessed with exceptional intellectual clarity, Michael Parkinson’s memoir is a joy to read.

Book tidy up.

So, we bought a new bookscase at the weekend because quite frankly I was sick of my books being in piles on the floor and in boxes.

Good news is the bookcase fitted in the spot it needed to go and I managed to get a good few boxes unpacked. All the copies of my favourite authors are on the shelves; Audrey Howard, Catherine Cookson, Elizabeth Chadwick, Sharon Penman, and so on.

Going through all the books was such fun, like visiting old friends. My daughter, Ellie, was helping me and she became quite annoyed that I took so long with flipping through each book and telling her how good it was, etc. She just wanted the job done because she is an organising freak. I simply wanted to sit on the floor and read!

Stacked on top of the bookcase are the biographies I enjoy reading.

But the bad news is there are still more boxes of books in the garage needing a home.

It is very hard deciding which book got put on a shelf and which book went back into the boxes. The question is whether to buy another bookcase or buy less books. Well, we all know the answer to that one, don't we?

I also did a tidy up of my Victorian England and Australian reference books. As you can see I need a bigger bookcase for those too, especially since my writing period is stretching into the Edwardian/WWI era and the need to buy more research books is overwhelming.

At the end of all this activity I realised I had thirty books on my 'to be read' pile. How on earth did that grow so large?

The Book Depository and its free worldwide postage has a lot to answer for.

I'm currently reading The Devil's Brood by Sharon Penman, not a light read, with its large cast of characters, but I'm enjoying it very much.

Also on the weekend we watched a couple of dvds. Defiance with Daniel Craig. I enjoyed that movie. Films based on true events always get my interest.

The flop of the weekend was the UK movie, The Boat That Rocked. I couldn't even finish it -time too short to waste watching crap movies. I had hoped it would be a good laugh, but the first hour was rubbish and we turned it off.

Saturday morning we had a garage/yard sale and, with the arrival of the new bookcase, we have a bit more room in the garage at last! Yay.

Young Victoria

Yesterday, my dear friend, Maggi Anderson, and I went to see the film Young Victoria. We really enjoyed it.

Yes there were a few inaccuracies, but overall a very enjoyable film. The costumes were glorious and there were beautiful settings, wonderful period rooms and scenic gardens, etc.

Maggi and I agreed that the sexual tension was done very well, all with looks, the odd smile, and no need for great big romping sex scenes.

I was a little dubious when I heard Emily Blunt was to play Victoria, but she does a splendid job, so too the other actors, Rupert Friend as Albert and Paul Bettany as Lord Melbourne.

After watching the film, Maggi and went to our favourite cafe, The elephant Boy and had a yummy lunch and talked about books and writing for a couple of hours before we ducked off to the local bookshop!

A very good day!

Thanks Maggi.

Aside from working on my second edit of my current historical saga, which is going swimmingly by the way, I've managed to read a couple of books.

One is Dr Margaret's Sea Chest by Waheed Rabbani, a fictional story set in India and Canada in the 1960s but also with scenes set in the past of Victorian India and Canada. A very detailed story with an intriguing plot.
The other book is a non fiction biography of Dame Judi Dench, the UK actress, written by John Miller. I found this book really insightful and enchanting. I've admired Judi Dench as an actress for years and enjoyed learning about her life.

Sadly, on Sunday August 23rd was the 5th anniversary of my beloved mum's death. It's hard to imagine it's been that long. Yet, at other times it seems forever. I miss her terribly.