Lucy Mitchell's Blog, page 36

#BookReview You May Kiss The Bridesmaid

Ring the fictional romantic crush bell for me someone please! 

Archie, the male character in this book, You May Kiss The Bridesmaid, by Camilla Isley, has caught my attention with his cheekiness, his beard, his bedside manner, his foot massages and his interest in yoga. I now can’t stop replacing Summer Knowles, the female character, with myself in my head. This is an occupational hazard for romance book bloggers like myself. Crushes on fictional characters can take days to recover from.

Archibald Hill – what have you done to me? As a forty something, married, mother of teenagers, I shouldn’t be sat out in my garden daydreaming about you giving me one of your foot massages! Jeez – I didn’t even like foot massages until you came along.

Can someone also pass me my handheld electric fan?

Here’s the blurb:

Archibald Hill is handsome, single, and he’s going to his best friend’s wedding ready to make a conquest or two. After all, everyone knows weddings are the perfect setting to get lucky.

Summer Knowles used to have a life—friends, family, a sister who’d do anything for her—until she blew it all away with a terrible mistake. Now, attending her twin’s wedding as the party’s undesirable number one seems like more than she can handle. So, when a tall stranger with smoldering ice-blue eyes offers her a therapy of seven nights of no-strings-attached fun, she might even ignore that he has a beard and accept.

Problem is, Summer has never been good at keeping sex and feelings separated…

Here’s my review:

VERY enjoyable read!

This is the sixth book in the series. I haven’t read any of the other books as I like to throw myself into series to see whether they can be read standalone. I can confirm this book can definitely be read on its own.

I love the set up for this book; a one WEEK Napa wedding filled with wine tastings, rehearsal dinners and yoga practices.

Summer Knowles is my kind of gal; good at giving banter, flawed and she can’t keep away from Archie. She has a past which she’s not proud about and she’s very relatable.

Archie is my kind of fictional love interest: handsome, cheeky and quite frankly irresistible.

Then you have this pact they make – a week long arrangement of no strings attached hanky panky.

Oh my days – this book gave me the flutters and made me read it with a cooling flannel draped over my forehead,

I thought it was a great read and Camilla Isley – you are a romantic comedy author goddess.

Giveaway to Win 3 x ecopies of the boxset of the first three books in the series – First Comes Love (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494378/

Author Bio –

Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband on an adventure abroad.

She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

Social Media Links –

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/camilla-isley

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14135080.Camilla_Isley

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/camillaisley

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camillaisley/

Twitter https://twitter.com/camillaisley

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/camillaisley/

#BookReview You May Kiss The Bridesmaid

Ring the fictional romantic crush bell for me someone please! 

Archie, the male character in this book, You May Kiss The Bridesmaid, by Camilla Isley, has caught my attention with his cheekiness, his beard, his bedside manner, his foot massages and his interest in yoga. I now can’t stop replacing Summer Knowles, the female character, with myself in my head. This is an occupational hazard for romance book bloggers like myself. Crushes on fictional characters can take days to recover from.

Archibald Hill – what have you done to me? As a forty something, married, mother of teenagers, I shouldn’t be sat out in my garden daydreaming about you giving me one of your foot massages! Jeez – I didn’t even like foot massages until you came along.

Can someone also pass me my handheld electric fan?

Here’s the blurb:

Archibald Hill is handsome, single, and he’s going to his best friend’s wedding ready to make a conquest or two. After all, everyone knows weddings are the perfect setting to get lucky.

Summer Knowles used to have a life—friends, family, a sister who’d do anything for her—until she blew it all away with a terrible mistake. Now, attending her twin’s wedding as the party’s undesirable number one seems like more than she can handle. So, when a tall stranger with smoldering ice-blue eyes offers her a therapy of seven nights of no-strings-attached fun, she might even ignore that he has a beard and accept.

Problem is, Summer has never been good at keeping sex and feelings separated…

Here’s my review:

VERY enjoyable read!

This is the sixth book in the series. I haven’t read any of the other books as I like to throw myself into series to see whether they can be read standalone. I can confirm this book can definitely be read on its own.

I love the set up for this book; a one WEEK Napa wedding filled with wine tastings, rehearsal dinners and yoga practices.

Summer Knowles is my kind of gal; good at giving banter, flawed and she can’t keep away from Archie. She has a past which she’s not proud about and she’s very relatable.

Archie is my kind of fictional love interest: handsome, cheeky and quite frankly irresistible.

Then you have this pact they make – a week long arrangement of no strings attached hanky panky.

Oh my days – this book gave me the flutters and made me read it with a cooling flannel draped over my forehead,

I thought it was a great read and Camilla Isley – you are a romantic comedy author goddess.

Giveaway to Win 3 x ecopies of the boxset of the first three books in the series – First Comes Love (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494378/

Author Bio –

Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband on an adventure abroad.

She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

Social Media Links –

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/camilla-isley

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14135080.Camilla_Isley

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/camillaisley

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camillaisley/

Twitter https://twitter.com/camillaisley

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/camillaisley/

#BookReview You May Kiss The Bridesmaid

Ring the fictional romantic crush bell for me someone please! 

Archie, the male character in this book, You May Kiss The Bridesmaid, by Camilla Isley, has caught my attention with his cheekiness, his beard, his bedside manner, his foot massages and his interest in yoga. I now can’t stop replacing Summer Knowles, the female character, with myself in my head. This is an occupational hazard for romance book bloggers like myself. Crushes on fictional characters can take days to recover from.

