JO LAMBERT

Location Location Location

genius loci, the spirit of the place

Many thanks to Jo for hosting me on her blog and giving me an opportunity to share my novels with you. Readers have told me that they love my descriptions of Scotland and Norfolk. And, I must admit, often a location is the starting place for my novels and then the characters appear in my head, crowding in, demanding that I write down their story. I hope these examples make you want to read on . . . click on each of the links to read a sample on Kindle, buy or share my novels.

Girl in the Castle – fall in love with a Highlander

Henri gazed out across the loch, shrouded in a shifting veil of low-lying mist. The castle appeared to float above it and the world beyond seemed unreal, until she spotted Lachlan piloting his boat towards Tèarmannair. His head and shoulders visible above the swirling fog. A heron skimmed over the shifting mist, its spindly limbs trailing behind it as it hunted for breakfast.
At night, it was easy to imagine the castle was a ship sailing untroubled across a wide ocean, the only light visible the beacon on the jetty at the far side of the loch.
Trees on the margin of the loch were reflected as a perfect mirror image of themselves, in ochre, vermillion and acid yellow. Pushing her reading glasses on top of her head, Henri focused on the middle distance where two small islands, topped by scrubby vegetation and gnarled trees bent over by the prevailing wind, gave perspective to the view. Beyond that, round, green hills rose towards the sky, and beyond them were craggy mountains with snow on the peaks.

Scotch on the Rocks – journey to a Scottish island and fall in love

The Narrows were calm, reflecting the harbour cottages of Jamestoun on their glassy surface and making the fishing port seem twice as big as in reality. Issy loved the red tiled roofs, the whitewashed walls and the three-storey granite building which had formerly housed the local Customs and Excise. She could picture the old railway lines which dissected the cobbled road. Back in the day, when Jamestoun had been a thriving fishing port, langoustines were landed first thing in the morning, packed onto ice and sent down to London, via Oban, to grace the dinner plates in swanky hotels. Now the harbour was mostly filled with private yachts and the occasional fishing boat which took tourists out to the bird colonies in high summer. The brown hills beyond the harbour could look bleak in the winter, but today the sun warmed them, picking out the old fort (now almost covered in vegetation), built after the ’45 Rebellion to quell the unruly Scots.
The road swung inland where, in Victorian times, it had been blasted through a small mountain. ‘The Faerie Falls,’ Issy said, nodding towards it with her head towards a torrent of brown, peaty water cascading over rocks. ‘They say that the wee folk live behind its waters, but I’ve never seen them.’

Boot Camp Bride – romance and mystery on the Norfolk Marshes

Charlee glanced over the low hedges and dun-coloured fields stretching towards the salt marshes where the sea was a black line on the horizon. There was a stripped back beauty to the place and the flocks of birds heading for the feeding grounds down by the shoreline ensured the view was an ever-changing tapestry. Perhaps, here on the salt marsh, where the wind sighed through the reeds and stirred the dried pods of the alexanders, they could be honest with one another. Confront those feelings which had been simmering beneath the surface since the book launch. Playing his pretend fiancée wasn’t easy; the pretence was beginning to feel more real than the life Charlee had left behind

 Tall, Dark and Kilted – Notting Hill Meets Monarch of the Glen

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The music hit Fliss as she rounded the corner of Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill. The sugared almond pink and yellow houses almost vibrating in the late May evening as I Predict a Riot blasted out from an open window half way down the street.
From their vantage point, the mountains were hidden by trees and Fliss could see soft, rounded hills which swept all the way down to a large loch. The colours were dazzling; the green of the hills and trees, the blue sky reflected in the deeper blue of the loch and the ochre of the sandy beach which gave way to paler sand near a pebble path. The shoreline dipped in and out of the expanse of water and in the distance, at vanishing point, the opposing shores appeared to link hands, cutting the loch off from the sea.
And, way below them, nestled in the trees with a wide lawn leading down to the waters’ edge where it became a beach, sat Tigh na Locha. Solid, ancient, a slice of Scottish history complete with white painted turrets and stepped gables, and with a look of permanency that said: ‘I’ve been here for a thousand years. Wha’ dares challenge me?’

I hope you have enjoyed these extracts and the photos which accompany them. If you’d like to learn more about me and my novels, do get in touch via the links at the end of this post.

