Tag: art Page 1 of 2

Why Cornwall?

On May 16, 2020

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Jenny Kane, Romance

A few years ago I was asked by Romance Matter’s magazine to write an article about what is it about Britain’s most south westerly county that draws so many creative souls to try and capture its flavour on paper? With the recent publication of A Cornish Escape (previously Abi’s House), I find myself considering that question once again.

Is it the natural geography and geology, the bark-like squawk of the seagulls, the sea, the sand, the salty air, or the aroma of vinegar soaked fish and chips with a promise of an ice cream made from clotted cream to follow?

The sheer majesty of Cornwall, from the haunting spectacle of Tintagel to the crashing of waves against the Battery Rocks in Penzance, alongside the quiet beauty of its villages and narrow country lanes, have conjured and bewitched the imagination of poets, novelists, artists, and potters since mankind first decided that cave walls would look much nicer with pretty pictures on them.

For me however, it wasn’t the scenery which drew me to place the adventures of Abi Carter in Cornwall; it was nostalgia. A nostalgia which I’ve come to learn also applies to a large number of my readers; many of whom have been kind enough to tell me that my stories have transported them back to Cornish childhood holidays.

A Cornish Escape (previously Abi’s House) and its soon to be released sequel, A Cornish Wedding (previously Abi’s Neighbour), are set in the Penwith region of Cornwall. Particularly, the picturesque settlements of Sennen, Sennen Cove, St Just and St Buryan, as well as Penzance.

A Cornish Escape

This very specific area of Cornwall is awash with memories for me. Memories I’ve adapted to form the background of two romance novels.

My Dad was born in Penzance and brought up in a terrace house on Alma Place. His mother, my Nan, ran a lodging house there, taking evacuees in during the Second World War- one of whom never left and became a sort of Great Uncle. My Grandad was a butcher at the long forgotten International Supermarket on St Jews Street; I still can’t conceive how he could cut joints of meat so finely!

Every school summer holiday was spent taking the lifetime long, motorway free, drive from Wiltshire to Penzance. My brother and I would spend weeks building sandcastles on Marazion beach. We’d try and skim pebbles across the surface of the sea (a skill I never mastered), and we’d squint through a pair of my Grandad’s ancient binoculars from the house’s attic bedroom window, straight across the sea and into the windows of St Michael’s Mount.

Each morning we’d wake to the sound of the Scillonian passenger ferry as she made her way from Penzance to the Isles of Sicily. Each evening we’d head to bed with that stretched face feeling that only comes from prolonged exposure to sea air.

I clearly recall the excitement of queuing up outside the fudge shop on St Jews Street in Penzance, desperately trying to make the impossible decision about which flavour of fudge to buy with my pocket money. I remember wondering why the pavements in the centre of Penzance are so high, and sitting with my parents outside various coffee shops along the front; fast melting ice creams dripping all over our hands.

It is this side of Cornwall, the minor events which add up to a feeling of happy security and contentment, that are as important in my novels as the seaside setting and the ready availability of a really good cream tea.

Abi Carter is on a mission to break away from a suffocating and unhappy life on the edge of London. I wanted to relocate her to a place she’d loved as a child. Somewhere that felt friendly and safe before she’d even got there.

While I was thinking about where I could send Abi, I remembered a house I’d seen in Sennen when I was about eight years old. It was an end terrace, halfway up a hill, overlooking the cove. I don’t know if the house has a name, but as soon as the memory came back to me, I called it Abbey’s House; a place destined to become the focus of Abi Carter’s story.

The scene was set. It was time for children’s illustrator, Abi Carter, to go in search of the stone built ex-miners house that, when she was eight years old, her parent’s joked should be hers because she was called Abi.

A Cornish Wedding

Now in her twenties, newly widowed Abi is on her way to Sennen to make friends and start her new life. She is also providing me with a way of sending a literary thank you postcard to the county that forms the basis of my own childhood memories, as well as a memorial to my Grandparents, who formed part of the Penzance community for so many years.

You can buy A Cornish Escape from all good book retailers, including – https://tinyurl.com/ybzmd75k

A Cornish Wedding will be launched on 2nd July.

Happy reading – and stay safe.

Jenny x

NEWS: Abi Carter has “A Cornish Escape”

By Jenny Kane

On April 3, 2020

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Jenny Kane, News, Romance

Exciting news time – and boy, don’t we all need it!

As you may, or may not, know – last year my publisher (Accent Press) was taken over by Headline Books. As a result, I’m thrilled to be able to announce that my two biggest sellers to date – Abi’s House and Abi’s Neighbour- are getting a new lease of life.

With beautiful new covers- and new titles- Abi Carter and her friends will be down in Cornwall sorting their lives out- and eating a lot of chips again- very soon.

I hope you love the covers!

