Morton S. Gray's Blog, page 35
July 30, 2018
My Favourite Things – 2
Continuing with my occasional blog series detailing my favourite things, this week I’m talking about learning new crafts.
My nan taught me to knit and crotchet when I was seven. In fact she was always experimenting with craft work and I think she gave me the bug.
At one point in my life, I was painting glass and silk to sell at craft fairs. I’ve also dabbled in pottery, art, bead jewellery making, ribbon Christmas decorations, quilting, dough craft and rag rugs.
My latest craft ventures have been lino cut pictures, glass bead making and silver clay jewellery. I think it is safe to say that craftwork is another thing that defines who I am and you will definitely find some of these crafts appearing in my books.
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Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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July 23, 2018
Returning the Spotlight to Author Victoria Cornwall
My Choc Lit colleague, Victoria Cornwall has a new book out, her third book in her Cornish Tales series! The Daughter of River Valley was published on 17 July 2018. I took the opportunity to ask her some questions.
What led you to write The Daughter of River Valley?
It was inspired by a beautiful valley in Cornwall which is owned by the National Trust, and a head injury I sustained as a teenager, where I temporarily lost my sight and memory. (Wow) Thankfully they both quickly returned, but while I was watching a documentary on amnesia, I recalled the incident and wanted to incorporate a man losing his memory into a novel.
Tell us something about the research you had to do.
I have a background in nursing and have experienced amnesia myself, so had quite a bit of knowledge on the subject already. However, I also used my artistic license, which strayed from the reality of amnesia, so his experience, memory loss and flashbacks fitted well into the plot and helped move the story forward in the way that would make it readable and, hopefully, compelling.
My main research was linked with the hero’s past and his background. I won’t disclose the subject of the research as I do not wish to spoil the novel for potential readers, but a museum dedicated to the topic, history books and an author of a very informative book on the subject, was very helpful. We exchanged many emails and he read the parts I wrote on the subject so it was historically accurate. I hope my research brings the hero’s past experience to life for the reader and they come away learning something on the subject through the storytelling.
Is this new novel linked to The Thief’s Daughter and The Captain’s Daughter?
Although all the books in the Cornish Tales series are stand-alone novels about women who overcome obstacles they face that are very much part of the era they live in, the main characters are linked by a family tree.
What is your favourite thing about living in Cornwall?
Oh, there are so many things I like about living in Cornwall. I only live a 25 minute car journey from a beach, the majority of my close and extended family live in the county which gives me a sense of belonging. I have always lived in Cornwall and still meet up with old school friends for a coffee and a natter, which is great. The weather is very changeable and the landscape varied and although the county is relatively small, and it has a lot of history connected to it. Some are based in fact, whilst there are many based on myth and legend. Cornwall remains a popular tourist destination, so I am very happy to live in such a beautiful place with my family and friends not far away.
What can we expect from you next?
Just like you, I have a Christmas novella out in November. Writing a novella was a new experience for me, as I believe it was for you. It was also my first Christmas themed book, so it made a lovely change and was very enjoyable to write. However, what made writing this next book a particularly nice experience was that we wrote our novellas at the same time, egging each other on across the internet. Despite our long distance support of one another, we both gave little away and know next to nothing about each other’s stories. I look forward to reading yours when it is published, as I hope you are looking forward to reading mine.
Thank you for having me on your blog this week, Morton. I can’t believe how quickly the interview flew by!
And, thank you for answering my questions. I enjoy our internet chats and our mutual support too. I’ve just started reading The Daughter of River Valley. What a gorgeous cover – I’ve included it full sized so that readers can have a good look.
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About The Daughter of River Valley
Can you trust a man with no name?
Cornwall, 1861
Beth Jago appears to have the idyllic life, she has a trade to earn a living and a cottage of her own in Cornwall’s beautiful River Valley. Yet appearances can be deceptive …
Beth has a secret. Since inheriting her isolated cottage she’s been receiving threats, so when she finds a man in her home she acts on her instincts. One frying pan to the head and she has robbed the handsome stranger of his memory and almost killed him.
