Category: News Page 23 of 32

COVER & BLURB REVEAL- Abi’s House

On January 21, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

It’s not long now until my next novel, Abi’s House, will be ready to hit the shelves!

Here is the first glimpse of the cover and blurb!!

Blurb

Newly widowed at barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives-style life that Luke, her late husband, had been so keen for her to live.

Abi decides to fulfil a lifelong dream. As a child on holiday in a Cornwall as a child she fell in love with a cottage – the prophetically named Abbey’s House. Now she is going to see if she can find the place again, relive the happy memories … maybe even buy a place of her own nearby?

On impulse Abi sets off to Cornwall, where a chance meeting in a village pub brings new friends Beth and Max into her life. Beth, like Abi, has a life-changing decision to make. Max, Beth’s best mate, is new to the village. He soon helps Abi track down the house of her dreams … but things aren’t quite that simple. There’s the complicated life Abi left behind, including her late husband’s brother, Simon – a man with more than friendship on his mind … Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?

Pre order links coming soon!!

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

Love, Life and Great Women Writing: Come and Meet Katie Fforde, Alice Raine- and Me!

By Jenny Kane

On January 18, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I am flattered, honoured, and delighted to have been invited to be a member of the panel at the following event- with Katie Fforde no less- at the stunning Manor House Hotel, Moreton-in-the Marsh, Cotswolds.

Katie Fforde

Diary of Events at The Manor House Hotel, in conjunction with Richard Kemp from Books Yule Love

Thursday 12th February

With a choice between two great guest speakers:

Join Katie Fforde and panel for an evening of Love,

Life and Great Women Writing

Ticket Price £25

Katie Fforde

Ever since Jane Austin first published, novels

of love, life and social complexity have

dominated British reading. Best-selling

Cotswold author Katie Fforde effortlessly

reinvents the modern romantic novel’s appeal

with the light touch and great voice she brings

to each of her works. Award-winning, crosscutting

novelists Jenny Kane and Alice Raine

join their wit, wisdom, wonder and worth to

Katie’s for an unforgettable evening of great

British writing today.

Admission includes a glass of wine and Katie Fforde’s new hardback

‘A Vintage Wedding’. New hardbacks and classic paperbacks from Katie

& co. are available at heart-melting prices for on-the-spot signing!

****

I have been a massive fan of Katie Fforde since I first read her wonderful novel, ‘The Rose Revived’, so you can imagine how excited I am to be taking part in this event.

With Accent Press manager and owner, Hazel Cushion, hosting the panel, and Alice Raine bringing in a hint of hot romance, it is going to be a wonderful evening in a gorgeous Cotswold setting- so fitting for me after the best selling success of Christmas in the Cotswolds!!

Tickets can be booked now from-

The Manor House Hotel, High Street, Moreton-in-Marsh,

Gloucestershire GL56 0LJ

Tel: 01608 650501 Email: info@manorhousehotel.info

www.cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/manor

We would all love to see you there!

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Guest Post from Tricia Maw: No More Secrets

By Jenny Kane

On January 17, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I am honoured today to have the wonderful Tricia Maw as my guest- writing her very first guest blog! Many thanks for taking the plunge into guest blogger-dom with us today!

Over to you Tricia…

First, I’d like to thank Kay for inviting me on to her blog.

This is a first for me as I’ve never blogged before. I know! I should move with the times but, and those who know me may not believe this, I hate talking about myself!

Anyway, here goes:

NO MORE SECRETS was written about 20 years ago when I was convinced I was going to make my fortune writing for Mills & Boon. I spent one long, hot summer lying in my garden in leafy Warwickshire reading nothing but M&B’s and telling myself it would be easy. How wrong I was!

I was also doing a WEA course in Creative Writing in Leicester at about the same time as a lot of new women’s magazines were appearing and wanting short stories. Again, I thought this would be easy and also instant. Again, I was wrong!

The year after I finished the course, I moved to Devon and joined the local Writers Group. I soon found out how lucky I was – and still am.

Brixham Writers is an exceptional group of people who all write commercially. One of the original founders of the group is Anne Goring who has had several historical Sagas published by Hodder Headline. She also writes lovely stories for Woman’s Weekly. Kate Furnivall is a bestseller with LittleBrown and Linda Mitchelmore has sold many, many stories as well as her novels with ChocLit. And there are lots more of us.

A few months after joining this wonderful group I sold my first story to Woman’s Weekly and then went on to sell quite a few to TAB’s Fiction Feast, as well as most of the other magazines.

I’ve also got a short story in SHIVER, a collection of spooky stories published by Accent Press and I’m in their Christmas collection WISHING ON A STAR – both are available on Amazon Kindle.

