The Christmas Stocking And Other Stories By Katie Fforde

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Catherine Balavage

It may be November but no matter how much we try and avoid it, Christmas is well and truly here. I have heard my first Christmas song and seen my first Christmas advert. In that spirit let me recommend this wonderful book of festive short stories. Perfect escapist fun. Sit down with this book when your relatives get too much. You will finish it in no time.

A wonderfully festive Christmas collection of short stories from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of A Summer at Sea and A Secret Garden

The perfect gift for Christmas, escape to the countryside with Katie Fforde.

Stories include:

Christmas in Disguise
When Jo’s friend Andi asks if she’ll stand in to cook Christmas lunch for her employer. Jo reluctantly agrees, wanting to help out her friend. If the girls get away with it, it will be the perfect Christmas disguise.

Candlelight at Christmas
Fenella and Rupert are organising the perfect Christmas, surrounded by friends in their beautiful Somerby house. But when a power cut suddenly plunges the house into darkness, Fenella knows she has her work cut out to keep everyone happy.

About the Author:

Katie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She’s been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she’s even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She loves being a writer; to her there isn’t a more satisfying and pleasing thing to do. She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories. To find out more about Katie Fforde step into her world at www.katiefforde.com, visit her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @KatieFforde.

BUSINESS OF BOOKS: FELINES, FILMS AND FINESSING

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Jane Cable

If there’s one creative mountain that’s harder to climb than getting a book accepted by a publisher, it’s selling a screenplay to a film company. But stripped back to its most basic level you’re actually creating, and selling, the same thing – a story.

Of course I’d heard of novelists using screenplay techniques but I’d never given it serious thought until one day last summer when I was lazing in author Liz Fenwick’s gorgeous garden and she told me these were methods she used. Given how much I admire Liz’s work I quite literally sat up and took notice. And given how much of an evangelist for these skills she is, just a few hours later she sent me a reading list.

The first book on it has the unlikely title of Save the Cat and is written by Hollywood screenwriter Blake Snyder. While the title is intriguing the contents are a veritable bible and one or two areas in particular resonated with me. Especially as I’ve always struggled with what authors term ‘the elevator pitch’ and what Snyder calls ‘the log line.’

The log line’s job is to sell your screenplay – or your novel – in one or two sentences. I think we all know that. But Snyder digs down into what a great log line should be and stresses that you shouldn’t get too far into your opus (or indeed start it at all) until the log line has been pinned down, finessed, and tested. Once it has, it isn’t just a selling tool either – it becomes the starting point for developing your story.

The first question it needs to answer is ‘what is the book about?’ Go on, scribble it down. Just reducing it to a couple of sentences will most likely be a challenge. But honing it until you have the right selection of words takes much more skill and again Snyder gives us the tools: Does it hook the reader’s interest? Does it create a compelling mental picture? Is it easy to tell who the intended audience is? There’s a whole chapter on genre and categorising your story in film terms – which gives a very interesting perspective on classifying novels too.

After the ‘what’, comes the ‘who’. Who is the hero? And what is he or she up against? If that’s already clear from your log line, then great – but the chances are it won’t be, so out comes the red pen again. Snyder advises that at the very least you need to have an adjective to describe the hero, an adjective to describe the bad guy (in the widest possible use of the term), and to show the hero’s compelling goal – which has to be one the audience will identify with.

And once you have all that right there’s just one more tiny thing – the killer title. I didn’t say this was going to be easy, did I? Talking of killer titles, what exactly does Save the Cat mean? It refers to that small but important moment early in the story where the hero does something to make the audience love him or her – a very small point in the overall context of the book – but as titles go it certainly does its job.

Of course I’m skating over a great deal of detail here – my aim is to whet your appetite, not give a blow by blow account of the whole technique. There are so many valuable hints and tips between the pages of Save the Cat any writer who wants to perfect the log line would be wise to read it themselves.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire – The Quiz Book

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Catherine Balavage

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since Who Wants to be a Millionaire last aired. When the Who Wants to be a Millionaire quiz book landed in our mailbox there was a touch of nostalgia in the air. Followed by furious questioning. The book is a lot of fun, and gives the same options as the actual quiz show. An ideal Christmas present.

