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lonelier-version-of-you · 1 year

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I’m not quite sure what to make of that Casualty episode. I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say I was a fan. I think it just had too many Casualty tropes that I despise for me to fully appreciate it. I’m also not quite sure what to make of the new character yet. This is not an episode for which I can sum my opinions up quickly, so here I go into analysing my episode thoughts.

Welcome, Dr. Max Cristie! AKA, to many, Dennis Rickman from EastEnders. Lol. I think I’m gonna be calling this guy by his full name, surname, or “Dr. Cristie” a lot, because it’s already inconvenient enough having to differentiate between Max Walker and Max McGerry without adding a third Max into the mix (I think there have been more, but I’ve only watched these three). Honestly, they’re getting almost as overloaded as the Sams at this point.

Anyway, Max (who gets called by his first name for his first review post) is... interesting so far. He feels a bit generic and bland, to be perfectly honest, but his connection with Dylan keeps me intrigued. Some part of me is still convinced they’re exes after seeing this first episode, especially as the history between them still hasn’t been explained yet. It wouldn’t be the first time a long-running Holbyverse male character has been established as bi through the introduction of a male lover from med school - Henrik and Gaskell, anyone?? Though obviously I hope Max doesn’t turn out anything like Gaskell. The closest to Gaskell that Casualty should ever go is Stevie.

They really went out of their way to establish Max as very protective over children, first with the little girl he brought in (whose hair he was awkwardly stroking??) and then the teenager being groomed by her football coach. I’m almost certain Max will have a backstory where either he had a child who died, or he suffered some sort of trauma in his childhood (possibly abuse-related as it would add further complication between him and Dylan due to their similar trauma, and the useage of this SA storyline in his first episode, and how angry he was at the football coach, and also he reminds me of Greg Douglas, but it could be something else) that’s made him protective towards kids. It’s one of those Holbyverse cliches - if a character is protective of children, you know they have some sort of trauma.

Anyway, it’s not this guy’s fault so I’m trying not to hold it against him, but the introduction of a new character named Max really, really worries me because the most obvious option for who they could declare as CEO now that Henrik’s left is Max McGerry. But they wouldn’t want a new character and a CEO with the same name, as that could get confusing. So this makes me think it’s more likely that Casualty will retcon Henrik leaving, and we’ll have to be burdened with the knowledge that he’s still stuck in the job that he is utterly incompetent at and literally hates, rather than away from Holby with the man he loves. Sigh.

Robyn may or may not be leaving, Paul almost definitely is. Meh. I don’t really have strong feelings about Robyn, but I despise Paul. I’ll accept Robyn leaving if it means we don’t have to put up with Paul anymore. It would be a shame for the show to lose Amanda Henderson, as she is a very good actress when they actually give her worthwhile material, but Robyn as a character has hardly had any decent storylines or development since the excellent Glen story.

I don’t know why Robyn would want to marry Paul. He’s so annoying and irritating and bland. But if he makes her happy, then, er, good for her I guess??

I am really, really angry that the show had Faith turn out to be right about the football coach grooming the teenaged patient. Portraying a character who is literally an attempted rapist as some kind of hero to a rape victim is absolutely disgusting. I was hoping that this would be a story where Faith got it all wrong and ended up with egg on her face, so to speak, but evidently not. If anything, it feels like they’re saying “see, Faith’s not an abuser, look at all these men, that’s what a real abuser is!”. And as disgusted as I was with the football coach tonight, or the man hurting his daughter in that storyline a few months ago, I am equally disgusted with Faith and find it disturbing that the show wants to paint her as a hero to abuse victims.

Not only is this deeply frustrating, it feels like an utter letdown coming from Jon Sen, who did one of the best female-on-male sexual abuse stories I’ve ever seen on TV during his time at EastEnders (Mick’s storyline about being groomed by his foster worker). I know he can tell stories about female abusers better than this. So why is the show still romanticising and glorifying Faith? As a queer person whose abuser was a woman, I hate that the show doesn’t seem to care about people like me or Lev.

I know the storyline was more to provide an establishing moment for Max when he confronted the coach in the hall (and I was totally cheering him on when he did!) than it was anything for Faith, but in that case, why include Faith at all? Why not use a character who wasn’t an attempted rapist - someone like Marty, perhaps - to recognise the grooming situation? Or it even could’ve been Jacob! That would tie into all the Tina aftermath lately as well.

