Emily Benet's Advent Calendar!

Emily's Advent Calendar of Christmas Goodness

As families grow, the pattern of Christmas changes. Us little kids are now big kids. Some of us have our own kids. We take it in turns to see different sides of our extended families and our traditions adapt and evolve. Although Christmas isn't as breathlessly exciting as it was when I was little, there are still plenty of things I love and look forward to. Here's my advent calendar of the best bits. I hope I've included at least one of yours:

1. Spontaneous Carol Singing - (you can always rely on my British family to burst into song at the dinner table. Classics include 'Who Killed Cock Robin?' and 'I am the music man'. My Colombian family sing too, though a little less in tune. Meanwhile my Spanish family have yet to make their carol singing debut.)

2. Mince pies and double cream - (to be eaten for breakfast in the days running up to Christmas.)

3. Lighting the Christmas pudding - (more fun than eating it.)

 

4. Midnight Mass - (with my Mum pointing out the nativity she finished late at night on the kitchen floor.)

5. My Grampa - (with his big smile. You'll be greatly missed this year.)

6. Cheese, crackers and port - (appearing when you think you can't eat any more...)

7. Bad jokes in Crackers - (Knock knock who's there? The same joke as last year!)

8. Stockings - (nothing is as exciting as feeling the crackle of a stocking at the end of your bed. If I ever have kids, I'll love making them one.)

 

9. Christmas Dinner - (thanks auntie, I don't know how you do it year in year out.)

10. Christmas Tree Smell - (reminds me of a special village in the Pyrenees, my childhood paradise)  

11. Fairy Lights - (twinkly white ones please)

12. Mulled Wine - (Oh, go on then.)

 

13. Mulled Cider - (to be drunk outside, with a hog roast)

14. Charcoal smell in the air - ( just pretend you know what I mean)

15. Cousins - (especially looking forward to seeing the one who went off to live in Nepal!)

16. Sherry - (Crofts for my auntie, Tio Pepe for me and my grandma)

17. Baubles - (big, glass ones.)

 

18. Downton Abbey Grand Finale - (there's always some finale or other to be watched on telly.)

19. Siblings Unite - (I haven't celebrated Christmas with my brother for 3 years. Funniest guy ever. Can't wait!)

20. Mimosas in the morning - (a tradition yet to be made but I'm working on it.)

21. Kids - (without them, all the adults tend to doze off watching the telly.)

22. Wrapping paper - (little or big, a present isn't a present if it isn't wrapped up!)

 

23. Games - (charades, Cranium, Lego... there's got to be at least one game.)

24. Family - (more than presents, what I look forward to at Christmas is spending time with the people I love! Soppy? Maybe. But it's true!)

I'm writing this from Bogota, Colombia, where there are no seasons. It's neither cold nor hot and I have no sense of Christmas yet. I know it's around the corner though and soon it will smell of oranges and cinnamon. Writing this has made me excited. I hope it has put you in a festive mood too. Wherever you are, whatever your traditions, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Emily Benet is the author of Harper Impulse titles The Temp and #PleaseRetweet.

Author Bio-
Emily Benet is an award winning blogger and author. Her new novel #PleaseRetweet is out now and is all about society's obsession with social media, a subject close to her heart!

Her debut book, Shop Girl Diaries, began as a blog about working in her Mum's chaotic chandelier shop. It was commissioned as a book by Salt Publishing and later turned into a short film starring Katy Wix which was shown at The London Short Film Festival 2014.

Her second book, The Temp, began as a serialised novel on Wattpad. It racked up two million hits, leading her to sign a two book deal with Harper Collins.

Emily runs Blogging and Social Networking workshops, lectures at Universities and has contributed to numerous publications including Publishing Talk, Mslexia and Writers & Artists. Her guidebook Blogging for Beginners is available as an ebook.

Check our her weekly blog, join her Facebook Author Page or check out her Tweets. She can't promise to be serious though.

 

Guest post from Ravinder Randhawa BLOG TOUR

 

A Wicked Old Woman by Ravinder Randhawa

A Wicked Old Woman was my first novel, and like many first novels, it came out as a richly packed, multi-layered cake, full of the shifting glitter of emotions, hopes and feelings, and the turbulent mix of family, cultures and conflicts.

