Hi
I’m just back from a week in Menorca. We’ve never been there before and it is beautiful, peaceful and the water is incredible. But it was hot! I wouldn’t normally complain about that because usually when we go on holiday somewhere hot, it’s cold and bleak in the UK so it feels like a treat. but it was stinking hot at home too. It was amazing to dip into the sea and swim when the heat got too much, which can’t happen very easily at home, and the solid week of reading was a huge bonus too. We stayed in Cala Galdana and as well as this beautiful beach on out doorstep, we hiked through the woods one day to an even more beautiful one, and went to yet another on a boat trip. It felt like being in paradise.
The week before the Menorca trip, I’d been in London at a publishing conference so I popped into the new romance-books-only bookshop in Notting Hill, Saucy Books. It was so fab! They had a really good range of all kinds of romance, their theme at the moment is beach reads which was perfect for picking up some holiday reading. More on that later…
Croftwood makeover
The Croftwood series has had a makeover!
I love the colours and I can’t tell you how much fun it was to decide on what the characters from each book looked like. I got to choose their clothes and everything. But inside they’re the same books, nothing else has changed. If you haven’t discovered the delights of Croftwood, you could dip into any of them to get started. They’re all standalone stories even though some of the characters pop up in the other books.
I had some fun tonight taking the picture for the top of the newsletter, and I thought you might enjoy this unauthorised picture captured by Mr W of me looking a little less poised. It’s not always glamorous being an author!
Reading and watching
I read some fabulous books on holiday. The one in the photo of me outside Saucy Books is How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. It started off a little bit dark but quickly turns into a brilliantly written story of falling in love with the least likely person in the world. You just can’t see how it’s going to happen but it does, and it’s beautiful. It’s about a novelist whose book is getting made into a TV show – that’s what hooked me, and I was sorry to finish it.
Then I read Just for the Summer by Abbey Jiminez which I bought in the Works January sale for 99p, would you believe it? It’s another really good read with a fantastic meet cute at the beginning that kicks off the story. It’s got a lot of ups and downs for the main character – she’s pretty damaged by her childhood – and it turns out that it’s a sort of sequel to some other books by the same author but it reads as a standalone. It’s heartwarming and I loved it. The main guy is YUMMY!!
I’m not watching much TV since I’m busy writing the new Iceland book. I’ve had some fantastic suggestions of places to visit in Reykjavik that weren’t on my radar at all, so I can’t wait. Come back next month for all the Iceland news!
And in the meantime, happy reading!
Victoria
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