Sunday 27 April 2014

Reaching The End - Book Tour

A Jersey Affair has been touring for almost four weeks now. I've had a fantastic time, nervously awaiting the reviewers' ratings and then delighted that they've all given my second book 5 stars!

Here are the final two stops of the book tour brilliantly co-ordinated by Fiction Addiction Tours.


On Monday A Jersey Affair will be hosted at A Writer In A Wheelchair blog.

The last stop *pulls a sad face* will be at Authors & Readers Book Corner blog.

The Rafflecopter giveaway will be ending at midnight on Wednesday, 30 April and if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning some of the following swag, please enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Thursday 24 April 2014

Books Are My Life - Review

Today, A Jersey Affair is being reviewed at Silvana Veli's blog, Books Are My Life.

At the top of her blog Silvana asks if there is anything more pleasant than the smell of freshly brewed coffee and pleasant music while turning the pages of a good book? I think there probably isn't.

You can enter the Rafflecopter to win an e-copy of A Jersey Affair, keyrings, pens and there's one mug for someone to win and maybe use for their coffee while they're reading.

As with all these blog posts, I'm setting them up without knowing how my book has been received and I've no idea what the tour host's review will say about, A Jersey Affair.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday 22 April 2014

All Things Bookie - Review

Happy World Book Night 2014!

I've thoroughly enjoyed the book tour so far. It's nerve-wracking when you've spent months writing, perfecting (hopefully) and releasing your book to then wait to see how readers view it, and so far I'm grateful, and not a little delighted, to have only received 5 star reviews.

We're over half way through the Fiction Addiction Book Tour for A Jersey Affair and today's stop is at All Things Bookie blog.

Thanks to Julie Ryan for taking part in the book tour. Julie is a writer and her lovely debut novel, Jenna's Journey, a Greek island mystery, came out a few months ago.

Here's a picture of Groznez Castle. It not only features on the cover of my book, but it appears in an important scene in the story.

The view from this ruined castle is glorious, on the one side you have gorse - purple and yellow at certain times of the year - and on the other you look out across the channel to the other Channel Islands, dotted in a row in their differing sizes and shapes. To the left there's an enormous watchtower bunker clinging to the side of the rocks and to the right is a pathway across the cliffs to Plemont beach and a lovely little café. Well worth a visit if you come to the island.

Over to Julie for her thoughts on A Jersey Affair.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday 21 April 2014

Welcoming Author Louise Wise



I'm delighted to welcome writer, Louise Wise to my blog today. Here she tells us about herself.
Married, with four children, Louise Wise lives in England. She is a pharmacist technician by day and a writer by night. She was educated in an ordinary state school and left without achieving much in the way of qualifications; you could say she was the result of a crap school. Hungry for knowledge she enrolled in an Adult Education centre and studied English, maths and creative writing. Whereas other young girls asked for makeup and clothes for their birthdays, she asked for encyclopaedias!
Louise Wise used her general love of romantic fiction and interest in astronomy to write her first book. The book received many rejections stating the novel was too original for the current market, until finally, an agent took the book on but subsequently failed to find a publisher for it. Instead of becoming despondent, it made Louise realise that becoming a published writer WAS possible. She turned her back on traditionally publishing, threw herself into the indie world and went on to publish her first chick lit book, A Proper Charlie and then Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!
As for the ‘too original’ Eden it has been such a hit that Louise has now followed it up with the sequel, Hunted. So far, they are both selling well.

 
Ellen Semple from 'Oh No, I've Fallen In Love' has given us a Character interview:
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in love! has been likened to a modern day Cinderella. It comes with the main characters Valerie (Cinderella) and Lex (Prince Charming), Ellen Semple (fairy godmother) and Boots the cat (glass slipper), but the ugly sisters are Valerie’s emotions (fear and loneliness). It’s 2014 after all.

Fairy godmother, AKA Ellen Semple, is here to talk about her role in the story. Ellen, hello and welcome—

ES: Good morning! What beautiful weather we’re having lately. Are you having nice weather in your corner or the world? Jersey, isn’t it? Near Guernsey. Ha! Delightful little islands. Now, dear, what questions did you want to ask me?
GT: Can you describe your relationship with—

ES: So how long have you lived in Jersey, dear?
GT: Er, most of my life—

ES: That’s nice. My relationship with Valerie? Well, she was such a prickly little thing at first, told me to ‘shut the (mouths a very rude word!) up’. Of course she was joking. Anyway we became friends in the end. I don’t see her as often as I’d like. She’s very busy, and our calls are always cut off. I’ve told her she needs a new phone, but you know what youngsters are like, they don’t listen. Well, you should know! You’re a youngster yourself! Are you married? Have children?
GT: I, er, we’re here to talk about Valerie, not myself.

