Novelicious.com | The Women's Fiction Blog for Readers and Writers

Five Things for a Literary Christmas

Reading, at least in my house, is an essential part of the season. I mean, what could be nicer than curling up by the fire with a glass of red wine, an open tin of chocolates, and a good book? Nothing, that's what.

It also (almost) goes without saying that Christmas isn't Christmas without a stack of shiny new books underneath the tree. You'd be hard pressed to find a better – and more versatile – gift than a book. They work for all ages (picture books for the very young, large-print or audiobooks for the old), cater for every taste, and require no assembly or batteries. If you're a really bookish sort, here are five ways to make your Christmas even more literary. 

1. These Christmas tree decorations give old, unloved books a new lease of life. Each tree is made from a complete book and comes with a book page star on the top. The set comprises of a large, medium and small tree, measuring between 13 and 6.5 inches tall. Available for approximately £32 from Anothology On Main at Etsy. 

2. How to accessorise your Christmas outfit while also proclaiming your love of literature? With a book purse, of course. This neat little bag is made from a leather-bound copy of Charles Dickens' yuletide favourite A Christmas Carol. The purse is handmade and comes with a choice of handles and buttons (for the elastic closure). It costs around £36 from Novel Creations at Etsy. 

Win! Designer Shoes from Daniel Footwear!

To celebrate the release of Holly Kingston’s hilarious Christmas novella, A Cinderella Christmas, which is currently only 77p on Amazon, we’re giving away fabulously festive prizes every day until Wednesday 4th December.

On the ninth day of Christmas, Novelicious gave to me … a pair of designer shoes from Daniel Footwear!

Cinderella shall go to the ball … and she won’t be wearing flimsy glass slippers. No, siree. Yesterday we were giving away the party dress, today we’re giving away the shoes. Daniel Footwear is offering you the chance to win £50 to spend on a new pair of designer shoes or boots of your choice.

Friday Book Giveaway! The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore

In this week's competition, we have a copy of The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore to give away. Isn't the cover lovely?

Married couple, Miranda and David, move out of London into a beautiful country house with an idyllic garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their bucolic dream.

Review – Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan

Reviewed by Kay Brooks

Rosie’s thoughts are full of idyllic Christmas card scenes that she hopes will become reality this year. The little Derbyshire village of Lipton is blanketed with snow. Her sweetshop is decorated accordingly and stocked with festive delights. Knowing that she is going to be spending the season with her boyfriend, Stephen, Rosie genuinely thinks life cannot get better. A phone call from her mother informing her that she, along with her brother’s family, will be flying in from Australia only adds to her joyful anticipation.

As always is the case, life takes unexpected twists. When a car containing a young man and his confused elderly father enters Lipton with catastrophic consequences for residents of the village, a perfect Christmas seems far from attainable and Rosie’s plans need to change. All of a sudden, many of the villagers need her help, but the one person who needs her the most is pulling away.

Colgan’s novel arrived through my letterbox just like an early Christmas present, full of promises of an excellent festive read and recipes, which I am looking forward to trying out! Being a massive fan of Christmas stories, I couldn’t wait to dive in. The novel opens with a foreword from Jenny Colgan, explaining that this is a sequel to a previously popular novel entitled Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, but she promises that the reader needn’t have encountered this to enjoy the new novel they have in their hands. There were times when I felt this was not entirely true. Colgan refers to events from the previous novel that have obviously shaped the development of the characters and I felt myself at a disadvantage in understanding them. For example, quite near the start, I was informed that Lilian, Rosie’s eccentric and lovable aunt, did not allow the sweetshop to stock Topics due to something that had occurred during the previous summer. That was all the information I was given. For certain parts of the plot, this isn’t the case. Colgan does explain how Rosie ends up running Lilian’s sweetshop and living in her cottage. On the whole, it didn’t prevent me from enjoying the novel, but made me wish that I had read the first Sweetshop instalment first.

Review – The Obituary Writer by Lauren St John

Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce

Obituary writer Nick Donoghue’s life changes when he is involved in a train crash. While most of the passengers receive horrific or even life-threatening injuries, Nick walks away with very minor cuts and bruises. Nick insists he is fine and quickly returns to work at the newspaper, but beneath the surface he is falling apart. Plagued by disturbing dreams and writer’s block, Nick finally admits that all is not well and accepts the use of his friend’s holiday home in Cornwall.

Despite the crumbling wreck of a house that Nick finds himself staying in, Nick begins to relax again once he is away from the stresses of his everyday life and his nightmares abate. And then Nick meets Sasha, a local woman he finds himself falling in love with.

