Under Italian Skies By Nicky Pellegrino Reviewed By Frances Colville

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Frost writer Jan Speedie reviewed Under Italian Skies, now Frances Colville giver her opinion.

Stella, in her 40s, divorced, no children, loses a friend and a job she loved, and decides to embark on an adult gap year beginning with a house swap from her London flat to a beautiful old villa in southern Italy. As she settles into her new life, makes new friends, explores new ideas and falls in love with Italy, she maintains an email exchange with the owner of the Italian villa, builds an idea in her mind of what he is like and wonders if she will ever meet him in person. And of course if she does, will the reality live up to the image she has created of him in her head?

That Nicky Pellegrino knows Italy well and is passionate about the country and the people who live there is obvious on every page of this book. The story flows, the characters are easy to identify with and the descriptions of lifestyle and food just make the reader want to be there, living the dream. The sort of book that you can read purely for pleasure, Under Italian Skies is perfect for taking on a summer holiday – or for that matter enjoying with a glass of wine and a box of chocolates on a cold winter’s evening. Either way you won’t be able to help feeling warm and happy

Under Italian Skies is published by Orion Books and is now available in paperback £12.99 and as an Ebook at £6.99

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz Reviewed by Margaret Graham

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Margaret Graham

This is the road trip to beat all road trips…

Lisa Lutz, the New York Times bestselling author of the Spellman Files, has written, in The Passenger, a thriller about murder, secrets and increasing desperation as Tanya flees the scene of her dead husband’s accident.

But is she Tanya, and is his death an accident? Such are the questions that slowly, and irrevocably are answered as the novel proceeds and the miles unfold. Tanya, or is it Debra, and what about Sonia, drives from danger, but is it to safety? Nah, nothing so easy. She reaches a temporary sanctuary each time, and huddles beneath its roof, and the umbrella of another new identity but that’s as far as it goes.

The miles seem to put no distance between her and the past, but instead, through numerous encounters carefully managed by Lutz, she edges towards home, and a startling denouement, for her, and for us.

The Passenger shows the loneliness of the ‘long distance driver’, someone who has left a life, and all ties behind, who does not even own her own name. It reveals the depths of fear, pain and desperation of someone wanting, or needing, to disappear.

Written with verve, plot twists, and cleanly etched characters, but does it work?

On the whole, yes though I found I was hoping about halfway through that things would start coming together more quickly than they actually were. But this could have been me. I’m getting picky in my old age.

The layer upon layer of revelation, and consequences built the tension as I left the slight sag behind and soon I was hanging on for grim death as we roared, with a g force I admired, round hair pin bends of revelation towards the finishing line.

Should you read it? Yep, and prove me wrong about the sag and anyway, I really enjoyed it. It was thought provoking.

The Passenger Liza Lutz Titan Books. Paperback and ebook

Under Italian Skies by Nicky Pellegrino Reviewed by Jan Speedie

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Margaret Graham

It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to summer holidays. Nicky Pellegrino novel, Under Itlaian Skies y will surely put Southern Italy on your list of places to visit. Relax and let Nicky transport you there.
For the past 25 years Stella has worked for Milly Munro in her fashion business. Milly’s untimely death throws Stella’s well controlled life into confusion. At 49, Stella wonders what her future holds.
Following a chat with her friend, Birdie, Stella investigates the idea of a house swap to bring some changes to her life. Soon she swaps her small London flat for a beautiful old villa in Southern Italy (who wouldn’t).
At first it is very strange and a little lonely but as her confidence grows she makes friends in the village and so the fun begins.
Nicky Pellegrino has once again written a delightful, sensitive and fun story. It is clear she has a real love for Italy, so join her in her passion, immerse yourself in Italian village life.
Nicky Pellegrino now lives and works as a freelance journalist in New Zealand. She was born and brought up in Liverpool. Her father was Italian and they spent all their family holidays visiting Southern Italy. Her books are distributed in the UK, Australia and New Zealand and have been translated into 12 languages.

Published by Orion Publishing Group on 14th April 2016 at £12.99

Stop Talking Start Doing Action Book By Sháá Wasmund MBE Book Review

Posted on May 1, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

In 2013 I very briefly met Sháá at a How to Create A Non-Fiction Bestseller seminar at RADA. Sháá was great during the seminar, giving lots of advice and getting good answers out of the publishers who were there. Despite everyone in the room wanting to talk to Sháá she took some time out to acknowledge me. I always remembered her courteousness and generosity. She has charisma and talent in spades. When I got the press release for her new book I jumped at the chance to do a review.

