Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 3

To Marry A Prince by Sophie Page

I’ve had this book on my Kindle for ages. Since Prince Harry got married, in fact. I finally opened it whilst on holiday.
I loved the voice of the heroine. Bella is a normal, sensible, ‘normal’ person. I loved how down to earth she was. (And how angry she was when she found out who Richard really was, because you would be, wouldn’t you?)
Richard feels quite bad about not telling her who he was. His flaws make him likeable.
I especially liked some of the background stuff about the Royal househol...

How to make transparent gradients in Canva

If you make your own book covers, this feature is a game changer. You can now make gradients that fade to clear in Canva. Gradients are useful in themselves because you can get a nice blur going from one colour to another.

Since I know I’ll be using this most often to make book covers, I’ve made an example book cover. You can buy it from my Etsy shop as a pre-made cover. I give you the jpg image with and without text (you’ll have to tell me your book title and author name, obviously) and the...

ROLE Playing by Cathy Yardley

This was a refreshing book because the protagonists were older. They are friends online but have not met – which, as you know, is completely my catnip. Because of the way their online interaction panned out, she thinks he’s a 20-something youngster and he thinks she’s an old lady in her 80s. When they meet they realise that they are the same age.

Maggie is wonderfully grumpy and anti social (frankly, I can relate). Aiden is a sort-of muted Sunshine to her grumpy. I liked that too.
One of m...

The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman by K J Charles

I bloody loved this book. The gentleman and the smuggler.
Gareth Inglis was abandoned by his father and bullied by his uncle and cousin. He’s very surprised to hear that he has inherited the family pile.
Joss Doomsday is too busy running the smuggling operation to think about other things … normally.

I loved how different the two men were and how the power balance between them ebbed and flowed. You’d think that Gareth would be the needy one, but Joss needs him just as much. I liked how the ...

How to use Lottie Stickers in Canva

Okay, I’m leaning into my nerd side here. I love Lottie stickers. They are versatile little stickers that you can scale up to huge without losing definition AND you can change the colours to match your branding or your book cover.

The most difficult thing about using Lottie stickers is FINDING them. I spent a whole afternoon ferreting out Lottie sticker collections and adding them to a list. You can get a list of 20 sets of Lottie stickers by signing up to my mailing list here:

Here’s th...

Gouda Friends by Cathy Yardley

I enjoyed the first book so much that I bought this one straight away.
As before, this has all the things that I love in a book – geeky people, diverse characters, nice-guy heroes, friends to lovers AND terrible cheese puns! Honestly, what’s not to love?

Josh and Tam have been friends for EVER and they are each other’s safety net, so putting that at risk seems like terrible risk to them both. I love how Josh took care of Tam by feeding her – food is important to them both.
I loved, loved, lo...

How to make a rotating book carousel in Canva

I’m very excited about this. I have enough books now, under each pen name, to make a cool graphic to show them off and this one is very cool indeed.

You don’t have to use the frames, like I did here, but it’s easier, because you don’t have to match the sizes of the covers as carefully. If you do try this, please tag me (@rhodabaxter on Twitter, @jeevanicharika on Tiktok) so that I can share it too!

Click on the big red play button to watch the video in YouTube.

If you’ve found thi...

Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

I can’t believe I haven’t read any Cathy Yardley books before. I’m fixing that now. I finished this one and immediately started on the next book in the series

I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, and I can’t remember why it’s taken me so long to get to these. It’s a real pity because I totally loved it.
I enjoy reading about characters who are smart and competent at what they do (it doesn’t really matter what they actually do, it matters that they’re good at it – if that makes sen...

Book Review: Minor Disturbances at the Grand Life Apartments by Hema Sukumar

This is a brilliantly evocative book. It follows four people who live in the Grand Life Apartments. Kamala (whose daughter has gone off to university, leaving Kamala feeling a bit lost), Revathi (whose job is treating her apallingly and whose mother is nagging her to get married), Jason (who is running away from his heartbreak) and Mani (who owns the building and is fighting a battle of his own).
We get to meet each of them and see the ups and downs of their lives.
It’s a quiet book – nothing ...

Good Girls Die Last by Natali Simmonds

This book was described at Falling Down for the #MeToo generation. I think that’s a great description.
Em is having a terrible day. She’s been fired, let down, generally used and ignored and… she needs to get the airport for her sister’s wedding. It’s a boiling hot day in London and there’s a transport strike on. The only way she can get to the airport is if she walks.

Everything that happens to Em is relatable – they are all things that happen to women on a daily basis. She’s ostracised i...