My Favourite Christmas Things by Carrie Elks

  

Favourite savoury food

Pigs in blankets are a huge favourite in our house – and definitely outshine the turkey for Christmas lunch. We don’t eat them at any other time of year, so they’re a real treat, and we all fight over the last one. They’re good cold, too, for a Boxing Day buffet, but sadly there are never any left by the 26^th!

Favourite sweet food

Chocolate, of course! I always buy a huge tub of Quality Streets for Christmas, and hide it in the garage until we’re close to the big day. There’s something lovely about unwrapping them and indulging in the evening (as long as it’s not an orange crème, that is!)

Favourite Christmas drink

I love a glass of Baileys over the Christmas period. It has to be served on ice, and preferably in my favourite Baileys glass. I’m the only one who drinks it in our house, so one bottle lasts me well into the new year. Lucky me!

Favourite Christmas film

It’s A Wonderful Life. I love old movies, and I’m a huge James Stewart fan, so it’s pretty much heaven for me. But really, I love all Christmas film – from the 1^st of December they’ll be on a loop on my TV!

Favourite Christmas book

I loved reading Christmas stories to my children when they were smaller. On Christmas Eve, after they put their stockings up, we’d always read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. As they got older, we would read Jostein Gaarder’s The Christmas Mystery every year. Those books hold very happy memories for me.

Favourite Christmas Song

I’m a child of the 80s, so it has to be Last Christmas by Wham. It’s amazing how good it still sounds. It will be even more poignant this year, after we lost George Michael last Christmas.

Favourite Christmas Holiday destination

I would love to go to Kakslauttanen in Finland, where they have glass igloos and the Northern Lights. If Santa wants to fly over while I lay in bed looking up to the sky, then that would make it perfect.

Favourite Christmas animal

My pug, Plato, when he’s dressed up in his Christmas sweater. He’s the perfect festive companion.

Favourite Christmas Person

Can I say my husband? I’ve spent around 23 Christmases with him so far, so he’s my most consistent Christmas companion!

Place to write

In bed, with a mug of hot chocolate, and Christmas music blasting from the stereo, with the dog curled up next to me.

Favourite Christmas Tradition

Though it’s always sad putting away the tree and the decorations, we have a little tradition that makes it feel a bit better. My family and I write down our hopes and wishes for the year ahead, then pack them away with the rest of the boxes. Then, the following year, we open them and see if they came true!

Favourite Christmas thing in the whole world

My family. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them.

About Carrie

Carrie Elks writes contemporary romance with a sizzling edge. Her first book, Fix You, has been translated into eight languages and made a surprise appearance on Big Brother in Brazil. Luckily for her, it wasn’t voted out.

Carrie lives with her husband, two lovely children and a larger-than-life black pug called Plato. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found baking, drinking an occasional (!) glass of wine, or chatting on social media.

Website: http://carrieelks.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarrieElks

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

 

A WINTER’S TALE releases on 30^th November 2017

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073RN2XQV

Thanks so much for joining us today Carrie and sharing your favourite Christmas things, I love your Christmas tradition.

Sincerely
Book Angelx

The Place We Met by Isabelle Broom

Lucy may have suffered her fair share of bad men, but now she has Pete. Finally, a man worth sharing her favourite place with, Lake Como. That's if she can put mysterious phone calls and glamorous ex-girlfriends out of her mind.

Taggie is rushed off her feet, but distraction is exactly what she needs to forget why she fled England and the sadness she left behind. She certainly doesn't have time for infuriating stranger Marco. A man is the last thing she needs right now.

Lucy and Taggie might not know it, but their lives are about to collide. The New Year might begin with fireworks - but how will it end?

Title:  The Place We Met

Author: Isabelle Broom

Published By: Michael Joseph

Publication Date: 30th November 2017

Links: UK;  Amazon     US: Amazon

Our Review

This is the most beautiful creation by Isabelle Broom to date.
I loved every single carefully chosen word of it.
Once again as in all of Isabelle's books, the destination is almost a character in itself. The setting is the most gorgeous Lake Como where I have visited before but I wish I could go again now I've read the book as you could almost use it as an itinerary for a wonderful holiday. The authentic descriptions bring these amazing places to life and I felt I was there living this story along with the characters.

The story is told from two points of view first from Taggie who is living and working in a posh hotel in Lake Como following a nasty break up and also Lucy who is a nurse and has decided to treat her boyfriend Pete to a holiday in Lake Como. Their beautifully told stories are skilfully woven together and will take you through every emotion possible. By the end I felt emotionally drained but in a good way and I actually felt lovely after having read it. This could actually be my favourite book of all time. The characters were all lovable especially Elsie the old lady who had made Italy her home many years before and had known Taggie since she was very small.

Once again as with all Isabelle's books when I get to read the title in the book it gives me sentimental shivers down my spine. This will make you laugh out loud and cry your heart out in equal measures. I want to sleep with this book under my pillow.
Well done again to Isabelle and thanks to Michael Joseph Penguin for the arc which I've reviewed voluntarily. X

I'm so delighted that Michael Joseph have made my quote look so pretty.

Sincerely
Book Angel x

About the Author

Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts in London before joining the ranks at Heat magazine, where she remains the Book Reviews Editor. Always happiest when she off on an adventure, Isabelle now travels all over the world seeking out settings for her novels, as well as making the annual pilgrimage to her true home - the Greek island of Zakynthos. Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a cottage with her dog Max and approximately 467 spiders, Isabelle fits her writing around a busy freelance career and tries her best not to be crushed to oblivion under her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books.