Blurb – A Cornish Escape (Published on 7th May 2020)

Abi’s life is turned upside down when she is widowed before her thirtieth birthday. Determined to find something positive in the upheaval, Abi decides to make a fresh start somewhere new. With fond childhood memories of holidays in a Cornish cottage, could Cornwall be the place to start over?

With all her belongings in the boot of her car but no real plan, a chance meeting in a village pub brings new friends Beth and Max into her life. Max soon helps Abi track down the house of her dreams but things aren’t as simple as Abi hoped.

Can Abi leave her past behind and finally get her happy ending?

Blurb – A Cornish Wedding (Publication date to be announced)

Abi has what she’s always dreamed of: her perfect Cornish cottage, great friends and a gorgeous boyfriend. But her idyll is shattered when a new neighbour moves in next door.

Rude and obnoxious, Cassandra doesn’t make a good first impression on Abi. But with the unexpected wedding of one of her friends to prepare for, Abi has bigger things to worry about.

However, avoiding her new neighbour proves harder than expected and Abi and Cassandra soon realise they might have more in common than they first thought.

But with the wedding only weeks away, can they set aside their differences before the big day?

***

(Please note- the stories are unaltered- so if you have read Abi’s House and Abi’s Neighbour, you have read these novels before.)

I had so much fun writing Abi’s two novels. Both books mean a great deal to me, as they are based on my childhood memories of my time in Cornwall – especially in and around Penzance, where my grandparents lived their whole lives.

I’ll be in touch soon with buy links – and with news of a blog tour to celebrate the relaunch of Abi’s adventures.

Happy reading – stay safe.

Jenny

PS- Yes, I do have brand new novels coming very soon too xx

Opening Lines with Sue McDonagh: Meet me at the Art Cafe

By Jenny Kane

On July 4, 2019

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Jenny Kane, Opening Lines Blog

Opening Lines time is upon us once more. This week I’m delighted to welcome Sue McDonagh to my blog, with the first 500 words from her novel,

Meet Me at the Art Cafe.

Over to you Sue…

Meet Me at the Art Café is a standalone novel, even though we meet some of the earlier characters from Summer at the Art Café, and they are both based on the beautiful Gower peninsula, in South Wales.
Our heroine, Jo, is a single mum who has a small part in the first novel, and I was intrigued about her background and how she’d arrived in Wales. At her age, I too relied solely on pedal power for a year, although I didn’t have to tow a little boy up the hills too!
I’m still a keen cyclist – but I bought an electric bicycle last winter, and it’s been a revelation. There is no hill I cannot cycle up, even with my two replacement hips.

Upcycling, recycling Jo is quite sniffy about motorbikes though, especially when the handsome Ed runs over her beloved bicycle on his vintage motorbike. It doesn’t look like a match made in heaven, does it?
I’m sure the characters wrote their own words for this novel – particularly little Liam, and Beryl, Jo’s neighbour, who often made me laugh aloud. I’d like to go on holiday with her – but I don’t think my liver would cope too well!
I’m especially proud that ChocLit asked me to paint my own book covers! Berni Stevens, the resident cover designer and I worked together on both covers and I love how they’re different but maintain the beach theme.

Blurb

Would you take a chance on a bad boy with a leather jacket and a vintage motorbike?

That’s the question single mum Jo Morris has to ask herself when she collides with local bike mechanic Ed Griffiths on a rainy Welsh hillside. Working at the Art Café, Jo hears the gossip and is all too aware of Ed’s reputation.

But whilst he’s certainly no angel, there is something about Ed’s daredevil antics that Jo can’t ignore. And as she gets to know him better and watches the kind way he deals with her young son Liam, she begins to wonder – is there more to this ‘bad boy’ than meets the eye?

First 500 words…

The middle-aged couple had been dithering over their order for ages. Lemon drizzle, or toasted tea-cake? Jo could hardly blame them. Everything looked and tasted wonderful at The Art Café.

Pinning her ‘take your time, I have all day,’ smile on, Jo’s eyes slid towards the panoramic windows that gave the café its wonderful view over the beach. Even when the blue-green sea was beginning to rumple into colourless waves, as it was now, blurring the divide between sea and sky on the Gower Peninsula and signalling rain, the coastline was always stunning. Jo could hardly remember a time when she knew nothing about South Wales.

Winter had turned the corner into spring, and there had been a steady flow of trade. Since her boss, Lucy, was poised on the brink of TV stardom, people visited as much in the hope of seeing her, as of the food and drink they were all so proud of.

‘Hello? When you’re ready?’ The man rapped on the counter and she jumped. ‘Cappuccino and a pot of tea.’ Flicking a glance over his shoulder at his wife as she found a table, he muttered, ‘And one chocolate fudge cake.’

‘Good choice. It’s delicious.’ Jo smiled. ‘Would you like a second plate and fork, sir?’

‘I’m not sharing it,’ the man said without a trace of humour, his eyes tracking the cake as she slid it onto the plate. ‘She said she didn’t want any.’