Fearful he may die, she reluctantly nurses the intruder back to health. Yet can she trust the man with no name who has entered her life, or is he as dangerous as his nightmares suggest? As they learn to trust one another, the outside threats worsen. Are they linked to the man with no past? Or is the real danger still outside waiting … and watching them both?
Purchasing Links for The Daughter of River Valley
Ebook https://books2read.com/u/boZaNV
Audio https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Daughter-of-River-Valley/dp/B07FM9JSGC/
About Victoria Cornwall
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Victoria Cornwall grew up on a farm in Cornwall. She can trace her Cornish roots as far back as the 18th century and it is this background and heritage which is the inspiration for her Cornish based novels.
Following a fulfilling twenty-five year career as a nurse, a change in profession finally allowed her the time to write. Since then, Victoria’s writing has been shortlisted for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romantic Fiction and twice nominated for the RONÉ “Best Indie or Small Published book” Award. In 2017, her novel, The Thief’s Daughter, was a finalist for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award.
Victoria is married and has two grown up children. She likes to read and write historical fiction with a strong background story, but at its heart is the unmistakable emotion, even pain, of loving someone.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Historical Novel Society.
To contact Victoria use the following links:-
Personal blog https://victoriacornwall.com/news-blog-2/
Blog contributor link https://novelpointsofview.blogspot.com/
Website: www.victoriacornwall.com
Twitter: @VickieCornwall
Facebook: www.facebook.com/victoriacornwall.author
Instagram: www.instagram.com/victoria_cornwallx
Pinterest: uk.pinterest.com/vickiecornwall
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Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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July 16, 2018
Spotlight on Guest Author Angela Britnell
This week I’m joined by Angel Britnell. Her novella Here Comes the Best Man was published by Choc Lit last week on 10 July 2018.
I asked Angela some questions:-
Your new book Here Comes the Best Man features the preparations for a wedding, can you tell us about your own wedding?
We married over 35 years ago which means I need to dust off the cobwebs from my brain! You need a few details first for any of this to make sense. I grew up in a small Cornish village. My husband grew up in a small town in Tennessee. We met in Denmark. Have I lost you all yet? Thank the US Navy (in his case) and the Royal Navy (in mine) for bringing us together.
Because we wanted to get married in my home church in Cornwall most of our wedding planning was done long distance from Denmark and obviously very few of Richard’s family were able attend. The nine who did wanted to get it right and I sent detailed explanations back and forth about English wedding etiquette. Things like the bride comes in first followed by the bridesmaids not the other way around, lady guests usually wear hats, the church service is significantly longer than a typical American one, black cat charms are often handed to the bride (they’re bad luck in America), not to be too surprised by the iced fruit cake unlike anything seen in America, and a chimney sweep kissing the bride isn’t mimicking My Fair Lady.
In the end everything went off well, we seated some of my friends on his side of the church to balance things out, the weather was typical April showers and sunshine and Richard’s five year old nephew announced he was happy Uncle Richard and Aunt Angela were married and could we please have a five year old boy soon for him to play with!
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Your hero, Josh is a musician, do you play an instrument yourself?
At my primary school it was compulsory to murder the recorder, I mean learn to play it, as part of our music education. This returned to haunt me when we lived in London for 3 years and our oldest son inflicted the same punishment on us as I’d done on my poor parents.
As a child I learned to play the piano for several years and stumbled though several exams without very much in the way of natural talent – it didn’t help I was too fond of my long fingernails and hated to practice regularly. To this day I envy people who can sit down and play completely by ear.
How do you visualise your characters when you are writing?
Because I’m not a plotter most of my characters ‘grow’ on me. Josh and Louise only had minor roles in The Wedding Reject Table which meant I knew very little about them when I started to write the sequel. There was something about Josh that nagged at me after the first book finished and he became very insistent on having his story told. I knew he was an older, world-weary version of his brother and as I wrote the first chapter he came clearly into focus. Louise was trickier because she’s a very private person and therefore took longer to reveal herself but it was worth the wait.
What would be the theme song of your book?
I’d have to pick Ring of Fire, Josh’s favourite song by his idol Johnny Cash as the book’s theme song or maybe one Josh wrote himself with an army buddy that becomes important to the story.