ES: Yes, of course, lovey. Maybe you’re one of those, you know, (lowers voice) lesbians.
GT: Ellen! Can we stay focused on the questions in hand? You met Valerie at the cemetery while you both were visiting relatives’ graves. Whose grave was Valerie tending?

ES: Her parents and her brother. Her brother, bless his little soul, died when he was only a baby when Valerie was small, and her mother and father within a week together when she was sixteen. It made her develop a tough skin from a young age.
GT: It is true you set out to meet her and got a job at her brokerage because you felt she needed your help like the fictional fairy godmother?

ES: She was crying out for help. It was written all over her face—the way she tried to walk away from me, the way she changed the dates when she visited the graves and the way she told me I wasn’t suitable for the book-keeping role at her brokerage.
GT: That tells me she didn’t want your help!

ES: Well, maybe you haven’t the insight that I have. I can feel people’s inner pain (clutches chest), it’s like they have an aura around them that only I can detect.
GT: I heard that Paul, an elderly staff member, inadvertently gave you the job and Valerie was angry with him? I also heard that you’re a little, er, bossy.

ES: (Angry glare). Then you heard wrong! I am NOT bossy. Goodness, I was helping Valerie by befriending her. If it wasn’t for me she’d never have met Lex.
GT: Ah, Lex Kendal, he’s your grand-nephew, isn’t he?

ES: That’s right. I was worried about him, always chasing women and splashing his money around as if it grew on trees. I must admit, I was frightened that Valerie would fall for him like the others and end up heartbroken. I never, for one minute, guessed he’d do the falling in love! That Valerie can be such a bitch at times. My poor Lex.
GT: (Hiding a smile). But when they got together didn’t you try to split them up?

ES: I did no such thing!
GT: Didn’t Lex have to pretend to meet you somewhere so he could meet up with Valerie without you on the scene?

ES: I admit to that, and I’ve cut him out of my will.

GT: He’s the one with the money, though, isn’t he?
ES: Don’t be impertinent, dear. Anyway, as I was saying before you interrupted, Lex fell for Valerie but I didn’t believe his intentions towards her were decent at first. I thought she was just a challenge to him because she refused his advances, but he had fallen hook, line and thingy for her. She came with baggage though and I think that made him grow up pretty sharply.

GT: The baggage being her fear of falling in love?
ES: She developed this idea that once she loved someone they’d be taken away from her, perfectly understandable considering her past, but what nobody knew was that she was having these bizarre dreams at night. I think it was her subconscious was trying to tell her something. She didn’t want to remember and so took every caffeine pill imaginable, silly girl. And then Boots went missing…

GT: The cat?
ES: Yes, she vanished and that sort of cemented Valerie’s belief that everyone she falls for dies or leaves her. She loved the cat and it left her. Simple.

GT: It sounds tragic.
ES: Her emotions, or state of mind, which ever you’d like to call it were controlling her. She needed to break free.

GT: And has she?
ES: Let’s just say she has the courage to fight them. And she isn’t alone. We’ve seen to that.

GT: You and Lex. I don’t know whether she’s lucky or disadvantaged…
ES: What’s that?

GT: Nothing. So where’s the Cinderella story in all this?
ES: Valerie’s emotions are holding her back, controlling her, just like the ugly sisters were to Cinderella. Lex is the handsome Prince Charming, and I’m the helpful fairy godmother (beams).

GT: So helpful that Valerie doesn’t answer your calls?
ES: She’s busy.

