The French Cookery School by Caroline James #TheFrenchCookerySchool @CarolineJames12 @0neMoreChapter_ @rararesources #MyLifeInBooks

 

Mix together a group of mature students:

A culinary Sloane, a take-away cook and a food journalist.

Add in:

A handsome host

Season with:

A celebrity chef

Bring to the boil:

At a luxurious cookery school in France!

Waltho Williams has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he opens the doors of La Maison du Paradis, his beautiful French home. But with dwindling funds, a cookery school seems like the ideal business plan. 

Running away from an impending divorce, super-snob Caroline Carrington hopes a luxurious cookery holiday will put her back on her feet. Blackpool fish and chip café owner Fran Cartwright thinks she’s won the lottery when her husband Sid books her on a week working alongside a celebrity chef. Meanwhile, feeling she is fading at fifty, journalist Sally Parker-Brown hopes her press week covering the cookery course will enable her to boost her career.

But will the eclectic group be a recipe for success, or will the mismatched relationships sink like a souffle? 

Whip out an apron, grab a wooden spoon and take a culinary trip to La Maison du Paradis, then sit back and enjoy The French Cookery School!

The French Cookery School by Caroline James was published on 25 April 2024 by One More Chapter. As part of this Blog Tour organised by Rachel's Random Resources, I am delighted to welcome the author here to Random Things today. She's telling us about the books that are special to her, in My Life In Books 

My Life in Books - Caroline James 

Hello Anne and many thanks for inviting me to your excellent blog as I celebrate the publication of my new novel, The French Cookery School 

The Drifters – James A Michener

I was about fifteen when I first read this book, and it left such an impression on me that I left home a little while later. It is a powerful story about a group of young runaways from different backgrounds who meet in Torremolinos in the summer of ’69. Full of disenchantment and feeling adrift from the world during the Vietnam era, they travel to exotic locations with their hopes and dreams and experience a ‘summer of love’. It is a brilliant historical account of that era. Although it may feel outdated today, it is as powerful now as it was then.

Stirred But Not Shaken – Keith Floyd

“Food is Life. Life is Food.”

Keith Floyd is the most eloquent food writer and a brilliant cook. Cook, not chef – this was his term for himself. In this memoir about his roller-coaster life, he tells us of lost fortunes, four wives, the fame that he never really came to terms with and the ups and downs of his illustrious career. I adored Keith Floyd, and even today, many years after his death, I love to watch re-runs of his hilarious yet informative shows. But it was his writing style that hooked me. Floyd on food is like a symphony, a marriage of the best cuisine and finely honed descriptions that linger long after the taste buds have died. I followed Floyd’s footsteps to his beloved Kinsale to set a novel there, and he inspired me to write my own culinary tale. 

The Old Wives Tale – Arnold Bennet

I grew up in Cheshire on Stoke on Trent’s borders, near the five towns featured in this story. Arnold Bennet draws on his experience of life in the Potteries. The period detail is excellent as is the historical perspective of the German siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The main characters are the Baines sisters, who grew up in a local general store and the story is told from their viewpoints, tracing the arc of two very different lives. I have always been impressed that the author wrote so brilliantly from a woman’s perspective. It’s been a writing bible for me, and I’ve read it many times.

The Catcher in the Rye – J D Salinger

“A universally loved classic of twentieth-century literature.”

This is a story of disaffected youth, and having loathed my Grammar school, I was drawn to this book as a teen. I feel this is a book that you either love or hate. Holden Caulfield is a privileged but damaged sixteen-year-old privately educated in New York in the fifties. I felt connected to the character, possibly because my school years were also damaged. It’s about coming to terms with life through the eyes of a young person and navigating the challenges of growing up. It is a book I often return to. 

Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain

I’ve spent my life working in the hospitality industry, and I remember that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough when I read this gripping expose from the King of the tell-all behind the culinary scenes. This isn’t about the cosy celebrity lives of the chefs we see on TV; this is a no-holds-barred on what really went on in the kitchens that Bourdain worked in during his fascinating life on the road. In the literary version of Kitchen Nightmares, he was ahead of his time, and his writing is superb.

