Novelicious - The Female Fiction and Chick Lit Blog

Review - The Apothecary's Daughter by Charlotte Betts

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR        

It’s 1665 and Susannah Leyton quietly works behind the scenes in her father’s apothecary shop in Fleet Street. She would love to be a recognized apothecary like her father, but the idea of a woman doing something so outrageous makes this dream an impossibility. Susannah likes nothing better than trying out new concoctions from the vast array of ingredients her father stores in his shop. Her mother died tragically years before giving birth to Susannah’s brother and since witnessing that horror, she’s always insisted that she doesn’t wish to marry, but is happy spending the rest of her life working with her father.

One day, Dr William Ambrose, a serious, unsmiling man, comes into the shop and asks to speak to her father. Susannah explains that he’s out and when Dr Ambrose tells her he urgently requires a potion for one of his patients, she offers to make it. He is not impressed with the notion and Susannah can’t help feeling insulted by his abrupt reaction. 

 Susannah’s orderly life is changes beyond recognition when her father falls in love with a young widow and marries her. Abigail and Susannah soon fall out when Abigail starts ordering Susannah around and expecting her to look after her three young stepsiblings. The two women become increasingly antagonistic towards each other, upsetting Susannah’s father, who, much to her distress, takes the side of his spoilt, lazy, bride.

Review - The Fall by Claire McGowan

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR   

Charlotte arrives home to the minimalist, tastefully decorated Belsize apartment she shares with her handsome, banker fiancé, Dan. She might look immaculate with her shiny, blonde hair and perfectly manicured nails, but she’s stressed out from phone calls about her wedding the following week. The last thing she needs to do is go out that night, but when Dan tells her there’s problems at the bank and suggests going out to a Jamaican club in Kingston Town for some fun, she reluctantly agrees.

Dan offers Charlotte cocaine and for the first time in her life she accepts it. Their evening doesn't go well and Dan angrily confronts the owner, Anthony, when he laughs at him and tells him that Dan’s business card has been cancelled and he has to pay for his drinks. 

Keisha Collins has a very different life to the one Charlotte enjoys. She lives in a run-down, rented flat with her temperamental boyfriend, Chris Deans. Chris is her daughter, Ruby’s, father and also the reason the little girl has been taken from Keisha. She wants her daughter back, but has loved Chris since she first saw him at school when she was twelve and can't imagine her life without him in it. Thankfully, Ruby is being looked after by her mum, Mercy, so Keisha can visit her and knows she’s well loved and properly cared for.

Review - Watch Over Me by Daniela Sacerdoti

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

Another fabulous book delivered to my door. Eilidh Lawson is distraught, she's just suffered a miscarriage and is finally beginning to accept that despite years of fertility treatments, she's never going to be able to have the baby she longs for. She can't feel too badly towards her cheating husband and knows that however much she's suffered over the years, he can't have found it easy living with someone so desperate for something she seems unable to attain. She returns to the Highlands where she spent several happy years as a child to try and find a way to start healing from her loss.

Jamie is Eilidh's childhood friend. He's doing his best to look after his beloved daughter, Maisie and make up for his wife abandoning them and returning to London where her career as an artist is her first priority. He's a handsome target for the single women who live in his home town and when they see Eilidh spending time with his daughter, it doesn't occur to any of them that she might simply be helping him and not seeing him as someone to fall in love with.

Elizabeth, Jamie's mother has been dead for a couple of years, but that's not going to stop her from trying to mend both Eilidh and Jamie's hearts by pushing them together. However, it's easy to plan these things, but each of them soon discover that not much works out in the way any of them expect.

Watch Over Me is a poignant and beautifully crafted story. It's written from several points of view, not only Eilidh's and Jamie's but also his Elizabeth's and others. The chapters are short and it's pretty impossible to put it down.

9/10

Watch Over Me was published on 15th November and you can find out more about it here.

Novelicious Chats To...Miranda Dickinson

INTERVIEW BY CESCA MARTIN

Could you briefly tell us about your book 'It Started with a Kiss'?

 It Started With a Kiss is all about following your heart. It’s the story of Romily Parker, a jingle writer for a local radio station, who sings with her friends in a wedding band at weekends. On the last Saturday before Christmas, she has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger (shortly after disastrously declaring her love to her best friend Charlie). He kisses her and then disappears – so Romily pledges to spend the next twelve months searching for him…

Where did the inspiration for 'It Started with a Kiss' come from?

