The Blossom Twins by Carol Wyer

About the Book

Their parents thought they were hiding…

One beautiful summer’s evening, thirteen-year-old twins Ivy and Erin Westmore snuggle down in a tent in their back garden, giggling and sharing secrets.

When their mother goes to wake the girls the next morning, their tent is empty.

The alarm is raised and Detective Natalie Ward is put onto the case. When the twins’ bodies are discovered on nearby marshland, covered with deep pink petals, an icy shiver travels down Natalie’s spine. Everything about the girls’ deaths reminds her of a horrifying case she worked on earlier in her career, which saw a killer of the worst kind placed behind bars.

The next day, that feeling is heightened when she receives a chilling note saying ‘I’m back’. Is this killer a copycat or did Natalie put the wrong person in prison all those years ago? In a small town, where no stranger goes unnoticed, what is Natalie missing?

Consumed by the case, determined to prevent more deaths, Natalie misses the fact that it is her attention the killer wants. And to get it, he has his sights set firmly on her precious daughter Leigh…

Gripping, fast-paced and nail-bitingly tense, this book will keep you flying through the pages long into the night. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter. 

Title: The Blossom Twins

Author: Carol Wyer

Published By: Bookouture

Publication Date: 12th December 2019

Links: UK:  Amazon         US:   Amazon

Our Review

Don’t be fooled by the sweet title because the Blossom Twins has to be Carol Wyer’s most chilling Serial Killer Thriller to date.

Natalie Ward is haunted by an horrific crime from her past when the body of a young girl is found with huge similarities to it. The Blossom Twins’ killer was eventually caught but due to a wrong turn in the investigation he was able to kill again. Natalie being a consummate professional has carried the guilt around with her ever since.

Her personal life is shattered but she has to carry on in her job to find the killer and prevent them from striking again.

The story races along at an incredible pace as we join Natalie as she tries to solve the crime and my heart was pounding out of my chest in some parts.

The unexpected devastation hit me like a punch to the stomach and shakes Natalie to the core. I felt totally bereft at the end.

Carol Wyer is brilliant at writing utterly gripping stories, each investigation has been unique and thrillingly twisted and the insight into Natalie’s private life as she feels constant guilt for not being around for her family has been fascinating.

Another fantastic read which I devoured immediately and now I’m desperate for the next one. 

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Winner of The People's Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer is an award-winning author and stand up comedian who writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.

A move to the 'dark side' in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in LITTLE GIRL LOST, the #2 best-selling book on Amazon, #9 best-selling audiobook on Audible and Top 150 USA Today best-seller.

A second series featuring DI Natalie Ward quickly followed and to date her crime novels have sold over 600,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets, including Norwegian, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian Slovak, Czech and Polish.

Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ''Irritable Male Syndrome' and 'Ageing Disgracefully' and on BBC Breakfast television. She has had articles published in national magazines 'Woman's Weekly' featured in 'Take A Break', 'Choice', 'Yours' and 'Woman's Own' magazines and the Huffington Post.

She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr Grumpy... who is very, very grumpy.

To learn more about Carol, go to www.carolwyer.co.uk or follow Carol on Twitter: @carolewyer.

Carol also blogs at www.carolwyer.com

You can catch the rest of the Blog Tour here...

A Million Dreams by Dani Atkins

Beth Brandon always dreamed of owning a florist, but today the bouquets of peonies and bright spring flowers are failing to calm her nerves. Because today, Beth has a life-changing decision to share with her husband.

Izzy Vaughan thought she and her husband would stay together forever, but sometime last year, their love began to fade. They both find such joy in their young son Noah – but is he enough to keep them together?

Eight years ago, something happened to these two women. Something that is about to bring them together in a way no-one thought possible... 

Title: A Million Dreams

Author: Dani Atkins

Published By: Head of Zeus

Publication Date: 14th November 2019

Links: UK:  Amazon      US:  Amazon

Waterstones

Our Review

Omg what can I say, Dani Atkins is the Queen of the emotional dilemma.

A million dreams tells the story of Izzy and Beth, two women who are brought together under the most heart-breaking circumstances. The conflict that they face puts them both in an impossible situation and my heart went out to both of these women and the excruciating pain they both had to endure. 

The way that Beth and Liam met after a double tragedy was very sensitively written and their sense of grief was almost tangible. The slow build up of their friendship was heart-warming.

This story will break your heart into a number of pieces and some of those pieces will break even more as the story unfolds.

Dani’s writing is so pure and full of emotion that I often get goose-bumps when reading her work. The emotions I felt when reading this book were different because normally you can get angry with someone and blame them but in this instance, because of things being intertwined, every character deserved empathy.