That hadn’t been the message that Jo had understood from their overheard conversation but she clamped her lips together and got on with the order. Her mobile phone, stashed in the pocket of her apron, buzzed just as she turned the steam wand on, spitting scalding water onto her hand.

‘Ouch!’ Whirling to run the cold tap, she read St Michael’s Primary on the screen and fumbled the accept button. Her little boy’s school. They never rang.

‘Hello, this is Ms Morris,’ she whispered. ‘Is anything wrong?’

‘Our order …’ the customer reminded her, sharply.

‘I’m so sorry, I’ll have to call you back. I’m at work,’ Jo said hurriedly into the phone, cutting the call. She could barely hear the secretary anyway over the tap and the still steaming nozzle. Despite the woman’s habitual peremptory tone.

Despite her stinging hand, she assembled the tea tray with an apologetic smile to the customer – unreciprocated – and returned the call as soon as he’d sat down.

‘Everything alright Jo?’ Her other boss, Richard, looked up from the other end of the counter where he was re-stocking the cake display. The Art Café had brought together his culinary flair and Lucy’s artistic talents, resulting in an inviting eating place where you could also buy gifts and fine art. Both happily settled with their own partners, they made a great team, and Jo loved working for them.

She swallowed, knowing this wouldn’t be a popular request, but there was no-one else who could go to the school. She was on her own. ‘Richard…

***

Praise for Meet Me at the Art Cafe:

~ The author’s ability to make her characters come alive is outstanding and I urge you to buy this book and visit the beautiful, if slightly damp at times, Welsh coast, and the Art Café, once more.
~ Great story of totally relatable characters, Ed and Jo. There is a bit everything in this book, mystery, humour, love and drama! The star of the book for me though was Liam (aged 4 nearly 5), his comic comments had me giggling away.
~ Back to the Art Cafe and it is just as wonderful as the first visit – check out Summer at the Art Cafe if you missed it! – and I just adored every aspect of this book!
~ I loved this book. The story has a lovely flow, the characters are all engaging, the descriptions are realistic: in some ways the author takes a back seat and lets the story shine.

Buy Link to Meet Me at the Art Café: https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/embed?asin=B07NCTYTHB&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_K2M.CbD52NWDF

Kobo link: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/meet-me-at-the-art-cafe-choc-lit

***

About Sue:
My career as a policewoman in the Essex Police was interrupted when I was twenty four, by ovarian cancer. A year of surgery and chemotherapy meant a successful recovery, which led to a convalescent year in the Essex Police Press Office. This suited me as I’d always fancied being a journalist, and meant that I could play with joined up writing and stationary.

When I moved to Wales to marry a man widowed by cancer and became instant mum to his two little boys, I used my Press Office skills and wrote press releases and eventually, blog posts for the various clubs and organisations I was involved with.

Art evolved into a full time occupation and I made a living teaching and sketching portraits on the spot at agricultural and seaside shows, moving into more considered work as time went on and appearing on Sky TV in 2014 in the regional finals of the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year.

I now work almost exclusively to commission, but also give demonstrations and talks to art societies and other groups, which I enjoy. 2019 saw my first solo show for some years, together with the launch of my paperback, Summer at the Art Café.

In 1982, following chemotherapy, I cycled from John O’Groats to Land’s End in ten days, fundraising over £8000 towards a cancer scanner for St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where I was treated.

After my first hip replacement twelve years ago, I and three friends walked 45 miles across the Peak District in 16 hours and raised £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Support.

When my second hip needed replacing, I thought about commemorating it with a further bonkers fundraising idea, but to everyone’s relief, found my excitement in writing.

Nearly ten years ago I learned to ride a motorbike, and now help to run Curvy Riders, a national, women only, motorbike club. I am the regional rep for the bottom half of Wales, and regularly ride out on my Honda CBF1000F.

If I balance on my bedroom windowsill, I can see the sea, a mile away. My Border terrier, Scribble, comes to work in my open-to-the-public studio/gallery in Cowbridge with me, and thinks the customers only come in to see him. Sometimes, I think that too…

Many thanks for a great blog Sue. Wonderful opening lines- and fantastic book cover too.

Happy reading,

Jenny x

An Artisan Lovestyle: A Few of Our Favourite Things

By Jenny Kane

On July 17, 2018

In Blog, competition, Jenny Kane, Romance

Today I’m delighted to be hosting Kiltie Jackson on my blog today as part of her blog tour.

Why not get comfortable, put your feet up and listen in as good friends Sukie and Elsa get chatty…

Good morning Readers, I hope you are all well.

Today, I am joined by Sukie and Elsa – the leading ladies from ‘A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle’ and ‘An Artisan Lovestyle’.

Sukie and Elsa have been best friends since they first met at the age of seven. This does not necessarily mean they share the same views and so I thought I would ask them a few questions to see how they ‘rock ‘n’ roll’!

Ladies, what is your favourite Animal?