Archibald Hill – what have you done to me? As a forty something, married, mother of teenagers, I shouldn’t be sat out in my garden daydreaming about you giving me one of your foot massages! Jeez – I didn’t even like foot massages until you came along.

Can someone also pass me my handheld electric fan?

Here’s the blurb:

Archibald Hill is handsome, single, and he’s going to his best friend’s wedding ready to make a conquest or two. After all, everyone knows weddings are the perfect setting to get lucky.

Summer Knowles used to have a life—friends, family, a sister who’d do anything for her—until she blew it all away with a terrible mistake. Now, attending her twin’s wedding as the party’s undesirable number one seems like more than she can handle. So, when a tall stranger with smoldering ice-blue eyes offers her a therapy of seven nights of no-strings-attached fun, she might even ignore that he has a beard and accept.

Problem is, Summer has never been good at keeping sex and feelings separated…

Here’s my review:

VERY enjoyable read!

This is the sixth book in the series. I haven’t read any of the other books as I like to throw myself into series to see whether they can be read standalone. I can confirm this book can definitely be read on its own.

I love the set up for this book; a one WEEK Napa wedding filled with wine tastings, rehearsal dinners and yoga practices.

Summer Knowles is my kind of gal; good at giving banter, flawed and she can’t keep away from Archie. She has a past which she’s not proud about and she’s very relatable.

Archie is my kind of fictional love interest: handsome, cheeky and quite frankly irresistible.

Then you have this pact they make – a week long arrangement of no strings attached hanky panky.

Oh my days – this book gave me the flutters and made me read it with a cooling flannel draped over my forehead,

I thought it was a great read and Camilla Isley – you are a romantic comedy author goddess.

Giveaway to Win 3 x ecopies of the boxset of the first three books in the series – First Comes Love (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494378/

Author Bio –

Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband on an adventure abroad.

She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

Social Media Links –

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/camilla-isley

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14135080.Camilla_Isley

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/camillaisley

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camillaisley/

Twitter https://twitter.com/camillaisley

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/camillaisley/

#BookReview Wedding Bells in Merriment Bay @emilyharvale #Romance #SundayReads

Fighting the urge to stand on my sofa and shout, “I am so glad I discovered Emily Harvale’s books!” However it’s early Saturday morning and I don’t think my sleeping family and dog would appreciate my screeching. Sorry Emily!

This book, Wedding Bells in Merriment Bay, is book three in the Merriment series by Emily Harvale and interlinks with the book from the Wyntersleap series featured in Fridays’ blog post. It can be read as a standalone.

If there is an Emily Harvale fan club – can someone pass me a member’s badge?

Here’s the blurb:

Change is in the air as wedding bells ring out in Merriment Bay.

Cat’s determined to propose to Amias. Well, it is a leap year so it’s fine for women to do the asking, and besides, it took him eighteen years to tell her how he felt. She’s not going to wait for him to pop the question. All she needs to do is find the perfect time and place.

Kyra’s fallen for Francis Raine, who seems happy to flirt and exchange banter but hasn’t actually asked her out. Does he reciprocate her feelings, or is he this way with every girl he meets? There’s only one way to find out. She’ll ask him on a date … as soon as he returns to Merriment Bay.

Mary’s leaving Devon Villa after a lifetime spent in the house. She’s never lived alone so it’s both an exciting and a terrifying prospect. But change is good, isn’t it? Perhaps it’s time she tried a few other new things too.

The Devon women want to move on to the next chapters in their lives. And as Viola Devon used to say before she died, “The only one who can write your own life story as you want it, is you.” Although Viola’s didn’t work out too well. Will Cat, Kyra, and Mary have better luck with theirs?

Here’s my review:

I found this book to be more of an emotional romance read than the one I read for Friday’s post. This might be due to the Merriment Bay book series being written that way or I was so overcome with emotion at seeing all the characters I loved again. It was like Emily Harvale had cranked up the emotion lever and lowered the comedy just a little.

In this book I got to understand Cat and Amias more and my goodness what an emotional journey Emily Harvale took me on! My poor tissue box has not recovered.

I like the realistic characters that Emily creates. Love doesn’t come easy for them which is very much real life but they all battle through their pain, support each other and come out the other side.

I enjoyed Kyra’s trials and tribulations with Francis and I thought she had a lovely relationship with Cat, her mum.

There is a grand romantic gesture in this book and this has to be one of my all time favourites.

It was a great end to a series of books filled with good helpings of romance, some big spoonfuls of uplifting moments, a generous sprinkling of heart racing kisses and a lot of family humour. I’m now hooked!

Purchase link: Click here. 

A bit more about Emily Harvale…

I’m a bestselling author of feel-good, romantic fiction novels, novellas and short stories, and an Amazon KDP All Star. Many of my books have a hint of mystery; some may bring tears but I believe in happy endings. I’m a member of The Society of Authors, the RWA and NINC. My paperbacks are available either on Amazon or by order at all good bookshops but at present my eBooks are only available on Amazon.