The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

My go-to book for inspiration. The Artist’s Way is a twelve-week programme that intends to capture the universe’s creative energy and thus undo your creative blocks. Using Julia Cameron’s carefully tested exercises – I found my writing life transformed. When I started writing in later life, I had no idea how to begin. Through the pages of this book, my first manuscript was born, and when I feel closed in and unable to turn up at the page, this is where I return. It’s a personal journey, but one I feel lucky to have trodden.

My favourite quotes:  

 

“Don’t let the old man in.” Clint Eastwood

“Don’t think twice, it’s alright.” Bob Dylan

Huge thanks again, Anne, and I do hope that readers enjoy The French Cookery School  - I wish you and your visitors many happy reading hours. 

Warmest wishes, Caroline xx

Caroline James always wanted to write, but instead of taking a literary route, followed a career in the
hospitality industry, which included owning a pub and a beautiful country house hotel. 

She was also a media agent representing celebrity chefs. 

When she finally glued her rear to a chair and began to write, the words flowed, and several novels later, she has gained many bestseller badges for her books.

The French Cookery School is Caroline’s tenth novel. 

Previously, The Cruise, described as: ‘Girl power for the over sixties!’ was an Amazon Top Ten Best Seller. 

Caroline’s hilarious novels include The Spa Break and The Best Boomerville Hotel, depicted as ‘Britain’s answer to the Best Marigold Hotel’.

She likes to write in Venus, her holiday home on wheels and in her spare time, walks with Fred, her Westie, or swims in a local lake. 

Caroline is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the SOA, ARRA and the Society of Women’s Writers & Journalists. 

She is also a speaker with many amusing talks heard by a variety of audiences, including cruise ship guests.

www.carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

Twitter: @CarolineJames12

Facebook: Caroline James Author

Insta: Caroline James Author 

Danger With Lashings of Caviar by Liz Hinds BLOG TOUR #DangerWithLashingsofCaviar @LizHindsAuthor @RandomTTours #BookExtract

When Tabby wakes up in a rubbish skip - again - she decides the time has come for action. 

The bad guys might have got away with it so far but it's time to turn the tables. 

With the help of her mum, a disgraced policeman, a farting dog, and two homeless friends Tabby is determined to bring the handsome criminal millionaire to justice.

And she was only supposed to be making a few sandwiches.

 Danger With Lashings of Caviar by Liz Hinds is published in April 2024. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Danger With Lashings of Caviar by Liz Hinds 

This is getting plain silly. When you wake up and find

yourself gagged and bound in a sack — and, from the

smell, in a rubbish skip at that — and your first

thought isn’t, “What happened?” but, “Oh no, not again,” it’s

time to take a long hard look at your life.

And that’s what I’m going to do. Just as soon as I get out of here.

In books gorgeous crime-fighting females regularly find

themselves in these positions but I’m not a crime-fighter. Nor

am I gorgeous. Pretty maybe on a good day. But I make

sandwiches for a living. So where did it all go wrong?

I shake my head to help me think but it hurts so much I

whimper pathetically instead. It’s not like this in films. You

never see Bruce Willis begging for paracetamol. I groan. Or I

would but my mouth is taped so it comes out as more of a

small grunt.

And to think that three months ago I thought my day was

exciting if I had an order for a hummus and red pepper pitta

wrap. But that was before I met Jack Billington.

My name is Tabitha Fielding — although most people call

me Tabby — I’m twenty-eight years old, I live with my

mother, and I make sandwiches for a living. So far so normal.

Okay, a single woman living with her mother might not be

your idea of normal but it works for me. At least it does on a

good day. On other — that is most — days I resolve to get my

own place before she drives me scatty, but just as I’m scanning through the accommodation to rent in the local newspaper my mother calls to say Eastenders is on and did I want a chocolate biscuit with my tea and that’s that.

But where was I? Oh, yes, Jack Billington.

I’m a golden-retriever-loving granny, who enjoys walking by the sea or in the woods, who eats too much chocolate and gets over-excited when the Welsh team plays rugby. 

