The Body Shop

On my way to the London Chapter of The Romantic Novelist's Association's meeting I couldn't resist popping into The Body Shop. Seduced by various products I'm now way over-budget for the week, but it's worthwhile.

To Be Read Books

I always have a pile of to be read novels. Some of them have received excellent reviews in the Historical Novel Society's magazines, others have been reviewed in newspapers or elsewhere and some have won awards or been shortlisted by the Romantic Novelist's Association. The titles on my current pile are: Home for Christmas by Lizzie Lane, From Ruin to Riches by Louise Allen, A Barefoot Queen by Ildefonso Falcones, The King's Curse by Phillippa Gregory, Teardrops in the Moon by Tania Cross and A Liverpool Legacy by Anne Baker. The variety of themes and plots will be interesting.

What am I reading?

This year, I made a note of the novels shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Awards and the finalists with the intention of reading them all.  As well as some others I have now read 222 pages out of 390 pages of Just for Christmas by Scarlet Bailey.


Just for Christmas is a fast-paced, contemporary novel quite different to the historical fiction which is usually my first choice. However, it's always interesting to try different genres etc., by authors whose books I have not previously read.


So far I'm enjoying this novel about Alex who moves from Edinburgh to Cornwall when the love of her life decides to marry another girl. She moves into a cottage in which a smelly, scruffy dog, who regards it as his personal property, refuses to allow her to sleep on the only bed.


I'm anticipating and hoping for a happy ever after ending.


My thanks to Scarlet Bailey for an entertaining read which I will review on Amazon and Good Reads.

Busy Day Ahead

I know my day will be very busy, so I woke at 6 a.m. posted an e-mail to The Romantic Novelist's Association  on line group, checked my e-mails and wrote 2,000 words of Monday's Child from the viewpoint of an important character in the sub-plot. I hope it will  amuse my readers.

It's nearly time to have breakfast, do one or two mundane chores and then get ready to take my 9 year-old grandson to play in a football match. Afterward, I am taking my daughter's three children and my second eldest son out to lunch.

My daughter was still in an awful state yesterday evening. I hope she will be a little better today, but will go round the corner to her house at tea time to help her and sit with the children until they go to bed.

It's really hard to see a person one loves suffer so much.