Ritu

Here Come’s Trouble by @ChristyMcKellen #BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks

12 Mar 2025 7 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories

Today’s blog tour offering is a spicy novella by Christy McKellan.

The Blurb

A flirty and spicy forbidden romance for fans of Tessa Bailey, Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood!

✧ Tropes & Themes ✨
✧ Breaking her rules 🔥
✧ Bad Boy Hero💖
✧ Forced Proximity 💗
✧Working together 💋
✧ Opposites attract 😬
✧ Temptation 💕
✧ All the spice 🌶️

Sometimes it’s fun to kiss and tell!

Sensible journalist Jess is not a rule breaker, especially where her career is involved. But trying to extract a tell-all interview from notorious artist and bad boy Xander Heaton is going to test her patience… and self-control. Because she must, at all costs remain professional, respectable and stay focused on the job at hand.

But it’s not long before Jess realizes that Xander spells trouble with a capital T and is living up to his tempting reputation! Trying to keep her distance, Jess decides that maybe she could break her golden rule, just this once to get Xander out of her system and her job back on track. But one night is never enough! And she learns that actually breaking her rules once in a while can lead to more fun than sticking to them!

My Review

Here Comes Trouble: Discover Christy McKellen’s gorgeously spicy forbidden romance for 2025! by Christy McKellen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A quick, spicy novella that could well have done with being a full length novel!
Jess is a journalist at the beginning of her career. She’s not filled with confidence, but has many dreams. Faced with possible redundancy, she puts herself forward for a project so far removed from her comfort level that even she questions whether she will fulfil the job.
This is an attempt to interview artist Xander Heaton, who is also hot, a bit of a playboy, and a notoriously closed book regarding his personal life.
The story sees her kinda mess up, then she is given chance to redeem herself, by joining him in Italy for a few days to complete her interview, in return for her being his motel.
Lots of sexual chemistry there, and a few touchy subjects approached, but none in enough detail for them to become a matter of care and concern for the reader.
This is where I wanted ta full novel, to explore a bit more about both characters, so I could really understand them.
The spice factor is pretty high, if you want a quick, sizzling read, though!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Author Bio

Formerly a Video and Radio Producer, Christy now spends her time writing provocative, passionate, seductive romance. When she’s not writing, she can be found enjoying life with her husband and three children, walking for pleasure and researching other people’s deepest secrets and desires.

You can find out more about her books at www.christymckellen.com

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @christymckellenauthor

Twitter: @ChristyMcKellen

Instagram: @christymckellen

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/ChristyMcKellenNews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/christy-mckellen

Taking Back Control #WayOfLife

09 Mar 2025 31 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Changing Thinking, Diet, Food, Health, nutrition, Slimpod, Snoozebands, Weight Loss

Hey, Peeps, it’s me!

Not a blog tour, not a review, no birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate, just me here to have a catch up.

Some of you have been here since the beginning of my blogging journey, which started nearly ten years ago. And over that time, aside from me discussing topical issues, sharing family and cat stories, poetry and my writing journey, I have also documented when I have tried, and often succeeded, then failed, to start a weight loss journey.

I was so good with Slimming World, losing around 2 stone before I stilled and it all piled back on, then I also had a go at Noom, on two separate occasions, reading articles, logging food intake and weighing in every day… which again worked for a while before we moved house, and life went a bit topsy turvy…

I started to think this was it for me. I’d be that slightly podgy, bellied, double-chinned Ritu forever, and I had to accept it. After all, I also now have fibromyalgia to deal with – who I have also named Frank.

Fibro Frank is like that annoying houseguest who turns up unannounced, causing a flare up, and can sometimes overstay his welcome. While he is here, he exhausts me, and can play havoc with my joints. I just try and deal with him and his stay as each day comes.

Then a friend of mine recommended something she had started, Slimpod. It’s not a diet. It’s not about controlling your food intake, it’s about talking to your subconscience. She is much younger than me and has had trouble with her own joints and needed something to help, so she tried a 10-day free trial, and felt there was some change in her approach to food. She was going to sign up for the full programme and recommended it.

Again, no specific diet. No calorie counting. Just a way of retraining your mind and how it things about food and eating.

What is it, then?

Basically I listen to a pod (a short audio clip around 10 mins long) every day, before bed or sometimes more often, and our friend Trevor speaks to our subconscience. There are two to start with, but the Slimpod you should listen to daily. After 5 weeks there will be another pod released. And there are videos to watch, which are not long, and you can either watch them in one go once a week, or watch them over the week, before the new ones are released.

It’s all about Neuroscience, and unpacking possibly decades of emotional eating triggers. (Stress is one of mine.)

Plus you are encouraged to write down three wins a day. And to not weigh yourself.

