BLOG TOUR – The Lost Sister by Tracy Buchanan

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For the first time in your life, she is going to tell you the truth…

Then: A trip to the beach tore Becky’s world apart. It was the day her mother Selma met the mysterious man she went on to fall in love with, and leave her husband and child for.

Now: It’s been a decade since they last spoke, but Selma has just weeks to live. And she has something important to tell Becky – a secret she been hiding for many years. She had another daughter.

With the loss of her mother, Becky aches to find her sister. She knows she cannot move forward in her life without answers, but who can she really trust?

I read an early copy of this book and I absolutely loved it. I think Tracy did an incredible job with this book and I highly recommend you purchase a copy of this book as soon as possible.

I am happy to share with you an extract from the book!

I let out a dramatic sigh. ‘Sadly, these old things couldn’t produce enough milk,’ I said, gesturing towards my own breasts. I caught Greg’s eye and he held my gaze. ‘Had no choice but to bottle feed,’ I added.Mike shot me a look. Okay, maybe that was a little white lie. Truth was, I’d produced plenty of milk – so much it dribbled out at night, wetting my silk camisole. But I’d hated the act of breastfeeding, especially the smell of my own milk. I couldn’t say that out loud though, could I? It would be frowned upon, especially in Queensbay with its penchant for yoga and earth mummies. I yawned again, peering at my gold watch. It was past eight now.‘Sorry, I’m boring you,’ Julie said, frowning.I gently touched her arm. Yes, the woman was boring me. But that wasn’t her fault.‘Not at all!’ I said. ‘I’m just tired from the heat. You’re doing great, really darling.’ ‘Do you think you’ll have another?’ Julie asked. Mike caught my eye. He was desperate for another. But I couldn’t think of anything worse, shuddering as I remembered that sticky, confusing, sick-infested time of Becky’s newborn months. The emotions. The tears. I adored Becky, my perfect one. It would be like going back to square one if I had another. Plus, there was the slight problem of Mike and I barely touching any more. Maybe that should have worried me, but the truth was, I didn’t want to touch or be touched. On the rare occasions when we did make love, I flinched then felt nothing, going through the motions as I turned my face away. I used to be so passionate, to love to hold and be held. But not any more.

BLOG TOUR – A Summer Scandal by Kat French

 

When Violet moves to Swallow Beach, she inherits a small Victorian pier with an empty arcade perched on the end of it, and falls in love immediately. She wants nothing more than to rejuvenate it and make it grand again – but how?

When she meets hunky Calvin, inspiration strikes. What if she turned the arcade into an adult-themed arcade full of artisan shops?

Not everyone in the town is happy with the idea, but Violet loves her arcade and business begins to boom. But as tensions worsen and the heat between her and Calvin begins to grow, life at Swallow Beach becomes tricky. Is it worth staying to ride out the storm? And can Violet find her own happy ending before the swallows fly south for the winter?

 

Without further ado here’s an extract from the book!

By five o’clock on Thursday afternoon, Violet had transformed her empty workroom at the pier into a light-flooded studio. Beau and Cal had stepped up to the plate to help her move the heavier things, most notably the beast of a sewing machine, which now stood on a sturdy table that had been left behind when the pier was closed up for the last time in 1978. Lola the go-go dancer had also made the journey across from the Lido, and now stood in the far corner, a headless siren in red and gold feathers luring sailors in. All of her materials, feathers and threads had been sorted into a large shelving unit with baskets across the back wall – it was, in short, perfect. Vi stood in the centre, her hand resting on top of the sewing machine, and let a great whoosh of air leave her lungs. She wasn’t going to worry about who T was any more. It was history, and not hers to discover or attempt to understand. Who was she to judge?

Wandering from her room, she went to see how everyone else was getting on with their own studios.

‘Lucy?’ She tapped and waited to be invited in, even though she knew that Lucy didn’t have anyone in there yet. Like Melvin and Linda, Lucy was officially opening her studio on the pier after she’d served her month’s notice at her old rental. It was kind of nice actually, it meant they could have a soft launch rather than hit Swallow Beach with an all-singing, all-dancing pier.

She knew a handful of residents had grumbled that the pier’s new use wasn’t more of a community project; an amusement arcade, say, or a mainstream shopping arcade. She took their point, but also she felt strongly that there was nothing shameful in what any of them did and she was happy for anyone who wanted to to come and have a look around. At least this way the pier would be open again. People would be free to wander along the boardwalk, to sit on the ornate metal benches set into the sidings, to enjoy the sea. She’d done that exact thing herself for a few minutes every day since she’d arrived here; just sat and looked out towards the horizon, a cup of coffee in her hand. Maybe she could do that; have a coffee machine put just inside the entrance to the birdcage, one of those fancy self-serve ones that offered a million different ways to enjoy your brew. That might work, and it would certainly go some way towards appeasing the locals.

‘Come in,’ Lucy called, shaking Violet from her daydreams.

