I’ve just discovered the most delicious teas, courtesy of Bird & Blend Tea Co – a real hidden treasure. Their passion for everything ‘Tea’ and their determination to pass this pleasure to others is tangible in all their products.
I absolutely love their limited edition Moomins collaboration, creating the simply delicious Moomin House Cosy Comforts Tea(RRP £22) – an incredible blend of Black Tea, Sweet Blackberry Leaves (6%), Cinnamon (6%), Cloves, Cassia Bark, and Natural Flavouring. Presented in an attractive, collectible 150g tin inspired by the iconic Moominhouse, the aroma hits the senses as soon as you remove the lid. The high quality whole leaf black tea, the cinnamon and cloves, mingling with hints of cassia bark has such a powerful and pleasurable aroma, that one almost doesn’t need to drink it to enjoy it – very much like a top quality wine. It can be enjoyed hot or also cold – a real consideration during this heat wave, but I admit to curling up with a hot mug of this heavenly brew.
But Bird & Blend Tea Co don’t limit their creations to black tea – how do you fancy Vanilla Icecream Matcha (RRP £22 for a 30g tin). This is one of their wide range of inventive beverages made with 100% Ceremonial Grade Japanese Matcha, a nutrient & antioxidant rich superfood, sugar free and only natural flavourings added. I love this matcha – the gentle sweetness of the vanilla merging perfectly with the feisty Matcha – a great picker-upper when the afternoon snooze is threatening (or is that just me?). Do check out their wide range of clever Matcha combinations here – the page also instructs exactly how to make the perfect Matcha – well worth a read.
The Bird & Blend Tea Co website is bursting with amazing and exciting novel teas, and lots of information on how they source the very best teas and their sustainability and charitable programmes.
However I have just one more to share with you – Morning Kick – this time based on Amazonian Yerba Mate (21%), blended with Lemongrass, Ginger (16%), Citrus Peel, Lemon Verbena (11%) and Marigold Petals (RRP £6.85 for 50g). An incredible burst of flavour to start the day – simply delicious. I have no more to say. Do take a look at the website -you’ll be so pleased you did.
By Dr K Thompson, award-winning author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows
Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.
So, about a year or so before I started writing this book, I had an illness which caused brain inflammation and had me hallucinating and having very vivid dreams. One night, I dreamed of these three young women’s faces—all were very beautiful, with long dark hair and alabaster skin, and two of the women were identical. The third seemed a bit more on the periphery, and there was anger in her eyes.
This dream stayed with me for a while—particularly, as I felt like these women were looking right at me. I can’t remember if they did anything in the dream, or what the context was, but I remembered their faces.
And then, much later, and after I’d started treatment for my brain illness, I was visiting a charity shop and looking through a donated photo album. I turned the page and there was a photo of these three women. It really made me freeze, because it looked exactly like them. Two identical twins and another who looked very similar, maybe a sister.
It freaked me out and I left quickly, without the photo album. Yet I couldn’t stop thinking about the women—and I felt almost haunted. When I went back to buy the photo album, it had gone. But I just knew that I needed to ‘spend more time’ with these sisters, and so I began writing.
I love books about sibling rivalry. Do you have siblings!
I do, yes, and I’m quick to say that the experiences in We Are Monsters are not based on real life! I think sibling rivalry is such a fascinating thing to write about as so many people are able to relate.
Dark academia is a popular genre and going nowhere. Why do you think it resonates so much with readers?
I think there’s a strong aesthetic appeal with dark academia—the crumbling Gothic architecture, the isolated landscapes, and the powerful institutions that are never quite as they seem. Tradition is also something that’s seeped into the plot and it can be both a good and a bad thing, which gives so many possibilities to explore. There’s also quite a melancholic atmosphere that comes with dark academia, and it’s also the perfect setting for stories about rivalry as academic competition is often at its heart. The characters are also very much contained within the landscape, often unable to leave or go anywhere else, and there’s something quite frightening about that which also makes it an ideal place to set a psychological thriller.
Dark academia settings are also very much romanticised by a lot of readers. This genre represents passion for knowledge and desire to know the truth, while also immersing yourself really deeply in one aspect of life. Intellectualism is often at the heart of these stories, along with appreciation for education and the arts, and this is something that We Are Monsters really draws on: Elara is an art student living on an isolated university campus on Bodmin moor. She’s fascinated by what art can say about the human condition and what it means to be human, particularly in situations that bring out rivalry and (deadly) competition.
What is your writing routine?
The more books I write, the more I realise I just don’t have a set routine. Each book comes to me differently, and each book is written in its own individual way. But the thing that I have in common with them all is that I do very little planning. I just start writing and see what happens, and I love it when I get lost in a story and suddenly realise that hours have passed and the words have just been flowing beautifully.
I also love to hand write a lot of my drafts as I have limited vision and I find handwriting easier than typing. Luckily, I have a Remarkable Tablet which then converts my handwriting into text, which makes rewrites and editing so much easier!
What is your favourite part of being a writer?
It’s the ideas. I love getting lost in ideas and what-if scenarios. I process a lot of my own experiences through writing, and it helps me understand who I am. There’s something so satisfying about delving into the psyches of characters and becoming immersed in a story in the process.
And the worst part?
I’m one of those writers who works on about five or six different manuscripts at a time. I write under several pen names, across several genres, and I dip in and out of different stories several times a day when it is a ‘writing day’. This can be so overwhelming at times, and I often panic about it. I also often wish I was more organised and just focused on one story at a time, as then I’d get them written so much quicker!
