Rhoda Baxter's Blog, page 41

Inheritance Books: Ellie Gray

This week on the Inheritance Books sofa, we have romance novelist and fellow East Ridinglass, Ellie Gray. I have cake. I’ll go put the kettle on and locate the cake. While I’m doing that, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself, Ellie.

I live in a small village just outside the beautiful market town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It’s only about ten miles away from where I grew up, living in a little cottage on the edge of woods where my father was the woodman and my mum a nu...

Goodreads Book Review: The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’d never read any Courtney Milan before and I totally loved this book. Minnie is a strong, clever character. I loved the dynamic between the characters too.
Robert is handsome and rich etc, but he’s also not an alpha-hole. He realises that Minnie is cleverer than he is and he’s totally fine with that.

The dialogue is excellent. The secondary characters were extremely likeable without being anodyne. To be honest, it’s worth reading jus...

Book Review: Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey

I reviewed Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey for USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog. It’s a great book and definitely deserves to be the Romantic Novel of the Year. You can read the full review on the USA Today site:

Must-read romance: ‘Letters to the Lost’ by Iona Grey

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Inheritance Books: Bethan Darwin

Today’s Inheritance Books come from Superwoman Bethan Darwin. Hi Bethan, welcome to Inheritance Books. Take a seat on the sofa. Would you like a slice of cake? Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about yourself.

I’m a lawyer based in Cardiff, specialising in employment and corporate law, a proud Mum of two and a happy wife which is just as well as my husband is also a lawyer and we work together. I run a women’s networking group called Superwoman which also raises money for charities at i...

Inheritance Books: Kate Frost

This week’s guest on Inheritance Books is Kate Frost. Welcome to the sofa, Kate. I’m sorry, we haven’t had a guest in a while. Let me dust it down for you. There you go. I’ll go put the kettle on, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself.

I live in Bristol, a city I was born in and have always lived in, apart from three fabulous years spent at university in Aberystwyth. I grew up in the 1980s in a Victorian terraced house with a park at the end of the road. I have fond memories of my childh...

Goodreads Book review: Falling by Julie Cohen

Falling by Julie Cohen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I saw this book up on Netgalley, I grabbed it because I’ve never, ever been disappointed by a Julie Cohen book. This is what I call a ‘burning dinner’ sort of book – one I couldn’t bear to put down for very long, so I end up reading it while stirring things on the hob. It’s lovely!

Jo is struggling to keep everything going. She is a really, really nice person and tries to help everybody. But somewhere inside, she’s still getting over the dea...

Goodreads book review: Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajkumar

Love Comes Later by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I chose to read this book because I know very little about the Qatari community, or about life as a Muslim in general. I was interested by the premise.

The writing is literary in style and very good.
Of the characters, I liked Abdullah a lot. He was a man who is still grieving for his lost wife and unborn child. He doesn’t particularly like the new...

Taking the technical terror out of talks

I’m reblogging Janet Gover’s excellent notes on how to connect your laptop to various display screen devices. I thought it was really useful.

Take Five Authors

Jenny, Sue and I had a great time last week at the Romantic Novelists Association conference (see the previous post)… for me there was also a bit of work involved.

I have the honour (is that the right word – I’m not so sure) to be the RNA’s geek girl. My day job involves television and complex computer systems, and I am therefore membe...

Goodreads book review: Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan

Sunset In Central Park by Sarah Morgan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A lovely story. I like Frankie with her prickly personality and Matt was just adorable. Frankie has been damaged by her parents and their foibles. Matt is in love with her and wants to help her get past that. Manhattan and Frankie’s best friends also play a part. There is a nice sense of community, but it’s not quite the same as in some of her other books.

I only discovered Sarah Morgan’s books recently, so I haven’t read the Puff...

The Romantic Novelists Association Conference 2016

I got back from the RNA conference yesterday and I’m still shattered. It was an incredibly useful conference this year, especially as Sarah Wendell from SmartBitches came and gave us some insights into the US market.

The definition of ‘Romance’ in the US is much narrower than the definition of the genre here. The relationship between the hero and heroine in front and centre of the books. Chicklit isn’t a thing in the US. US readers are much more likely to tell you if they’ve loved or hated y...