That’s the professional stuff – now let’s get personal. I grew up in Hastings, East Sussex and I’ve always written for pleasure, but my career took me in a very different direction (Law and Banking – please don’t hate me!) until I became seriously ill and had to reconsider my future. Life’s like that isn’t it? I moved back from London to my home town and began to concentrate on writing. I write quickly and I write full-time, so I’m always working on at least two books. My personal life does suffer though. My friends say that when I finally ‘pop my clogs’ they’ll make sure my headstone reads: ‘Let me finish writing this chapter and I’ll be with you.’

 

#BookReview – A Wedding at Wynter House #BookTour

Don’t you just love a book which gets you chuckling at the humour from the start?

I haven’t read Emily Harvale before so I am grateful for being on this blog tour. She writes funny and lively characters who have plenty of banter and make you giggle from the outset.

Here’s the blurb:

A Wedding at Wynter House

Wyntersleap series – Book 3

Not everyone at Wynter House is thrilled about this wedding.

Secrets have been revealed and new relationships begun. Now it’s time to look to the future. Neva and Rafe are in love and so are Adam and Hazel. Jo’s love life leaves a lot to be desired, although Gavin could remedy that.

But Rafe’s grandmother, Olivia still hopes that something will tear Rafe and Neva apart. Hazel’s new assignment means nursing someone back to health … and there’s history between them. And Jo’s receiving texts from her ex-fiancé.

Then Rafe’s first wife, Pippa – the woman who broke his heart, unexpectedly arrives. And she’s even more beautiful and irresistible than Rafe remembers.

When everyone is looking to the future, will the past prove to be too strong?

There will be a wedding at Wynter House … but who will be the bride and groom?

Here’s my review:

I really enjoyed this book. It brightened up my early mornings (I love a good read over breakfast) and it put a smile on my face as I shovelled down my granola.

The author grabbed my attention from the start with a family dealing with the revelation that their name, Wynter, is linked to a murder in the 1800’s,  an affair involving Rafe’s father which has resulted in the arrival of Cat (Rafe’s new half-sister) and her daughter Kyra, and a load of village gossip. By the end of the third chapter I was hooked.

I thought the arrival of Rafe’s first wife, Pippa, brought good romantic tension to the story and it got me shouting from the kitchen table. You will have to read to find out. Also the deeper insight into Rafe and Adam provided yet more intrigue.

I have to say Olivia (Rafe’s grandmother) is hilarious and I want to go back and read more of her.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your book tour, Emily.

Purchase Link – mybook.to/WynterHouse3

4 Synergies Between Romance ❤️ & Love Songs

I have a very special guest blogger today.

Romance writer and soon to be debut novelist Leonie Mack. has a wonderful book coming out in September. I have known Leonie now for awhile and I am so proud of her for writing this fabulous sounding book.

[image error]

Today she’s written me a fabulous post.

Take it away, Leonie!

Hi,

When I think back to my earliest experiences of listening to music, it was the pop music from the eighties and nineties, where love was definitely the most popular theme. I found songs so romantic (think Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and even one song that stuck with me from the nineties, Self Esteem by the Offspring).

Times move on, but our preoccupation with love only changes, it doesn’t go away. Romance and love songs have timeless, universal themes and reflect deep longings as well as cultural changes.

Love themes are seen as ‘same old’ or ‘predictable’ or lower quality

There is a similar thread in music that happy love songs are somehow ‘sappy’ and possibly even lower quality than others with darker (or more sexual) love themes or other themes altogether—just as the same cultural value judgements are made about books with romance in them. But people still write love songs—often straight from the heart and sometimes just pretending. And people still love reading and writing romances. Why? There’s something fundamental inside us that romance and love songs communicate with, which is why it’s also important that everyone can find a romance they relate to.

They come from the same urge to understand the experience of being human

Physical, psychological or spiritual, love is a concept that is central to the human experience—for all genders, sexual orientation, cultures and nationalities. The human urge to express love, explore love or box-up love for consumption in creativity and culture was the jumping-off point for my book My Christmas Number One. I have always been a fan of Latin music and, with the change to music streaming over radio or buying albums, that has ballooned. And a lot of Latin music has very romantic themes.

My husband jokes with me that I could write a love poem in Spanish, but I would struggle to order a coffee. Thankfully, my general Spanish has also improved a lot over the past few years and I can do a lot more than just order coffee, but it was true that a lot of the vocabulary I learned early on listening to music were words like ‘kiss’ or ‘chest’ (for two different reasons…), ‘heart’ (corazón) is a very common word familiar to non-Spanish speakers, ‘dreams’, and of course all of the different verb forms of ‘to dance’ (bailar, baila, bailando, bailamos etc etc etc dancing is extremely important!!)

Back before I had any idea that I would write this book or that it would be published, I discovered a Colombian band called Morat who aren’t exactly typical Latin pop, but their songs are lovely and melodic. At that time, my Spanish still wasn’t great and I only understood a few words, but I had a friend who was half-Colombian and I mentioned to her that I liked this band and she looked them up. I wanted to hear what she thought (as no one else I know listens to the same music I do!), but she came back to me saying they were just the ‘same old’ love songs. It got me thinking.

Admittedly, some of the lines of their songs read like a bad love poem. There is one line that translates as something like, ‘Knowing that your kisses kill, I will die of love’. And yet the songs are touching in the same way we love romance tropes like opposites attract or forced proximity. People will always enjoy love songs—and people will always write them.