I know. That’s a bit mad. A weight loss thing but you don’t weigh? Well, I guess the long and short of it is that we get so reliant on the numbers that show up, sometimes we forget to remember the other plusses that have occured

And I won’t go into it because, let’s face it, I’m not the expert, but after my first ten days, I wanted to share what I am feeling.

So, within a couple of days I did notice that, aside from a really stressful day where I ate three chocolate bars, I have stopped automatically reaching for snacks in between meals, and if I fancy something, I’m bypassing most naughty treats, and going for fruit. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t stopped eating all things that give me pleasure, it’s just I can finally eat and stop before I finish a whole pack of something.

I’m eating three good meals a day, drinking more water, and snacking less. I’ve refused the takeaway that Hubby Dearest wants to order on most occasions, trying to cook from scratch more.

We aren’t meant to weigh in, but I did this morning, and I have lost 4lb in the ten days!

I’m trying to hit my step goals most days.

And I am starting to sleep better.

I’ve invested in a Snoozeband so I can fall asleep wearing it while listening to the pods as it is flat on the ears and I am a side sleeper. I am wearing it right now, as I type while listening to a podcast. So comfortable!

And I have realised that I don’t have to wear tent-like tops. I have worn a couple of outfits that cinch in at the waist, and usually I am paranoid because I feel conscious of my tummy, however people have made a point of saying how lovely they look on me. The tent-tops of which I have many, are comfortable for work, but they do make me look bigger because they hang in a certain way…

So, tomorrow, my free trial ends, and I am 100% going to be continuing. There are 3 monthly payment of £39 then the pods and videos are mine to keep and continue to listen to.

This isn’t me being paid to advertise. This is a genuine recommendation, that so far I am loving this! You can click below if you want to read more… You get 10% off if you use it!

https://30116thinkingslimm.refr.cc/gold-referral/u/ritubhathal?s=rw&t=cp

And the Snoozebands are brilliant, too. Check them out, here!

https://www.snoozeband.co.uk/

Right, I will keep you updated on the progress!

In the meantime, have a great rest of your Sunday!

Under One Sky by Zoe Folbigg #BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources @BoldwoodBooks @zoefolbigg

08 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Boldwood Books, Book Review, Book Tour, Rachel's Random Resources, Under One Sky, Zoe Folbigg

My Blog Tour visit for Under One Sky By Zoe Folbigg.

From bestseller Zoë Folbigg comes this beautiful, romantic tale of finding love in the most unexpected places. Under the midnight sun of Arctic Norway, Cecilie goes online looking for friends, and stumbles across Hector Herrera. They start chatting and soon realise that they might have just fallen in love. But there’s a Hector lives thousands of miles away in Mexico. And he’s running from a tragic past.

Cecilie’s whole life has been anchored by sticking to what she knows and her job at the cafe in the town in which she grew up. Can she really make a leap of faith for someone she’s never met? And will Hector break free to change the path he’s on?

An unforgettable story about two people, living two very different lives under the same sky, and whether they can cross oceans, seas and fjords to give their love a chance.

My Review

Under One Sky by Zoë Folbigg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Told from the viewpoint of three characters, this story is set in multiple locations, from Arctic Norway, Mexico and England.
Cecilie is a young woman who has never veered further than the country she was born in, Norway. She leads a self-contained life and is happy not to be too involved in anyone else’s life.
She strikes up an online friendship with Hector, known as The Mexican by many in Cecilie’s life, but this becomes something more profound.
Then there is British Kate. A woman who is struggling in her marriage, with a man who doesn’t appreciate her, and with a tenuous connection to Hector.
There is a lot of time hopping within the story which can get a little confusing, but essentially, we are following how Cecilie and Hector met in a chatroom, how their relationship developed and all that happened in between.
Kate’s chapters did feel a little redundant, as she is not really involved in Cecilie and Hector’s story, per se, until the end of the book. Maybe she deserves her own story.
Many thanks to Boldwood Books for an ARC.

About the Author

Zoë Folbigg is author of Amazon number-one bestseller The Note, based on the true story of how she met her husband on her daily commute and Amazon Prime’s biggest selling Kindle book of 2018. Zoë has written for magazines and newspapers in the UK and around the world; she wrote a weekly column in Fabulous magazine documenting her year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – and now lives with him, their sons and their cat Margot in Hertfordshire. Her seventh book Five Days is out 26th July 2024. You can follow her on Instagram @zoefolbigg

Social Media Links –

Facebook: @ZoëFolbiggauthor

Twitter: @zoefolbigg

Instagram: @zoefolbigg

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/ZoeFolbiggNews

Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/zoe-folbigg

World Book Day 2025

06 Mar 2025 12 Comments

by Ritu in My Writing Tags: #ChickpeaCurryLit, #InGodsHands, #MarriageUnarranged, #RishtaySeries, #StraightAsAJalebi, #WBD25, #WorldBookDay

It’s World Book Day and usually I pop a post up about dressing up for school…

We did, but this year we did a PJ day so all children and staff came in pyjamas or loungewear to promote reading for rest and relaxation, and also to ease the burden on parents to buy the latest costumes out there…

We know. Home made wins, hands down, but not everyone has the talent or time.

