Astral Travel by Elizabeth Baines BLOG TOUR @ElizabethBaines @RandomTTours @saltpublishing #Win #Giveaway #Competition #Prize

Astral Travel, about a charismatic but troubled Irishman and his effect on his family, explores the way that the secrets forged by cultural, religious and sexual prejudice can reverberate down the generations. It's also about telling stories, and the fact that the tales we tell about ourselves can profoundly affect the lives of others. 

In a framing narration that exposes the slippery and contingent nature of story, an adult daughter, brought up on romantic lore about her now dead father but having experienced him very differently, tells how she tried to write about him, only to come up against too many mysteries and clashing versions of the family's past. 

Yet when a buried truth emerges, the mysteries can be solved, and, via storytelling's power of empathy, she finally makes sense of it all.

Astral Travel by Elizabeth Baines was published by Salt Publishing in November 2020.

I have one print copy to giveaway today as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.

Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in this post. UK entries only please. 

GOOD LUCK! 

One print copy of Astral Travel by Elizabeth Baines

A fine novel, written with great skill and empathy.

-- Susan Osborne ― A Life In Books

Baines’s beautiful, evocative and insightful writing transforms what might have been a difficult, family drama into something far more extraordinary and optimistic. At its heart, Astral Travel is a novel about both the slipperiness of story-telling and its redemptive power. An utterly beguiling read!

-- Deborah Grace ― Open Up Magazines

I really loved this story... but it's not for the faint hearted. Highly recommended.

-- The Mole ― Our Book Reviews

Astral Travel is written so vividly, in such a freewheeling style, that the narrative twists and turns are navigated with ease . . . By the time I’d finished this wonderful novel, I was hoping for a sequel

- Ailsa Cox ― Litro

Elizabeth Baines was born in South Wales. 

Her grandmother claimed to be descended from the family of the eighteenth-century Welsh plasterer-bard Will Hopkin, and undeterred by the fact that there was no proof of this, Elizabeth decided at an early age to be a writer in his footsteps. 

Her acclaimed novels and short stories expose the power we hold over each other, the secrets we keep from each other, and the ways in which even our fantasies can alter our lives and those of others for ever. 

www.elizabethbaines.co.uk

Twitter @ElizabethBaines

Instagram @elizabeth_baines_writer

Unbreak Your Heart by Katie Marsh BLOG TOUR @marshisms @HodderBooks #UnbreakYourHeart #unbreakyourheartblogtour

 

Seven-year-old Jake's heart is failing and he doesn't want to leave his dad, Simon, alone. So he makes a decision: to find Simon someone to love before he goes.

Beth is determined to forget the past. But even when she leaves New York to start afresh in a Lake District village, she can't shake the secrets that haunt her.

Single dad Simon still holds a candle for the woman who left him years ago. Every day is a struggle to earn a living while caring for his beloved son. He has no time for finding someone new.

But Jake is determined his plan will succeed - and what unfolds will change all three of them forever.

Unbreak Your Heart by Katie Marsh was published by Hodder on 27 May 2021. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour 

Katie Marsh is another of my favourite authors, she writes incredibly emotional books that tug at the heart strings but also make you smile. I always look forward to her stories. 

Unbreak Your Heart is another wonderful novel, one that is packed with characters that the reader will love, who face some incredibly difficult situations. Yet despite the hardships and the pain, this is a uplifting story that will touch the hardest of hearts. 

Beth has recently arrived in the Lake District after living in the US. She's battered and bruised, she's had a really difficult few months and is hoping that a new job, in a different country will heal her. Beth and Simon don't get off to a good start when she knocks Simon's son Jake over!  Simon and Jake are incredibly close. Jake has a heart condition, it's not curable, but it's treatable. His mother Tamsin walked out some time ago, so it's just Jake and Simon, with the support of good friend Barney. 

Whilst Jake may be only seven-years-old, he's been through a lot and he is far older than his years. He's aware that his Dad may be left alone, and he's determined to find him a girlfriend. This is often hilarious, but also often so embarrassing for Simon. 

When Beth moves in next door, they gradually get over their unfortunate first meeting and slowly and surely their relationship grows. It's never smooth sailing though, with faces from the past arriving to scupper all plans. 

