The Runaway Actress by Victoria Connelly

Connie Gordon is a beautiful, successful Hollywood actress, who on the outside seems to have it all. But inside Connie is deeply unhappy, she has been in the acting business since she was six years old and she has become tired of the lifestyle that goes with it, the constant diets and the cheating boyfriends. It also feels like she is living out her mother’s dream of being an actress.

Connie longs to escape; to a place she can just lose herself, to where she will have some peace and quiet. So when she receives an invite from her fan club in Scotland. She decides to go and visit, to what she thinks is a small sleepy Scottish village called Lochnabrae.

When she arrives in Lochnabrae and meets the locals including her biggest fan Maggie and a reclusive writer called Alistair, Connie finds herself thrown into village life and before she knows it she is involved with the village amateur dramatic society.

Will the sleepy village of Lochnabrae turn out just to be as dramatic and chaotic as the life she has been living in Hollywood?

If you are looking for the perfect book to take to read on your summer holiday then this book is just that. It is a really good fun and entertaining read. This book is just one of those nice care free stories that you can just lose yourself in and is a delight to read. I really enjoyed reading this book. 

Victoria Connelly grew up in Norfolk. After graduating, she worked her way through a number of jobs before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. In 2000 she got married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales and moved to London. After writing articles and short stories, a bidding war between five publishers in Germany resulted in a book deal and the first of three novels published was made into a film.

Her first novel to be published in the UK Molly’s Millions (2009) was a Top Ten e-book bestseller. Victoria has also written a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts. Victoria and her husband recently left London for a cottage in rural Suffolk, where she lives with a Springer spaniel and a brood of rescued battery hens.

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For more information about the author, click here: http://www.victoriaconnelly.com

Better Days Will Come by Pam Weaver

Grace Roberts is a widow, trying to do her best to provide for her two daughters, Bonnie and Rita. It is 1947, the war is over but times are still hard and for Grace they are about to get even more difficult. Bonnie, Grace’s eldest daughter is about to run away to London.

Bonnie thinks that she is about to start a new life, with the love of her life George. But George fails to turn up at the platform, on Victoria station, where the couple had arranged to meet.  Bonnie feels that she can not return home due to the fact that she is carrying George’s baby.

Grace is devastated by Bonnie’s disappearance, but she decides the best thing for her to do is to carry on for her younger daughter Rita. Rita however has her own plans she is about to elope to marry the handsome Emilio. Unknown to Rita Emilio is keeping his own dark secret.

When Norris Finley, Grace’s ill mannered, manipulating boss offers to help her out. Grace as no idea what she is getting herself into.

Will all this trouble cause the family to be pulled apart for ever?

Mystery, family secrets and relationships make this book read like a good drama. There is plenty going on to hold the readers attention. The storyline is excellently thought out and a few twists are added, keeping the reader guessing all the way through the story. I really enjoyed reading this book; it is a book worth reading.

Adopted from birth, Pam Weaver trained as a Nursery Nurse working mainly in children’s homes in the 1960’s. She was also a Hyde Park nanny. Pam has been writing articles and short stories for various magazines for the twenty years. Her stories have been in several anthologies and her story The Fantastic Bubble broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. Her first book There’s Always Tomorrow was published by Avon in 2011.

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Women & Children First by Gill Paul

Women & Children First is a touching tale, about what it must have been like to survive the sinking of the Titanic.

Reg Parton is a good looking young steward, who works in the first class dining room. Reg dreams of one day running his own small restaurant.

Lady Juliette Mason-Parker is an English lady who is pregnant and unmarried. She is travelling to conceal her pregnancy in fear of been ostracised from society.

Annie McGeown is a mother of four, travelling with her children to join her husband in New York to start a new life living there from Ireland.

American millionaire George Grayling and his wife Margaret who have an unhappy marriage and George would like a divorce.

When the Titanic sinks on that fateful day back in 1912, in the North Atlantic, on its maiden voyage Reg, Juliette, Annie and George lives will be shook to the core. The lives of which they have known will change forever. They survived the Titanic, but will they be able to rebuild and survive the lives they now find themselves living?

This is a really moving story that will really touch your heart. The author Gill Paul says that she wanted to explore what it felt like to be on the Titanic and to survive. The main characters are all invented. The main character Reg was inspired by a photograph of a very handsome young man, who was a steward in first class and who died. In real life nothing is known of what happened to him and little is known of his background. Gill Paul created the character of Reg with this picture in her mind. Gill Paul’s characters may be fictitious, but many of their experienced are based on real events, which Gill Paul as researched. As a reader you really do get a feel of what it must be like, the book is excellently written so that it creates the build up and creates atmosphere and emotion of what it must have felt like to be on board, and then to have survived such a terrible disaster.

There is also a mystery theme to the story, which gets you as a reader more intrigued in the story. The chapters are written in such a way that leaves the reader in suspense and anticipation that makes you not want to stop reading and to carry on reading to find out what will happen.