I wanted to write about ‘what-if’ moments and see what could happen if someone decided to pursue them rather than letting them pass. My favourite quote is from Emily Dickinson (no relation!): ‘I dwell in possibility’ – which I’ve actually included at the start of the novel – and I wanted to write about chasing possibilities in life. Romily is a sane individual, but the magical encounter with the handsome stranger at a time when she least expected it is enough to make her embark on a crazy quest to try to find him again. At the same time, Charlie, the guy she has been secretly in love with for three years, then begins to see her in a different light because she’s looking in a different direction (typical men!).

You have been vlogging your journey to publication, what has been the best moment so far?

There have been so many! What I’ve loved about vlogging this year is how involved everyone has been with it – asking brilliant questions and really deciding where I go and what I talk about for each episode. I think the big highlight for me was when I was asked to give an author talk at Kingswinford Library. If you know my books, you’ll know that my writing dream began at the age of five to write a story that would be good enough to grace my small local library’s shelves. It was probably my most emotional vlog – not least because the last thing they asked me to do that night was sign the library’s copies of Fairytale of New York and Welcome to My World. It was amazing to finally fulfill a lifelong ambition! 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? 

Just write. Don’t worry about whether you’re allowed to, or whether anybody will want to read it, or sabotage your efforts with self-doubt. Write because you love it and write stories that entertain you. I wrote Fairytale of New York completely for me and never thought anyone else would ever read it – but when I uploaded the manuscript to Authonomy.com it was noticed by my publisher and now it’s my career. I honestly believe that if I’d tried to write to a formula, or write what I thought a publisher wanted to read, my book wouldn’t have been picked up. Listen to advice from other writers about how they do it, then find your own way that works for you. And whenever those pesky doubts creep in (which they will), repeat this mantra: I am good enough, I can write and my stories are worth reading!

What is your typical writing day? 

I don’t have one! I would love to be the kind of writer who gets up early, works a nine-to-five writing day and then reclines with a glass of wine. But my brain doesn’t work like that, unfortunately! I work three days a week for a food research company, so for two days a week, plus evenings and weekends, I write. Frustratingly, I always seem to hit my stride after 9pm, so even on my two writing days I’ll invariably not be productive until then and end up writing late at night (or sometimes right through, if there’s a deadline looming). But then some of the scenes I’m most proud of (like Harri’s Kefalonia scenes with Blanche and the big final scene in Welcome to My World) have been written at some ungodly hour in the morning, so it obviously works for me! 

Do you read when you write and, if so, who? 

It’s always a tricky one about whether to read when I’m writing. I’m always scared that, (a) the great idea I have for my book has already been written by someone else; or, (b) I’ll unwittingly end up assimilating someone else’s great ideas into my novel because I’ve just read them! For that reason I never read chick-lit or romantic comedies when I’m writing, but I might read something by Jasper Fforde (whose wonderful, artfully constructed books I’m completely in love with) or Sir Terry Pratchett (who is the master of comedic timing, so great inspiration). I’ve also just discovered Ben Aaronovitch, who is fast becoming a favourite author. And I watch Gilmore Girls – a lot – because the pace of its script is brilliant and great inspiration for when I’m writing dialogue (that’s my excuse, anyway!)

What are you expecting later at your launch party? 

You know, I have no idea! I’ve only ever had one launch party before, which I organised myself for Welcome to My World’s launch last year. It was brilliant but a lot of hard work because I was signing books, checking that all the guests were having a good time and keeping an eye on the catering all at once! The best thing about the launch party this year is that I’ve been able to invite thirty people who watch my vlogs, follow me on twitter and facebook and receive my newsletter, so it will be a fantastic way for me to thank them in person for all their support which means so much to me through the year. 

What can you tell us about your next novel? 

My fourth novel will be called When I Fall in Love and features a motley crew of characters in a choir, rivalry, romance and the last item on a very important list. There may also be the odd jazz hand thrown in for good measure, too… I’m going to be vlogging about it (after my vlog viewers demanded I continue next year), so I’ll be sharing exclusive excerpts along the way.

Thanks for speaking to Novelicious Miranda! 

My pleasure, thank you so much for having me! x

It Started With A Kiss is published TODAY and you can find out more about Miranda from her  Coffee & Roses blog, website and follow her on Twitter @wurdsmyth  

To celebrate the publication of this fabulous novel, we have not one, but two giveaways! To be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of It Started With A Kiss & a signed copy of Miranda's album, please leave a comment telling us about your most memorable kiss.

If that wasn't enough, we're giving you a second chance to win a signed copy of both Miranda's book and album and all you have to do for this is re-tweet this interview. (Winners to both will be announced next Thursday).