Many thanks, Lizzie.

viewAuthor.at/LizzieLamb
“when I’m not writing – I’m dreaming”

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Thank you for inviting me to talk about the fifth novel in the Dudley Sisters Saga, Jo. You kindly featured the first book in the saga, Foxden Acres, four years ago. Foxden Acres began on New Year’s Eve, 1938. Foxden Hotel begins ten years later on New Year’s Eve, 1948.

The war is over. It is time for new beginnings.
Celebrating the opening of Foxden Hotel, New Year’s Eve 1948, an enemy from the war years turns up. He threatens to expose a secret that will ruin Bess’s happiness and the new life she has worked so hard to create. Bess’s husband throws the man out. Is that the last they see of him? Or will he show up again when they least expect? Bess had hoped fascism was a thing of the past, buried with the victims of WW2. Little does she know the trouble that lies ahead, not only for herself, but also for her husband and sisters.
Madalyn Morgan

I have been an actress for more than thirty years working in Repertory theatre, the West End, film and television. I present a radio show and have written articles for newspapers and magazines.
At twenty-four I gave up a successful hairdressing salon and wig-hire business for a place at East 15 Drama College, and a career as an actress. In 2000, with fewer parts available for older actresses, I taught myself to touch type, completed a two-year correspondence course with The Writer’s Bureau, and began writing. After living in London for thirty-six years, I returned to my home town of Lutterworth, swapping two window boxes and a mortgage, for a garden and the freedom to write.

I began writing about WW2 after my mother told me about her life in the war. I was fascinated.
Since then I have successfully published four novels – Foxden Acres, Applause, China Blue, and The 9:45 To Bletchley. Set in WW2, the novels tell the wartime stories of the Dudley sisters. Bess Dudley is in the Land Army, Margot in a West End theatre, Claire in the WAAF, recruited by the SOE works with the French Resistance, and Ena is a factory girl making components that lead her to Bletchley Park.
Foxden Hotel, set in post-war Leicestershire, brings the Dudley sisters together. It was going to be the last in the saga, but having written three endings – none of which gave the sisters satisfactory closure – there will definitely be more novels to come.

A taster from Foxden Hotel…

CHAPTER ONE

‘Happy New Year, Bess!’
A voice, as hard as granite and terrifyingly similar to one from Bess’s past, sent panic searing through her body. She spun round. A camera bulb flashed, temporarily blinding her. She stumbled backwards. Someone grabbed her hand, the lights dimmed, Big Ben began to chime, and the party goers started the countdown to 1949. “Ten! Nine! Eight!–”
‘Happy New Year!’ Bess’s sisters shouted above the chanting, kissing her and then each other.
‘What is it, Bess?’ Margot was the last of her sisters to greet her. ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I have. Or rather, I’ve just heard one.’ Bess put on a smile and waved across the room to her husband, Frank, who had been in charge of tuning the wireless for the run-up to midnight. Happy New Year, darling, she mouthed. Frank raised his arm to wave, but Bess’s two youngest sisters, Claire and Ena, had arrived at his side and were smothering him in kisses.
‘Come with me. I want you to look at someone and tell me if you’ve seen him before.’ Taking Margot by the hand, Bess led her around the ballroom searching for the face that she felt sure would match the menacing voice that rasped the New Year message in her ear. ‘He isn’t here. He must be in the public bar,’ she said, dragging Margot across the crowded dance floor.
The public bar, which was open to non-residents as well as guests of the Foxden Hotel, was opposite the ballroom. Bess and Margot made their way across the hotel’s elegant marble hall and past the traditional Christmas tree. The hall was bustling with people. Those staying in the hotel were making their way up the sweeping staircase to their rooms, others were putting on coats and hats and preparing to leave, and some were still celebrating – shaking hands and kissing each other.
‘Happy New Year, Bess!’ someone shouted. And ‘A great party, Bess!’ called someone else, raising their glass. Unable to find her voice to return the greeting, or even to say thank you, Bess forced herself to smile as she edged her way through the jubilant throng.
‘Bess? Margot?’ Ena and Claire called, catching up with their older sisters. ‘The chap from the Lowarth Advertiser wants to take a photograph of the four of us,’ Ena said.
Bess stopped dead. Was she mistaken? Could it have been the photographer who wished her a happy New Year? He had taken a photograph of her immediately afterwards, so he was near enough. But the voice? A cold shiver ran down Bess’s back. The voice she had heard was not the friendly voice of the young man from the Advertiser.
‘Bess?’ When she didn’t reply, Ena turned to Margot. ‘What’s going on?’
Margot shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’
The door to the public bar stood open. From the doorway, Bess’s attention was drawn to two men leaning against the bar, arguing. One of the men, in his mid-thirties with a broad face, cold grey eyes, and blonde greased-back hair, was holding the hand of a pretty girl with long fair hair. Observing him nervously with big blue eyes, the girl looked as if she was in her late teens, early twenties. The other man – middle-aged with a square jaw, sharp features and receding grey hair – had a protective arm around the young girl’s shoulders.
Bess began to tremble; her legs felt weak. Without taking her eyes off the younger of the two men, she gripped the doorframe with one hand, seizing Margot’s hand with the other.
Margot followed Bess’s gaze and their sisters followed hers. ‘Dave Sutherland!’ she gasped. ‘His hair is longer and the stupid Hitler-style moustache has gone, but that monster is Dave Sutherland.’