I really enjoyed reading this novel by Gill Paul, it is a superb novel.

Gill Paul lives in London, where she runs her own company producing books for publishers and has worked as an editor and researcher for some eminent historians. Her previous novels include Enticement and Compulsion. She has written several non-fiction books, including Titanic Love Stories (2011) about honeymoon couples on board the doomed ship. During the course of her research, Gill talked to relatives of survivors and became passionately interested in everything to do with the Titanic.

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For more information about the author, click here: http://gillpaul.com/

Idol by Carrie Duffy

After a lucky break winning a talent contest, Jenna Jonsson was now an international pop superstar. She was living the dream. When Jenna after taking a short break in her career, gets the chance to record with a world famous American band called Phoenix, with a dishy drummer called Nick Taylor who for a long time Jenna has had a crush on. Jenna takes the opportunity to work with the band. Jenna can not wait to begin work on the collaboration with the band. But will Nick live up to the dream?

Sadie Lane always dreamed of being a successful dancer, but since she lost out on her big break, when it had been Jenna that had won the talent contest, that they both had entered. Sadie was still working and dreaming of getting her big break. So when Sadie has the chance to join a new stage show in Las Vegas that could make her dreams come true she decides to go for it.

Jenna and Sadie are two girls with completely opposite lifestyles. Childhood rivals, but when the time comes can Jenna and Sadie put their differences aside and work together? Or will old rivalries get in the way?

Idol is a sizzling, sexy and sensational novel. With two strong women as the leading characters that both have ambition and are determined to get what they want out of life. Making this book a great read with a really good storyline, lots of drama and some steamy scenes that are raunchy and racy. (So be warned if you are planning to read this book on the train!) I really enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end and can not wait for the next book from Carrie Duffy.

Carrie Duffy grew up in North Yorkshire before moving to Paris at the age of eighteen. After studying PPE at Trinity College, Oxford, she trained as an actress. She has worked professionally as both an actor and dancer, and she currently lives in West London. Idol is her first novel.

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Silver Storm by Cynthia Wright

This is a Historical Romance novel set in the 18^th century during the American Revolution.

Devon Lindsay is a young innocent girl, who lives with her mother in New London, Connecticut. After the town is ransacked by the British red coats, Devon is rescued by a crew member of a privateer called the Black Eagle. Devon hides on board disguised as a man. The French Captain Andre Raveneau soon discovers her. There is already a history between Devon and Raveneau they have already shared a passionate kiss in the past.

Devon is determined to meet up with her childhood sweetheart Morgan Gadwin, who is fighting in the war. Add in a mysterious character called Jay and which one will our leading lady Devon make her Beau?

Silver Storm is a nice easy read that really draws the reader in the first few chapters. What I like about this book is that the author takes a brave risk, by making her leading men not very likeable. I know this will not be to too many readers taste, but I personally feel that this makes the book more true to life. Devon is a very likeable character. I really enjoyed reading this book, which is the first in the Raveneau series and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

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Star Fish by Nicola May

Tired of looking and being unlucky in love, thirty-two year old singleton Amy Anderson decides to join a dating agency. Amy’s plan is to go on different dates with men from each sign of the Zodiac. My hopes this will help her to find her soul mate.

What follows are a series of hysterical dates and situations. Can Amy a dreamy Piscean plan find her the man of her dreams?

This is a brilliant book by Nicola May. The book is a real laugh, written in a nice fast witty pace, as we follow Amy on her quest to find her Mr Right. With some great characters, steamy scenes and just a touch of sadness that does slightly alter the pace and emotion of the story, but the book soon returns back to humour and all in all is a fun chick lit story that is worth the read.

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The Reverse Deal by Martin Sandforth

Edward Harris sells his share in his private investigation business to build houses with his brother Joe. Finding that money is running low in his new venture, Edward looks into getting temporary work with a former business associate called Jasper Coleheart. Jasper entrusts Edward with several tasks including the recovery of confidential documents from a deposit box in an Amsterdam bank vault. All goes well until Edward hears the shocking news that Jasper has been murdered. Edward, seeking justice follows the trail of evidence in Amsterdam hunting for Jasper’s murderer. But what will happen when Edward himself, becomes hunted by violent criminals? And what exactly is The Reverse Deal?

This is the debut novel from Martin Sandforth. This is a crime thriller with murder, kidnap and action. The way the book is written is very much like a screen play. The narration is very descriptive and does go into a lot of detail. The story is set in the USA, UK and Europe.

Born in 1960 in Altringham, Martin Sandforth the author of The Reverse Deal, moved to Abingdon with his parents for a short while before returning to Cheshire. As a young man, he left home to study a degree in engineering. Currently he lives with his wife in Cheshire, England. Some of his many interests include writing, reading, painting, meditation and computer programming.

To buy this book from Amazon UK, click the following link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006NAAONE

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