On the subject of domestic abusers in Casualty, Marcus is becoming more of a disgusting monster by the episode. Poor, poor Stevie. It was so upsetting tonight, seeing Stevie in one of the most vulnerable moments she’s ever had, and Marcus using it against her to isolate her. This storyline is so hard to watch, although I suppose that’s a good thing with a topic like this, but it’s still distressing. Stevie deserves so much better. <3

It looks like in the next episode, we get those scenes from the trailer with Jacob trying to use his own experiences with Tina to help Stevie see that Marcus is controlling her. I’m very interested to see how that plays out - it’s a genius bit of writing, and I’m glad the writers are having someone other than Faith help Stevie.

#BBC Casualty #Max Cristie #Stevie Nash #Casualty spoilers #tw;abuse #tw;csa #tw;grooming #tw;rape

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dreaminginsteadofsleeping42 · 5 years

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My Brief Thoughts on the 27 Books I Read This Summer

I love reading and I love talking about books and I’d love to give any of y’all some reading recommendations if you’re looking for them, so, here we go!

The Wings of the Dove, Henry James. I actually started this in January, but then Life Happened, so I only finished it in June. I really sped-read this one towards the end. Kind of took twice as many words needed to convey what was conveyed. Kind of had that sexist-ly written, male fantasy, early twentieth century woman element to it (this woman isn’t like other woman in that she is SMART! yeah.). The story was fine, but not my favourite.

King’s Cage, Victoria Aveyard. This is the third book in the series and it was MUCH better than book 2. The problem I have with this series is that I find the main character and her love interest boring af, so I’m not really interested in their story, but that’s just a personal preference thing. I loved some side characters and the villain.

War Storm, Victoria Aveyard. The last book in the series. Very long. Big book. Anti-climatic. My favourite character was done dirty. I was over it. Why were there two characters called Cameron and Carmadon? It was an enjoyable read, if the ending was a bit eh. At least [SPOILER ALERT] the lesbians got a happy ending.

Crooked House, Agatha Christie. This one was fun. Classic Christie, bunch of people in a house, someone dies, someone in the house did it, let’s figure it out, detectives! Interesting ending, something I hadn’t seen from it before and it was refreshing to read a standalone novel of hers (as much as I love Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple).

A Pocket Full of Rye, Agatha Christie. My girl Agatha! Another fun mystery. Old dude dies: was it his sons? His young wife? His young secretary? Wtf knows! Let’s go, detectives!

Venetia, Georgette Heyer. Pretty enjoyable, good humor, likeable heroine. My only problem with this book was that the hero was an asshole and basically assaulted the heroine upon meeting and it was painted as attractive because it was the 1920s or whatever, so yeah. I didn’t like him. Kind of spoiled the rest of the really good book.

The Jane Austen Project, Kathleen A. Flynn. SUPER good, so intriguing, oh my gosh. The synopsis basically is these two people from the future go back in time to find a missing book by Jane Austen and try to stop her from dying. Had me getting confused about the logistics of time travel for a week. Awesome!

Heartless, Marissa Meyer. This was also great. It’s an origin story for the Queen of Hearts and I LOVE how the author incorporated characters and concepts from Alice in Wonderland while also making it a fresh story. Definitely recommend if you’re into fairytales and classics.

Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Very exciting. A real page-turner, if sexist and racist and uneducated about everything.

The Glass Spare, Lauren DeStefano. THIS. THIS book deserves more hype. I really enjoyed it. It’s about this princess who discovers she has the ability to create gemstones. It was original, I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next in the best way, there was an actually interesting male love interest and it had a wlw relationship. Check it out, do yourself a favor.

The Cursed Sea, Lauren DeStefano. The sequel to the above. Even better than the former, had all the qualities I mentioned above and more. Although there was not one cursed sea in this book and to this day I am still confused about that.

The Mystery of Three Quarters, Sophie Hannah. It was a very interesting murder mystery, in the format was a bit different than what I was used to. Four people were sent letters accusing them of murdering a bloke who died a few months back. Was invested and trying to figure out the mystery the whole way through, so I got my money’s worth in that respect. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but it was a fun read.

Tale As Old As Time. A HUGE book all about the history of Beauty and the Beast. I love that story so much, I was almost crying at times while reading this book, I was so overcome with love. Definitely check it out if you love BATB.

