The fabulous new release by the awesomeness that is Dawn French is now out in paperback!
Because Of You by Dawn French
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock . . . midnight. The old millennium turns into the new. In the same hospital, two very different women give birth to two very similar daughters. Hope leaves with a beautiful baby girl. Anna leaves with empty arms. Seventeen years later, the gods who keep watch over broken-hearted mothers wreak mighty revenge, and the truth starts rolling, terrible and deep, toward them all. The power of mother-love will be tested to its limits. Perhaps beyond . . .
I was honoured to receive an arc copy of this book, and my review follows.
I was extremely excited to be chosen to read an advanced copy of Dawn French’s new book, Because of You, having read all of her previous novels, and enjoyed them immensely.
The story centres around two women, due to give birth on New Year’s Eve/Day, 2000. Anna, wife of wannabe politician Julian, and Hope, the girlfriend of gentle Isaac. Tragedy surrounds both women, yet out of the despair, one baby, Minnie, emerges.
It took me a little while to really get into the book, but within a few pages, I was truly immersed in the story. A story about mothers and daughters, and love that grows. How real relationships are formed. Matters of the heart. Dawn French has created beautiful, rounded, characters, that cause you to either to care deeply about them, or want to throttle them (Julian, anyone?) Every step of the way, I wondered when the truth would be exposed. I had an inkling, but I wasn’t sure. The book is written from the point of view of Hope, Anna and Minnie, in turn, with snippets of Julian and Isaac too, giving you a complete picture of the thoughts of everyone throughout a surreal situation. I don’t want to give too much away, but suffice to say, I had tears in my eyes by the end of the book. Absolutely wonderfully written.
I am excited to be handing my blog over to the wonderfully talented Lizzie Chantree, today, to let you know about her new release!
Shh… It’s Our Secret, by Lizzie Chantree
Thank you for inviting me onto your beautiful blog today and for the amazing support of the launch of my latest book! Shh… It’s Our Secret, is about a shy woman called Violet, who is trying to silence her inner critic and step out of the shadows. Her best friends and sister support her, but she feels like they don’t see the real her, or understand that she has ambitions of her own and skills that could help them all. To them, she is reliable, slightly dull and not very talented, but she is hiding a secret that could blow this theory sky high. Violet will have to eliminate old demons, learn to stand up for herself and show the world who she really is.
Book Blurb: Violet has a secret that could change the lives of everyone she knows and loves, especially the regulars at the run-down café bar where she works. After losing her parents at a young age, they are the closest thing she has to a family and she feels responsible for them. Kai is a jaded music producer who has just moved outside of town. Seeking solitude from the stress of his job, he’s looking for seclusion. The only problem is he can’t seem to escape the band members and songwriters who keep showing up at his house. When Kai wanders into the bar and Violet’s life, he accidently discovers her closely guarded secret. Can Kai help her rediscover her self-confidence or should some secrets remain undiscovered?\
I was honoured to read an arc of the book, and I really enjoyed it! Here’s my review.
Shh… Can I tell you a secret? I finished this in a day! I have read several of Lizzie Chantree’s books already, she is an extremely versatile author, and this book is another little gem in her book jewels. Violet loves to sing. She has since she was young, but the joy of singing ends when her parents pass away. Since then, she’s hidden her talent, singing in secret, and succumbed to an awful relationship. The only silver lining in the cloud that is her life is the cafe she works at, and the family she has built from her regular customers. Life takes a huge turn when music producer Kai walks into the cafe and hears her voice. All in all, an enjoyable read, quick and easy, and the happy ending we all want! Many thanks to NetGalley and BHC Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.
International bestselling author and award-winning inventor, Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now works as a business mentor and runs a popular networking hour on social media, where creatives can support to each other. She writes books full of friendship and laughter, that are about women with unusual and adventurous businesses, who are far stronger than they realise. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex. Visit her website at http://www.lizziechantree.com or follow her on Twitter @Lizzie_Chantree https://twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree. Short bio: International bestselling author Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year. She writes books full of friendship and laughter, about women with unusual businesses, who are stronger than they realise.