It took me a little while to really get into The Obituary Writer, but I was drawn in once Nick’s dreams began to take hold. The dreams were an intriguing part of the plot and I found the unfolding events interesting and wondered what would happen next. Unfortunately, the book then moved onto part two and it was a bit like starting from scratch. There was still the character of Nick, but it felt like a completely different book to the first part, which was a shame as I’d been really enjoying it.

Nick isn’t a character I could always sympathise with but, on the whole, I enjoyed his story, even if it wasn’t always a joyful tale. I did feel for him as his dreams seemed to suffocate him, leeching the life from him, however I didn’t always back the way he behaved towards those around him.

7/10

MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK

Lauren St John's Website

Win! A Christmas Party Dress from Fever London!

To celebrate the release of Holly Kingston’s hilarious Christmas novella, A Cinderella Christmas, which is currently only 77p on Amazon, we’re giving away fabulously festive prizes every day until Wednesday 4th December.

On the eighth day of Christmas, Novelicious gave to me … a lovely Christmas party dress from Fever London!

You know when you’ve been invited to a really swanky Christmas party, but you have nothing to wear? And you could go shopping, but it’s cold outside and you’re sort of at a pretty exciting point in your book? We’ve got you covered.

Novelicious Chats To...Sarah Morgan

Sarah Morgan has written over 65 books for Mills and Boon, as well as writing for other publishers. She has been nominated three years in succession for the prestigious RITA Award  from the Romance Writers of America and has won the award twice. Today, she has answered a few questions for us about her writing and most recent novel for Mills and Boon, Sleigh Bells in the Snow.

Rosanna Hancock Photography

Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

The morning is my protected writing time so I’ll switch off the phone until I’ve made good progress on my current story. I set myself a minimum word count, but always try and exceed it.

I carry on writing throughout the day, usually with a short break for lunch and exercise, but in the afternoon I’m also dealing with the other aspects of being a published author. I receive a lot of messages from readers, both by email and via social networking so I respond to those. Then there are blogs to write, revisions, emails, art queries, cover queries, title discussions, website updates, interview requests, conversations with my agent and editor and research for the book. Around release time I do a lot of promotion. Being an author is not just about writing.

When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

I sometimes use photos for inspiration, but not always celebrities. For Sleigh Bells in the Snow, I saw a picture of a girl with blonde hair in a red coat kicking a pile of snow in a forest. I stuck it to my wall and it stayed there as I wrote the book. She had her back to the camera, so it wasn’t her face that inspired me but the overall ‘feel’ of the image, which was perfect for my story.

Review – The Returned by Jason Mott

Reviewed by Amanda Keats

Though nothing to do with the TV show of the same name, The Returned follows an elderly couple, Harold and Lucille Hargreaves, as they are caught up in a bizarre new phenomenon taking place all over the world: the dead are coming back to life. This is not a story of zombies, rather the reappearance of dead loved ones exactly as they were before they died. They have no memory of how they came to be once more walking around the planet and for this one couple, seeing the return of their eight year old son proves to be both a challenging and rewarding experience.

As the story begins, you begin to ask why it is all happening. Why are they back? Are they really the people they used to be or just echoes of them? Is something far more sinister taking place or is it simply a miracle? As the story continues, it becomes less about the Returned and more about everyone else. How will they deal with the over-crowding or the return of those they loved so long ago? While some seek solace in religion, others refuse to acknowledge them as equal citizens and just get angry.

When the government gets involved and special facilities are set up to house them, it's only a matter of time before the tensions start to bubble over and the living are forced to decide if they will stand by the Returned or leave them to their new fate.

Novelicious Natters – Will E-readers for Young Children Suck the Magic Out of Reading?

Do children still love reading? According to an advert I saw recently, they do – but only on a Kindle! I love my Kindle, but I find it quite upsetting that companies are now advertising Kindles for children. Where has the magic gone? Do children of primary school age really need to be reading on a computer screen? What’s wrong with giving them an actual book?

Feasting on Romantic Comedy – Apple Cake from Calling Mrs Christmas by Carole Matthews

When I read a Christmassy book I'm always hoping for lots of mentions of food. Calling Mrs Christmas by Carole Matthews does not disappoint. 