The Life of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell. I’ve loved the Brontes’ books for years and this book reminded me of that love. Such a vivid picture of her life. Charlotte Bronte was pre-teen-me’s idol.

Victoria, Daisy Goodwin. This was a historical novel about the first year of Queen Victoria of England’s reign. SO interesting, I was so invested and annoyed when it ended. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

Armadale, Wilkie Collins. The gay vibes were strong with this book. I don’t care what anyone says, Ozias and Allan are in love with each other, it’s canon. We got crazy family history and drama here, superstition, mistaken identity, scheming women and an all-round good time. 800 pages of it.

Elizabeth of York, Alison Weir. This is a biography of, um, Elizabeth of York, Queen of England, mother of Henry VIII. I love the British monarchy. They are such a dramatic bunch in pretty gowns. Super interesting book. Very well-written.

The Big Four, Agatha Christie. This was a very different Christie. There were these crime lords all over the word trying to kill Poirot and Hastings. Very fast-paced and exciting, bunch of racist undertones. Reading Christie is like talking to your grandparents. It’s all fun until they throw some random racist comment out there and it sucks.

The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Kate Morton. Everyone go read all of Kate Morton’s books, thank me later. This was excellent as usual.

Jane and the Wandering Eye, Stephanie Barron. This is the third in a series that re-imagines Jane Austen as a detective. I love them, lots of fun.

My Own Book. This is the short story/poetry collection my little story got published in! There were some pretty amazing pieces in here (alongside mine ahahaha). Pretty cool to have my own writing on my bookshelf. Excuse me while I cry.

The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie. Jewels. Woman murdered on train. Did someone on the train do it? Did someone go on and off the train to do it? Were they disguised as someone else? Was the murdered woman really the murdered woman? Was it her husband? Her boyfriend? Snow. France. Millionaires. Fun time.

Three Dark Crowns, Kendare Blake. The first in a new series. It’s about these three triplets and one of them kills the other two to be queen. I LOVE the characters in this series. For different reasons too. Great cliff-hanger ending. I love it.

One Dark Throne, Kendare Blake. The second in the series. Continues to be good. We have to stan.

Two Dark Reigns, Kendare Blake. Third in series. Still good, but a little anti-climatic in that a spat of bad weather made everyone decide to cancel the big, climatic battle. There’s one book left in the series I haven’t got yet AND I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS.

Regina Rising, Wendy Tolliver. A prequel-esque story about the Evil Queen from the Once Upon a Time TV series. Interesting, but not revolutionary.

Partners in Crime, Agatha Christie. This one was so FUNNY. I love Tommy and Tuppence, I wish she wrote more books with them. It was so hilarious. They set up this agency where they guarantee to solve any crime in 24 hours. So good.

#long post

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austennerdita2533 · 6 years

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Yeah I remember when I really fell in love with the book was when I reached the part where urbino dies. It was such an unexpected/ridiculous way to die I was shocked but laughing all the way. I was all in after that. And when florentino wrote fermina a novel expressing his feelings but his mother convenced him not to give her, hilarious! So do you recomend his other books? I would love to read more books of that quality, by other authors, can you tell me some you loved as well?

Omg, omg, I almost forgot about the novel Florentino wrote expressing his feelings! That was one of my favorite parts. I absolutely howled with laughter. (Reminds me a little bit of how Lara Jean writes all the guys she loves letters in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before lol.)

The only other Márquez novel I’ve read in full so far is 100 Years of Solitude and I absolutely suggest reading it because it’s inundated with magical realism, a genre largely attributed to him. Plus, it’s a multigenerational story which I found to be particularly intriguing. I’ve read portions of In Evil Hour and Of Love And Other Demons in some of my English/Spanish literature classes, and they’re on my ever-growing to-read list as a result.

“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a short story of his I love and features magical realism prominently as well. It’s in his novella/short story collection titled Leaf Storm, where there are a bunch of other good works like “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World,” “The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship,” and “Watching it Rain in Macondo.” I’ve also read excerpts from a few of his nonfiction pieces, including News of a Sailor and The Solitude of Latin America.

And oh, I could recommend you so many different writers and books! It all depends on the kind of things you’re looking for or where your interests lie, though?

