Wish I was here….. (Janice Horton e-book launch: Reaching for the Stars)

I’m taking part in Janice Horton’s e-book launch for Reaching for the Stars.  Visit Janice’s blog to take a look see!  And this is where I’d like to be… I know it’s kind of obvious given the season, but I love snow and I never get enough of it.  So I wish I was here, snowed in, secluded, with my family and enough food for Christmas, plenty of firewood, sleds and skis.  Oh, and possibly with the laptop to get in a spot of writing… in peace and quiet! XX

{Picture no longer available–many apologies!}

 

Nicky Reviews Rock Christmas Special: Martin Morris and “The Best Christmas”

WELCOME TO …
Nicky Reviews Rock’s Christmas Special!!
Everyone is increasingly feeling infected by the festive spirit, and I am no exception.  Imagine my delight at discovering a unique opportunity to feature someone who’s a bit of a local legend in my part of the world… Somebody who’s just gone out and recorded a serious contender for this year’s Christmas No. 1 … Somebody who has faith, and drive, and conviction, not to mention a fabulous tune and a great voice.

I’m talking about none other than Martin Morris and his amazing Christmas single, “The Best Christmas”!  In this feature, find an audio of the song, a profile of the singer, and an interview as well.  Woohoo!

HAVE A LISTEN TO “THE BEST CHRISTMAS” AND LET YOURSELF BE BLOWN AWAY…

First things first. You might not have heard about the phenomenon that is Martin Morris and his Christmas single, so let me introduce you to it.  Here, have a listen:

Like what you hear?  You can download this single from iTunes or Amazon and help it on its way to becoming a Christmas No. 1!  Go and do it now… and you will help shape Christmas No. 1 history.

INTRODUCING THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC:
MEET MARTIN MORRIS!

Martin told Nicky Reviews Rock that he is the third out of five children brought up in a council house in Southmead, Bristol. He was introduced to live music before he can even remember. His elder brother Bob is a drummer and was something of a celebrity on the estate when Martin was young.  Bob went on to record nine albums and do two European tours with his band, The Brilliant Corners.  Martin says that this was probably what influenced him most, as he was often kidnapped by the band and taken away for weeks at a time to sell their T-shirts (even though he was only 15!) .

When Martin was 17, he formed his first band, The Comfortable Field. The line-up included his little brother Mike, who has gone on to be a very well-respected guitarist in his own right, and Mark Stokes (drummer) who is now Martin’s brother-in-law. In 1994, The Comfortable Field changed its name to Aerola and went on to tour England, even appearing on some TV music shows. The band finally split in 1999, after which Martin formed Tenderhook with his brothers Bob and Mike, and, though short-lived, Tenderhook performed what is still one of Martin’s favourite gigs to date at the Bristol Thekla.

Since Tenderhook, Martin has been playing in  cover band Hooper with Bob, Mike, and friend Boo. They have gained an excellent reputation and a huge following. Throughout his time in the various bands, Martin was always the writer, and for every song he submitted there were five he kept back! So Martin has enough songs in the bank for a lot of albums.  He’s still writing today!

What an amazing bio!  You discover someone like Martin, with drive and determination, and then you realise he’s got a lifetime of experience and practice behind him.  It’s no miracle, then, that “The Best Christmas” should be such a catchy, well-performed and professional piece.  Wow!  You can join Martin on his Facebook group to keep in touch with developments and news.

THE INTERVIEW:  OF COURSE, NICKY REVIEWS ROCK HAD SOME QUESTIONS FOR MARTIN, WHICH HE ANSWERED VERY PATIENTLY INDEED.  YOU ROCK, MARTIN….

NRR:  Tell us the story behind “The Best Christmas?”  What inspired you?  Did you write the song alone?  Tell us more about the band playing with you?
I wrote “The Best Christmas” about three years ago, on my own, in about ten minutes. It was one of those songs that just flowed out of me (doesn’t happen very often)  and was really an experiment. I was thinking that nobody had released a great Christmas song for years and years (I think the last great Christmas tune was The Pogue’s “Fairytale of New York”) and thought I’d have a go. I realised straight away that I had something special. So I recorded a demo that sat on the shelf until this year, when I decided that the country deserved better than the  guaranteed No.1 tripe that the X-factor rams down our throats. (NRR:  Hear, hear!)
I recorded the released version with the help of former
Aerola drummer and brother-in-law, Mark Stokes, my brother Mike, and Hooper bass player Boo. I asked a friend who had a decent video camera to help make a video and he turned up with professional film maker Jenny Haggerty (she had faith in the song so wanted to help). It was filmed on a beautiful summer’s evening with friends and family in our local pub!

