Bring Me Sunshine by Laura Kemp @Laurajanekemp BLOG TOUR @orionbooks @AlainnaGeorgiou #BringMeSunshine

Charlotte Bold is nothing like her name - she is shy and timid and just wants a quiet life. When her job doing the traffic news on the radio in London is relocated to Sunshine FM in Mumbles, she jumps at the chance for a new start in Wales.

But when she arrives she discovers that she's not there to do the travel news - she's there to front the graveyard evening show. And she's not sure she can do it.

Thrust into the limelight, she must find her voice and a way to cope. And soon she realises that she's not the only person who finds life hard - out there her listeners are lonely too. And her show is the one keeping them going.

Can Charlotte seize the day and make the most of her new home? And will she be able to breathe new life into the tiny radio station too...?

Bring Me Sunshine by Laura Kemp was published by Orion in paperback on 27 June 2019. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review, and who invited me to take part in this Blog Tour

In November 2017 I read and reviewed Laura Kemp's last novel; The Year of Surprising Acts of Kindness, here on Random Things .

I absolutely adored that book, so much so that I gave it a place in my Top Books of 2017 list.

I've been looking forward to reading her latest novel for such a long time.

Bring Me Sunshine is Charlotte Bold's story, and begins as she learns that her job at a London local radio station is no more. She's offered the chance of a transfer, and as Charlotte really needs a job, she has no choice but to accept.

The new job is in Wales, at Sunshine FM.  In Wales! Far far away from the hustle and bustle of London, and her friends, and her boyfriend. Charlotte's very fragile; her self confidence is at rock bottom and having to leave everything that makes her feel a tiny bit safe is huge for her.

I really loved Charlotte; there were parts of her character that I really empathised with and the author excels in describing just how low and helpless a serious knock back can make someone feel.

Once more, just as in her last novel, Laura Kemp has brought a small Welsh town to life. I will admit that my Google Search History does contain phrases such as 'guest houses in Mumbles'; 'how long is the car journey from Lincolnshire to Mumbles' and 'Air BnB, Mumbles'.

Even though Charlotte arrives in Mumbles on foul, wet day, I still fell in love with the sound of the place. I really want to go there ...

Back to the story; and what a wonderfully uplifting and warm story this is. It is heaving with beautifully created characters who the reader cannot fail to swoon over.
Charlotte, Tina and Del are the main characters, with an equally well created supporting cast.

Without going to much into the story line, I will tell you that whilst this is ultimately a feel-good, witty story, it does also deal with some emotional and at times, heart breaking issues. 

Whilst Charlotte is coming to terms with massive life upheavals, and slowly learning to trust other people, and herself again; the other characters are also dealing with their own demons. 

This is delicately and sensitively handled, the author writes with heart and empathy and I love her for it.

Sparkly, heart warming and feel good. I can guarantee that readers are in for a fantastic read. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Laura Kemp started writing to get out of doing a real job.

A journalist for 15 years, she turned freelance after having a baby because she couldn’t get out of the house, washed and dressed, until lunchtime at the earliest.

A columnist and contributor, she regularly writes for national newspapers and magazines, such as The Daily Mail, The Sun and Grazia, and spends too much time on Twitter (@laurajanekemp).

Married with a son and a neurotic cat, Laura lives in the provinces, where she goes about her business ignorant of what’s on-trend until it reaches her town, by which time it’s out of fashion.

Laura’s first novel Mums Like Us was published by Arrow in February 2013 and Mums on Strike was published in January 2014. The Late Blossoming of Frankie Green was published by Head of Zeus in June 2016, and The Year of Surprising Acts of Kindness, was published in February 2018.

Her latest novel, Bring Me Sunshine, was published in ebook in March 2019 and in paperback in June.

Photo Credit: © Huw Evans Agency 

Distant Signs by Anne Richter BLOG TOUR @NeemTreePress #DistantSigns #RandomThingsTours

Distant Signs is an intimate portrait of two families spanning three generations amidst turbulent political change, behind and beyond the Berlin Wall. In 1960s East Germany, Margret, a professor's daughter from the city, meets and marries Hans, from a small village in Thuringia. The couple struggle to contend with their different backgrounds, and the emotional scars they bear from childhood in the aftermath of war. As East German history gradually unravels, with collision of the personal and political, their two families' hidden truths are quietly revealed. An exquisitely written novel with strongly etched characters that stay with you long after the book is finished and an authentic portrayal of family life behind the iron curtain based on personal experience of the author who is East German and was 16 years old at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why do families repeat destructive patterns of behaviour across generations? Should the personal take precedence over the political? Can we rise above our histories and political identities to forge a new understanding of the past and to welcome change?