Meanwhile, I’d finished my M&B, sent it out, had it rejected and started about 6 other ones, never getting beyond Chapter I.

Then, a couple of years ago M&B (yes, them again) started something called New Voices on line where you could submit the first Chapter of your novel. I promptly dusted off NO MORE SECRETS, which had gone through a couple of name changes and several re-writes, and submitted it. They had over 1100 entries and, although I didn’t win (obviously) I did get on the long list and they asked if they could critique it on-line. The feedback was so positive that a good friend suggested I send it to AudioGo who bought it straight away. So you can imagine my utter despair when, 4 months later, they went into liquidation! Determined not to give up, I sent it to Accent Press (I had met Hazel some years previously) and to my delight, it was published in June last year under their new line Accent Amour. I am now working on my second.

Here is an extract from NO MORE SECRETS. The inspiration was the view from my window in Brixham which looked across the harbour to the site of an old boatyard where a marina was being built. I imagined my heroine. Charlotte Pascoe, returning home to work with her father in the family boatyard, only to discover he is about to the sell the site to Raphael da Silva, a property developer.

‘Good morning, Charlotte. You look as delectable as ever’ Raphael’s eyes travelled lazily over her body, one eyebrow raised as he took in the severity of her clothes, before turning back to the marine prints he’d been studying. ‘These are delightful. Where did you find them?’

‘Matt gave some of them to me,’ she answered uncertainly, unsure how long his apparent good mood would last. ‘The others I bought myself.’

‘I’m glad to see you’re settling in. Have you been busy?’

‘Yes,’ she smiled, relaxing slightly. ‘But I’m enjoying it.’

‘What were you doing with James Hammond last night?’

His abrupt change of subject caught her off guard. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business.’

Two strides and he was hard up against her. Her body imprisoned between his and the desk. He undid the single button of her jacket at the same time as his mouth came down against hers, demanding a response. His kiss was brutal but his hands were gentle, slowly caressing her skin through the soft silk of her blouse. As they reached the swell of her breasts she stiffened, trying to move her head. He raised his lips briefly, his eyes glittering. ‘Don’t fight me, Charlotte,’ he breathed against her mouth before his lips descended again. She felt his hands close round her breasts and, very deliberately, his palms circled her nipples until they rose into hard peaks.

****

NO MORE SECRETS by Tricia Maw is published by Accent Press under their Amour line and is available as a ebook on Amazon – price .99p or as a paperback also from Amazon and Amazon.com

Many thanks, Kay

Triciax

(A website your readers might like to look at is: https://brixhamwriters.wordpress.com)

****

Many thanks Tricia- a fabulous blog!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

Guest Post from Marie Laval: A SPELL IN PROVENCE

By Jenny Kane

On January 14, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I’m delighted to welcome fellow Accent Press author, Marie Laval, to my site today to share a little about the writing of her fantastic new novel.

Over to you Marie…

Hello Jenny and thank you very much for welcoming me on your blog today to talk about A SPELL IN PROVENCE, my contemporary romance suspense recently published by Áccent Press.

Every writer knows how important it is to give the protagonists the right name – it’s important for every single character in the story, but it is even more crucial for the hero and the heroine. When I started writing A SPELL IN PROVENCE, I knew straight away that I wanted my hero to be called Fabien – it was the name of a character in a French television series I adored, back in the eighties. I did however write the first draft of the novel with a heroin called Alex. I liked the name and felt it worked well … up to a point.

I put the book aside to complete another project, and when I returned to it a few months later, I became increasingly dissatisfied with my heroine. Something was missing, both in her personality and in her interaction with Fabien. I realised I needed to make a drastic change. I still wanted her to be determined, brave and resilient. She was after all starting a new life in an old farmhouse in Provence. She had to face a series of strange and dangerous incidents and investigate the ancient mysteries surrounding Bellefontaine. However I also saw her as a bit of a dreamer – as having a softer side. Alex wasn’t the right name any longer. It was too pragmatic, too direct for the woman I now wanted to write about.

One day a new name popped into my mind and I knew this was the one: Amy. It was perfect. Not only was it short and had a lovely sweet ring to it, but I could soften it even further as her relationship with Fabien Coste grew. He would call her ‘Aimée’, which is both a woman’s name and the French for ‘beloved’.

Changing my heroine’s name, and personality, meant an exhaustive rewrite, but at last I was happy!

