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romance

The Woman Who Met Her Match – Fiona Gibson.

24th April 2017 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

What if your first love came back on the scene . . . 30 years later?

After yet another disaster, Lorrie is calling time on online dating. She might be single in her forties, but she’s got a good job, wonderful children and she’s happy. This, Lorrie decides, is going to have to be enough.

That is, until she receives a very unexpected request from France. Antoine Rousseau, who had once turned a lonely French exchange trip into a summer of romance, wants to see her – after thirty years.

But Lorrie is a responsible woman. She can’t exactly run off to Nice with the man who broke her teenage heart . . . can she?

(buy at Amazon – affiliate link)

As part of the blog tour for The Woman Who Met Her Match by Fiona Gibson, I’m very pleased to be hosting a guest post from Fiona.

WHAT I’D LIKE TO TELL MY YOUNGER SELF / FIONA GIBSON

How do you feel about growing older? Certain aspects I could do without. I won’t pretend to love the odd niggling aches, or my hair rapidly dehydrating, while another sort of hair suddenly pokes, defiantly, out of my chin. I’m not crazy about having to buy my clothes in posher stores (whereas an eighteen year-old can look great in an £8.99 dress, I most definitely do not). But having said all that, there’s one aspect of being older which knocks the sock off one’s wrinkle free youth – and that’s reaching a point in life where you know stuff.

It’s a definite benefit of just getting on with life, making a ton of mistakes and learning a few lessons along the way. Here’s what my current 52 year-old self would like to tell the young girl I once was…

– Stop worrying! Seriously – you worry so much about what people think of you, specifically your parents and colleagues but really, pretty much anyone you happen to encounter. You know you’re a bit loud, but really you’re quite shy and insecure underneath. Please believe me that it really doesn’t matter whether everyone likes you or not. Plenty of people do, and they’re the ones who matter. Life will become instantly less stressful if you just try to relax.

– A note on friends. These are the people who will bring you great joy throughout life. Don’t judge them, and do forgive their careless mistakes – because you’ll make plenty of your own. Never take them for granted. Nurture these friends and you will still be crying with laughter on a beach, drink in hand, in your dotage.

– Career-wise, you’re ambitious and love your job more than almost anything else in your life. This will change as you grow older, settle down and have a family, and that’s fine; earning a living will fit in around many other things. Right now, you think nothing of grafting away at your desk at 10 pm. However, you may be surprised by your urge to have a family and the joy they bring you too.

– Don’t panic: having children will not mean the end of your working life forever. They are only young for a very short time. You can scale down your job, then scale it up again. It is entirely possible – life has a habit of being very accommodating in this way. To inspire you and cheer you along, you’ll be surrounded by brilliant, hard-working, resourceful women all managing to do precisely that.

– A note on your parents. When your mum starts to need daily help – and it turns out she has an incurable illness – you’ll panic at first, and feel terrified that you won’t be able to manage. But you’re not alone; your family, friends and the health professionals you end up getting to know will be brilliant. And you will cope.

– A note on your naturally light brown hair. Please, never again have it cropped short and dyed black – unless you want to look like Hitler.

– Drink some water from time to time.

– Stop fixating on your supposed ‘faults.’ Yes, your nose is quite large (just like your dad’s), and that’s why they called you Concorde at school – but it’s not massive. Well, not that massive. Although you won’t believe me now, you will never have an operation on it.

– Gin jelly does not count as ‘food’.

– I’m sorry, but hangovers will become much, much worse as you grow older. By the time you hit your late thirties, you will no longer be able to shrug them off with a bacon sandwich and a can of Coke. In the worst worst cases, they can be mistaken for full-on mental collapse. But, fear not – all is not lost! You can still go out, have fun, dance madly and drink alcohol. You will still overdo it sometimes – perhaps you will never entirely get to grips with the concept of ‘moderation’ – but the occasion has to warrant the morning after. In other words, the hangover after a night on the lash with your best women friends is most definitely worth it. The one caused by slugging tepid Echo Falls at the kitchen table probably isn’t.

– Don’t sell your records. In a few years’ time you’ll want them all back.

– Finally, yes, it might feel as if there are many things to worry about right now – but, honestly, growing older shouldn’t be one of them. It’s fine, it really is. Of course, you’ll look older – so will everyone else – but underneath you’ll be exactly the same as you are now. In fact, in many ways, life is better as an older person. You won’t lose as many jackets. The friends who matter will still be your friends. And there will even be some food in your fridge.

