Book News: The Beginner's Guide Series!

Back in 2014, I published my very first full-length novel, A Beginner's Guide To Salad. I adored Ruth, one of the main characters from the book, and couldn't help wondering what happened next in the life of the cheesy-pop-loving lady and her friends. Ruth wouldn't leave me alone, so after finishing Everything Changes But You (my second book), I went back to Ruth and discovered what was she was up to - and I've been working on her continuing story ever since!

The plan is to have four full-length books in the series, plus the free festive short story, A Beginner's Guide To Christmas. The second instalment, which has been written and is in the editing process, will be published early 2017. I'll share more details soon - including the title, blurb and gorgeous cover.

I'm so excited about this series. It's been tough getting it right, especially as I've been working on the next two books around other projects, but I can't get enough of Ruth and I hope you'll enjoy the next stages of her life. You'll also be able to catch up with lots of the characters from both A Beginner's Guide To Salad and Christmas, as well as meeting some brand new ones.

If you haven't read A Beginner's Guide To Salad yet, now is the perfect time as it's just 99p until the end of August or it's available for FREE if you're subscribed to Kindle Unlimited!

Ruth loves nothing more than curling up in front of the telly with a family-sized bar of chocolate. She doesn’t do diets and she certainly doesn’t do exercise. But all that changes when she’s invited to her school reunion.

Bullied at school for being overweight, Ruth’s first reaction is to rip the invitation into a million pieces. But then Ruth hatches a plan. She’ll lose the weight and arrive at the reunion looking gorgeous and glamorous, leaving her old classmates in awe. Especially her former crush, Zack O’Connell.

With the help of her friends and a new, unbelievably hot colleague, Ruth begins her transformation. With six months until the reunion, losing weight will be a piece of cake, right?

Amazon UK | Amazon US

5 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

Five years ago today, I set up this blog (you can see my earlier post here to see what I've been up to in that time) so I thought I'd run a giveaway to celebrate!

As I've had four novels published in that time, I thought I'd use those books as the theme for the prizes, as well as an Amazon £10/$10 Amazon voucher. I'm also spreading the blog love with Love Hearts sweets and sherbet Dip!

The prize bundle contains:

£10/$10 Amazon Voucher (e-voucher via email)

The Wedding Date Magnet

A Beginner's Guide To Salad/Everything Changes But You Coaster

The Mince Pie Pick 'n' Mix-Up Sweets

Everything Changes But You-Inspired Bookmark

Love Hearts Sweets

Love Hearts Dip

Two runners up will win a mini prize bundle, containing:

The Wedding Date Magnet

The Mince Pie Pick 'n' Mix-Up Sweets

Love Hearts Dip

To enter, fill in the rafflecopter form at the bottom of this post.

The giveaway will end on Monday 1st August and winners will be contacted by email.

Good luck!

About The Books

Delilah James, singleton and smoothie-addict, has six months to find a date for her oldest friend’s wedding. Oh, and to prove to her ex, best man Ben, that she has totally moved on since he dumped her out-of-the-blue nine months, eight days and seventeen hours ago…

So, with her two BFFs playing Cupid, Delilah launches herself into the high-tech, fast-paced and frankly terrifying world of dating. Luckily there’s the hot new guy at work, Adam Sinclair, to practice her flirting on – even if, as a colleague, he’s strictly off-limits!

Yet time’s running out and date after disastrous date forces Delilah to tell a little white lie – and invent a fake boyfriend! But will her secret crush on Adam ruin everything? Does she even care about Ben anymore? And is it too late to untangle her web of lies and take a real date to the wedding…?

The Wedding Date is available from Amazon here

‘I wish I could live your life. I’d happily swap lives with you.’

’Tis the season to be jolly but for Calvin and Judy the usual festive bickering has already begun! Judy’s convinced that her husband has it easy – no glittery wrapping paper, no playground gossip and absolutely no Christmas baking.

Calvin wishes he could trade in his obnoxious boss and dull nine-to-five job to spend more time kicking back with his kids – how hard can Judy’s life really be?

But after a magical mince pie mix-up, one thing’s for certain – by Christmas Day, life for Judy and Calvin will never be the same again. Perhaps the grass isn’t always greener after all…

The Mince Pie Mix-Up is available from Amazon here

Ally Richmond is dreading turning thirty and bidding farewell to her youth. And when her husband says he wants to start a family, she begins to panic.