Sukie – Cats! Definitely cats! I do love all animals but my two boys, Tony and Adam, are the best. They are my world and I adore them.

Elsa – Dogs! Definitely dogs! Like Sukie, I also adore all animals but my dog Puddle is very loving and he has helped me through some very hard times.

What about TV shows? Do you watch much TV?

Elsa – I enjoy crime dramas. NCIS is a must-see and I’m also rather partial to CSI too. The New York one was my favourite. I’m not really one for watching soaps – they’re far too morose.

Sukie – I love The Big Bang Theory! Sheldon Cooper totally rocks! He’s amazing. My other must see is Outlander. All those men in kilts… Bring them on!

Elsa – Oh yes, I agree! Outlander is fantastic. Give me a bit of Jamie Alexander Malcom MacKenzie Fraser any day!

Sukie – As you can see, Elsa’s a fan! (laughs)

Now tell me about your favourite films.

Elsa – (groans) Seriously? Did you have to ask that one?

Sukie – (laughing) My favourite film is The Sound of Music and Elsa has grown up being bored silly over my obsession with it. I finally got to visit Salzburg a few years ago and it is the most wonderful place on earth. I love it!

Elsa – Bored doesn’t even begin to cover it! (She rolls her eyes!) My personal favourite is Love Actually. The way Richard Curtis managed to weave all the stories together is fabulous. It always makes me smile. I can watch it any time, not just at Christmas.

Ok, I think we shall move swiftly onto your favourite meal?

Sukie – Pasta! Anything Italian works for me although pasta based is my number one choice. When I visited Venice, I had the pleasure of eating freshly made pasta in a small, outdoor, sunlit, courtyard and it was quite an experience.

Elsa – Chinese food! It has been since I was a kid. I have tried a number of different dishes but I confess I always end up going back to Sweet and Sour Chicken. Not the balls in batter, they’re bleugh! (She pulls a face.) No, I much prefer the chicken cooked in the sauce. My local restaurant calls it Cantonese style.

And do you both do desserts?

Sukie – I have to confess that I am a bit of an ice-cream fiend! My favourite is rum ‘n’ raisin but I will eat most flavours. Even in the middle of winter, I will still eat it!

Elsa – My preference is hot, dense puddings with lots of thick, yellow custard. My all-time favourite is apple crumble although I don’t have it very often. Too much effort is needed to burn off all those calories.

Sukie, you’ve mentioned both Salzburg and Venice – are these your favourite holiday destinations? What about you Elsa, where do you like to go?

Elsa – (looks pointedly at Sukie) Keep it short!

Sukie – (throws her head back in laughter) Salzburg is my destination of choice. Everything about it makes me smile and I am more than a little fond of it.

Elsa – Wow! Is that all you’re going to say?

Sukie – I can add more if you like?

Elsa – No, you’re good! MY favourite place is somewhere I’ve not yet been. I really want to visit Paris. It has such a long, artistic history and it is home to so many wonderful works of art – both painted and sculpted. I would need at least a month, I think, to see everything I want to see.

Snow or Sand?

Sukie – Snow!

Elsa – Sand!

(They both laugh.)

Sukie – How on earth are we friends? We hardly share any likes?

Boy Bands or Rock Bands?

Sukie – Oh, rock bands all the way for me! I’m very much a Green Day fan along with Royal Blood, Within Temptation and the Foo Fighters.

Elsa – I was very much into the boy band The Astons, and then Pete Wallace when he went solo, but I have to concur with Sukie that rock bands are better.

Sukie – We finally agree on something.

(The ladies throw a high five.)

So, to change the vibe a bit – what about breakfast cereal?

Sukie – Toast. I’m not into cereals. I much prefer a couple of slices of wholemeal with butter and some lime marmalade.

Elsa – I don’t eat in the mornings. A few strong coffees until about 10.30 am when I will have a muesli bar or something similar.

And lastly, to finish off, your favourite item of clothing?

Sukie – Hmmm… That’s a tough one. I’m not really a clothing kind of person… I suppose it would have to be my vintage 1950’s dress. It’s scarlet linen with a lovely, full, ballerina skirt. I don’t get to wear it often but, when I do, I always feel very dressed up.

Elsa – I’ve always preferred designer clothes and I confess to having a wardrobe full of the top names but, the item of clothing which is most special to me, is a long, Doctor Who style scarf that my grandmother knitted for my mother many years ago. I believe it was Tom Baker who was the Doctor at the time and my mum had a thing about his scarf so my gran made one for her. It’s very long – especially on me coz I’m quite small – but it is great for keeping warm when I’m walking the dog in the winter. I guess it’s a sort of family heirloom.

Ladies, thank you so much for being here today and for answering my questions.

Sukie & Elsa – Thank you for having us as your guests.

***

Blurb- An Artisan Lovestyle

Are you ‘living’ your life or just living your life?