***

I really rather love this. And I’m enjoying the book – not least because I might once upon a time have had a boyfriend in Paris… full review to follow when I’ve finished reading!

You can find Fiona on twitter, and the rest of the blogs taking part in the tour below.

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Filed Under: Book club Tagged With: Avon, Fiona Gibson, Paris, romance

The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak

29th June 2015 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

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Buy at Amazon

Perfect for fans of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak is Stonewall Award-winning author Brian Katcher’s hilarious he said/she said romance about two teens discovering themselves on an out-of-this-world accidental first date at a sci-fi convention.

When Ana Watson’s brother ditches a high school trip to run wild at Washingcon, type-A Ana knows that she must find him or risk her last shot at freedom from her extra-controlling parents.

In her desperation, she’s forced to enlist the last person she’d ever want to spend time with—slacker Zak Duquette—to help find her brother before morning comes.

But over the course of the night, while being chased by hordes of costumed Vikings and zombies, Ana and Zak begin to open up to each other. Soon, what starts as the most insane nerdfighter manhunt transforms into so much more. . . .

I started this in a tent at Kentwell on our last morning there, having had it sat throughout the week untouched. There isn’t actually a lot of spare time around the whole wrangling children, reenacting and walking to and fro that goes on there.

Shame really, as it’s exactly the kind of light entertainment I could have done with if I hadn’t been kind of exhausted throughout. It’s not challenging at all, and nothing terribly unexpected, but for those days that you just need something fluffy, pretty much perfect.

The romance is lighter than expected, it’s more about coming of age distilled into one evening. Think John Hughes movie without the depth and you’re in the right zone. There is a little romance, as well as a lot of silliness and a fair number of in jokes, so if you’re not up to date with your Trek v Wars, some of this may go over your head.

Do I recommend it? If you’re looking for good YA romance, I’d go for a Jen E Smith first of all to be honest, but if you like a bit of SF con with your romance, this will be perfect. I’ve handed it off to the teen, I’ll let you know what she thinks if she gets round to reading it.

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Filed Under: 2015, Book club, It's where it is, read52 Tagged With: Improbable theory of Ana and Zak, romance, SFF con, YA

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

It's not me, it's you. Mhairi McFarlane

17th October 2014 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

I have read previous Mhairi McFarlane books. I thought I’d reviewed at least one, You had me at Hello, but if I have, I can’t find it right now. Oops.

So, we’re firmly in romantic self discovery territory here. The blurb:

Delia Moss isn’t quite sure where she went wrong.

When she proposed and discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else – she thought it was her fault.

When she realised life would never be the same again – she thought it was her fault.

And when he wanted her back life nothing had changed – Delia started to wonder if perhaps she was not to blame…

From Newcastle to London and back again, with dodgy jobs, eccentric bosses and annoyingly handsome journalists thrown in, Delia must find out where her old self went – and if she can ever get her back.

its not me its you mhairi mcfarlane

Pre order It’s Not Me, It’s Youat Amazon (where you can download a sample to kindle)

I rather like Delia. A talented artist who doesn’t have the courage to show anyone her art, she’s sprinting headlong into middle age, not noticing that her prospective fiance has drifted off along a different path. So she ups sticks and heads for the big smoke, to try to work out who she is and what she wants, and it’s all so very much more complicated than she ever dreamed possible.

There’s the guy who is cyber stalking her, the freelance journalist who is impossibly handsome and loathes her boss and her boss, who loathes the freelance journalist. And of course, the ex boyfriend. But will he stay ex?

I’m not going to spoil the plot, I don’t do that sort of thing. Overall, I loved this travel of self discovery along a romantic rollercoaster. There were one or two bits that didn’t quite feel like they fitted the character, and some slang that I’m obviously too old or unhip to understand (I resorted to asking twitter, obviously!) but overall I was rooting for Delia and her bloke.

I was quite surprised by the emotional twists and turns, and particularly by how I was feeling near the end (curiously flat) but I persevered, and it was very much worth it.

Not world changing, but some good life advice in there despite that, and a very pleasant way to spend an evening.

If you’d like to share what you’ve been reading, here’s the linky for just that purpose.

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Filed Under: It's where it is Tagged With: It's not me it's you, Mhairi McFarlane, romance, romantic comedy

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