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rachael Lucas

The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas – an #ownvoices review

10th February 2017 by Jax Blunt 13 Comments

Pre order The state of Grace at Amazon (affiliate link).

I’d like to introduce you to a girl. We’re going to have to pop back in time to the last 70s for this one, but I’m sure we can make it.

She’s kind of scruffy, not very fashionable. Tends to frown a bit when she’s concentrating or confused, and that’s a lot of the time when she’s in school. Maths is really easy, reading is her all time favourite occupation, and she’d rather sit in at playtime and teach herself German from a book than risk playing out in the playground with the other girls.

Fast forward to senior school. Her parents pulled out all the stops to get her into a private school (thanks go also to the assisted places scheme, as without it the school wouldn’t have been nearly as good a one) because the girl really really didn’t want to go on to the local high school with the girls who had bullied her throughout primary school. And when you get to 11 or 12 you don’t get to just go play football with the boys any more, even this girl knows that.

Senior school was a bit of a haven once she’d made it to third year and made friends with a new girl who was bigger than most of the bullies. Life got a lot better.

But life was always confusing, because back in the 70s and 80s, girls didn’t get diagnosed with autism, not even high functioning autism or aspergers. (Let’s not get into the debates around functioning labels at this point, that’s what they were known as back then.) And so this girl struggled through life with anxiety, or diverticulitis, or depression, or any number of other issues right up until in her 40s she suddenly got her autism diagnosis.

How different could it have been, if I’d known the truth about myself from an early age? If I’d picked up a book from one of those library shelves and seen myself staring back from the pages. I kind of did – I loved Meg Murry in a Wrinkle in Time. I lived in hope that someone would swoop in from a far off land and rescue me like in The Chrysalids. And if your book had changelings, time travellers, or alien lands I was all over it. But there was never anyone like me, in my world, with my problems that I could recognise.

The State of Grace is the book I’ve always wanted to read. I actually cried with happiness when I finished reading it because it is just so perfect. As regular followers of the blog know I’ve known Rachael for years and been a massive supporter of her writing career throughout. But I would shout about the State of Grace regardless of the author (much like I did with M is for Autism and On the Edge of Gone) because I think it is so so important for our often invisible girls to see themselves on the page. To find a friend in fiction – to know they aren’t alone, they aren’t aliens or changelings, or adrift in time.

Teenage girls can indeed be autistic, and it makes what is a fairly tough time in life anyway into an absolute minefield. If the State of Grace can give people a glimpse into what it can be like and demystify the whole A-word thing a little bit, it will do awesome things. I urge you to read it whether you’re autistic or not because I think Rachael has written an incredibly honest, warm hearted and funny book that deserves the widest possible audience. And also because Grace deserves to have friends, as do we all.

The state of Grace publishes on 6th April this year, and is available for pre order at Amazon (affiliate link) and other bookshops.

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Filed Under: 2017, autism, Book club, It's where it is, read52 Tagged With: aspergers., autism, autistic, book review, high functioning autism, Macmillan kids, ownvoices, rachael Lucas, The state of Grace

Wildflower Bay by Rachael Lucas – review and giveaway

9th August 2016 by Jax Blunt 33 Comments

It is no secret to any of my readers here or on social media that I am a huge fan of Rachael’s work. I’ve known her for years – we first ‘met’ online on email lists back when we were very new mothers, and have been bumping into each on and offline ever since. I’ve been watching her authorly career with awe, as she goes from strength to strength as a writer – I can’t wait to see where she takes us all next.

Wildflower Bay (buy on Amazon) is a return to the world of her first book Sealed with a Kiss (read my review here ) featuring one of my favourite characters, Finn. It doesn’t start on the island though, it starts in the streets of Edinburgh, where we meet up with Isla, a career driven head stylist, who has been so caught up in chasing her dream job that she hasn’t noticed her personal life is somewhat lacking in substance.

