I’m so pleased to be helping to reveal Daisy James’s latest book, There’s Something About Cornwall as I have met Daisy and she’s lovely, as are her books. There’s Something About Cornwall will be published by HQ Digital, an imprint of Harper Collins, on 8th March 2017 and is available for pre-order here.

There’s Something About Cornwall

A knight in a shining camper van!

Life is far from picture perfect for food photographer Emilie Roberts. Not only has her ex-boyfriend cheated on her, he’s also stolen her dream assignment to beautiful Venice! Instead, Emilie is heading to the Cornish coast…

Emilie doesn’t think it can get any worse – until disaster strikes on the very first day! And there’s only one man to rescue this damsel in distress: extremely hunky surfing instructor Matt Ashby.

Racing from shoot to shoot in a bright orange vintage camper van, Matt isn’t the conventional knight in shining armour – but can he make all of Emilie’s fairy-tale dreams come true?

About Daisy James

Daisy James is a Yorkshire girl transplanted to the north east of England. She loves writing stories with strong heroines and swift-flowing plotlines. When not scribbling away in her peppermint-and-green summerhouse (garden shed), she spends her time sifting flour and sprinkling sugar and edible glitter. Her husband and young son were willing samplers of her baking creations which were triple-tested for her debut novel, The Runaway Bridesmaid. She loves gossiping with friends over a glass of something pink and fizzy or indulging in a spot of afternoon tea – china plates and teacups are a must.

You can find all Daisy’s books here and you can find Daisy on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

I’m thrilled to be part of the paperback launch celebrations for The Things I Should Have Told You by Carmel Harrington. The Things I Should Have Told You was published by Harper in paperback on 26th January 2017 and is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

Not only do I have my review of The Things I Should Have Told You, but I have a smashing guest post from Carmel Harrington all about the things she wants to tell her 14 year old self.

The Things I Should Have Told You

Every family has a story…

But for the Guinness family a happy ending looks out of reach. Olly and Mae’s marriage is crumbling, their teenage daughter Evie is on a mission to self-destruct and their beloved Pops is dying of cancer. Their once strong family unit is slowly falling apart.

But Pops has one final gift to offer his beloved family – a ray of hope to cling to. As his life’s journey draws to a close, he sends his family on an adventure across Europe in a camper van, guided by his letters, his wisdom and his love.

Because Pops knows that all his family need is time to be together, to find their love for each other and to find their way back home…

Advice To My 14 Year Old Self

A Guest Post by Carmel Harrington

What would I say to my younger self, if Doc and his DeLorean car pulled up outside my house and said, hop in, time for an adventure!

Dear fourteen year old Carmel

Here are three truths that you need to remember …

1.

You are not too tall, nor too skinny. In fact, when you turn thirty, you’ll start your first diet. They never stop after that – sorry! And you know what? You will remember with fondness and longing the speedy metabolism of your childhood and twenties.

As for that eejit who mistook you for a boy recently, ignore them. You don’t look like a boy, I promise you. You are a beautiful young girl, on the brink of becoming a woman and life is going to get so exciting for you.

2.

I know that you often feel like you don’t fit in. Your harshest critic is yourself and you are often crippled with self-doubt.

You need to start trusting YOU. When a teacher asks a question, that you know the answer to, be brave and put your hand up. I know you hate it when people look at you, but once you’ve done it a few times, it will get easier. And soon, you’ll find your voice and confidence. School will be a lot easier for you if you have a little faith in yourself.

You love to sing, you love to act, you often stand in your bedroom and pretend you are on stage. Don’t let your shyness stop you participating in extra curricular activities that would give you so much pleasure. Join a drama group and a choir. You’ll love it, I promise you.

And Carmel, all those hours you spend reading and daydreaming won’t go to waste. One day, you’ll be an author too. I know! You, an author! It takes you a while to find your confidence to share your writing with anyone. Go find a writing group in your local library. Spend time with people who share the same dreams as you. Because once you fully unleash the creative part of you, life begins to change.

3.

Boys, boys, boys! I’ve pondered whether I should tell you who your husband is. Your soul mate. Your best friend. Your love.

And after careful consideration, (don’t hate me!) I’m not going to tell you! It would ruin all the fun of finding him. But I will tell you this, you will love him with all your heart and even more wonderfully, he will love you right back.

Before you find each other, you both spend a lot of time with the wrong people. I know, that’s pants. But don’t panic about this, because he will be worth the wait. I promise you. And wait until you see the children you have together. Spectacular.

Will you remember this undeniable truth? When someone shows you their true self, (and they always do, sooner rather than later), believe them. Don’t make excuses for their behaviour. When a red flag pops up, walk away.

You see, being in love is easy, when it’s with the right person. Remember that.

Love,

Carmel x

My Review of The Things I Should Have Told You

All is not well in the Guinness family, but even though he’s dying, Pops has an idea that will make or break them.

Here’s a question – why on earth is this my first Carmel Harrington read? I loved The Things I Should Have Told You.

Carmel Harrington has taken a simple plot premise – a family travelling for a few weeks around Europe – and turned it into an emotional read that tugs at the heart strings and restores the reader’s faith in human nature. I may have been so affected by this book because my own father’s death is still only a few weeks away so I could relate to how the family feel as they deal with Pops’ demise, but I think it is the natural ease of style that Carmel Harrington has that made the story such a convincing one. Often I was surprised to find I was crying as I read because I was so touched.

