** BLOG TOUR ** Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette

Welcome to my spot on the Blog Tour for Courting Trouble by Kathy Lette. Courting Trouble was published in hardcover by Bantam Press (Transworld) on 14 August 2014.

Tilly has the day from hell when she's sacked from her barristers' chambers in the morning, then finds her husband in bed with her former best friend in the afternoon. She escapes to her mother, Roxy - a sassy solicitor whose outrageous take on men, work and family life is the despair of her more conventional daughter. Roxy comes up with a radical plan for their future - they'll set up an all-female law firm which will only champion women who have been cheated, put upon, attacked, ripped off or ruined by the men in their lives.

In court, Tilly finds herself up against Jack Cassidy, the smooth-talking, politically incorrect, legal love god who broke her heart at law school. Jack is fluent in three languages - English, sarcasm and flirtation. but if he's so loathsome, then why is she committing Acute Lust in the 3rd degree?

When a case lands on the doorstep that threatens to change all their lives, Tilly finds herself dangerously close to taking the law into her own hands. Will Jack's cunning ways and expertise in emotional break and enter derail her quest for justice? Or will the women take on the boys. and win?

Courting Trouble is full of Kathy Lette's trademark wit, often cutting and always clever. Oh how I wish I had such a quick-thinking brain and could fire out those one-liners just like the lead character Tilly, and her amazing mother Roxy.

With a little help from the author, let me introduce you to the main characters of Courting Trouble:

Matilda Devine   

35, accident-prone mother of one and barrister-at-law, 5'7", red hair, green eyes, size ten - well, eleven after a chocolate binge.
Convictions:  that my arch-rival and frequent opponent in court, Jack Cassidy, is an A-grade ratbag.
Previous convictions:  that Jack Cassidy was an A-grade ratbag way back when I first met him at law school and he always will be.

Jack Cassidy

38, barrister-at-law, tall, dark embodiment of handsomeness, fluent in three languages - English, Sarcasm and Flirtation.

Convictions: tried and found guilty of relationship hit-and-run.

Stephen Myer

40, psychologist

Looks: a charmer of the old-school variety, with a leather-elbow-patched poetic streak. Natural habitat - his study, sipping Brunello and listening to a late Beethoven quartet.

Traits: on our first date he told me that he found long-term relationships to be as annoying and repetitive as bad wallpaper .... Needless to say, we married shortly afterwards.

Petronella Willets

35, barrister-at-law, piranha in Prada.

Looks - Blonde; Viking goddess. More groomed than a pedigree poodle at Crufts ... Only much more bitchy.

Roxanne Devine

55, but depends who's asking. If it's a toy boy, then she's approaching 40, only she doesn't say from which direction. 

Looks: At five feet one and ten stone, she's a butterball, with skinny, miniskirt-clad legs, tapering off into leopardskin wedges. Her wild, dyed-blonde hair is piled high on her head in a skewiff beehive.

History: if what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then my mother is made of titanium.

Career: heartbroken by my father's abandonment and determined that nobody would ever take advantage of her again, Roxy put herself through law school to become a solicitor. 

So there we have the cast of characters that make up the chaotic, fun-filled story that is Courting Trouble. When Tilly's ordered world collapses around her and she loses her job and her man in the same day, it is her mother Roxy who comes to the rescue. Roxy and Tilly couldn't really be more different ... on the outside, but underneath they both have the same belief in social justice and power to women. Together they take on their first case, and although this is an extremely funny read, this legal case is a serious one. Kathy Lette cleverly balances humour and realism very well. 

At times exhausting, as Tilly and Roxy seem intent on crashing their way through this battle, but always warm, with laugh out loud parts a plenty.