I love Isla. Despite her being outwardly completely goal oriented, there’s a lot more going on under the covers, as there always is in Rachael’s books. I get the feeling that I’d get on with her, even though I’d exasperate her by leaving cups in the wrong place 😉 Like all of Rachael’s books, my (signed!) copy sits on my comfort book shelf (what, you don’t shelve books by how they make you feel?) of books I turn to them regularly when I want a bit of escapism from a life with too much lego underfoot. I hope you love them too 🙂

To give you a chance to get to know them, I’m hosting a giveaway for a paperback copy of Wildflower Bay. Isn’t it just adorable?

wildflower bay cover

Have a handy rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to leave a comment, and good luck!

rachael lucas

Rachael juggles working as an author, coach and freelance writer with the aid of quite a lot of tea. She and her partner (also a writer) live by the seaside in the North West of England with their six children.

She is the author of Wildflower Bay, Coming Up Roses and Sealed With a Kiss.

For more about Rachael, visit her website at rachaellucas.com, say hello to her on Twitter @karamina, or find her on Facebook

Sneakily, you can grab part one of the ebook free here on amazon kindle or buy the whole book here

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for review. Amazon links are affiliate links.

Don’t forget to visit the rest of the blogtour, which kicked off yesterday at Lipstick and Lace!

Wildflower-Blogtour

Listed with other Competitions at ThePrizeFinder

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Filed Under: Book club, current, giveaway Tagged With: giveaway, rachael Lucas, review, Wildflower Bay

Coming up Roses by Rachael Lucas

21st May 2015 by Jax Blunt 44 Comments

Coming up Roses Rachael Lucas

Coming up Roses Rachael Lucas

Love can be a thorny issue.

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It’s no secret to anyone here that I’m a huge fan of Rachael Lucas, and that’s not just because I’ve known her for over 12 years now, give or take. Got to love the internet for bringing people together.

I loved her first book, Sealed with a Kiss, and cheered alongside her when it was a Kindle bestseller, and now she’s back with Coming up Roses with PanMacmillan.

This is a fun and friendly romance, set in the quintessential English village and with the requisite cast of village characters. You’ve got everything you could need for a great escapist read – friends, misunderstandings, the occasional broken heart, and of course, the gardens and a dog. While there is romance to this, for me, it’s the friendships and the characters that Rachael so effortlessly draws that make the book a great read, and I was really rooting for Daisy from page 1. Or maybe page 2, with that Proper Grown Up comment 😉

It’s the author’s voice that brings us back time after time, and I can hear Rachael’s through this, perhaps a little more confident than in Sealed with a Kiss, and still as irreverent as ever. I love that one of the characters runs a lifestyle magazine (blogger alert!), that texts are sprinkled through the text, that Daisy has a crush on Monty Don. Rachael writes from experience, having run an award winning blog herself for several years, and also actually knowing how to do things in a garden. (I’m not sure which of these things awes me more to be honest. And I cannot speak as to whether the experience extends to a crush on Monty Don 😉 ) If you’re looking for a feel good summer read possibly to take out in the garden, or on holiday with you, you can’t go far wrong with this.

And, if you’d like to get your hands on a signed copy, you’re in the right place. I’ve one signed paperback to give away, and to make it a little more special, I’m adding a rose pot plant from Appleyard flowers. So it won’t look anything like this picture, but you get the general idea 😉 Skip on down to the rafflecopter widget to enter.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do make sure you follow on with the other tour posts, tomorrow you’re at Sky’s book corner for a Q&A with Rachel herself. Or find out more about Rachael at her website or on twitter.

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Filed Under: Book club, giveaway, read52 Tagged With: blog tour, Coming up Roses, rachael Lucas, roses

Sealed with a Christmas Kiss by Rachael Lucas #thesealquel

2nd November 2014 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

I am very proud to be able to call Rachael Lucas a friend. I was thrilled when her first book, Sealed with a Kiss was a self publishing success, and absolutely over the moon for her when she got a traditional publishing contract with Pan Macmillan.

And now she’s back with a Christmas novella, Sealed with a Christmas Kiss.

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Pre order on kindle | Hive ebook

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Revisiting Kate and Roddy on Auchenmor was always going to be a winner with me, but I’d no idea how much.