NRR:  What bands or musicians influence or inspire you?
I’ve never been a loyal fan to anyone, but I do have favourite albums by certain people, for example “Hunky Dory” by David Bowie, The Stone Roses’ first album, Lou Reed’s “Transformer”, The House Martins’  “The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death” and The Brilliant Corners, “Hooked.”

NRR:  How does it feel to be a budding music legend?  You’ve done radio interviews galore–did you enjoy the experience?
I must say the thought of having a hit single excites me a lot. It’s not just what happens now, but what could happen after, and I love the attention, so radio interviews are great. I feel very at home talking to people about music, so talking about my music is a bonus.

NRR:  What are your plans going forward?
For now I have to see how the single goes. It could change my life and take me in a whole new direction, or it could fizzle out, in which case I have a great life anyway so I’ve nothing to lose.  (NRR:  You’ve just got to love this man!)

NRR:  Can we see you (and your band) play live somewhere, some time soon?
As this is a solo effort I can’t see us playing live, but I will continue with Hooper and should the single take off, I do have something up my sleeve that would involve all the people I have already mentioned.

NRR:  How do you typically celebrate Christmas?
Typically, I like to go away with my wife and three kids. No visiting and no visitors. I don’t often relax but at Christmas I do (although it’s still complete mayhem). We’re a lively lot!!

NRR:  Apart from “The Best Christmas”, of course, which is your favourite Christmas rock/pop song in the world… ever?
My favourite Christmas pop song is Slade, “Merry Christmas Everybody” but I do love a choir singing “Silent Night”!

NRR:  In my rock star romance, “Sophie’s Turn“, lead singer Dan assures Sophie that ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour.’  Now I won’t ask you to kiss and tell (although I’d love to, really, hee-hee) but could you tell us about the funniest, weirdest or most bizarre thing that ever happened to you while on stage or on tour?
We were playing a gig in The Manchester Broadwalk, and there was a girl there who had (in the past) been quite friendly with each of  the band, but was now becoming a pain in the ass. She was at the front of the stage all night trying to get my attention but then disappeared. I knew something was up!  Suddenly she came running towards me from the side of the stage. I remember thinking, “this is gonna be bloody embarrassing if she gets hold of me!”  But the stage was soaked with beer, so she went skidding past me, her legs went up in the air and her head came smashing down onto the stage knocking herself clean out!! I now feel a little mean that I carried on as if nothing had happened apart from laughing myself through the rest of the song!  As she was being carried away, I did call out to her saying “Its ok, I don’t think anyone noticed!!”  We never saw her again.

NRR:  Wow, that’s quite a story, thanks for sharing!  And finally… just before I let you go, would you give your immediate reaction to the following conundrums:

Turkey or Beef for Christmas lunch?  Turkey.
Sprouts–love them or hate them? Hate sprouts!
Gaudy or stylish for the Christmas tree?  I like stylish, but get bored quickly so the front looks good!
Chocolate orange or after-dinner-mints? Neither, alcohol!
Brandy butter or brandy sauce with your Christmas pud?  Don’t like Xmas pud. Don’t really like pud!
Presents before or after breakfast? Bit of both.
Aldi or Harrods for your Christmas crackers? Aldi, so you can have loads!
Angel or star to top the Christmas tree? Angel, it looks rude!
Home or away? Away in a manger… or a nice lodge!!

Amazing responses, Martin!  I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like Christmas pud!  Thanks so much, for stopping by here today, it is an honour and a privilege.  Nicky Reviews Rock wishes you every success with STORMING THOSE CHARTS…

MARTIN MORRIS FOR CHRISTMAS NO. 1, IS WHAT I SAY!  WISHING YOU EVERY SUCCESS AND, OF COURSE, A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here are those links again:  You can download “The Best Christmas” from iTunes or Amazon and help it on its way to becoming a Christmas No. 1!

All photos courtesy of Martin Morris, and used with Martin Morris’ permission.

And now for something completely different… Nicky guest-blogs about numeracy!

A long while back, a friend asked me to contribute to a newly set-up numeracy blog.  I promised to think about it and then, in all the excitement about publishing Sophie’s Turn, I got washed away by the tide and completely forgot.  And in all honesty, I didn’t really know what a blog was back then, or what was required of me.  Hear, hear, the musings of a technophobe!