Is this all that life has to offer from now on? Popping out babies and growing old gracefully? She wants a life crammed with glamour and spontaneous adventure, not one full of dirty nappies and night feeds.

When Ally makes a silly birthday wish for a new, exciting life, her wish is granted.

But when Ally is presented with the freedom and opportunities she craves, she soon realises this new life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that there really is no place like home.

Everything Changes But You is available from Amazon here

Ruth loves nothing more than curling up in front of the telly with a family-sized bar of chocolate. She doesn’t do diets and she certainly doesn’t do exercise. But all that changes when she’s invited to her school reunion.

Bullied at school for being overweight, Ruth’s first reaction is to rip the invitation into a million pieces. But then Ruth hatches a plan. She’ll lose the weight and arrive at the reunion looking gorgeous and glamorous, leaving her old classmates in awe. Especially her former crush, Zack O’Connell.

With the help of her friends and a new, unbelievably hot colleague, Ruth begins her transformation. With six months until the reunion, losing weight will be a piece of cake, right?

A Beginner's Guide To Salad is available from Amazon here

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 Year Blogiversary!

Five years ago today, I set up this blog (then named mamajheartschicklit). It was completely anonymous and I didn't tell anyone 'in real life' about the blog (not even my husband for a while) as I didn't really talk about my writing back then. I thought it was a silly dream that wouldn't actually come true so I mostly kept it to myself.

You can see in my very first post that everyone has code names - Mama J (me, which stands for Mama Jellyfish, which Rianne used to call me when she was little), The Partner (Chris, who is now The Husband), The Jellyfish (Rianne. I used to call her Jellyfish when she was little. She's 13 now and I don't think the nickname will fly anymore) and Boo (Isobel, who is still called Boo at home).

A lot has happened since that first post five years ago. I'm no longer anonymous for a start and unfortunately we no longer have our bunny, Oli. We don't have the stick insects either but I'm not quite so sad about that.

We now have two bunnies called Cinnamon and Leah and a Jack Russell called Luna (who likes to chase the bunnies around the garden. They aren't so keen about this).

So what else has happened over the past five years?

I got married, we've been on holiday to New York, Mallorca, Florida and Bulgaria and I discovered the wonderful world of social media where I get to share my love of books with other bookworms and authors.

(FYI, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest)

But one of the most surprising things that has happened since starting the blog is I became a published author! I first self-published, releasing A Beginner's Guide To Christmas, A Beginner's Guide To Salad and Everything Changes But You before I was offered a book deal with CarinaUK (HarperCollins), who published my latest books, The Mince Pie Mix-Up and The Wedding Date.

So a lot has happened over the past five years and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next five will bring!

Come back to the blog this afternoon as I'll be running a giveaway to celebrate my five years of blogging.



Kindle Beach Reads: The Wedding Date

I'm so thrilled that The Wedding Date is part of Kindle's Beach Reads promo, which means that you can now buy the book for just 99 li'l pennies. Yep, 99p - but only today so quick, grab a bargain!

You can buy the book right here or read on for more info.

About The Book

Delilah James, singleton and smoothie-addict, has six months to find a date for her oldest friend’s wedding. Oh, and to prove to her ex, best man Ben, that she has totally moved on since he dumped her out-of-the-blue nine months, eight days and seventeen hours ago…

So, with her two BFFs playing Cupid, Delilah launches herself into the high-tech, fast-paced and frankly terrifying world of dating. Luckily there’s the hot new guy at work, Adam Sinclair, to practice her flirting on – even if, as a colleague, he’s strictly off-limits!

Yet time’s running out and date after disastrous date forces Delilah to tell a little white lie – and invent a fake boyfriend! But will her secret crush on Adam ruin everything? Does she even care about Ben anymore? And is it too late to untangle her web of lies and take a real date to the wedding…?

The Wedding Date is available now

5 Books I've Loved So Far This Year...

As we're now half-way through 2016 (how, I hear you cry! I know. It's gone SO FAST), I thought I'd share 5 books that I've loved so far.

This year I've been catching up on books that have been neglected (either on my bookshelf or Kindle) so some of these gems aren't 2016 releases but I think they deserve just as much of a shout out as their newer book friends (none of us are getting any younger ourselves, right?).

So here goes, in the order I read them:

1

A Home For Broken Hearts

by Rowan Coleman

Is there a cure for a broken heart?

Once upon a time, Ellen Woods had her 'happily ever after' moment when she married her beloved Nick. But fifteen years later her husband's tragic death leaves her alone with their soon-to-become-a-teenager son and a mountain of debt.