Pushing the door open, Violet stepped inside and looked around approvingly.

‘I like what you’ve done with the place,’ she said, as if looking at someone’s new home rather than workspace. But then Lucy’s studio did look quite homely, with a big red velvet chaise begging to be draped over with a good book, and a table and chairs too.

‘Props,’ Lucy said. ‘And somewhere for Charlie to do his homework when he comes by.’

BLOG TOUR – A Bad Boy Stole My Bra by Lauren Price

Imagine waking up in the dead of night to find your hot new neighbour dangling out of your window. What’s more, he’s clutching your tattiest bra in his hand

What. The. Actual. Fudge.

When bad boy Alec Wilde moves in next door to Riley, sparks fly. After their ‘unconventional’ introduction, Riley is determined to get her own back. A nemesis is just the distraction she needs: inside, she’s barely holding it together. It’s game on.

But behind the banter, there’s a side to Alec that Riley actually likes. How can she get through to the real him when she can’t even take herself seriously?

My Thoughts 

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy fo this book in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved this book!

Going into the book I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to like it or not but Lauren Price made sure that I not only liked it but loved it! She steered away from cliches and just when you thought she was going down the road of one she added more depth to the story and made you fall in love with the characters more than you ever expected.

I love the way throughout the book there’s a hidden secret that you desperately want to know. The banter between Riley and Alec was amazing and to be honest all of the humorous throughout the book was great.

I could spend all day listing what I loved about this book but I would be here all year. I would recommend this book to fans of The Kissing Booth and also readers who love funny and witty books with great characters.

Rating: 5/5

Be sure to check out the other posts on the blog tour!

BLOG TOUR – Theatrical

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Hope dreams of working backstage in a theatre, and she’s determined to make it without the help of her famous costume-designer mum. So when she lands an internship on a major production, she tells no one. But with a stroppy Hollywood star and his hot young understudy upstaging Hope’s focus, she’s soon struggling to keep her cool…and her secret.

 

I absolutely love the theatre and this book so I am so happy to have a guest post from the wonderful author herself!

A deep-dive into the musical DNA of THEATRICAL

One of the best things about writing THEATRICAL was getting the chance to spend time completely immersed in the theatre world: not just writing about it but thinking about it, reading about it – and, of course, visiting it!

Here’s my deep-dive list of everything that went on behind the scenes. Not everything is obviously part of the world of the finished book, but it’s still part of the story…

Things I listened to:

I usually write with music in the background, and Theatrical was no exception. While I was writing, I listened to a couple of soundtracks in particular – Hamilton, La La Land and the live-action Beauty & the Beast – but here are the songs that eventually became the soundtrack to the book in my head:

Holy Mountain – High Flying Birds

Somewhere Only We know – Keane

Halo – Beyoncé

You’re So Vain – Carly Simon

The Fools Who Dream (from the La La Land OST) – Emma Stone

Evermore (from the Beauty & the Beast OST) – Dan Stevens

Heaven – Depeche Mode

Love You So Bad – Ezra Furman

I’ll Be Your Pilot – Belle & Sebastian

Hurricane – Lin Manuel Miranda & the original Broadway cast of ‘Hamilton’

Go – Public Service Broadcasting

Standing By – Pentatonix

Diminuendo – Lawless feat. Britt Warner

Magic Seeds – Iwan Rheon

American English – Idlewild

BLOG TOUR – The Year Of Living Awkwardly

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​It’s Chloe Snow’s sophomore year of high school, and life has only grown more complicated.

Last year, Chloe was the star of the musical. This year, she’s just a lowly member of the ensemble. Chloe’s best friend, Hannah, is no help: she’s been sucked into the orbit of Lex, evil Queen Bee of the class. Meanwhile, Chloe’s dad is busy falling in love with Miss Murphy, and her mother is MIA in Mexico with her much younger bullfighting boyfriend, Javi… 

If only Chloe could talk to Grady about it – he’s easy to talk to. Or he was, until he declared his love for Chloe, she turned him down because despite all her rational brain cells she can’t seem to get over Mac, and then Grady promptly started going out with Lex. GAH! 

As the performance of the show approaches, Chloe must find a way to navigate all the messy elements of her life and make it through the end of the year.

My Thoughts

I read this book while on holiday in Valencia and found it super easy to fly through and loved reading it as a quick read.

I came into this book not reading the first book and found it super easy to follow along with!

Chloe was so easy to relate with, I think one of the reasons I found this was because I too am going through the UK equivalent of high school. Saying that though I think no matter what stage of your life you’re at I think you could click with Chloe.

The way in which Emma writes Chloe’s voice feels natural and easy to follow along with, which I think is important. I also loved the development of the book and how she allows the reader to form opinions on their favourite character.

Again I loved the voice of this book and all the struggles we see Chloe face because they’re just relatable and you get a lot of laughs along the way!

Would highly recommend.

Rating 4/5