Extract from Love Among the Treetops by Catherine Ferguson

Today it's my my pleasure to be sharing with you an extract from Catherine Ferguson's latest book Love Among the Treetops which Emma reviewed earlier.

Can love flourish amongst the tree tops?

When pastry chef Twilight Wilson was a young girl, she would hide from school bullies up in the treehouse at the bottom of her garden in her family home in Sussex. It was her special place, and even as an adult she still loves it.

So when her family tell her they can’t afford to live there any more, Twilight is devastated. Not only will they lose their home – but the treehouse too!

She comes up with a plan to save the family home – she’ll start up a cafe in the treehouse! It’s a brilliant idea, and excitement builds as she starts planning the menus, with the help of Theo – a rather attractive man from the gym. But when former school bully Lucy finds out the plan, she starts plotting – and opens her own rival cafe in the village!

Can Twilight save her family home? Will her friendship with Theo ever be anything more? And who will win the cafe wars?

My mind flashes way back in time, to the eve of the school leavers’ ball. Being in the treehouse with Paloma, terrified that Jason was about to break up with me.

We were eighteen and we’d been together for three years by then. The ball marked the end of school and the beginning of a whole new life for both of us, but I’d never had any doubts that whatever Jason and I did, we would do it together.

But the week before the ball, he seemed odd. Distracted. I kept asking him if he’d sorted out his suit for the night, but he just kept saying there was plenty of time to think about that, which there quite obviously wasn’t. I asked him if things were okay between us and he said of course they were. He thought he had a cold coming on and was feeling a bit low, that was all.

Emma's Review: Love Among the Treetops by Catherine Ferguson

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Can love flourish amongst the tree tops?

When pastry chef Twilight Wilson was a young girl, she would hide from school bullies up in the treehouse at the bottom of her garden in her family home in Sussex. It was her special place, and even as an adult she still loves it.

So when her family tell her they can’t afford to live there any more, Twilight is devastated. Not only will they lose their home – but the treehouse too!

She comes up with a plan to save the family home – she’ll start up a cafe in the treehouse! It’s a brilliant idea, and excitement builds as she starts planning the menus, with the help of Theo – a rather attractive man from the gym. But when former school bully Lucy finds out the plan, she starts plotting – and opens her own rival cafe in the village!

Can Twilight save her family home? Will her friendship with Theo ever be anything more? And who will win the cafe wars?

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Author Interview: Catherine Ferguson

I love chatting to authors and getting to know more about their books and writing processes, so it's my pleasure today to welcome Catherine Ferguson back to the blog as part of the blog tour for her latest book Christmas at the Log Fire Cabin. 

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing journey?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, ever since about the age of nine when I devoured Enid Blyton books and wrote mystery stories in my bedroom. I became a journalist but books were always my passion. I tried writing a romantic comedy years ago but the rejections shattered me so I gave up, and it was twenty years before I tried again. This time, thankfully, I succeeded! I signed my first book deal with Avon in 2014 – Humbugs & Heartstrings - and I’m now writing my seventh book. I love it and I can’t imagine ever doing anything else now.   
 
If you had to give an elevator pitch for Christmas at the Log Fire Cabin, what would it be?
When Poppy’s drain-cover enthusiast boyfriend Harrison proposes, he gives her the Twelve Days of Christmas to mull it over. Excited Poppy thinks she knows the answer already. But she hasn’t counted on her first big dinner party client, Jed Turner, being quite so disturbingly attractive . . .

Poppy and Erin want to set up their own dinner party catering company, what would your dream dinner party menu be - Christmas or otherwise?
Ooh, I’d have half a dozen oysters with lemon and tabasco for starters, then a delicious chicken and seafood paella, followed by the richest chocolate mousse ever.  

If you were locked away in a log cabin, what Christmas movies would be on your watch list?
Every Christmas Eve, without fail, we all sit down and watch the Jim Carey version of ‘Scrooge’. It gets everyone in the mood and feeling extra excited for the Big Day. Then we always watch ‘The Snowman’ on Christmas Day. Apart from those two essentials, I love ‘The Holiday’, ‘While You Were Sleeping’ and ‘Christmas on 34th Street’.