From www.kathylette.com 

Kathy Lette first achieved succes de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues, which was made into a major film. She has written eleven more international bestsellers, including Mad Cows, How to Kill Your Husband and Other Handy Household Hints (recently staged by the Victorian Opera, Austalia), and To Love, Honour and Betray. Her novels have been published in fourteen languages around the world. Kathy appears regularly as a guests on the BBC and Sky News. She is also an ambassador for Women and Children First, Plan International and the White Ribbon Alliance. Kathy lives in London with her husband and two children.

Find out much more about Kathy Lette and her work, visit her website www.kathylette.com

She has an author page on Facebook, you can follow her on Twitter @KathyLette

The Winter Foundlings by Kate Rhodes

The girl was lying on the steps of the Foundling Museum, dressed all in white.

Four girls have disappeared in North London. Three are already dead.

Britain's most prolific child killer, Louis Kinsella, has been locked up in Northwood high-security hospital for over a decade. Now more innocents are being slaughtered, and they all have a connection to his earlier crimes.

Psychologist Alice Quentin is doing research at Northwood. She was hoping for a break from her hectic London life, but she'll do anything to help save a child - even if it means forming a relationship with a charismatic, ruthless murderer.

But Kinsella is slow to give away his secrets, and time is running out for the latest kidnap victim, who is simply trying to survive...

The Winter Foundlings by Kate Rhodes is published by Mulholland Books in hardcover on 14 August 2014.

I don't usually read books out of sequence, but I had no idea that The Winter Foundlings was the third instalment of the Alice Quentin series. However, this really does not detract from the story in any way. The Winter Foundlings works very well as a stand-alone thriller as the author is adept at incorporating snippets of Alice's past into the current storyline. Saying that, I do really want to go back and read the first two in this series; Crossbones Yard (June 2012), and  A Killing of Angels (July 2013).

Alice Quentin is a psychologist and she is usually based in a large London hospital, but has accepted a secondment to Northwood high-secure psychiatric hospital where she is carrying out a research project.

Young girls are being murdered. Four youngsters have gone missing, three bodies have been found and the fourth girl is still missing. The disappearances and killings bear the trademark of Louis Kinsella, a serial killer who is a patient at Northwood. Alice is asked to interview him, to try to get him to shed some light on what is happening.

The Winter Foundlings is a very well researched story that depicts life in a modern high-security hospital extremely well. The author writes authentically about both the patients and the staff of the unit. As a working environment, a high-security hospital is pretty unique and the staff develop a close bond with each other, along with a sense of humour that is often misunderstood. Kate Rhodes has managed to convey the strange world of life behind locked doors and barred windows, whilst still keeping the reader intrigued in a very clever plot that has red herrings and twists and turns throughout.

Alice Quentin is a great character. It is clear that she has battled her own demons, and carries a far bit of baggage about her past. I will be interested to discover more about her relationship with her mother and her brother Will who both appear fleetingly in this story.

The human brain is a complex machine and when a wire becomes loose, or the chemicals within it become unbalanced we are often presented with psychotic and violent behaviour. Louis Kinsella is most certainly a psychopath; extremely intelligent, manipulative and a cold-blooded killer. Kate Rhodes has created a monster who reminded me at times of Hannibal Lector and John Kramer from the Saw movies.

I enjoyed The Winter Foundlings very much. I enjoyed the chase to discover the truth about the killings, I enjoyed the cast of multi-layered and realistic characters and I enjoyed the setting. Kate Rhodes has created an excellent lead character in Alice Quentin, I'm really looking forward to reading more in this series.

My thanks to Mulholland Books who sent my copy for review via the Bookbridgr programme.

Kate Rhodes was born in London. She has taught English at universities in Britain and the United States, and now writes full-time.
Kate is the author of two collections of poetry, Reversal and The Alice Trap. She has been awarded English Speaking Union and Hawthornden Fellowships for poetry, and won the Ruth Rendell Prize in 2014. Kate has also been shortlisted for a number of other prestigious prizes, including the Bridport and Forward Prizes.
Visit Kate's website at www.katerhodes.org or follow her on Twitter @K_RhodesWriter

** Film Tie-in Edition** The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C Morais

I really delighted that THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY is now a major Hollywood film, and Alma Books have released a film tie-in edition.