The plotting is realistic and authentic with just the right level of detail that I felt I was aboard Nomad the camper van too. I knew some of the stops en route and want to visit the others as a result of reading The Things I Should Have Told You because the settings were so clearly depicted without overburdening the reader with extraneous detail. I can’t say any more as the destinations are crucial to the plot, but one two week stay has certainly provided food for thought.

But brilliant plotting and setting aside, it is the wonderful characterisation that makes The Things I Should Have Told You so beautiful a book. I felt the greatest affinity to Mae, probably because she’s closest in age and gender to me, but all the characters were three dimensional, convincing and realistic. Whilst The Things I Should Have Told You can be clearly defined as women’s fiction, I could see that reading it would provide men with an invaluable insight into the female psyche and young adult readers may well identify with Evie and her problems. Even little Jamie has a special role to play, often acting in an almost Shakespearean manner as comic relief after intensity of emotion. I often find children in fiction stereotypical and uninspiring, but I felt both Evie and Jamie were as real as any child I’ve met.

The themes and messages behind The Things I Should Have Told You are universal and I’d defy any reader not to identify with at least one of them. There’s sensitive exploration of relationships in all their forms, the impact of social media, the need to belong, the way everyday life can make us lose sight of who we really are who who we want to be and, better still, the sensitive writing helps provide a few of the answers.

The Things I Should Have Told You is a warm, sensitive story that made me feel all the better for reading it. What more could you ask for from a novel?

About Carmel Harrington

Carmel Harrington is the bestselling author of The Life You Left and Beyond Grace’s Rainbow, voted Romantic eBook of the Year 2013.

Carmel lives with her husband Roger and children Amelia and Nate in a small coastal village in Wexford. She credits the idyllic setting as a constant source of inspiration to her. Carmel has the nickname, ‘Queen of Emotional Writing’.

Carmel writes emotional family dramas that share one common theme – strong characters who find themselves in extraordinary situations. She loves to dig deep and see how they cope, as they grapple with life-changing moments.

She is a regular on Irish TV and radio. Carmel is also a popular motivational keynote speaker, at events in Ireland, UK and US.

You can follow Carmel on Twitter, Facebook and her website.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My grateful thanks to Matthew Smith at Urbane Publications for a copy of Miss Christie Regrets by Guy Fraser-Sampson in return for an honest review.

Miss Christie Regrets was published by Urbane on 12th January 2017 and is available for purchase in e-book and paperback from the publisher.

I have previously had the pleasure of interviewing Guy Fraser-Sampson on Linda’s Book Bag and you can read that interview here.

Miss Christie Regrets

The second in the Hampstead Murders series opens with a sudden death at an iconic local venue, which some of the team believe may be connected with an unsolved murder featuring Cold War betrayals worthy of George Smiley. It soon emerges that none other than Agatha Christie herself may be the key witness who is able to provide the missing link.

As with its bestselling predecessor, Death in Profile, the book develops the lives and loves of the team at ‘Hampstead Nick’. While the next phase of a complicated love triangle plays itself out, the protagonists, struggling to crack not one but two apparently insoluble murders, face issues of national security in working alongside Special Branch.

On one level a classic whodunit, this quirky and intelligent read harks back not only to the world of Agatha Christie, but also to the Cold War thrillers of John Le Carre, making it a worthy successor to Death in Profile which was dubbed ‘a love letter to the detective novel’.

My Review of Miss Christie Regrets

When Peter Howse is found murdered, his death will lead to some surprising revelations echoing back many years.

If you are a lover of visceral, hard hitting crime and strong language, Miss Christie Regrets is not the book for you. This is a narrative that, whilst set in modern society, harks back to an age when there were polite manners and genteel individuals. Indeed, it could almost be described as old-fashioned and slightly tame in a world that has become inured to violence, but I think this is what will make it appeal to readers who love, for example, Agatha Christie mysteries. It certainly made a pleasant change not to have liberally sprinkled expletives in a crime novel.

I haven’t read the first book in this series, Death in Profile, but it didn’t matter at all as Guy Fraser-Sampson skilfully weaves in references to Miss Christie Regrets that enlighten and engage the reader without the need to have a full understanding of the first book in the series, although I think it would make some of the references even more enjoyable to have read it.

The plot is well constructed and I liked the literary references throughout so that there was an extra layer of intrigue for the reader in spotting them and wondering about their role. I thought the conceit of including the title of the novel, as a possible title of a novel, was amusing and intelligent as was having Agatha Christie as an integral element of this Agatha Christie style read.

I did feel that the language was a little self-consciously erudite at times and wasn’t entirely convincing in some of the situations described. It was the direct speech that caused me the most concern and I felt there were too many adverbial modifiers attached to the way in which characters spoke that occasionally interrupted the flow of the read for me.

However, Miss Christie Regrets is a charming, traditional whodunnit that will appeal to those who want a good plot with traditional values. It is also a novel that, whilst not a psychological thriller or hard hitting crime drama, is a story that makes the reader exercise their little grey cells as they try to solve the murder cases.

About Guy Fraser-Sampson

Guy Fraser-Sampson has been a corporate lawyer, an investment banker and a business school academic, in which capacities he has written various books on finance, investment and economics. However, he is best known as a writer of fiction, and his three Mapp & Lucia novels have all been optioned by BBC television. His writing in The Hampstead Murders series harks back, sometimes explicitly, to the Golden Age. He appears regularly on radio, television and at literary festivals. He is married with two grown-up sons and divides his time between London (NW3 naturally) and East Sussex.

You can follow Guy on Twitter and visit his web site. You’ll also find him on Facebook.