Foxden Hotel. E-Book and paperback, available from Amazon on June 10, 2017.
Foxden Hotel: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foxden-Hotel/dp/B071LDYD2D/
Trailer: https://youtu.be/o997cXtWWLg

Social Media Links
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/madalyn.morgan1
Twitter: Madalyn Morgan@ActScribblerDJ

Writing Blog: http://madalynmorgan.blogspot.co.uk/
Fiction Blog: http://madalynmorgansfiction.blogspot.co.uk/

Blurb

Set in a society obsessed with perfection, 15 year old Morgan is best friends with the seemingly perfect Summer. But when Morgan’s brother, Josh, who has Down’s syndrome, is kidnapped, they uncover a sinister plot and find themselves in terrible danger.
Can they find Josh before it’s too late? And is Summer’s life as perfect as it seems?

What people are saying about Perfect Summer

• ‘This book was amazing, as it was easy to relate to the characters, and it put a perfect twist on society’s obsession with perfection.’ Shehayamsani – Litpick reviewer.
• ‘King does an amazing job of writing about the discrimination children with disabilities face’ http://strollinginstoryland.blogspot.co.uk/
• I was really taken away by this book – it is full of excitement, danger, shocks, gripping scenes and a thick plot. It is a truly brilliant story, with some fun – but SO realistic – characters. It makes the reader think – could the future turn out to be something like this?? Bookworm1, Amazon UK review
• ‘The story line was fascinating and kept my attention. Could also be a good book club discussion book.’ Donna – More Than A Review

Extract

Later that evening, totally beautified, flawlessly made up and dressed in our finery, we got into a hire car with Leo and Tamara and set off for Roxy’s. As we drove along the riverbank towards the exclusive nightclub, I noticed the trail of glamorous people winding along the pavement like a colourful, exotic snake. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. When we got nearer, and I saw how stunning the girls in the waiting queue were, the butterflies took flight and my stomach went with them.
“Look at all those people waiting to get in,” I stammered. “What if we’re turned away?”
Leo smiled at me. “How could they turn away two gorgeous girls like you?”
I hoped he was right. I didn’t think I’d get over the humiliation if I was. Not only would it be cringingly embarrassing, it would also ruin the evening for everyone as Summer and her family would probably leave with me.
The hire car dropped us outside the building, then Leo and Tamara led us right to the front of the queue, the stares and whispers from people as we walked past made me feel like a celebrity. Two bouncers barred the doorway, legs wide, arms crossed. One was an exotic flame-haired woman dressed in a slinky black dress with slits right up to the thighs. The other, a drop-dead gorgeous blond hunk, wore tight black trousers and a white shirt open to the waist to reveal a tanned, toned torso. I was so nervous I thought I was going to be sick. But I needn’t have worried. The bouncers both gave us wide smiles. The man said, “Good to see you again, Mr Maddison, Ms Price.” Then they stepped aside to let us through, without a second glance. I couldn’t believe it. I was actually going into a nightclub, and not just any old nightclub, the nightclub. I felt like I was floating on air.

