Romance reads

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Guest post. Karen Louise Hollis

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I’m thrilled to have Karen Louise Hollis on my blog today. Karen runs her own (very popular) blog, alongside writing lots of beautiful books. I asked her about both and she’s here to tell us more.

From Karen:

I started writing my blog because I have been reviewing books online since 2000, when I wrote reviews for sites like Ciao and Dooyoo. I also used to review books on Facebook, but realised they could only be seen by my Facebook friends, so I decided to start a book blog two years ago.

This led to me joining various blog tours and using my blog to review those, alongside the odd blog post about my own writing and some interview posts. Then more recently, I decided (after finishing writing my third novel), I should put more time into my blog and try to create content on a daily basis, instead of the usual three posts a week I had been doing.

So I started to contact authors I knew online, or those who had written books I had read and enjoyed, or those whose work I was interested in to see if they would like to be on my blog. I was amazed how many did and especially thrilled that some of my favourite authors like Milly Johnson and Lisa Jewell said yes! Wow! I tend to ask the same ten questions, though I vary it occasionally depending on who I am interviewing.

I have written many more non-fiction books than fiction and these include lots of gymnastics books where I have interviewed gymnasts who competed for their countries from the 1950s to the present day. As both my parents were journalists, this feels like my natural home. I am fascinated by people and truly believe everyone has a story. I ask the questions I want to know the answer to and I hope readers will find the answers interesting too. This is the same with my author questions. My first question I ask is about the books and authors they read as a child and wow, nearly everyone says Enid Blyton (me included), she was such a wonderful writer for getting kids reading and caught up in all the magical worlds we find between the pages.

BLURB

Becki is fifty and a single mum to eleven-year-old Jemima, after being widowed five years ago. Dan is forty-eight and a single dad to eleven-year-old Freddie, after his wife left him five years ago. They have both given up on love. But when they all go to Silver Sands Bay on the Lincolnshire coast for the summer, will they be able to put the past behind them and find love again?

Links

Twitter – https://twitter.com/KarenLNHollis

IG – https://www.instagram.com/karenlouisehollis/

Blog – iheartbooks.blog/blog

Amazon Author Page – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-Louise-Hollis/e/B00NSLQME6?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1691933322&sr=8-1

Bio – About Karen Louise Hollis

I was born in Lincoln, England in 1969. I loved writing from an early age, being the daughter of two journalists. I am a mum to five children and have three grandchildren. I have had over twenty books published and have written about a variety of topics including motherhood, poetry, Doctor Who and gymnastics. My first novel Welcome to Whitlock Close came out in 2022 and my second one Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay in 2023.

Meet Jodie Homer!

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Today, it’s my pleasure to be part of the blog tour for Jodie Homer. Jodie is a member of my book group, Lizzie’s Book Group and it’s been lovely to see her author journey. Feel free to join the group and to tell your friends about it! It’s a great place for authors and readers to chat and find out more about each other. Wishing Jodie a brilliant publication day for her second book and I look forward to reading Married By Thirty.

Meet Jodie:

I am an author of romance chick-lit. My newest novel Married By Thirty is the 2nd book in the For the Love of a Scottish Myth series that is 4 books based on myths and legends in and around Scotland. The first in the series is A Magical Christmas on the Isle of Skye.

So this new one is based on Freya Mulberry who has been best friends with James for all of her life and on her 16th birthday they make a pact to get married when they turn 30 if they aren’t already.

Obviously love isn’t that simple and Freya leaves town but just before her 30th birthday finds out she has inherited a manor house. There’s always been rumours about what really happened at the house and now Freya is in the middle of it all and has to find out with James help what actually happened.

What will they discover when they explore the house and who is the woman staying in the house?

Author bio

Jodie lives in a small village in Solihull with her husband and two children. She loves nothing more than dancing around embarrassingly to 90s music and eating mint chocolate. Jodie enjoys reading and writing books full of romance and swoon-worthy fictional men.

Blurb

Almost fourteen years ago, Freya and James made a pact to marry if they were both single at thirty. When Freya inherits Mulberry Manor and its rumoured ghost, she returns home and enlists James’ help in figuring out the truth behind the ‘haunted house’. But it’s not just the house that is being a little weird. Can James and Freya figure out the mystery of Dahlia Mulberry without the spark between them setting both their lives on fire? And now they’re both thirty… when the clock strikes midnight, will they really put a ring on it?

Buy the book: Click here!

Social media links:

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/jodietheauthor

Twitter
https://twitter.com/umbrellacafe

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/jodie_loves_books/

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21824053.Jodie_Homer?ref=nav_profile_l

February word count.