If you like pictures of dogs, chatter about books and very bad jokes, you can follow her on Twitter or Instagram @Isabelle_Broom or find her on Facebook under Isabelle Broom Author. To find out more about her books, visit her website www.isabellebroom.com

Answers from Heaven Blog Tour

 

Answers from Heaven: Incredible True Stories of Heavenly Encounters and the Afterlife 

Answers from Heaven will be an authoritative, modern up to date classic book about afterlife communication.

Through true life stories of ordinary people who have had paranormal experiences, bestselling author Theresa Cheung and medium Claire Broad will show the various different ways that heaven is trying to answer our prayers, offer us comfort and provide proof of survival.

Chapters include:
1. Messages from the other side
2. Dreams from heaven
3. Living and loving creatures in spirit
4. Love from above
5. Heaven is calling
6. Conversations from Spirit
7. Answers from higher realms
8. Is anybody there?
9. Your own answers from heaven.


By the end it is hoped that readers will have lost some of their fear of death, be more aware of when the spirit world is trying to contact them, have greater awareness of the scientific research available, understand that mediumship is an expression of eternal love and nothing to be feared and that it's possible for us all to ask questions and receive answers from the world of spirit.

We are delighted to be part of the Answers from Heaven Blog Tour today and to welcome Theresa Cheung and Claire Broad and wish them every success with this beautiful book.

Purchase from Amazon UK

Sincerely
Book Angel x



About the Authors


Theresa Cheung was born into a family of spiritualists and has a Masters in Theology and English from King’s College, Cambridge. She has sold almost half a million books and encyclopaedias about the psychic world, the afterlife and personal transformation over twenty years. Her spiritual books Heaven Called My Name (Piatkus 2016) and An Angel Healed Me (Simon & Schuster 2010) became Sunday Times Top 10 bestsellers and have been translated into thirty languages.

For more information please visit http://www.theresacheung.com or follow her on Facebook @TheresaCheungAuthor





Claire Broad is an Institute of Spiritualist Mediums Registered and Approved Medium with over twenty years professional experience providing private sittings, public speaking and workshops. She is an experienced guest speaker who has contributed to many spiritual awareness events and has read for an eclectic mix of clients, including those from the scientific and medical communities. Before Mediumship, Claire worked in advertising and entertainment at several major firms including The Walt Disney Company Ltd. She lives in Hampshire with her family.

http://www.clairevoyant.co.uk or follow her on Facebook @mediumclairebroad

Follow the rest of the Blog Tour here:-

Christmas at Woolworths by Elaine Everest

Even though there was a war on, the Woolworths girls brought Christmas cheer to their customers

Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths, and a rock for the girls, having given up on love . . . Until a mysterious stranger turns up one day – could he reignite a spark in Betty?

As the year draws to a close, and Christmas approaches, the girls must rely on each other to navigate the dark days that lie ahead . . .

With so much change, can their friendship survive the war?

Title: Christmas at Woolworths

Author: Elaine Everest

Published By: Pan

Publication Date: 2nd November 2017

Links: UK: Amazon   US: Amazon

Our Review

An absolute delight to read.

Christmas at Woolworths follows on from the Woolworths girls and we get to find out what happens to Saran, Maisie and Freda who originally met at an interview for jobs in the popular store.
Along with the three friends we also get to revisit their lovely boss Betty and my favourite character Ruby Caselton who is Sarah's nan and the hugely matriarchal figure to the other characters.

Ruby loves a houseful of guests and treats Sarah's friends as though they were her own flesh and blood. If you were ever in a crisis then you would want Ruby to be around. I love how she makes food go round so many people too, she would give everything she had to make sure her loved ones were ok.

I think that using the iconic Woolworths store as the base for all of the goings on really touches the hearts of people who remember the stores being on practically every high street.
That nostalgia mixed with the innocence of the people in those bygone days provides a glimpse to a more wholesome time where people were respectful to each other and it's captured beautifully.

I loved the references to the war because although they were scary times the camaraderie of the neighbours really shone through and the people really cared about each other. It must have been awful never knowing whether your loved ones would return from the war or whether their house would be bombed.

A particularly favourite scene was of the ladies singing in the shelter, showing that great British stiff upper lip.

There were some new characters introduced in the book and they're secrets introduced a bit of intrigue to the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book about love and friendship in bygone days. Thanks to Elaine Everest and Pan Macmillan for the Arc which I have reviewed voluntarily.

Sincerely
Book Angel x

About the Author

Elaine Everest, author of Bestselling novel The Woolworths Girls and The Butlins Girls was born and brought up in North West Kent, where many of her books are set. She has been a freelance writer for twenty years and has written widely for women's magazines and national newspapers, with both short stories and features. Her non-fiction books for dog owners have been very popular and led to broadcasting on radio about our four legged friends. Elaine has been heard discussing many topics on radio from canine subjects to living with a husband under her feet when redundancy loomed.

When she isn't writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing school at The Howard Venue in Hextable, Kent and has a long list of published students.

Elaine lives with her husband, Michael, and their Polish Lowland Sheepdog, Henry, in Swanley, Kent and is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Crime Writers Association, The Society of Women Writers & Journalists and The Society of Authors as well as Slimming World where she can be seen sitting in the naughty corner.