My big adventure

OK, I might be over-egging it here, but for someone who's not travelled more than twenty miles from home in the past two years or more, this was a big deal for me, because last weekend I went to the Romantic Novelists' Association Conference held at Harper Adams University - and had an absolute blast! Meeting up with old friends, discovering new ones, learning more about the craft of writing, publishing and romantic fiction, it was hard work but so very rewarding. And so much fun!! I can't wait to go next year.

I also met with my lovely editor, Emily from Canelo. We'd only ever seen each other on screen before, so it was great to have a catch-up in person and sling some ideas around.

Back to reality this morning, though - I've got a book or two to write!

What I've been reading

Review

I'm a bit late to the party with this book, as it's been out for a while and on my TBR list for ages. All I can say is that I wish I'd got round to reading it sooner!

I love a new shop, new village story and from the blurb and the cover I was expecting this book to be something other than it turned out to be.

Rosa is not sweet and wholesome. She is troubled, has loose morals, drinks too much - a far cry from the heroine I was expecting, and I didn’t care much for her in the beginning.

And Cockleberry Bay is no idyll, either. It doesn’t have the sort of community spirit which makes you wish you lived there. In fact, it's got its fair share of nasty characters, some of them criminals.

This is not a cute, sweet story. However, the plot trots along at a brisk pace, there are a couple of mysteries that kept me turning the page at an equally brisk pace, and a slow-burning romance. And Rosa grew on me, as did Cockleberry Bay itself. Grittiness aside and nefarious characters aside, the story still had that feelgood factor at the end