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am a chronically ill writer, and I think it’s important to share my ‘reality’ with readers where I can. There’s often a tendency to put writers on a pedestal and think of them as these whimsical little creatures who have fun being creative all day, but I do have to treat this as a job (and it is my income!). My physical health limits what else I can do, but writing is my one constant, and it’s honestly all I’ve ever wanted to do. But I don’t—can’t—write every day. My health dictates a lot of it. I’m often writing while in hospital, dictating into my phone when my fingers are too painful, and wishing that I was well enough to write just another chapter rather than needing to rest. But when I finish a manuscript, it’s such a proud moment.
Who are your favourite authors?
I am a massive fan of Mary Kubica, Dawn Kurtagich, C.L. Taylor, Helen Oyeyemi, Susannah Clarke, Lucy Rose, Shanora Williams, Rebecca Wait, Coco Mellors, and Nova Ren Suma. I will read any books they release!
Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes! Some of my earliest memories are of me creating stories with my parents. I come from a creative family that really encouraged my imagination, and right from the start, I wanted to be a writer. As I got older, I was told by teachers I’d need to do something more practical with a guaranteed income (one even suggested I become a carpet fitter, which was…odd), but writing remained my goal.
I was a teenager when my autonomic system failed, followed by decades of health problems, and writing was the one thing that gave me an escape. My illnesses then made me more determined to be a writer, as it was a job I could still do. I’d just need to find a way to make it into an income.
I began writing under a couple of different pen names, and I was lucky enough to get my first book deal when I was nineteen, followed by my first literary agent a little while later. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the business-side of writing to ensure that I can keep doing what I love and making it into a full-time job.
What books have you read recently and loved?
I absolutely adored Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke and White is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi. These are definitely top reads of 2026 for me!
The Vanishers by R. G. Belsky A Paranormal Gothic Thriller – perfect for fans of Atmospheric Horror and Psychological Suspense and frankly, gulp and stress on every page, but in a nice way! Megan Foley knows she saw the little boy. So why does everyone at the perfect seaside house insist he never existed?
When Megan and her husband Patrick accept an invitation to spend the summer at a luxurious house share in Stone Beach, Connecticut, everything seems too good to be true. The rent is absurdly low. The host, Mrs. Monahan, is attentive to the point of unease. The other guests are pleasant — until they aren’t. One day, Megan sees a boy, Tommy, playing… and the next, Tommy is simply gone. Erased, as though he never existed. All the other guests at the house look at Megan blankly when she asks. One by one, the guests succumb to long hours in front of the television in a glassy trance. Patrick grows cold and distant. Something stirs in the attic. Megan alone seems immune — but for how long? Frankly, fascinating. You need a l-o-n-g train journey as you won’t want to put it down. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FYFY4SYD/ @ £0.99 instead of £3.49 – for now.
Late Checkout: A compulsive police procedural thriller (DCI Murrain Series Book 1 of 5) by Alex Walters and it’s FREE as a kindle with the paperback@ £6.99
This DCI notices things others don’t – instincts that have helped him solve even the most baffling cases. But they also come at a cost. Read book one in the shocking crime series by Alex Walters. When a woman is found murdered in a Manchester hotel, DCI Kenny Murrain is called in to lead the investigation. The crime scene raises more questions than it answers: a violent killing, yet chillingly precise. No forensics. No witnesses. No obvious motive. As more victims are discovered across the region, each bearing the same disturbing hallmarks, it becomes clear a single killer is behind them–methodical, mobile, and always one step ahead.
With pressure mounting and no clear leads, Murrain is forced to rely on the very instincts that have always set him apart. But the closer he gets, the more the case begins to unravel.This DCI notices things others don’t – instincts that have helped him solve even the most baffling cases. But they also come at a cost. Read book one in the shocking crime series by Alex Walters. I really liked this novel, very readable. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FWC6KBF4/ @ FREE
The Riviera Affair: A twisty vintage cozy mystery (The Yellow Cottage Vintage Mysteries Book 4) by J. New . Aren’t her books just lovely, and this is No 4, believe it or not, of the Yellow Cottage Mysteries. The glamour of the French Riviera quickly turns sour as Ella is caught up in an investigation with consequences on both sides of the Channel—has she finally met her match? When her mother telephones from France with news of her imminent arrest, (gasp) Ella Bridges rushes to her side—bringing along her aunt and an eccentric friend for support. But what begins as a missing person case soon spirals into murder, and Ella finds herself at the heart of a mystery far more complex than expected.
In a foreign land where she doesn’t speak the language, holds no jurisdiction and doesn’t know who to trust, Ella must draw on every ounce of her intuition and ingenuity to expose the truth. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F9FSFN9L/ @ the time limited price of £0.99
Following on – oh wow – three boxed cozy crime kindles – the gorgeous Yellow Cottage Vintage Mysteries Series (Historical Cozy Crime Box Set 1-3)by J. New . These three 1930s murder mysteries are delightfully witty, as the somewhat quirky amateur sleuth Ella Bridges finds herself entangled in all sorts mysteries setin post-WWI-era England (such an interesting time) .
An Accidental Murder – Ella is still adjusting to island life when she finds herself entangled in a chilling murder investigation. But she’s not solving it alone. A rather unusual companion offers assistance in unexpected ways. Oh, how interesting. Read it to learn more.
The Curse of Arundel Hall – A dinner at Arundel Hall contains more than a few courses, – you see, one of the dinner guests is murdered, So is it the old curse once again – or something else?
A Clerical Error – Ella Bridges faces her most challenging case yet when the village vicar dies suddenly at the May Day Fete. Goodness, that’s a bit of a downer, but our Ella is not fazed in the least and sets to work…
