Books Read: Jill Mansell - Don't Want to Miss a Thing

Dexter Yates loves his fun, care-free London life; he has money, looks and girlfriends galore. But everything changes overnight when his sister dies, leaving him in charge of her eight-month-old daughter Delphi. How is he ever going to cope?

Comic-strip artist Molly Hayes lives in the beautiful Cotswold village of Briarwood. When it comes to relationships, she has a history of choosing all the wrong men. Leaving the city behind, Dex moves to Briarwood - a much better place to work on his parenting skills - and he and Molly become neighbours. There's an undeniable connection between them. But if Dexter's going to adapt, he first has a lot to learn about Molly, about other people's secrets...and about himself.

Debut Spotlight: Emma Garcia

One of the books I've been looking forward to reading, since first hearing about it last year, is Never Google Heartbreak from today's debut spotlight guest Emma Garcia.  

Emma Garcia's first taste of romance came after a B.M.X championship final, when she found comfort in the arms of a fidgety vegan in a mohair jumper. NEVER GOOGLE HEARTBREAK is her first novel, and she has also written and illustrated three children's picture books. She lives in York with her husband and their three children.

When her fiancé Rob breaks off their engagement for the third time, Viv does what any girl would do - she Googles heartbreak. 

Debut Spotlight: Elizabeth Fremantle

Today's debut spotlight guest is Elizabeth Fremantle whose debut historical novel, Queen's Gambit, is due to be published next month.  Queen's Gambit is about Henry VIII's only surviving wife, Katherine Parr so if you love history then make sure you add this to your wishlist. 

Elizabeth Fremantle used to work as a fashion editor for top magazines including Elle and Vogue. Wanting to develop her writing skills, Fremantle gave up her job to go to university when she was in her 30s and a single parent to two children. Her personal story is fascinating and shows that you CAN fulfil your dreams, even with difficult circumstances.

Books Read: Nicky Pellegrino - When in Rome

Rome in the 1950s, there's nowhere quite like it. The narrow stone streets, the fountains and piazzas full of life in the heat of the day, the cafes and bars full of music and desire by night...

This is where Serafina calls home. Having grown-up with her sisters in a tiny apartment tucked in the top of a tumbledown building, she has watched her mother get by on next to nothing, and turn herself beautiful with a sweep of eyeliner and a hand-sewn dress.

When her mother goes out, Serafina and her sisters go singing in the nearest piazza, busking for spare change and cinema tickets. The girls long to meet their matinee idols and Serafina daydreams of Mario Lanza and his spellbinding voice. But the sisters will grow up quickly and for Serafina, a choice opens between the world she knows and the life she dreams of.

Guest Book Review: Sandra Nikolai - False Impressions

Reviewed by Danielle Pullen

Montreal ghostwriter Megan Scott falls under police suspicion when her husband and a female companion are found murdered. In what a Québec detective calls a crime of passion, startling evidence surfaces to also implicate Michael Elliott, a young investigative reporter who’d rather rub elbows with scumbags than live the posh lifestyle he inherited.

Clutched out of her comfort zone, Megan is flung into Michael’s dark world of criminal investigation. As they make a last-ditch attempt to prove their innocence, an elusive enemy closes in and threatens their lives. Who wants them out of the way and why?

Their only path to freedom is to catch the twisted killer before they become the next victims. But not knowing who to trust or where to turn can have consequences that are just as lethal…

Debut Spotlight: Laura Kemp

Today the debut spotlight falls on Laura Kemp whose first book Mums Like Us is one of the books in my TBR that I'm really looking forward to reading and you'll be able to get your hands on it soon as it's due to be published this Thursday.

Laura Kemp started writing to get out of doing a real job. A journalist for 15 years, she turned freelance after having a baby because she couldn’t get out of the house, washed and dressed, until lunchtime at the earliest. A columnist and contributor, she regularly writes for national newspapers and magazines, such as the Daily Mail, and spends too much time on Twitter. 

Mums Like Us is her first novel, which she hopes will strike a chord with exhausted mums who don’t iron either. Married with a son and a neurotic cat, Laura lives in the provinces, where she goes about her business ignorant of what’s on-trend until it reaches her town, by which time it’s out of fashion. 

Guest Book Review: Sophie King - Divorce for Beginners

Reviewed by Ceri Kehoe

As Lizzie juggles running a failing women's magazine with bringing up a young family she ponders on whether you really can “have it all”. The answer comes sooner than she expects when her husband's actions turn her world upside down...