It is the heartwarming tale of Cassie and the journey she goes on after setting up her own business. Earlier in the year, she was made redundant and had not been able to find a job. It is now a few months before Christmas, a time Cassie normally throws herself into, but thanks to her lack of job, there is no money. Thus, Christmas this year will be a muted affair for herself and boyfriend, Jim. But then it hits her whilst watching the daytime Christmas adverts. A fantastically fabulous idea. With her organisational skills, why couldn't she organise other people's Christmasses? Time poor but cash-rich people. It is a fantastic idea and after running it past Jim, she starts immediately. 

One particular Christmas job takes her all the way to Lapland where Cassie, her client Carter plus his two children, indulge in Swedish meatballs and potatoes followed by apple cake and cream. 

Costa Book Awards 2013 – Late Author Leads All Female Shortlist

Women have taken all four spots on the shortlist for best novel of 2013 in the Costa Book Awards, with Bernadette Bishop, who passed away in July, among those selected.

Behind the Scenes at a Publishing House – Fact and Fiction: Getting Lost in the Past

In the next part of our series, author Sophia Tobin talks about the appeal of historical fiction and why she loves writing it. 

Recently, I was asked why I decided to write historical fiction. Of course, it's because I love reading historical fiction – but there are two main reasons why reading it and writing it appeals.

The first is escapism. The Silversmith’s Wife has themes – murder, love, secrets, redemption – that could equally have been explored in modern-day London. But setting it in 1792 – a time when revolution could easily have been on the cards for England – gave it a frisson of excitement, and allowed me to escape completely into another world: a London that is both familiar, but very different from now. When I read a book, I want to be completely absorbed and wrapped up in the world the writer is creating for me. My goal was to create the same feeling in my readers, and setting it in the past gave me that distance and sense of escape.  

The second reason might seem to conflict with the first. It's because I love facts. I used to sit in Berkeley Square on my lunch break and wonder what it looked like in the eighteenth century – when were the huge plane trees planted? (1789, by the way); was the nearby pub, The Running Footman, open then? (yes, the first reference I’ve found to it is from 1782). I love those little details.

Win! Christmas Dinner Delivered from Hello Fresh!

To celebrate the release of Holly Kingston’s hilarious Christmas novella, A Cinderella Christmas, which is currently only 77p on Amazon, we’re giving away fabulously festive prizes every day until Wednesday 4th December.

On the seventh day of Christmas, Novelicious gave to me … an entire Christmas dinner delivered from Hello Fresh!

Weeks of planning, endless nights of recipe gathering in front of the computer screen, and whole afternoons lost to elbowing fellow shoppers out of the way for the perfect sprout or turkey. Christmas dinner, while delicious, can be stressful.

Exclusive! Novelicious Chats To...Alexandra Potter

We're huge Alexandra Potter fans here at Novelicious and were thrilled when she stopped by to talk about her latest book, The Love Detective, which is out on January 2nd 2014.

Can you tell us a little bit about the book you've been working on?

Absolutely! I have just finished The Love Detective, which is the first book in a brand new series. I'm very excited as I've never written a series before, but it's been something I've been dying to do for a while. I wanted to combine all the elements of my novels – romance, comedy, and a touch of magic – but I've also added another element – travel. Travelling is one of my great passions in life and I want to share that with my readers.

The heroine of The Love Detective is Ruby Miller, a girl close to my heart, as she's a romance novelist. Like me, she's fascinated by love and everything connected with it; from legends and superstitions, to real-life stories of relationships, chemistry and how people got together, to the idea of soulmates and finding 'the one'. She thinks of herself as a bit of a love detective (hence the title), because as she says:

"People always ask me what kind of books I write and I guess you'd call them love stories, but I also think of them as mysteries. After all, what makes two people fall in love? I've written three books on the topic and I'm still looking for the answers. I guess, in a way, I'm a bit of a love detective. Not in a Sherlock-Holmes-in-a-deerstalker type of way. I'm not searching for clues to solve crimes, (though I did once spend hours with my friend Rachel, trying to discover why her online date never called her again. Which is a sort of a crime. As trust me she was a million times nicer than him.) But because detectives are always exploring mysteries, and what is love, if not the greatest mystery of all?"

I was inspired to set this first book in India as it's such a wonderful, magical country. I spent a month there researching this new book and went on a road trip that was an amazing and wonderful adventure. The trip also had a huge personal effect on me. I went there after my father had died and I was just terribly sad and heartbroken and India brought me back to my life. I knew immediately that this is where Ruby has to go, as when we first meet her, she's lost her faith in love. Her heart has been broken by her (now ex) fiance. She can't write. She just doesn't believe in anything anymore. So when her sister invites her out to Goa for week's beach holiday she jumps on a plane… and embarks on an extraordinary adventure.