Katie Marsh excels in creating relationships that are so very strong and the reader totally believes in them. The loyalties of friendship, between Simon and Barney and also Beth and her friend Jas are tremendously created, and the extra special bond of the father/son love between Simon and Jake is just exquisite. There's a real art here, an author that can take a potentially heart breaking plot line and include enough wit to make the reader laugh out loud in place is a very special author - Katie Marsh does this with style.

A book that will tug at the old heart strings whilst showing the power of love, with a few chuckles along the way. Beautifully written, with characters to cherish. Recommended by me.

Katie had a ten-year healthcare career before leaving to write full-time. 

She lives in the English countryside with her family, and her novels include the 2018 World Book Night pick 'My Everything' and the Kindle bestseller 'A Life Without You.' 

She loves strong coffee, the promise of a blank page and stealing her husband's toast. 

She is currently writing her sixth novel.

Say hello at on Facebook @katiemarshauthor 

and chat to her on Twitter @marshisms 

and Instagram @marshisms.

Rising Star by Michele Kwasneiwski BLOG TOUR @michelekwas @RandomTTours @RandSmithBooks #Win #Competition #Giveaway #Prize

 

In the first book in THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series, RISING STAR, fifteen-year-old Dani Truehart is living a life that is not quite her own. Driven by her mother's desire for fame and fortune, she has spent her childhood dutifully training for a career as a pop star. On the brink of discovery, doubts begin to creep into Dani's mind as she questions her own desire for fame, and she wonders whether she can trust the motivations of the adults who are driving her forward.

Following a brilliant audition arranged by her vocal/dance coach and former '80s pop icon Martin Fox, Dani is thrown full-force into the music industry. She leaves her friends, family and scheming mother behind to move with Martin, who has become her legal guardian, into the Malibu compound of her new manager, Jenner Redman. Jenner, the former swindling manager of Martin's boy band, leverages what's left of his depleted fortune to launch Dani's career.

Isolated from her life at home and trying to stay apace with her demanding schedule, Dani struggles to keep in touch with those she loves, connect to her withholding mother and find her voice as an artist. With Martin and Jenner at odds over their rocky past and finding herself unprepared to handle the pressures of her future singing career, Dani's debut album and future stardom are at risk of falling apart.

Rising Star by Michele Kwasniewski is book one in The Rise and Fall of Dani Trueheart series and was published in October last year by Rand Smith. 

As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I have one digital copy of Rising Star to give away today. Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in this post.

GOOD LUCK! 

One digital copy of Rising Star by Michele Kwasniewski

After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Technical Theater, Michele Kwasniewski spent over fifteen years in film and television production. 

She worked as a set production assistant on movies such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, FACE/OFF, PRIMAL FEAR, and EVITA and as a production manager on television shows including BIG BROTHER. 

She is also a proud member of the Producers Guild of America. 

Michele's colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. 

Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and a disobedient dachshund. 

RISING STAR is her first novel.

Twitter @michelekwas

Instagram @michelekwas

And Now You're Back by Jill Mansell BLOG TOUR @JillMansell @headlinepg @RandomTTours #AndNowYoureBack

 

One magical night in Venice, Didi fell in love. But it ended - and he left without even saying goodbye.

Now, thirteen years on, Shay Mason is back.

The old spark is still there, but Didi's determined to ignore it. As manager of a stunning Cotswolds hotel, she's happy at last, and soon to be married. Anyway, Shay isn't staying. He's made a promise to his father. He's going to keep it. And then he'll be gone.

But Shay's return stirs up long-forgotten emotions, and the scandal that led him to leave raises its head once again. It's time for buried secrets to come to light. And it seems that this was someone's intention all along . . .

From the beloved author of IT STARTED WITH A SECRET comes a fabulous new novel about love, friendship and finding the way to your best life.

And Now You're Back by Jill Mansell was published in paperback by Headline on 10 June 2021.

My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.

There is no better feeling than opening the first page of a brand new book from a favourite author. Jill Mansell is one of my all-time favourite authors. I have been reading her books for twenty years (crikey!) and I have never been let down. I think as she and I have matured, so has her writing and her characters. I can always empathise and relate to her stories, she is one in a million. 