The beauty and pleasure of books is their infinite variety.  Some are about one overarching idea whilst others are like slices of life, but all are infused, filtered and imbued by that strange thing we call imagination. A Wicked Old Woman has several themes but is strongly about women trying to define their lives, about families trying to find their feet in a new country and culture, and about the history and secrets we all carry.

The main character is Kulwant, at a crossroads in her life, who decides to subvert everything and initiates a masquerade, which turns out to be more catalyst than disguise, more dynamic than passive, more transformative than defensive. Sparking fireworks among the diverse people who collide and converge, and who ultimately come together to help a young Asian woman, who’s killed a man...

The recent, tragic events in Paris, Beirut and Bagdad, which make us shiver with horror and sympathy, were perpetrated by people who think violence and bloodshed are justifiable. I was reminded of a section in A Wicked Old Woman, not because it’s about violence, but because it’s about a real group of women who worked for peace, The Greenham Women. In the novel, Ammi, one of the characters, keeps having nightmares about people exploding – meaning people being bombed. The thing about Ammi’s nightmares is they won’t go away until something’s been done about them. So a campaign is launched to do something to support the women at the Greenham Peace Camp, which includes a rather amusing samosa making session. 

The Greenham Women’s Peace Camp, which lasted for 19 years, was one of the longest lasting peace camps in the world, its members enduring great hardship and tough conditions. It was set up to challenge by debate, the storing of 96 Cruise nuclear missiles at Greenham Common. When the women first arrived at the Common they delivered a letter to the base commander, putting forward their demands and said: ‘We fear for the future of all our children and for the future of the living world which is the basis of all life’.

What impresses me most about the Greenham Women is that they only used peaceful means, they challenged by words, by talk, by debate, and they were concerned about the future of the whole world. I think it’s time to start thinking globally, to tell our governments and politicians we want them to start developing peaceful means of resolving conflicts. It’ll be a long, hard and rocky road, but just look at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet. They don’t have the word Dialogue in their name for nothing.

I’ve been surprised at how many current issues and topics are echoed in A Wicked Old Woman: from young women growing up in different cultures and trying to make sense of it all, to feminism and what that might mean, to the heartbreak of becoming a refugee. As well as the eternal stuff we all have to grapple with: love, loss, and dilemmas.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading A Wicked Old Woman, as much as I loved writing it. 

 

Summary:

Drama. Masquerade. Mischief.

A sharply observed, witty and confident novel. Linguistically playful, entertaining and provoking.

 

In a bustling British city,  Kulwant mischievously masquerades as a much older woman, using her walking stick like a Greek chorus, ‘…stick-leg-shuffle-leg-shuffle…’ encountering new adventures and getting bruised by the jagged edges of her life. There’s the Punjabi punk who rescues her after a carefully calculated fall; Caroline, her gregarious friend from school days, who watched over her dizzy romance with ‘Michael the Archangel’, Maya the myopic who can’t see beyond her broken heart and Rani/Rosalind, who’s just killed a man …

 

Vividly bringing to life a bit of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

 

Information about the book

Title: A Wicked Old Woman

Author: Ravinder Randhawa

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Matador

Format: Paperback & Ebook

Published: October 24^th 2015 (republished)

Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26856759-a-wicked-old-woman

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1784624586/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb_uk-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738

 

Author Information

 

Ravinder Randhawa is the acclaimed author of the novels Beauty and the Beast (YA), A Wicked Old Woman, The Tiger’s Smile and the short story collection Dynamite. She’s currently working on a trilogy: The Fire-Magician. Ravinder was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Toynbee Hall, Queen Mary’s University, the University of London, and founded the Asian Women Writer’s Collective.

 

Ravinder was born in India, grew up in leafy Warwickshire, now lives in London and agrees with Samuel Johnson’s saying (though of course, in a gender non-specific way) ‘…if a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’  Loves good coffee and really good thrillers.