I have mentioned before that here at the Shrine of Aea in her Aspect as the Personification of Tempered Enthusiasm we have had trouble with bell ringers. Once you are known to have bells, bell ringers will descend on you from all over the place, desperate to play a ‘new peal’. If you are not firm you can be overrun with them. Now I wouldn’t personally describe them as ‘vermin’ but in all candour I have known some use stronger terms. Especially when kept awake at night by an attempt to play out a full peal with all the changes. I am not sure how other shrines manage the problem. There are doubtless many winning strategies, but my suspicion is that all will revolve around the need to ‘domesticate’ the bell ringers you have. ‘Your’ bell ringers appear to adopt a possessive attitude to ‘their’ bells, and will work to control interlopers. The most important person in this regard can go under a number of names. I’ve come across Tower Captains, Ringing Masters, and Tower Leaders. If you get a good one, cherish them. Now I cannot judge this select few from the point of view of an ordinary bell ringer. Similarly I have no opinion on how they maintain order in their campanological swarm. I have heard rumours that some achieve their position of dominance through divide and rule. They maintain order by playing various cliques against each other, achieving harmony through division. Others I have seen strike me as avuncular types. By being everybody’s favourite uncle, aunt, or kin of similar standing, they keep their musicians in order. This can involve keeping their bell ringers fortified with everything from strong liquor through to cake. Whether one is more effective than the other I cannot really comment although it has been pointed out to me that the camp of bell ringers fortified with strong drink tends to pull with more vigour than niceness of timing and the results are discernible to the cognoscenti. On the other hand I’ve even heard of Tower Captains who rule through fear, maintaining the firmest discipline and perfect order. Yet, between ourselves, when one hears the mathematically wrought cacophony produced, even the most discerning listener struggles to tell the difference between the differing leadership styles. Now lest people think that I am disparaging campanology, I will state that I rather like the sound of bells. As I sit in thought on the barge, pondering a verse, the sound of a distant peal can even be helpful. Ringing out across the city in a measured manner it weaves music into the very fabric of the municipality. I am not too proud to state that the bells have, on occasion, inspired some of my finer verse. So my advice to the temple wardens of other shrines that happen to possess bells is to find a competent Tower Captain who you can work with, and domesticate them. Admittedly this domestication is an uncertain process. I’ve known temple wardens who approached the matter methodically. They felt you had to use both carrot and stick. I know in one case where the tower captain and his camp of ringers were asked to play for a wedding. Apparently the bride felt it would be romantic. To be fair to the young lady in question, up unto a point, she was right. The point was when it became obvious that to the ringers, their appointment to ring to introduce a touching service lasting barely half an hour, was merely an excuse to ring a full peal lasting at least three hours. In this case, a nameless lady temple warden handed the bride’s mother a horse whip, opened the door to the ringing loft and let the furious lady have at them. Apparently she cleared the loft in less than a minute, and was greeted with a standing ovation from the wedding guests when she returned to her seat. But it is often said that wild creatures are better tamed with kindness. It could well be that the truculent demeanour of the senior temple warden induces a healthy respect within the camp. Should another temple warden then make positive comments, arrange for bottles of beer of dubious provenance to be provided to quench the thirst of the ringers, and generally become their friend, there appear to be no limits to the cooperation that can be achieved. In all honesty it has occurred to me that this is why shrines have even numbers of temple wardens. It allows you to have both the cantankerous grouch and the genial acquaintance on hand and you can deploy whichever seems appropriate. But once you have domesticated your tower captain, then cherish them. Do not, under any circumstances, have anything to do with the lesser lights within the camp. Otherwise you will get drawn in to all sorts of internecine strife and conflict as factions rise and fall and attempt to bring down the tower captain in the process. I well remember when one bell ringer, aspiring to displace her tower captain by guile, told Maljie that it had been decided to change the practice night. Maljie merely looked at her and commented that she was used to discussing policy with the organ grinder, not some small and only sporadically continent ape kept to please the crowd. Now it may be that you lack Maljie’s personal presence. This is not to be wondered at. Reputations have to be built up over the years, nurtured like some delicate potted plant. But even Maljie had to start somewhere, even if none of us are quite sure when. So when dealing with bell ringers (or other wandering undesirables such as archhierophants or those creatures who dwell deep in the property department of the Office of the Combined Hierophants of Aea) decide on your approach and stick to it. In forty years’ time you will thank me. Still I seem to have drifted from the topic. Cherishing your tower captain. The problem with these otherwise splendid figures is that they lack permanence. Whether they are overthrown and devoured by their camp, abscond with the funds or flee in the arms of a lover (I confess I’ve never really understood that latter allusion. Surely you must flee faster if not embracing? Or perhaps you hand the technicalities of flight over to your coachman and thus embrace in the coach as it hurtles through the night?) you will lose one captain and will be forced to acquire another. My personal preference is to allow the camp to bring forward a leader from within their ranks. But beware, out there in the dark there are ‘tower leaders’ who lack both tower and camp. They are drawn inexorably to a tower with no tower leader and will attempt to inveigle themselves into a position of control. Under these circumstances there is no point in being avuncular, reasonable or open to discussion. For the lesser temple warden there is only one recourse. Memorise the line, “Ah, but you don’t want to talk to me, you need to discuss this matter with the incumbent.” That is all you need to say. Now when it comes to the incumbent, they too have no need to worry about these matters. They merely need to say, “Ah, that’s a temple warden matter. You need to take it up with Maljie.” At the last count, of four who were directed to Maljie, three abandoned their quest then and there. With regard to the fourth, there are mendicants who are willing to swear in a court of law that they saw that individual leave the shrine carrying his head under his arm.