Alison should be looking forward to a quieter life with David now that their youngest has flown the nest. But David has other ideas and his increasingly bizarre behaviour leaves Alison wondering if she really knows her husband at all...

Karen has managed to hold her family together since leaving her husband Paul many years before. That makes her the perfect person to start The "How to Survive Divorce" Club, to help others on their own. But as the burden of past secrets unravels, Karen realises she needs help too.

Ed really believes in marriage. So much so that he's done it three times already. But as his work and home life get ever more complicated, will he ever be able to find “The One”...?

Add in mysterious diary entries, an overbearing sister, a troublesome stepbrother, the surprise return of faces from the past, grown up kids with their own problems, and ageing parents who've discovered the ups (and downs) of internet dating and you have a gripping and entertaining tale of modern life as our foursome struggle with... Divorce for Beginners.

Books Read: Patricia Scanlan - With All My Love

On a crystal clear Mediterranean day, Briony McAllister sits playing with her four-year-old daughter, Katie, while she waits for her mother, Valerie, to join them. Valerie has recently moved to a picturesque town in southern Spain to finally leave behind her turbulent past and find a peace that has always eluded her. Briony has no idea that in a few moments' time her relationship with her mother will change irrevocably. As Katie plays, Briony pulls from her bag an old photo album, found in a box in her mother's new home. As she begins to study the faded photos, a letter falls to the ground. It is addressed to her.

My Darling Briony, it begins. As Briony reads the words with mounting shock, realisation dawns. Her mother lied to her about what happened with her beloved grandmother Tessa all those years ago - and denied Briony that most precious of relationships, the type of relationship Valerie now enjoys with Katie.

The lives of three generations of women are set to change forever as the past is revisited and the truth unfolds through the undelivered letters Tessa wrote to Briony over the years. Secrets, lies, betrayals and sacrifices - the complex bonds between mothers, daughters and granddaughters are intricately explored as Patricia Scanlan takes us into the hearts and homes of a family at war.

Books Read: Daniel Glattauer - Every Seventh Wave

Have you ever just clicked with someone?

Emmi and Leo met, fell in love and broke up via e-mail. After a year of silence, they find themselves in contact once more. Yet Emmi is still married to Bernhard, and Leo is just back from Boston with Pamela, his American girlfriend.

As the e-mails grow increasingly passionate, Emmi and Leo are faced with a difficult decision: could their romance survive the transition from digital to actual, or is it the distance that is keeping them together?

Books Read: Christina Courtenay - The Gilded Fan

    How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?

 

It's 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn't trust?

Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can't keep his own eyes off her?

During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive ...

Books Read: Lucy Robinson - A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger

Charley Lambert has worked hard at creating a perfect life. She has an aspirational flat, a job of international significance and a very good pair of legs, thanks to a rigorous health and fitness regime. Best of all, her boss has asked her out after seven years' hard flirting and a covert fumble in a mop cupboard. 

Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her boss propose to someone else and - horror - is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy. Charley, a certified workaholic, fears that she will go mad. 

Dangerously bored, she starts helping people who are talentless at internet dating. Then William arrives in her inbox and rocks her world. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with him and discovers she's not who she thought she was.

But can she turn her back on her old life - all for a total stranger?

Sneak Peeks & Giveaway: Win a copy of Rapture by J.R Ward

I recently received a copy of Rapture by J.R. Ward to review but as I've currently got a backlog, and paranormal fantasy is not a genre I would normally read, the publishers have kindly agreed that I can offer it as a giveaway prize to one of my followers instead. 

Mels Carmichael, reporter for the Caldwell Courier Journal, gets the shock of her life when a man stumbles in front of her car outside the local cemetery.  After the accident, his amnesia is just the kind of mystery she likes to solve, but she soon discovers they're over their heads with his past. Over their heads with passion, too...
 
As shadows walk the line between reality and another realm, and her lover's memory begins to come back, the two of them learn that nothing is truly dead and buried.  Especially when you're trapped in a no-holds-barred war between angels and demons. With a soul on the line, and Mels's heart at risk, what in heaven - or in hell - will it take to save them both?

Author Interview: Serena Clarke

I recently introduced you to  Serena Clarke in a debut spotlight feature but today I'm delighted to welcome Serena back for a bit of a chat. 