Make sure you have a huge box of tissues when reading this book which draws upon grief, heartbreak, loss, motherhood and true love that never dies. As the story moves on I can guarantee that every one of those broken pieces of your heart will be patched together again with the fresh hope of what’s to come for Beth.

Another devastating masterpiece from Dani Atkins that will stay in your heart and mind for a very long time. 

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut FRACTURED (published as THEN AND ALWAYS in North America) has been translated into sixteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK.

Dani is the author of four other bestselling novels (THE STORY OF US, OUR SONG, THIS LOVE and WHILE I WAS SLEEPING) and PERFECT STRANGERS, a standalone eBook novella. In 2018, THIS LOVE won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award at the RNA awards in London.

Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

Follow Dani on twitter @AtkinsDani or get in touch on Facebook at www.facebook.com/daniatkinsauthor 

Follow the rest of the blog tour here...

Country Lovers by Fiona Walker

About the book
They say you should never go back, but glamorous Ronnie Percy did just that, to the home she ran away from with her lover.

But not everyone is finding it easy to forgive and forget.

Daughter Pax, fighting for custody of her small son as her own marriage disintegrates, is furious to have to spend New Year's Eve waiting for some stranger her mother has invited to help run the family stud farm.

Even more annoyed is the staunchly loyal stud head groom, Lester. Does Ronnie think he's lost his touch with the horses? And anyway, who is this so-called Horsemaker, Luca O'Brien? Why does he seem to be running away from something? And what is the true story of his relationship with grey stallion Beck, once destined for the Olympics, now broken and unrideable, screaming his anger from the Compton Magna stables.

Passionate, sexy, gripping, laced with her trademark wisdom and humour, this is bestselling Fiona Walker at her dazzling best.

Title: Country Lovers

Author: Fiona Walker

Published By:  Head of Zeus

Publication Date: 14th November

Pre-order links:Amazon: https://amzn.to/2ZcQhcs

Google Play: https://bit.ly/2N8sMik

Kobo: 

iBooks:

Author Q & A with Fiona Walker

Welcome to Sincerely Book Angels blog.

What was the inspiration behind Country Lovers?
Country Lovers is inspired by the wonderful characters I’ve met living in rural England, especially the horsey set. They’re a sexy and fearless bunch who make friends for life, love their dogs and know how to party.

Did you always want to be a writer?
I originally wanted to be an actress and I studied drama, but I only ever got cast as mad old women which limited my options at twenty-one.

What other jobs have you had?
I’m very lucky to have been a full-time author since I was twenty-three, although I worked briefly in advertising after leaving university (and I had a host of strange student jobs before that, from serving medieval banquets dressed as a buxom wench, making Don Johnson’s off-menu sandwiches in a golf club, and selling novelty corgi snow globes outside Windsor Castle.)

How did it feel when your first novel was published? Slightly surreal and disbelieving, as well as utterly over the moon. I still do twenty-six years later.

Can you please tell us a little about your publishing story.
I used to read prolifically, and when I ran out of things to read that ticked my boxes, I decided to write instead. I wrote my first full-length novel, French Relations, in 1993, and I was one of very rare fairy tale ‘Slush Pile’ success stories: an agent spotted its potential straight away, signed me up and sold it over a weekend. I still pinch myself.

What other books have you written?
I’ve written eighteen novels. The others are: French Relations, Kiss Chase, Well Groomed, Between Males, Snap Happy, Lucy Talk, Lots of Love, Tongue in Cheek, Four Play, Love Hunt, Kiss and Tell, The Love Letter, The Summer Wedding, The Country Escape, The Woman Who Fell in Love for a Week, The Weekends of You and Me and The Country Set

Have you ever had writer's block?
I’ve never had total writer’s block – as in not being able to write anything at all - but I have had phases of being crippled with self-doubt, firmly believing every word is rubbish and desperately wanting to do something else for a living to spare the paying public the agony of reading it.

If so how did you overcome it? I read. The sheer joy of reading always makes me want to do it again (especially, I have to secretly admit, if you find yourself wanting to hurl the book across the room because you’d have ended it differently).

What motivates you to keep writing? Being the family breadwinner is a pretty strong motivating factor, along with not being qualified to do anything else for a living (although I’m now the right age to play mad old ladies, so if all else fails I might get my big acting break at last…). Mainly, I wrote because I love doing it.

Where is your favourite place to write? (can we please have a picture):

I’ve written all over the place: kitchen table, spare bedroom, attic, garage garden shed. I’m very spoiled at the moment because I’ve just moved to a new ‘office’ in our cottage in what was the annexe. It’s by far the biggest writing corner I’ve had and currently very tidy. That won’t last… 

Do your characters moods ever affect your mood and vice versa?
Maybe it’s because of my love of theatre, but I do find myself acting out the characters in real life, so their moods certainly can affect mine. But I do try to make all my characters sympathetic, even the rogues. And nobody kills anyone.