Buy Links
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mMXTzI

Author Bio

Karen King is the author of over 120 children’s books and has had two YA’s published, Perfect Summer and Sapphire Blue. Perfect Summer was runner up in the Red Telephone Books YA novel competition in 2011 and has just been republished by Accent Press.
Karen is also the author of two romance novels, and has been contracted for three chick lit novels by Accent Press. The first, I do?… or do I? was published in 2016 and the second, The Cornish Hotel by the Sea, is due out in the Summer. In addition, Karen has written several short stories for women’s magazine and worked for many years on children’s magazines such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Winnie the Pooh as well as the iconic Jackie magazine.
When she isn’t writing, Karen likes travelling, watching the ‘soaps’ and reading. Give her a good book and a box of chocolates and she thinks she’s in Heaven.

Author links

Website: http://www.karenking.net/
Twitter: @karen_king
Karen King Romance Author Facebook Page
Karen King Young Adult Books
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/karenkingauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenkingauthor/?hl=en

The new delightfully uplifting beach read from Daisy James. Perfect for fans of Mandy Baggot, Christie Barlow and Zara Stoneley.

A summer that changes everything…

Frazzled workaholic Evie Johnson has finally had enough! When she’s blamed for a publicity disaster at the art gallery she loves, she decides to flee the bright lights of London for the sun-drenched shores of Corfu and turn her life upside-down.

Under the shade of the olive trees, she picks up her dusty paintbrushes and begins to chase the dreams she had put aside for so long. But she never expected to bump into drop-dead-gorgeous Sam Bradbury – and certainly not whilst wrapped only in a towel!

A summer fling is the last thing Evie wanted but a few stolen kisses under the stars might just begin to change her mind…

Link: http://amzn.eu/bPjcbs8

ABOUT DAISY JAMES

Can she hold on to her dreams …?

 BUY LINKS:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071P7KBH6/

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/where-rainbows-end-2

Apple iBooks: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/book/where-rainbows-end/id1235737422?mt=11&at=11lNBs

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/AnneMarie_Brear_Where_Rainbows_End?id=25ckDwAAQBAJ

Nook Book: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/where-rainbows-end-annemarie-brear/1126443898?ean=2940157427719

MY REVIEW

From the first page I was completely drawn into this story of the Noble family. It’s 1850 and they have arrived in Australia to begin a new life. Gerald Noble is a likeable man; he dotes on his twin daughters Philippa and Hilary and is extremely tolerant of his difficult wife Esther who has fought against coming here to live. However, he’s had no option. Losing the family’s fortune due to bad investments and gambling this is his last chance to turn things around. Arriving with a loan from his cousin, he intends to purchase land and open a profitable stud.
Philippa and Hilary may be twins but their personalities are totally different. While Hilary is calm and quiet, Philippa is fearless and ambitious. She is also keen to begin her new life away from the heartbreak and rejection dealt her by a man she really loved. She persuades their father to let her accompany him on his journey to see their land for the first time. As he employs a manager (Rob Robson) to oversee his new workforce and they begin the construction of the stud he is called back to Sydney. Philippa asks to remain insisting someone from the family needs to be there. Reluctantly Gerald agrees. With her father gone she takes charge, embracing her new life with enthusiasm. Her good head for business coupled with common sense become extremely useful as she faces some challenging situations during the construction of the stud and the family home.
This is a lovely read full of great characters.  The Australian outback is a wonderful backdrop for the story. It’s described in such a way that it enhances rather than intrudes into the action going on. Philippa (Pippa) is a worthy heroine. She’s tough, confident and single-minded – sometimes a little bossy – and the author puts her through an awful lot of challenges (both mental and physical) before we reach the end of the book.

Gil Ashford-Smith, the son of a neighbouring family, who Pippa meets and becomes close friends with is the quintessential hero. Desperately in love with Pippa he realises all too soon that making a success of her family’s business leaves no room for romance in her life. However, Philippa eventually discovers the path she has chosen, while making her wealthy, won’t bring her love or happiness.  But has she left it too late to find those things with Gil?

A fabulous romantic saga. I absolutely loved it!

I would like to thank Choc Lit for an AVC copy in exchange for an honest review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Australian born AnneMarie Brear writes historical novels and modern romances and sometimes the odd short story, too. Her passions, apart from writing, are travelling, reading, researching, roaming historical sites and gardening. She is currently living in England.