Never one to bear a grudge, this friend (you know who you are!) very patiently talked me through the process of creating my own blog and, and a few months later, once again asked me to blog about numeracy.  This time, I actually knew what she wanted of me, and I had a good look round the blog in question, and I got writing.

So… what does Nicky have to say about numeracy?  Well, basically I’m just sharing a few anecdotes about playful numeracy interactions with my children at my house.  Entitled “Numeracy is a Piece of Cake,” I describe how my six-year old was keen on understanding percentages (and later, fractions), and what we did about his questions.  Needless to say, my four year-old got involved as well!  So the upshot, for me is, that sometimes opportunities for stimulating your children’s learning (numeracy or otherwise) present themselves, and if you have the time and the props, you can foster some fantastic learning experiences.  And no, you don’t need to be a trained teacher!   Check out what I have to say at Mathsinsider.

A Great Big Thanks goes  to Caroline Mukisa for hosting this guest post, and for some terrific editing and beautifying of said post.  It’s an honour to visit your blog, and I hope to come back again soon.

Cheerio! x

Party Time! Let’s celebrate the re-launch of Sophie’s Turn at loveahappyending.com

I am fantastically excited to be re-launching Sophie’s Turn today over at loveahappyending.com.  Join me there for a little background on my writing journey, and a fantastic excerpt of my masterpiece.

The re-launch comes at the end of a big, massive, four-month virtual book tour, which was a lot of hard work and a lot of fun.  I gained 17 fantastic reviews and gave over 20 interviews and guest blogs.  Visit my book tour close-out post for review highlights that help celebrate the re-launch and put it into a proper context:

This book ROCKS (and that’s not just my opinion…)!!!

Finally, to help you celebrate with me, I have initiated a special holiday promotion.  You can now download Sophie’s Turn from amazon.co.uk for only £0.86, and from amazon.com for only $0.99.  All European amazon sites retail Sophie’s Turn for Euro 0.99.  This is for a limited time only!

Come and visit me over at lovehappyending.com to join in the launch fun, and feel free to spread the word using the sharing buttons there, or at the bottom of this post.  Rock on, friends!  Thank you all for your support.  X 🙂

Closing out the Virtual Book Tour for Sophie’s Turn: Thank You All, and check out the Review Highlights

So…. After four cracking months, the virtual blog tour for my masterpiece romantic debut, Sophie’s Turn, is drawing to a close. It’s been a lot of fun, quite a lot of work, and absolutely exhilarating.

I’ve met wonderful bloggers, made new friends, learned an awful lot about publishing, self-promotion, and technology… Yes, I didn’t even have a blog when it all started! So take a look around you and see how far I’ve come.

I’ve had an opportunity to visit many other blogs for interviews or guest blogs, and obviously I gained many reviews. This is a kind of stock-taking exercise for me to tell you all how it went, and to offer my sincere thanks to all my supporters.

Right, let’s have the stats.

The blog tour saw:

17 reviews (and at least one more still to come, possibly more….).  Most of these were either four or five stars (and the others weren’t rated because the reviewers didn’t use ratings systems)!!!   Am I chuffed, or am I chuffed?

11 interviews

3 guest blogs

11 give-aways

1 character interview

1 lounge around a (virtual) pool

Here are the review highlights… and yes, they’re all great (of course!):

“Absolutely loved it and want a sequel.” — Kristin Durham

“The attraction between Sophie and Dan is sizzling…. you can feel the heat coming off the pages!” — Shaz Goodwin

“I loved the British charm that was evident on every page, as well as the plot that kept me reading well past my bedtime.” — Jonita Fex

Nicky Wells spins her story with a delicate hand that will have readers cheering Sophie on throughout the entire book. I felt Sophie’s confusion, her hesitance to spark up anything with Dan, her dismay at her betrayal to Tim. This was such a real book, with a real woman in a very confusing situation” — Samantha Robey

“The outcome, well what a great ending – not what I expected but totally satisfying.” — Sue Fortin

“…excellent debut novel… I love her style of writing, and this book was an absolute pleasure to read.” — Kim Nash

“Packed full of heated highs but also some very sad lows that might have you reaching for a tissue. (Loved the ending) Nicky has written a perfect ChickLit book that easily stands up against the others available today in the shops.” — Lou Graham

“I found there were also some lovely humorous touches in this novel which were not predictable” — Rea Sinfield

“This is a great debut from Nicky Wells about deciding your fate.” — Christy Goldstein

“…it is really well written with an interesting and entertaining and fun storyline.” — Nikki Bywater