What three pieces of advice would you give to an aspiring writer? Get it finished. There are too many half-finished books left in drawers. Keep going right to the end, because that’s where the work really begins.

Edit it at least twice. I first read a physical print-out and cover it in pen marks and notes, changing the order of things, adding scene ideas. Then, once those ideas are incorporated, I send the file to my Kindle and spot lots of other little things like word repetition and continuity bloops.

Keep every scene you cut out in a scrapbook file for a future book. You may never re-use it, but it makes it easier to cut it out of the original if you don’t think it’s going to waste.

Which authors inspire you? I grew up reading an eclectic mix nabbed from my parents’ shelves, all of whom are huge inspirations: Angela Carter, Beryl Bainbridge, Wendy Perriam and Jilly Cooper (whose early books I adored with a passion). Modern authors I enjoy include Lianne Moriarty, Ali Smith and Kate Atkinson. And I am in awe of good script-writers – Victoria Wood remains my heroine, also Carla Laine and more recently Sharon Horgan and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

What are you reading at the moment? I’m reading Nina Stibbe’s Paradise Lodge, a wittily nostalgic novel about a teenager working in an old people’s home in the ’seventies. My description doesn’t do it justice because it’s great fun.

If your book was made into a film what song would you choose for the opening credits? Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by K T Tunstall.

Who would you choose to play your favourite character in the film of your book?
My daydream casting for Pax Forsyth would be Lily Cole: she’s bright and funny, can nail that rebellious British spirit and has the hair.

What is your next book about?
It’s a sequel to Country Lovers, with many familiar characters returning to join forced in a battle against big threats both to the village’s future and to that of one of its greatest love stories.

Thank you so much for joining us on our blog today and good luck with the book.
Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Fiona Walker is the author of eighteen novels, from tales of flat-shares and clubbing in nineties London to today’s romping, rural romances set amid shires, spires and stiles. In a career spanning over two decades, she’s grown up alongside her readers, never losing her wickedly well-observed take on life, lust and the British in love. She lives in Warwickshire, sharing a slice of Shakespeare Country with her partner, their two daughters and a menagerie of animals. fionawalker.com @fionawalkeruk facebook.com/fiona.walker.16568
Follow Fiona:
Twitter: @fionawalkeruk

Facebook: @fionawalkeruk

Follow the rest of the blog tour here...

 

Love Songs for Sceptics by Christina Pishiris

About the Book
My brother’s getting married in a few weeks and asked for help picking a song for his first dance. I suggested Kiss’s ‘Love’s a Slap in the Face’.

It didn’t go down well.

When she was a teenager, Zoë Frixos fell in love with Simon Baxter, her best friend and the boy next door. But his family moved to America before she could tell him how she felt and, like a scratched record, she’s never quite moved on. Now, almost twenty years later, Simon is heading back to London, newly single and as charming as ever . . .

But as obstacles continue to get in her way – Simon’s perfect ex-girlfriend, her brother’s big(ish) fat(ish) Greek wedding, and an obnoxious publicist determined to run Zoë – Zoë begins to wonder whether, after all these years, she and Simon just aren’t meant to be.

What if, despite what all the songs and movies say, you're first love isn't always all it's cracked up to be? What if, instead Zoë and Simon are forever destined to shuffle around their feelings for each other, never quite getting the steps right . . .

With a smart, relatable central character and razor-sharp wit, Love Songs for Sceptics is perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Lucy Vine and Lindsey Kelk. 

Title: Love Songs For Sceptics

Author: Christina Pishiris

Published By: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: 28th November 2019

Links: UK:  Amazon     

Pre-Order Waterstones


My Love Song for Sceptics

I'm probably not the best person to ask about this because on our wedding day we never really thought about a song for our first dance as most of our favourites were quite upbeat apart from The Smiths which my husband was very much into at the time but I thought were far too miserable for a wedding. Anyway we ended up letting the DJ choose and were very happy to dance along to 'Nothing Compares to You' by Sinead O'Conner. She has a wonderful voice and I quite liked being told that nothing compared to me. It was only a few days later that a friend asked me why I had chosen a break up song for our first dance!! It honestly hadn't even occurred to me to take the song so literally and I had thoroughly enjoyed it, also we've been married thirty years next year so maybe it was our good luck charm.

So I have scoured my brain and the internet for a suitable song for the fabulous book by Christina Pishiris, Love Songs for Sceptics and then I came across the perfect one. ‘I Love to Hate You’ by Erasure, a band that saw me through my teenage years and still has me singing full blast if I ever hear one of their songs. I chose this because it’s so insulting but still sung in a joyful catchy way that you couldn't help but join in. 