The kids loved it, the staff were ready for naps, and it was an all round lovely day!
But, what I often forget is that World Book Day is not just for kids.

I’m a prolific reader, and WBD means lots to me, as an adult. Books have saved me many times.

And I’m an author, too. (I’m told) my books are out there to give joy, tug at the heartstrings and raise a smile, too!

So, if you’re a little too old for picture books (never!), then have a taste of some Chickpea Curry Lit, and try The Rishtay Series. A cultural blend of love, friendship and relationships of all sorts 🩷🧡💙

https://author.to/ritubhathal

The Ick by @H0llyMcCulloch #BlogTour #BookReview @dialoguepub @FMcMAssociates

03 Mar 2025 4 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blog Tour, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Book Tour, Holly Mcculloch, The Ick

Today, I am thrilled to be on the blog tour for The Ick by Holly Muculloch.

The Blurb

Girl meets boy. Girl gets the ick. Girl moves on.

Gem has a chronic case of the ick. Luckily for Gem, these icks are actually her intuition in disguise, warding her off of greater red flags which would surely develop later… or that’s Gem’s theory. Her best friend, Shanti, doesn’t buy it. In fact, in her training to become a Clinical Psychologist, Shanti decides to design her graduate study around Gem. To see if the ick is real, she challenges Gem to look past her intuition and date someone for an unimaginable six weeks, all for a fee of £5,000.

And who better to test the hypothesis than Atlas. He eats soup for lunch, wears a gigantic rucksack and winks at the end of cringy jokes – all impossible to look past. But, despite Gem’s best efforts, he’s also, she hates to admit it, quite funny, attentive, and kind (and not to mention extremely good looking). And whilst her gut shouts at her to run away, one date becomes, two, three, four, before she stops counting all together.

Can Gem do the impossible and start falling for Atlas? And what happens when he finds out she’s being paid to date him?

The Ick is a hilarious romance about the judgements we pass, the insecurities we harbour, and those relationships that force us to embrace vulnerability whole-heartedly.

My Review

The Ick by Holly McCulloch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Can I say that one thing this book didn’t give me was the Ick?
It starts as a mild-mannered story, with Gem, our FMC, who finds it hard to commit because each time she meets a date, something inevitably puts her off, be it food, clothing, or a specific behaviour… also known as The Ick.
She marks down the first date of the book… because he ate soup for lunch!
Gem lives with her best friend, Shanti, who is training to be a clinical psychologist. She thinks there are commitment issues and that these ‘icks’ are more of an unconscious attempt to never say yes.
And so, the central part of the story starts. Gem is signed up for a clinical study for Shanti’s thesis and has to date one person for a long time, despite ‘icks’ to see what happens.
Enter Atlas. – Okay, so he entered earlier. He’s the soup eater. But what a wonderful character! He is that pure, gorgeous specimen, and you know he is just right for Gem. Only, can she get over the ‘ick’?
And the side characters are just as great.
Uncle Mick, who is like a surrogate father figure; Jay, the miserable corner shop owner who despite not uttering a word through the book, has his presence, and Shauna, the attitude-filled young footballer.
I enjoyed reading this book because it goes deeper than the fundamental Ick issue. Gem’s background and her relationship with her mother all contribute to how she is right now.

Author Bio

As the fourth child in a busy household, Holly was often left to entertain herself. She wasn’t cool enough to hang out with her oldest siblings, and she wasn’t a good enough goalie to hang out with her younger sibling. Luckily, she quickly found the world of books and since then, she has never looked back. As a kid, Holly often went to sleep with at least four books underneath her pillow just in case she needed them. And she often did. Books have saved her time and time again.

After a stint working at a literary agency, then a stint working at a big four publisher, and then a stint working as a book buyer, Holly made the terrible decision to become a management consultant. After four years, and still no idea what the job actually entailed, books saved her once again. She wrote her first novel Just Friends (published by Transworld in 2020) when she needed to escape. Her second novel, The Mix-Up followed in 2021.

She is currently working as a freelance editor and writer, and lives in the outskirts of Oxford with her dog, who she lovingly named Schitthead (Ted) after the best TV programme known to man. She is fuelled by baked goods and a need to make people laugh.

If you want to get to know Holly (and Ted) better, follow her over on Instagram (@by.holly.mcculloch) where she mainly shares dog photos and curates memes.