General
Identity Crisis
Freya and Lucy sit on a wooden bench outside the front of their school. Sweet-smelling roses surround them in an ornate garden edged with perfectly shaped hedges and manicured flowerbeds. But instead of savouring the horticultural delights, their gaze fixates on the wrought-iron gates, hoping for a fleeting glimpse of any fit boys passing through…
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Centenarian Inspiration
I thought I would dedicate a blog post to one of the main characters in the book I’m currently working on. The reason being I was inspired by a special lady who frequents our café. I first met Betsy four years ago when she was ninety-six! Yes, she turned one hundred this week, and my…
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Curtain Twitcher
I blink my eyes to try and get a clearer picture of what I’m seeing. What looks like dozens of tiny pink mice are hanging lifeless on the washing line in our neighbour’s garden. It’s a dull, grey day, the mortar-coloured landscape exacerbated by the net curtain hanging between me and the bedroom window. I…
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Phone Junkie
I throw my rucksack down in the hall and make a beeline for the kitchen. There’s no smell of burnt food or trails of kitchen paraphernalia, which means either mum’s not cooking until much later, or, (hopefully), we’ll be having a takeaway tonight. There’s one packet of skips left in the cupboard which won’t go…
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I Found You – by Lisa Jewell
Book Review I’m a real fan of Lisa Jewell’s books, and this one didn’t let me down. She has a way of writing that’s easy to read, with plenty of exciting action and intriguing storylines. The book is written with short chapters and plenty of cliffhangers; I had difficulty putting the book down at times.…
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A Book That Reconnects you with Humanity!
I am a little later than most to the reading party. However, I’m now making up for lost time by reading around five to six books a month at the grand old age of fifty-six. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the odd book on holiday, or reading on a long-haul flight. I…
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The Family Upstairs & The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
1. The Family Upstairs – 4.5⭐️ Lisa Jewell is fast becoming one of my favourite authors of psychological thrillers! I listened to ‘The Family Upstairs’ on Audible, which was well narrated. I will, however, be buying hard copies to place on my beautiful bookshelves since these are books I would highly recommend to any thriller…
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The Mid Witch – Book Review
The Mid Witch by D J Bowman-Smith. Release date – 28th August 2023. Intro Well, what can I say? This book is not a genre I would usually consider buying. Especially since I am a thriller writer and like to read as much as I can in my own genre. I would like to point…
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My Key Takeaway From the Self Publishing Show
Mark Dawson’s SPS 2023 I dug my heels in and made every excuse why I couldn’t go to the SPS at the Southbank Centre in London. My disability would make travelling alone difficult, I couldn’t afford the extortionate price for London hotels and I wouldn’t know anybody. But then, after speaking to D J Bowman-Smith…
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Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Book?
Interesting question, don’t you think? I run a book club once a month. Some weeks we have very strong and varied opinions on books. The women pull no punches and often slate our chosen book saying it was ‘rubbish’, or they ‘hated’ it. Being a writer myself, I am very tolerant of books…
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