If you want some other good Spanish writers, definitely check out Jorge Luis Borges and Miguel de Cervantes. (I’d list others, but I’m not sure about how well their stuff translates into English.)

If you’re looking for something long, involved, and of dense language quality, I’d suggest Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (which I just finished for the first time a few days ago and raved all over it in a review on Goodreads). Some other dense-ies but goodies are Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (people complain about him all the time but he really is fantastic), and Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (aka: the least depressing of all his depressing novels). What’s great about these books is that I consider them all to be densely expressed and wonderful, but in vastly different ways.

I’m also a sucker for regency/period novels. Everyone knows I’m a huge Jane Austen lover so I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention her, but here are some others I squeal about on the regular: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (she writes the most gorgeous descriptions of nature; I blame her for my proclivity toward lyricism); North and South and Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Oh, and I just finished Sylvester by Georgette Heyer, which I enjoyed immensely. It filled so many of regency romance desires! I have Venetia waiting in my Kindle queue as we speak...

I also like to encourage people to at least give Ernest Hemingway a try, if they haven’t yet. Just one book at least. He’s a minimalist in almost every sense of the word, but I respect him so much for how well he structures his stories from start to inciting incident to climax to conclusion. A Farewell to Arms is my favorite. **Much like Hardy and Hugo, he’s a depressing realist, so make sure to read with a box of tissues.**

Oh! And Edgar Allan Poe. He’s another one who is so, so skilled a structuring a short story. I refer back to his critical writings a lot when I’m stuck in the stop-sucking-at-writing muck, too. I also reread “The Tell Tale Heart” every autumn close to Halloween. There’s something so eerily delightful about hearing the “thump thump” of that heart stuck beneath the floorboards while I’m wrapped in blankets and sipping hot cider.

Anyway, enough of my blabbing!

The above is a comprised - somewhat annotated - list of some of my favorite classics. I stuck to those since I consider Márquez to be a classic author, and I have many more if you want other suggestions. (Which is funny because I feel like I haven’t read nearly enough classical literature yet, but whatevs lol.) Or, you know, if you want more modern/contemporary recs or things from other genres (science/medicine, memoirs, poetry, biographies, psychology, YA, fantasy, chick lit etc.) I can do that as well. I transverse genres all the time and I love plunging into new ones--it’s my favorite thing.

Sorry this got so long, but I get so damn excited talking about books haha. I hope this was helpful, lovely. xx

#anonymous #replies #the loveliest of lovely people #ashlee bree talks books #Anonymous

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holbyconfessional · 6 years

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Holby City S20 E10 - Square One

It was pretty painful watching Serena through this episode, looking so terribly sad and worn down. Reminded me a lot of the Adrienne storyline when Serena was so alone, and I spent the entire episode missing Bernie more than ever, wishing she were there to support Serena through it all.

I found it oddly amusing that they decided to pin the drugs cock up on Amira. Nicely done! I know there’s more life left in the Ric/jail storyline yet, but I won’t be sorry when it’s all over. It was pretty sad to see Ric so dejected too.

My life, but Xavier is a knob. Very much liked his dressing down at Serena’s hands. Go Serena!

So, Jac’s good mood is entirely because of the drugs, huh? I have to say, I did have hopes that there might be a more interesting reason for her to be so very chirpy, but never mind.

I found the Dom and Lofty kiss to be pretty awkward, and the general state of their relationship to be confusing - the fact that they’ve just slipped into maybe dating, with so little fanfare. Seems so not-Holby (origins notwithstanding).

Gaskell is disturbing me more than ever. His power play to take Director of Medicine seems to be in some way to protect his trial, which is clearly broken, but about which he’s lying. I found myself wondering how he’s going to bury the results of the post mortem - then of course, seeing him show up in the morgue, I half expected him to dismiss the pathologist from the room and perform it himself - it seemed as suitably unrealistic as I’ve found the rest of his presence, and the ever shifting politics around it!

Great to see Hanssen again, and I know that he’s deep in grief and PTSD, not to mention being very old friends with Gaskell and Roxanna, but I still find myself a bit surprised that he’s being so compliant, and not questioning what is going on.