Extract from The Secrets of Ivy Cottage by Catherine Ferguson

Today it's my my pleasure to be sharing with you an extract from Catherine Ferguson's new book The Secrets of Ivy Garden. 

When Holly breaks up with her boyfriend Dean, she’s at a loss as to what to do next. But things go from bad to worse when her beloved grandmother Ivy dies – and Holly is left in charge of sorting out Ivy’s house and garden. 

As she sorts through her grandmother’s belongings and makes her way through the wilderness outside, Holly soon finds that there is more to Ivy than meets the eye, and uncovers a surprising family secret that changes everything…

     I always trusted Ivy’s good sense above anyone else’s – except perhaps during those turbulent teen years when we fought as much as any parent and kid. She was a great mix of gentleness, modesty and steely inner strength, and I knew her better than anyone alive.   

 But now she’s gone . . .

     I dig my nails into my palms until it hurts.

     My grandma was special. I was so lucky to have had her in my life.

     Actually, I never thought of her as ‘Grandma’. I always called her Ivy because, in reality, she was far more than just a grand­mother; she was Mum, Dad and grandparent all rolled into one.

     She scooped me up when I was four years old, after my parents died, and took us off to live in Manchester. Goodness knows why she chose Manchester. I once asked her why on earth she aban­doned her beloved Moonbeam Cottage in the tiny village of Appleton to bring me to a big city where we knew no-one at all. She just laughed, tweaked my nose and said, ‘Isn’t that what fresh starts are all about, my lover?’

     Ivy missed Mum so much – I’d hear her crying at night when she thought I was asleep – but she never ever dwelled on the day of the accident, at least not in my presence. She always said she preferred to look forward, taking me with her on our exciting ride into the future.

Food & Drink Month: Q&A with Catherine Ferguson

One of the factors behind deciding to run this Food & Drink feature month was a number of books in my outstanding reviews pile that had food mentions in the title, one such book was Green Beans & Summer Dreams by today's guest Catherine Ferguson.  

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey?
My writing journey was very long indeed, if you take into account that I knew at age nine that I wanted to write books and get them published. A lot of plagiarism of Enid Blyton went on around that time, and then I grew up and became a journalist, so my lofty ambitions were put on hold for a while.

Decades later, I decided the time had arrived to try and write my first romantic comedy. ‘Ooh, about a year,’ I said (stupidly) to people who asked me how long it would probably take to get a book deal! Five years later, I finally finished my first book and eventually found a wonderful agent willing to take a chance on me. Then followed another year of writing a whole new book, before HHB Agency landed me a contract with HarperCollins Avon.

August 26th 2014 – the day I got the phone call to say Avon were saying ‘yes’ – is one I will never, ever forget . . .

I love the title, Green Beans & Summer Dreams. How did this come about?
I can claim no plaudits at all, I’m afraid, for the book’s fab title. That was entirely down to the incredibly creative team at Avon who I believe had a brainstorming session. People seem to like it so I’m very grateful indeed!

Where did you get the inspiration for Green Beans & Summer Dreams?
I might not have come up with the title, but the inspiration for the idea of the book was entirely mine! I had jointly run a successful veg box scheme in the late Nineties in Surrey, so when – a decade later – I wanted a setting for my book, it was the obvious choice. I loved running that box scheme (starting up a successful business had long been an ambition) so hopefully Izzy’s trials and successes all ring true. Not that the book is all about me, of course. I didn’t, for instance, fall madly in love with my veg supplier! (Even though he was – and I’m sure still is – a very nice man.)

Which character in the book did you have most fun creating?
Oh, I loved writing the character of Mrs P, a widow in her seventies. I decided I wanted an OAP behaving badly, so she had to be the opposite in every way of the cliché of a granny as a sweet little old lady with a fondness for doilies, tartan shopping trollies and a nice milky drink at bedtime. Mrs P prefers a whisky or two to Horlix and says exactly what she thinks, which can be a source of amusement or embarrassment to those around her (thinking particularly of her pithy description of Errol Flynn’s private parts). Some characters are a joy to write – and Mrs P was definitely one of those.

