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I have a scene in my new romantic comedy, The Perfect Hero, where my heroine, Kay, makes a cake for Oli – one of the rather delicious heroes. It didn’t take me long to choose the cake she would make for him: lemon drizzle cake. I was first introduced to this lemony wonder a couple of years ago when we were chicken-sitting for friends in Kent and they made us a gorgeous lemon drizzle cake. I begged for the recipe and, now we have hens of our own and a regular supply of eggs, it’s a favourite treat.
Then I read the lovely Miranda Dickinson’s new book, Welcome to My World and guess which cake had a walk-on role? A lemon drizzle! And, just last week, I was reading Freya North’s gorgeous new novel, Chances, and up it popped again - in the sweetest of scenes where her heroine makes it for the new man in her life.
It’s so funny when this happens. When my book, Molly’s Millions, came out, there seemed to be a sudden deluge of heroines who were florists. Then there was a big chocolate craze with novels focussing on this most delicious of delights and now, the shelves of the supermarkets are heaving under the weight of books set in New York.
Perhaps authors are all in tune with each other or there’s a secret muse we all share who flits between us all whispering ideas to us. What do you think?
Continue reading The Magic of Lemon Drizzle Cake »
We’ve now had our lovely ex-bat hens for three whole months and it’s so amazing to see the changes in them. The pecking order – which was established very early on – has remained the same with Dotty at the top although Minnie has been spied pecking at Dotty’s feathers on occasion! Alice, who is regularly pecked by Dotty and Minnie passes it on with gusto to poor Dolly Clare who is definitely at the bottom of the pecking order.
But, for the most part, they all get along well, exploring the garden together in hen harmony. Here they are investigating the chives:
And here’s Minnie enjoying the sun with Molly:
And the gorgeous Dolly Clare with a muddy beak after the rain.
She had really bloomed into a beautiful bird. When we first brought her home, she was thin and her comb, wattles and earlobes were really pale but they’re now a vibrant red and her feathers look positvely golden! Alice is also blossoming although she’s still a little scruff! But the feathers are growing back on her head so she no longer resembles a snooker ball! And Dotty’s enormous comb has shrunk to half its size which is a sign of a happy hen in a healthy environment. And Minnie? Minnie was always a bit of a stunner. What’s really cute about her is that she can hear me rattling the bag of corn from the bottom of the garden and she comes tearing along like Roadrunner to be first in line!
As there’s a surge of growth in late spring, it’s fascinating to watch the hens exploring. There are parts of the garden they favour over others. The potato patch is a favourite place although hubby has to chase them off sometimes before they squash our produce! They also love browsing around the lawn under the apple tree and Dotty and Alice have a special fascination for the lemon balm. Here’s a view I regularly see – Dotty disappearing, beak first!
Continue reading Chickens in the chives »
So much publicity happens online when a new book comes out which is very exciting. Launching my new rom com, The Perfect Hero, has been great fun. I’ve been reviewed by many websites and I’ve been interviewed too and I thought I’d link to some of them here in case you missed them.
The first site to review the book was the marvellous Chicklit Reviews who adored the novel and particularly enjoyed the seaside setting of Lyme Regis. It was also quickly reviewed by Novelicious who loved Nana Craig – one of my own personal favourite characters!
The wonderful Dot Scribbles also reviewed it and said so many lovely things about The Perfect Hero that it had me blushing! And Sarah Broadhurst and Hot Brands and Cool Places loved it too. And I was delighted to find that my book had been chosen as a ‘Book of the Month’ on the Lovereading website.
Then there were the interviews. My Austen Dream World had lots of Austen-related questions for me, Chicklit Central quizzed me on being a writer, and Chicklit Bee had a fun and fast interview technique!
I also wrote a special piece about getting married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales for Chicklit Reviews who were celebrating the Royal Wedding with lots of fun features.
Of course, there were magazines and newspapers too including The Sunday Express, Closer, My Weekly, Jane Austen’s Regency World and The Burnley Express, and I’ll also be giving some talks and books signings later this summer at the Worcestershire Literary Festival and Chawton House in Hampshire.
Phew! And, no doubt, I’ll have it all to do again when my Austen addict books are published in the US in July!
Continue reading Launching Online »
I don’t think the joy of seeing my books in the shops will ever go away. This week, I spotted my first copy of The Perfect Hero in Tesco and squealed – yes, squealed in delight! Even more exciting was seeing it next to books by Jilly Cooper and Lisa Jewell – two of my favourite authors!
So, if you’re doing your weekly shop, be sure to pop a copy in your trolley!
Continue reading That’s my book! »