So who exactly is Sukie McClaren?
A Christmas-loving Cat lover? A Sound of Music Fanatic? A Fiercely Independent Woman?
She is all of the above.
And when she is sent to Salzburg for a business trip a few weeks before Christmas, she thinks all her dreams have come true.
As she packs her suitcase, the only things on her mind are Christmas markets, lots of snow and finally seeing the Doh-Ray-Me steps.
Becoming the new best friend of the world’s hottest rock star doesn’t even get a look in.
Pete Wallace is a reclusive, reluctant, rock-star and the world’s Number One, best-selling, male solo artist. It’s been three years since his last tour and he’s now preparing to go back on the road again.
A week in Salzburg, schmoozing with the music press, is one of his worst nightmares. He can’t wait for it to be over.
When Pete and Sukie meet, it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Lonely for too long, he begins to remember how it feels to be happy and, for the first time in six years, Christmas feels special again.
Eduardo di Santo however, whose kid sister suffered life-changing injuries at a Pete Wallace concert, is all set on getting revenge.
When Pete’s new tour is announced, he begins to make his plans.
Plans that will culminate in Pete's demise.
Will Pete and Sukie’s new friendship die before it has a chance to flourish?
A Christmas tale full of love, laughter, friendship and revenge.
Welcome to the Blog Blitz for A Rock n Roll Lovestyle by Kiltie Jackson, published by WickedKilt Publishing in September this year. Thanks to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources who invited me to take part today.
I'm really happy to welcome the author, Kiltie Jackson to Random Things today. She's talking about the books that are special to her and have inspired her; in My Life In Books.
My Life In Books - Kiltie Jackson
My Nana thought I was simply looking at the pictures but decided to humour me by asking what programmes were on the television that night. To say she was utterly gobsmacked, when I turned to the TV listings page and began to tell her, would be an understatement. From then on, my mother informs me, I rarely ever had my nose out of a book and, wherever there were words, I would be reading them.
The very first book I can recall reading was ‘Mr Galliano’s Circus’ by Enid Blyton. I was fascinated by the prospect of a dog called Lucky who could count. We had a dog called Lucky and she was useless at counting. I wanted to swap her for the dog in the book. I was also very taken by Carlotta who was fiery and quite independent.
Enid Blyton featured very heavily in my pre-teen years and I read most of the Famous Five along with all of the St Clare’s and Mallory Towers series.
She didn’t, however, have the monopoly as ‘Anne of Green Gables’ by L.M. Montgomery was another, much read classic. Once again, I revered this girl who spoke her mind, was independent in her thinking and stood up for herself. I loved the television adaption, and the book, equally. I still have my childhood copy with Kim Braden on the front and it still gets read every few years.
After that, I seemed to take a massive jump from children’s books to adult books and pretty much missed out the stuff in the middle. I was at boarding school for a time and mixed with older girls so I ended up reading books far more adult than my age merited. I seemed to spend most of my teens reading Catherine Cookson. One that resonated more than the others was ‘The Black Velvet Gown’ because the daughter in that one spends quite a bit of time arguing and disobeying her mother. Just as I did!
Most of my twenties I spent reading Jackie Collins, Judith Krantz, Jilly Cooper etc, until a new breed of female authors began to come along. Jane Green led the way, in my opinion, for contemporary romance. Finally we began to have women who were real and whom we could actually relate to. They were ordinary, worked in offices / shops / factories, had flat-mates and fell in love with ordinary people. ‘Jemima J’ still ranks as one of her best and has been read more than once.
As I got older, I found my tastes changing and developed a liking for books with slightly alternative storylines. A particular one that sticks in my mind is ‘Making History’ by Stephen Fry. The very concept of being able to go back in time, change events and see the outcome of those changes – be they good or bad – was really interesting and it’s a prospect I still often wonder upon. How would the prevention of the Second World War impact on society today? How different would life be?
On another level, if I want to read something, or someone, who is guaranteed to raise my spirits and make me smile, I will always reach for a Deric Longden. He has a very light-hearted way of describing life and finding the funny in almost all day-to-day occurrences. The first book of his I ever read was ‘The Cat Who Came In From The Cold’. It was absolutely not the last. If I could only recommend one author to people, it would be Deric Longden.
Finally, my current day author, whose books I still purchase in hard copy and upon immediate release, is Susanna Gregory. She has two historical thriller series running concurrently but my favourite is the Thomas Chaloner series which is set in Restoration London. The whole period of the Civil War and the Restoration is one I have little knowledge on due to it not being covered in Scottish history. So my favourite book of hers would be the very first one I read ‘A Conspiracy of Violence’ as this introduced me to a whole new period of history.
Kiltie grew up in Scotland, Glasgow to be precise. A very unique city with a very unique way of looking at life. When she was old enough to do so, she moved to London and then, after several years of obtaining interesting experiences -which are finding their way into her writing - she moved up to the Midlands.She currently lives in Staffordshire with five cats and one husband. The cats kindly allow her and her husband to share their house on the condition they keeps paying the mortgage!
Her little home is known as Moggy Towers, even though despite having plenty of moggies, there are no towers!
She loves reading, watching movies, and visiting old castles. She really dislikes going to the gym!
Her biggest desire is that one day she can give up the day job and write her stories for a living.
Follow her on Twitter @KiltieJackson
Find out more at www.kiltiejackson.com
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