They have the same struggles with cliché

Music is a medium through which we experience emotion (which I’m also discovering in more depth while drafting my second book, which is more about classical music and I keep running up against the concept of pathos, appealing to the emotions). As such, words and lyrics become embedded into the experience and eventually become cliché as they make the rounds of more and more people’s emotions.

I mean, take a look at the lyrics of Mariah Carey’s hit ‘Without You’ and you’ll see what I mean. In 1993, we all loved it! Have a search for love songs of the 80’s and 90’s and some of the lyrics wouldn’t have a place in the sappiest romance novel. The trick is to build on this cliché canon and play with it, searching for the same universal meanings that talk to people’s experiences, but expressing them in new ways.

They’re art imitating life, imitating art

‘It’s so unrealistic’ is another criticism that non-romance fans sometimes have of the genre and the same could definitely be said of love songs. I was intrigued by this idea that these creative expressions could be confused with real life—like in ‘Speed’ where they wonder if it’s just all the adrenaline making them want to kiss (LOL—can you tell I enjoyed that film for the sexual tension?). But our perceptions of love are mediated through books and songs which, in turn, reflect certain things about life. It’s a bizarre circle sometimes and, as writers, we are often on the front line, discovering and creating connections to our characters that we didn’t expect.

With this background of thoughts and experiences, I thought to myself: what would happen if a very non-romantic, but heartfelt singer-songwriter had to work with a writer of flirty, sexy (fake) love songs? And what if it was a Christmas song, influenced by two very different experiences and traditions of the season? And the idea for My Christmas Number One was born.

Bio

Hi, I’m Leonie Mack, a debut author of fun contemporary romance. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first book I can share with the world is called My Christmas Number One and it’s out in ebook, paperback and audio on 10 September 2020, for pre-order now, with Boldwood Books. I live among the vineyards in Germany, but I’m originally from Australia and lived for a long time in the UK and I like to flit around the world when I can. I love languages and music and travelling under my own steam.

Blurb for My Christmas Number One:

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas love story, to get you in the mood for celebrating…

Cara doesn’t do sexy and she only does ‘Happy Christmas’ under duress. She is, after all, a serious musician, and her stubborn streak is born from her struggle to recover from a serious injury.

Javi lives for escapist fun – in his music, and in his life – especially since he’s always failed at life’s more serious challenges, including marriage and fatherhood.

Javi and Cara are forced to record a Christmas single together, but neither of them have plans to spend any more time with each other than they absolutely have to. With Christmas traditions that couldn’t be more different, and outlooks on life that are worlds apart, the chemistry just shouldn’t work. But the magic of Christmas can bring even opposites together…

From the snowy beauty of London at Christmas, to the candle-lit magic of Javi’s traditional family celebrations, let Leonie Mack whisk you away on a memorable festive adventure. Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Mandy Baggot and Holly Martin.

Pre order link – click here.

Oh my goodness – what a great guest post. I now want to spend my day listening to power love ballads from the 80s and 90s. Thank you, Leonie

4 Synergies Between Romance ❤️ & Love Songs

I have a very special guest blogger today.

Romance writer and soon to be debut novelist Leonie Mack. has a wonderful book coming out in September. I have known Leonie now for awhile and I am so proud of her for writing this fabulous sounding book.

[image error]

Today she’s written me a fabulous post.

Take it away, Leonie!

Hi,

When I think back to my earliest experiences of listening to music, it was the pop music from the eighties and nineties, where love was definitely the most popular theme. I found songs so romantic (think Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and even one song that stuck with me from the nineties, Self Esteem by the Offspring).

Times move on, but our preoccupation with love only changes, it doesn’t go away. Romance and love songs have timeless, universal themes and reflect deep longings as well as cultural changes.

Love themes are seen as ‘same old’ or ‘predictable’ or lower quality

There is a similar thread in music that happy love songs are somehow ‘sappy’ and possibly even lower quality than others with darker (or more sexual) love themes or other themes altogether—just as the same cultural value judgements are made about books with romance in them. But people still write love songs—often straight from the heart and sometimes just pretending. And people still love reading and writing romances. Why? There’s something fundamental inside us that romance and love songs communicate with, which is why it’s also important that everyone can find a romance they relate to.

They come from the same urge to understand the experience of being human

Physical, psychological or spiritual, love is a concept that is central to the human experience—for all genders, sexual orientation, cultures and nationalities. The human urge to express love, explore love or box-up love for consumption in creativity and culture was the jumping-off point for my book My Christmas Number One. I have always been a fan of Latin music and, with the change to music streaming over radio or buying albums, that has ballooned. And a lot of Latin music has very romantic themes.

My husband jokes with me that I could write a love poem in Spanish, but I would struggle to order a coffee. Thankfully, my general Spanish has also improved a lot over the past few years and I can do a lot more than just order coffee, but it was true that a lot of the vocabulary I learned early on listening to music were words like ‘kiss’ or ‘chest’ (for two different reasons…), ‘heart’ (corazón) is a very common word familiar to non-Spanish speakers, ‘dreams’, and of course all of the different verb forms of ‘to dance’ (bailar, baila, bailando, bailamos etc etc etc dancing is extremely important!!)

