books: 2016

Blog Tour: The House in Quill Court – Author Q&A with Charlotte Betts

25th August 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Today, I’m very happy to welcome multi-award-winning author Charlotte Betts to the blog! She has kindly consented to a short Q&A session to celebrate the release of her fifth book, The House in Quill Court.

If you’re a reader of historical romantic fiction, this book will be right up your alley. Here’s a quick blurb —

1813. Venetia Lovell lives by the sea in Kent with her pretty, frivolous mother, and idle younger brother. Venetia’s father, Theo, is an interior decorator to the rich, and frequently travels away from home, leaving his sensible and artistic daughter to look after the family. Venetia designs paper hangings, and she and her father often daydream about having an imaginary shop where they would display the highest quality furniture, fabrics, and art to his clients.

When a handsome but antagonistic stranger, Jack Chamberlaine, arrives at the Lovell’s cottage just before Christmas bringing terrible news, Venetia’s world is turned upside-down, and the family has no option but to move to London, to the House in Quill Court and begin a new life. Here, Venetia’s courage and creativity are tested to breaking point, and she discovers a love far greater than she could have ever imagined…

As part of #QuillCourt blog tour, I was given a chance to post the author some questions, and I love learning more about Charlotte through her eloquent answers.
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On The Nightstand: The Little Women Letters

14th June 2016 by Gemma 2 Comments

Every, if not most, women who have been avid readers since their childhood would know Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It is a children’s classic after all, and dare I say, well-loved. I myself have read it a long time ago in my youth, but I must add it was because I saw the movie first, and dear god, was Christian Bale as Laurie a sight! As with Jane Eyre in a previous post, I have not read this book since then, so I only remember details, such as being heartbroken over Beth, and why oh why did Jo not end up with Laurie*?? Bear in mind I had Christian Bale on the head, so I just found this development utterly unacceptable.

So yes, Little Women is a book quite dear to me. I was pleasantly surprised, of course, to then learn of this book, which I must have found featured in an article online. More about the March sisters, and a modern day connection**? Why yes, I’ll take that!

Written by Gabrielle Donnelly and published in 2011 by Penguin Books, The Little Women Letters “explores the imagined lives of Jo March’s descendants–three sisters who are both thoroughly modern and thoroughly March.” It parallels the lives and characters of the three March sisters — Meg, Jo, and Amy — with Jo’s great, great granddaughters — Emma, Lulu, and Sophie. The reader gets little glimpses of the March family’s life after Little Women ended and before Little Men began, as one of the modern girls get to know their ancestor through her great, great grandmother Jo’s letters.

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On The Nightstand: Maestra

27th May 2016 by Gemma 1 Comment

Maestra is billed as the “most shocking thriller of the year”, which I thought was a bit early to say considering it came out very early this year in March. Although who am I to say, since The Girl on the Train came out in January 2015 and still seems to be doing relatively well in the market? Maestra did get picked up for a movie much quicker than The Girl on the Train did, and it will be an easier sell — the book does contain sex, money, and murder, and isn’t that easily marketable?

Originally released in the UK by independent publisher Zaffre (an imprint of Bonnier Publishing), Maestra is written by L. S. Hilton, an Oxford graduate of English who also studied Art History in Florence and Paris. From my Google research, I can deduce that she is more widely known for her historical fiction and biographies which are published as being written by Lisa Hilton. Her Maestra pseudonym was taken under the advisement of its publisher, to separate her historical reputation from this erotic thriller¹.

I have not read her other books, but again, we can surmise that the woman has had practise in the art of writing with the seven or so previously published books in her list of works. I point this out because Maestra will be and is already often compared to the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey because of its erotic content, but I find this a disservice to the book …

Book Haul: May 2016 – Spring Holiday Edition

24th May 2016 by Gemma 2 Comments

Welcome to my first ever book haul post! I never saw the point of blogging about these, not until I realised how difficult it is to format Instagram posts and that it just looks neater when you have CSS/HTML at your disposal. Also, this one is special in that I acquired this while I was away on holiday. Short budget trips to Europe usually mean just one hand luggage, and our preferred airline Easyjet requires exactly one — meaning I have to stuff my usual shoulder bag inside the hand luggage too.

This time, however, the husband and I were off to a different continent and we get to have a check-in luggage each! I have now acquired the skill of packing well, so I had a lot of space to bring along books with me, as well as for books I was planning to acquire on this trip!

I have lately come to learn Australia is the only known place in the world that still publishes the popular orange Penguin Books. Here in the UK, there is an abundance of old but well-loved orange Penguins in secondhand bookshops, but I sadly have an allergic reaction to the dust in the old brown pages. I can feel the itch creeping up at the back of my throat and start scratching my nose whenever I’m inside a secondhand bookshop, but I draw the line at not owning lovely old books — I am not going to avoid visiting where they are kept!

So, of course, what would I buy in Australia? …

From the Publisher’s Desk: Dandy Gilver & the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom

19th May 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

Dandy Gilver & the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom is a book of the mystery genre, written by Catriona McPherson. Set in Glasgow in 1932, Dandy and her detective partner Alec Osborne are immersed in the world of competitive ballroom dancing as they uncover secrets, deal with rivalries, and, of course, death threats.

Firstly — I must admit that I have not heard of Dandy Gilver prior to getting this paperback*. As it turns out, this is the tenth book in the series, with another one coming out July of this year in the UK. So while I am ignorant of these books until recently, they are undoubtedly popular.

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