Love Songs for Sceptics is such a unique concept for a book and I really can't wait to get stuck in to it.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Christina was born in London to Greek Cypriot parents, who used to bribe her to go to family weddings by promising that George Michael might be there. To deal with the inevitable disappointment, she began making up stories on napkins and has been writing ever since.

Her debut novel, Love Songs for Sceptics, a romcom set in the world of music journalism, will be published by Simon & Schuster in November 2019. Come and say hello on Twitter: @ChristinaPi or on Facebook: @ChristinaPishirisAuthor

For more info, visit: www.christinapishiris.com

Messy Wonderful Us by Catherine Isaac

About the Book

In late 1983, a letter arrives from Italy, containing secrets so unthinkable that it is hidden away, apparently forever. More than three decades later, it is found . . . by the last person who was ever supposed to see it.

When Allie opens an envelope in her grandmother’s house, it changes everything she knows about her family - and herself.

With the truth liable to hurt those she loves most, she hires a private detective to find out what happened to her late mother in the summer before Allie was born. Taking leave from her job as a research scientist, she is led to the sun-drenched shores of Lake Garda, accompanied by her best friend Ed.

But the secrets that emerge go far beyond anything they were expecting. Now, Allie must find the courage to confront her family’s tangled past and reshape her own future.

Title: Messy, Wonderful Us

Author: Catherine Isaac

Published By: Simon & Schuster

Publication Date: 28th November 2019

Links:   

UK:  Amazon        US:  Amazon

Waterstones

WHSmith

Our Review

As with Catherine’s previous book You, Me, Everything, this book was filled with emotional upheaval and heartbreak.

At one point I felt I knew what was coming because of the clues that were laid out in the writing but then BAM! In an instant my pre conceived ideas were turned on their head and I was completely shocked. The author exposes a subject that is still quite taboo but handles it sensitively.

Allie has discovered some disturbing information about her past and nobody will give her answers to the questions this has raised. She has no choice but to travel to Italy in search of the truth. She confides in her best friend Ed and he decides to accompany her on the trip. Then she discovers that Ed has been keeping secrets too.

The writing was just beautiful, I felt as though I were traveling round Italy with them and when Ed finally opens up to Ellie it broke my heart and I could feel how badly it affected Ellie too.

I loved Ellie and Ed and really rooted for them throughout. I found the ending heartbreaking and one of the characters made me so angry, namely Ed’s wife, and just when I thought I couldn’t hate her any more she proved me wrong.

I can’t really gush enough about this book because I loved it so much. It touches on hard hitting subjects, was intriguing and gripping throughout and took me on a beautiful journey to sunny climes.

The writing is intelligent and the story heartbreaking but uplifting. I think it deserves a book of the year title. This story would be amazing on the big screen and would certainly rival Me, Before You.

I simply cannot wait for Catherine’s next book to be out.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Hello and thank you for visiting my author page! After ten years of writing romantic comedy under the pseudonym 'Jane Costello', I came up with the idea for ‘You Me Everything’ and knew it would be different from anything I'd written before.
It was my agent who suggested I should change my name to 'Catherine Isaac' but, after building up a lovely, loyal following in the UK, I don't mind admitting that the idea gave me a few sleepless nights.
In the event ‘You Me Everything’ became by far my biggest writing success to date: it’s been translated into 24 languages, won the Popular Romantic Fiction award at the RoNAs and a movie is in development by Lionsgate and Temple Hill. My next book, ‘Messy, Wonderful Us’ will be published in the UK in November 2019 in hardback and ebook, while the paperback is out in March 2020.
The novels I now write are about family secrets, exploring some difficult themes but with compassion and humour. I love hearing from anyone who’s read them, so please do write an Amazon review if you’re so inclined - or get in touch with me direct, on Twitter @CatherineIsaac_ , Facebook @Catherineisaacauthor, or Instagram @catherineisaacauthor
You’ll find those accounts full of book news, but lots about my gang too - me, my husband Mark, our three boys and dog Maisie.
I still live in Liverpool, where I started my writing career as a trainee news reporter on the Liverpool Echo back in the late 1990s, a time when life-long friendships were forged over deadlines and quite a lot of beer. These days, as well as my writing, I also love running, walking in the Lake District and baking cakes of variable quality.

Best wishes

Catherine

The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland

Ailsa Rae is learning how to live.

She's only a few months past the heart transplant that - just in time - saved her life. Life should be a joyful adventure. But . . .