The Hundred-Foot Journey has recently been made into a film starring Helen Mirren and directed by Lasse Hallström (director of Chocolat and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen). The film will be released in the US on 8th August and in the UK on 5th September. It tells the story of a culinary war between a boisterous Indian family who open a restaurant in a sleepy French village opposite a renowned Michelin-starred chef. 

Way back in June 2011 I reviewed The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C Morais. which was published by Alma Books.

I really enjoyed the story, here's just a little of what I said at the time:

"The story revolves around Hassan - the gifted and talented chef of the family, but his extended family, especially his father are all wonderfully portrayed.  Larger than life characters with an authentic voice and some laugh out loud funny antics.  When Hassan's mother is tragically killed, his father decides that he will pack up his family and move to Europe.  And so begins their hectic journey, first to London and then to a small village in France.  It is in the village of Lumiere that Hassan fulfils his potential.   When the highly respected Michelin starred chef Madame Mallory first realises that this rag-tag Indian family intend to open a restaurant opposite her own, she is mortified, and the battles between her and Papa are fierce - yet so funny at the same time.   Eventually though, after some painful times, Madame Mallory realises that Hassan has the potential to be a world-class chef and so she sets him on his journey to his own Michelin star.

This really is a wonderful read - it will appeal to fans of Joanne Harris' 'Chocolat' and Anthony Capella's 'The Food of Love'.  With vivid descriptions, not just of the delicious food, but of the characters too and a charming story, the reader is captured and transported into the world of haute-cuisine."

I'm really looking forward to seeing the film, if you'd like a little taster of what you can expect, check out the film trailer:

For more information about the book, take a look at the Alma Books website. 

A Gift To Remember by Melissa Hill

Darcy Archer works in a small bookstore in Manhattan. A daydream believer, she refuses to settle for anything less than being swept off her feet by the perfect man...literally. 

One day, when cycling to work, Darcy accidentally crashes into a sharply dressed gentleman walking his dog. He is knocked out cold, rushed to hospital and the poor pup gets left behind. 

Wracked with guilt, Darcy takes the dog and makes plans to reunite him with owner, Aidan. As she discovers the mysterious stranger's world of books, travel, adventure and all the wonderful things she's ever dreamt about, Darcy builds a picture of this man and wonders if he could be THE ONE...But does fantasy match reality? 

What happens when Prince Charming wakes up? Will Aidan be the happy ever after she's always imagined?

A Gift to Remember by Melissa Hill was published in paperback by Simon & Schuster UK on 3 July 2014 and is the author's thirteenth novel.  I reviewed her book Something From Tiffany's here on Random Things back in October 2011.

There are sometimes when you read a book and are introduced to a character when you really really wish that you were that person. Darcy Archer is Melissa Hill's wonderfully created heroine and I want her life! Darcy works in Chaucers; an independent bookstore in Manhattan, New York. Darcy loves books, she loves them with a passion and spends most of her life surrounded by them, or immersed in them.

"Darcy was indeed too fond of books - a condition known as 'bibliolatry'. She always had at least one book on the go close by, and felt almost naked without a novel on her person. Darcy had been enveloped in a story every single day of her life for as long as she could remember, and tended to use every opportunity - waiting in line, eating, occasionally even while brushing her teeth - to indulge in her greatest pleasure.'

A Gift to Remember is warm, funny and the perfect escapist read.  There is plenty about the plot in the synopsis above; but basically Darcy knocks a guy out by running him down on her bicycle. This guy is Aiden, but he's lost his memory and hasn't a clue about anything to do with his life before the accident. Aiden had two clues on him when the accident happened; a beautifully packaged parcel and a husky dog called Bailey. Darcy is consumed with guilt, and not only takes on the care of Bailey whilst Aiden is in hospital, but does her best to track down his friends and family.