“While this was Nicky Well’s first novel, it’s written so well it doesn’t show at all. In fact, this book is chick-lit at its very best.” — Brittany Roshelle

“I was able to devour this novel almost as fast as I tend to wolf down a chocolate bar when I‘m in need a sugar rush, even having to be literally dragged away from the novel at one point.” — Georgina Scott

“I just love music and rockstars! So what happens when I see these two combined! THE INEVITABLE – I LOVE THE BOOK!”— Ananda

“If you are looking for an entertaining chick lit novel, then you’ve come to the right place with this one.” — Melissa Amster

“It is a delightful ‘chick-lit book; definitely one you will not be able to put down.” — Donna McBroom-theriot

“I knew this book was going to be good because I was hooked from the first chapter. … I can see this book being made into a movie…” — Flo

“I was instantly hooked from the very beginning of the novel and found the writing style to be both easy to read and gripping at the same time.”  — Sarah Taylor

And the result….?

Did it all pay off, you want to know? Did I sell any books? Yes, I have to confess, I did—sort of. I sold a few copies. Not many by a best-selling author’s standards, not enough to make a living or scrape into any charts… but a few. Let’s call it a slow trickle, albeit a fairly steady one. Steady enough to make me realise that word is getting out, slowly; that notice is being taken, seriously; that my work is being talked about, all over the world (oh yes, baby, all over the world); reviews are being read, excitedly; and thus my platform is slowly consolidating.

More importantly, I have just found out that two people nominated “Sophie’s Turn” as their favourite chick-lit read for 2011 in the Chick Lit Central Holiday give-away competition.  OK, so it’s not an end-of-year poll of favourite books, nor is my book likely to be the ‘winner’ here as it were.  But that’s not the point.  The point that’s got me bowled over with awe is that two lovely readers out there enjoyed it so much, it topped their own personal charts.  And that matters to me!

Therefore, I would like to express my deep and heart-felt gratitude to all these lovely bloggers who took the time to read and review Sophie’s Turn, hosted me on their blog with an interview or in some other capacity, and generally guided me on my way. When the sequel is out…. I’ll know where to find you to do it all over again!

The Big Roll of Thank You’s Goes Out, in no particular order, to:

Shaz Goodwin at Jera’s Jamboree; Sue Fortin at lovereadinglovebooks; Georgina Scott at Chick Lit Aholic; Lou Graham at Lou Graham’s Blog; Rea Sinfield at Reabookreview; Christy Goldstein at the Chick Lit Club; Laura Williams at Bookworm Ink.; Nikki Bywater at Books4U; Kim Nash at Kim the Book Worm; Jonita Fex at The Book Chick; Kristin Durham at Kritters Ramblings; Melissa Amster at Chick Lit Central; Mandy Baggot at Mandy Baggot Author; Komal Mansoor at The Review Girl; Brittany Roshelle at The Write Stuff; Sarah Taylor at Today I’m Reading; Flo at Girls Who Love to Read; Ananda at Books to Remember; Donna Mcbroom-theriot at My Life. One Story at a Time.; Pauline M Barclay at Scibbles! and last but not least, Laurie Jenkins at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews.

I can’t tell you how much your support means to me.  Take care of yourselves… and I’ll be back before you know it.

Until then…. cheerio, my friends! xx 🙂

Lou Graham interviews Sophie and Dan (from Sophie’s Turn) for “Hiya!”… and it’s sizzling over there!

It’s another edition of Lou Graham’s great feature, “Hiya“… and this time, she’s interviewing the gorgeous Dan Hunter of rock-band Tusk, and the lovely journalist Sophie Penhalligan, who is accompanying Tusk on their grand tour to bring us all daily updates and behind-the-scenes gossip.

Dan and Sophie appear to have some kind of special chemistry going on between them, and Lou was quite intrigued by it all.  She said to me privately, “my God, there were sparks flying between them.  Never mind they’re denying everything… they’ve definitely got a ‘thing’ going on…”

Well, I never, who would have thought!  What are my lovely characters getting up to?  Visit Lou’s blog to read the latest edition of “Hiya!” and get the inside scoop on this interview.

…oh and, let’s not forget, you can also win a free Kindle copy of the book that Sophie is currently reading!  Garnering great reviews from all over the world, her favourite novel is called ‘Sophie’s Turn,’ written by an amazing new author from the UK by the name of Nicky Wells.  This competition is open internationally and runs until 10 December).  Good luck to all entrants!

