The People's Friend - Ploughing On

 

Gorgeous illustration by Ged Fay for my Plough Monday inspired rural coming of age/romance mystery story. It's still available in the weekly The People's Friend magazine!

The Mermaid's Gift - Fishy Tales, A Magical Sea Stone and Romance

 

Gorgeous artwork is by Sailesh Thakrar

In The Mermaid’s Gift, an old family story about a mermaid encounter brings romance and drama.

♡

“My grandfather, Josiah Young…” he began, coughing as he always did. I once heard Grandmother say to Mum that she always knew the old boy was lying when he coughed, but I didn’t believe that. “…once saw a mermaid.”

Viking Hygiene - The Bride Who Rode in With the Storm

As an accompaniment to my historical romance, The Bride Who Rode in With the Storm (published by Satin Romance), this blog series has been examining different aspects of Viking culture. Last time, it was clothes and jewellery.

 Other posts include:

Viking homes

The Vikings in Norfolk

Gods and Folklore

For this one, I’m focusing on Viking hygiene. This subject features heavily in Bride as a means for Rosa and Grimulf to get comfortable with one another 😉

Short Story - On St Mark's Eve - The People's Friend Special

In this month's issue of The People's Friend Special is my short story On St Mark's Eve - a folklore romance with rivalry, ghosts and smuggling! Illustration is by Sailesh Thakrar :)

Lord Winterton's Secret One Year Anniversary - Inspiration and Landscape

It will soon be the one year anniversary of my Regency romance mystery, Lord Winterton’s Secret, published by DC Thomson/The People’s Friend on the 20^th of January 2022.

Other versions include a large print edition published by Ulverscroft and a self-published digital edition with the title Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord (which was the original title when the manuscript was first submitted to The People’s Friend!). The kindle version is the author’s original version, without any changes to fit the publisher’s inhouse style or wordcount.

 

Lord Winterton’s Secret was my first pocket novel. Pocket novels are a series of quick holiday reads, just under 200 pages, with a limited print run. To celebrate the book’s anniversary, I thought I’d write about what inspired me as well as any major changes the story went through during the first draft stage.

A Light On The Horizon - Writing Process

With the release of another of my short stories in The People’s Friend magazine, A Light On The Horizon, I’ve decided this blog post will be about my writing process for historical fiction 😊 It’s an adventure romance set on the Norfolk coast with lighthouses, smugglers and a great big storm! Currently available in issue 236 of The People's Friend Special.

 (Some pictures may need to be clicked on to better see the text)

Gorgeous illustration by Mandy Dixon

Growing up, I loved reading fiction which wove lots of historical detail into the narrative. When I come up with ideas for my own stories, I like to focus on one interesting fact, such as local folklore or how ice-cream was made in the 19^th century, and shape the plot and characters around this. As most of my stories are set along Norfolk’s coast, countryside or in Norwich city, I also include a regional meal or location.

The Rogue Redcoat - The People's Friend Pocket Novel

I'm excited to announce another of my pocket novels has been released by The People's Friend :)

One soldier in the ranks was not all he seemed...

When Tabitha Wynmere’s younger brother is kidnapped, she steals his spare uniform and braves the wild beauty of the Highlands. What she doesn’t expect is to have a knife held to her throat by a handsome, battle-scarred Scotsman hiding in the woods. However, Hamish is more involved in her brother’s disappearance than she realises.

Set a year after the Battle of Waterloo, The Rogue Redcoat centres around the clearing of Highland crofts to make way for sheep, one of the main causes for Scottish families emigrating to America and Canada.

New kindle release - Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord!

 

Now available on Amazon is my Regency romance mystery, Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord!

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‘August did not move from where he hid, partially concealed by a damask curtain so thin they might as well be side by side. His held breath was more to hear her own ragged pants than to conceal himself.

Cheek tense from her withheld anger, the rest of Virtue’s body thrummed minutely. Tempting enough for him to reach out and smooth into softness, as one would do with clay.

Then he noticed her hands were shaking. She clasped them to hide her nerves, anger fracturing into anxious energy.

There was plenty for her to tremble over tonight. He could not understand her attraction to Jeb. He was a man of violence; none could change his ways. During his shifting moods, he always turned on any woman who tried to claim him.

August’s own frustration wavered, though he tried to hold on to his annoyance. If not, then his own doubts would assail him. When he had come across the pair, he had only meant to chase Jeb off. He had not realised how close they were to peril.

If Jeb had thrown Virtue aside any harder, she would have been over the edge before August had a chance to catch her. A small knot throbbed in his throat as he remembered the way something in his chest had gone still when he saw her hair stream behind her, hands blindly thrust out to stop her fall.

A trickle of his blood stained her blouse, smeared on there from the wound upon his head. Now, he no longer felt the cold of the night he had escaped. He did not even realise his pain had dulled, too distracted by this woman who was friend and stranger.

He might have considered her lost to Jeb entirely were it not for her actions. She had shielded him from further harm. He still felt the frantic beat of her pulse upon his cheek.

As though she sensed the intensity of his thoughts, Virtue’s head slowly lifted. Her shadow went still.

He half-held his breath, knowing he could not escape this confrontation. Her hand reached out, clenching the curtain and pulling it aside.’

None dare approach the dilapidated manor house on the dunes. Widower Lord Winterton is beset with rumours of being a foul sea spirit who ferries off unattached women to his secret tunnels.

Headstrong Virtue Browne has little time for gossip. To her, Lord Winterton is sweet and gentle August, who she used to play with on the sands, and who has now employed her to teach his daughter.

However, it has been years since they last saw one another. Local innkeeper Jeb Strawhouse has pledged to ruin the other man for some past injustice while August would happily see him hang.

Who can Virtue trust? Will the governess’s curiosity be satisfied or will her voice become another mournful cry that causes men to shudder at night?

A late Georgian gothic romance set along the Norfolk coast, with drama, mystery and smugglers.

This story was previously published by The People’s Friend as a paperback pocket novel titled Lord Winterton’s Secret. There is also a large print edition published by Ulverscroft under the same name.

Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord - Cover Reveal

 

Gorgeous cover art by Marcia Dye for my next kindle release, Curious Governess, Dangerous Lord, which will be a re-release of my The People's Friend pocket novel, Lord Winterton's Secret :) Ulverscroft will also be releasing the large print version of Lord Winterton's Secret in September.