And Now You're Back begins thirteen years ago on a snowy night in Venice. Didi and Shay are in the city celebrating the birthday of a friend. Whilst they know each other, they come from very different households. Shay's father is in and out of prison and his mother is dead. Didi's family own a hotel and are comfortable. That night in Venice is the beginning of their passionate love affair. 

The reader then meets Didi in the present day. She's now the manager of the family hotel and has a couple of broken engagements behind her, although she is happy with her current finance. She hasn't seen Shay for thirteen years, and it's clear that their break up was painful. 

Now he is back. This Shay is rich and a successful businessman. No longer the odd one out, the one who the others feel sorry for. He's handsome and suave and they have some catching up to do. Shay is back because he promised his father that he would renovate their old family home. He'd rather not be there, but a promise is a promise. 

It's clear that the old spark is still there and despite both Didi and Shay denying their feelings, they both have regrets. If only they would actually talk to each other about them! 

As should be expected from this brilliant author, this is a story packed with colourful and intriguing characters. Each one of them is beautifully created and before you know it, they become part of your own day. As Didi and Shay battle with their feelings, the reader is behind them all of the way. There are conversations to be had, and secrets to be revealed; often painful but always so perfectly created. 

As always, Jill Mansell has written a warm and uplifting story, centred around a fabulous community with the hotel at its heart. It was an utter joy to read. Total bliss and highly recommended by me. 

Jill Mansell’s books are full of love, life and friendship and have been bringing joy to readers for twenty-five years. She started writing fiction while working in the NHS, after joining a local creative writing class. She has since written over twenty Sunday Times bestsellers, including MAYBE THIS TIME, THIS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING and YOU AND ME, ALWAYS, and her books have sold over 11 million copies around the world.

Jill's hobbies include buying stationery, particularly magical new colours of ink for the fountain pen she uses to write all her books – Jill is one of the few authors who still write their books by hand. Jill also loves people-watching and finding new characters to put in her novels. So when you’re out, make sure to always be on your best behaviour. And beware of beady-eyed authors carrying notebooks . . 

www.jillmansell.co.uk

Twitter @JillMansell

Instagram @jillmansell

Facebook OfficialJillMansell

Miller Street SW22 by Jude Hayland BLOG TOUR @judehayland @RandomTTours @matadorbooks #Win #Giveaway #Competition #Prize

 

A story of loss, love, guilt and ultimately hope and redemption, Miller Street SW22 follows a year in the lives of five neighbours who move into the street in the autumn of 2005, each brought to south west London for a new start. Catherine Wells, recently widowed, Sam Gough and his invalid wife, Lydia, and Violet Lawrence find themselves drawn together by Frances Chater into preparations for a centenary street party. The indomitable organiser, she compels them onto a committee and thus they begin to forge cautious friendships.

What they share with each other of their past lives, however, is limited. Both Catherine and Sam feel guilt for actions that haunt them whilst Frances has created a lie of a life, a substitute identity, in order to help her navigate the breakdown of her marriage. Only Violet, youthful and unfettered, is free of self-recrimination and duplicity. Meanwhile, in Brighton, Andrew Chater, Frances estranged husband, negotiates his new life in Pilgrim Square with his lover, Charlotte Prideaux, unaware that Frances is intent on destroying this relationship and regaining her place as his wife.

As the months pass and the date of the street party grows closer, Catherine, Sam and Frances are unaware of what lies ahead. For the past, they are to discover, is not as fixed and immovable as they have assumed. It can beguile. Ultimately, what is uncovered in the summer of 2006 offers each of them a future unimagined and an entirely new understanding of the past.

Miller Street SW22 by Jude Hayland was published in January 2021 by Matador.

As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to offer one copy as a prize. Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in this post. 
UK entries only.

GOOD LUCK! 

One copy of Miller Street SW22 by Jude Hayland

Jude Hayland has been writing women's fiction for many years, successfully publishing numerous short stories for women's magazines such as Woman's Realm, Woman's Weekly, Fiction Feast and others here in the UK whilst abroad her work has appeared in magazines in Australia, South Africa, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. 