I have self-published three novels, This Time Last Year, and its sequel, This Year Maybe, and The Dog-walking Club, but I'm also an experienced freelance writer and author of several non-fiction books published by Hodder & Stoughton, Scripture Union and Kevin Mayhew. 

I’ve also produced two podcasts.

My everyday blog: www.liz-and-harvey.blogspot.com

My website: https://lizhinds.online/

Facebook LizHindsAuthor

Twitter @LizHindsAuthor

The Other Tenant by Lesley Kara BLOG TOUR #TheOtherTenant @LesleyKara @TransworldBooks @RandomTTours #BookReview

Marlow has always lived in unusual places. But when she accepts a position as a live-in property guardian, she finds herself moving somewhere she swore she’d never return to.

Right from the start, she knows it’s a terrible mistake. The elegant Victorian school is due to be turned into luxury apartments, but its eerie, empty corridors are full of Marlow’s worst memories.

And now something sinister is happening on the site. One of the other tenants has disappeared without warning, and Marlow suspects that the nine other guardians know far more than they’re letting on. She’s determined to find out what happened to the missing woman – but which of these strangers can she trust?

And can she uncover the truth before her own past catches up with her?

The Other Tenant by Lesley Kara was published on 25 April 2024 by Bantam. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour 

I have read and enjoyed all of Lesley Kara's novels starting with her debut, The Rumour, back in 2018.

I really love it when I learn something new from a book and The Other Tenant introduced me to property guardians. I wasn't sure if this was something that the author had created for her story and immediately fell down a Google rabbit hole to research. Yes, property guardians exist and are doing a roaring trade. Licences are issued for these short-term lets. A property guardian is someone who has entered into an agreement to live in a building or part of a building that would otherwise be empty for the primary purpose of securing and safeguarding the property. There are currently between five and seven thousand people in the UK living as property guardians.

Marlowe is one of them. She's been living in an old church and has enjoyed her stay there, she's a photographer and there are so many opportunities for excellent images in the old building. However, the let has come to an end and Marlowe is given the opportunity to move into an old school that is earmarked for development. Her only problem about this is that it's the school that she attended and where the biggest tragedy of her life took place. Against her better instincts and with nowhere else to go, Marlowe moves in to one of the old classrooms. 

She'd really love to occupy the room left empty when the last tenant left unexpectedly, but Rob, the head guardian makes it clear that is not possible. The door to that room is locked and Rob claims that there is water damage, making it unsafe for habitation. 

Marlowe is introduced to the other guardians living in the property. A mixed and quite strange bunch of people that are difficult to figure out. They all seem to be hiding something, but Marlowe has many secrets of her own. 

Marlowe becomes obsessed with what happened to Hayley, the last tenant. The other guardians are suprised that she left so quickly, without saying goodbye. As Marlowe explores the building, she discovers things that lead her to believe that Rob's story about Hayley is not true. 

This is a great thriller, the old school itself becomes a major character in the story. The old building, filled with memories for Marlowe, and discarded items from years before is so wonderfully developed, adding an atmosphere that is threatening and eerie. 

Throughout the story, we hear from an unnamed person. Someone who appears bitter and twisted, with long held grudges and will prove to become a danger to Marlowe, along with all of the other things that she discovers as she slowly tries to piece together what is really going on. 

A novel that will keep the reader on their toes, with a mystery at its core that is intriguing. Characters who are all slightly odd, and combined as a group make for an excellent cast. Recommended by me. 

LESLEY KARA is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rumour, Who Did You Tell?, The Dare and The Apartment Upstairs. 

The Rumour was the highest selling crime fiction debut of 2019 in the UK, and a Kindle No.1 bestseller. 

Lesley is an alumna of the Faber Academy 'Writing a Novel' course. 

She lives in Kent.

You can follow Lesley on Twitter @LesleyKara or visit her website at www.lesleykara.com

Now That I Have Your Attention by Nicolas Hamilton BLOG TOUR #NowThatIHaveYourAttention #NicolasHamilton @Octopus_Books @RandomTTours #BookSpotlight

 

Nicolas Hamilton has been exceeding expectations since day one.