A huge, big, enormous thank you to the lovely Lou for hosting this interview and give-away.  Let’s rock and roll! xx

Nicky Wells is featured author on “Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews” with an interview and a give-away of Sophie’s Turn!

As the amazing book tour for Sophie’s Turn is slowly but surely winding to a close, it is my tremendous pleasure to visit Laurie’s great blog, “Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews” as a featured author.

Laurie is still in the throes of reading Sophie’s Turn, but meanwhile she is hosting me on a stop for an interview and a give-away.  Moreover, she is featuring a juicy little excerpt of Sophie’s Turn so if you haven’t read it yet, be sure to check this out….

Also find out when exactly I started my writing career, what surprised me most when writing Sophie’s Turn… and whether I have a milestone birthday coming up, and what I plan to do with it!

The associated give-away is for one Kindle copy of Sophie’s Turn and is open internationally until 6th December.  I would love to see as many of you as possible come and visit, and wish all entrants good luck as always. Rock on, folks! x 🙂  A big “Thank You” to Laurie for hosting me on her blog: I am truly honoured!

A big “Thank You” to The Bristol Book Club for hosting my first-ever talk last night!

I had a bit of a premiere last night!  I had been kindly invited by The Bristol Book Club to join a meeting to give a talk about my debut novel, Sophie’s Turn.  The event had been in the pipeline for some time, and it was only earlier this week that I started feeling a little bit nervous about my ‘book club talk debut.’  With the helpful advice from my lovely fellow authors over at loveahappyending.com, I was able to pull together a good programme.  So at 6pm last night, I was ready and prepped for my coming-out talk.

I arrived at the venue–very conveniently a pub down Christmas Steps way, inspired choice!–a little after the group had arrived and was greeted by friendly and interested faces.  A warm reception put me at ease, and I grabbed a chair and launched in.

After a brief introduction of myself, I asked everybody around the table to introduce themselves–the group was just small enough to make that feasible.  As the organiser, Neil Burgess, had suggested, there was an interesting mix of ages, gender, Kindle-owners, paper-back enthusiasts, and romance critics, and we immediately launched into a short discussion of the pros and cons of e-books and e-readers.

The Talk…

I pulled us back on topic with an outline of the plot to set the scene for my two readings.  There were some nodding heads and everybody listened carefully, which was wonderful.  I’d selected two excerpts that I thought would appeal to this mixed group; the first one featured the argument between Sophie and Rachel about Sophie’s engagement to Tim, and the second one introduced Dan picking up Sophie from the office (without warning) a few days after this intense argument between the girls.   The group followed the readings well and I even got a few laughs, which I count as a great result!  And there was animated discussion of the excerpts.  For example, participants reflected on the dialogue in the first excerpt and whether it was cliched or heartfelt.  Two of the ladies present considered the ins and outs of Sophie’s immediate melting reaction to Dan’s appearance:  would that be realistic?  One participant felt that it seemed a little unrealistic for Sophie to crumple so quickly, while the other latched onto the idea of the pre-existing relationship and, of course, Dan’s celebrity status… both of which could realistically conspire to make Sophie ‘melt’ so dramatically.

It was a truly energising experience to hear my work–or short excerpts of it–discussed real-time and face-to-face, and see potential readers engage with my words.

The Crisis…

However, things didn’t go quite a smoothly as planned!  Of course they didn’t!  Having extolled the virtues of the e-book, of course I would encounter technical difficulties.  I deliberately took my laptop, having been advised that not everyone in the group had Kindles or iPads.  And so I took the laptop for two reasons.  One, I wanted to be able to show folks that it is quite pleasant and easy to read an e-book on a laptop, and show how the Kindle features really work.  And two, I figured the backlit screen of the laptop would be easier to read in a pub (which could be quite dark?) than a Kindle.  I was right on the second count, but not on the first.

Imagine my distress when, after about two screens, my Kindle App refused to respond.  No clicking or dragging would move the page on, and I was quite literally stuck mid-sentence.  Bless The Book Club, they were all really supportive but of course couldn’t resist the odd, and well justified, comment that something like this wouldn’t have happened with a paper back.  Very true!  It appears that the laptop was looking for an Internet connection (not available there, sorry!) and that took up some considerable resources, freezing the screen in the process.

Agh.  How embarrassing.  I kept talking while I was trying to figure out where to go.  I felt too flustered to try and turn the wireless feature off, so it kept looking.  Eventually I worked out that a combination of dragging the text forward by about five percent and then clicking back to the right screen offered a workaround, if a clumsy one.  Keeping an eye on the time and considering the technical difficulties, I cut the second reading short and opened the floor for debate.