Can you tell us a little bit about All Over the Place? 
The starting point for All Over the Place was inspired by something that happened to me on the tube, when I lived in London. Livi’s adventures after that are not the same as mine, of course. (Well, mostly…but I’ll say no more!) It’s a story about finding the place you’re meant to be – and the person you’re meant to be with.

Which comes first, the characters or the plot? 
For me, it’s a mixture. I start with a fairly clear idea of the main characters. I like to think through a basic plot to begin with, and then the strands gradually come together. I do like stories with interwoven threads. And then other characters just kind of turn up, which is a lot of fun! But if I get stuck on a scene, it’s actually dialogue that saves me. I let the characters have their conversation, and then fill in from there.

Books Read: Sarah MacLean - One Good Earl Deserves a Lover

Lady Philippa Marbury is . . . odd.

The brilliant, bespectacled daughter of a double marquess cares more for books than balls, for science than the season, and for laboratories than love. She's looking forward to marrying her simple fiancé and quietly living out her days with her dogs and her scientific experiments. But before that, Pippa has two weeks to experience all the rest - fourteen days to research the exciting parts of life. It's not much time, and to do it right she needs a guide familiar with London's darker corners.

She needs . . . a scoundrel.

She needs Cross, the clever, controlled partner in London's most exclusive gaming hell, with a carefully crafted reputation for wickedness. But reputations often hide the darkest secrets, and when the unconventional Pippa boldly propositions him, seeking science without emotion, she threatens all he works to protect. He is tempted to give Pippa precisely what she wants . . . but the scoundrel is more than he seems, and it will take every ounce of willpower to resist giving the lady more than she ever imagined.

Books Read: Lisa Kleypas - Crystal Cove

Justine Hoffman has made a safe and comfortable life for herself on the island of Friday Harbour but there is still something missing. Love. And after years of waiting and dreaming, she is willing to do whatever it takes to change her destiny. 

But when Justine discovers that someone cast a spell on her when she was born, with the result that she will never find her soul mate, she is determined to change her fate. But she could never have dreamt of the dangerous complications that will follow . . . 

Meeting the mysterious Jason Black, Justine unleashes a storm of desire and danger that threaten everything she holds dear - because Jason has secrets of his own, and he wants more from her than fate will ever allow.

Valentine Giveaway: And the winner is...

The deadline has just passed for the Valentine Feature Week giveaway to win a copy of The Trouble with Valentine's by Kelly Hunter.  And the winner is entry 23....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Emma, I've just sent you an email for your postal address to enable me to post this book out to you later this week.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Keep an eye out for more giveaways shortly as I already have another one lined up for Irish Fiction month in March plus a couple of others in the pipeline.

Valentine Feature Week Review: Fiona O'Brien - The Love Book

In 1980, three schoolgirls visit St. Valentine's shrine in Dublin, to write their petitions for love. By 2010, these same women have discovered that finding love was the easy part - it's what you do with it once you've found it that's tricky.

When one of the women returns home unexpectedly from California, all three are forced to examine their choices, loves, and lives, which have proved surprising, and in some ways, precarious. So much for St. Valentine - if the saint has taught them anything about love - it's be careful what you wish for . . .

But real love is always a work in progress - and Vonnie, Abby and Diana must learn they need to open their eyes and more especially their hearts - because St. Valentine has some unfinished business with them . . .

Valentine Feature Week Interview: Sheena Lambert

My final Valentine Feature Week guest is Irish author Sheena Lambert whose debut book, Alberta Clipper, was published at the end of last year.

What has been your most memorable Valentine’s experience, either good or bad?
As poor students, myself and my now-husband got chip butties (fries in a bread-roll with mayonnaise) one Valentine’s night, and ate them parked in his Dad’s car at the beach. (Well….it’s cold in Ireland in February.) The following year, my Valentine’s card had the exact price of another chip butty taped to the inside. I still have it.

Have you ever had a disastrous date on Valentine’s night?
No, but I did get a very creepy Valentine’s card from a client once. Complete with a very creepy poem about me having his creepy children. Creepy.

If you were to receive a book as a Valentine’s Day present, what book would you like to receive?
A book of Oscar Wilde poetry, with special lines highlighted… Tread softly, because you
tread on my dreams…

Valentine Feature Week Review: Juliet Ashton - The Valentine's Card

The Valentine's card was meant to be Orla's fairy tale ending, but really, it was only the beginning . . .

