A Little Bit of Madness by Sheryl Browne - Cover Reveal

A Little Bit of Madness by Sheryl Browne

Today it's great to be taking part in the Cover Reveal of Sheryl Browne's new novel, A Little Bit of Madness - and here's the cover!

About the book

No rest for the wicked.

Saving Charlton hall will burrow into your heart.

Celia Summers loves her job as an art therapist at The Harbour Rest Home, even if her partner, Martin, is disparaging of her efforts.

Martin, a solicitor, made speculative investments and needs to get his hands on his mother’s assets, her home, Charlton Hall, to bail himself out of debt. In order to sell the house, he has to get Rosemary re-housed at The Harbour Rest Home and tries to get Celia on his side with a fabrication of lies.

Meanwhile, Celia fights for gallery space for her charges’ artwork, and to keep The Harbour from being closed.

Police Constable Alex Burrows, son of Colonel Burrows, comes to her rescue when she crashes her car. Alex turns out to be considerate and caring with a witty, wicked, sense of humour, which makes Celia laugh, though when she learns of the circumstances surrounding his the loss of his wife, she wants to cry. She ignores his reputation as a womaniser. His trying to influence his father’s Will though, she can’t.  Alex, who little by little has stolen her heart, appears to be just as much a liar as Martin.

Despite all efforts, The Harbour is doomed to closure. Celia decides to take Rosemary home and forestall Martin’s plan to sell Charlton Hall. Celia is soon joined by the rest of her elderly independents, who rally together to stop Martin evicting them. Colonel Burrows is ready to thrash the enemy to death with his walking stick when his son arrives in his uniform. Alex explains that Colonel Burrows is the buyer of Charlton Hall and finally does what he’s been trying to do for ages: ask Celia to marry him.

A Little Bit of Madness is published by Safkhet on February 14th 2013.

Visit my blog again on February 15th 2013 to see Sheryl's guest post as part of the book launch tour!

Romantic question!

As part of the cover reveal, we have both answered a question relating to romance! Do feel free to join in and leave your own answer to the question below in the comments if you'd like to!

What is your idea of a perfect date?

Sheryl: George Clooney at my front door.  Trust me, I’d let him in with or without coffee.

Lindsay: My husband and I, in our little cottage, snuggled up, with good food and a good film!

And what about you, dear reader?

About the Author

Sheryl Browne grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she studied Art & Design.

A partner in her own business, a mother and a foster parent to disabled dogs, Sheryl has also been writing for many years, the road along the way often bumpy.  She was therefore thrilled beyond words when Safkhet Publishing loved her writing style and commissioned her to write her debut novel. 

RECIPES FOR DISASTER - combining deliciously different and fun recipes with sexilicious romantic comedy, is garnering some fabulous reviews and was shortlisted for the Innovation in Romantic Fiction Festival of Romance Award.  Sheryl has since been offered a further three-book contract under the Safkhet Publishing Soul imprint. SOMEBODY TO LOVE, a romantic comedy centring around a single father’s search for love and his autistic little boy, launched July 1. WARRANT FOR LOVE, Blackmail, lies, adultery, entrapment - three couples in a twisting story that resolves perfectly - released August 1.

A LITTLE BIT OF MADNESS - White Knight in Blue rescues the Harbour Rest Home - releases Valentine’s Day 2013.

LINKS:

Sheryl’s Website

Safkhet Publishing

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Author Facebook     

Romantic Novelists’ Association

Sheryl is a loveahappyending featured Author and Editor.

Twitter: @sherylbrowne

Competition

Sheryl is offering a giveaway of either a paperback copy or an ecopy of this book as a prize to one winner who comments on any of the blogs participating in the cover reveal.  So from the five blogs, there will be a winner of either a paperback or an ecopy.  Sheryl will choose the winners a week after the tour ends. So do leave a comment if you'd like to be in with a chance!

You can find out about all the tour stops for both the cover reveal and the book tour by visiting Fiction Addiction Book Tours

Never Alone - Linn B. Halton - Book Tour

My guest on the blog today is author Linn B. Halton, writing about her new book, Never Alone. Welcome Linn!

The fun thing about a virtual book tour is that you get to visit friends old and new. It’s great to be here with you again Lindsay, thank you so much for being a part of my Fiction Addiction Book Tour!

I’m here to talk about Never Alone, which is hot off the press. As a new author I’m still trying to up my game with each book I write and this is my fifth. After a departure to write a true story and then my first chick lit, I’m back to writing with a light psychic touch. I say ‘light’ as I wouldn’t class this as a ghost story. Because the incidents in the book are based on real experiences it’s more subtle, as is often the case with psychic phenomena. However, the story is really about life and love, about making decisions and being honest with yourself if you aren’t happy with the life you have. 