If you had to describe the book in one sentence, what would it be?
One woman’s struggle - in the wake of a bad break-up - to build a business and choose between two delicious men, with the support of her best friends, who are tackling their own demons! 

Short Story Extract: One Bride and a Bombshell by Catherine Ferguson

Today it's my stop on the blog tour for Catherine Ferguson's latest novel Four Weddings & a Fiasco, I'll be reviewing the book shortly but this morning I'm sharing with you part of an exclusive short story that Catherine has written for her blog tour, One Bride and a Bombshell, which is being serialised each day throughout the tour.  Parts 1 and 2 were shared on The Reader's Corner and This Chick Reads on Thursday and Friday and today it's my turn to host the next part of the story.  Hope you enjoy reading.    

ONE BRIDE AND A BOMBSHELL

3

So, heart beating frantically, I phoned the number and spoke to Camilla Radcliffe’s secretary, who sounded reassuringly cheerful (and not the slightest bit beaten down with stress, as I’d half-expected). The upshot was a meeting with the woman herself in the Greshingham Hall Hotel, a few miles from Mum and Dad’s house.

So that Wednesday, I left work early and hopped on a train to Willows Edge, in time for Sienna to drive me to my meeting.

‘Good luck, Sis,’ she said as she dropped me outside the rather grand hotel entrance. ‘I’ll be back in an hour to collect you. And don’t worry. Camilla is going to love you.’

I smiled, touched by my little sister’s utter faith in me. Despite the age difference, we’d always been incredibly close and were each other’s biggest support. I knew we were lucky. I had friends who seemed to bicker and fall out with their siblings all the time.

‘Oh, my God,’ I squeaked, sensing I was on the brink of something important. ‘I think I’m going to be sick!’

Emma's Guest Review: Catherine Ferguson - Mistletoe & Mayhem

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Lola Plumpton can’t believe her luck.

Christmas is coming and her gorgeous boyfriend, Nathan has offered up his swanky apartment to host the Plumpton family’s festive celebrations. It looks set to be a Christmas to remember. And it is – but for all the wrong reasons.

As the 25th December draws closer, Lola unexpectedly finds herself missing some key components:

1. A job (but who needs one of those anyway, when you’ve got the ultimate family Christmas to prepare for?)
2. Money (no job equals no money, it turns out.)
3. A boyfriend (yup, Nathan the hunk has said adios to Lola – and in the *most* embarrassing way possible…)
4. Somewhere to host her fabulous family Christmas (because of course, no Nathan means no des res apartment.)

Lola’s at a loss about what to do. But one way or another, she’s going to make this the happiest Christmas her family’s ever had…

Amazon link: Kindle 

Christmas in July: Catherine Ferguson - Humbugs & Heartstrings

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Two ex-friends. One Christmas to remember …

Bobbie's boss Carol is a real misery-guts, dedicated to making the lives of everyone around her unhappy in pursuit of every last penny. What makes it worse is that the two women have history: they were once best friends.

When handsome hotelier Charlie steps into the frame the two women go to battle as one sees a romantic future and the other a possible lifeboat for her business.

With wonderful warmth and humour – and the odd mince pie fight – the women are forced to confront their shared past, the turbulent present and, most importantly, the potential of the future.

Amazon link: Kindle

Debut Spotlight: Catherine Ferguson

As many of you will know I am a huge Christmas addict so when I recently saw a cover reveal for Catherine Ferguson's debut novel Humbugs & Heartstrings I immediately contacted Catherine to see if she'd like to do a debut spotlight feature to find out a little more about the book.

Catherine Ferguson lives in Northumberland with her teenage son. Humbugs & Heartstrings is her first book and will be published as an eBook on 2nd October...

Sprinkled with lots of Christmas magic, Humbugs & Heartstrings is a fun, romantic tale about love and friendships.

Bobbie’s boss, Carol, is a real misery-guts skinflint, dedicated to making the lives of everyone around her unhappy. What makes it worse is that the two women have history: once upon a time, they were best friends.

When gorgeous hotelier Charlie steps into the frame, the two women march into battle (quite literally, at one stage, as flying mince pies find their target).

Will they ever be able to resolve their differences and have themselves a merry little Christmas?