Elsa Clairmont was widowed barely five years after marrying her childhood sweetheart. She has struggled to come to terms with the loss and, six years later, has almost ceased to live herself. She does just enough to get by.

Danny Delaney is the ultimate ‘Mr Nice Guy’. He’s kind, caring and sweet. A talented artist in his teens, his abusive mother ruined his career in art and he turned his back on his exceptional gift. Now, he does just enough to get by.

On New Year’s Eve, both Danny and Elsa die in unrelated accidents.

Thanks to some poker playing shenanigans, Elsa’s husband Harry, and Danny’s old Art teacher, William, manage to orchestrate a deal with Death that allows Danny and Elsa to live for one more year on the condition they both agree
to complete three tasks.

They have until the last chime of Big Ben on the 31st December to fulfil their quests.

If they succeed, they stay in the world of the living.

If they should fail however…

‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ is a story of personal growth and self-discovery as two people find themselves forced to make overdue changes in their lives, changes in other people’s lives, and all with the added challenge of finding true love before their time runs out.

Will they do it? Can they do it? After all, it’s a matter of Life or Death…

Purchase Link – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D23TM38

***

GIVEAWAY

Win a £40 / $40 Amazon Voucher (Open Internationally)

Enter via this link- http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494104/?

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

***

BIO

Kiltie grew up in Glasgow in Scotland,
This is a very unique city with a very unique way of looking at life.

When she was old enough to do so, she moved to London and then, after several years of obtaining

interesting experiences – which are finding their way into her writing – she moved up to the Midlands. Kiltie currently lives in Staffordshire with five cats and one grumpy husband.
Her little home is known as Moggy Towers, even though despite having

plenty of moggies, there are no towers!

The cats kindly allow her and Mr Mogs to share their house on the condition

they keep paying the mortgage!

She loves reading, watching movies, and visiting old castles.
She really dislikes going to the gym!

Her biggest desire is that one day she can give up the day job and write her

stories for a living.

Kiltie’s debut novel, ‘A Rock ‘n’ Roll Lovestyle’, was released in September 2017

and won a “Chill With A Book – Reader Award” in December 2017.
She first began writing her debut novel eleven years before it was released

but shelved it as she didn’t think it was very good.
In November 2016 when, having read more on a best-selling author who had begun her own career

as a self-published author, she was inspired to revisit the unfinished manuscript

and finally finish what she had started.
Since beginning to write again, the ideas have not stopped flowing.
‘An Artisan Lovestyle’ is the second book in the Lovestyle Series. Work is due to begin on book three (not yet titled but also part of the Lovestyle Series)
in the Summer of 2018.
She currently has a further ten plots and ideas stored in her file

(it’s costing a fortune in USB drives as each story has its own memory stick!)

The ideas still keep on coming.
Kiltie now lives her life around the following three quotes:
“I love having weird dreams, they’re great fodder for book plots!”
“Why wait for your ship to come in when you can swim out to meet it?”
“Old enough to know better, young enough not to care!”

Website www.kiltiejackson.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/kiltiejackson

Twitter – https://twitter.com/KiltieJackson

***

Many thanks for visiting today Kiltie,

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Pre-Valentine’s Day Gift: Abi’s House is ONLY 99p

By Jenny Kane

On February 8, 2018

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Jenny Kane, News, Romance

To celebrate St Valentine’s Day, Accent have popped

Abi’s House on SALE.

You can enjoy my first Abi Carter Cornish romance novel for less than a pound on Kindle!

Blurb-

A summer read as scrumptious as its Cornish backdrop. Brilliant!’ Nicola May

Cornwall – the perfect place for new friendships, fresh hopes, and a dream house.

Newly widowed and barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives lifestyle that Luke, her late husband, had been so eager for her to live.

Abi decides to fulfill a lifelong dream. As a child on holiday in Cornwall 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 and 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?

***

I love this trailer for my Cornish romance novel, Abi’s House, so I thought I’d share it with you again. YouTube link https://youtu.be/VAumWAqsp58

You can buy Abi’s House in all good bookshops and on line retailers. It is currently only 99p on Amazon Kindle

Kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711175&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-2&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711343&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

***

And don’t forget, Abi’s Neighbour is available as well!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Remember Summer! Enjoy a little Cornish sunshine: Abi’s House is ONLY 99p

By Jenny Kane

On October 29, 2017

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Jenny Kane, News, Romance

To help warm up those Autumn days, Accent have popped Abi’s House on SALE, so you enjoy both of my Abi Carter Cornish romance novels for less than £3!!

Blurb-

A summer read as scrumptious as its Cornish backdrop. Brilliant!’ Nicola May

Cornwall – the perfect place for new friendships, fresh hopes, and a dream house.

Newly widowed and barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives lifestyle that Luke, her late husband, had been so eager for her to live.

Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?