The next few days are a bit of a roller-coaster ride for Darcy, as she finds herself associating with the New York elite, and making friends with her grumpy old lady neighbour. Darcy learns so much about herself, she realises that actually, the old lady next door is a real treasure and is lonely, not grumpy; she learns that you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and that Jimmy Choo shoes make a mighty fine dog chew!

Melissa Hill is really talented in creating characters that the reader will fall in love with. Darcy's colleagues at Chaucers, her neighbours, the mysterious Aiden and of course the wonderful Bailey the husky dog. The winter streets of New York play an enormous part in this story too, and the city is a character itself.

I enjoyed A Gift to Remember so much, I especially loved the literary quotes at the head of each chapter that so captured the contents of the pages to come.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and Books and the City who sent my signed copy for review, and also thanks for the fabulous Bourjois mascara that came with it ... I love it!

Melissa Hill lives with her husband and daughter in South Dublin. She is the international No.1 bestselling author of Something From Tiffany's, The Charm Bracelet and more. Her books have been translated into twenty-five different languages.



For more information visit Melissa's website at www.melissahill.ie  Facebook page or follow her on Twitter @melissahillbks

*** BLOG TOUR *** Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen.  Where Love Lies was published by Bantam Press (Transworld) on 31 July 2014, and I'm really thrilled to be part of the tour.

I adored the book and reviewed it here on Random Things a couple of weeks ago, please do go and take a look at my full review, here's a little taster:

" The thing that makes Where Love Lies particularly special and quite unique is that despite the obviously emotional, romantic theme to this novel, there is a twist to the story that will make the reader contemplate how love really works. Can our heart really rule our head? How can a particular smell touch our heart, or does it? Julie Cohen has explored the workings of our brain in fine detail, yet the story is not bogged down by this at all, in fact it actually makes the reader look at the characters in a different way. "

I was so excited to get an invitation to the book launch party for Where Love Lies. I met up with my friend and fellow blogger Anne who blogs at Being Anne at Kings Cross. After coffee and cake at a gorgeous street cafe in Notting Hill we went to the party at Lutyens & Rubinstein book shop. We had the most fabulous of evenings, we met so many favourite authors, both of us were a little overwhelmed by it all, but were made to feel so welcome. Julie Cohen sprayed us with some absolutely beautiful perfume - all connected to the story of Where Love Lies - you really have to read it to find out!  It was a beautiful warm evening, with plenty of wine and good humour. Thanks so much to Tess from Transworld who organised the event and invited us along.

I'm delighted to welcome Julie Cohen to Random Things Through My Letterbox today. Julie has kindly agreed to answer some questions for me - I hope you enjoy this little Q&A session.

What was your favourite childhood book?

 Watership Down by Richard Adams. I read it when I was about ten and it was the most earth-shattering story I'd ever read. Here were rabbits who were like people—not cuddly and fluffy, or sweet little scamps like Peter Rabbit, but rabbits with flaws and problems, with their own mythology and language, who could face death and be heroes.  It opened up a whole new world to me, not only of rabbits, but of reading and storytelling. I live about half an hour from the real Watership Down now and sometimes I go and sit under Bigwig's tree and think about Hazel and Fiver and Bigwig.

Name one book that made you laugh?

I just finished reading Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe and the dialogue in that book made me laugh a lot.  

Name one book that made you cry?

The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman. It's an incredibly touching story about a mother with early onset Alzheimer's, and how it effects everyone she loves, most particularly her daughters. With a subject like that, it could be a depressing book, but really it's a celebration of love and memories. That said, I needed quite a few tissues when I read it...

Which fictional character would you like to meet?