On the verge of losing the family home Ellen decides to rent out some rooms, and all too soon a whole host of characters enter her ordered but fragile existence – each with their own messy life in tow. But will this be enough to pull her out of her grief so she can learn to live – and love – again?

2

Goodnight, Beautiful

by Dorothy Koomson

Nova Kumalisi would do anything for her closest friend, Mal Wacken. She owes him her life. So, when he asked her to be the surrogate mother for him and his wife, in spite of her fears about how it would alter their friendship, Nova agreed.

Eight years later, Nova is bringing up their son alone, and she and Mal don't speak. Months into the pregnancy, Mal's wife changed her mind about the surrogacy agreement. Already suspicious of how close Nova and Mal were, Stephanie realised her strained marriage was in serious trouble when she found a text from her husband to Nova, saying, 'Goodnight, Beautiful'. She asked Mal to cut all ties with his closest friend and unborn child.

Now, seven-year-old Leo is critically ill and Nova, despite her anger and hurt, wants Mal to have the chance to know his son before it's too late. Will it take a tragedy to remind them how much they mean to each other?

3

The Night That Changed Everything

by Laura Tait & Jimmy Rice

Rebecca is the only girl she knows who didn't cry at the end of Titanic. Ben is the only man he knows who did. Rebecca’s untidy but Ben doesn’t mind picking up her pieces. Ben is laid back by Rebecca keeps him on his toes. They're a perfect match.

Nothing can come between them. Or so they think.

When a throwaway comment reveals a secret from the past, their love story is rewritten.

Can they recover from the night that changed everything? And how do you forgive when you can’t forget?

4

My Everything

by Katie Marsh

On the day Hannah is finally going to tell her husband she's leaving him, he has a stroke . . . and life changes in an instant.

Tom's only 32. Now he can't walk or cut up his own food, let alone use his phone or take her in his arms. And Hannah's trapped. She knows she has to care for her husband, the very same man she was ready to walk away from.

But with the time and fresh perspective he's been given, Tom re-evaluates his life, and becomes determined to save his marriage. Can he once again become the man his wife fell in love with, or has he left it too late?

5

Here's Looking At You

by Mhairi McFarlane

Anna Alessi – history expert, possessor of a lot of hair and an occasionally filthy mouth – seeks nice man for intelligent conversation and Mills & Boon moments.

Despite the oddballs that keep turning up on her dates, Anna couldn’t be happier. As a 30-something with a job she loves, life has turned out better than she dared dream. However, things weren’t always this way, and her years spent as the ‘Italian Galleon’ of an East London comprehensive are ones she’d rather forget.

So when James Fraser – the architect of Anna’s final humiliation at school – walks back into her life, her world is turned upside down. But James seems a changed man. Polite. Mature. Funny, even. People can change, right? So why does Anna feel like she’s a fool to trust him?

So those are my 5 books that I've loved so far this year but I'd love to hear yours too! Go on, give a book or two (or five) a well-deserved shout out in the comments below.

2 Romantic Comedies For 99p Each This Summer

To celebrate the *ahem* summer, the price of both A Beginner's Guide To Salad and Everything Changes But You has been dropped to just 99p each. So whether you're off on your holidays or relaxing at home, fill up your Kindle and enjoy!

About The Books

Ruth loves nothing more than curling up in front of the telly with a family-sized bar of chocolate. She doesn’t do diets and she certainly doesn’t do exercise. But all that changes when she’s invited to her school reunion.

Bullied at school for being overweight, Ruth’s first reaction is to rip the invitation into a million pieces. But then Ruth hatches a plan. She’ll lose the weight and arrive at the reunion looking gorgeous and glamorous, leaving her old classmates in awe. Especially her former crush, Zack O’Connell.

With the help of her friends and a new, unbelievably hot colleague, Ruth begins her transformation. With six months until the reunion, losing weight will be a piece of cake, right?

Click here to download

Ally Richmond is dreading turning thirty and bidding farewell to her youth. And when her husband says he wants to start a family, she begins to panic.

Is this all that life has to offer from now on? Popping out babies and growing old gracefully? She wants a life crammed with glamour and spontaneous adventure, not one full of dirty nappies and night feeds.

When Ally makes a silly birthday wish for a new, exciting life, her wish is granted.

But when Ally is presented with the freedom and opportunities she craves, she soon realises this new life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that there really is no place like home.

Click here to download