 

Author Links

Website: http://www.ravinderrandhawa.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealRavs

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ravinderrandhawaauthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3518698.Ravinder_Randhawa

Tour Schedule

Monday 23^rd November

A Novel Haul

Tuesday 24^th November

Books with Bunny

 

Wednesday 25^th November

Chouett

 

Thursday 26^th November

Kirstyes

 

Friday 27^th November

Live Otherwise

 

Saturday 28^th November

So Many Books, So Little Time

Sunday 29^th November

Big Book Little Book

Jane & Bex Book Blog

 

Monday 30^th November

Have Book Will Read

 

Tuesday 1^st December

Linda’s Book Bag

 

Wednesday 2^nd December

Ali the Dragon Slayer

Reviewed the Book

Thursday 3^rd December

The Review Diaries

 

Friday 4^th December

The Bibliophile & Tea

Poppy Peacock Pens

 

Saturday 5^th December

The Reader’s Corner

BiblioBeth

 

Sunday 6^th December

Tales of Yesterday

Research?!- A Guest Post by Jane Lovering

I'm absolutely chuffed to bits to be able to welcome Jane Lovering to Books with Bunny today.  I read and enjoyed Hubble Bubble a few years ago, and since then I've had the pleasure of talking to her via twitter and am we're both members of the Yorkshire Terriers chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association too.  She's great fun, so I highly recommend following her on twitter @janelovering. 

Jane's very kindly written a guest post today about how she researches her novels. 

Over to you, Jane...

People often ask me how I research my books.

I have no idea why they do this, since the most cursory glance at me should tell them that I am the person least designed to do research. The fact that I quite often forget to put on my trousers should be a bit of a clue, and a person who can’t even dress themselves satisfactorily is hardly one that should be allowed in the vicinity of careful, detailed exploration of plot points, unless chocolate is involved.  Even travelling is dubious, I can get lost within a five mile radius of my own home, and once (this was quite a while ago) I managed to lose an entire supermarket. Which is why I write books set in and around the North Yorkshire Moors.  They are big, impossible to lose, and, since they are practically right outside my door, hard for me to get lost in.

The moors are also prone to weather.  Not just ‘weather’, like you get in towns and cities, where it might be a bit damp or a bit chilly… no.  Up there the temperature can be five degrees less than in town, the wind gets inside your clothes and commits various acts of indecency, and when it rains it comes at you from all directions at once. Up on the moors the weather really means it. So, you have setting and atmosphere fitted as standard, which is helpful because it only leaves me with characters and plot to worry about.

 For How I Wonder What You Are, I also had to delve a little bit into the world of the astrophysicist.  Now, I’m not a huge fan of Brian Cox, the man is way too smiley for it to be natural, but I do work in a school with a physics department, and we did happen to have a tame astrophysicist lounging around while I was writing, so at least I can be sure that those bits of the book are accurate. Not sure if it really counts as ‘research’ when you are sitting and eating cake in the Science Office, but it was quite useful, plus a chance to eat cake, which is an underrated part of research, if you ask me.

Which really only leaves us with plot research, and, while I don’t mind going outside and/or eating cake in the interests of accuracy, I draw the line at lying naked on the moors (as Phinn is when Molly finds him) or throwing myself into rivers in spate. I mean, I don’t mind suffering for my art, but only when the suffering takes the form of having to eat carrot cake because they’ve run out of coffee and walnut. So the painful bits of my book are made up. So, sadly, are the glamorous bits, because nobody is prepared to fund me a lavish lifestyle, not even for a little while, even in the interests of research.

Spoilsports.

Book blurb:

“Maybe he wasn’t here because of the lights – maybe they were here because of him …”

It’s been over eighteen months since Molly Gilchrist has had a man (as her best friend, Caro, is so fond of reminding her) so when she as good as stumbles upon one on the moors one bitterly cold morning, it seems like the Universe is having a laugh at her expense.

But Phinn Baxter (that’s Doctor Phinneas Baxter) is no common drunkard, as Molly is soon to discover; with a PhD in astrophysics and a tortured past that is a match for Molly’s own disastrous love life.