It begins with Holly describing her perfect life and counting her blessings, but from there on she’s riding an emotional rollercoaster. Gradually her life falls apart and it’s hard to see how she can pull it all back together.

Holly is an Estate Agent and she’s just had an unexplained experience in a house she’s been showing. It’s been a bad day and she climbs back into her car to go back to the office…

There’s an odd chill in the air. I notice it the moment I click the driver’s door shut. My eyes search for a sign that confirms I’m not imagining the change in temperature. I know it’s crazy, so I try to pull myself together and start the engine. I can’t stop glancing at the house as it disappears in the rear view mirror. Finally I turn out of the cul-de-sac and onto the main road that will take me back to the office. It’s over; my body sinks back into the seat with relief.

Turning on the radio to help me relax a little seems a good idea. Who wouldn’t be spooked? But the noise adds to a sense of confusion that continues to hover around me. I have to turn it down low, because suddenly the effort required to drive requires all of my concentration. Thoughts are still spinning around inside my head. I’m making silly mistakes, forgetting to indicate and not checking my speed. What’s gotten into me?

I glance in the rear view mirror when I hear a motorbike speeding up behind me and then I see it. A shadow, large enough to be a person, sitting in the backseat. A split second and then it’s gone. Frantically I apply the brakes, which is the last thing the bike rider travelling close behind me was expecting. He manages to overtake me, shouting obscenities as he screams past me at speed with only inches to spare. I’m shaking like a leaf. As soon as I manage to stop the car, I scrabble at the door handle to climb out.

                  I run over to stand on the grass verge. I can’t take my eyes off the car, as if I’m half-expecting someone else to step out. I need to check the back seat, but my heart is pounding savagely in my chest and my body is heavy. My arm and shoulder are so painful, I long to curl up somewhere safe and comfortable. Why is this happening? Am I simply freaking myself out?

                  A car driving past slows, then pulls to a halt. A young woman winds down the passenger window. It’s not someone I recognise.

                  “Hey,” she calls out, “are you OK there? Broken down?” I walk towards her car, hoping that when I open my mouth a coherent sentence will come out.

                  “Yes, broken down,” I repeat, parrot-fashion. What am I doing? I can’t stand here all day, although I have no intention of getting back into my car.

                  “I’m heading towards Stroud; can I give you a lift?” She’s already moving items off of the passenger seat. She leans across to pull the handle to open the door for me. My brain is racing; this is stupid. What am I going to say when I arrive back at the office? I have no choice because I’m too scared to drive back in my own car. I press lock on the key fob in my hand and climb into the passenger seat.

                  “Thank you so much. I’m Holly Atherton,” I introduce myself. I can only hope the look on my face is composed.

                  “Hi, Holly, I’m Sam Watts. Always a pleasure to help out another motorist. I broke down once on a roundabout in Gloucester and I was so grateful when two people came to my rescue. Mind you, I only stop for women motorists. You have to be safe, don’t you?” She smiles back at me and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a sense of normality returns. I can’t explain why or how; I only know that whatever it was that was with me, has now disappeared.

                  We talk all the way to Stroud and I hope I made sense, because I can’t for the life of me remember a word I’ve been saying. Sam kindly takes a small detour and drops me in Ardington High Street, a couple of hundred yards away from the office. The silly thing is I didn’t even grab my bag out of the car, so I can’t offer her anything. I’m embarrassed and say so, but she dismisses it with a smile and tells me to return the favour if I ever see someone broken down.

                  I watch her pull away, and wave. The reality of what I’ve done hits me. There is nothing wrong with my car and I’ve abandoned it, fifteen miles away on a country road. I’ve left everything, including my mobile, in the car and now I’m back here at the office and I don’t know what I’m going to say.

Linn’s links:

Website 
A loveahappyending.com author
Signed by:http://www.sapphirestarpublishing.com/linnbhalton
Twitter: @LinnBHalton
Facebook: Linn B Halton
Romantic Novelists’ Association page

Amazon.co.uk (buy)
Amazon.com (buy)

Thanks to Linn for her guest post today, and to Shaz for organising the FABT posts.

Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines by Carol E. Wyer

‘Welcome to Facing 50 With Humour the blog that gives you laughter lines.’

What a fun book! This novel genuinely did have me laughing out loud numerous times. Some of the situations and some of the conversations really ring true, and made me chuckle. I really enjoyed it as a light read with some very fitting observations about modern life.

Written as a blog, with posts in chronological order, and with comments from fellow bloggers at the end of the posts. This is thus written in a chatty style, as would befit a diary style blog.

Amanda Wilson is facing her fiftieth birthday, has a penchant for wine and describes herself as ‘a very desperate housewife’, loyal but grumpy retired husband Phil is nevertheless somewhat of a bore at times, and son Tom has dropped out of University and arrived back in their home, making very little of a helpful contribution, but adding to the general mess of their lives.