Twenty years after it last aired, Who Wants to be a Millionaire burst back onto our screens for a week of shows this spring. A record 6 million viewers were shouting at the TV as contestants took on the new host, lifelines and questions. A second mini-series will air in November to celebrate the show’s anniversary and this is the ultimate quiz-book for readers to take on the challenge at home.

The perfect stocking filler for this Christmas, this interactive book is packed with a thousand questions that everyone can have a go at, from £100 answers that everyone should know, to the formidable £1,000,000 question. But it’s a game of skill, too: should you save your lifelines? who do you ask on phone a friend? when do you set your safety line?

The real question is, can anyone play a perfect game and make it to the top?

Available here.

Cosy Christmas Reading – Book Reviews

Posted on October 18, 2018 by Tracy Baines

A Nightingale Christmas Promise by Donna Douglas

East London, 1914: Britain is preparing for war. As young men queue up across the country to enlist, the Nightingale Hospital has its own set of new recruits…

Anna has had a happy upbringing in her parent’s bakery in Bethnal Green. But as war descends her family’s German roots will wrench them apart in ways Anna never could have imagined.

Kate dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a doctor. With female doctors virtually unheard of, it will take courage to face off the prejudice around her.

Sadie joins the Nightingale Hospital for a new life away from her mother’s interference. But the legacy of her family may not be so easy to escape…

As the shadow of war descends, will the promise of Christmas help to bring the students together?

I’ve enjoyed previous Nightingale Nurses books set in WW2 so was looking forward to reading A Nightingale Christmas Promise – which is the first one set during the First World War. It didn’t disappoint.

A Nightingale Christmas Promise follows the senior staff as they overcome the trials of their training years. Donna Douglas paints rich scenes in Anna’s family bakery, the training hospital and Sadie’s mother’s dwelling and weaves the threads together as the girls face their trials and tribulations as they go through their training. An absorbing and uplifting read.

A Nightingale Christmas Promise by Donna Douglas published by Arrow pb £6.99

Christmas at Tuppenny Corner by Katie Flynn

Katie Flynn’s story follows fifteen year old Rosie O’ Leary as she comes to terms with change and upheaval in her life on the canals. Set in Liverpool in 1939, Rosie makes friend with fellow bargee, Tim Bradley who shows her the sights of Liverpool and it’s not too long before their friendship develops into something more.

But when Tim is called up to join the RAF, Rosie’s dreams of a future together is put on hold and she has to summon her inner strength to cope with changing events on the canals.

The world is full of uncertainty but Katie Flynn’s heroines are tough and resilient and Rosie finds hope that there really could be a miracle this Christmas. A heartwarming story full of richly rounded characters and vivid settings.

An absolutely perfect read for Katie Flynn fans who will look forward to curling up and reading this on the run up to Christmas.

Christmas at Tuppenny Corner by Katie Flynn published by Arrow pb £6.99

Book Review: The Strength of Wills by Allen Walker

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Frostie

There’s humour and Nazi horror in equal measure in Allen Walker’s brave new WW2 novel, finds Lucy Bryson.

By Lucy Bryson

On September 1, 1939, Hitler launched an invasion of Poland that triggered the start of World War II. The battle for Poland only lasted about a month before a Nazi victory. But the invasion plunged the world into a war that would continue for almost six years and claim the lives of tens of millions of people.

Allen Walker’s exceptional new novel, The Strength of Wills, tells the remarkable, and at times heart-wrenching true story of two Polish men fleeing that German force.

In his introduction, Walker sets the brutal scene: “Buildings were torn apart by the huge eight-inch guns of the Schleswig Holstein, supported by Ju-87 dive-bombers, familiarly known as Stukas, along with Ju-88s and Me-110 fighter-bombers…their incessant thrum punctuated by the terrifying screams of the dive-bombing Stukas.”