Graduating with an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing with distinction prompted Jude to switch her focus to longer fiction and she completed her first novel, TRUTH TO TELL, in 2013, as an eBook. She published her second novel, COUNTING THE WAYS, as a paperback in 2017 and is now working on her third. Writing within the genre of contemporary women's fiction, (although often set in the recent past)Jude's novels focus on relationships, family and the complexities that these bonds so often present in our lives. The novelists she most admires include - among so many others - Carol Shields, Anne Tyler, Margaret Forster, Penelope Lively and Linda Grant.

In addition to writing, Jude teaches creative writing classes, tutors drama, communication skills and English Literature. 

Born in London, Jude now lives in Winchester, Hampshire, but spends a great deal of time at a family house in north west Crete which was the inspiration for one of the settings in her current novel.

www.judehayland.co.uk

Twitter @judehayland

Instagram @judehaylandwriting

Everything Happens For A Reason by Katie Allen BLOG TOUR @KtAllenWriting @OrendaBooks #EverythingHappensForAReason #JubilantJune

 

Mum-to-be Rachel did everything right, but it all went wrong. Her son, Luke, was stillborn and she finds herself on maternity leave without a baby, trying to make sense of her loss.

When a misguided well-wisher tells her that 'everything happens for a reason', she becomes obsessed with finding that reason, driven by grief and convinced that she is somehow to blame. She remembers that on the day she discovered her pregnancy, she'd stopped a man from jumping in front of a train, and she s now certain that saving his life cost her the life of her son.

Desperate to find him, she enlists an unlikely ally in Lola, an Underground worker, and Lola's seven-year-old daughter, Josephine, and eventually tracks him down, with completely unexpected results...

Both a heart-wrenchingly poignant portrait of grief and a gloriously uplifting and disarmingly funny story of a young woman's determination, Everything Happens for a Reason is a bittersweet, life- affirming read and, quite simply, unforgettable.

Everything Happens For A Reason by Katie Allen is published by Orenda Books. Ebook - 10 April 2021, Paperback 10 June 2021. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review for this Blog Tour. 

Rachel Summers is on maternity leave, but she doesn't have a baby. Three weeks ago, her son Luke was stillborn. She had expected, and planned to spend her days after the birth caring for a newborn, getting to know him, creating a family and showing her son off to the world.

Instead, Rachel is a mother without a baby, her days are empty. Her husband Ed does try, but his own grief is overwhelming too and their tragic loss seems to have created a barrier between them, rather than strengthen their relationship. Rachel has an assortment of well-meaning family and friends, none more than her own mother who is confident that her prayer group will bring comfort to Rachel. Instead, the comment 'everything happens for a reason' is the only thing that resonates with Rachel, and so she begins to think, and wonder. 

On the day that Rachel discovered that she was pregnant, she stopped a man from jumping from the platform at the Oval Tube station. Rachel convinces herself that's the 'reason', did her son die because she prevented the death of an unknown man? 

Rachel's quest for answers begins again at the Oval where she meets with Lola; one of the staff on duty all those months ago. This is just beginning of Rachel's journey, she will forge friendships and relationships with such a variety of people, including the man that she saved, a small child whose wisdom is often far superior than any adult and  inquisitive sausage dog named Francis. 

Katie Allen has structured her story carefully and cleverly. Written in the form of emails from Rachel to one person, it is not until the reader realises who the recipient of these missives is that the emotional gut punch really hits home. There's an almost voyeuristic feeling as the reader is exposed to Rachel's innermost thoughts about her loss and grief and the effects that those have on her life. We grimace as those around her expect her to bounce back, get over it and carry on. We smile wryly as she describes people and events with a dry and infectious humour. We reach for the tissues as her absolute agony is laid out, in words, shared only with the one person who will not disagree with her.

Rachel is a complicated character. She often makes rash and almost impossible to understand decisions, but this is how grief works. There's no set formula, there are no guidelines. Our brains and our hearts react differently, our emotions are as individual as we are and Rachel's unique way of dealing with her loss is exquisitely and perfectly played out within these pages. 