Born with a form of cerebral palsy, Nicolas was told that he would never walk and would need a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Today he not only walks everywhere but he is the first disabled athlete to ever compete at the top level of British motorsport, The British Touring Car Championship, where he lines up on the grid alongside some of the world's best drivers.

Now That I Have Your Attention follows Nicolas's remarkable journey and shares the valuable, tough, and often surprising lessons learned throughout his life.

Nicolas's journey has at times been hostile and has forced him to navigate periods of anger and resentment, but by building his mental strength and pushing himself beyond the physical limits of what anyone had ever expected of him, Nicolas has changed his life - and believes you can too.

With each of these 7 Lessons, Nicolas's message is simple and universal: with self-discipline and self-compassion you can defy the limitations imposed upon you.

Now That I Have Your Attention by Nicholas Hamilton was published on 11 April 2024 by Radar / Octopus. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to spotlight this book with you today

Nicolas Hamilton is a British racing driver who currently competes in the British Touring Car Championship.

Alongside Nicolas's racing career, he is a prolific public speaker and uses his social media platform to reach beyond fans of motorsport. He has been featured in British Vogue and worked with a variety of brands such as Meta, Amazon, and MINI to name a few, sharing his clear vision and understanding of how brands can improve diverse representation.

Now That I Have Your Attention is his first book.

Instagram @nicolashamilton

Ice Into Ashes by John Carson BLOG TOUR #IceIntoAshes @JCarsonAuthor #DCIJamesCraig @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Time is a healer….unless you’re the one doing the killing…

DCI James Craig is heading home to Fife for a family funeral after the discovery of his wife's uncle's lifeless body at home, having fallen down the stairs. The incident was classified as a Sudden Death, attributing it to the man's advanced age and fragility. Case officially closed.

Or is it?

Craig, inherently skeptical, approaches matters from a unique perspective, a skill honed on the streets of London. He hesitates to accept the neatly wrapped conclusion surrounding the old man’s demise.

As he contemplates letting the matter rest, certain details stand out, prompting him to reconsider the circumstances surrounding the death.

Ice Into Ashes by John Carson was published on 4 March 2024 and is the first in the DCI James Craig series. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Into The Ashes by John Carson 

There was a fairy up in the attic, he was sure of it. She was up here messing about with the gnome, the ugly wee beast with the grotty hair and messy beard. Mind you, the fairy wasn’t in much better shape. Straggly hair, tattered dress and a face only a mother could love.

He was sure she was in with the Christmas tree lights, but maybe she had decided she’d had enough of sitting at the top of the tree and had jumped on a bus and left town.

Clark ‘Nobby’ Brown had been swithering about whether he would celebrate Christmas this year. Ever since his wife, Hilda, had passed four years ago, he had become less enthused as each year went by, and this year was no exception. But he knew Hilda loved Christmas, and if she looked down on him from above, she would be tutting and shaking her head. What are you waiting for? she would be thinking, he reckoned. Get the bloody thing up. December is only a day away and there’s nary a sight of any tinsel.

Now he was up his attic, looking around for the fairy that would sit atop the tree. He’d got the lights down, followed by the tree. In years past, he would pass the bloody thing down to Hilda, who would automatically assume the role of head Christmas tree contractor, and God forbid one of the fragile limbs would break off. He’d managed to get the tree down by himself by tossing it down through the hatch and hoping he didn’t break the landing window. A wing and a prayer had worked just as well as Hilda’s directions, which involved him sweating and swearing in equal measure.

Then he saw the box with the lid off further along, with the fairy peeking out at him. He could have sworn she wasn’t there the last time he looked. Maybe Hilda’s spirit was inside the doll thing now, and if that was the case, he would sell the house and bugger off. The only thing the fairy would be sitting on top of would be a bonfire.

She wasn’t moving, though, so he could sleep tight. He moved carefully along the wooden boards that served as flooring, knowing every inch of this space.

Then he heard it. 

A sound, like somebody bumping into something downstairs.

John Carson is the author of the DCI Harry McNeil, DCI Sean Bracken and DI Frank
Miller series set in Edinburgh. 

