Giveaway: Win a copy of A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

When I was invited to be a part of this blog tour I couldn't resist as have loved Josie Silver's previous books and New York has always been one of the places on my bucket list to visit. Maybe I'll get there one day but for now I'll have to settle with experiencing the sights through books. 

I was originally supposed to be reviewing A Winter in New York today but sadly my reading mojo has been noticeably AWOL over the last few months meaning that I didn't quite finish reading the book in time to review. 

So instead to honour my blog tour commitment I have decided to offer one of the regular followers of the blog the chance to win a copy of A Winter in New York to read for themselves. I'm sure that you'll enjoy Iris and Gio's story as much as I am, I've less than a 1/4 of the book left to read so hopefully will be able to review within the next week or so. 

Where better to start again than New York?

Iris arrives in the city of dreams, intent on restarting her culinary career, and leaving her recent heartache behind. 

Wandering the streets at a famous food festival, Iris feels like she's living in a movie. Then she stumbles upon a gelateria that looks strangely familiar. Inside, she meets Gio: a perfect leading man with an irresistible smile - and a crisis of his own.

Books Read: The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

What if you could live your great love story again?

Lydia and Freddie. Freddie and Lydia. They've been together for almost a decade, and Lydia thinks their love is indestructible.

But she's wrong. Because on her 27th birthday, Freddie dies in a tragic accident.

So now it's just Lydia, and all she wants to do is hide indoors and sob 'til her eyes fall out. But Lydia knows that Freddie would want her to live her life well. So, enlisting the help of his best friend and her sister Elle, she takes her first tentative steps into the world and starts to live - perhaps even to love - again.

Then something unbelievable happens, and Lydia gets another chance at her old life with Freddie. But what if there's someone in her new life who wants her to stay?

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Review & Giveaway: One Day in December by Josie Silver

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist. After all, life isn't a scene from the movies, is it? But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away.

Laurie thinks she'll never see the boy from the bus again. But at their Christmas party a year later, her best friend Sarah introduces her to the new love of her life. Who is, of course, the boy from the bus.

Determined to let him go, Laurie gets on with her life. But what if fate has other plans?

Amazon Affiliate Links: Kindle or Paperback

12 Days of Festive Giveaways: Win a Festive eBook of your choice from Amazon UK

Amazon UK have finally added the give ebook as a gift option which means that I can now run giveaways for ebooks which will save me a few pennies in postage.  Sadly there is still restrictions in place meaning the eBooks can only be gifted to residents in the UK so for any International winners who use Amazon UK I would have to send a gift card instead.

I have decided to trial the gift an eBook this weekend by running to win a festive eBook of their choice.  As it's Christmas and I want to share the book love, I will choose three winners so will have to set an eBook price limit of £2 as there are multiple winners.  Below are some of the fantastic Christmas eBooks that are currently on offer from 99p to consider but you don't have to pick one of these.

The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan

It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree, but who’s around it that matters most.

All Suzanne McBride wants for Christmas is her three daughters happy and at home. But when sisters Posy, Hannah and Beth return to their family home in the Scottish Highlands, old tensions and buried secrets start bubbling to the surface.

Suzanne is determined to create the perfect family Christmas, but the McBrides must all face the past and address some home truths before they can celebrate together . . .

After the Snow by Susannah Constantine

Christmas morning, 1969.

All eleven-year-old Esme Munroe wants for Christmas is for her mother to be on one of her ‘good’ days – and, secretly, for a velvet riding hat. So when she finds an assortment of wet towels and dirty plates in her stocking, she’s just relieved Father Christmas remembered to stop at The Lodge this year.

But later that day Esme’s mother disappears in the heavy snow. Even more mysteriously, only the Earl of Culcairn seems to know where she might have gone. Torn between protecting her mother and uncovering the secrets tumbling out of Culcairn Castle’s ornate closets, Esme realises that life will never be the same again after the snow…

Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews

Fay and Danny are madly in love and it's all Fay's ever dreamed of. But she left everything - including the delightful cake shop she used to run - to be with Danny on his cosy canal boat The Dreamcatcher. And as she soon finds out, making delicious cakes on the water isn't always smooth sailing!

Then Fay gets a call that sends her back to where it all began; back to where she first met Danny, back to her friends and the Cake Shop in the Garden. Even as Fay happily returns to dry land and her passion for baking, she knows it will be hard being away from Danny, especially with Christmas round the corner. But their relationship is strong enough to survive . . . isn't it?

Can Fay really get everything she ever wanted in Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights?

The Write Stuff with... Josie Silver

Today it's my stop on the One Day in December blog tour and it's my pleasure to hand the reins over to Josie Silver to talk about ideas and inspiration.

I've been writing fiction for more than a decade now, so I've become really used to picking up on possible story lines around me in every day life. Everywhere and everything can be a source of inspiration - the news, magazines, gossip with friends, snippets of conversations overheard in cafes or on the train. I'll hear something and it sets me off thinking 'what if?' - but what if this happened, or what if that hadn't happened, and what if this had happened instead? It's a good way to find a starting point. 

Or sometimes, an editor can be looking for a particular kind of book. That's how One Day in December came into being - my editor especially wanted a really romantic Christmassy book, something that might make readers feel the way Christmas movies like Love Actually and The Holiday does. We talked about it, and I came up with a few possible ideas. I've always wanted to write a love at first sight book, so this became an opportunity to explore that too.