Orla adores her actor boyfriend, Sim, who's away filming a sumptuous costume drama. Although the long-distance relationship means that she can eat toast for dinner and watch as much reality TV as she likes, she misses him like crazy.

But Valentine's Day changes everything . . . The same morning Orla learns that Sim has died, she receives a card from him. As Orla travels from Ireland to London, to live and breathe Sim's final moments, can she bring herself to open the Valentine's card and read his final message?

Valentine Feature Week Interview: Miranda Dickinson

Miranda Dickinson is one of my favourite authors so when I tweeted asking for contributions for my upcoming Valentine Feature Week on the blog, I was delighted that she responded agreeing to do a Valentine's related interview.  

What has been your most memorable Valentine’s experience, either good or bad?
My worst Valentine’s experience was when I sent a really good male friend of mine a Valentine’s card. I’d liked him for ages but as soon as I sent it I knew I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. He was living with my band-mates and they all guessed it was from me. So mortifying! Thankfully, he was lovely about it and is still a fab friend today. The experience is what inspired the opening scene of It Started With a Kiss when Romily tells Charlie she loves him. I sent the card from one of those online card websites and now every time their advert comes on TV I have to switch it off – eight years after the event!

Have you ever had a disastrous date on Valentine’s night?
No, thankfully, although I’ve had my fair share of disastrous dates at other times of the year…

Valentine Feature Week: Fun Trivia & Quotes

Unless you're an alien from outer space you cannot fail to notice that tomorrow is Valentine's Day as there's constant reminders everywhere... magazines, TV and the internet.  So I decided if you can't beat them, join them, so have been busy looking up completely useless facts and trivia.... enjoy!

• The origins of Valentine’s Day are not clear but many sources believe that it stems from the story of St Valentine, a Roman priest who was martyred on or around February 14 in the year 270 CE.
• Cupid is associated with Valentine's Day because he's believed to be the son of Venus, the Roman god of love.
• Valentine's Day is mentioned in Hamlet by Shakespeare (Act 4, Scene 5)
• The film 'Letters to Juliet' is based on an actual occurrence.  Over 1200 cards and letters are written to Juliet on 14th February every year.  Most of which are left at a special wall in Verona, Italy.  
• It is believed that 15% of women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day. 
• Hallmark produced its first Valentine Day Card in 1913. 

Valentine Feature Week Guest Post: Liz Harris talks about her most memorable Valentine's Day gift

Today I'm delighted to welcome Liz Harris to the blog to talk about her most memorable Valentine's gift from her husband... I bet you won't be able to guess what it was ;-)

With the 14th February fast approaching, and with hearts racing at the thought of cards and gifts, I thought I'd pick a memorable St. Valentine's Day present from the past, and tell you about it.

Next August, I'll have been married to the same man for 35 years. I can hardly believe it's that long, but it is. It was going to be extremely difficult to choose just one of the many St. Valentine's Day presents I've received over the years , I thought.

But it wasn't. One present stood out above all the others, despite it having been given to me some 31 years ago. 

Valentine Feature Week Interview: Carole Matthews

When I decided to do a Valentine Feature Week on the blog I tweeted asking for contributors, one of the first authors to contact me was Carole Matthews.  I've previously had the pleasure of doing blog interviews with Carole before but I'm delighted that she offered to take part in this fun Valentine's chat.

What has been your most memorable Valentine’s experience, either good or bad? 
When my novel The Chocolate Lovers’ Club was out my partner, Lovely Kev, took me to The Pudding Club at the Three Ways Hotel in Mickleton in the Cotswolds. They have a Chocolate Suite there which he’d booked for the night. We have a really lovely time and, more importantly, lots of chocolate! That earned him a lot of brownie points.

If you were to receive a book as a Valentine’s Day present, what book would you like to receive?
I would like hardback of any of Philippa Gregory’s Tudor novels - probably The Other Boleyn Girl is my favourite - signed by the author.

Valentine Feature Week Review & Giveaway: Kelly Hunter - The Trouble with Valentine's

This Valentine's falling in love could be murder...

Hallie Bennett loves flirting with danger. So when a man with trouble written all over him walks into her shoe shop, she finds him impossible to refuse. 

Nick needs a "wife" for a week to seal a Hong Kong business deal, Hallie needs £5,000. It might not be the most traditional Valentines Day proposal, but shes hardly a traditional girl... 

Two beautiful (and borrowed) Tiffany rings later, and Hallie's on her way to live the high life. But the trip comes with a deadly twist. 