****

Blurb

With few roots in England and having just lost her job, Amy Carter decides to give up on home and start a new life in France, spending her redundancy package turning an overgrown Provençal farmhouse, Bellefontaine, into a successful hotel. Though she has big plans for her new home, none of them involves falling in love – least of all with Fabien Coste, the handsome but arrogant owner of a nearby château. As romance blossoms, eerie and strange happenings in Bellefontaine hint at a dark mystery of the Provençal countryside which dates back many centuries and holds an entanglement between the ladies of Bellefontaine and the ducs de Coste at its centre. As Amy works to unravel the mystery, she begins to wonder if it may not just be her heart at risk, but her life too.

Buy Links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spell-Provence-Marie-Laval-ebook/dp/B00RVQO8RM/ref=sr_1_8?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420651912&sr=1-8&keywords=accent+press

http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/13421/A-Spell-in-Provence.html

Snippet

He looked down. The light of the rising sun played on his face and made his green eyes seem deep and warm. Time slowed down. The noise from the crowd became muffled and distant, and all she could hear was the crystalline spring water trickling in the old fountain. The spring that ran through the forest between Manoir Coste and Bellefontaine and bound hearts and lives together, or so the spell said … Her heartbeat slowed, or maybe it stopped altogether. It was as if Fabien and she were alone. Desire, fear and another feeling she didn’t recognise overwhelmed her and made her dizzy.

Marie Laval Bio

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie studied History and Law at university there before moving to Lancashire in England where she worked in a variety of jobs, from PA in a busy university department to teacher of French in schools and colleges. Writing, however, was always her passion, and she spends what little free time she has dreaming and making up stories. Her historical romances ANGEL HEART and THE LION’S EMBRACE are published by MuseItUp Publishing. A SPELL IN PROVENCE is her first contemporary romance. It is published by Áccent Press.

****

Great blog! Many thanks Marie.

You can find out more about Marie’s work on her blog- http://marielaval.blogspot.co.uk/

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Coffee Shop Loving and Blogging

By Jenny Kane

On January 10, 2015

In Blog, News

You can’t escape noticing if you read this blog- or any of my novels- that I am rather fond of coffee. (Black please, no sugar).

After all, I have dedicated a growing series of books to its (and let’s not forget the good ole cup of tea’s) ability to bring people together for a chat; proving a much needed period of time away from their otherwise hectic days.

It was this obvious fascination with the power of hot beverages, when placed in a suitable receptacle within Another Cup of Coffee, that led me into my latest venture- something that many would consider my dream job- I am now a coffee shop blogger!!!

A lovely lady called Lucinda Auckland, had read my novel, noticed I lived close to her in Somerset, and got in touch. Lucinda helps to run Phoenix Somerset, a group dedicated to the promotion of local businesses in the county, and to improving life within the county. I was very flattered when Lucinda asked me to use my love of coffee shops to help the cause!

Every week I head into the wilds of Somerset, and spend my time writing in its various coffee shops. As I always write my stories in coffee shops, this is hardly a demanding task. While I’m there, investigating a wide variety of new coffee stops, just before I’m ready to move on, I write a few lines about my writing experience there, and the coffee I drank- always an Americano!

If you want to have a read, you can find my blog in the ‘Arts’ section of the Phoenix site. Check out the blog every Monday to read my latest Have Americano and Pen – Will Travel….. entry!!

I’d love to see you there! And you never know, if you happen to be in a coffee shop in Somerset sometime- I might be in there as well- just having a little look around me for inspiration…

Happy coffee sipping,

Jenny xx

Guest Post by Helena Fairfax: New Beginnings

By Jenny Kane

On January 8, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I am delighted to introduce my very first guest blogger of 2015 today! Please welcome my fellow Accent author, the lovely Helena Fairfax.
Over to you Helena…

New beginnings

A new year is the time when most of us try to make some sort of improvement to our lives. The month of January takes its name from the Roman god Janus, who was the god of new beginnings and transitions. January is a time of year I usually love, as it means a feeling of being “cleansed” and ready to start life afresh with a clean slate.

For some people, though, the New Year can be a time of terrible sadness. If you’ve suffered a recent bereavement, it’s incredibly difficult to look forward with any sort of hope to the future; for the bereaved, the new year often means looking back to the past and the heartache of dwelling on times that are gone.

The heroine of my latest novel, A Way from Heart to Heart, suffers the agony of loss when the husband she is devoted to is killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. It’s the latest in a long line of losses for Kate Hemingway, and in an attempt to prevent further hurt, she’s developed a hard shell around herself.

At the start of my story, Kate has mentally removed herself from the world around her, and her son, George, and her best friend, Orla, are the only people she allows herself to be close to. Kate spends her free time helping disadvantaged teenage girls, one of whom is a refugee from Afghanistan. I took the theme of my story from an old Afghan proverb: ‘There is a way from heart to heart.’ My story is filled with differences in culture: between town and country, between East and West, between rich and poor. And yet despite all these differences, where basic emotions are concerned, the human heart is the same the world over, with the same capacity to for love, and the same ability to endure, despite all the odds.