This book works for a number of reasons: it can be read in one sitting (as I did), it has practical tools and exercises to do throughout the book, it has inspiring quotes, and the book is well structured. It allows you to take one step and then another. By the end, who knows what you will have achieved? The book gives you a kick in the pants while removing all of the excuses you make to yourself. It also takes advice from other self help writers and either expands on them or uses them to make a point. All in all this is a great inspirational book which helps you get your butt into gear. I wasn’t disappointed.

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book: Practical Tools and Exercises to Give You a Kick in the Pants is available here.

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book

Practical tools and exercises to give you a kick in the pants

By Sháá Wasmund MBE

Published by Capstone.

Paperback original and e-book, £9.99

ISBN: 9780857086860

New book shows how to apply an entrepreneurial spirit to life

The Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book is a motivational kick in the pants for anyone who has an itch to try something new or feels that there must be more to life. Encouraging people to face their fears, it helps readers identify their personal starting point and develop a plan to reach their goals.

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book is written by bestselling author and leading businesswoman, Sháá Wasmund. Awarded an MBE in 2015 for her services to business and enterprise, she helps readers apply an entrepreneurial spirit to achieve more and gain greater fulfilment from life.

Whether readers want to ditch their partner, seek a promotion, renovate their house, write a book, or start travelling, the Action Book demonstrates how to find the inspiration, self-discipline and confidence to move from talking to doing.

“As time roars past our ears we drift, deliberate, doubt and take ourselves too seriously” says Shaa. “But there’s never been a better time to start something. Now more than ever we live in a world of opportunity.”

A follow-up to the bestselling Stop Talking Start Doing (Wiley, 2011), the Action Book includes new tools and exercises to support readers who want to put their ideas into motion.

About the author:

Sháá Wasmund is a graduate of The London School of Economics. Her entrepreneurial career had an unusual start. At 22 she won a competition to interview Super Middleweight boxing champ Chris Eubank and ended up helping to promote his next fight to a sell-out 48,000 live crowd and an 18 million TV audience. Sháá remains an ardent boxing fan.

Shortly after she set up her own PR and marketing company and won the then relatively unknown vacuum cleaner company Dyson as one of her first clients. Working alongside Sir James Dyson helping to establish Dyson as a global brand taught Sháá more about business than any MBA. To this day, Sháá credits James as being one her biggest sources of inspiration.

Sháá’s love affair with the Internet began after she became a founding director in Sir Bob Geldof’s online travel company. A year later, Sháá raised substantial funds to launch mykindaplace.com an early social networking site. The company was later sold to BSkyB.

Sháá is an international bestselling author, prolific public speaker, digital native and passionate champion of small businesses. Amongst other accolades, Sháá has been voted by the Institute of Directors as one of the UK’s Most Connected Women.

In 2009 Sháá launched Smarta.com, the UK’s #1 Resource for Small Business. In 2011 Sháá launched ‘Smarta Business Builder’, a groundbreaking cloud-based toolkit for business.

In 2015, Sháá was presented with an MBE from the Queen for her ‘services to business and enterprise’ and published her second #1 bestseller Do Less, Get More: How To Work Smart and Live Life Your Way.

Sháá now runs business bootcamps, workshops and coaching programmes under her own brand, shaa.com. She has helped thousands of people monitize their passions and knowledge to build digital businesses they love.

She’s a regular guest on Sky Sunrise, reviewing the papers with Eamonn Holmes and now speaks on stages across the world, most recently sharing stages with Gary Veynerchuck and E-Myth legend Michael Gerber.

Follow Sháá: @Shaawasmund

Facebook: facebook.com/shaawasmund

The Daughter’s Secret by Eva Holland Reviewed by Frances Colville

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Surely a scenario which all mothers dread, the abduction of a child is the focus of this first novel by Eva Holland which won the 2014 Good Housekeeping novel competition. It’s an intriguing and emotional read, telling the story of Rosalind as she struggles to cope with the imminent release from prison of her teenage daughter’s abductor. Flashbacks to the time of the abduction six years earlier are skillfully interwoven with her current life and the reader soon becomes aware that both situations are far more complicated than they initially seem. Eva Holland is spot on with her characterisation and successfully maintains tension throughout. There are one or two annoyances (is so much snow realistic in Milton Keynes in late November/early December and in any case is it really necessary for the plot to work?) but they do not detract from the fact that this is a good story worth the read.

The Daughter’s Secret by Eva Holland is published in paperback and as an eBook.