He is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, but now lives in New York State with his wife and two daughters. 

He shares his house with two dogs and four cats.

johncarsonauthor.com

Facebook - JohnCarsonAuthor.

Instagram - johncarsonauthor

Twitter - @JCarsonAuthor 

Birding by Rose Ruane #Birding @RegretteRuane @CorsairBooks #BookReview

 

In a small seaside town, autumn is edging into winter, gulls ride winds over the waves, and two women pass each other on the promenade, as yet unaware of each other's existence.

In the nineties Lydia was a teen pop star, posed half naked on billboards everywhere with a lollipop between her lips and no idea how to live, letting the world happen to her. Now, three decades later, Lydia is less and less sure that what happened to her was in the least bit okay. The news cycle runs hot with #MeToo stories, and a famous former lover has emerged with a self-serving apology, asking her to forgive him. Suddenly, the past is full of trapdoors she is desperately trying not to fall through.

Joyce, in middle age, has never left home. She still lives with her mother Betty. With their matching dresses, identical hairdos and makeup, they are the local oddballs. Theirs is a life of unerring routine: the shops, biscuits served on bone china plates, dressing up for a gin and tonic on Saturday. Nice things. One misstep from Joyce can ruin Betty's day; so Joyce treads carefully. She has never let herself think about a different kind of life. But recently, along with the hot flushes, something like anger is asserting itself, like a caged thing realising it should probably try and escape.

Amid the grey skies, amusement parks and beauty parlours of a gentrifying run-down seaside resort, these two women might never meet. But as they both try to untangle the damaging details of their past in the hope of a better future, their lives are set on an unlikely collision course.

With mordant wit and lyrical prose, Birding asks if we can ever see ourselves clearly or if we are always the unreliable narrators of our own experiences. It is a story about the difference between responsibility and obligation, unhealthy relationships and abusive ones, third acts and last chances, and two women trying to take flight on clipped wings.

Birding by Rose Ruane is published by Corsair in Hardback, ebook and audio on 2 May 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. 

I read Birding in a couple of sitting whilst on holiday in Maderia last month. It's a beautiful, richly created story that raises so many questions. I especially like that, as the blurb says, it can make us look at ourselves and ask if we clearly see ourselves, or are we the unreliable narrators of our own lives.

Rose Ruane brilliantly describes the small seaside town in the autumn months. I'm from Lincolnshire and have spent time in towns exactly like this. Places that are garish and flashy and full of colour in the summer and that seem to shrink as the winter approaches. Becoming greyer and colder, dull and uninviting. Ruane has captured this town so well. 

Lydia and Joyce both live here. They have never met, except for one moment when they pass on the promenade, and it is that short moment that is the focus of the story.

But first we get to meet Lydia and Joyce independently. Two characters that are so perfectly created, total opposites ... or are they?  Lydia spent her early years in the limelight, a teen pop star whose image was everywhere.  Joyce has never left home, has never had a job and is now in her middle years. She and her mother live together, shop together, go to the club together. They dress alike, they drink alike but Lydia is beginning to feel angry. As she contemplates her future and deals with the menopausal symptoms, she's thinking about escaping. 

This is a dark story that deals expertly with some very emotional issues, yet it has instances of wonderfully dry humour that brings a light relief, a smile and a nod of the head. Ruane has explored the relationships within her story with compassion and understanding, she makes her reader question the rights and wrongs in the world, allows us to be angry and to be sad and also to cheer for our main characters. 

Birding is a powerful, lyrical story filled with complex and intricate characters in a setting that could be everywhere and anywhere. Recommended by me 

Rose was originally a visual artist working in performance, sculpture, drawing and video.
Stories and language were always part of her art practice, but as the written word crept further and further into her art and gradually edged out making and performing, she had to admit that she had become a writer instead.

She undertook the MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, and subsequently won the Off West End Adopt a Playwright award in 2015. She writes plays, makes podcasts, performs spoken word and occasionally still has a go at drawing and making things just to see if she still can.

She lives in Glasgow with her ever-expanding collections of twentieth century kitsch and other people’s letters, postcards and photographs.

X @RegretteRuane