The Discussion…

One interesting discussion strand that came up right away was whether I considered my book as ‘chick lit.’  I think my enthusiastic response (“absolutely”) surprised some of the members, and the negative publicity that chick lit has had recently was then mentioned.  I gave an edited version of my views on that subject (as previously featured on my blog here) and I think that was well received overall.  I can’t be one hundred per-cent sure, of course, but at least they went away knowing that I am proud of what I do.

Right at the very end, I had some questions about the publishing process, why I published through KDP and whether I’d been on the agent trail.  I answered the questions as openly and honestly as I could. Again, I think some of my responses surprised the folks there–especially regarding an author’s wide span of control over their markets, pricing and cover strategies.

So after a pleasant hour, I closed my talk and handed out my goodies.  I’d prepared the obligatory flyer with blurbs, review highlights and purchase information.  I’d also made a book mark, which caused a round of laughter.  “Bookmarks for a Kindle?”  I joined in with the laughter and handed the bookmarks out anyway, telling the group that after they’d used the bookmarks in their current paperback read for a few weeks, they would finally crumble, give-in, surrender and download a copy of Sophie’s Turn.  🙂

All in all, I think my first book club talk went well.  There was good discussion, helpful comments and… right at the end… a few people came up to me and told me they thought I was doing a brilliant job, and had the right approach to self-promotion.  Needless to say, I was absolutely over the moon to hear that.

Still, there are some lessons learnt for me here.

1) Next time, take the Kindle.  Or at the very least, disable the network connection.

2) Set up the plot more meticulously so that listeners know exactly how the excerpts fit into the story.  I think I was probably a bit too quick in this respect last night…

3) Mark a variety of excerpts so that I can alter the course of readings if feedback indicates that a group might be after something different.

So once more, a big and heart-felt “Thank You” to the lovely members of The Bristol Book Club for listening to my talk, asking great questions, raising fabulous points, and being so patient and supportive of this here newbie author.

If you are interested in joining The Bristol Book Club, find out about their next meet-up here.

Four Diamonds for Sophie’s Turn from Ananda at “Books to Remember”

The good things just keep happening this week! How excited was I yesterday to find out that Ananda, my lovely Associate Reader over at loveahappyending.com, has finished reading rock star romance Sophie’s Turn and posted a review on her blog, Books to Remember!

Ananda had been making enthusiastic noises about Sophie’s Turn all the while she was reading is but little did I appreciate just why!

So here’s why.  Says Ananda: “I have two things to confess: First I am a sucker for chick-lit books and second, I just love music and rockstars! So what happens when I see these two combined! THE INEVITABLE – I LOVE THE BOOK!”  Find the full review on Ananda’s wonderful blog.

I am truly delighted–this is the reaction I was hoping for while I was writing… yay! Here’s to kindred spirits.  A huge lovely thanks to Ananda for speed-reading Sophie’s Turn and offering such a glowing review.  Ananda, I’ll be visiting you soon over in the Kingdom Far Away to collect my four sparkly diamonds….

🙂 x

Triple Whammy for Sophie’s Turn: FIVE Stars from Donna at “My Life. One Story at a Time” plus an author interview and a fabulous give-away!

It is my enormous pleasure to be visiting Donna’s exceptional blog, “My Life. One Story at a Time.” today.

Donna blogs with a difference.  When she agrees to offer a review, she also wants to find out more about the author and always includes an author interview.  Moreover, she likes to include in her feature some of her favourite quotes from the book she is reviewing.  And the result is truly compelling.

So I am bowled over that it is my turn today.  Donna has awarded Sophie’s Turn Five Stars on Amazon and written a thoughtful and glowing review.  I am completely over the moon!  Although… on reading the first few lines, my heart sank to my knees, and I was thinking:  what have I done?!?  You’ll have to read the full review to find out why!

There’s also my lovely interview:  find out the top three things on my bucket list!  And finally, don’t miss the give-away of one Kindle copy of Sophie’s Turn.  The competition is open internationally until 22 November!

A triple whammy on this amazing day, and I have a big smile on my face.  Please do come and join me over at “My Life. One Story at a Time.”  and good luck to all give-away entrants.

Finally, a huge big Thank You to Donna for taking the time to read and review Sophie’s Turn, for all her support, and for her amazing feature of me and my work on her unique blog. 🙂 x