Emotionally engaging, witty, clever and wonderfully satisfying, Everything Happened For A Reason is a story that totally captured my heart. Packed with characters who leap from the page, and become a part of the reader's life too, and filled with warmth, humour and incredible love. 

Everything Happens for a Reason is Katie’s first novel. She used to be a journalist and columnist at
the Guardian and Observer, and started her career as a Reuters correspondent in Berlin and London. The events in Everything Happens for a Reason are fiction, but the premise is loosely autobiographical. 

Katie’s son, Finn, was stillborn in 2010, and her character’s experience of grief and being on maternity leave without a baby is based on her own. And yes, someone did say to her ‘Everything happens for a reason’. 

Katie grew up in Warwickshire and now lives in South London with her husband, children, dog, cat and stick insects. When she’s not writing or walking children and dogs, Katie loves baking, playing the piano, reading news and wishing she had written other people’s brilliant novels.

www.katieallenauthor.com

Twitter @KtAllenWriting

Courage by James Hardy BLOG TOUR #Courage #JamesHardy @darkedgepress @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

Joanne Sinclair wants Leroy Martin's help to find a serial killer dubbed the Dorking Devil. The problem is, he's a criminal who spent two years in prison and she's the detective who helped put him there.

The unlikely duo team up to find the man and bring him down and, surprisingly, they make a good pair. But it isn't long before Leroy's past catches up with him, putting them both in grave danger.

Courage by James Hardy was published by Dark Edge Press on 14 June 2021. As part of this #RandomThingsTours I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Courage by James Hardy 

‘It’s you!’ he declared, registering who the intruder was.

His intruder was a beast of a man, dressed all in black. He stood at six foot four and weighed around two hundred and forty pounds. He held the knife in his right hand and in the left he held up a sheet of newspaper. He looked at the paper and said, ‘Yes, the Dorking Devil, as you people have named me. In the flesh.’

He flipped the paper around to face Shaw and recited from memory what it said. ‘Today, MP Richard Shaw declared that if he is elected as prime minister in next month’s general election, he would go all out to bring back capital punishment for the barbarian the media has dubbed the Dorking Devil, after he slayed two pensioners last week in their cottage in Dorking. In a press conference today, Shaw said, “It would be unfair to compare this beast to an animal; he is a monster. And once he is caught, he does not deserve to be kept by the taxpayer's money in a prison for the rest of his sorry life. I will go all out to pass legislation for the return of the death penalty, even if it is for this bastard alone.” Now that wasn’t very nice, Richard, was it?’

‘No, No, No!’ Shaw protested with desperation as dread engulfed him, ‘You don’t get it.’ With his pyjama sleeve, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, ‘They weren’t my fucking words. Honestly!’

His whole body quivered as panic surged through him. ‘As a contender in the next election, I have a whole team whose job it is to tell me what to wear, how to walk, how to talk, what to say, when to fucking shit...’

He could see that the monster wasn’t convinced. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘As soon as I read this,’ he screwed the sheet of newspaper up in his fist, and tossed the crumpled ball onto the bed, ‘I knew what I was going to do with you.’ He grabbed him by his ankles and pulled him with ease down the bed.

Shaw wasn’t a small man, but compared to the Beast he was nothing more than a child.

‘I’m going to make you eat this newspaper while I bend you over the bed and do to you what a man shouldn’t really do to another man. Then slit your damn throat.’

‘W– what? You can’t. You–’ ‘Shut your mouth.

He swallowed hard. ‘I... I have money. Lots of it.’
Shaw could see the Beast wasn’t impressed.
‘Look,’ the desperation was as obvious in his voice as it was in his

sweaty palms, which flapped around in front of him.
There was a time he thought the 2.4 children and devoted wife

would naturally fall into place for him, but with his rise in prominence came a rise in unpopularity. Death threats and public scorn came with the territory and the daily cortisol surges had become a chronic irritant over time. He felt the adrenaline shoot through his sleepy limbs now; in an instant his muscles tightened, his body prepared to take flight.

‘As gritty as the streets of London and as compulsive as a TV Crime Drama . . . 

Courage has it all:
seedy government ministers and police corruption as well as conflicts of love and morality which are set against racial prejudice and social etiquette . . . This is a must-read for hardened crime fans!’

FiveStarReads