Back before I had any idea that I would write this book or that it would be published, I discovered a Colombian band called Morat who aren’t exactly typical Latin pop, but their songs are lovely and melodic. At that time, my Spanish still wasn’t great and I only understood a few words, but I had a friend who was half-Colombian and I mentioned to her that I liked this band and she looked them up. I wanted to hear what she thought (as no one else I know listens to the same music I do!), but she came back to me saying they were just the ‘same old’ love songs. It got me thinking.

Admittedly, some of the lines of their songs read like a bad love poem. There is one line that translates as something like, ‘Knowing that your kisses kill, I will die of love’. And yet the songs are touching in the same way we love romance tropes like opposites attract or forced proximity. People will always enjoy love songs—and people will always write them.

They have the same struggles with cliché

Music is a medium through which we experience emotion (which I’m also discovering in more depth while drafting my second book, which is more about classical music and I keep running up against the concept of pathos, appealing to the emotions). As such, words and lyrics become embedded into the experience and eventually become cliché as they make the rounds of more and more people’s emotions.

I mean, take a look at the lyrics of Mariah Carey’s hit ‘Without You’ and you’ll see what I mean. In 1993, we all loved it! Have a search for love songs of the 80’s and 90’s and some of the lyrics wouldn’t have a place in the sappiest romance novel. The trick is to build on this cliché canon and play with it, searching for the same universal meanings that talk to people’s experiences, but expressing them in new ways.

They’re art imitating life, imitating art

‘It’s so unrealistic’ is another criticism that non-romance fans sometimes have of the genre and the same could definitely be said of love songs. I was intrigued by this idea that these creative expressions could be confused with real life—like in ‘Speed’ where they wonder if it’s just all the adrenaline making them want to kiss (LOL—can you tell I enjoyed that film for the sexual tension?). But our perceptions of love are mediated through books and songs which, in turn, reflect certain things about life. It’s a bizarre circle sometimes and, as writers, we are often on the front line, discovering and creating connections to our characters that we didn’t expect.

With this background of thoughts and experiences, I thought to myself: what would happen if a very non-romantic, but heartfelt singer-songwriter had to work with a writer of flirty, sexy (fake) love songs? And what if it was a Christmas song, influenced by two very different experiences and traditions of the season? And the idea for My Christmas Number One was born.

Bio

Hi, I’m Leonie Mack, a debut author of fun contemporary romance. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first book I can share with the world is called My Christmas Number One and it’s out in ebook, paperback and audio on 10 September 2020, for pre-order now, with Boldwood Books. I live among the vineyards in Germany, but I’m originally from Australia and lived for a long time in the UK and I like to flit around the world when I can. I love languages and music and travelling under my own steam.

Blurb for My Christmas Number One:

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas love story, to get you in the mood for celebrating…

Cara doesn’t do sexy and she only does ‘Happy Christmas’ under duress. She is, after all, a serious musician, and her stubborn streak is born from her struggle to recover from a serious injury.

Javi lives for escapist fun – in his music, and in his life – especially since he’s always failed at life’s more serious challenges, including marriage and fatherhood.

Javi and Cara are forced to record a Christmas single together, but neither of them have plans to spend any more time with each other than they absolutely have to. With Christmas traditions that couldn’t be more different, and outlooks on life that are worlds apart, the chemistry just shouldn’t work. But the magic of Christmas can bring even opposites together…

From the snowy beauty of London at Christmas, to the candle-lit magic of Javi’s traditional family celebrations, let Leonie Mack whisk you away on a memorable festive adventure. Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Mandy Baggot and Holly Martin.

Pre order link – click here.

Oh my goodness – what a great guest post. I now want to spend my day listening to power love ballads from the 80s and 90s. Thank you, Leonie

4 Synergies Between Romance ❤️ & Love Songs

I have a very special guest blogger today.

Romance writer and soon to be debut novelist Leonie Mack. has a wonderful book coming out in September. I have known Leonie now for awhile and I am so proud of her for writing this fabulous sounding book.

[image error]

Today she’s written me a fabulous post.

Take it away, Leonie!

Hi,

When I think back to my earliest experiences of listening to music, it was the pop music from the eighties and nineties, where love was definitely the most popular theme. I found songs so romantic (think Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and even one song that stuck with me from the nineties, Self Esteem by the Offspring).

Times move on, but our preoccupation with love only changes, it doesn’t go away. Romance and love songs have timeless, universal themes and reflect deep longings as well as cultural changes.

Love themes are seen as ‘same old’ or ‘predictable’ or lower quality

There is a similar thread in music that happy love songs are somehow ‘sappy’ and possibly even lower quality than others with darker (or more sexual) love themes or other themes altogether—just as the same cultural value judgements are made about books with romance in them. But people still write love songs—often straight from the heart and sometimes just pretending. And people still love reading and writing romances. Why? There’s something fundamental inside us that romance and love songs communicate with, which is why it’s also important that everyone can find a romance they relate to.

They come from the same urge to understand the experience of being human

Physical, psychological or spiritual, love is a concept that is central to the human experience—for all genders, sexual orientation, cultures and nationalities. The human urge to express love, explore love or box-up love for consumption in creativity and culture was the jumping-off point for my book My Christmas Number One. I have always been a fan of Latin music and, with the change to music streaming over radio or buying albums, that has ballooned. And a lot of Latin music has very romantic themes.

