Follow Your Fantasy- Nicola Jane

Follow Your Fantasy is the most fantastic idea!  Taking inspiration from the 'Choose your Own Adventure' books popular with children in the 80s and 90s, Follow Your Fantasy is a risqué version of this.  At different points in the story you get given options of what you want to happen next, offering different opportunities every time you read.

Follow Your Fantasy was great fun, and I can imagine it would be popular with the new adult /erotica audience.  Whilst I loved having the chance to 'mix and match' a story of my own, there were times I thought the writing could have been more engaging.  I appreciate it is hard to do that when the story could leap about in any permutation, but it did cause there to be some distance between the characters and the reader which I think are particularly important in erotic fiction.

It will be interesting to see what readers make of it-the press are very excited about it!  Find out more by clicking on the banner below.

Follow Your Fantasy is out on February 13th, published by Harper Impulse.

7/10

With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Milly Johnson giveaway

It's Milly Monday- but a Milly Monday unlike any other!  Today I am delighted to announce that Milly is going to give the winner of this giveaway a wonderful prize- any two books of their choice signed, and a beautiful bookmark too!  Good luck everyone

Unfortunately, this is a UK only giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Bookcase full of Treasure 2- Gary Barlow My Take

October 2006. 



Me and Jenny, 14.2.1994

My very best friend and I have been Take That fans for 14 years by this point.  We'd seen them live.  We'd bought the tshirts (and hats, scarves, badges, keyrings, necklaces, books, cushions.  You name it, we had it).  We'd made scrapbooks filled with pictures cut from magazine and newspapers, literally tens of hours spent with a Pritt Stick and a pair of scissors to preserve pictures of our boys.  We'd listened to the albums hundreds of times, broken our videos from the constant rewinding, written 'imagines' about what life would be like if we ever happened to meet them and they fell in love with us.  But we'd never met any of them.  Until now.



Living the dream, Oct 2006

We woke up about 5am to travel across the Pennines to Manchester.  An early start, but so worth it with the hope of meeting Mr Barlow filling our heads.  Jenny in particular was excited-Gary was(and is) her favourite member of the band (mine was (and is) Howard, for anyone wondering).  First a train, and then a bus, but then we were there, joining a throng of people queuing outside WH Smiths. 

We sat on the cold, hard floor and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Probably about four or five hours in total.  But then there he was infront of us.  Beautiful, charming and most importantly REAL.  When you have loved someone so long from a distance you forget that they actually have the capacity to touch and be touched.  He placed his arm around me for a photo and with my hand on his back I thought 'this is the moment you've been waiting for'.  He signed my book and then kissed my cheek.  GARY BARLOW KISSED ME!

With Jen at The Circus tour, 2009

My Take itself is an insightful read and it had been a long time coming, but the reason that this is one of my most treasured books is because of the memories it holds of a wonderful day with my very best friend and the realisation of a dream I had been harbouring for more than half my life. 

I'm still a Take That fan now (22 years and counting).  I probably always will be. 

I couldn't take a photo of the book as I have left my camera at work!  Doh!

If you are interested in my writing...

...go and watch my vlog here.  I wanted to record my journey towards (hopefully) publication!

Random Movies Brunch at Random House Publishers- guest speaker Matt Haig

I had been counting down to Saturday 25th January for MONTHS.  I'd had an invite to the Random House Children's Publishers Blogger Brunch and I was bouncing off the walls with excitement.  A chance to talk books, meet bloggers and hear from author Matt Haig were all on the menu.  Although also on the menu was pick and mix, popcorn and a rather fabulous cake made by Harriet, one of the lovely publicists!

There are so many books being made into films at the moment, most notably Marcus Zusak's The Book Thief, and this brunch was a celebration of that.  There are some other cracking adaptations due out over the next 18 months or so, some of which I'll definitely be going to see.

I was actually the first of the bloggers to meet Matt Haig at the event as I arrived so spectacularly late to the event due to signal failure delaying my train!  I must admit to not having read any of this books before, and I didn't immediately recognise him from his twitter icon.

However, Matt was a really interesting speaker. He read us two chapters of his new release and answered questions posed by Jasmine, one of the other publicists, and the bloggers about his forthcoming release Echo Boy and about his life as an author.

So, what did I find out about Matt Haig?

- He is not a huge sci-fi geek, so writing a novel in this genre was very different to his usual work
- When he started writing Echo Boy, he wasn't sure which direction it was going to go in.  Matt said he didn't want it to be a love story as he had 'twilightphobia' (how great a term is that?!)
- Matt says that when he goes to kids events the question asked are always very diverse-and often not about books!
- Echo Boy was largely influenced by a non- fiction book he was given (Physics of the Future) about the future of health care, education, societal developments.
-Matt says that he is nervous about this book as it is so different from his previous books.  He mentioned that it almost felt like this was his debut release as an author.
- When asked if he specifically set out to write for a YA audience, Matt said that in many ways he was afraid of patronising teen readers, so feels Echo Boy is closer to a book for adults than one for children.
- He is a 'pantser' rather than a planner
- His favourite book is Hinton's The Outsiders
- Matt believes that the best YA books have 'attitude'

Most of all, one of my very favourite quotes from the day was what he had to say about the life of an author- 'You either choose to have a life, or write about life'.  As someone who is trying to write themselves I can definitely relate to this comment!  I found myself thinking I had a lot in common with Matt Haig, especially when he spoke candidly about his depression and anxiety and how writing was his therapy.