You can buy, It Started With a Kiss at Amazon UK, Waterstones, The Book Depository (shipped worldwide), Play.com.

Miranda's other novels: Welcome to My World: The Book Depository & Fairytale of New York Amazon

Review - Wrapped Up In You by Carole Matthews

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

Janie Johnson is single. She enjoys her job as a hairdresser and listening to her clients talking about their relationships, holidays and plans. She has her own cottage in a pretty village, which she shares with Archibald the Aggressive, a vicious ex-feral cat who doesn't take kindly to strangers, or anyone at all really. Her newly, single neighbour, Mike spends occasional evenings with her and together they watch DVDs and chat.

However, Janie doesn't enjoy being single. She's fed up with her clients trying to set her up with men they consider 'suitable'. She eventually gives in to her best friend Nina and goes on a blind date, but when that goes disasterously wrong and he refuses to believe she isn't just playing hard-to-get, Janie decides it's time to make a few changes to her life. She takes the advice of one of her regular clients, Mrs Silverton, and books a trip to the Maasai Mara.

Guest Post - A Different Kind of Hero by Carole Matthews

I’ve never written arrogant, smouldering male romantic heroes.  The men in my novels have always been ordinary, attainable men. They’re kind, flawed, trying to do their best. Sometimes they’ve been high-flying corporate men. Sometimes they’ve had no job at all. But they’ve always been the sort of men that most of us would come into contact with on a daily basis.

So it was a big departure for me in my latest - and nineteenth - novel Wrapped up in You to have a hero who is a fully-fledged Maasai warrior! When my heroine, Janie, goes in search of adventure on an African safari, she doesn’t expect to fall in love. Similarly, when I set out to write the character of Dominic, I had no idea that I would fall in love with him too.

I wanted to explore the fact that it’s so much easier these days to find love outside of our own small circles. It used to be the case that you’d meet someone at school, at work, in your own town, date and get married. But that’s not how it works now. Due to the internet, it’s now possible to forge relationships with people from all over the world.

Guest Post - A Different Kind of Hero by Carole Matthews

I’ve never written arrogant, smouldering male romantic heroes.  The men in my novels have always been ordinary, attainable men. They’re kind, flawed, trying to do their best. Sometimes they’ve been high-flying corporate men. Sometimes they’ve had no job at all. But they’ve always been the sort of men that most of us would come into contact with on a daily basis.

So it was a big departure for me in my latest - and nineteenth - novel Wrapped up in You to have a hero who is a fully-fledged Maasai warrior! When my heroine, Janie, goes in search of adventure on an African safari, she doesn’t expect to fall in love. Similarly, when I set out to write the character of Dominic, I had no idea that I would fall in love with him too.

I wanted to explore the fact that it’s so much easier these days to find love outside of our own small circles. It used to be the case that you’d meet someone at school, at work, in your own town, date and get married. But that’s not how it works now. Due to the internet, it’s now possible to forge relationships with people from all over the world.

But, as Janie finds out, falling in love with someone from another culture and on another continent can also be fraught with difficulties. Dominic doesn’t look the same as the usual romantic hero - he’s exceptionally tall, has a shaven head and wears traditional costume.  I also wanted to have some fun comparing a village in the Maasai Mara to a typically English village, so brought Dominic back to England.

This is a man who doesn’t conform to the norms of our society and, as well as making Janie fall head over heels in love, he sets the hearts of the good ladies of the The Nashley Church Flower Committee fluttering too with his easy charm.

He’s and incredibly strong, emotionally and physically, due to his Maasai culture. Theirs is a life of hardship and privation. Ladies, this man can wrestle lions with his bare hands! But he realises that he’s a man caught between two worlds and strives to blend the two without losing his identity.  The more I wrote about Dominic, the more I fell in love with him too.  He has a beautiful sense of fun and a fundamental commitment to his community.

At first, I thought that Dominic and Janie’s relationship might not survive, that the odds would be too great for them, but I just knew that Dominic would do all that he could to keep them together.

He might not wear a suit or work in high finance but, in some ways he’s the ultimate alpha male. Already my readers are asking me where they can find their very own Dominic. I hope when you read the book that you’ll fall in love with him too. I think he’s my most perfect romantic hero so far!

Thank you, Carole.

Wrapped Up In You is out 27th October.

