What We Did This Summer

I know it isn't officially autumn yet, but the summer holidays are pretty much done and dusted (I have one child back in school and one returning tomorrow) so I thought I'd look back at the last couple of months.

It's been quite a busy couple of months for me, with two book releases; A Beginner's Guide To Saying I Do and the paperback publication of The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea.

The second book in the Beginner's Guide series was published mid-August and I've been busy planning lots of book extras to put up on the blog. I've been working on the book for a long time (since 2015!) so it was exciting finally releasing into the world of Amazon.

The ebook edition of The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea was published back in June, but the paperback was released on 24th August, which was an amazing moment as it's my very first paperback. It was a surreal moment popping into my local Sainsbury's and seeing it on the shelf!

I had to wait a week to actually see the book on the shelf, as I was on holiday at the time of release and it sold out at my local Sainsbury's on the first day. I had to wait until they'd restocked before I go and see it 'in the wild' and have a stroke/sniff/take a shelfie.

The weather hasn't been too good during the school holidays, but we did manage to get out to Uppermill for a day out of feeding the ducks, going on the barge, and eating ice cream, and we went bowling and to the arcade which was fun (and dry).

Thankfully the weather improved for our holiday to Blackpool. We decided to stay in the UK this year and have a few days at the seaside, which was a lot of fun. We built sandcastles, flew a kite and had a paddle at the beach, spent the day at the zoo and went to the Tower Circus. You can see my blog post about our fun here

At the beginning of the school holidays, I gave Rianne and Isobel a little gift each; their own copy of Colin Dann's The Animals of Farthing Wood for our summer read-along.

It's my favourite childhood book and I couldn't wait for us to read it together. As well as the book, we also had the magazines to read (which were out in the 90s and I've collected from eBay) and the DVD to watch.

We didn't quite manage to read the whole book over the summer, but we've only got a few more chapters to go.

As well as The Animals of Farthing Wood, I also wanted to re-read some other books over the summer. I chose Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge, Rainy Days & Tuesdays by Claire Allan, and Snap Happy by Fiona Walker.

I also read Vicky Pattison's My Sister's Wedding and I'm currently reading The Angel at No. 33 by Polly Williams.

The summer has been fun (even if there's been far too much rain this August) and it passed way too quickly!

What did you get up to this summer?