AnneMarie Brear on the web:

http://www.annemariebrear.com
http://annemariebrear.blogspot.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/annemariebrear
Twitter @annemariebrear.

Having just got back from a really relaxing break I’m about to resume work on my current WIP The Boys of Summer.  For me this is always the hardest moment.  Part of me is still back in Norfolk, locked into a pleasant daily regime where lunch and dinner are the only two defined moments in the day.  Everything else we did was up for grabs, decided either the night before or over breakfast.  Now, back home, once again daily routine holds sway and part of that routine is writing.  Reconnecting with your characters after an absence is sometimes difficult, although having said that, they still managed to intrude into my thoughts even when I was miles from home, having my chill out week.

My first job over the weekend (besides tackling the inevitable overflowing laundry basket) was to set up three promos, read and review one book and deal with the e-mails I’d not been able to respond to on my iPad.  Electronic life is relentless. Your plan is to get away from it all but you have to stay connected in order to minimise the time you’ll have to spend responding to things when you get back.  So it was a daily trawl, either deleting or starring for attention on my return.

I do actually have moments when I think ‘what the hell’ and abandon all thoughts of being organised even though it’s completely against my nature.  I am and always have been a creature of to ‘do lists’ and diaries. In fact one job I had earned me the title ‘Miss Organisation’.  True to form, therefore, this weekend I deliberately concentrated on the distracting stuff, (including a pile of ironing – my least favourite domestic chore), wanting to get all of that out of the way so I could give all my full concentration to writing today, Monday. And now, here I am, thinking about the next scene as I try to round up my characters, who like naughty children, seem to be enjoying the game of hide and seek as I attempt to get them all together again.

When I worked on the storyline for The Boys of Summer I found it fell into two clear sections. Determined to keep to my deadline I burnt the midnight oil to complete part one before I left for my holiday.  Achieving this resulted in a huge sigh of relief and a well deserved large pre-holiday glass of wine.  I’d left central character Kat Trevelyan  en route to Italy. Leaving a painful past behind her she was about to begin a new job working for a friend of her father’s.   A year has gone by and I’m bringing her back to her home in Cornwall and the man who broke her heart.  Watch this space…

Desenzano, Lake Garda

Cornwall

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE

The South Devon Duo…available on Amazon in e-book or paperback

Summer Moved On  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0139IXHZE

Watercolours in the Rain https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LX4GRE5

Aphrodite’s Closet

Agatha Trout didn’t even know she had a Great Aunt Petunia, so imagine her surprise when she finds Petunia left her a corner shop in her will. But it’s not just any old corner shop—it’s a corner shop that needs something unique, something the town of Frambleberry has never seen before. Influenced by her confident best friend, Coco, Agatha is soon convinced that there’s only one way to go: an adults-only sex shop.
While some of the townspeople are clutching their pearls in horror, others are open to the new experiences this shop offers. But not everyone in Frambleberry is convinced. Will the women soldier on in the face of violent threats or will their fears get the best of them—and their new venture—before it even gets off the ground?

BUY LINKS:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2qJYIyB
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2pYZK7a

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in England and raised in Portugal, Suzy lives with her childhood sweetheart Michael, two crazy dogs and a cat.
Shortly after completing her studies, Suzy worked as a trainee journalist for a local newspaper. Her love of writing developed and a few years later she took the job of assistant editor for the region’s largest English language publisher before becoming editor of a monthly lifestyle magazine. Early in 2010 however, Suzy became a full time author. She has since written several books: Raven, December Moon, The Lost Soul (The Raven Saga), Daisy Madigan’s Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw, The Temporal Stone, Looking for Lucy Jo, We Stand Against Evil (The Morgan Sisters), Forever Fredless, And Then There Was You, Stormy Summer and her latest, Aphrodite’s Closet.
In 2015 she launched her popular 40+ lifestyle blog which continues to go from strength to strength, while just over a year later, she trained to become a yoga instructor. Suzy continues to write, blog and teach yoga in one of Portugal’s loveliest settings – the Algarve.