As well as hearing about the forthcoming releases from Random House (and there are some crackers- I cannot wait to read Bird in particular!) , it was lovely to meet other bloggers.  I had a chat with Leah, one of the book bloggers I met via twitter, and it was only after we'd said our goodbyes I thought I should have taken some photos for the blog!

Huge thanks need to go out to all the staff at Random House for their hospitality-they really are a wonderfully welcoming team, all approachable and have been so helpful to me ever since I started my blog.  Jasmine, Charlotte, Harriet, Clare (and apologies to anyone I have missed!)-thank you for a wonderful event.  I look forward to reviewing some of your titles over the next few months.

The Yorkshire Pudding Club- Milly Johnson

It's just another Milly Monday, o-o-oooooo (in a Bangles style singing voice...)

And today I'm reviewing The Yorkshire Pudding Club, which was Milly's debut novel and is still my absolute favourite of hers.

 

 

The Blurb:

 

Three South Yorkshire friends, all on the cusp of 40, fall pregnant at the same time following a visit to an ancient fertility symbol. For Helen, it’s a dream come true, although her husband is not as thrilled about it as she had hoped.

Not only wrestling with painful ghosts of the past, Helen has to deal with the fact that her outwardly perfect marriage is crumbling before her eyes. For Janey, it is an unmitigated disaster as she has just been offered the career break of a life-time. And she has no idea either how it could possibly have happened, seeing as she and her ecstatic husband George were always so careful over contraception.
or Elizabeth, it is mind-numbing, because she knows people like her shouldn’t have children. Damaged by her dysfunctional childhood and emotionally lost, she not only has to contend with carrying a child she doubts she can ever love, but she also has to deal with the return to her life of a man whose love she must deny herself.

Heart-warming, up-lifting, tear-jerking and lovely, THE YORKSHIRE PUDDING CLUB is the story of how three women find themselves empowered by unexpected pregnancy. How it revitalises one woman’s tired marriage, strengthens another’s belief in herself and brings love and warmth to a cold and empty life.

The Review:

I first read this book as soon as it came out back in 2007- an impulse buy.  I knew nothing of Milly Johnson, I didn't know she lived pretty much down the road from me and I committed the cardinal sin of buying purely on the cover (which was different to the one posted above, but still beautiful and eyecatching).  As it happened, I was pregnant myself when I read The Yorkshire Pudding Club, so the theme obviously resonated with me.  I could empathise with the worries the women in the novel face, the excitement and fear all wrapped up in something you can't see.  In my hormonal state there were tears, particularly for Elizabeth.  Although her story was nothing like my own, I felt like she was a friend and I longed to reach out to comfort her and offer her reassurance.

Rereading this book as the parent of a six year old, I found myself looking at the book in a different way.  Partly nostalgia for my own pregnancy, nostalgia for the feelings I had when I first read the book and also the knowledge that Milly Johnson has gone on to become one of the most successful authors in her genre.  The typical Milly nuances and humour are evident in The Yorkshire Pudding Club (although have, in my opinion, become better executed in her later novels as she has developed her style). 

One thing I love about this book (and many of Milly Johnson's other titles) is the diversity of the characters.  It makes them easy to relate to, keeps the story moving quickly and offers the opportunity to see things from a variety of viewpoints.  It is also a reminder that friendships do not have to be between people from similar background, something which is a great lesson in life.

Overall, I still loved this book second time around.  I have read so many 'chicklit' books about pregnancy but this is the one I like best of all.

9/10

The Yorkshire Pudding Club is out now, published by Simon and Schuster.

Cover reveal for The Guestbook- Holly Martin

I am delighted to be able to reveal the cover for Holly Martin's latest release The Guestbook-and look how beautiful it is!

Blurb:

Welcome to Willow Cottage – throw open the shutters, let in the sea breeze and make yourself completely at home. Oh, and please do leave a comment in the Guestbook!

As landlady of Willow Cottage, the young widow Annie Butterworth is always on hand with tea, sympathy or strong Norfolk cider - whatever her colourful array of guests require.  A flick through the messages in the leather-bound cottage guestbook gives a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of everyone who passes through her doors.

This includes Annie herself - especially now celebrity crime writer Oliver Black, is back in town. He might grace the covers of gossip magazines with a different glamorous supermodel draped on his arm every week, but to Annie, he’s always just been Olly, the man who Annie shared her first kiss with.

Through the pages of the Guestbook Annie and Olly, along with all the guests that arrive at the seaside retreat, struggle with love, loss, mystery, joy, happiness, guilt…and the odd spot of naked rambling! 

Forget sending postcards saying 'wish you were here' - one visit to Willow Cottage and you’ll wish you could stay forever.

 

I am very excited for this one, due for release on Valentine's Day.