It's Beginning To Feel Like Christmas...

Every Christmas I like to browse the new festive releases from my publisher, Choc Lit, & their imprint Ruby Fiction. As always, the covers look amazing. Congratulations to all the authors who have been busy writing these festive treats over the past year! Why don't you have a browse too! If the blurb tickles your fancy, just click on the book cover to find out more. All the books are available in ebook and audiobook format and some are in paperback too! Enjoy!

Laughing All The Way by Berni Stevens

If you received a mysterious invitation for a fun-filled festive train ride the week before Christmas, would you go?

When teacher Dee Nicholls receives her invitation, she isn’t sure what to make of it. Surely it’s some kind of joke to get her out of bed early on a weekend? Perhaps a clever festive marketing ploy?

But as the Christmas countdown begins, it becomes clear that Dee isn’t the only “Jingle Bells Express” invitee. There are other people out there who have received the same invitation: Tom the intern, Rachel the aspiring writer, Dylan the musician and his dog Muttley – and they’re not the only ones!

Could the unusual festive journey they eventually take together show them all the true meaning of Christmas, and also that happiness is sometimes right in front of you – if you just take the time to look?

***

Strictly Christmas Spirit by Helen Buckley

Ex-dancer Emily Williams turned her back on the sparkle of popular dancing show Strictly Dancing with Celebs to help those in need. Now the only dancing she does is teaching lonely pensioners to waltz, and the closest she gets to disco balls is making baubles with the homeless people in her Christmas crafts class.

She’s certainly not star-struck when Hollywood heart-throb Blake Harris is sent to her at short notice for community service, and has no desire to babysit the arrogant actor with his bad boy antics and selfish ways. Christmas might be a time for miracles, but Blake seems to be a lost cause.

Could their time together, coupled with a dash of Christmas spirit, lead to a miracle change of heart for them both?

***

A Cornish Christmas at Pear Tree Farm by Angela Britnell

Pear Tree Farm in Cornwall, owned by the kind-hearted Nessa Vivian, is known for taking in lost souls, and ex-soldier Crispin Davies is certainly one of those. But the once sleepy caravan park is now a thriving business, and far from the peace and quiet Crispin was craving, he soon finds himself roped into helping out with a short-notice Christmas festival, organised by Nessa’s force-of-nature sister, Lowena.

But despite Crispin’s initial reluctance, his involvement in the festival serves to throw him together with Ashley Spencer, an American woman and fellow lost soul, who works at the nearby Tregereth House. Could Lowena’s ambitious scheme result in a more hopeful Christmas and New Year for them both – with a few surprises along the way?

***

Christmas at Serenity Bay by Helen Bridgett

Chloe Walsh’s skills as location manager for the beautiful seaside village she calls home have come up trumps again, and Serenity Bay is now the setting for cosy crime drama The Montgomery Mysteries, starring amateur sleuth Dominic Montgomery and his crime-solving dog, Agatha.

But Chloe is in a race against time. Filming has to finish before the village Midwinter Festival but schedules are tight – and a mystery saboteur is intent on slowing things down even further. Not only is Chloe facing problems with the shoot, she also has some personal conundrums to solve – a diva actor has commandeered her flat, her mum is having a late mid-life crisis, plus she has no idea what to buy for her Christmas-obsessed boyfriend!

Can Chloe sort out her life and save Christmas for an entire village?

***

Christmas of New Beginnings by Kirsty Ferry

Not all festive wishes come true right away – sometimes it takes five Christmases …

Folk singer Cerys Davies left Wales for the South Downs village of Padcock at Christmas, desperate for a new beginning. And she ends up having plenty of those: opening a new craft shop-tea room, helping set up the village’s first festive craft fair, and, of course, falling desperately in love with Lovely Sam, the owner of the local pub. It’s just too bad he’s firmly in the clutches of Awful Belinda …

Perhaps Cerys has to learn that some new beginnings take a while to … well, begin! But with a bit of patience, some mild espionage, a generous sprinkling of festive magic and a flock of pub-crashing sheep, could her fifth Christmas in Padcock lead to her best new beginning yet?

For more Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction festive reads please click HERE 

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Summer's Christmas by Ella Cook

Summer by name and summer by nature – that’s how people describe Evelyn’s happy, outgoing daughter. Even if her favourite time of year is actually Christmas!

But Summer has gone through more than any eight-year-old ever should, and that’s part of the reason Evelyn is leaving everything behind to return to her childhood home in the village of Broclington; just her, Summer and Summer’s best friend – a Shiba Inu dog called Tilly. Unsurprisingly, Evelyn is hesitant to let anyone else in, although local vet Jake Macpearson seems intent on winning her trust.

When Evelyn receives the news that every mother dreads, it’s Jake who comes to the rescue. With the help of the Broclington community, could he be the man to bring festive magic to August, and make all of Evelyn and Summer’s Christmases come at once?

***

Perhaps now is a good time to mention my own festive novella! Originally published by Choc Lit as an ebook and audiobook, I always hoped that one day it would be released in print.

I am delighted to say that it is now out in large print for the very first time this Christmas!