Her relationship with her mother is at breaking point and she wants to find her father.
Have her friends left her behind?
And she's felt so helpless for so long that she's let polls on her blog make her decisions for her. She barely knows where to start on her own.

Then there's Lennox. Her best friend and one time lover. He was sick too. He didn't make it. And now she's supposed to face all of this without him.

But her new heart is a bold heart.

She just needs to learn to listen to it . . .

Title: The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae

Author: Stephanie Butland

Published By:  St Martin's Press

Publication Date: 29th October 2019

Link:   

UK:                       US:

Amazon            Amazon

WHSmith

Waterstones

Sincerely Book Angels are delighted to be able to share an extract from the book.

6 October, 2017
Hard to Bear

It’s 3 a.m. here in cardio-thoracic.

All I can do for now is doze, and think, and doze again. My heart is getting weaker, my body bluer. People I haven’t seen for a while are starting to drop in. (Good to see you, Emily, Jacob, Christa. I’m looking forward to the Martinis.) We all pretend we’re not getting ready to say goodbye. It seems easiest. But my mother cries when she thinks I’m sleeping, so maybe here, now, is time to admit that I might really be on the way out.

I should be grateful. A baby born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome a few years before I was would have died within days. I’ve had twenty-eight years and I’ve managed to do quite a lot of living in them. (Also, I’ve had WAY more operations than you everyday folk. I totally win on that.) OK, so I still live at home and I’ve never had a job and I’m blue around the edges because there’s never quite enough oxygen in my system. But –

Actually, but nothing. If you’re here tonight for the usual BlueHeart cheerfulness-in-the-teeth-of-disaster, you need to find another blogger.

My heart is failing. I imagine I can feel it floundering in my chest. Sometimes it’s as though I’m holding my breath, waiting to see if another beat will come. I’ve been in hospital for four months, almost non-stop, because it’s no longer tenable for me to be at home. I’m on a drip pumping electrolytes into my blood and I’ve an oxygen tube taped to my face. I’m constantly cared for by peo- ple who are trying to keep me well enough to receive a transplanted heart if one shows up. I monitor every flicker and echo of pain or tiredness in my body and try to work out if it means that things are getting worse. And yes, I’m alive, and yes, I could still be saved, but tonight it’s a struggle to think that being saved is possible. Or even likely. And I’m not sure I have the energy to keep waiting.

And I should be angrier, but there’s no room for anger (remember, my heart is a chamber smaller than yours) because, tonight, I’m scared.

It’s only a question of time until I get too weak to survive a transplant, and then it’s a waste of a heart to give it to me. Someone a bit fitter, and who would get more use from it, will bump me from the top of the list and I’m into the Palliative Care Zone. (It’s not actually called that. And it’s a good, kind, caring place, but it’s not where I want to be. Maybe when I’m ninety-eight. To be honest, tonight, I’d take forty-eight. Anything but twenty-eight.)

I hope I feel more optimistic when the sun comes up. If it does. It’s Edinburgh. It’s October. The odds are about the same as me getting a new heart.

My mother doesn’t worry about odds. She says, ‘We only need the one heart. Just the one.’ She says it in a way that makes me think that when she leaves the ward she’s away to carve one out of some poor stranger’s body herself. And anyway, odds feel strange, because even if my survival chances are, say, 20 per cent, what- ever happens to me will happen 100 per cent. As in, I could be 100 per cent dead this time next week.

Night night, BlueHeart xxx

P.S. I would really, really like for one of you to get your- self a couple of goldfish, or kittens, or puppies, or even horses, and call them Cardio and Thoracic. My preference would be for puppies. Because I love the thought that, if I don’t make it to Christmas, somewhere there will be someone walking in the winter countryside, letting their enthusiastic wee spaniels off the lead, and then howling ‘Cardio! Thoracic!’ as they disappear over the brow of a hill intent on catching some poor terrified sheep. That’s what I call a legacy.

From The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland. Copyright © 2019 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. 

Thank you so much for joining us today Stephanie and good luck with the book.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Stephanie Butland is the author of beloved bookshop tale 'Lost For Words' and her new novel 'The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae', released in ebook and paperback 19th April 2018 (available for pre-order now).

Stephanie lives in Northumberland, close to the place where she grew up. She writes in a studio at the bottom of her garden, and loves being close to the sea. She's thriving after cancer.
Twitter: @under_blue_sky
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stephanie-Butland-Author-282828548412029/
www.stephaniebutland.com
#LostForWords #TheCuriousHeart #AilsaRae

Keeper of Secrets by Lynda Stacey

Fabulous new suspense novel from the author of best selling novels, The Fake Date and House of Secrets.

