Wednesday 26 April 2017




                                       Dreaming of Venice 
                                              by T.A.Williams

Today is my stop on the Dreaming of Venice blog tour and it is my pleasure to tell you about a wonderful, romantic story that will melt your heart. 

                                                                      Summary
Find love, friendship and prosecco – in the magical city of Venice.

Life is tough for Penny. A dead end job in a London café, a boyfriend in Australia (what could go wrong?) and an art career going nowhere. But then Penny is approached with an extraordinary proposition.

It isn’t going to be easy but, if she can pull it off, she will turn her life around and at long last see the fulfilment of her dream – to visit Venice. And, just maybe, find true happiness with the handsome man of her dreams.

But can dreams come true?

                                                                      My Review


This is the first T.A Williams book I have read, and it won't be my last. It was such a lovely read! The main character Penny is so incredibly likeable, I found myself rooting for her from the word go.

The gorgeous descriptions of Venice heightened my desire to visit the beautiful city, although I do feel like I've managed a brief visit with Penny.  I loved her friendships with Olivia, Caroline and Jimmy. and the romance?... be still my beating heart! 

What I really enjoyed about Dreaming of Venice is how charming it was, how quickly it captivated me and how it made me desperate to know what would happen next. 

A fantastic read, one to make you smile and swoon! 


Information about the Book

Title: Dreaming of Venice
Author: T. A. Williams
Release Date: 24th April 2017
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Canelo
Format: Ebook 

                                                             Author Information


My name is Trevor Williams. I write under the androgynous name T A Williams because 65% of books are read by women. In my first book, "Dirty Minds" one of the (female) characters suggests the imbalance is due to the fact that men spend too much time getting drunk and watching football. I couldn't possibly comment. Ask my wife...
My background, before taking up writing full time, was in teaching and I was principal of a big English language school for many years. This involved me in travelling all over the world and my love of foreign parts is easy to find in my books. I speak a few languages and my Italian wife and I still speak Italian together.
I've written all sorts: thrillers, historical novels, short stories and now I'm enjoying myself hugely writing humour and romance. My most recent books are the What happens… series. What happens in Tuscany reached #1 in the Amazon.uk Romantic Comedy chart and What Happens on the Beach, the last in the series, came out in July. Chasing Shadows is still romance, but with the added spice of a liberal helping of medieval history, one of my pet hobbies. I do a lot of cycling and I rode all the way to Santiago de Compostela on a bike a few years back. This provided both the inspiration and the background research for Chasing Shadows.
I’m originally from Exeter, and I’ve lived all over Europe, but now I live in a little village in sleepy Devon, tucked away down here in south west England. I love the place.









Wednesday 19 April 2017

                             Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett 



Greatest Hits is a biography of the fictional singer songwriter Cass Wheeler, it charts her highs and lows and through the lyrics of her songs, takes the reader on the journey that has been her life so far.

Laura Barnett is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. Her debut novel The Versions of Us was a superb masterpiece, so when I was sent an arc of Greatest Hits I was both extremely excited, and a little nervous. Eva ( The Versions of Us ) is one of my favourite fictional characters, she made me love her from the first page, and with every chapter of her story I cared more and more, could Cass ( Greatest Hits ) do the same? 


Cass Wheeler - a British singer-songwriter, hugely successful since the early 70s, whose sudden disappearance from the music world three decades later has been the subject of intense speculation among her fans - is in the studio that adjoins her home, taking a journey back into her past. Her task is to choose sixteen songs from among the hundreds she has written since her early teens, for a uniquely personal Greatest Hits record, describing the arc of her life through song.

It has been over a decade since Cass last put out an album; ten years since a tragedy catapulted her into a breakdown. In the course of this one day - both ordinary and extraordinary - each song Cass plays sets off a chain of memories, leading us deep into her past, and into the creative impulse that has underpinned her work.

This is the story of a life - the highs and lows, love and separation, success and failure. Of what it is to live a fulfilled life, and how to make peace with our mistakes.


I was wrong to be worried, Cass jumped off the page, grabbed me by the hand and pulled me heart and soul into her story. I laughed, cringed, gasped in both awe and horror and cried my eyes out. I had a VERY embarrassing moment when I burst into tears whilst reading in the staff room of a school. Trust me to come across the most heartbreaking moment of the entire story when I was in public! 

Each chapter begins with one of Cass' songs and as it plays an avalanche of memories flood Cass' mind. We follow Cass through the years, from restless and creative child to rebellious teenager. From young, talented and in love to successful artist and survivor. Each stage of her life, each chapter of memories exposing the deepest thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears of the person behind the celebrity. 

Certain aspects of the story touched me deeply, her daughter's story especially was a little too close to home and the emotions were overwhelming. And akin to catharsis in a Greek tragedy, my time with Cass took me on an emotionally charged journey, one that ended with me smiling, feeling renewed, faith in humanity and life restored.

Laura Barnett has collaborated with singer songwriter Kathryn Williams on the lyrics and I cannot wait to hear the melodies that accompany the verses of Cass' life and ( insert a loud and giddy squeeeeeee ) there will be a collaborative tour, author and singer, that as you can probably guess, I am incredibly excited about it! 

I absolutely adored Greatest Hits. Sublime storytelling that will shatter your heart. A gloriously wonderful book! 

Greatest Hits
author: Laura Barnett
publisher: W & N
publication date: June 15th 2017
isbn: 9781474600200
Goodreads
Waterstones
WHSmith


I received a copy of Greatest Hits in exchange for an honest review.




An Unusual Boy