***

I love this trailer for my Cornish romance novel, Abi’s House, so I thought I’d share it with you again. YouTube link https://youtu.be/VAumWAqsp58

You can buy Abi’s House in all good bookshops and on line retailers. It is currently only 99p on Amazon Kindle

Kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711175&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-2&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711343&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

***

And don’t forget, Abi’s Neighbour is available as well!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Read in the Sunshine: Abi’s House is ONLY 99p

By Jenny Kane

On June 21, 2017

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Jenny Kane, News, Romance

To make the most of this unexpected summer heat, Accent have popped Abi’s House on SALE, so you enjoy both of my Abi Carter Cornish romance novels for less than £3!!

Blurb-

A summer read as scrumptious as its Cornish backdrop. Brilliant!’ Nicola May

Cornwall – the perfect place for new friendships, fresh hopes, and a dream house.

Newly widowed and barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives lifestyle that Luke, her late husband, had been so eager for her to live.

Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?

***

I love this trailer for my Cornish romance novel, Abi’s House, so I thought I’d share it with you again. YouTube link https://youtu.be/VAumWAqsp58

You can buy Abi’s House in all good bookshops and on line retailers. It is currently only 99p on Amazon Kindle

Kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711175&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-2&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711343&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

***

And don’t forget, Abi’s Neighbour is available as well!

Photo taken by reader on holiday

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

Dipping a toe into Cornwall: Abi’s House

By Jenny Kane

On July 10, 2016

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction, News

This weekend I was lucky enough to indulge in a rare escape to a lovely spa break in Saltash- just over the Devon border, into Cornwall.

20160709_161649

Spoilt by my lovely friends with gorgeous early birthday homemade cakes (thank you Rachael!), and way too much food and wine, I was reminded of the happy friendships in my Cornish novel, Abi’s House – a summer read perfect to cheer up those dull weather days!!

As soon as we crossed the famous Tamar Bridge, that separates Cornwall from Devon, I was reminded of Abi Carter – her escape from London to the peace and quiet of Cornwall- and the life changing adventures she had there!

Check this out- I love it!! – YouTube link https://youtu.be/VAumWAqsp58

You can buy Abi’s House here- http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/12915/Abis-House– as well as here…

Kindle

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711175&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00UVPPWO8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-2&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711253&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abis-House-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783753285/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426711343&sr=1-1&keywords=Abi%27s+House+Jenny+Kane

Here’s a reminder of the 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?

***

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

PS – Abi’s Neighbour will be out in Summer 2017!!

Christmas in the Cotswolds: Coffee, Art and Choirs

By Jenny Kane

On December 1, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

With this years festive story, Christmas at the Castle, still looking new and shiny on the eBook shelves, I have been looking back at its predecessors this week. On Saturday I treated you to a free read from Another Cup of Christmas. Today I’m looking back at last year’s festive offering, Christmas in the Cotswolds.

Christmas in the Cotswolds is the festive (short novella) sequel to Another Cup of Christmas – which in itself follows the novel, Another Cup of Coffee. Rather than being set in the Pickwicks cafe in Richmond however, for this adventure, I took Megan, Pickwicks regular waitress, away from her day job, and sent her on a mercy mission…

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 …

***

I’ve always loved the Cotswolds, and was lucky enough to grow up not too far from their villages filled with yellow stoned picturesque cottages and stunning churches. For me, once I’d decided to take Megan away from Pickwicks for a while, the Cotswolds was the obvious choice of location. It is precisely the type of area I can imagine Izzie setting up an arts and craft centre, which- were it real- I have no doubt would flourish! I’d go there for sure. It has a cafe after all!

Extract

Izzie closed her eyes and counted to ten as the door of the Cotswold Arts Centre slammed shut.

There was no point in panicking. She simply didn’t have time for such luxuries if her converted church was going to be ready to host a Christmas carol concert by the renowned Cotswold Choir in nine days’ time.

Bored of being propositioned by men who weren’t remotely interested in her until they discovered she was a daughter of the gentry, Izzie had ejected the carpenter through her front door before he’d quite had time to work out just how insulting her rejection of his latest lurid suggestion was.

Now, her hasty tongue having deprived her of a desperately needed pair of tradesman’s hands, Izzie sat with a heavy thump onto the nearest pew. She knew she had to find fresh help, and fast. A task that wouldn’t be easy so close to Christmas.

‘Although,’ Izzie addressed the image of Noah, who smiled benevolently at her from his stained-glass window, as if grateful he hadn’t been smashed to pieces by the tree branch that had come through the top of the chancel and caused so much seasonal inconvenience, ‘I’m damn sure I’m not asking my mother to help out ever again!’

Reaching for the offending package of invitations that had arrived by courier first thing that morning, Izzie emptied it onto the table. The invitations were supposed to have been posted by now. As soon as she’d seen them, Izzie understood why her mother had left them to the last minute.

Unfussy, cost-effective, and with a medieval Christmas flavour in keeping with the spirit of the converted fourteenth-century church where the concert was to be held. That’s what she’d asked for.