Should some secrets stay buried?
For as long as Cassie Hunt can remember her Aunt Aggie has spoken about the forgotten world that exists just below their feet, in the tunnels and catacombs of the Sand House. The story is what inspired Cassie to become an archaeologist.
But Aggie has a secret that she’s buried as deep as the tunnels and when excavation work begins on the site, Cassie is the only one who can help her keep it. With the assistance of her old university friend, Noah Flanagan, she puts into action a plan to honour Aggie’s wishes.

It seems the deeper Noah and Cassie dig, the more shocking the secrets uncovered – and danger is never far away, both above and below the ground …

Title: Keeper of Secrets

Author: Lynda Stacey

Published By: Ruby Fiction

Publication Date: 22nd October

Links: UK:   Amazon          US:   Amazon

Our Review

Wow! What a book!

 I’ve enjoyed all of Lynda Stacey’s books so far but I have to say this one is the best yet. 

A combination of intrigue, suspense, love and danger makes this a perfect read. My heart was literally in my mouth for the majority of the story.

Cassie is an archaeologist, inspired by her aunt Aggie who adopted her and her sister after they lost their parents. The love between Cassie and her aunt and sister was so strong it was almost tangible and Cassie would do anything she could to help fulfil her Auntie’s dying wish.

The story was set amongst the sand house and catacombs in Doncaster which really exist and I think that Lynda has created an amazing story in a fascinating and very special real life place.

The love interest was the very hunky Noah who sounded absolutely gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoyed their relationship growing from the friendship they had at Uni. The creepy character in the book made my skin crawl and the description of his intimidation meant I could practically feel him, breathing down my neck.

Lynda is fantastic at building suspense and this book was brimming with it on every page. She has cleverly interwoven a brilliant plot with historical facts. I really couldn’t read this book fast enough and couldn’t put it down. I think this would make a fantastic film which along with the book would make a brilliant tribute to the mysterious Sand house especially as it has now been filled in for ever. 

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Lynda grew up in the mining village of Bentley, Doncaster, in South Yorkshire and went to both Bentley New Village School, and Don Valley High School.

She is currently the Sales Director of a stationery, office supplies and office furniture company in Doncaster, where she has worked for the past 25 years. Prior to this she'd also been a nurse, a model, an emergency first response instructor and a PADI Scuba Diving Instructor ... and yes, she was crazy enough to dive in the sea with sharks, without a cage.

Following a car accident in 2008, Lynda was left with limited mobility in her right arm. Unable to dive or teach anymore, she turned to her love of writing, a hobby she'd followed avidly since being a teenager.

Her own life story, along with varied career choices helps Lynda to create stories of romantic suspense, with challenging and unpredictable plots, along with (as in all romances) very happy endings.

Lynda joined the Romantic Novelist Association in 2014 under the umbrella of the New Writers Scheme and in 2015, her debut novel House of Secrets won the Choc Lit Search for a Star competition.

She lives in a small rural hamlet near Doncaster, with her 'hero at home husband', Haydn, whom she's been happily married to for over 20 years.

Come and find me at www.lyndastacey.co.uk to hear my latest news. You could follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lyndastaceyauthor or watch out for my tweets @Lyndastacey

Come say hello. I'd love to hear from you. Oh and if you love the book, I'd be really grateful if you'd take the time to leave me a review.

A Deathly Silence by Jane Isaac

About the Book

When the mutilated body of a police officer is found in a derelict factory, the Hamptonshire police force is shocked to the core.

DCI Helen Lavery returns from injury leave and is immediately plunged into an investigation like no other. Is this a random attack or is someone targeting the force? Organised crime groups or a lone killer?

As the net draws in, Helen finds the truth lies closer than she could have imagined, and trusts no one.

But Helen is facing a twisted killer who will stop at nothing to ensure their secrets remain hidden. And time is running out...

A gripping thriller perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, S.J. Watson, B A Paris and Sophie Hannah

Title: A Deathly Silence

Author:  Jane Isaac

Published By: Legend Press

Publication Date: 15th October 2019

Links: 

UK:  Amazon           US:   Amazon

Waterstones

WHSmith

Author Q and A with Jane Isaac

Welcome to Sincerely Book Angels blog. 
Thank you so much for inviting me onto your blog, it’s lovely to be here!


What was the inspiration behind A Deathly Silence? 
Police officers face more than their fair share of trauma and tragedy in their careers. With A Deathly Silence I wanted to explore how it would feel for an officer to face murder within their own family and how they’d react. The narrative is partly told through the eyes of Detective Chief Inspector Helen Lavery who is investigating the crime, and partly through the eyes of PC Blane O’Donnell whose wife, also a cop, is found brutally murdered in a disused warehouse.