SUZY’S SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Lifestyle Blog: http://www.suzyturner.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/suzyturner
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/suzyturnerbooks
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/suzy_turner
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/suzyturnerbooks
Book Blog: http://www.fictiondreams.com

Book Title: The Things We Said in Venice
Author: Kristin Anderson

Solid and dependable, high school counselor Sarah Turner knows all about helping others get their lives on track. But when her own life spirals drastically off course due to a fast-track divorce, she surprises everyone. She leaves her job and home in Bend, Oregon and heads to Europe for a six-week solo adventure. Amsterdam is her final destination where she plans to enter a controversial program that could change her life.

From the temples of Angkor Wat to the ruins of Machu Picchu, renowned Dutch travel writer Fokke van der Veld has seen it all. After a major betrayal, there’s one thing he’s not interested in seeing again: women. That’s why the guys-only trip to the Italian Dolomites with his old fraternity brothers is just what he needs. Sort of. If they weren’t teasing him and getting him drunk.

When a series of unexpected events in Italy throw Fokke and Sarah together, the sparks are undeniable, but so is the fear that keeps them apart. Will these two independent travelers open themselves up to a chance of love, or catch a fast train to safety?
This romantic comedy is a story of self-discovery and love that travels through regions of Italy, Argentina and The Netherlands.

A TASTER

CHAPTER ONE
Sarah

While the locals shuffle carefully over the snow-slicked sidewalks, Sarah runs like a mad woman toward the Belluno station. I will not miss this one, she chants in time to the distant, yet steady clickety-clack of the train’s metal wheels gliding over tracks. She picks up her pace, the icy air burning her nostrils, the straps of her pack chafing her shoulders despite her thick winter layers.
She cuts through the abandoned village park, her laborious movements at odds with the utter stillness as Belluno train station finally pops into view. As she slows her pace, her body relays physical complaints to her mind: the surprising weight of her backpack cutting into her shoulders, the ache of ice-cold air in her lungs, the burning sensation of snowflakes on her cheeks.
When she comes to a standstill, a rush of heat explodes through her body. Moments later, perspiration builds beneath her thick winter layers, cooling her down. Damp curls form a blanket of cold around her neck. She shakes her head involuntarily as the first shiver crawls up her spine.
As means of distraction, Sarah people watches, though the pickings are slim—a thickly built woman holding the hand of a stout, large-eared boy, presumably her son, and an older, clean-shaven man in military uniform. All three sport dry hair.
By the time the train pulls into the station and Sarah hears the familiar hiss of the doors opening, her teeth are chattering. She finds a free place in the third railcar and finally unstraps the cumbersome backpack, setting it in the seat beside her. The whistle sounds and the train is about to take off, but it doesn’t. There is some sort of commotion. The doors open and close again. She can hear two men talking, perhaps the conductor and a male passenger. Although she can’t make out the words, one voice is laced with tension and a bit too loud. The other voice, which she assumes belongs to the conductor, remains calm.
Back home, she would need to know why the doors had to open once more and what these men are discussing. But in the past four weeks of free-wheeling through western Europe on her own, she has adjusted her way of responding to things beyond her control. She has learned to let go. It is so different from how she acts at home that she has given her newfound skill a name: European Style Detachment.
Her feet and hands begin to return to body temperature as the train finally leaves the station. She leans into her large backpack and closes her eyes. She feels a slight pulsing in her subconscious, like an alarm clock going off in the neighboring hotel room; something you hear, but can choose to ignore. Except that she can’t. Something’s not right. It could be that slightly angry conversation she overheard, or it could be that the bag she is leaning into doesn’t smell like her bag. It has the faint scent of cinnamon and musk tinged with sweat; the scent of a man.
Sarah straightens in her seat, scrutinizing the travel backpack as one might scrutinize a naked stranger you have unwittingly brought into your bed—curiosity tempered with fear. It is black like hers. It has the white North Face logo of her bag and the same rainbow strap she put on it to differentiate her black bag from all the other black bags of the world. But isn’t the strap in a different place? And come to think of it, it felt heavier than her bag when she was sprinting to the train station.
Maybe it smells so manly from being in the pile of luggage where she stashed it while she grabbed a brioche at the café. Or, it could have been shuffled around in the compartment beneath the shuttle bus from Cortina to Belluno; cologne from a man’s bag spilling on hers.
I’m being ridiculous, she tells herself. But she unbuckles the exterior straps anyway and peers into the top compartment.
“Oh my God!” Sarah exclaims as she shuffles through the doppelganger of her bag. Several passengers turn toward her momentarily and then look away, exemplifying European Style Detachment. At the top of the backpack is a photography magazine written in what she thinks must be German. She pushes aside the magazine, revealing an impressive stash of Cote d’Or chocolate bars in their distinctive red and gold cardboard wrappers, cloth handkerchiefs in a Ziploc bag, a leather-bound journal, water, men’s plaid underwear size XL, slacks, long sleeve shirts, pants and thick woolen socks. On the inside tag of the top compartment is a name written in black permanent marker: Fokke van der Veld. She stops her search and pushes the bag away in shock. How the hell did this happen?
It has stopped snowing outside and sun reflects off the whitened fields, punching into the window. Sarah reaches automatically into the side pocket for her sunglasses, but of course they’re not there. Her mother is in a thick pea coat, wearing Sarah’s missing sunglasses and deathly blue lipstick that promises to make her forthcoming tirade all the graver:
What are you going to do now Sarah? You should have taken your time in Cortina d’Ampezzo to make sure you had your own bag! Your passport, your money, your iPad. Everything is in that bag! You could be mistaken for a terrorist and thrown in prison for traveling without identification.
The locals say Cortina, not Cortina d’Ampezzo, Sarah counters. As a school counselor, she is well aware it’s abnormal to be seeing visions of her mother in her head, not to mention silently conversing with her. But as usual, mom’s got a point. Sarah thinks about Italian corruption, envisions a musty 17th century prison cell with a mangy rat family in one corner and instruments of torture in the other. She stands suddenly, wanting to take action; wanting her mom to shut up. She has thirty euros in her jacket pocket along with the train ticket and the address of the hotel in Treviso where she will be staying. That’s at least something. But how on earth is she going to get her bag back? And who the hell is Fokke van der Veld?
Buy Links:
United States https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XKDNFTM
United Kingdom https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XKDNFTM
Germany https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06XKDNFTM