You can find out more about Carole at her website, find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter: @carolematthews

Review - Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

It's 1754 and Brice Kinross is slowly coming to terms with the loss of his sweetheart to his brother. When Brice's father asks him to leave his home in Sweden and return to Rosyth, the family estate in the Scottish Highlands, he is only too happy to do so. However, since the Jacobite Rebellion when the Highlanders were subjected to cruel treatment by the Redcoats, the locals don't take kindly to strangers and are suspicious when Brice returns to his Rosyth unnannounced. Under the direction of the foreman, Seton, a sly man with his own agenda, the Highlanders do not make Brice feel welcome and are relieved to see the back of him after his initial visit.

Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful, young housekeeper at Rosyth has to fend off Seton's constant advances. She is determined not to let him have his own way and is guarded by her companion and bodyguard, a Deerhound called Liath, who does his best to keep Seton from getting too close to his mistress. She initially believes Seton's assurances that Brice is a traitor to their cause, but soon works out that Brice isn't the untrustworthy cad Seton insists him to be. She is aware that Seton has been creaming off the profits from the estate and Brice soon realizes this too.

Novelicious Chats To...Christina Courtenay

INTERVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

 Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Novelicious readers and congratulations for making the shortlist for Choc Lit Best Historical Read Award at the forthcoming Festival of Romance  and Best Historical Fiction Award at the recent Big Red Read Awards for your wonderful historical romance, The Scarlet Kimono. 

1. Highland Storms is the sequel to Trade Winds. What aspect of this book did you enjoy writing the most?  The interaction between the hero and heroine, especially when he surprises her.  She’s used to boorish men who do nothing but ogle her, so when the hero arrives and is both kind and mischievous rather than lascivious, she doesn’t know how to react.  Also the scenes with the heroine’s dog.  I love dogs and it was great to have one as a character who actually plays a part in the story.                    

2.  When writing historical novels, do you find it difficult to keep the sense of the era throughout the novel and how do you go about writing the characters’ voices as they spoke so differently then as opposed to how we speak now?  Yes, it can be hard to stay true to the period, but once I’m into a story, I’m usually there in my imagination.  I went to visit a Highland folk museum in Scotland where you can see for yourself what the houses of ordinary people were like, and I visited castles to get a feel for the higher levels of society – that helped.  I also wandered round Edinburgh and travelled through the Highlands – in both you can still imagine what it must have been like 250 years ago.  As for the characters’ voices, I try to just give a small flavour of the speech of that time by adding a few words of dialect or swearing, and sometimes by changing the sentence construction slightly.  It would be too tedious for a modern reader if I wrote in a more old-fashioned way and I think most people can imagine it for themselves.

Review - The Very Picture Of You by Isabel Wolff

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

Ella Graham paints portraits, is single and dislikes her sister, Chloe's fiancé, Nate, with a passion. She can't forget how she overheard him talking disparagingly about her sister to another woman and not wishing to upset her sister, she keeps quiet and resolves to see him as little as possible.

Her mother holds a charity auction and Chloe bids for Ella's lot for a commission to paint someone's portrait. She tells Ella that she wants Nate to sit for her, and for her to paint his portrait, so she can give it to him on their wedding day as a present. Ella, loves her sister, so has no choice but to push aside her dislike of the man and do her best.

Most of the time Ella loves her job. She meets many interesting people, from Mrs Carr (love that name!) a lady in her eighties with a heartbreaking secret she's kept to herself for years; Celine, a spoilt French woman with a seemingly perfect life, who resents having her portrait painted now she's about to turn forty, and Mike a once happy politician who has something so terrible on his mind that he seems to age every time he arrives for a sitting.

Ella has her own heartbreak to contend with. Her absent father, John, left her and her mother when she was small and now he wants to meet up with Ella. Her mother refuses to divulge any information about him and has even thrown away all his photos. The only reminder Ella has of him are pictures she drew from memory when she was smaller. Did he really simply turn his back on them, or was there more about his departure than her mother has admitted?

Ellla battles with her mother's selfishness and with her own past. She doesn't want to upset her step-father, Roy, by agreeing to meet her father, but ends up confiding in him about her dilemma. During the sittings, Nate and Ella begin to talk. She soon realizes he's not as bad as she initially assumed and despite her best efforts begins to fall in love with him. Ella has choices to make and none of them are going to be easy.

I'm always thrilled to read an Isabel Wolff book and this one was just as good as I'd hoped. Ella and Chloe's relationship is lovely and you can see why Nate is so appealling. The secondary characters are beautifully layered and Isabel Wolff's books are always difficult, if not impossible, to put down. This one was no exception. The conflicting emotions experienced by Ella are beautifully written and I couldn't imagine how the story could end happily. You'll have to read it yourself to find out what does happen, but I can assure you it's very satisfying. 