Will Hallie survive the week with her body - and her heart - intact?

Guest Book Review: Katy Regan - How We Met

Reviewed by Kayla Oliver

There are some people you can’t imagine life without.

What, at the end of it all, is really important?

Liv and her friends can’t imagine a life different from now: freedom, lifelong friendships, and dreams that are still within their reach.

Then, Liv dies.

For those left behind – Mia, Fraser, Anna, Norm and Melody – everything stops. Their lives and dreams are frozen in time.

In the years that follow, they decide to meet on Liv’s birthday to raise a toast and celebrate her life, even though none of them are living their own – not really. Time marches inexorably on, and yet without Liv, the lynchpin of the group, they are all flailing. Mia and Fraser are quietly falling apart because of the secret they share and, as truths are unearthed and their friendships are tested to the limit, they have to ask themselves – is it time to get on with the business of actually living?

Books Read: P.J. Tracy - Two Evils

A missing teenage girl lies dead in a parking lot. 

Two young immigrants are killed in their apartment. 

Three men are found dead in the street nearby. 

As the police struggle to establish what's happened, they realise that the deaths may not be as random as they first appear. As the killings continue, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseath turn to maverick computer analyst Grace MacBride for help, drawing her into an investigation that will threaten her life. 

And as the evidence mounts, it reveals terrifying intent. Ultimately, it forces the two detectives to make a dreadful choice: down which path does the lesser of two evils lie..

Books Read: Sophie Divry - The Library of Unrequited Love

One morning a librarian finds a reader who has been locked in overnight. She starts to talk to him, a one-way conversation full of sharp insight and quiet outrage.

As she rails against snobbish senior colleagues, and ungrateful and ignorant public, the structures of the Dewey Decimal System and the sinister expansionist conspiracies of the books themselves, two things shine through: her unrequited passion for a researcher named Martin, and an ardent and absolute love of books. 

A delightful flight of fancy for the lonely bookworm in all of us...

Books Read: Martina Reilly - What If?

When Lily Flynn's memory starts to fade, she dusts off the long-forgotten diary she'd kept when she was fifteen and slowly begins to fill in the details of her life.

Five years later, when Lily is admitted to Lakelands Nursing Home, a helper finds the diary and a letter addressed to Lily's daughter Deirdre with instructions that the diary be read aloud to her.

Lily's last wish is that Deirdre learn the truth about her birth so that she might be able to understand her mother's choices all those years ago.

And there begins a journey of three women - Lily, a young woman dreaming of the day she can escape to the city; her daughter Deirdre who has always felt responsible for the life her mother never had; and Zoe, the young helper who reads the diary to Deirdre.

As each woman steps back in time, they realise that while life might turn on a single moment, what happens afterward is up to them.

Books Read: Laura Ziepe - Essex Girls

Jade did everything she could to fit in at university and make boyfriend Tom happy – toned down her tan, gave up on her favourite fake lashes, and retired her curling tongs.  But something wasn't right.

When Jade finds Tom’s been cheating she heads home with a broken heart: to Essex. Reunited with her best mates Kelly and Lisa, even a night out at The Sugar Hut isn’t enough to put a smile back on her face. So they hatch a plan to get away from it all, to a place so ream it’s unreal – Marbella. Sun, sea, men, vajazzles: what could possibly go wrong?

Guest Book Review: Emma Burstall - The Darling Girls

Reviewed by Danielle Pullen

Three women in love with the same man meet for the first time at his funeral. Can they separate the truth from the lies – and learn to trust again?

When world famous music conductor Leo Bruck dies suddenly, he leaves behind three grieving women and a mass of unanswered questions.

Did the man who juggled these simultaneous relationships while thrilling audiences around the globe, direct The Darling Girls like an orchestra?

Victoria, his partner of twenty years and mother of two of his children, regards herself as his rightful widow and keeper of his legacy. However, a series of shocking discoveries forces her to re-examine the man she thought she knew and query the very foundation of their relationship.

Maddy, mother of Leo’s daughter Phoebe, has a high-powered job and seems independent and sorted. But events take a sinister turn when Maddy becomes involved with Victoria’s troubled teenage son, and her safe world starts to go awry.

Finally there’s Cat who, at just 24, is Leo’s youngest lover. Coping with a sick mother and battling demons from her childhood, she is finding it increasingly hard to hold it together. Will grief, anger and bitterness blind her to the possibility of ever finding happiness, career fulfilment - and even, perhaps, new love?