And now a brief note from Jim Webster. It’s really just to inform you that I’ve just published a full Tallis Steelyard novel. Yes the rumours are true. Tallis Steelyard, the man who considered jotting down a couple of anecdotes to be ridiculously hard work, and considered the novella form to be the very pinnacle of literary labour, has been cozened into producing a novel.
It is, ‘Tallis Steelyard. A Fear of Heights.’
In this novel, recounted by Tallis Steelyard in his own inimitable manner, we discover what happens when the hierarchy plots to take control of the Shrine to Aea in her Aspect as the Personification of Tempered Enthusiasm. Will the incumbent be exiled to a minor fane in the far north? Will Tallis end up having to do a proper job? Does ordination and elevation beckon for Maljie? This story includes the Idiosyncratic Diaconate, night soil carts, Partannese bandit chieftains, a stylite, a large dog and some over-spiced food. On top of this we have not one but two Autocephalous Patriarchs and a theologically sanctioned beggar.
I am delighted to welcome the very talented, and generally very lovely Lizzie Chantree to my blog today, to introduce her new book, releasing tomorrow!
Over to you, Lizzie!
Why did you choose the setting you chose and do the locations hold any real life significance to you?I chose this setting because I’m from Essex and the coastline is beautiful here. I’ve always wanted to write a local story and I was sitting in a little cafe by the sea, when an elderly lady came in, sat down and began crying. The young waitress rushed up to comfort her and they spoke for quite a while. After the lady left the waitress told me they had only just met, which it made me think about the kindness of strangers. The cafe I was in was beautiful and had been family owned for generations. I wondered what would happen if they all fell into a state of disrepair and a story grew from there. The little ice cream shop by the sea is about unexpected friendships through the generations and how family heritage can sometimes mean more to some than others. This story has a bankrupt celebrity chef in it who flies in to protect his grandmother. What made you think of this character? Cal has had such success but overstretched his business and his world collapsed around him, so he’s been hiding and licking his wounds. Hearing about the ice cream shop owner, Genie, and her new friendship with his grandmother, he decides that Genie must be after his family money and rushes to protect his grandmother, Ada. He doesn’t realise that a few of his actions make the cracks in Genie’s relationship with her own parents even deeper and he uncovers a family secret he really wishes he hadn’t.
Blurb
From the international bestselling author of If you love me, I’m yours, Ninja School Mum and Babe Driven. Genie’s family is in crisis. Their seafront business is failing with the loss of Genie’s grandmother and her legendary ice cream flavours. Genie is determined to be the one to save her family’s heritage, but suddenly her mother wants to sell to developers and leave their shared history behind. Buying the business and taking on a sixty-eight year old business partner, Ada, with a mysterious past and a gorgeous but distracting grandson, Genie sets out to prove her parents wrong. Ada’s grandson, Cal, wants to protect his gran from ‘pensioner persuader’, Genie, but soon realises that living in a little seaside town and away from the paparazzi in Hollywood can actually give him time to heal. Hiding in a seafront business with its fiery owner and working as kitchen staff, is the only way he can think of to keep his ex-Hollywood glamour-puss, gran from harm. But his meddling might also ruin Ada’s second chance at love. Hiring a private detective and learning about Genie’s parent’s past makes Cal regret his own impulsiveness. The information he has unearthed could destroy their blossoming romance and turn Genie’s world upside down. Genie soon discovers that friends can become enemies and your closest family can have lied to you for your whole life.
Bio International bestselling author Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year. She writes books full of friendship and laughter, about women with unusual businesses, who are stronger than they realise.
I always love to promote work that is for a good cause, and an anthology that is selling for charity is definitey a good cause.
One of the Facebook groups I am a member of, The New Romance Cafe, has another short story anthology, in time for Christmas, and all proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (Another, because I mentioned the first, Twelve Days of Kisses, a couple of weeks ago!)
True love and timeless romance. Journey through history with these sassy and spicy short romances.
Breast cancer affects one in four women. Here’s your chance to read a swoon-worthy book and help others at the same time.
Curl up in your comfy chair in front of the fire and know that every book purchased, and every page read raises money for breast cancer research.
This historical romance collection has it all:
The Old West
Regency aristocrats
A female Samurai
Chanukah in Scotland
Breaking conventions
The American civil war
And sweet Victorian Romance
Get A Winter Romance today for stories with all the feels.
This anthology is brought to you by The Romance Café, a community of romance novel fans and writers, born out of the desire for a safe space to discuss our shared passion for romance, as well as empower and support authors of the genre. Join us every day for your dose of romance in the Café:https://www.facebook.com/groups/thenewromancecafe.
A Winter Romance, the latest HISTORICAL anthology of short stories for charity from the authors at The Romance Cafe is now available to order NOW!
But I Smile Anyway... 