What can we look forward to from you next?
I’m always working on something and have several projects in hand at the moment. I have a contract on another full length Choc Lit novel but no release date as yet. I also write pocket novels for People’s Friend and have a Christmas one ready to submit.
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About Here Comes the Best Man
Being the best man is a lot to live up to …
When troubled army veteran and musician Josh Robertson returns home to Nashville to be the best man at his younger brother Chad’s wedding he’s just sure that he’s going to mess it all up somehow.
But when it becomes clear that the wedding might not be going to plan, it’s up to Josh and fellow guest Louise Giles to make sure that Chad and his wife-to-be Maggie get their perfect day.
Can Josh be the best man his brother needs? And is there somebody else who is beginning to realise that Josh could be her ‘best man’ too?
Buying Links
About Angela Britnell
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Angela grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!
A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she’s visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she’s a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Romance Writers of America and the Music City Romance Writers.
If you’d like to find out more of what Angela gets up to (Advance warning: this may include references to wine, chocolate, Poldark and the hunky Aidan Turner) check out www.angelabritnellromance.com or follow her on www.facebook.com/angelabritnell, www.twitter.com/angelabritnell and on Instagram as Angela Golley Britnell.
Thank you for joining me on my blog, Angela and here’s to many sales for Here Comes the Best Man!
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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July 9, 2018
Spotlight on Guest Author Angela Barton
This week I’m joined by Ruby Fiction author, Angela Barton. Her novel Arlette’s Story was published on 26 June 2018. I asked her some questions:-
Hello Morton and thank you very much for inviting me to be a guest on your blog.
What lead to you writing this novel?
Prior to writing Arlette’s Story, I had completed two contemporary women’s fiction novels but before starting a third, my husband and I went on holiday to France. While there we visited the museum and martyred village of Oradour-sur-Glane, seven decades after two hundred Nazis drove into the square on 10thJune 1944 and destroyed everything. Charles de Gaulle had declared that the ruins must stay as a permanent national monument to the townspeople’s suffering, so I found Oradour just as it had been left on the day of the genocide; frozen in time. I was shocked by the village’s unembellished rawness. It was as if I was entering a sacred place where everyone spoke in hushed whispers.
In my own very small way, I felt compelled to help keep the memory of that day alive. I was desperate to tell the story from a survivor’s viewpoint. I had to create a protagonist and lead her through her family’s war years, so I chose a twenty-year-old farm girl named Arlette. I placed her in a farm setting because I wanted her to be just an ordinary person who faces extraordinary circumstances. Arlette’s Story isn’t solely a story about war. For four years Arlette feels the reverberations of war but she also builds friendships, laughs, falls in love, enjoys family life, experiences adventures and lives her life positively despite challenges being placed in her way.
How easy was it to change genres?
In my mind I thought it would be easy, but in practice it was more challenging. Firstly, my literary agent in London wasn’t keen on the idea. I had imagined she would have been supportive, but she was less than enthused. She said I had a talent for contemporary fiction and although she hadn’t found a publisher for my earlier novel yet, she was hopeful that she would. I now faced a dilemma. Either end my hard fought contract with an agent and the possibility of becoming published, or write what I felt passionate about. I decided to end my relationship with my agent but instead of feeling lost, I felt free. Free to write Arlette’s Story.
How much research did you have to do for this book?
I did mountains of research for Arlette’s Story. I visited the National War Museum in London because I wanted to see German uniforms, insignias, weapons and vehicles for myself. It was important to me to describe them accurately. I read endless factual books about WW2 in France, visited Oradour’s martyred village three more times, spoke to museum staff there, trawled the internet, read too many war novels to count, listened to talks by ex-servicemen, scoured newspaper articles, contacted historians on Twitter and watched war films.
As you can imagine, I felt a weight of responsibility in writing about a fictional character living through a real atrocity, and rightly so. I wanted to honour the villagers’ last hours with respect and honesty and it was essential that I chose the right words and didn’t glamourize this horrendous crime. It made for tough and emotional research sometimes, but the thought of what those brave villagers faced seventy-four years earlier, kept me determined to write a book and dedicate it to them.