GT: And so am I. Ellen, nice meeting you but I really need to rearrange my sock drawer!
Links:




 
Blurb

 
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!
On the surface, Valerie Anthrope was happy with her life. She had her own brokerage with Sunny Oak Insurance and was financially solvent. But once asleep, she was plunged into a world of nightmares that reminded her she was cursed.
And that meant she couldn’t fall in love. Ever.
Lex Kendal was a multi-millionaire. Women flocked to him, preened and flaunted for his attention. But one woman, Valerie, knocked him back. Hard. It dented his pride and Lex set out to convince himself he still ‘had it’ by pursuing her.
Only he found himself being needed in a way he never, ever, expected and, for once in his life, money wasn’t the answer.
Excerpt
 
As soon as I entered, the music, balloons and smiley waitresses wearing festive hats, and the entire Christmassy atmosphere made me realise I’d made a mistake. I should have faked a migraine.
Paul spotted me first and stood up. ‘Yoo-hoo! Over here, Miss Anthrope.’
Paul, his wife Milly and Tim sat around a table where above floated coloured balloons, their strings attached to a weight in the centre of an equally bright tablecloth.
I made my way over and immediately spotted a stranger – and a scam. Ellen guided me over and insisted I sit next to the stranger while she sat the other side of me. The man had a ready smile, and beautiful eyes. They were the brightest blue, and totally wasted on a male. I was immediately interested despite the set-up.
‘This is Jon. Jon, Valerie,’ Ellen introduced us.
I nodded, removed my coat, which a passing waitress took. I sat down and smiled at Milly. ‘Nice to see you again,’ I said.
‘Ooh, can I have your red straw?’ Milly said to Ellen. ‘I’ll swap you my black one.’
There was little doubt this was Paul’s wife. Ellen swapped straws, and winked across at me. ‘Jon’s an accountant,’ she said.
‘And you’re a financial broker,’ Jon said, tapping me on the nose with his finger on the word “you’re”.
My interest vanished in a puff of oh-my-God-he’s-a-jerk smoke and I sent multitudinous angry thoughts to Ellen, but straight-faced she looked back at me and said, ‘Well, we’ll leave you two love birds alone while we eat on the next table. Come along, you others. Let’s leave the youngsters to it.’
Then they all got up and left me with Jon the accountant. Gobsmacked wasn’t a word I often used.
Fucked, was better.
The night was going to be extremely long.
 
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in love purchase links
Embedded:
Amazon
Apple iStore

Monday 14 April 2014

This Week - A Jersey Affair

The Fiction Addiction Book Tour for A Jersey Affair continues this week and as well as the giveaway which you can enter through the Rafflecopter below, my book will be reviewed and featured on the following sites *trembles slightly at the thought*:


A Novel Review - 15 April

Shaz's Book Blog - 17 April

@jaustenrulesok guest review on Jera’s Jamboree - 17 April

Saturday 12 April 2014

It's Not All About Me

To give you a break from me posting about my new book, A Jersey Affair - did you miss me talking about it yet? - I'm welcoming Monique McDonell to my blog as part of her tour for her new book, A Fair Exchange.

A Fair Exchange

Who hasn’t wondered about their first love? What happened? What went wrong? Where are they now?


What if you got a second chance?

Amelia Armstrong is about to find out. What a shame her long-lost love, Matt,  has returned  (looking way too good and acting way too sweet) when her life is a shambles and she has finally decided once and for all to put herself and not whichever man is currently in her life, first.

How do you balance that desire to recapture that loving feeling with the need to finally be the best version of yourself? What if this really is the one, how do you choose when to stand your ground and when to cut your losses?  Amelia takes a journey from Sydney to New York and back again trying to find the answers while negotiating with pop-divas, ex-lovers, crazy teenagers, a well-meaning cousin and the tabloids.

A Fair Exchange is a story about being a grown up when, maybe, you’d much rather be sixteen again.

Excerpt

It was not as if he was the first one to mention it. In the past week everyone who had entered my apartment had commented on the shiny new Vespa parked in the middle of the otherwise empty living room. In fact, each and every one of them had imaginatively said “Amelia you have a red Vespa parked in your living room!”  And they all said it in a tone that implied I might not have noticed, as if it may have magically appeared there.

How could I not notice a vehicle parked in what was otherwise an empty room?

What amazed me was that the Vespa was what they chose to comment on.

Not that Nick had dumped me, after ten years, for a twenty-one year-old. Nor that he had moved out, taking basically all the furniture and leaving me with a great view over the beach and an enormous mortgage.

No one even commented about the fact that I, in turn, had quit the fabulous job that had always meant way too much to me.

No, they commented on the Vespa.

What I could not understand though was why it hadn’t bothered me until right then, when Matthew Blue commented. And when he did comment, why had I collapsed into this embarrassing sea of tears?

How had this happened? How had I become this sobbing pathetic figure of womanhood?  And more importantly how had I ended up thirty-six and alone?