Did you always want to be a writer? 
Not at all. I’ve always been a big reader and a perennial student – interested in everything, which is pretty important for a novelist because of all the research involved. I’ve taken an eclectic mix of different courses over the years including law, sociology, sign language and pottery! It was a creative writing course that introduced me to the world of writing fiction in my late thirties.


What other jobs have you had? 
I was a Civil Servant for the first eighteen years of my working life, and then left to take a job as a part time buyer for an engineering company which I balanced with working on my books. I’ve been writing full time for almost three years now.


How did it feel when your first novel was published?
It was a very special moment. It’s so difficult to attract an agent and a publisher; many of us authors have had long and rocky roads to publication. I feel privileged now to be able to do something I enjoy for a living.


Can you please tell us a little about your publishing story. 
Although I found an agent fairly quickly, they struggled to find a publisher for my first novel and eventually it was released in the US by a small publisher in 2012. Luckily it was nominated for an award and I was able to sign with London based Legend Press with my second offering. Legend have gone on to publish many of my subsequent books.


What other books have you written? 
I have written three books in the DI Will Jackman series, set in Stratford-upon-Avon: Before It’s Too Late, Beneath the Ashes and The Lies Within. Two books in the DC Beth Chamberlain (Family Liaison Officer) series: After He’s Gone and Presumed Guilty.

A Deathly Silence marks the third in my DCI Helen Lavery series, following An Unfamiliar Murder (my debut) and The Truth Will Out.


Have you ever had writer's block? 
Yes, I get little blind spots in my writing all the time. Sometimes, I can’t think how to create a scene, or effect a particular twist in the story. Occasionally, I know how I want a scene to start and finish, but not how it will play out.


If so how did you overcome it?
Usually, I’ll spend a day researching, or I travel out to a location to get a feel for the place. If that doesn’t stimulate the creative juices then I’ll take a few days out and read someone else’s work. Our brains live with our plotlines and characters constantly. Occasionally, mine decides it needs a rest😊


What motivates you to keep writing?
I love the twists and turns of a good mystery and it’s such a buzz working through it all and bringing it to the page. Plus, readers are so lovely and supportive, I always find their messages very motivational.


Where is your favourite place to write? (can we please have a picture)

This is my writing room, it’s very functional. In reality, as long as I have a laptop or a notebook, I can write anywhere.

Do your characters moods ever affect your mood and vice versa? 
I’m not sure their moods have a lasting effect on me but I do feel I have to get ‘into character’, to feel what they feel, in order to bring it to the page. If I’m writing a sad scene, it’s not unusual for me to cry though I am able to detach and the feelings don’t continue afterwards.


What three pieces of advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Read as much as you can in and around the genre you are interested in. Write something every day, even if it’s a diary entry or just a few lines of narrative. And have fun. Publishing is a tough business, it’s important to enjoy the process of creating your work.


Which authors inspire you?
Goodness, there are so many! I particularly like the early Nicci French psychological thrillers and the police procedural series by Linda Castillo which is based in the Amish community in the US.


What are you reading at the moment?
The Fear Within by J S Law and it’s gripping!


If your book was made into a film what song would you choose for the opening credits?
Every Breath You Take by The Police


Who would you choose to play your favourite character in the film of your book? 
I would love to see Helen Baxendale play DCI Helen Lavery. I can really picture her in the role.


What is your next book about? 
I’m just putting the finishing touches to the third book in my DC Beth Chamberlain, Family Liaison Officer series, due for publication next year, where a body has been buried in concrete. Concrete has preserving properties, so it makes for a very interesting mystery!


Thank you so much for joining us on our blog today and good luck with the book.
Thank you, that’s so kind!

Sincerely 

Book Angel x

About the Author

Jane Isaac studied creative writing with the Writers Bureau and the London School of Journalism. Jane’s short stories have appeared in several crime fiction anthologies. Her debut novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, was published in the US in 2012, and was followed by three novels with Legend Press: The Truth Will Out in 2014, Before It’s Too Late in 2015, and Beneath the Ashes in 2016.

Jane lives in rural Northamptonshire with her husband, daughter and dog, Bollo.

Visit Jane at janeisaac.co.uk or on Twitter @JaneIsaacAuthor

Follow the rest of the blog tour here...

 

The Christmas Calendar Girls by Samantha Tonge

This Christmas fall in love with the town of Chesterwood... 

Christmas is meant to be a time of giving, so with Chesterwood food bank under risk of closure Fern knows just what to do to save it. She's going to get the town to create a living advent calendar.

Fern, and her best friends, call for help from the local community to bring this calendar to life. When Kit, the new man in town, offers his assistance Fern's heart can't help but skip a beat (or two).