My husband jokes with me that I could write a love poem in Spanish, but I would struggle to order a coffee. Thankfully, my general Spanish has also improved a lot over the past few years and I can do a lot more than just order coffee, but it was true that a lot of the vocabulary I learned early on listening to music were words like ‘kiss’ or ‘chest’ (for two different reasons…), ‘heart’ (corazón) is a very common word familiar to non-Spanish speakers, ‘dreams’, and of course all of the different verb forms of ‘to dance’ (bailar, baila, bailando, bailamos etc etc etc dancing is extremely important!!)

Back before I had any idea that I would write this book or that it would be published, I discovered a Colombian band called Morat who aren’t exactly typical Latin pop, but their songs are lovely and melodic. At that time, my Spanish still wasn’t great and I only understood a few words, but I had a friend who was half-Colombian and I mentioned to her that I liked this band and she looked them up. I wanted to hear what she thought (as no one else I know listens to the same music I do!), but she came back to me saying they were just the ‘same old’ love songs. It got me thinking.

Admittedly, some of the lines of their songs read like a bad love poem. There is one line that translates as something like, ‘Knowing that your kisses kill, I will die of love’. And yet the songs are touching in the same way we love romance tropes like opposites attract or forced proximity. People will always enjoy love songs—and people will always write them.

They have the same struggles with cliché

Music is a medium through which we experience emotion (which I’m also discovering in more depth while drafting my second book, which is more about classical music and I keep running up against the concept of pathos, appealing to the emotions). As such, words and lyrics become embedded into the experience and eventually become cliché as they make the rounds of more and more people’s emotions.

I mean, take a look at the lyrics of Mariah Carey’s hit ‘Without You’ and you’ll see what I mean. In 1993, we all loved it! Have a search for love songs of the 80’s and 90’s and some of the lyrics wouldn’t have a place in the sappiest romance novel. The trick is to build on this cliché canon and play with it, searching for the same universal meanings that talk to people’s experiences, but expressing them in new ways.

They’re art imitating life, imitating art

‘It’s so unrealistic’ is another criticism that non-romance fans sometimes have of the genre and the same could definitely be said of love songs. I was intrigued by this idea that these creative expressions could be confused with real life—like in ‘Speed’ where they wonder if it’s just all the adrenaline making them want to kiss (LOL—can you tell I enjoyed that film for the sexual tension?). But our perceptions of love are mediated through books and songs which, in turn, reflect certain things about life. It’s a bizarre circle sometimes and, as writers, we are often on the front line, discovering and creating connections to our characters that we didn’t expect.

With this background of thoughts and experiences, I thought to myself: what would happen if a very non-romantic, but heartfelt singer-songwriter had to work with a writer of flirty, sexy (fake) love songs? And what if it was a Christmas song, influenced by two very different experiences and traditions of the season? And the idea for My Christmas Number One was born.

Bio

Hi, I’m Leonie Mack, a debut author of fun contemporary romance. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first book I can share with the world is called My Christmas Number One and it’s out in ebook, paperback and audio on 10 September 2020, for pre-order now, with Boldwood Books. I live among the vineyards in Germany, but I’m originally from Australia and lived for a long time in the UK and I like to flit around the world when I can. I love languages and music and travelling under my own steam.

Blurb for My Christmas Number One:

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas love story, to get you in the mood for celebrating…

Cara doesn’t do sexy and she only does ‘Happy Christmas’ under duress. She is, after all, a serious musician, and her stubborn streak is born from her struggle to recover from a serious injury.

Javi lives for escapist fun – in his music, and in his life – especially since he’s always failed at life’s more serious challenges, including marriage and fatherhood.

Javi and Cara are forced to record a Christmas single together, but neither of them have plans to spend any more time with each other than they absolutely have to. With Christmas traditions that couldn’t be more different, and outlooks on life that are worlds apart, the chemistry just shouldn’t work. But the magic of Christmas can bring even opposites together…

From the snowy beauty of London at Christmas, to the candle-lit magic of Javi’s traditional family celebrations, let Leonie Mack whisk you away on a memorable festive adventure. Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Mandy Baggot and Holly Martin.

Pre order link – click here.

Oh my goodness – what a great guest post. I now want to spend my day listening to power love ballads from the 80s and 90s. Thank you, Leonie

4 Synergies Between Romance ❤️ & Love Songs

I have a very special guest blogger today.

Romance writer and soon to be debut novelist Leonie Mack. has a wonderful book coming out in September. I have known Leonie now for awhile and I am so proud of her for writing this fabulous sounding book.

[image error]

Today she’s written me a fabulous post.

Take it away, Leonie!

Hi,

When I think back to my earliest experiences of listening to music, it was the pop music from the eighties and nineties, where love was definitely the most popular theme. I found songs so romantic (think Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and even one song that stuck with me from the nineties, Self Esteem by the Offspring).

Times move on, but our preoccupation with love only changes, it doesn’t go away. Romance and love songs have timeless, universal themes and reflect deep longings as well as cultural changes.

Love themes are seen as ‘same old’ or ‘predictable’ or lower quality

There is a similar thread in music that happy love songs are somehow ‘sappy’ and possibly even lower quality than others with darker (or more sexual) love themes or other themes altogether—just as the same cultural value judgements are made about books with romance in them. But people still write love songs—often straight from the heart and sometimes just pretending. And people still love reading and writing romances. Why? There’s something fundamental inside us that romance and love songs communicate with, which is why it’s also important that everyone can find a romance they relate to.