At the core of my book is a romance, which is the story of Kate’s growing love for the hero, Paul Farrell. But A Way from Heart to Heart also deals with the love between best friends, between families, and with the intensity of teenage love. ‘There is a way from heart to heart’ is the positive, uplifting message I wanted to leave readers with at the end of my novel. I was delighted to read this five-star review on Amazon shortly after the book was released, which said, “Sad in places but lovely book.” I think that summed up what I was trying to achieve!

A Way from Heart to Heart was released by Accent Press on 18^th November.

Here is the blurb:

After the death of her husband in Afghanistan, Kate Hemingway’s world collapses around her. Her free time is spent with a charity for teenage girls in London, helping them mend their broken lives – which is ironic, since her own life is fractured beyond repair.

Reserved, public school journalist Paul Farrell is everything Kate and her teenage charges aren’t. But when Paul agrees to help Kate with her charity on a trip to the Yorkshire moors, he makes a stunning revelation that changes everything, and leaves Kate torn.

Can she risk her son’s happiness as well as her own?

***

Amazon Buy Link: http://authl.it/B00PQRJ0WQ

Social links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/helenafairfax/

Blog: www.helenafairfax.com

Bio:

Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she’s secretly in love with. Happy endings are her favourite, and when the ending of one of her novels won a reader competition for “The Most Romantic Love Scene Ever” it made her day. Helena was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She’s grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in Yorkshire. After many years working in factories and dark, satanic mills, Helena has turned to writing full-time. She walks the Yorkshire moors every day with her rescue dog, finding this romantic landscape the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

***

Many thanks for dropping by today Helena.

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

New Year- New Novel: Stage 1

By Jenny Kane

On January 5, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

It’s a brand new year, and so it’s time to start a fresh novel.

95,000 words of fiction are waiting for me to think them up, and then scribble them into an entertaining order! Daunting? Oh yes!!

Just before Christmas, Accent Press kindly accepted my proposal to write a new full length sequel to Another Cup of Coffee. I thought it might be interesting, as I worked my way through the process of writing the novel, to record each step of my writing journey between now, and the publication of the novel in the Summer.

Stage 1 of the process was the writing of my initial proposal for Another Glass of Champagne– which looked like this! (Excuse my awful handwriting!!)

And then like this!

After my editor had said ‘YES!’ to my idea, it was chapter plan writing time. This meant that I had to pen a few notes for each and every chapter of the so far unwritten pages of Amy, Kit, Jack and Megan’s next adventure.

Only when the chapter plan had been written and accepted, could I crack on with chapter one…and that has just happened!! So, I’d better pop off now and get going. The whole novel has to be drafted by April if it’s to be completed in time!! I’ll kep you update don progress!!

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

Happy New Year!

By Jenny Kane

On January 1, 2015

In Blog, Books For Children, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

Happy New Year Everyone!!

I hope you all had a great evening last night- and you’re not feeling too much the worse for wear!!

As I sit here cradling my habitual cup of black coffee, I can’t help thinking back over 2014. What a year it was!

Beginning with the writing of Romancing Robin Hood last January to May, 2014 then gave me the re-release of Another Cup of Coffee into bookshop paperback format! Then came the release of Romancing Robin Hood, and my first children’s picture book, There’s A Cow In the Flat. Hot on the heels of that I wrote Christmas in the Cotswolds– the third in my ‘Another Cup of…’ series.

To my total surprise and delight, Christmas in the Cotswolds was a best seller in the Amazon charts for several weeks.

Once I’d finished writing my Christmas story, back in August, I began penning my next novel- Abi’s House– which brings us bang up to date!

Abi’s House– a Cornish tale of romance and friendship- will be out in the spring! In the meantime, I have already started work on the novel which will come out after that one!

Another Glass of Champagne will be the next- full length- sequel to Another Cup of Coffee. I am so excited about this novel- and although all I’ve written is the chapter plan- I can’t wait to tell you what Amy, Kit, Megan, Peggy and Jack do next…

I also have some new children’s books coming out later this year. Stay tuned for details of Ben’s Biscuit Tin and Joe’s Letter!!!

Thanks to all you lovely people- all your kind words about my writing- all the book sales you’ve helped me build up- it is looking like 2015 is going to be just as wonderful as 2014 was!! Fingers crossed!!

Happy New Year

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

Stuff that New E-reader with Feel Good Fiction!