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Hello everyone. I haven’t posted here for a while. How are you all? I’ve been working on the second book in the Cherry Blossom Lane series and have just received the first edits back from my editor. The book is called, The One That He Wants and is the second book in the series to My Perfect Ex. It’s always exciting and nerve wracking to open that email to see what she says! Luckily she loves the story and is looking forward to book three. Phew! Here are some gorgeous reviews from book 1: ‘Loved it!’ ‘A wonderful read.’ ‘Beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyed.’

I’m trying to be more organised this year, so I bought myself two huge wall planners for my office and home and I’m using it as a visual prompt to get on with book promotion and stop procrastinating. I’ve held a couple of writing buddy sessions that I run with fellow romance author, Chris Penhall, recently and the daytime session was fully booked, which was exciting. It warms my heart to hear about the different ways people write, what they are working on and also that writing buddies might help them to get words onto paper in some way. We hire the top floor of a gorgeous coffee shop and encourage people to write with two 30 minute writing sprints, a coffee break to network and a chat at the end about how people are. There are no word count pressures and we don’t check anyone’s work, it is purely to write alongside other creatives for a couple of hours. We have people writing books, comedy, short stories, poetry, articles and more. The weather has been dreary, so it’s always a mad dash to keep our computers and manuscripts dry if we are going to the coffee shop. I tend to write by hand at first, so I always have pages and pages of paper with me.

I’ve been chatting to people on social media a lot recently and I’m enjoying hearing about what everyone is reading. I’ve just started reading a lovely book called Patches through time by Sian Turner, who is a member of my book group, Lizzie’s Book Group, on Facebook. I’ve also just finished a book by Sue Moorcroft, called An Italian Island Summer, which is a beautiful read.

Have a great week everyone! From Lizzie. x

 

Free and bargain romance reads.

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Hi everyone. I have some deals for BlackFriday and Cyber Monday, that i’d love to share with you. Finding Gina is free for a couple more days and  If you love me i’m yours, Babe Driven and The woman who felt invisible are all 99p/99c  until Monday evening. Usual price: £2.99/$3.99.

Researchers at the University of Sussex found reading for just six minutes may reduce stress by up to 68%!

If that’s not an excuse for some ‘me time’, I don’t know what is! 🙂

Universal book buy link: Finding Gina: viewbook.at/FindingGina
Book blurb:

If you enjoy irresistible humour, warmth and romance, you’ll love this gorgeous magical adventure. From the international bestselling author of, My Perfect Ex.

After taking a wrong turn in the road, Gina parked her little campervan on the front lawn of a beautiful English manor house and sighed in relief. No one knew her here, so perhaps she could stop running from her past and give her heart time to heal.

Fledgling wedding events owner and heir to the estate, Toby, needed someone to help him run the business and fast. If he didn’t make money this year, then his aunt’s legacy might crumble to the ground, around him.

From his little cottage on the estate grounds, Lewis read another provincial story about a ‘guardian angel’ who had been helping families across the country and his reporter’s nose began to itch. He was sure that is he could track down the girl they were talking about, he would unearth an even bigger story. He just had to work out how to locate her and then find out what it was she was running from.

‘A SWEET ROMANCE FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BE SWEPT AWAY BY A GOOD CHICK-LIT READ WITH A CAST OF COLOURFUL CHARACTERS AND SATISFYING HAPPILY EVER AFTERS.’

★★★★★ ‘Magic! This book is like a warm cup of coffee with some magic stars sprinkled on top.’ – Heidi Reads

Universal book buy link: If you love me, I’m yours: mybook.to/IfYouLoveMe

Universal book buy link: Babe Driven: viewbook.at/BabeDriven

The woman who felt invisible: viewbook.at/InvisibleWoman

 

 

 

The healing power of romance.

/ lizziechantree / 24 Comments

Hi everyone. How are you all? I hope 2022 has started off with some happiness.

There was an article in the media recently, about how forgettable romance books are and it hit a nerve with me. A few weeks before Christmas I was told I needed a biopsy and another procedure and I spent New Year’s Eve attending an anaesthetist appointment. I didn’t tell many people, as I didn’t want to worry them, or spoil their festivities. Isolating during such a busy time of year wasn’t much fun, but having these reads beside me helped my mental health.   I chose books by Heidi Swain, Katie Fforde and Mary Jayne Baker and all three caught my imagination, kept me turning page after page and eased a stressful situation.

I tried my best to enjoy every minute of the festive season, but worry simmered under the surface each day. I found it difficult to concentrate on writing my own romance novels, but turned to reading the books of other authors, to distract my mind with their beautiful stories and to give me moments of peace.  I even sat and read them as I was waiting to go into theatre, to help ease my nerves! These are books I will never forget. The NHS were absolutely incredible and I’m happy to say that my results are clear, which I’m very thankful for.