You have just begun a new adventure of your own – would you share a little about it?
Earlier this year, my husband and I moved to France to live. For the past ten years our dream has been to live a simpler, quieter, stress-free life in the French countryside, doing what we love doing and not what needs doing in order to pay the bills. Paul had been ill some years earlier and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. It was successfully operated on but a life-threatening illness makes people reassess what they’re doing with their lives. We decided that as life is short – why not follow our dream? So when the children left home and were all in secure jobs and relationships, we decided that the time was right. We moved to France earlier this year where we’ve found a slower and less stressful way of life.
In 2016 we bought a field with a barn attached and in 2017 we cultivated our field and planted over 3,000 lavender plants in long rows. This year we sold our house in England and moved to Charente in the southwest of the country.
The lavender field is a purple haze of loveliness as I type this, but we’re in the process of harvesting it to make soap, candles and bundles of bouquets to sell. I also enjoy making jewellery by sinking dried lavender into resin and creating tiny, half-inch books (with pages and book covers) into earrings. One day I will get round to creating an Etsy page on which to sell them. (Yes please – let me have the link. Mx)
What can we look forward to from you next?
I’m very lucky because Choc Lit’s new imprint, Ruby Fiction, offered me contracts for my first two contemporary novels in addition to my historical debut. I was delighted to sign with them last October so the future holds two more book publications.
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My WIP is another historical novel with a working title of Tomorrow’s Not Promised. It’s also set during WW2 but this time in German occupied Paris. (I think I may need several research trips to the City of Love!) It involves my heroine and her surprising love interest, hiding something in the catacombs beneath Paris’s bustling streets. I’ve already researched a lot about the catacombs and I’m very excited about climbing beneath the city and exploring the dark, skeleton-packed, hidden tunnels!
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About Arlette’s Story
One woman’s struggle to fight back against the enemy in order to protect the ones she loves.
When Arlette Blaise sees a German plane fly over the family farm in 1940, she’s comforted by the fact that the occupying forces are far away in the north of the country. Surely the war will not reach her family in the idyllic French countryside near to the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane?
But then Saul Epstein, a young Jewish man driven from his home by the Nazis, arrives at the farm and Arlette begins to realise that her peaceful existence might be gone for good …
Buying links:
About Angela Barton
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Angela Barton was born in London and grew up in Nottingham. She is married with three grown up children. Angela is passionate about writing both contemporary and historical fiction and loves time spent researching facts for her storylines. Having signed publishing contracts for three of her completed novels with Choc Lit’s new imprint, Ruby Fiction, Angela is excited to be working alongside such a lovely and supportive team. She and her husband are now lavender farmers living in south-west France. As well as writing, Angela’s second passion is making dried flower and book-related jewellery. She’s looking forward to completing her fourth novel in the beautiful countryside of Charente. Angela is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and Nottingham Writers’ Studio.
Contact links:
Website – https://www.angelabarton.net
Twitter – https://twitter.com/angebarton
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/angela.bartonauthor
Instagram – angelacbarton
Thank you for such an interesting post, Angela. I think readers will join me in being fascinated by your book, the story behind it and your own personal journey. May I wish you well in your new venture. Mx
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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July 2, 2018
My Favourite Things
I’m going to do a series of blogs about my favourite things and what defines me.
And, there isn’t much in my life that isn’t defined by history – I love learning about the past. Ironic really that I dropped history at school before taking any formal examinations in the subject. My study is full of history books and also the files, which contain the family history of my family, my husband’s family, my ex-husband’s family and those of various friends.
Inevitably family history has found its way into my novels, The Truth Lies Buried in particular, where my heroine has my ideal job working in an archives office and helping people trace their lineage.
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I have traced family trees for years, have a rolling subscription to Ancestry and even taught the subject in adult education classes for a while.
In The Truth Lies Buried, my heroine, Jenny Simpson meets someone researching the ghost they believe is haunting their house. I’ve changed the details, of course, but yes, I did once meet someone doing exactly this.
These days a lot of research, but not all (a common mistake people make) can be done via the internet, but I have fond memories of having day trips to various record offices around the country to wade through dusty original documents and the triumphant feeling I got when I found the right will or baptismal entry.