I don't have to think about this at all: it would be Sherlock Holmes. I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan since I was eleven and those stories, which I have read over and over every year since then, literally changed my life. My love of the Sherlock Holmes stories made me study English Literature, and Victorian literature in particular. I moved to England because of Sherlock Holmes. I still inwardly jump up and down every time I go through Baker Street station on the Bakerloo line. I've belonged to the Baker Street Irregulars and the Sherlock Holmes Society and I am such a Sherlock Holmes geek that I draw a regular cartoon feature for the Sherlock Holmes Journal. If I met Sherlock Holmes, I wouldn't need to see him solve any cases or perform incredible acts of deduction; I would just shake his hand and tell him thank you.

Which book would you give to your best friend as a present?

The book I probably give most as a present is The Princess Bride by William Goldman. It is just…perfect. Giants, sword fights, royalty, revenge, scheming Venetians, Rodents Of Unusual Size, and true love. It's also a book about reading, writing, and storytelling. It makes everyone happy, and sometimes what you want most out of a book is for it to make you happy.

A huge thanks to Julie for sparing the time to answer my questions, and to Tess from Transworld for organising the launch party, and the blog tour. 

 Julie Cohen grew up in Maine and studied English at Brown University and Cambridge University. She moved to the UK to research fairies in Victorian children's literature at the University of Reading and this was followed by a career teaching English at secondary level. She now writes full time and is a popular speaker and teacher of creative writing.

She lives with her husband and their son in Berkshire.

For more information about the author and her work, check out her website www.julie-cohen.com
She has an author page on Facebook and is on Twitter @julie_cohen

Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas

Annie Howarth is living a restless life in a restless town. It's 1984 and for a mining community in South Yorkshire, the strikes mean tensions are running high. Then a murdered girl is found on the moors and the anxiety levels are pushed to a dangerous breaking point.

Married to the Chief of Police, Annie should feel safe - William can be secretive, though surely whatever he's hiding is for her own good.

But Annie is keeping her own secrets. Ten years ago the man she loved was ripped from her life in a scandal that still haunts the both of them, and now his return will put her family, her marriage, even her life, at risk.

Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas is published on 14 August 2014 by Black Swan (Transworld) and is her fifth novel.

The Love of My Life (2009) and Missing You (2010) were both published by Pan MacMillan. I adored both of these books, I read them way before I started this blog but I remember the pleasure that I got from reading them and the excitement at finding such a talented new author. You can read my thoughts on her last two novels; The Secrets Between Us (2011) and In Her Shadow (2012) here on Random Things.

Your Beautiful Lies has a dark, brooding, almost menacing feel to it and is set in South Yorkshire during the miner's strike of the 1980s.  Annie Howarth is married to William, the local police chief, they have a small daughter and live in one of the largest houses in the small mining town of Matlow.

Annie grew up in Matlow, her Dad works down the pit and her Mum cleans. As a youngster, Annie would look over at the house that she now calls home and imagine what it would be like to live there. Ten years ago, Annie was seeing local lad Tom, until he was found guilty of the manslaughter of an elderly lady and sent to prison.

Tom has served his time and been released, he's now back in Matlow and Annie is struggling with her innermost feelings, and then a young woman is found murdered on the nearby moors, and all eyes turn towards Tom once again.

Louise Douglas has cleverly created a woman who lives a fairly mundane, quite tedious life. Annie's day to day routines; the school run, caring for her increasingly frail mother-in-law, visiting the shops and entertaining the local vicar and Mayor become as familiar to the reader as they are to Annie, and her level of restlessness grows with each chapter.

The reappearance of Tom into Annie's life fires her up and her character becomes more rounded, although it's fair to say, she doesn't become any more likeable.

The Yorkshire setting and the 80s era are so familiar to me, and Louise Douglas has caught that small-town, everyone knows everyone else's business feeling so very well, and the reader is transported into the lives of the inhabitants of Matlow in an instant.

Your Beautiful Lies is a story of lost love, injustice and corruption. It is also a complex and multi-layered tale that deals with family dynamics and how choices and decisions can impact lives and communities for many years.  The setting is bleak and cold, the characters are flawed yet authentic and the ending is shocking and unexpected.