The Mother by Yvvette Edwards Reviewed by Frances Colville

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Margaret Graham

The Mother is Yvvette Edwards’ second novel. Her first, A Cupboard Full of Coats, was longlisted for the Man Booker prize and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize. So I began reading The Mother with high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The story opens on the first day of the trial of Ryan’s alleged killer and is told through the eyes of Marcia, mother of Ryan who, aged 16, was stabbed to death. How would you feel if you had failed to keep your beloved and only child safe? How could you ever come to terms with the knowledge that you would never see him again, and that he had missed out on a full, long and happy life? And how do you deal with the guilt? In fact, as Marcia says – “as a parent of a child who has been violently killed, is it possible, ever, to completely absolve yourself of blame?”

Yvvette Edwards writes so compellingly and so fluently that it’s hard to put this book down. And it’s the sort of book which will stick in your mind long after you have finished it, especially if you are a parent.

The Mother is published by Mantle in hardback and eBook

The life of a Second Wife by Margaret Graham

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Margaret Graham

Frost is so pleased to see Elizabeth Buchan’s novel, The Second Wife picked out by Daisy Goodwin in her feature in the Daily Mail: Second Marriages – key novels to help you through the trickier times in life.

Daisy Goodwin discusses Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Before She Met Me by John Barnes, and Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author, and patron of Words for the Wounded, Elizabeth Buchan, and her novel The Second Wife.

The Second Wife explores the world of the mistress who becomes the wife – overtones of Sir James Goldsmith who did just that, and thereby created a vacancy. Ouch.
According to Buchan the second marriage is a world that can be less than appealing, full of pitfalls and of course, baggage. Elizabeth Buchan, who spoke recently at the Words for the Wounded LitFest at Downley, High Wycombe, (Frost’s editor, Catherine Balavage spoke later in the day) examines Minty’s experiences of a second marriage sympathetically, but with her usual incisive wit and elegance. It is a compelling and heart-warming novel, as are her others, the most recent being the thought provoking and excellent I Can’t Begin to Tell You set in Denmark during the 2nd World War.

It’s great to see The Second Wife having another outing. Go on, give yourself a treat – it is very well worth reading.

Elizabeth Buchan’s latest book The New Mrs Clifton will be out in August 1016. Frost is looking forward to reviewing it.

The Second Wife                 published by Penguin
I Can’t Begin to Tell you        published by Penguin
The New Mrs Clifton             published by Penguin August 2016

5 Tips To Improve Your Blog

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Catherine Balavage

I have now been blogging for more years than I care to admit to. In those years I have picked up a lot of knowledge. I will now be sharing this knowledge with the readers of Frost. To get started here is my five top tips for your blog.

Avoid Duplicate Content.

Google penalises duplicate content and it will affect your SEO. If you want to put the same post on your blog, or as a guest post service on another site then give it a rewrite. In traditional publishing articles are ‘topped and tailed’ and then resold to different publications. You can do the same by keeping the essence of your article, but rewriting it. If you have writers ask them not to cross publish their articles. Original content is best.

Engage With Your Readers.

You should engage with your readers in two ways: emotionally and physically. Most writers write to connect with people and tell stories. And people read to feel connected with the world and other people. It is also important to respond to readers. If someone tweets you or makes a comment under your post, thank them and respond.

Share Your Post on Social Bookmarking Sites and Social Media.

So many people write a great post and then expect people to be able to find it. If you do not share your post then people will not know it exists. Sure your regular readers will go to your home page, but not everyone will. Share your post on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Google + and Pinterest. You can use a plugin which shares your post to certain sites automatically. I recommend this as it can be time-consuming. After a while focus on the sites which give you the most traffic and drop the others. Ask your writers to share their posts. Also: encourage your readers to share articles.

Don’t Just Copy and Paste Press Releases.

There is nothing wrong with publishing press releases. Frost does sometimes when we think our readers will be interested in the story, but do not fill your site with them. It is also a good idea to personalise them. Whether or not you completely rewrite them is up to you. Some people think they should be rewritten but I think a tweak is fine. Tailer it to your site and make sure it does not end up as duplicate content (see above) and then you have some free copy. When it comes to press releases resist the urge to just bung one up to add content. No new post is better than a subpar post which brings down the tone of the entire site.

Be Authentic.

You are unique. You have a voice: use it. No one else can do what you do. Always be your authentic self. You can use your experiences to connect with other people who have been through the same thing. Write from the heart and people will connect with you. Never sway from your beliefs or do something solely for money. As Bob Dylan says, ‘Your reputation is something that you can sell, but that you can’t buy back’. Bob knows his stuff, listen to him.

You can buy The Ultimate Guide To Becoming a Successful Blogger here.

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