The Darling Girls is a moving story of love, loss, and the prevailing power of female friendship. Can these three very different women, whose lives become inextricably bound, break free from the masterful control Leo exerts - even from the grave - once and for all?

Debut Spotlight: Serena Clarke

One of the things I've loved since setting up the blog is discovering new authors, especially International authors, who I would probably never have heard of otherwise.  

Under the debut spotlight today is New Zealand author Serena Clarke, her first novel, All Over The Place, will be published by Crimson Romance on 18th February.

Serena Clarke writes smart, sweet and sassy fiction that reflects the international lives we lead – or dream of. No matter where you are, life can be complicated. But it’s also full of magic, possibility and second chances. So you’ll definitely find a happy ending in her stories!

Serena grew up in a family of itchy-footed readers and dreamers – not concentrating, reading the atlas and Narnia books, and planning to escape somewhere magical as soon as she could. When she was 16, she left New Zealand to live in Sweden for a year. It was the beginning of many travels and adventures – and quite a few disasters! She didn’t know it at the time, but eventually she’d be grateful for all the ups and the downs. As writers say in the face of adversity: “I can use that.”

Having come full circle, through seven cities in four countries, she’s now back in New Zealand, in her 39th house – probably not the last! Luckily, she has a tall, dark and handsome husband to help look after their two boys while she dreams up stories. Turns out that happily-ever-afters happen in real life too.

Books Read: Nicci French - Tuesday's Gone

For Frieda Klein the days get longer, the cases darker...

Psychotherapist Frieda Klein thought she was done with the police. But once more DCI Karlsson is knocking at her door. 

A man's decomposed body has been found in the flat of Michelle Doyce, a woman trapped in a world of strange mental disorder. The police don't know who it is, how he got there or what happened - and Michelle can't tell them. But Karlsson hopes Frieda can get access to the truths buried beneath her confusion. 

Painstakingly, Frieda uncovers a possible identity for the corpse: Robert Poole, a jack of all trades and master conman. But the deeper Frieda and Karlsson dig into Poole's past, the more of his victims they encounter - and the more motives they find for murder. Meanwhile, violent ghosts from Frieda's own past are returning to threaten her. 

Unable to discover quite who is telling the truth and who is lying, they know they are getting closer to a killer. But whoever murdered Poole is determined to stay free - and anyone that gets too close will meet the same fate.

Debut Spotlight: Kamy Chetty

Since I set up this blog I have been contacted by many authors from all over the world that I more than likely wouldn't have heard of otherwise.  One such author is today's debut spotlight guest, Kamy Chetty, her debut book, Falling into Paradise, is available now. 

There hasn’t been a time in her life that Kamy hasn’t been writing, or dreaming up some  magical love story in her head. As an avid reader, it wasn’t long before she realised her talent for turning a phrase, and add to that a profession of nursing, it’s only natural that her stories have a medical theme with that happily ever after ending.

Recently she’s discovered that all those years she’s been fascinated with TV shows like CSI and Bones, has just been foreplay for her dark side and she now enjoys writing suspense with a dash of medical and a dollop of romance.

Originally from South Africa, Kamy now lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her very own hero and two children who keep her busy. She has two dogs who keep her out of trouble and shelves overflowing with books that she loves reading when she isn’t chasing deadlines.

Books Read: Christina Courtenay - The Scarlet Kimono

Abducted by a Samurai warlord in 17th-century Japan 

What happens when fear turns to love? England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother's adventurous life. But when she stows away on a merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro's warriors.

In the far north of the country, warlord Kumashiro is intrigued to learn more about the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. There's a clash of cultures and wills, but they're also fighting an instant attraction to each other. 

With her brother desperate to find her and the jealous Lady Reiko equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and honour ...

Books Read: Amanda Brookfield - The Love Child

When Janine and Dougie fell in love they thought it would be for ever. Fifteen years later their relationship is well and truly over, their daughter Stevie their one remaining connection.

Stevie is on the cusp of adulthood. At sixteen, she's not quite a child, but not quite grown up: a dangerous age. But it's only during a birthday celebration in Spain, when she gets too close to one of Dougie's best friends, that her parents realize just how dangerous.

With friendships shattered and trusts betrayed, Janine and Dougie - brought together in Stevie's moment of crisis - know they must see beyond the past if they're to secure their daughter's future. But even with such a lot at stake, can a relationship with so many complications ever have a future.