When Gaskell and Roxanna were in the CEO’s office, pitching to Serena, I was thinking ‘ah, Serena can see through Gaskell’s lines to a darker intent’ - and I still maintain that the scene was played out that way. But then, in the pub at the end when she said to Fletch that she was essentially happy to have him on board and wishes she could just dump the lot on him - that doesn’t sound like someone with reservations about motivation!

Really, really not a Gaskell fan.

#BBC Holby #Holby City #Serena Campbell #Bernie Wolfe #Ric Griffin #Xavier Duval #Jac Naylor #dom copeland #Ben (Lofty) Chiltern #John Gaskell #Roxanna Macmillan #Henrik Hanssen #Adrian Fletcher

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dachi-chan25 · 4 years

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April 2020 Wrap Up

Sooo I read a hell of a lot... I needed the distraction.

1.- The Girl in the Tower (The Bear and the Nightingale #2)- Katherine Arden

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I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK. It left me shook, everything felt rich and woven perfectly into the story. Vasya gets so tested as a heroine, and comes out with more understanding of her own abilities and the world of the chyarti. It was such a magical and immersive story.

2.-Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archives #2) - Brandon Sanderson

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:00000 this is my review, it was so good. This world is being crafted so perfectly with such a care for the political situation and the different species with their culture. I am dying to read the next one.

3.-Iron Gold (Red Rising #4) -Pierce Brown

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Pierce Brown broke my heart again!!! I was so happy on how things ended on Morning Star, like I imagined at least Darrow would have some peace... well nope he is still fighting and has a lot of conflict with the new government they set up and the Ash Lord is still giving trouble. I really loved the mentorship between Cassius and Lysander it felt good for Cassius. But darn I was not ready for this , the political stakes are as high as always in this universe and can my son Darrow rest pls 😢😢???

4.- City of Night (Frankenstein #2) - Dean R. Koontz

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This book didn't move the plot that much but holy shit was it intense. We follow all our storyline were we left them in book 1 (Randal was scary but at the end I did feel for him) Victor Helios still thinks he has the upper hand even when all evidence points to the contrary, the members of his New Race keep having mutations and failures and it is only a matter of time before Deucalion finds a way to kill him.

5.- One of us is next (One of us is lying #2) - Karen McMannus

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I think I might like this one better than the 1st one (I still love Addy tho) it reminded me a bit of Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars (the text messages and gossip stuff) and I am a sucker for those, the characters were pretty great and even if I did guess who was the Simon Keller copy cat it managed to shook me in other ways. My only pet peeve is why does everyone has to end on a romantic relationship??? So wierd. But I still enjoyed it a lot .

6.-The Queen of Nothing (Folk of Air #3) - Holly Black

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It was sooooooo good. I really loved this one, my favorite in the series I think. Jude really comes strong in this one. I was crying like a fool at the very end, it was a very satisfactory ending though I wish Tamryn had been more developed and had her own narrative arc instead of dropping everything in this book. That ending was so heart warming and cute.

7.- Petals on the Wind (Dollanganger #2) - V.C Andrews

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The drama. Gosh had I witnessed any of this I would have called the Police on everyone (yes Dr. Paul included). Cathy has the worst coping mechanisms ever. Like I understand wanting to get back at her mom (she totally deserves it no matter how she tries to justify herself) but bitch u don't have to base all your life on that or she wins. This fool getting into relationships with trashy ass man instead of pursuing her dreams earnestly. Like it could have been so easy to denounce her (you had proof you were her children and Carrie's medical records) and boom her money would be gone but instead she chose to be a dramatic ho and ruin all her life and the life of others (also fuck Julian, it wasn't Cathy's responsability to fix his needy ass or fix Dr. Paul's mopey ass he was her guardian yet he abused her gross)

8.-Oligarchy - Scarlett Thomas

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This was a heavy read, it deals a lot with mental health and eating disorders, and it's so so dark. I really enjoyed it though I would have liked it if it went deeper with some stuff like the ending felt a bit rushed, there should have been more build up for the final reveal but all in all it was great.

9.-LifeLik3 - Jay Kristoff

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I just couldn't . I never got used to the slang, the story seemed so predictable, there wasn't worldbuilding to speak off and the romance was the deal breaker for me, insta-love I can't handle.

10.-Tiffany Sly lives here now - Dana L. Davis

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I cried multiple times reading this book. It was beautiful and so real. Tiffany's struggles with her new life and this family she is just getting to know that come with all this inflexible rules on top of her mental health and coping with her mother's death.