Didn’t I used to have so much potential? Everyone had said so, hadn’t they?

“Amelia Armstrong is something special.”

I was one of those shiny young girls who took risks and dreamed big. I was one of the smart ones who knew what she wanted and went after it. I was one to watch.

If I hadn’t been that kind of a girl I would never have met Matthew all those years ago. A different girl would not have found herself, on the other side of the world, at sixteen, staring into his dark and dreamy eyes.

So where was that girl right now, I wanted to know? And how had a girl with so much potential gotten it so horribly wrong?

About the author – Monique McDonell


I am an Australian author who writes contemporary women's fiction including chick lit and romance. I live on Sydney's Northern Beaches with my husband and daughter, and despite my dog phobia, with a dog called Skip.

I have written all my life especially as a child when I loved to write short stories and poetry. At University I studied Creative Writing as part of my Communication degree. Afterwards I was busy working in public relations I didn't write for pleasure for quite a few years although I wrote many media releases, brochures and newsletters. (And I still do in my day-job!)

When I began to write again I noticed a trend - writing dark unhappy stories made me unhappy. So I made a decision to write a novel with a happy ending and I have been writing happy stories ever since.

I have been a member of the writing group The Writer’s Dozen for eight years. Our anthology Better Than Chocolate raised over $10,000 for the charity Room to Read and helped build a library in South East Asia. I am also a member of the Romance Writers of Australia.

A Fair Exchange is the fifth novel I have released in the last two years.

To learn more about Monique McDonell and her upcoming books please visit her at www.moniquemcdonell.com.au

You can buy A Fair Exchange here:

Links:
Amazon author page
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Blog
Goodreads

Tuesday 8 April 2014

Birthday & Book Tour

 
Today's my birthday and A Jersey Affair will be reviewed by Carol over at the Dizzy C's Little Book Blog so I'm nervously awaiting her review.
 
I'm also hoping I've got the day off work so that I can celebrate my birthday over lunch with family. I hope you're having a fantastic day!

Sunday 6 April 2014

Jenny In Neverland & A Jersey Affair

Thank you to everyone who came to my Facebook Launch Party on Saturday and made it so much fun with your gorgeous pictures of shoes, men and delicious food. The turnout was fantastic and the comments hilarious, it was great fun and the perfect way to send A Jersey Affair out into the world.

Today is Stop 3 on the Fiction Addiction Book Tour for A Jersey Affair and I'm being featured on the lovely Jenny In Neverland's blog where Jenny will be reviewing my new book. So, please pop over and see what she has to say and leave a comment on her fantastic site.

Don't forget you can enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter below: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday 3 April 2014

Curling Up With A Good Book



After the excitement of my launch two days ago, the next stop on the Fiction Addiction Book Tour for A Jersey Affair is on the Curling Up With A Good Book blog!


*whispers* If you would like to buy a copy... A Jersey Affair is available here: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com




There's also a giveaway to celebrate this launch, and if you haven't already entered the competition to win some A Jersey Affair swag, or if you'd like to enter again, please do so via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday 1 April 2014

Launch Day - A Jersey Affair

Today is Launch Day for A Jersey Affair - Book 2 in my Jersey Romance Series.


It's LAUNCH DAY!

Not only am I over at the lovely Sheryl Browne's blog chatting to her about A Jersey Affair, but we're kicking off the launch with a book tour from today until 30 April with Fiction Addiction Book Tours.

The first stop on the book tour is at Tracy Riva Books & Reviews *nervously awaits seeing the review* and we've got a Giveaway you can enter via the Rafflecopter below to win lots of swag, including pens, keyrings, postcards, e-book/paperback copies of A Jersey Affair and a rather smart mug!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can buy A Jersey Affair in e-book format or paperback. Here are the links:
Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Visiting Shani Struthers


It's the day before the launch of A Jersey Affair and to keep me busy  and to stop me fretting, I've popped over to Shani Struthers' fantastic blog and answered a few questions about my next book and my writing.

There's also an excerpt for you to read... I hope you like it. x



Tomorrow (2nd) A Jersey Kiss is being promoted on eBookSoda... and don't forget there's also a giveaway over on Goodreads to win one of two signed paperback copies of A Jersey Kiss.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Jersey Kiss by Georgina Troy

A Jersey Kiss

by Georgina Troy

Giveaway ends April 30, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

You're going to be sick of the sight of my books soon. *she jokes, hoping you won't*