They come from the same urge to understand the experience of being human

Physical, psychological or spiritual, love is a concept that is central to the human experience—for all genders, sexual orientation, cultures and nationalities. The human urge to express love, explore love or box-up love for consumption in creativity and culture was the jumping-off point for my book My Christmas Number One. I have always been a fan of Latin music and, with the change to music streaming over radio or buying albums, that has ballooned. And a lot of Latin music has very romantic themes.

My husband jokes with me that I could write a love poem in Spanish, but I would struggle to order a coffee. Thankfully, my general Spanish has also improved a lot over the past few years and I can do a lot more than just order coffee, but it was true that a lot of the vocabulary I learned early on listening to music were words like ‘kiss’ or ‘chest’ (for two different reasons…), ‘heart’ (corazón) is a very common word familiar to non-Spanish speakers, ‘dreams’, and of course all of the different verb forms of ‘to dance’ (bailar, baila, bailando, bailamos etc etc etc dancing is extremely important!!)

Back before I had any idea that I would write this book or that it would be published, I discovered a Colombian band called Morat who aren’t exactly typical Latin pop, but their songs are lovely and melodic. At that time, my Spanish still wasn’t great and I only understood a few words, but I had a friend who was half-Colombian and I mentioned to her that I liked this band and she looked them up. I wanted to hear what she thought (as no one else I know listens to the same music I do!), but she came back to me saying they were just the ‘same old’ love songs. It got me thinking.

Admittedly, some of the lines of their songs read like a bad love poem. There is one line that translates as something like, ‘Knowing that your kisses kill, I will die of love’. And yet the songs are touching in the same way we love romance tropes like opposites attract or forced proximity. People will always enjoy love songs—and people will always write them.

They have the same struggles with cliché

Music is a medium through which we experience emotion (which I’m also discovering in more depth while drafting my second book, which is more about classical music and I keep running up against the concept of pathos, appealing to the emotions). As such, words and lyrics become embedded into the experience and eventually become cliché as they make the rounds of more and more people’s emotions.

I mean, take a look at the lyrics of Mariah Carey’s hit ‘Without You’ and you’ll see what I mean. In 1993, we all loved it! Have a search for love songs of the 80’s and 90’s and some of the lyrics wouldn’t have a place in the sappiest romance novel. The trick is to build on this cliché canon and play with it, searching for the same universal meanings that talk to people’s experiences, but expressing them in new ways.

They’re art imitating life, imitating art

‘It’s so unrealistic’ is another criticism that non-romance fans sometimes have of the genre and the same could definitely be said of love songs. I was intrigued by this idea that these creative expressions could be confused with real life—like in ‘Speed’ where they wonder if it’s just all the adrenaline making them want to kiss (LOL—can you tell I enjoyed that film for the sexual tension?). But our perceptions of love are mediated through books and songs which, in turn, reflect certain things about life. It’s a bizarre circle sometimes and, as writers, we are often on the front line, discovering and creating connections to our characters that we didn’t expect.

With this background of thoughts and experiences, I thought to myself: what would happen if a very non-romantic, but heartfelt singer-songwriter had to work with a writer of flirty, sexy (fake) love songs? And what if it was a Christmas song, influenced by two very different experiences and traditions of the season? And the idea for My Christmas Number One was born.

Bio

Hi, I’m Leonie Mack, a debut author of fun contemporary romance. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first book I can share with the world is called My Christmas Number One and it’s out in ebook, paperback and audio on 10 September 2020, for pre-order now, with Boldwood Books. I live among the vineyards in Germany, but I’m originally from Australia and lived for a long time in the UK and I like to flit around the world when I can. I love languages and music and travelling under my own steam.

Blurb for My Christmas Number One:

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas love story, to get you in the mood for celebrating…

Cara doesn’t do sexy and she only does ‘Happy Christmas’ under duress. She is, after all, a serious musician, and her stubborn streak is born from her struggle to recover from a serious injury.

Javi lives for escapist fun – in his music, and in his life – especially since he’s always failed at life’s more serious challenges, including marriage and fatherhood.

Javi and Cara are forced to record a Christmas single together, but neither of them have plans to spend any more time with each other than they absolutely have to. With Christmas traditions that couldn’t be more different, and outlooks on life that are worlds apart, the chemistry just shouldn’t work. But the magic of Christmas can bring even opposites together…

From the snowy beauty of London at Christmas, to the candle-lit magic of Javi’s traditional family celebrations, let Leonie Mack whisk you away on a memorable festive adventure. Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Mandy Baggot and Holly Martin.

Pre order link – click here.

Oh my goodness – what a great guest post. I now want to spend my day listening to power love ballads from the 80s and 90s. Thank you, Leonie

4 Synergies Between Romance ❤️ & Love Songs

I have a very special guest blogger today.

Romance writer and soon to be debut novelist Leonie Mack. has a wonderful book coming out in September. I have known Leonie now for awhile and I am so proud of her for writing this fabulous sounding book.

[image error]

Today she’s written me a fabulous post.

Take it away, Leonie!

Hi,

When I think back to my earliest experiences of listening to music, it was the pop music from the eighties and nineties, where love was definitely the most popular theme. I found songs so romantic (think Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and even one song that stuck with me from the nineties, Self Esteem by the Offspring).