By Jenny Kane

On December 26, 2014

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

Hello!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas- and aren’t suffering too much from an over indulgence of mince pies, cream, chocolates and that ‘Oh go on then’ extra glass of port!!

Many of you lovely folk will have had a brand new e-reader for Christmas, and will be just itching to cram it with stories to read. Here are a few suggestions with easy find links from my Jenny Kane stable!! (If you are over 18 and fancy something a little spicier- just follow this link!)

***
Romancing Robin Hood

Blurb

Dr Grace Harper has loved the stories of Robin Hood ever since she first saw them on TV as a girl. Now, with her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’s a successful academic in Medieval History, with a tenured position at a top university. But Grace is in a bit of a rut. She’s supposed to be writing a textbook on a real-life medieval gang of high-class criminals – the Folvilles – but she keeps being drawn into the world of the novel she’s secretly writing – a novel which entwines the Folvilles with her long-time love of Robin Hood – and a feisty young girl named Mathilda, who is the key to a medieval mystery… Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Daisy – who’s as keen on animals as Grace is on the Merry Men – is unexpectedly getting married, and a reluctant Grace is press-ganged into being her bridesmaid. As Grace sees Daisy’s new-found happiness, she starts to re-evaluate her own life. Is her devotion to a man who may or may not have lived hundreds of years ago really a substitute for a real-life hero of her own? It doesn’t get any easier when she meets Dr Robert Franks – a rival academic who Grace is determined to dislike but finds herself being increasingly drawn to…

Buy Links, Amazon UK, Amazon US

***

Another Cup of Coffee

Blurb

Thirteen years ago Amy Crane ran away from everyone and everything she knew, ending up in an unfamiliar city with no obvious past and no idea of her future. Now, though, that past has just arrived on her doorstep, in the shape of an old music cassette that Amy hasn’t seen since she was at university. Digging out her long-neglected Walkman, Amy listens to the lyrics that soundtracked her student days. As long-buried memories are wrenched from the places in her mind where she’s kept them safely locked away for over a decade, Amy is suddenly tired of hiding. It’s time to confront everything about her life. Time to find all the friends she left behind in England, when her heart got broken and the life she was building for herself got completely shattered. Time to make sense of all the feelings she’s been bottling up for all this time. And most of all, it’s time to discover why Jack has sent her tape back to her now, after all these years… With her mantra, New life, New job, New home, playing on a continuous loop in her head, Amy gears herself up with yet another a bucked-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest…

Buy links, Amazon UK , Amazon US

****

Another Cup of Christmas (Sequel to Another Cup of Coffee)

Blurb

Five years ago the staff of Pickwicks cafe in Richmond were thrown into turmoil when their cook and part-owner, Scott was involved in an accident. With help from his wife, friends and the staff at the local hospital, he bounced back.
Now Pickwicks is preparing to host a special Christmas fundraiser to thank the hospital. Pickwicks waitress Megan and Nick, the ward’s administrator are put in charge to organise the whole thing. Megan and Nick’s emails start out as harmless practicality but soon turn flirtatious … Can you actually fall for someone you’ve never met? As the fundraiser draws closer, Megan finds out that Nick is bringing someone, did she imagine the whole thing…

Buy Links– Amazon UK, Amazon US

****

Christmas in the Cotswolds (Sequel to Another Cup of Christmas- can be read as a standalone novella)

Blurb

Izzie Spencer-Harris, owner of the Cotswold Art and Craft Centre, is due to host the prestigious Cotswold Choir’s annual Christmas carol concert in her beautiful converted church. Or at least she was, until a storm smashed a hole right through the chancel roof.
Days from Christmas, Izzie suddenly finds herself up to her neck in DIY, with her last dodgy workman having walked off the job. She does the only thing she can … calls in her best friend Megan to help.
Leaving Peggy and Scott to run Pickwicks Café in her absence, Megan heads to the Cotswolds for Christmas. Within minutes of her arrival, she finds herself hunting down anyone willing to take on extra work so close to Christmas. It seems the only person available to help is Joseph Parker – a carpenter who, while admittedly gorgeous, seems to have ulterior motives for everything he does …
With Izzie’s bossy mother, Lady Spencer-Harris, causing her problems at every turn, an accident at work causing yet more delays, and the date for the concert drawing ever nearer, it’s going to take a lot more than Mrs Vickers’ powerful mulled wine to make sure everything is all right on the night …

Buy Links, Amazon.UK, Amazon.com

***

You can also find my work on Nook, and Kobo

I hope that’s given you a few ideas! I hope you enjoy the rest of the festive season with a good read or two!

Happy reading,

Jenny x