Finding mysterious men on the moors isn’t the weirdest thing Molly has to contend with, however. There’s also those strange lights she keeps seeing in the sky. The ones she’s only started seeing since meeting Phinn …

 

www.twitter.com/janelovering

www.janelovering.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-Lovering-Author/106404969412833

 

Buying Links:

 

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/SU59KS

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/YBh4vl

 

 

Author Jill Knapp reflects on turning thirty HARPER IMPULSE FORTNIGHT

Today Jill Knapp reflects on her recent birthday, and what she has actually learnt since turning the big three-oh.

When I was fifteen I had an idealistic mind. I imagined myself married by the age of twenty four and two children on the way before I turned thirty. As I got older, those ideals changed. When I was twenty, I didn’t want to have children anymore and I didn’t want to be married anytime soon. Now I’m thirty and of course, my ideas about love and my future life have changed once more.

            I’ve learned a lot since I was fifteen. I have been fortunate enough to be able to travel, to attend college, and graduate school. I have moved five times in the past four years, getting a taste of three out of the five boroughs New York City has to offer. Now I am living in North Carolina. For my British friends, North Carolina is about nine hundred and nine kilometers from New York. Needless to say, life down here is much different.

            After separating from my husband of a year and a half, I was left alone to figure out life in this new part of the country. A part of the country that I have always wanted to live in. And a part of the country that has, more times than not, made me feel like an outcast with a giant scarlet letter adhered to my chest.

            New Yorkers wear the old Frank Sinatra line (if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere) like a badge of honor. And I’ll be the first to admit that I was one of those people. I used to believe people who lived anywhere else outside of New York City had it easier. They wouldn’t understand how hard it was to deal with constantly being broke. Or not being able to find a new job. Even small things like dating, or being able to spend time with your friends all seemed to be easier from the outside view.

            Having said that I still believe it’s okay to dream about living a town, or a city, or even another country. You should always want more out of life. Not in an impulsive way (I need to move every few years to see everything). But in a way that keeps you motivated. Keeps you hoping that things can be better, or keeps you thirsty for new cultures.

Author Jill Knapp, who celebrated turning 30 recently

Keeps you open minded.

And to make things clear, I don’t regret where I live now. I actually love it here. But the hard lesson I learnt is that there is no utopian town. There is no perfect city where everyone will like you and you’ll be offered a job as soon as you arrive. There is no perfect relationship; whether that means with your partner, your friends, or your family.

There is no perfect love- but if you look hard enough, you’ll find someone who is perfect for you.

            So after living for 30 years, here are the three important realizations I’ve had-

-          Relationships require work on both ends, just showing up isn’t enough.

-          Your friends are not the exact same people you knew in High School anymore.  They have careers and families and will often be busy. So if you want to keep your friendships alive, you have to stay in contact with one another. One of my friends and I used to exchange weekly Sunday e-mails when we went off to different colleges. Anything helps!

-          And lastly, you are not the exact same person you were fifteen, ten, or maybe even five years ago. So cut yourself some slack. You did things you shouldn’t have done but eventually you have to forgive yourself before those demons prevent you from being the person you are supposed to become. Don’t miss out on something potentially wonderful out of fear of it falling apart.

To quote A Cinderella Story, “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”

 

 

 

Jill is the author of What Happens to Men When They Move to Manhattan?  and We've Always Got New York, both available now and published by Harper Impulse.

 

 

               

Zara Stoneley- Welcome to Tippermere! HARPER IMPULSE FORTNIGHT

Zara Stoneley visits Books with Bunny today as part of Harper Impulse Fortnight.  She's talking about the inspiration behind the fictional town of Tippermere, setting for her novels Stable Mates and the forthcoming Country Affairs.

I love it when readers get in touch to chat about my books, and one thing that’s been special about ‘Stable Mates’ is the huge number of people who’ve wanted to know more about Tippermere – and live there!

Tippermere is special, and I absolutely it. Sadly it’s a fictional place, but it is a mix of some very real villages and small towns I know in Cheshire, so I thought I’d give you a brief run down. If you want more pictures then I’ve finally given in to temptation and set up a Pinterest account -  https://www.pinterest.com/zarastoneley/country-affairs/, I feel incredibly lucky to live in such a beautiful place with inspiration on the doorstep. Please pop over and let me know what you think – and if you’ve already read Stable Mates, I’d love to know if my images match the ones in your head.