I’m like a dog with a bone when I have a tricky link to make in a family tree. It can absorb me for hours and I love nothing more.
My latest passion is for the links that DNA analysis can throw up. I still haven’t fully explored this, but it gives a different dimension to my family history, necessitating tracing forwards through the generations to establish links with those who share the same blood. It’s exciting messaging people with these links to me. I’m sure that this will give me great pleasure in the years to come. At least I know I bought the right baby back from the hospital, as my son has recently had his DNA analysis completed too!
Genetics fascinate me. How far back do certain traits stretch, or certain facial features go? Do we inherit family memories that lead us to act in a certain manner or avoid certain things? If I had my time over, I might have become a historian or a geneticist.
I am the family face
flesh perishes, I live on
projecting trait and trace
through times to times anon
and leaping from place to place o’er oblivion
the years-heired feature than can
in curve and voice and eye
despise the human span of durance, that is I
the eternal thing in man
that heeds no call to die.
Thomas Hardy
Meanwhile my love of history, family history and genetics will definitely feature in my future novels.
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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June 25, 2018
My Own Hat Trick
I’m not really into football, but I am patriotic so always like to see England doing well at anything. After our win on Sunday, I thought it was appropriate to use football language to mark the signing of my third book with Choc Lit – my own hat trick!
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The new contract I’ve just signed is for a Christmas novella, working title Christmas at Borteen Bay which will be out in November 2018. For those who’ve read my second novel, The Truth Lies Buried, this is the story of Pippa Freeman, who runs the Rose Court guesthouse in Borteen alongside her mother. As with my other books it is a stand-alone story, but linked by some of the inhabitants of Borteen and the seaside town itself.
I hope you will all want to read Pippa’s own mystery and there may be a little romance too.
Of course, I celebrated in my customary fashion with a coffee 
June 18, 2018
Guest Post by Juliet Archer Author of One Summer Weekend
This week I have a guest post by Juliet Archer author of One Summer Weekend published by Ruby Fiction on 19 June 2018. Over to Juliet …
A big thank you, Morton, for inviting me as your guest blogger – and hi to everyone!
I’m very excited to tell you about my new book, One Summer Weekend. Doesn’t the cover make you think of relaxing in the summer sunshine?
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About One Summer Weekend – the blurb on the book
One summer weekend can change everything …
Alicia Marlowe’s life as an executive coach is well under control – until she meets her new client, Jack Smith. Jack’s reputation precedes him and Alicia knows immediately that he spells trouble. Not least because he reminds her of someone else – a man who broke her heart and made her resolve never to lower her guard again.
Taking Jack on as a client is a risk, but one that Alicia decides to take for the good of her career. As long as she keeps him in his place, she might just make it through unscathed. But Jack has other ideas – including a ‘business’ trip to the Lake District. One summer weekend with him is all it takes to put Alicia’s carefully organised world in a spin …
So, for Alicia, it’s business, for Jack, it’s personal.
Will one summer weekend deliver both agendas?
Coaching – of any sort – is an intimate activity, where one person gets under the skin of another to help them perform better. Executive coaches are trained more than most to keep their professional detachment at all costs. When Alicia Marlowe heads north to Grimshaw to meet the Chief Executive of Leo Components, she’s not expecting anything she can’t handle – despite what she’s found out about him so far.
Let’s imagine what they were both thinking before that first meeting …
Alicia’s thoughts: Jack Smith is a douchebag. Okay, that’s based purely on what I’ve read about his personal life – hard not to, when it’s splashed all over the local papers. Serves me right for doing my pre-meeting research, doesn’t it? … I wonder why Adam recommended me to him – he wasn’t very forthcoming when I asked … God, this place is grim – no wonder it’s called Grimshaw. But Leo Components is the biggest employer, so it should be easy to find … Yes, here we are. Let’s get this over and done with. Professional detachment at the ready.
Jack’s thoughts: Must admit I’ve got mixed feelings about this meeting, but I can’t see any other way of stepping up to the mark now that we’ve merged with Sphinx Industries. And Adam thinks she’s one of the best executive coaches around. She coached him, and he’s firing on all cylinders. Mind, she sounds a right old battleaxe – even worse than my mother!