What she’d got was decadent Victorian-style gold-edged invitations which weighed so much, Izzie was sure that posting them alone would break the bank. And if that wasn’t bad enough, her mother had done the one thing that she had expressively forbidden. She’d put Izzie’s full name on the invitations.

Lady Perdita Spencer-Harris had been unable to comprehend why her daughter didn’t want to use the family name to help sales. She simply didn’t understand that Izzie wanted people to come to hear the choir for its own sake, or because they wanted to see what she’d done in her art centre; not because she was a young and single female member of the landed gentry.

Miss Isadora Spencer-Harris

cordially invites you to a magical festive evening at

The Cotswold Arts Centre, Chipping Swinton

to hear the renowned Cotswold Choir’s

Christmas Carol Concert

Saturday 21st December

7 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. start

£25 per ticket

Refreshments provided

RSVP by 18th December to Harris Park

Wrapping her stripy woollen scarf more tightly around her neck, Izzie breathed warm air over her cold fingers. Deciding it wasn’t cost effective to heat the church this late at night just for her, she gathered up the invitations, and with one last check that the polythene sheeting would keep the rest of her chancel roof in place overnight, Izzie headed home.

Izzie scooped up three Christmas cards from her doormat. A smile replaced her frown as she opened the first envelope to see a cartoon robin wishing her a Merry Christmas. Inside, beneath the seasonal greeting, her friend Megan had written Must meet up SOON! I’d love to see your new art centre.

‘Should I?’ Izzie was sure her dearest friend from college would help. Megan always helped. Izzie addressed the picture of the robin, ‘But won’t she be hugely busy at Pickwicks café this close to Christmas?’

Switching on her laptop, Izzie started to hunt for a replacement tradesman to help repair her church roof. Half an hour of searching later, and her quest was looking increasingly hopeless by the minute.

It was no good, if she wasn’t going to be forced to ask her parents to bail her out – which was an ‘over her dead body’ situation as far as Izzie was concerned – she needed alternative assistance. Izzie picked up her mobile before guilt at disturbing her friend’s life at Christmas overtook her.

‘Megan, thank goodness you’re there! How can I put this … help!’

***

Although Christmas in the Cotswolds is a sequel, it can also be read as a standalone story.

If you’d like to have a read, you can buy my latest novella from all good e-retailers including-

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Cotswolds-seasonal-short-story-ebook/dp/B00PK2MA3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415899501&sr=8-1&keywords=Christmas+in+the+Cotswolds+jenny+kane

Amazon.com – http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Cotswolds-seasonal-short-story-ebook/dp/B00PK2MA3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415899535&sr=8-1&keywords=Christmas+in+the+Cotswolds+Jenny+Kane

***

Happy reading,

Jenny x

Guest Post from Gilli Allan: Drawing a Naked Male Model can be Challenging

By Jenny Kane

On October 27, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, Fiction

It’s my great pleasure to welcome Gilli Allan back to my blog today. As well as being an engaging, entertaining, astute and erudite writer, Gilli is an excellent artist, and (as I had the good fortune to discover at a recent conference), one of nicest people you could ever wish to meet.

Over to you Gilli,

All my books have grown out of the “What if…?” question. LIFE CLASS is no exception. Initially I had the title but no story, so I began to reflect on the accumulated experience of attending life drawing lessons over many years, and there was one incident that cried out to be revisited.

Before I arrived at art school, aged sixteen, I knew no boys, apart from my cousins. For me – a shy, gauche and inexperienced kid – becoming an art student was a very big deal. I’m sure it was a big deal for all of us in First Year Foundation. Within days, however, we’d relaxed with one another enough to become noisy and brash, and to show off. Then we had our first life class.

We all knew this weekly lesson was a part of the curriculum, so at least we weren’t taken by surprise. But knowing that something is going to happen does not necessarily make it easier to deal with. Imagine us, not yet entirely comfortable with one another, suddenly confronted by a very ample naked woman who we were expected to draw. The lesson passed in a stunned silence from the mixed class of very young students. The teacher made up for our unusual hush by raising his voice, as if suspecting we’d all turned deaf as well as mute.

“Observe the landmarks of her body and how they relate to one another,” he boomed. “Her crotch … her belly … her navel … her nipples!”

In retrospect, it was funny. At the time it was more agonising than amusing. I found it a challenge to even look at her without blushing, let alone to closely study those parts of her body I was too bashful to say out loud!

Despite the initial embarrassment I swiftly became used to studying a naked stranger. In fact, the life class rapidly became my favourite part of the week. I was captivated by the challenge of trying to interpret the human body in a drawing. When I left college I was unable to find a job in the art world, and for the next few years I was a depressed sales assistant in various London department stores. The aspect of art I missed the most was the life drawing, and I signed up for an evening class at the London School of Printing. I continued with this for a year, but slogging over to the Elephant and Castle on public transport after a day’s work, became a bind and I gave it up.