Distant Signs by Anne Richter was published by Neem Tree Press on 21 February. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review. I'm delighted to share my thoughts today as part of the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour

Anne Richter grew up in East Germany and was 16 at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Her novel, Distant Signs is a beautiful and thought-provoking study of relationships, and how people can be affected by the political landscape and their social standing.

Despite its length (just 240 pages), this is not a quick read. The author's in-depth detailed construction of character deserves to be savoured and not rushed. I was totally committed to both Hans and Margret, along with the supporting cast of characters who have such an impact on how the story progresses.

I admit to not knowing a great deal about the history of GDR but I do remember the day that the Berlin Wall fell, it was a milestone in my own history, and remains so thirty years later. 

Distant Signs goes some way to explaining how life was lived in the East and opens as Margret; one of the new generation who are questioning their rulers, faces up to her father. She doesn't do this in private though; in what is probably one of the most uncomfortable yet poignant and telling scenes of the book, Margret accuses him, in one of his own lectures, of his failings.

When Margret meets future husband Hans, it is clear that they come from very different backgrounds, yet he too, wants change and has embraced the educational opportunities denied to his parents.

Anne Richter tells the story of Marget and Hans' marriage and life after the War, but before the fall of the Wall. The stark contrast between characters such as Margret and her mother-in-law Lene are beautifully portrayed.

The writing is spare, with no flowery prose or unnecessary descriptives and the translation is done well, with the inclusion of some phrases and words that may be unfamiliar to the British reader, but are explained at the back of the book.

This is a compelling, quiet and finely crafted novel. Astutely demonstrates the effects of war and the aftermath on the ordinary citizen.

Anne Richter was born in 1973 in Jena, in the former German Democratic Republic. Her degree in Romance languages and English included study periods in England, Italy and France. In 2011, Anne was nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, a highly regarded German-language literary award. Her debut novel, Distant Signs, was published in Germany in 2013. Anne is currently writing her second novel.

Douglas Irving is Scottish. He studied German and Spanish at Aberdeen University. In 2014 he completed a Masters in Translation at Glasgow University. His first translation, Crossing: A Love Story by Anna Seghers was published in 2016 in the US to positive reviews. His translation of Anna Seghers’ last work published in her lifetime, Three Women from Haiti, is set to follow.

Neem Tree Press Limited

www.neemtreepress.com 

www.facebook.com/NeemTreePress/ 

twitter: @neemtreepress

Wolves At The Door by Gunnar Staalesen @OrendaBooks BLOG TOUR #GunnaStaalesen #Giveaway #NordicNoir #Competition

The wolves are no longer in the dark … they are at his door. And they want vengeance…

The next instalment in the international, bestselling Varg Veum series by one of the fathers of Nordic Noir … 

One dark January night a car drives at high speed towards PI Varg Veum, and comes very close to killing him. Veum is certain this is no accident, following so soon after the deaths of two jailed men who were convicted for their participation in a case of child pornography and sexual assault … crimes that Veum himself once stood wrongly accused of committing.

While the guilty men were apparently killed accidentally, Varg suspects that there is something more sinister at play … and that he’s on the death list of someone still at large.

Fearing for his life, Veum begins to investigate the old case, interviewing the victims of abuse and delving deeper into the brutal crimes, with shocking results. The wolves are no longer in the dark … they are at his door. And they want vengeance.

Wolves at the Door by Gunna Staalesen was published in paperback by Orenda Books on 13 June 2019.

As part of the Blog Tour, I am delighted to be able to offer you the chance to win a copy for yourself. Entry is simple; just fill out the competition widget at the end of this post.

GOOD LUCK! 

Praise for Gunna Staalesen

‘Gunnar Staalesen is one of my very favourite Scandinavian authors. Operating out of Bergen in Norway, his private eye, Varg Veum, is a complex but engaging anti-hero. Varg means “wolf” in Norwegian, and this is a series with very sharp teeth’ Ian Rankin

‘The Norwegian Chandler’ Jo Nesbø

‘Not many books hook you in the first chapter – this one did, and never let go!’ Mari Hannah

‘Almost forty years into the Varg Veum odyssey, Staalesen is at the height of his storytelling powers’ Crime Fiction Lover

‘Staalesen continually reminds us he is one of the finest of Nordic novelists’ Financial Times

‘Chilling and perilous results — all told in a pleasingly dry style’ The Sunday Times

‘Staalesen does a masterful job of exposing the worst of Norwegian society in this highly disturbing entry’ Publishers Weekly

A paperback copy of Wolves At The Door by Gunar Staalesen



One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway in 1947. 
He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. 
He is the author of over twenty-three titles, which have been published in twenty-six countries and sold over five million copies. 
Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Epsen Seim, and a further series is currently being filmed. 