And after the meeting …
Alicia’s thoughts: Oh. My. God. I can’t think straight. What the hell did I write in my notes? Not the truth, that’s for sure. I remember, something like: ‘Domineering management style … Arrogant belief in own abilities … Uses aggression to mask his fear of failure … Has a childish sense of humour.’
Okay, usually I don’t give this sort of instant diagnosis, but in his case … I suppose it’s because he reminds me of someone else – and not in a good way.
Do I really want to coach this person?
Jack’s thoughts: Wow!
What happens next? Find out at http://www.rubyfiction.com/dd-product/one-summer-weekend/– release date 19th June 2018!
I’d love you hear what you think – drop me a line at juliet@julietarcher.com or post a review on Amazon.
One Summer Weekend is available as an eBook on all platforms.
Thank you, Juliet that is an interesting insight into the thoughts of your characters. I can’t wait to read more.
About Juliet Archer
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Juliet writes award-winning romantic comedy for Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction. She has been known to spend many happy hours matching irresistible heroes with their equally irresistible chocolate counterparts – watch out for the dark nutty ones!
Her debut novel, The Importance of Being Emma, won the Big Red Read Book of the Year 2011 Fiction Award and was shortlisted for the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Her second novel, Persuade Me, was shortlisted for the 2011 Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read Award.
Juliet’s third book is One Summer Weekend, published on 19th June 2018. You can also read her short stories: Incense & Insensibility in the Choc Lit Love Match anthology, and Love Rules in Choc Lit’s Kisses & Cupcakes anthology.
Juliet was born and bred in North-East England and now lives in Hertfordshire. She gives talks all over the UK and in the USA about the classic authors who inspire her work. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Society of Authors and the Jane Austen Society. Her non-writing career has spanned IT, acquisitions analysis, copy editing, marketing and project management, providing plenty of first-hand research for her novels.
To contact Juliet please use the following links:-
Good luck with your new release, Juliet and to order it click here.
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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June 11, 2018
Character Post by Carver Rodgers from The Truth Lies Buried
Carver Rodgers from my latest novel The Truth Lies Buried joins us today to talk about his dog, Wilf.
Over to Carver …
‘When my late wife, Bliss arrived home one day with a bundle of grey fur that turned out to be a puppy, I was less than pleased. She called the dog Wilf after her favourite great-uncle. I was irritated because to begin with this little scrap of an animal did pools of wee on my polished oak floors that left watermarks and we won’t talk about pooh!
I’d never owned a dog, but Bliss had always wanted one. I don’t think either of us imagined that the animal would grow quite so big or eat quite so much. I insisted that the dog was well trained and Bliss, to her credit, researched and found a police dog handler to do the job with her. As a result, Wilf is extraordinarily obedient and knows a few extra moves that other dogs wouldn’t be trained in.
When Bliss died, I was amazed at how much comfort Wilf gave to me. He just lay at my feet most of the time, but his presence and our combined sense of loss drew us closer and now I couldn’t imagine life without the big, shaggy long-legged animal.
Just goes to show that something you are resistant to at the beginning can often work out for the best.’
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About The Truth Lies Buried published by Choc Lit
Two children in a police waiting room, two distressed mothers, a memory only half remembered …
When Jenny Simpson returns to the seaside town of Borteen, her childhood home, it’s for a less than happy reason. But it’s also a chance for her to start again.
A new job leads to her working for Carver Rodgers, a man who lives alone in a house that looks like it comes from the pages of a fairy tale – until you see the disaster zone inside …
As Jenny gets to know Carver she begins to unravel the sadness that has led to his chaotic existence. Gradually they realise they have something in common that is impossible to ignore – and it all links back to a meeting at a police station many years before.
Could the truth lie just beneath their feet?
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Purchasing links
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms:-
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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June 4, 2018
Character Post From The Point of View of Doug Faulkner, Hero of Kathryn Freeman’s Novel “Oh Crumbs”
This week I have a post from the point of view of the hero of Oh Crumbs by Kathryn Freeman which will be e-published on 12 June 2018 by Choc Lit.