Although, at the time it felt like my life was trickling away, it wasn’t so long before I managed to secure my dream job as an illustrator in an advertising design studio. For a while I was very happy earning my living doing what I’d always wanted to do, but, as I became more accomplished, the work became more demanding and stressful. The workload was always erratic, and when a new commission did come in, it was typically wanted first thing the next morning. So when I had my son, I was content to take a break from commercial art. Now at home full-time, I revisited my teenage hobby of writing, and I also signed up for another life drawing class. Baby-sitting responsibility was my husband’s for one night a week, enabling me to do something just for me.

On that first evening I set out, feeling excited and tense. I had the directions and, as I drove over to the school in Wandsworth, I rehearsed in my mind what faced me. I knew that my life drawing skills would be rusty, I’d not employed them for years, but there was something else on my mind. ‘Life’ models are predominantly female. The male model is a far rarer species, although not unknown. At college, over a decade earlier, we’d occasionally had a male model but, maybe to spare the blushes of the very young class, they’d always worn boxers or posing pouches. (One old fellow always wore his black beret, as well!) Surely these days, in an adult class, a male model would be stark naked, I reasoned. My tension about the evening ahead ratcheted up a few more notches when I couldn’t find the school. I must have been ten or fifteen minutes late when I eventually burst into the studio.

Everyone turned to look at me. The teacher was male. All the students were male. And – lying stretched out sideways on a mattress, his head on his hand – the entirely naked model was male. Wanting to disrupt proceedings as little as possible, I grabbed the first empty spot I saw. I didn’t think about the position I’d chosen until I’d sat down on the donkey (a wooden bench with an adjustable front flap), unwrapped my drawing pad, and raised my head. Everyone else had arranged themselves in a semi-circle behind or to the sides of the model. I was the only one with a totally full-frontal view. I looked at him, and he looked at me……….

You will find a fairly accurate account of what happened next at the start of Chapter Three of LIFE CLASS. I have given the experience to my heroine, Dory, who is a novice artist attending her first life drawing class. She is no shrinking violet but she finds it an unsettling experience. It unsettled me at the time, but I didn’t allow the incident to put me off.

I attended this particular class for a couple of years and we never had the same model again. Then I changed to another, a daytime class with a crèche. And throughout the years since, I’ve continued to attend life classes wherever I’ve lived. I don’t do life drawing because it’s easy. Sometimes it is, but often it’s hard. It can feel almost impossible – particularly if there’s a weirdo model! But, thankfully, they’re the exception not the rule. Despite the failures and the frustrations of the discipline, I am drawn back , again and again, trying to capture the mass, the angles, the points of balance, the fall of light and shade on that most intriguing of all subjects – the human body.

Here’s the blurb to Life Class-

Four people hide secrets from the world and from themselves. Dory is disillusioned by men and relationships, having seen the damage sex can do. Her sister, Fran, deals with her mid-life crisis by pursuing an on-line flirtation which turns threatening. Dominic is a lost boy, trapped in a life heading for self-destruction. Stefan feels a failure. He searches for validation through his art alone.

They meet regularly at a life-drawing class, led by sculptor Stefan. All want a life that is different from the one they have, but all have made mistakes they know they cannot escape. They must uncover the past – and the truths that come with it – before they can make sense of the present and navigate a new path into the future.

***

LINKS

LIFE CLASS

http://myBook.to/LifeClass

https://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/13659/Life-Class

Connect to Gilli

http://twitter.com/gilliallan (@gilliallan)

https://www.facebook.com/GilliAllan.AUTHOR

http://gilliallan.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1027644.Gilli_Allan

(If you want them, I’m including the links to TORN & FLY OR FALL)

TORN: http://mybook.togilliallansTORN

FLY OR FALL: http://mybook.to/GilliAllan

***

Biography

Gilli Allan started to write in childhood, a hobby only abandoned when real life supplanted the fiction. Gilli didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge but, after just enough exam passes to squeak in, she attended Croydon Art College.

She didn’t work on any of the broadsheets, in publishing or television. Instead she was a shop assistant, a beauty consultant and a barmaid before landing her dream job as an illustrator in advertising. It was only when she was at home with her young son that Gilli began writing seriously. Her first two novels were quickly published, but when her publisher ceased to trade, Gilli went independent.

Over the years, Gilli has been a school governor, a contributor to local newspapers, and a driving force behind the community shop in her Gloucestershire village. Still a keen artist, she designs Christmas cards and has begun book illustration. Gilli is particularly delighted to have recently gained a new mainstream publisher – Accent Press. LIFE CLASS is the third book to be published in the three book deal.

***

Many thanks Gilli- another brilliant blog!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

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To celebrate St Valentine’s Day, Accent have popped

Abi’s House on SALE.

You can enjoy my first Abi Carter Cornish romance novel for less than a pound on Kindle!

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