Tippermere is set in the heart of Cheshire, and is a small English village. The glorious Tipping House Estate bears more than a passing resemblance to Lyme Park (remember Pride and Prejudice?), and the wonderful village pubs, with open log fires and hop adorned beams, were inspired by two pubs I regularly visit! This description, found in the front of Stable Mates tells you more –

Welcome to tranquil Tippermere, set deep in the Cheshire countryside. Home to Lords and Ladies, horsemen and farmers.

Set on the highest hill, keeping a close eye on the village and its inhabitants, lies Tipping House Estate. In pride of place is the grand Elizabethan style mansion, sweeping down in front of her are immaculate gardens, well-kept parkland and rolling acres that spread as far as the eye can see.

Follow the stream down to the flat below, and nestling between copses and lakes, you find Folly Lake Manor and the sprawling grounds of the bustling Equestrian Centre. The country lane in front wends its way between high hedges to the village green, the church and two village pubs. Then fans out into tributaries, follow them further and you find a small eventing yard, a scattering of country cottages and rambling working farms.

Take the road north eastwards, travel on a few short miles and soon the elegant village of Kitterly Heath unfolds before you - a village whose origins were recorded in the Domesday Book. At one end of the ancient high street a solid 14^th Century church stands sentry, with an imposing school at the other, and all around sprawl the mansions old and new that house the rich and famous.

 

The neighbouring village of Kitterly Heath is a complete contrast to Tippermere and was inspired by Alderley Edge and Hale. Its single main street is cram packed with wine bars, restaurants, designer shops, beauty salons, plus wonderful delicatessens and butchers which stock local produce. Money is no object in Kitterly Heath, the majority of the cars are Bentley, Ferraris and Jaguars, with the occasional luxury 4X4, and the houses are incredible, some restored mansions and others newly designed architectural masterpieces – the one thing they all have in common is they’re impressive! The village is old, but most of the money is new with footballers, rock stars and bankers hidden down long private driveways, behind impressive security systems.

If you’d like to find out more, then keep an eye on the posts about Tippermere on my blog http://www.zarastoneley.com/tippermere/welcome-to-tippermere. New posts will be added soon! And of course, read Stable Mates and Country Affairs if you’d like to meet the residents J

About Zara -

Bestselling author Zara Stoneley lives in deepest Cheshire surrounded by horses, dogs, cats and amazing countryside. When she's not visiting wine bars, artisan markets or admiring the scenery in her sexy high heels or green wellies, she can be found in flip flops on the beach in Barcelona, or more likely sampling the tapas!

Zara writes hot romance and bonkbusters. Her latest novels, 'Stable Mates' and ‘Country Affairs’, are fun romps through the Cheshire countryside and combine some of her greatest loves - horses, dogs, hot men and strong women (and not forgetting champagne and fast cars)! 

She writes for Harper Collins and Accent Press.

Latest release – Country Affairs

'A great treat for readers who love their books jam-packed with sexy men and horses.' Bestselling author Fiona Walker

Welcome back to Tippermere for the wedding of the year…

Scatty but loveable Lottie Brinkley is famous throughout the village for her disorganised personality so when she steps up to plan the perfect wedding the only likely outcome is disaster.

And when her globetrotting, love cheat of an ex, Todd, literally crashes the wedding on a not-so-noble steed things definitely look set to take a turn for the scandalous! As rumours of why he’s back spread through the village quicker than the stable girl can drop her knickers, is Lottie's future with sexy eventer Rory Steel about to fall at the next fence?

With a wave of unexpected pregnancies, steamy shenanigans in the hay and a farrier with more than shoeing horses on his mind, will Lottie ever be ready to take on the coveted title of Lady of the Manor and restore the Estate to its former glory?

As the heart of the village, Tipping House Estate, makes its move into the 21st Century, pulses start to race in a novel packed full of charm, hunky stallions (the guys that is), and a daring plan that just has to succeed...

Buy links:
Amazon (UK)    Amazon (COM)   Amazon (paperback)
Foyles  Waterstones   iTunes    Google Play     Blackwells 

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