He was bored. Thoroughly and utterly bored, from the tip of his big toe to the hair on his head that his father said was too long for a man in his position. It was exactly why he kept it that way. Just a shame his defiance didn’t extend to other areas of his life. He might be sitting at this desk with hair badly in need of a cut, but he was still sitting here, in the Crumbs head office. The name on his door still said Douglas Faulkner, Managing Director. And his in-box was still full of emails that supposedly needed his attention, though he was damned if he knew enough, or cared enough, to answer them.
Crumbs – his father’s company – made biscuits, for crying out loud. How on earth was he supposed to get excited about that? Hell, he didn’t even like the damn things. If he fancied something sweet, he wanted it to be substantial. A chunk of cake. A large serving of apple crumble. Not a hard lump of baked flour and sugar he could consume in one mouthful.
His father didn’t care whether his only son enjoyed his job or not, though. Didn’t really care how good a job he was doing either, because let’s face it, Charles Faulkner still made all the big decisions. His father only cared that his son sat at his desk. And that he wasn’t an embarrassment to the Faulkner name.
As Doug felt the familiar anger begin to flare, he took a deep breath and glanced at his watch. Another hour before he could escape.
The knock on his door was a welcome diversion. Joanne, his PA, bustled in carrying a silver tray. It amused him that she always brought him coffee in a fine china cup and saucer. And always included a bowl of sugar lumps, even though he never took sugar.
Today she didn’t smile at him, though. Today she didn’t even look him in the eye after she’d carefully positioned the cup and saucer on the coaster on his desk. ‘Could I trouble you a moment please, Mr Faulkner?’
‘It’s Doug.’ For two years he’d tried, and failed, to get her to call him by his first name. ‘And you can trouble me all you like.’ Anything to put off sifting through his emails.
She took a white envelope out of her pocket and handed it to him. Finally her eyes met his. ‘It’s my official notice. My husband has come into some money and we decided to move to Australia to be with our daughter.’ She shifted on her feet, looking slightly embarrassed. ‘We leave tomorrow.’
Doug slumped back in his chair. Bloody perfect. Now he had to add find a new PA to the growing list of tasks he needed to do, but couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for.
Interesting scenario, Kathryn!
To find out what happens next you’ll have to read Oh Crumbs – more about the story and how to order below.
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About Oh Crumbs
Sometimes life just takes the biscuit …
Abby Spencer knows she can come across as an airhead – she talks too much and is a bit of a klutz – but there’s more to her than that. Though she sacrificed her career to help raise her sisters, a job interview at biscuit company Crumbs could finally be her chance to shine. That’s until she hurries in late wearing a shirt covered in rusk crumbs, courtesy of her baby nephew, and trips over her handbag.
Managing director Douglas Faulkner isn’t sure what to make of Abby Spencer with her Bambi eyes, tousled hair and ability to say more in the half-hour interview than he manages in a day. All he knows is she’s a breath of fresh air and could bring a new lease of life to the stale corporate world of Crumbs. To his life too, if he’d let her.
But Doug’s harbouring a secret. He’s not the man she thinks he is.
Oh Crumbs purchase links:
And details of other e-platforms at Choc Lit
About the author, Kathryn Freeman
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A former pharmacist, I’m now a medical writer who also writes romance. Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a hunky hero.
With two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to buy a card (yes, he does), any romance is all in my head. Then again, his unstinting support of my career change proves love isn’t always about hearts and flowers – and heroes come in many disguises.
To contact Kathryn, please use the following links:-
Website: http://kathrynfreeman.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathrynfreeman
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KathrynFreeman1
Thank you for that insight into your hero, Douglas Faulkner, Kathryn. I can’t wait to read the book to find out what happens next.
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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May 28, 2018
Spotlight on Guest Author Christine Stovell
This week I’m joined by fellow Choc Lit author Christine Stovell as she launches her latest book Moonbeams in a Jar. I asked her some questions:-
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Where did the ideas for Moonbeams in a Jar come from?