Kate has taken to life on the remote Scottish island of Auchenmor like a seal to water: she’s given a new lease of life to the Laird’s estate in her day job; she’s befriended the once-nosy locals; and even young Laird Roddy is not quite so grumpy these days.

Better still, Kate has just had her best idea yet: they’ll turn the castle into the most gorgeous wedding venue in Scotland. The pressure’s on as the first wedding is booked in for Christmas Eve – just weeks away. But with a mismatched bride and groom, a hysterical PR on her case, her own relationship woes and a huge storm blowing in, can Kate pull it off in time?

I can hear Rachael’s voice in this story, and it’s settled into itself even more so than with the first book (which I may have recommended earlier). This has a deft touch to it, and flows along beautifully. You could read this without having read the first, but I’d say why not treat yourself and go for both?

I was privileged to read #thesealquel early, and took it with me to the leisure centre, so that I could enjoy it without child sized interruptions. The only drawback being when I ended up weeping (happily!) in public, as I was completely caught off guard by one of those emotional moments. It’s happened to us all, hasn’t it?

To be honest, it’s not that often that a book brings me to happy tears – yes, I’ve got all over emotional when favourite characters reach noble ends, but I’m more prone to happy sighing when reading romance, so that should give you some idea of how entwined I was with the story and the characters. Roddy and Kate feel like old friends that I should pop by and visit, and it’s the strength of Rachael’s writing that has given them that reality.

If you enjoy a good romance with a spot of comedy, and gorgeous scenery, you really can’t go far wrong with this. Pop over to your nearest ebookshop and get Sealed with a Christmas queued up for delivery – publication date is this week, 6th November.

(and if you need Sealed with a Kiss first, here’s a handy purchasing link for that too. Sealed with a Kiss)

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Filed Under: Book club, read52 Tagged With: rachael Lucas, romance, Sealed with a Christmas Kiss, thesealquel

Sealed with a Kiss by Rachael Lucas: review.

27th March 2013 by Jax Blunt 3 Comments

I follow a lot of authors on twitter. I really enjoy talking with them, and get quite a thrill each time someone famous responds to me, or even better, follows me back. They don’t behave like celebrities, I’m not sure why, but they are pretty normal people. Perhaps it’s because their relationship with us is formed through written words?

This author relationship is a bit different though. I’ve known Rachael, aka Karamina for a very long time. We first met on a homebirth yahoo group before Small was born – given that he’s 10 in May, it will have been over 10 years ago. We lost touch for a while and then reconnected via twitter and blogs and finally met in person at the first cybermummy, which was really rather lovely.

I adore her blog, Tales from the Village, and when I found out she was writing a book, I was fairly sure I’d like that too. There’s a certain level of nervousness though, you know, just in case…

sealed with a kiss rachael lucas

Buy at amazon |On Kindle

Sealed with a Kiss is lovely. I got in on free download from Amazon this weekend – perfectly timed as yesterday I went down with some nasty bug that saw me retreat early to bed. This was just the kind of gentle but enjoyable story I needed – perfect chick lit, with believable characters, a fun storyline and utterly gorgeous scenery.

Not that I’m a visual reader, but the descriptions are good enough that I could catch glimpses of the scenery, and I would quite like to be able to visit the area in question now. And I want to see the seals!

There’s something about reading a book written by someone you know that’s a little bit different. If I tried while I was reading I could hear Rachael’s voice, making it an even more fun experience. There’s a turn of phrase here and there that summoned her instantly to mind and welcomed me in that little bit further.

That’s not to say that you need to know her to enjoy this story. It stands on its own merits perfectly well. Not a challenging read, but that isn’t the design, this is supposed to the literary equivalent of an evening with a friend and a glass of wine, and it worked very well for me in that regard.

And if you rush to Amazon right now it’s freeOn Kindle daily deal 31 July 2014! Quick, grab yourself a kindle bargain.

disclosure . I got this free for Kindle via Amazon. I have not been compensated for this post, links to Amazon are affiliate links, opinions remain my own.

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Filed Under: Book club, It's where it is, review Tagged With: karamina, kindle, rachael Lucas, Sealed with a kiss

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