Amanda comes across as a fundamentally happy, cheerful person, who nonetheless is experiencing rather a slump in her life. She wonders what is around the corner, and wishes her days were a little more exciting. Her relationship seems to have lost any spark that it had.

Then there is some online flirting with an ex from many years back which adds a degree of interest in Amanda’s mundane daily life and intrigue for the reader as to what might happen, but also anxiety for Amanda as to whether it is ever a good idea to try and revisit the past in this way or if it is best left as just happy memories.

She has complaints about her husband but never any real malice, and underlying this there is always the sense of a genuine love for him and a sense that beneath it all they are good together.

There were some scenes described that had me in stitches whilst reading; one in particular was Amanda’s adventures trying to buy a bottle of milk, another was her son Tom’s efforts at doing the Christmas food shopping, it is brilliant in the incompetence of his efforts and wonderful in the hilarity it produces.

In writing this book in the style of a blog, it feels very current, and also very easy to pick up and read a few pages. It leaves you wanting more and eager to read the next post. Carol E. Wyer successfully creates moments of real humour from the everyday.

A lovely, genuinely funny modern read of contemporary women’s fiction, this is an easy read that you could happily sit back with and pass a few hours in light hearted pleasure. I am looking forward to reading Surfing in Stilettos which is the new book from this author and which features Amanda and Phil once again. 

Reviewed by Lindsay Healy

You can visit the author's website here and follow her on twitter @carolewyer

Carol is part of loveahappyending 

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me this book to read and give an honest review.

How do you Voodoo? - Janice Horton

This new novella by author Janice Horton is a short read for Halloween time. At only 20,000 words it's a quick, entertaining contemporary read. 

Nola Nichols is a top fashion model, used to her appearance being preened and polished to perfection at all times. Whilst on a flight traveling back to the UK from the Caribbean, trying to sleep in her first class bed, Nola is irked by a woman who appears to be ill and has been moved up from economy making noise and causing disruption to her peaceful routine. Demanding of the staff that the woman is removed back to her economy seat, Nola is aware of some words that the woman utters; could this be some sort of curse? Thinking little more of this at the time, when she returns home, strange physical changes being to happen to Nola. Suddenly the things she has prized most highly, her looks, are starting to fade, and with an important new modeling job coming up, she must somehow find a way to restore herself. 

There is a strong moral behind the story which is very current when thinking about our society nowadays. The main character is very focused on her appearance, believing that this is what matters most. Through the events within the story, she grows to realise that how she behaves and how she treats others are the things that ought to matter to her much more, and that kindness and friendship are more rewarding than selfishness and vanity. 

Will she confront the ghosts of her past? And how will things develop with Louis, the doctor she has met? The story takes in, amongst other places, the City of the Dead or Necropolis in Glasgow (read more about this in the link below to the author's post about it.)

It was a nice change to read a shorter story but one that still felt fulfilling and delivered intrigue and character development. Another entertaining, fun modern-day tale from this author with a nice balance of humour, sweet romance, morals and a spooky side!

Find out more about Glasgow's Necropolis or City of the Dead here, in a post by the author about her visit there. 

