On the Tenth Day of Christmas…

18 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “in the cold” Find the previous clue in yesterday’s blog post.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Ninth Day of Christmas…

17 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “perched” Find the previous clue in yesterday’s blog post.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Eighth Day of Christmas…

16 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “so purposefully” Find the previous clue in Friday’s blog post.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Seventh Day of Christmas…

13 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “Christmas pudding” Find the previous clue in yesterday’s blog post.  Next instalment on Monday…

On the Sixth Day of Christmas…

12 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “wrapped” Find the previous clue in yesterday’s blog post.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Fifth Day of Christmas…

11 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “the gaily” Find the previous clue in yesterday’s blog post.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Fourth Day of Christmas…

10 December, 2013

My true love gave to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “about it,” See the previous clue here.  Next instalment tomorrow…

On the Third Day of Christmas…

9 December, 2013

My true love gave to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “a little macabre” See the previous clue here.  Next instalment tomorrow…  

On the Second Day of Christmas…

6 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “something…” See yesterday’s clue here.  Next instalment Monday…

On the First Day of Christmas…

5 December, 2013

My true love sent to me… Win all the books in our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway – find out how here. Today’s snippet from The Mischief of the Mistletoe: “There was…”    

Get ready for our 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

4 December, 2013

  Starting tomorrow, we’ll be celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas – with a literary twist! So if you fancy a bit of festive fun and a chance to win a lovely pile of books, follow this blog and look out for a snippet of text from a line in the festive mystery, The Mischief […]

What’s better than playing with a toy train?

3 December, 2013

Did you like to play with trains as a kid? I certainly did.  Seeing as one of my favourite books as a child was The Little Engine that Could, the Christmas where Santa brought me a steam-engine-train-set remains a highlight in the memory bank of past Christmasses. I’d still get a kick out of one […]

Have your cake and eat it.

26 November, 2013

There’s a National Day of Something for every day of the year.  And we’ve come to the point where we’re doubling up – there aren’t enough days in the calendar to give a National Day to all the Somethings we want to dedicate a National Day to. And half the time we get confused with […]

Friday Fun: Alternative Book Titles…

15 November, 2013

Oh, the little pleasures in life.  Hearing a robin sing, kicking up a pile of crunchy autumn leaves, sipping the perfect cup of tea, coming across an accidental renaming of  a book title… You know what I mean – when someone  refers to a book, say, called The Yellow Dog, when it’s actually The Yellow […]

A Yak’s Lesson on How to Rope a Reader in…

28 October, 2013

For those who complain that they have no time to read a whole novel, I’ve come across a lovely little site called YakTale (great name) – where you can take your pick of short stories (from known and unknown writers) listed with the amount of time it takes to actually read it – anywhere between […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Choose your favourite Nicholas Bracewell cover…

16 October, 2013

We’re waiting expectantly for the next three books in the Nicholas Bracewell series to arrive from the printers. I’m actually looking forward to the act of unpacking and placing them on the bookshelf next to the other titles in the series. This probably borders on book-fetishism but the attractive packaging is immediately heightened when the […]

Celebrate Children’s Book Week!

7 October, 2013

Today marks the start of Children’s Book Week – with special events and activities taking place in bookshops and libraries across the country, aimed at encouraging children to explore the joys of reading… and an excuse for us adults to think about our favourite childhood reads. You can find out more about the celebrations on […]

History in the Court, Forsyth in the Building and Anderson in the Air

30 September, 2013

Last week finished on a high. On Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the annual History in the Court event which sees writers of historical fiction and non-fiction, literary agents, publishers and the reading public gather at Goldsboro Books in London to celebrate the historical genre over wine and canapés. It was a chance […]

The mystery of the Lake District

6 September, 2013

This week, I had to confess to some family friends that after fourteen years of living in the UK, I had yet to visit the famously stunning Lake District. Considering how much I love hiking and the outdoors there really is no logical reason for this oversight, but the fact remains that the closest I’ve […]

Three cocktails in, and Sara still spots grammar mistakes…

22 August, 2013

So, last night we bade farewell to the lovely Sara Magness, taking ourselves off to the London Cocktail Club in Goodge Street (barely visible but for a small sign pointing underground somewhere between Nandos and The Newman Street Tavern – who knew?) to drown our sorrows  in martini mixes and the like. The old-school-music track […]

A less-than-typical London Tour…

20 August, 2013

This weekend, I enjoyed a lovely surprise-visit from my Italian cousin and her family, which saw me taking them on an afternoon walk through a bit of London. I find the responsibility that comes with playing ‘London guide’ quite daunting, especially when you’ve only got a few hours to play with and the aim was […]