Once again, Louise Douglas has written a book that engrossed me from start to finish. I am hugely impressed by her writing, and by her ability to produce such stunning novels - all so very different, but all so wonderful.

My thanks to Harriet from Transworld, who sent my copy for review.

You can read another review of Your Beautiful Lies over at Being Anne.


Louise Douglas is a copywriter. She has three sons and lives in north Somerset with her partner. Your Beautiful Lies is her fifth novel. Her first novel, The Love of My Life, was longlisted for both the Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the Waverton Good Read Award, and her second, Missing You, won the People's Choice Award at the Romantic Novelists' Association Pure Passion Awards 2010.

For more information about Louise Douglas and her books, visit her website www.louisedouglas.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @LouiseDouglas3

Two Weddings and a Baby by Scarlett Bailey

From reluctant bridesmaid, to accidental mother.

Tamsyn Thorne has not been back to her home town of Poldore for five long years.

But now her brother, Ruan, is about to get married and she has no excuses left.

Her plans to arrive in Cornwall looking chic and successful are dashed when a huge storm turns her from fashion goddess to a drowned rat. Worse, she ends up insulting the local hunky vicar - and then finds a tiny baby abandoned in his churchyard.

Published on 19 June 2014 by Ebury Press, Two Weddings and a Baby is Scarlett Bailey's fourth novel.

I have to hold up my hands and admit that I've not read any of the previous Scarlett Bailey novels, but I do adore the books that she writes under her real name of Rowan Coleman. I'm not sure how I've missed these books before, I'm guessing that it's because they've all been Christmas themed and although I always intend to read themed books in December, I rarely get around to it.  I'm sorry Scarlett/Rowan, I'll do my best to catch up, I promise!

Two Weddings and a Baby features the cast from one of the previous novels; Just For Christmas. I didn't realise that, and it certainly doesn't matter - this is easily read as a standalone story.

Tamsyn Thorne has returned to her home town of Poldore in Cornwall for her brother's wedding. It's clear that there is some bad feeling between them and the reader soon learns why. Tamsyn is a strong character, she says exactly what pops into her head, pulling no punches and often offending .... but I liked that .... I especially loved the conversations between Tamsyn and her twin four-year-old nephews.

"What do you want from me? I've got no sweets, no toys, no money, nothing. I'm no good to you."

"To be honest, I'd rather wear something nylon and with an elasticated waist than go anywhere near your sleeping bag. You have the personal hygiene habits of, well, a four-year-old boy, to be fair."

Tamsyn's return to Poldore is the beginning of a warm, funny and very entertaining read. Expertly paced, the writing flows so well and the characters are really vivid and recognisable as real human beings - warts and all.

As Tamsyn arrives home, so does a violent and quite terrifying storm that affects the whole town, also making an appearance is a sexy and fairly mysterious vicar and a one-day-old baby girl who floats upon the floodwater in a Moses basket.

I'm not going to go over the plot, but suffice to say it contains a little bit of everything and works very well; there are family relationships, romances, rivalries and jealousies, old scores, new loves, storms, babies and oh those twins!

Two Weddings and a Baby is a story with a bit of a wallop and I enjoyed every excellently written page, I hope that Scarlett Bailey decides to write more about the residents of Poldore - I'd love to find out more.

My thanks to the publishing team at Ebury who sent my copy for review.

Check out some more reviews of Two Weddings and a Baby from Anne at Being Anne and Lisa at The Book Addicted Housewife

Scarlett Bailey has loved writing stories since childhood. Before writing novels she worked as a waitress, cinema usherette and bookseller. Passionate about old movies, Scarlett loves nothing more than spending a wet Sunday afternoon watching her favourite films back-to-back, with large quantities of chocolate.
Scarlett also writes novels under her real name Rowan Coleman. Currently she lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, five children and a very large collection of beautiful shoes.

To find out more, visit her website at www.rowancoleman.co.uk
Facebook or Twitter @rowancoleman and @scarlettbailey