As they grow ever closer, Fern must admit that Kit's breaking down the barriers she built after the death of her husband. But his past is holding him back and Fern doesn't know how to reach him. No matter how hard she tries.

In this town, Kit's not the only one with secrets. Domestic goddess Cara is behaving oddly, burning meals in the oven and clothes whilst ironing, and Davina's perfect children are causing trouble at school leaving her son, Jasper, desperately unhappy.

Can the Christmas Calendar Girls find a way to bring the community together in time to save the food bank, while still supporting their families and each other? Can Fern find love again with Kit?

This is a story about kindness and letting go of the past. It's about looking out for your neighbours and about making every day feel like Christmas.

Title: The Christmas Calendar Girls

Author: Samantha Tonge

Published By: Aria

Publication Date: 3rd October 

Links: UK: Amazon    US: Amazon

Our Review

The Christmas Calendar Girls is predominately about friendships and women supporting each other through various problems. It highlights the fact that whilst people’s lives seem perfect on the surface quite often they are fighting problems in private.

The concept of the living advent calendar was brilliant and totally unique which really brought a sense of a community coming together for Christmas and ultimately for a very good cause.

Fern was widowed and left to bring up a young daughter on her own so she moved to Chesterford to start afresh and became well established there having made great friends.

Her daughter Lily had a precious notebook that her dad Adam had made for her with lots of advice in and that was very touching.

Grief is a very strong factor throughout the book because Fern, still trying to make sense of the world without her husband in it, had lots of flashbacks of her life with Adam, they’d had such wonderful hopes and dreams for their future and that was devastatingly ripped away from them.

I think it was lovely how Fern slowly began to think of someone else she could have a future with and how that friendship developed over time. But only after she managed to help him lay his demons to rest. I also loved how Adam still played an important part of both Fern and Lily's lives especially through the notebook and various pieces around the house.

I loved the descriptions of the Christmas Market and could visualise the advent calendar vividly.

I really was rooting for Fern to have the happy ending she and Lily deserved and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

This book deals very sensitively with various addictions, grief and homelessness and how easily lives can spiral out of control but also shows that there is always hope and optimism for a new future. 

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK with her husband and children. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has travelled widely.
When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women's magazines.
She is represented by the Darley Anderson literary agency. In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins and in 2014, her bestselling debut, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category. In 2018 Forgive Me Not, heralded a new direction into darker women's fiction with publisher Canelo. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association romantic comedy award.

http://samanthatonge.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamTongeWriter
Instagram: @samanthatongeauthor

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

Follow the rest of the blog tour here...

 

One Winter Morning by Isabelle Broom

Genie isn't feeling very festive this December.

The frosty mornings and twinkling fairy lights only remind her it's been a whole year since she lost her adoptive mother, who took her in as a baby and raised her as her own.

She's never felt more alone - until she discovers her birth mother's identity.

And where to find her: New Zealand, half the world away.

Travelling there could be her one chance to meet the woman who gave her up.

But will she find the answers she has been looking for? Or something she could never have expected?

Title: One Winter Morning
Author: Isabelle Broom
Published By: Penguin
Publication Date: 17th October 2019
Links: 
UK: Amazon      US:  Amazon

Waterstones

WHSmith


Our Review

Isabelle Broom has done it again, I’ve just finished One Winter Morning and the last line literally gave me tingles because it was so beautiful.

I’ve loved each of Isabelle’s books so far, they aren’t just stories but also informative little travel guides. She describes her settings so vividly that they almost become characters themselves. The writing is sublime and I feel that Isabelle’s talent as a writer is getting stronger with each book.

One Winter Morning is set in New Zealand and whilst I’ve never been I can see the Koru Stables very clearly in my mind as well as the beautiful mountains and lakes.

I loved all of the characters, especially the hunky Kit but the character of Tui was my absolute favourite, I completely fell in love with her, I loved her carefree ways, her joyfulness and her laugh.

The concept behind the story is just brilliant and I really hope that Isabelle follows this up by writing the children’s book which featured strongly in the book.

I really feel that Isabelle has captured so well that absolute raw emotion and grief that comes from losing someone close. Also the innocent and protective love she felt for Tui was so sweet. I bawled my eyes out at 18% in as I felt such a good connection.

I really didn’t know what was going to happen from one moment to the next and was quite shocked in parts.

A beautifully written journey of one young lady’s journey through grief. Totally uplifting, intriguing and filled with pure love.

I can totally tell that Isabelle has poured her heart and soul into this book, it’s absolutely perfect and her best one yet. 

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 a 12-year stint at heat magazine. Always happiest when she's off on an adventure, Isabelle now travels all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist fiction novels, as well as making the annual pilgrimage to her second home - the Greek island of Zakynthos. Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a cottage with her two dogs 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