Times move on, but our preoccupation with love only changes, it doesn’t go away. Romance and love songs have timeless, universal themes and reflect deep longings as well as cultural changes.

Love themes are seen as ‘same old’ or ‘predictable’ or lower quality

There is a similar thread in music that happy love songs are somehow ‘sappy’ and possibly even lower quality than others with darker (or more sexual) love themes or other themes altogether—just as the same cultural value judgements are made about books with romance in them. But people still write love songs—often straight from the heart and sometimes just pretending. And people still love reading and writing romances. Why? There’s something fundamental inside us that romance and love songs communicate with, which is why it’s also important that everyone can find a romance they relate to.

They come from the same urge to understand the experience of being human

Physical, psychological or spiritual, love is a concept that is central to the human experience—for all genders, sexual orientation, cultures and nationalities. The human urge to express love, explore love or box-up love for consumption in creativity and culture was the jumping-off point for my book My Christmas Number One. I have always been a fan of Latin music and, with the change to music streaming over radio or buying albums, that has ballooned. And a lot of Latin music has very romantic themes.

My husband jokes with me that I could write a love poem in Spanish, but I would struggle to order a coffee. Thankfully, my general Spanish has also improved a lot over the past few years and I can do a lot more than just order coffee, but it was true that a lot of the vocabulary I learned early on listening to music were words like ‘kiss’ or ‘chest’ (for two different reasons…), ‘heart’ (corazón) is a very common word familiar to non-Spanish speakers, ‘dreams’, and of course all of the different verb forms of ‘to dance’ (bailar, baila, bailando, bailamos etc etc etc dancing is extremely important!!)

Back before I had any idea that I would write this book or that it would be published, I discovered a Colombian band called Morat who aren’t exactly typical Latin pop, but their songs are lovely and melodic. At that time, my Spanish still wasn’t great and I only understood a few words, but I had a friend who was half-Colombian and I mentioned to her that I liked this band and she looked them up. I wanted to hear what she thought (as no one else I know listens to the same music I do!), but she came back to me saying they were just the ‘same old’ love songs. It got me thinking.

Admittedly, some of the lines of their songs read like a bad love poem. There is one line that translates as something like, ‘Knowing that your kisses kill, I will die of love’. And yet the songs are touching in the same way we love romance tropes like opposites attract or forced proximity. People will always enjoy love songs—and people will always write them.

They have the same struggles with cliché

Music is a medium through which we experience emotion (which I’m also discovering in more depth while drafting my second book, which is more about classical music and I keep running up against the concept of pathos, appealing to the emotions). As such, words and lyrics become embedded into the experience and eventually become cliché as they make the rounds of more and more people’s emotions.

I mean, take a look at the lyrics of Mariah Carey’s hit ‘Without You’ and you’ll see what I mean. In 1993, we all loved it! Have a search for love songs of the 80’s and 90’s and some of the lyrics wouldn’t have a place in the sappiest romance novel. The trick is to build on this cliché canon and play with it, searching for the same universal meanings that talk to people’s experiences, but expressing them in new ways.

They’re art imitating life, imitating art

‘It’s so unrealistic’ is another criticism that non-romance fans sometimes have of the genre and the same could definitely be said of love songs. I was intrigued by this idea that these creative expressions could be confused with real life—like in ‘Speed’ where they wonder if it’s just all the adrenaline making them want to kiss (LOL—can you tell I enjoyed that film for the sexual tension?). But our perceptions of love are mediated through books and songs which, in turn, reflect certain things about life. It’s a bizarre circle sometimes and, as writers, we are often on the front line, discovering and creating connections to our characters that we didn’t expect.

With this background of thoughts and experiences, I thought to myself: what would happen if a very non-romantic, but heartfelt singer-songwriter had to work with a writer of flirty, sexy (fake) love songs? And what if it was a Christmas song, influenced by two very different experiences and traditions of the season? And the idea for My Christmas Number One was born.

Bio

Hi, I’m Leonie Mack, a debut author of fun contemporary romance. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but the first book I can share with the world is called My Christmas Number One and it’s out in ebook, paperback and audio on 10 September 2020, for pre-order now, with Boldwood Books. I live among the vineyards in Germany, but I’m originally from Australia and lived for a long time in the UK and I like to flit around the world when I can. I love languages and music and travelling under my own steam.

Blurb for My Christmas Number One:

There’s nothing quite like a Christmas love story, to get you in the mood for celebrating…

Cara doesn’t do sexy and she only does ‘Happy Christmas’ under duress. She is, after all, a serious musician, and her stubborn streak is born from her struggle to recover from a serious injury.

Javi lives for escapist fun – in his music, and in his life – especially since he’s always failed at life’s more serious challenges, including marriage and fatherhood.

Javi and Cara are forced to record a Christmas single together, but neither of them have plans to spend any more time with each other than they absolutely have to. With Christmas traditions that couldn’t be more different, and outlooks on life that are worlds apart, the chemistry just shouldn’t work. But the magic of Christmas can bring even opposites together…

From the snowy beauty of London at Christmas, to the candle-lit magic of Javi’s traditional family celebrations, let Leonie Mack whisk you away on a memorable festive adventure. Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Mandy Baggot and Holly Martin.

Pre order link – click here.

Oh my goodness – what a great guest post. I now want to spend my day listening to power love ballads from the 80s and 90s. Thank you, Leonie