The characters for Moonbeams in a Jar first appeared in a Choc Lit Treat, a complete short story readers can receive completely free by signing up for news and offers from my publisher, Choc Lit.
I’m a very visual writer in the sense that ideas often come to me like still pictures from a film and this a story I’ve wanted to write since I ‘saw’ my heroine Chloe sitting at the end of a wooden pontoon with Wilma, her dachshund, beside her.
My Choc Lit Treat had its own happy ending with the promise of a holiday romance… but the characters wouldn’t leave me alone. How, I wondered, could I make Chloe and the handsome bearded man heading towards her with his dog, Fred, see not only that they were right for each other but that they could build a future together?
How did you choose the title for the book?
We all get earworms, don’t we? Those tunes that bubble up from nowhere and play on repeat in our heads? Well, this is the title of a song – goodness knows where it came from – that kept coming into my head as I started to think about Chloe’s real and very personal predicament of whether to choose thrills and excitement over a supposedly safe and secure future.
Chloe really does feel that falling in love with Ryan is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. I use Pinterest boards and Spotify playlists to help me build the background of my stories so you can listen to the song there, although I should warn you that Jane Siberry’s ‘Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog’ is another potential earworm!
Have you lived in Hong Kong?
Almost. (See next question!) However, it was the place I said most wanted to visit when my husband Tom idly asked, one summer evening, where I would choose to go if I could hop on a plane the next day. I never expected him to surprise me by actually booking my dream holiday so I’m afraid my first reaction was one of shock and some concern about how we would be able to afford it.
Happily it turned out to be one of the most fabulous experiences of my life… hang on a minute, does worrying about whether to choose thrills and excitement over safe and secure make me sound a little bit like Chloe? Not that I’m thinking about the next question, noooo …
Was you own romance as complicated as your characters’ ?
Hmm, let’s just say there are a couple of well-heeled solicitors out there, however, moving on, I found my very own guiding star and filled my jar with moonbeams when I met Tom.
Thank you for answering my questions, Christine. I look forward to reading your book.
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About Moonbeams in a Jar
When Chloe Potter wishes on a star that she’ll find a man who’ll accept her and her noisy dachshund Wilma, she doesn’t think that she’ll bump into one quite so soon …
So when she meets larger than life, ruggedly handsome Ryan Green and his beloved boisterous basset hound, Fred, it ought to be a match made in heaven.
But Chloe soon finds that trying to tie a man like Ryan down is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. Ryan’s job as a photographer means that when he’s not in the middle of a war zone, he’s trying to catch just the right light at the top of Mount Snowdon.
Chloe wants stability and when it becomes clear that Ryan will always put his job first, she knows she has to move on. But then a once-in-a-lifetime trip unexpectedly brings them together once again …
Buying Links:
About the author – Christine Stovell
Winning a tin of chocolate in a national essay competition at primary school inspired to Christine Stovell to become a writer. After graduating from UEA, she took various jobs in the public sector writing research papers by day and nascent novels by night. Losing her dad to cancer spurred her on to achieve her dream of becoming a published novelist.
Setting off, with her husband, from a sleepy seaside resort on the east coast in a vintage wooden boat to sail halfway round Britain provided the inspiration for her ‘Little Spitmarsh’ series of novels, but never cured her seasickness although she continues to sail.
As well as writing long and short contemporary romantic fiction and poetry, Christine has written features for various magazines and is a regular contributor to The English Home magazine.
Christine lives on the beautiful west Wales coast where long-distance running helps her plan her plots. Half marathons, she thinks, especially when the going gets tough, are like novels; both begin with small steps.
To contact Christine please use the following links:-
Links:
Website: http://christinestovell.com
Blog: https://homethoughtsweekly.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @chrisstovell
Facebook: www.facebook.com/christinestovellauthor
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/christinestovell/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chrisstovell/
Spotify Playlist for Moonbeams in a Jar: https://open.spotify.com/user/chrisstovell/playlist/6GyIPb6PLPTBlpV7H9aPJm?si=Yjr6L8onQFij06IE4OY6Hg (What an intriguing idea!)
Thank you for visiting my blog Christine and good luck with Moonbeams in a Jar.
Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.
The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks
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