Reviewed by Lindsay Healy

Thank you to the author for kindly sending me a copy of this novella to read and review.

~~~

Janice Horton lives in Scotland and writes contemporary women's romantic fiction with humour. Her novels ‘Bagpipes & Bullshot’ and ‘Reaching for the Stars’ are both Amazon Kindle bestsellers. Her latest title ‘How Do You Voodoo?’ is a romantic and humorous novella for Halloween and out now!

Find out more about Janice and her novels:

Author Blog: http://www.janicehortonwriter.blogspot.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter: @JaniceHorton
Like her Author Facebook Page
Featured Author & Associate Editor at: Loveahappyending.com

Link to her ebooks on Amazon.co.uk

Link to her ebooks on Amazon.com

Sophie's Turn - Nicky Wells - Launch Tour

It's lovely to welcome guest author Nicky Wells to my blog today!

Guest post by Nicky Wells

First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to Lindsay for hosting me on the Little Reader Library as part of my blog tour for the launch of my debut novel, Sophie’s Turn.  It’s an honour to be here and to meet your readers, Lindsay: you’re a star!

Begging for time

When do you find the time to write, I get asked. Often.

“Well,” I tend to reply. “Do you want the short answer or the long answer?”

And answering the question made me think about just when, and how, I find the time to write these days, because finding the time isn’t always easy.

Sophie’s Turn, Part 1 in my Rock Star Romance Trilogy, was written almost seven years ago now.  The sequel was written this past year over a four months period.  As I am looking back over the two experiences, I can’t help but marvel how different my life is now, and how changed my writing universe has become. 

Sophie’s Turn was written in a perfect writer’s environment.  I was alone at home during the day, with no worries or chores, or anything else to do but write.  I would get up at leisure, have breakfast, switch on the computer and get going.  Task one would be to re-read the previous days’ work; and then, I would launch right in.  Most days, I would write for four or five hours, with breaks as required—or not, as I would often forget to stop for lunch.  By the time my husband came back from work, I would have my days’ labours neatly printed out and ready to be read out to him after dinner, snuggled up on the sofa, for instant feedback and review.  If the fancy took me, or I couldn’t sleep, or both, I would write some more later in the night because… well, I could sleep as late as I wanted to in the morning.  This was a blissful, happy and entirely stress-free experience.

Not so for the sequel!  Several things changed in my life to make writing now an exercise in quasi-military precision, extraordinary self-discipline and perseverance in the face of many, many interruptions.

First of all, of course, there are two children in the picture.  Gone are the days of leisurely starts to the morning, or unlimited writing time!  Instead, I have to fit writing into school hours, so that cuts the ‘available’ time in half or less.  Of course, I also fire up the computer having already completed the morning school run marathon of getting two reluctant children out of bed, dressed, fed and off to school.  Most of the time, I feel like having a nap when I walk into the door, not switching on the computer to write!

And of course, there’s the mad social whirl that is Twitter and Facebook, not to mention my blog.  Those endeavours didn’t encumber me when I was writing Sophie’s Turn, but it has become an integral part of my author’s platform and now demands a significant amount of attention.  Thus dwindles the available writing time… even more. 

Where in the past I had ten or so uninterrupted hours at my disposal every day of the week if I wanted them (except at weekends, of course!), now I count myself lucky if I can scrounge two or three.  Before last Christmas, things got so manic that I was content if I could manage just half an hour.

And yet… the sequel to Sophie’s Turn has been written, and the third book is in the works.  How, you ask?  Well… as I hinted above:  military precision schedules, rigorous discipline, and, of course, the chief motivator, the overpowering urge to get the novel written.  So during my writing time, I don’t answer the telephone, or check email or social networks, or do anything at all:  eat, drink, clean house… all of that had to wait and fit in around the writing.

In addition, I scrounged a little writing time here and there in the evenings, perhaps when my lovely husband was away on business travel, or perhaps just before bed.

And do you know the really surprising thing?  The pressure, the time constraints, the requirement to perform when to schedule, not when I wanted to… all of that concentrates the mind wonderfully.  Somehow, I discovered an ability to be creative ‘on tap’, and to write fast and furiously.  And shall I tell you something else?  The sense of achievement is tremendous. 

So there you have it.  Idea-rich, time-poor author writes fast and furiously in small instalments whenever she gets a chance, produces excellent glamorous and romantic fairy tales.  Yup, that’s me… and now is your chance to sample the fruit of my labour in Sophie’s Turn.

~~~~~

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door.  She recently signed her work with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing.  Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.  When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys.  In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy.  You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook.  Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing and, of course, Goodreads.

About Sophie’s Turn

Slapper.  Slut.  Adulteress.  These are hardly words that Sophie Penhalligan would normally use to describe herself.  Yet this is exactly how she is behaving, all things considered, even if she isn’t quite married to Tim yet.  And it’s all happening because her past is coming to tempt her!  Nine years ago, she met her teenage idol and rock star extraordinaire, Dan, up close and personal.  Well, almost.  Now Dan has crash-landed back in her life.  How could Tim ever stand a chance against the charming, handsome singer?  How could she?

Sophie, now twenty-eight and a budding newspaper journalist, is happily embroiled in a relationship with Tim, her boyfriend of two years.  Until recently, she was confident that Tim would eventually propose—probably as soon as he could get his act together.  But just as Tim’s persistent inaction is beginning to cast a cloud over their relationship, Dan’s sudden reappearance turns Sophie’s world upside down.  Thus unfolds a roller-coaster of events including an ill-fated trip to Paris with Tim, a night of unfulfilled romance with Dan, Sophie and Tim’s engagement party gate-crashed by Dan, and Sophie’s professional secondment to accompany Dan’s band on their revival tour—at Dan’s special request and very much against her will. 

And then, one fine day in Paris, Sophie suddenly finds herself engaged to Dan while her erstwhile fiancé Tim is...  well, doing whatever it is Tim does back in London.   What is she to do now?  Who wouldn’t give anything to meet their favorite star, let alone marry him? 

Find out how Sophie gets into this impossible situation, and how she turns it around, in Sophie’s Turn, the honest, funny and sometimes bittersweet story of one woman’s entanglement with a rock star.

You can read my review of Sophie's Turn here.

Thanks very much for visiting, Nicky!

Visit Nicky's website here - Romance that Rocks your World!

Sophie's Turn is published by Sapphire Star Publishing