Staalesen, who has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour) and the Petrona Award, and been shortlisted for the CWA Dagger, lives in Bergen with his wife.

*** COVER REVEAL *** #WhoIsit @will_carver #NothingImportantHappenedToday @OrendaBooks *** COVER REVEAL ***

Nobody does book covers quite like Orenda Books, and it's always really exciting to see what they will come up with next!

Today I'm honoured and delighted to share with you here on Random Things, the startling and utterly stunning cover for:

Nothing Important Happened Today 

by Will Carver

publishes 14 November 2019

Nine suicides, One Cult, No leader

Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today. That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of The People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.

Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe.It becomes a movement.

A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist. 

But how do you stop a cult when people do not know they are members?

A shocking, mesmerisingly original and pitch-black thriller, Nothing Important Happened Today confirms Will Carver as one of the most extraordinary, exciting authors in crime fiction.

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. 

He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. 

He turned down a professional rugby contract to study theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. 

He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children. 

Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one in ebook.

Twitter @will_carver

The Sea Refuses No River by Bethany Rivers @bethanyrivers77 BLOG TOUR @fly_press #TheSeaRefusesNoRiver

The journey of grief is a strange one

and one not often talked about in our everyday reality of this society,

but I know what it's like to dive deep,

down to the bottom of the wreck,

feel the ribs of the wreck,

after losing a parent so young in life

In this collection, the sea refuses no river, there is an acceptance of the pain and an acceptance of the healing moments; the healing journeys. To quote Adrienne Rich: I came to explore the wreck', and in this collection, Bethany discovers how, 'The words are purposes. The words are maps.'

The Sea Refuses No River by Bethany Rivers was published by Fly on the Wall Poetry on 21 June 2019.  I'm delighted to share a sample poem from the collection here today as part of the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour

Your Map

(After Louise Gluck)

Destinations are unclear and million-fold.  I have to find ‘end’

on the map.  It’s usually another beginning.  A solitary ‘A’

of not knowing, trying to find its own Z, when I hear my father’s voice:

my death is not your map, you have to find your own key. 

I’m heading for the centre, I think – or is that where I begin? 

The centre doesn’t feel real at all.  You can’t see the centre

of an unclear destination.  Through a door of star magnolia flowers,

there is life.  I hear pigeons coo, full throated.  They come with meaning. 

They know me well.  They’re here to guide.  They know I’m still stuck at A.

Out on the winding roads of Wales, there are no memories of you. 

That photo you took back in ’62, before I was born, that fountain

which knew you by depth and by blueness, future voices hidden deep.

You passed your camera onto me.  You passed on your love of blue.

I call ‘Dad’.  I call louder.  In my dreams I’m always calling you. 

New empty houses, derelict streets, me flying above you, & you occasionally

call back to me through dreams.  I don’t always know what you mean. 

I stare down alleyways, hallways, seaways of azure.

Remember, you say, beneath the desert there is treasure: there is water.

Bethany Rivers' debut pamphlet, Off the wall, was published by Indigo Dreams Publishing. 
She is the author of ‘Fountain of Creativity: ways to nourish your writing' from Victorina Press.
Her biggest passions in life are writing and enabling others to write.
She has been widely published in magazines, anthologies and online in the UK and USA, including: Envoi, Cinnamon Press, Bare Fiction, Fair Acre Press, Verve Poetry Press, Yorkshire Valley Press, Silver Birch Press, The Lampeter Review, The Lake, Blithe Spirit, High Window Literary Journal, Laldy Scottish Literary Journal, Writers' Cafe, Riggwelter, I am not a silent poet, Picaroon Poetry, Three Drops from a Cauldron, The Ofi Press.

She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from Cardiff University and has taught creative writing for over 13 years.
She also mentors writers individually, through the writing of their novels, short stories, children's fiction, memoirs, and poetry: www.writingyourvoice.org.uk 

Bethany Rivers is also editor of the online poetry magazine, As Above So Below, which publishes poetry on the theme of spirituality and transcendence.

Twitter @bethanyrivers77