ABOUT KRISTIN

 Kristin Anderson is a lover of nature, culture, literature, arts, environmental activism, storytelling and romance. Raised by her librarian-mother and photographer-father in the rural Santa Ynez Valley in California, she developed a love of storytelling in her formative years. Her degree in English Literature led to a career of writing for others. It wasn’t until she moved to The Netherlands with her husband and their son, that she was able to pursue a life long dream of writing fiction. Green, published in 2013, is her debut novel. Kristin’s second novel The Things We Said in Venice was released in March, 2017 with the first scheduled book signing on May 20, 2017 in The Hague.

Kristin’s social media links:

Author Website https://authorkristinanderson.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKristinAnderson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKristin
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/authorkristinanderson/

Good morning Mandy and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?

Morning, Jo! It is great to be here with you today  Okay, I am 32, I live in Cornwall, I am a writer, I used to be a teacher, and Behind the Lie is my latest book. It is a suspense drama… One of those statements is false. I bet you can guess which one?

How did your writing journey begin?

I have always written. Well not always, a new born baby can’t write…but I have been writing since I was very young. Sometimes it would be poems, songs and often short stories. I never thought that one day I’d be published though. But about fifteen years ago I started writing seriously – novels mostly. They got nowhere because I didn’t really know how to write! I had great ideas and plots, but the telling left much to the imagination. I read about writing, read lots of novels and practiced, and I eventually got a short story published in 2010. The rest is history as they say.

Time slip, mystery, suspense and now psychological thriller, your books have been quite varied. Is there any other genre that appeals to you?

Not at the moment. I don’t think I fancy horror; I would frighten myself too much. And yes I have written in many genres, because I just go with the story in my head. The time travel and suspense always have a relationship in there if not a love story. So I guess that’s what unites them all – that and a sense of adventure. I like writing books that have adventure, excitement and intrigue in them.

Your latest book Behind the Lie is a psychological thriller. What was the inspiration behind it?