11.- A Trick of light - Stan Lee

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It was a cute story, really with TONS of cómic vibes. The characters were pretty good , they did have depth and the powers were cool. The plot twist left me shook. Super enjoyable I really recommend it to any superhero fan.

12.-Infinity Son - Adam Silvera

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It was okay-ish. I mean it wasn't a bad story but it was full of clichés and predictable. We don't get much on worldbuilding and honestly that last "twist" pretty much ruined the whole thing for me. It was an intresting premise but the execution was not great.

13.-Alex and Eliza - Melissa de la Cruz

🌟🌟

It felt so disconnected, maybe because Melissa de la Cruz usually writes Contemporary and tried to use the same tone for this one, but it just didn't work on this historical fiction romance, it felt too juvenile for me. I will still read her other books cuz she knows how to write cute romance but this series is not for.

14.-Family Life - Akhil Sharma

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As someone who has had to care for a incapacitated family member some of this book really hit me hard. Still I think it moved to fast towards the end. It was a good story but the ending was kind of bland.

15.- Dreamland - Nancy Bilyeau

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It was a pretty fun read. I always enjoy a good mystery and this one is pretty fun, yes it is predictable but I don't think that's necessarily bad in this case, because it was more about the privilege and the Police being onto an immigrant because they are so prejudiced.

16.- The Princess of Cleves - Mme. De Lafayette

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This is a classic about the court of France during the Dauphin's reign, there is lots of romantic drama and anguish very intresting because it depicts a very complicated and ultimately doomed relationship. But also it is tremendously intrincate on the factions between these powerful woman and the political drama. I super recommend it.

17.- Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell

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All this vignettes were lovely. They are interconnected with one another showing us the life of all this color full characters living on a small town of England during the Industrial Revolution, all their moments sad and happy, their ambitions modest as they may be are reflected beautifully in here.

18.-John - Annie Baker

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I miss doing theatre a lot, and when I come back I hope I can do something as great as this. This play is complex and emotional, when it's setting and characters seem so simple and first. It made me laugh and cry and even be scared and unnerved. I really recc it.

19.-Angelina o el Honor de un brigadier - Enrique Jardiel Poncela

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Una obra muy ingeniosa y divertida. Una lectura increíblemente placentera,la historia es simple y fácil de seguir, los personajes son bien definidos y poseen una voz propia.