At the centre of the action is Jedrek, a Polish teenager who, after losing his home and mother in a Nazi bombing, begins a perilous, 2,500-mile escape across war-torn Europe. Injured and afraid, he encounters the very worst of humanity before meeting an older man who takes him under his wing. Together, the pair forge an unlikely, moving friendship and strike for freedom.

Walker based the book on the true story of a Polish immigrant who he met in England in the early 1980s. He spent the next 30 years bringing those graphic events to the page through the medium of historical fiction. Walker necessarily tackles the shocking violence heads-on; at times, its unflinching descriptions of the horrors or war – including sexual abuse – make for difficult reading. But the horror is tempered with humour, and with engaging, snappy dialogue throughout. Maps and detailed footnotes about key events are especially helpful.

The Strength of Wills is an impressive, emotionally-charged work of fiction that is highly recommended.

The Strength of Wills is available now on Amazon priced £12.90 in paperback and £4.99 as an eBook. For further information, visit www.allenwalker.me

How to Sleep Well Book Review

Posted on October 15, 2018 by Catherine Balavage

From the outside agreeing to review this book may seem masochistic. I have a baby and I do not sleep. Not through choice, you see, but because my baby daughter just doesn’t seem to be a fan of sleeping at night. She is, however, a pint sized fan of long lie ins. Every morning, Which just feels like an extra kick in the face. But this book has a section on how to get your child to sleep so I said yes. The dream of all parents. While the book does give some good, no-nonsense, advice on getting children to sleep, it also tells you everything you need to know about sleeping. impressive and full of facts, this book is as enlightening as it is easy to read. I highly recommend it.

It has never been more important to sleep well. Stop sabotaging your own sleep and finally wake up energised and refreshed How to Sleep Well is a guidebook that can change your sleep and help you live your life more fully. Whether you struggle to fall asleep, sleep too lightly, wake too often or simply cannot wake up, this book can help you get on track to sleeping well and living better. It all starts with the science of sleep: how much you really need, what your body does during sleep and the causes behind many common sleep problems. Next, you’ll identify the things in your life that are disrupting your sleep cycle and learn how to mitigate the impact; whether the pressure of workplace or you simply cannot quiet your own mind, these expert tips and tricks will help you get the sleep you need. Finally, you’ll learn how to support healthy sleep during the waking hours — what works with or against your sleep — and you’ll learn when the problem might be best dealt with by your GP. Don’t spend another restless night waiting for a bleary, groggy morning and sleepy day. Take control of your sleep tonight! Learn how sleep — or a lack thereof — affects every aspect of your life Identify the root causes of your sleep issues and cut them off at the source Discover the sleep advice that works, and the tips that are just plain daft. Create a healthy, calming bedtime routine that will help you get the rest you need Sleep affects everything. Work and school performance, relationships, emotional outlook, your appearance and even your health. Sleeping poorly or not sleeping enough can dramatically impact your quality of life, but most sleep problems can be solved with a bit of self-adjustment. How to Sleep Well puts a sleep expert with over 36 years’ experience at your disposal to help you finally get the restful, restorative sleep you need to live better and be productive.

STOP SABOTAGING YOUR OWN SLEEP.

Sleep affects everything; your work or school performance, relationships, emotional wellbeing, appearance and even your health. So how can we change our sleep to help us live our lives more fully?

DON’T SPEND ANOTHER RESTLESS NIGHT. TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR SLEEP – TONIGHT.

Sleeping poorly or not sleeping enough can dramatically impact your quality of life, but most sleep problems can be solved with a bit of self- adjustment. How to Sleep Well puts a sleep expert with over 36 years’ experience at your disposal to help you finally get the restful, restorative sleep you need to live better and be more productive.

Learn how sleep — or a lack thereof — affects every aspect of your life.
Identify the root causes of your sleep issues and cut them off at the source.
Discover the sleep advice that works, and the tips that are just plain daft.
Create a healthy, calming bedtime routine that will help you get the rest you need.

Whether you struggle to fall asleep, sleep too lightly, wake too often or simply cannot wake up, this book can help you get on track to sleeping well and living better.

How to sleep well is available here,

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