I’m not sure it is a thriller in the accepted sense though my publisher has billed it as such. I think it’s more of a suspense drama, because there isn’t the huge twist…or is there? Sorry, I must stop teasing. It’s more about following the journey of Holly the main character as she searches for the unthinkable truth…but will she find it? And will the truth be more than she can handle?
The inspiration? Well, one day I was walking on the beach as I often do and looked up at a beach house. It was the kind of house that I tend to drool over from time to time, as although I can see the ocean from where I live, it is five-miles distant! My imagination began to make up the person that lived in the house, and Holly West, my main character waved at me from the window. Well, she didn’t really, but you know what I mean…. Also the lonely rugged coast helped me to visualise Holly and all her problems and I knew I needed to help her solve them. I am also in love with the sea. My dream from being very small was to move to Cornwall particularly the north coast and I am overjoyed to have realised it. Just the sight and smell of the sea lifts my spirits and inspires me.

What destination is at the top of your bucket list and why?

I am currently thinking of India. There have been so many great documentaries and dramas on TV lately about it and it looks wonderful. Yet I’m not sure that I could cope swanning about being a tourist while there is abject poverty and death just beyond the air-conditioned hotel rooms. But then again, tourism will feed into the economy won’t it? I don’t know… we’ll see.

What’s next for you? Are you currently working on a new WIP? If so are you able to tell us anything about it?

Yes, it is another suspense set in Cornwall. It’s about a young woman looking for her birth mother. When she finds her, she wishes that she hadn’t.

And lastly, if you were planning a dinner party which to include four celebrities who would you choose and why?

Oh that’s tricky! Okay – Adele as we are going to see her in June, Paul Simon as I think he is a legend and the best living poet we have, JK Rowling because I think she is a great role model for youngsters who are interested in writing, and Sally Wainwright so I can pick her brains about writing! She has written Happy Valley, Last Tango and Scott and Bailey to name but a few smash hit dramas.

More about Amanda James

Amanda James has written since she was a child, but never imagined that her words would be published. Then in 2010, after many twists and turns, the dream of becoming a writer came true.

Amanda has written many short stories and has five novels currently published. Her time travelling debut – A Stitch in Time was published in April of 2013 and has met with great success.

Amanda lives in Cornwall and is inspired every day by the beautiful coastline near her home. Three of her novels are set there, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Summer in Tintagel and Behind the Lie – April 2017 pub – HQUK ( HarperCollins)

Amanda can usually be found playing on the beach with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.

Amanda’s Social Media Links:

Author links – Amanda’s blog – http://mandykjameswrites.blogspot.com/

Twitter – @akjames61

Facebook mandy.james.33

BEHIND THE LIE

Holly West has turned her life around. She’s found a successful and loving husband in Simon and is expecting twins. She is definitely a woman who has taken back control of her future.
Until she gives birth, only for one twin to survive. Holly can’t let it go.
Holly’s world is in a tailspin and suddenly she can’t trust herself or anyone else. No one believes her, not her husband or her best friend. Because she thinks she knows the truth…her son is still alive and she won’t stop until she finds him.

Buy Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Lie-Amanda-James-ebook/dp/B06XKCP4L6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Holly West has turned her life around. She’s found a successful and loving husband in Simon and is expecting twins. She is definitely a woman who has taken back control of her future.
Until she gives birth, only for one twin to survive. Holly can’t let it go.
Holly’s world is in a tailspin and suddenly she can’t trust herself or anyone else. No one believes her, not her husband or her best friend. Because she thinks she knows the truth…her son is still alive and she won’t stop until she finds him.

Buy Links – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Lie-Amanda-James-ebook/dp/B06XKCP4L6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MY REVIEW

I have to say this book hooked me from the very first page where Holly West is in a private clinic giving birth. She has been expecting twins – a boy and a girl – but there are complications and her son doesn’t survive. However something keeps niggling at Holly. She simply can’t accept that baby Ruan has died.  Both her husband Simon and best friend Demi try to convince her that he didn’t make it.  But Holly can’t let go. Is she going mad? Is this a form of post natal depression?  Could her drug dependency from her modelling days in some ways have affected her pregnancy?  Dizzy from all these ‘what ifs’, the arrival of a letter changes everything and sets her on a journey to discover exactly what happened to her son.

This was a compelling read.  The plot is quite complex and cleverly put together. It’s a  story that pulls you in and takes you over as piece by piece Holly and her former boyfriend Joran work together and begin to uncover the truth. Amanda James has certainly created a great cast of characters too; some you will love others you’ll hate with a passion.  All  in all great edge of your seat read…