#april 2020 wrap up #booklr #dachi reads stuff

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trishbsblog · 7 years

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Can you tell those who don't know you a little bit about yourself. I’m the author of eight – soon to be nine – novels, six of which have been Sunday Times Bestsellers. To date, I’ve sold one million copies of my books around the world and my novels have been translated into eleven languages. How would you describe your new book, Christmas in St Ives? Christmas in St Ives is my very first Christmas e-novella and it’s a prequel, too! It features characters that appear in my ninth novel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea next year. It was so much fun to write and is set, like the novel, in my favourite place on earth – St Ives in Cornwall. It’s fun, festive, romantic and I hope like a little Cornish mini-break in a book! When you are not writing what do you do? I’m mum to my three year old daughter, Flo, so when she isn’t at nursery she’s my main employer! I’m also a singer-songwriter and a session singer, so occasionally I have performing or recording jobs, although not so much since having Flo. Apart from books, what films or TV shows do you like? So many! I love Gilmore Girls (the original series, not the awful remake Netflix made last year), Dear White People, Glow, Broadchurch, Shetland and Vera on TV and I’m more than a little obsessed with George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, too. For films my all-time favourites are You’ve Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, The Philadelphia Story and Before We Go. How do you choose your covers, must be difficult, they are all wonderful? Which one is your favourite and why? I don’t always get a say in my covers, but I’ve been very lucky with the designers my publishers have found. The cover for Christmas in St Ives is gorgeous and I’ve just seen the cover for Somewhere Beyond the Sea, which is one of my favourite covers yet. Have you ever had any one not believe you can do it? Lots! The very first person I told I was writing a book (when I was 18) told me it was a childish thing to do and it knocked my confidence so much that I didn’t try and write again for ten years. And even when my first book, Fairytale of New York, was discovered on an online site for unpublished writers and I was offered a book deal, I still had people telling me it probably wouldn’t happen. What matters is that you believe in yourself first and keep believing no matter what. It helps that my lovely husband Bob is my biggest cheerleader and I have a great group of friends who believe in me. I think selling a million books kind of proves the naysayers wrong, so that’s what I focus on when I have doubts about my writing! What is your writing process? It varies from book to book. I used to start writing at the beginning of the story with only a vague idea of where I wanted it to go (so much more fun, but not good when you’re a mum and your time is short!). Since having Flo, I’ve had to be more disciplined with my time, so I work out a plan before I start writing. I handwrite the plan because for it sticks in my head better when I’ve seen it written down. Then I write the first draft, check it and send it to my publisher. There are then several edits, so it’s a steady process and good that I know I can change things and refine the story as we go along. Which of your books is your favourite? I love them all in different ways. Some remind me of where I was in my life when I wrote them: It Started With a Kiss was when Bob surprised me with a Christmas Day marriage proposal; When I Fall in Love was the year we got married, so I was planning it while editing that book; Take a Look at Me Now was our honeymoon; and I wrote and edited I’ll Take New York while I was expecting Flo. I’ll always love my first book, Fairytale of New York, because it was my first and I wrote it largely in secret over seven years. And I adore Searching for a Silver Lining and A Parcel for Anna Browne because they were both stories that had been bubbling in my mind for years, so I was so proud to see them finished. And I have to say I absolutely love Christmas in St Ives because it was a ball to write and, I think, is the most perfect Christmas story I could have written. What got you in to writing, did you always want to do it? I fell in love with books as a little kid when I was taken to our local tiny library in Kingswinford. I asked my mum when I was five if our library would put my book on the shelves one day and I think that’s where it began. I’ve always loved writing and always done it, but being able to write and publish books for a living is the biggest dream come true. I feel very lucky! If you were to do it again, writing each book, what would you do different? I would probably apologise less and stick to my guns more! Having said that, I believe each book I’ve written is a stage on my never-ending writing apprenticeship, so I’m not sure I’d change anything because it’s all part of the journey. The only way you really learn how to write a novel is to actually write one and I learn so much with each new book I write. I always want my next book to be the best I’ve ever written so far and keep growing as an author. Who is your writing inspiration? I am inspired by writers who are brave and keep going, who refuse to be boxed or defeated by whatever life throws at them. My writing heroes include Sarah Addison Allen, Neil Gaiman, Sir Terry Pratchett, Simon Toyne, Rowan Coleman, Julie Cohen, CL Taylor, Tamsyn Murray, Kate Harrison, Cathy Bramley, Rachael Lucas, Kat Black and Genevieve Cogman, to name but a few. What is your favourite book or books? I love Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen, Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell and more recently I’ve adored Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen, The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Who gets to read your work first? To be honest only I read it in full before my publisher, although I have a couple of close friends who are writers whose advice I treasure. I’ll very often bounce ideas off them as I’m writing but I don’t ask them to read it before I start the editing process with my editor. My husband Bob helps with ideas if I get stuck, but it tends to be advice I seek as I’m writing rather than sending it out to beta readers etc. If you weren’t a writer what would you be doing? I’d love to be able to do music full-time or be an actor. How long does it take you to write a book? The first draft can take anything from six weeks to two months. Having said that, I wrote both the first drafts of Christmas in St Ives and Somewhere Beyond the Sea in just over eight weeks. I wouldn’t recommend writing two stories in eight weeks, though! My quickest was the first draft of Take a Look at Me Now, which I wrote in four-and-a-half weeks – but I didn’t have a bouncy Flo back then, so that explains why it was so fast! What do you do if you feel your book is going down the lines of another book you have read and how do you correct it? I don’t read books in my genre while I’m writing a first draft, mainly because I’m scared of either bringing elements subconsciously into what I’m writing or, scarier still, discovering someone else has already had my brilliant idea! I write from my gut feeling and I think that hopefully stops me being too similar to anyone else’s work. If I did find I’d named a character the same as someone else I would change it but thankfully that’s only happened once when I was writing. I’m inspired by film references more than books, though, so my next novel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, is a You’ve Got Mail-type story of two people who fall in love before they meet. It’s not You’ve Got Mail, obviously, but I loved the idea of your heart deciding who to love before your head works it out. It’s an idea you can see in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, etc, so I think ideas can be passed down from generation to generation for authors to put their own spin on.

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