Wednesday, January 18, 2023

A fun, heartwarming read

 The first thing that caught my eye about The Real Me Because of You by M.J. Apple was the title. Very few novels have memorable names so I immediately gave Ms. Apple a point for creativity. Then I started to read and discovered a sympathetic first-person heroine and her believably unhelpful family. 

Toxic families in books are fun. Readers who never experienced toxic relatives can enjoy the horror and those who have suffered can enjoy the eventual triumph of the downtrodden. Then there’s the third group: those who give thanks that at least their family isn’t THAT bad. Already The Real Me Because of You was looking good.

Isa’s employment situation also resonates with anyone who works to pay the rent while longing for the career of her dreams. She teaches math at a private school when her real interest and talent lie in acting in and directing musicals. Then there’s her high school crush, Ryan, illegitimate son of a British diplomat, who’s turning into her grown-up crush, and the spoiled, rich, mean girl. Who could resist? 

It’s a fun, heartwarming read.

Monday, January 16, 2023

Introducing Victoria and Violet by Rachel Brimble

 Today I'm hosting Rachel Brimble, author of twenty-nine novels, most recently, Victoria and Violet

Introducing Victoria & Violet…

My latest book, Victoria & Violet, is the first novel in my brand-new Royal Maids series and I am super proud of it because it is the first book in which I have included real people and real events alongside the fictional. To do this has been an ambition of mine ever since my first book was published in 2007 so having achieved it feels like a very big deal.

Best of all, readers and reviewers are loving it, too!

Although Queen Victoria, Lord Melbourne, the Duchess of Kent, Lehzen and others feature in the book, the story really revolves around the lives and burgeoning romance of fictional housemaid Violet Parker and fictional assistant to Lord Melbourne, James Greene. These two characters were a joy to create, and their electricity was immediate which made a usually hard job all the easier!

Their paths have crossed a few times before the book opens, but the interest is firmly in James’s court (so to speak!), rather than Violet’s who has far more important and life-changing things on her mind than romance, such as escaping the clutches of her overbearing mother and forging a life of her own. Of course, it is not as though Violet would ever consider James a possible suitor considering his superior status…yet he really is most persistent!

All too soon, James and Violet are thrown together over and over again as their roles become ever more important to Victoria and Lord Melbourne. Amid a court that travels from the gardens of Windsor Castle to the corridors of Buckingham Palace to the wedding of the Queen herself, Victoria & Violet takes you on an adventure of drama, intrigue and romance that I hope has you quickly turning the pages!

Why not give it a try?

Happy reading,

Rachel x

It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent.

Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

BUY: https://geni.us/u0GmS5

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press and released 17th October 2022.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

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