9/10

The Very Picture Of You is published by Harper and is available now.

You can find out more about Isabel Wolff and her other books on her site. You can also find Isable's Guite To Writing & Getting Published here.

Review - Never Can Say Goodbye by Christina Jones

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR                

Francesca Meredith, Frankie, can't believe it when her boss, Rita announces that not only is she leaving Kingston Dapple to go and live the life she's always fantasized about in the sun, but she's also giving Frankie her shop which is to be renamed, 'Francesca's Fabulous Frocks'. Once Frankie recovers from the shock, she decides it's time to follow her own passion and donate all the tired clothes from the hire shop and open her own retro dress shop to sell the vintage dresses that she has always adored.

Kingston Dapple might be a quiet Berkshire village, but there's a handsome newcomer in town. Dexter Valentine, who Frankie discovers is running away from some dark and mysterious past, has taken over his uncle's business selling flowers. Lilly, Frankie's dizzy flatmate, can't believe her eyes when she spots Dexter and is determined to get to know him as well as she possibly can. Frankie, however, has listened to Dexter's uncle when he hinted at his nephew's secret past before leaving the village with Rita. She soon finds out that Dexter is helping out local housewives with flower deliveries and decides that as gorgeous as he is, he's better kept as a good friend rather than someone to fall in love with. After all, the reason she came to Kingston Dapple in the first place was to escape her own heartbreak and humiliation. 

Review - The Empty Nesters by Nina Bell

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR              

 
  Laura is an ex-actress. She gave up her fledgling career to look after her only child, Jamie and has spent her son's school years sharing school-runs, children's parties and much gossip with her closest friend Clover. The other woman in their lives, is Alice, a once broke, but now increasingly successful business woman, who despite everyone's interest refuses to divulge her daughter's father. The threesome socialize together and although Alice has done more working than her fair share of childcare, the other two don't mind too much.

Their children have all finished school and the youngest ones are leaving for university. It's a time of change in all their lives, whether they'd expected it to be or not. Laura is a little lost. She's revolved her entire life around her son since his traumatic birth and although she's still married to her handsome husband, Tim, she finds fault in everything he does. Clover and her husband George aren't as devastated by the changes in their circumstances and intend travelling and making the most of their freedom while they're still young enough to do so.

Review - Start Struck by Jane Lovering

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR     

Skye Threppel (don't you just love that name?) used to be an actress with a best friend and fiancee until a tragic car crash killed her fiancee and best friend and left her badly scarred with no memory of the year before the life-changing incident. She's nervous and unable to cope with most things and the only thing that's kept her going for the previous 18 months is the TV programme, Fallen Skies and her crush on the leading actor, Gethryn Tudor-Morgan.

Her best friend, Felix persuades her to join him in Nevada for a five day convention for the show. It's a difficult decision for someone who's barely able to leave her home, but the thought of possibly meeting her hero and doses of Valium help Skye to attend. In between panic attacks, she meets Jack Whitaker. He's messy, usually wearing pyjamas and tends to go around barefoot. Unbeknown to Skye, Jack is the writer behind the scripts she loves so much. He helps Skye when she has a panic attack and even though he can't help feeling drawn to her, has no intention of becoming involved with anyone, let alone a woman with so many issues. After all, he has more than enough himself.

Review - Outside The Ordinary World by Dori Ostermiller

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR  

The story is told from the point of view of both the twelve-year-old Sylvia, during the bush fires of the 1970s and the adult Sylvia in 2004. Sylvia is raised as a Seventh Day Adventist and learns that although her mother is religious and attends church regularly, she's also having an affair with Mr Robert. He writes letters to Sylvia about their secret outings and her mother expects her to keep their times with Mr Robert a secret from her distant and abusive father.

Years later, Sylvia and her husband Nathan buy a beautiful, but rundown home. They hope to spend a year or so renovating, but run out of money and Sylvia loses her enthusiasm for Nathan's project. She is determined not to repeat her mother's mistakes, but one day meets Tai, the father of one of her students and they embark on their own affair with devastating consequences.

Sylvia's emotional pain and conflict about her mother's actions and choices and then her own, and the difficulties between her and her own daughter together with the crippling guilt she feels about her father's tragic death are brilliantly written. It's easy to picture her childhood and the scenary and tensions around her, and although at times this was a painful and shocking story, it was one that will stay in my mind for a while to come.

8/10

Outside The Ordinary World is published by Mira Books and is out on 17th August.

You can find out more about Dori Ostermiller here.