Romance novels make us happy and help us through hard times. The stories give us time to step away from worries and travel to places we’ve never been to before. They offer us comfort when we feel down and let us know we are not alone.  I have recently spoken to others who have also found solace from romance books before surgery. Any book of any genre, that brings enjoyment to our lives, is just as worthy as the next.

I’m very proud to have been writing romance books for about ten years now and the community of writers and readers I’ve met along the way, are something really special.  I write books to make people smile and if a story I’ve written, feels like a hug to the reader, then I’m happy. It doesn’t make the story or genre, any less important, if people enjoy it. Even if someone else doesn’t.

‘We can’t make everyone happy, we’re not pizza.’

/ lizziechantree / 6 Comments

Happy new week everyone. I’ve been feeling a bit low over the last week, trying to meet publishing deadlines and fulfil other commitments. There is a lot of Christmas cheer around, which is wonderful, with fairy lights adorning houses and Christmas carols playing on the radio, but our boiler is broken so our toes are a bit frosty right now. I think i’m missing working with my mum, who I haven’t hugged since March. Even though I work on my own a lot of the time, i’m feeling – as i’m sure is everyone else in the world – the loss of chats over a table with friends. This photo is from two years ago and is Christmas lunch with the lovely Chelmsford Romantic Novelists’ Association  members.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, with news of vaccines and possibilities that we may be able to be together again soon, so i’m trying to shake off the procrastination and find my usual enthusiasm. Writing these words onto paper helps me to focus on what I need to achieve this week. There are lots of exciting things on the horizon, with at least three new fiction books out next year, The little ice cream shop by the sea (out March 2021), Invisible Woman (out July 2021) and the third title will be revealed in the run up to launch day in May.

Romance reads from Lizzie Chantree

Romantic suspense reads from Lizzie Chantree

This week i’m taking part in the Chick Lit blog hop on Wednesday 9th Dec. I have some incredible prizes to give away via my Facebook page, including book themed socks, a beautiful notebook, a copy of bestselling book ‘Seven kinds of people you find in bookshops’ a copy of my own bestselling book, Finding Gina and a simply stunning set of 36 inspirational quote magnetic bookmarks. I’m also being interviewed for a Mumpreneur summit, details of which i’ll post later in the week or early next week.

I really appreciate your support of my writing and blog posts and hope you are all staying safe, well and that you’re managing to avoid procrastination – unlike me today!

If you could wish for one gift under the Christmas tree this year, what would it be?

 

Making the most of Pinterest.

/ lizziechantree / 27 Comments

Pinterest can be a great tool for authors. Here are 3 tips for making the most of your Pinterest page as a writer.

Pinterest. Lizzie Chantree

1.  Create new boards with #keywords in the title. This makes them easier for others to discover and helps boost your rankings. You can also use keywords in your pin descriptions. For example, the pin above would be in Books by author Lizzie Chantree, with the descriptive keywords, BeachReads, Babe Driven, Love’s Child, Finding Gina.

2.  Post original content. Write your own content, or search the web for interesting quotes, photos, or book writing related news.

3.  Add a Pinterest widget to your blog or website. This means that every time you write an article, the widget will take the most interesting pieces and form pins for you to easily add to your Pinterest page.

 

How to make an author smile :)

/ lizziechantree / 29 Comments

I had a great review for my book Love’s Child recently on Amazon. Giving and author a good review for a story you’ve enjoyed is like handing them a rainbow!

Coming to the end of a book and then seeing the ‘rate this book page’, is usually enough to send most people screaming from the room, quite possibly throwing their Kindle into a drawer without a backward glance as if it was made of molten lava!

From an author’s perspective, spending months and often years writing a story and then seeing a review where someone says they have enjoyed the story, is enough to warm their soul and support them on their writing journey.

I read and review many lovely books and have just started adding a few of them to this blog. Amazon requires a title for it’s review, then simply one or two sentences to say what you liked about the story. It can be as detailed as you like, or literally…’A great read!’ or ‘I enjoyed the story. Give it a try!’ These few words might be enough to entice another reader to discover the work of an author they haven’t seen before and they generally mean the world to the person who wrote the book.

The author might use your quote in marketing material, on their website or blog, or print it in the back of their next book. If you have a blog or website yourself and post your review there, the author may tweet or reblog your content, which could help with your own viewing figures.

Make an author smile today. Leave a review and help a reader find their new favourite story. Thank you 🙂

Here are some amazing blogs:

D.E Howards blog. Dawn Delivers: Love’s Child book review.

When Angels Fly. Blog by S. Jackson and A. Raymond: Finding Gina book review. 

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Click the book picture to go to Amazon.