How Not to Fall in Love, Actually – by Catherine Bennetto

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

Emma has a job in television which is distinctly less glamourous and exciting than it sounds. She’s managed to claw her way up the ranks from Tea-Maker and Rubbish-Collector to 2nd Assistant Director (heavy on the ‘assistant’. Even heavier on the ‘2nd’).

So when she finds she’s accidentally very pregnant and at the same time accidentally very sacked (well, less accidentally: she did tell her boss to stick his job up his bum), she knows things are going to have to change.

Luckily she’s also accidentally the heir to a lovely cottage in Wimbledon, with a crazy Rottweiler-owning octogenarian as a neighbour and a rather sexy boy as an accidental tenant. But this baby is coming whether she likes it or not, and she needs to become the sort of person who can look after herself let alone another human being – and quickly.  

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

How Not to Fall in Love, Actually is Catherine Bennetto’s debut novel and it’s definitely a feel good romance, with lots of great moments.

The story follows Emma, who has a great job and life. Then everything changes! She finds herself accidentally pregnant, dumped and just without any idea of what to do and how to feel about it all.

She always has to think about her ex, her family starts bugging her about the baby and then there is Joe, who was engaged and now can’t live in his apartment, so he lives with Emma. It’s so much fun to follow these two around, we get to read about Joe’s story as well and that gives the book a great mixture.

It’s great to see Emma journey in this story and the different stages she goes through. Catherine Bennetto captured it in a very real and authentic way, which is wonderful.

The writing is funny with some LOL moments, it’s fresh, young and very exciting. A fuzzy, warm and sparkly story by a very talented author. I can’t wait to see what else Catherine Bennetto has in store for us.

Rating:

My possible cast:

Emma

Catherine Bennetto on Twitter: @cathbennetto

Website: http://www.catherinebennetto.com

Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Cover Reveal - Plan Cee by Hilary Grossman

The blurb:

Would you abandon your present for a second chance at your past?

Cecelia Reynolds has spent most of her life trying to forget the commitment-phobic man who broke her heart. It wasn’t easy, but eventually she did it, or so she thought…

As Cecelia and her husband gather for a friend’s wedding, her perfect world is thrown into complete turmoil. Even though it’s been twenty years since she last laid eyes on Keith Emerson, all it takes is one glance for her to feel emotions she thought were long gone. When Keith ends up officiating the ceremony, she quickly realizes his message of love is directed at her, not the happy couple. But can she believe him?

We live our entire lives thinking we know ourselves. But do we ever really?

As secrets and lies cause Cecelia’s world to spin completely out of control, she is forced to seek advice from the most unlikely ally. In the process, she must confront the demons of her past and the events that shaped her into the woman she is now. Will she finally learn the real meaning of love, friendship, and family?

While this book is a sequel to Plan Bea, it also reads as a standalone.

getBook.at/PlanCee

About Hilary:

By day, Hilary Grossman works in the booze biz. By night she hangs out with her "characters." She has an unhealthy addiction to denim and high heel shoes. She's been known to walk into walls and fall up stairs. She only eats spicy foods and is obsessed with her cat, Lucy. She loves to find humor in everyday life. She likens life to a game of dodge ball - she tries to keep many balls in the air before they smack her in the face. She lives on Long Island. 

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HilaryGrossmanAuthor 

Twitter https://twitter.com/feelingbeachie 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hilary_grossman/

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Cover for Plan Bea

‘The Errant Hours’ - a medieval adventure: guest post by Kate Innes

My working life started in archaeology.  Trowel in hand, I laboured on sites around Britain and Europe, mainly as a volunteer, living in tents with similarly crazy people.  I went on to become a secondary school teacher, then a Museum Education Officer and finally a mother of three. 

But when I came to write my first novel, the influence of my early passion was still strong.  Archaeology, in the main, looks at the discarded and unwanted remains of daily life, the broken things most people do not consider important.

In The Errant Hours, I wanted to uncover what life was like for the people who did not make it into the history books.  To present the daily lives of people who lived in the distant past - their fears, hopes and beliefs.

I enjoyed furnishing the medieval past with the commonplace and extraordinary objects that made Plantagenet Britain so severe and exuberant.  It was like Frankenstein running electricity through his monster: what was dead and in pieces I could bring to life, renewing the ruined sites, such as Acton Burnell Castle, in my mind and on the page.

Acton Burnell Castle - Shropshire

Medieval Illuminated manuscripts were another important source of inspiration. These exquisitely painted unique books were illustrated with subversive, ridiculous and beautiful imagery, showing the natural, the supernatural, and everything in between. They give a visceral sense of what stoked the medieval imagination.

(The Alphonso Psalter, BL Add MS 24686 13^th century)

But the manuscripts were not just appreciated for their aesthetic qualities. Many were considered to be able to bring the reader into direct communion with the Divine.

I was researching on the British Library website, when I came across a very special but neglected manuscript, detailing the torture and death of St Margaret. I read the translation and I knew straight away: this manuscript would be the touchstone of my story.

https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourKnownB.asp

Margaret of Antioch was a virgin who converted to Christianity in the early 4^th Century AD.  According to the legend of her martyrdom, before she was beheaded she promised safe childbirth to those who read about her death.  And so, in accordance with medieval logic, books telling of the horrific torture of a virgin became a birthing aid, and St Margaret became the patron saint of childbirth.

So far, so strange.  But it was the illustration on the final page of this manuscript that gave me a profound sense of connection with the past.

British Library MS Egerton 877 folio 12

The image of the saint in the birth chamber is smeared and distorted because medieval women in labour kissed the picture and sent up prayers to St Margaret to save them and their babies.  Through this poignant trace of real belief and desperation, the plot of the book began to take shape before my eyes.

The Errant Hours is a fast-paced adventure, following the heroine as she struggles to save the life of her brother, and herself, in the face of poverty, violence and corruption.  But it is also the story of a mother who loses and finds a daughter, and the story of a powerful and sacred book that unites a knight and a lady.

The two stories intertwine, bind, resist and console each other, as all our stories do.

Kate Innes writes fiction and poetry in Shropshire. Kate’s novel The Errant Hours is available from Amazon, many bookshops and her website www.kateinneswriter.com

Twitter: @kateinnes2

www.facebook.com/kateinneswriter/