A Daughter's Christmas Wish by Victoria Cornwall

Christmas, 1919. A promise to a fellow soldier leads Nicholas to Cornwall for Christmas, and to the teashop managed by Rose: the youngest daughter of a family whose festive spirit has been blighted by their wartime experiences.

But as Nicholas strives to give Rose the best Christmas she could wish for, he begins to question whether his efforts are to honour his friend - or if there is another reason...

The large print format is published by Ulverscroft and you can buy a copy HERE

This is my last post until after Christmas, so I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

Victoria Cornwall

Books to read before you die

Every year I am asked the same question from close relatives and friends... "What do you want for Christmas?". I don't know about you, but I find this a tricky question to answer when the gift giver has a price limit a) because the things that spring to mind don't usually fit into a £25 or less bracket (ie a holiday to an exotic island) b) I am at that age when I don't want anything very much, c) what I do want I am rather picky about.

Does that make me sound awful or have I just said what most people feel when asked what they would like?

This year I looked to the internet in the hope it would remind me about a gift I thought I wanted earlier in the year but had since forgotten. "Books to read before I die" popped up and, after a little researching, I was confident that I would have an answer for my gift giver... ie a list of books she could choose from.

I soon discovered there are a lot of websites recommending books that I should urgently read before I kick the bucket. Reading all the lists, I suddenly felt as if I had missed out on something big and I was at risk of being shooed away from the pearly gates in heaven because I had not read a particular book!

However recommendations from others can be fraught with problems and you have to ask yourself, Does this list maker have an agenda? For example, would a publisher recommend books from their competitors or stick with their own book releases? I suspect the latter. Suddenly the list does not seem so comprehensive and unbiased as it could be.

Another problem I've discovered is that the books that settle near the top of a list can have a particular political leaning which matches the political views of the list maker. Is this okay? I guess it is only natural for this to happen. I guess the most important thing is for the reader to be aware of this and make their choice accordingly.

I also began to wonder if the type of books recommended has more to do with matching the list maker's reading preferences than giving solid recommendations that will educate and widen the readers experience. Some lists were... how shall I phrase it... too intellectual for me. Surely a list should have a bit of a mixture in it such as romance, crime, fantasy, children's books, classic and modern? One particular list was so hard going that I felt exhausted (and rather depressed) from just reading the blurbs! I came to the conclusion that this particular list maker was not the sort of person I would want to be stuck in a corner with at a party. Either that or he hadn't really read the books himself.

I quite liked this LIST from the Business Insider. It was compiled in 2015, so it is not up to date, but I think it still stands the test of time. It has a good mix of genres, books for all ages, a mixture of classic and modern, and political and character observation. It was reassuring to discover that I had already read quite a few! Suddenly I didn't feel such a literary fool!

My final choice came down to the following. Yes I know, they are hardly a bunch of laughs, but I had sound reasons for choosing them:-

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
I have seen the television adaptations and wanted to know how close they were to the novella.
First impression... I didn't realise the story is only 93 pages long! It reaches novella size with the inclusion of an editor's introduction and preface. It is amazing how something so small became such a huge success. There is hope for us all!

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
I chose this for the same reasons as above. So often we come to believe that film adaptations are true adaptations of the novel, but film has their own unique problems and have to adapt the written word to help the story make sense onscreen.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
My current work in progress touches on segregation and racism in the American army during WW2. I was interested to see how another author tackles this subject as the novel is about racism in the 1930s. I have also seen the film and, once again, wondered how close it was to the source.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger
I chose this book because it is believed that the killer of John Lennon was obsessed and influenced by it. I know nothing about the contents, but have always been intrigued by what was in it and how it could play such a role in a murder that shocked the world. I didn't want to be influenced by someone else's review so I knew I had to read it myself. Now was the opportunity to do it. When my gift giver heard I had chosen this book, she said 'That's heavy reading for you'. Her reaction made me wonder what I have let myself in for!

So I have some reading to do... all different from my preferred genre (no... they are not my legs in the picture. If I sat like that whilst reading I would probably do an injury to one of my hips!). However, where reading is concerned, I do think it is important to stretch oneself and try something new. I only hope I don't come to regret it!

What book would you recommend a person should read before they die and why? Or perhaps you think there shouldn't be a bucket list for books. What are your thoughts on the subject? I would love to know.

 Victoria

WRITING OUT OF SEASON by Victoria Cornwall

I've lost count how many times I've written a scene describing the season in some way. Often, my fictional timeline is in a different season to the one I'm experiencing in reality. I've written about the burnt amber leaves of autumn while wearing shorts, a t-shirt and with the pungent smell of suntan lotion on my skin. I've written about the blustering gales of winter as I munch on an Easter egg. I've written about the fresh new shoots of spring  ... well you get the picture.

Last year I began writing my first Christmas novella. I was in the middle of a novel at the time, but I was advised that if I was going to write a Christmas themed story it would be a good idea to set the other novel aside as it would be easier to write about Christmas around the Christmas period.

I seriously considered the advice given to me, as although I can easily imagine a winter season in the summer, there is something magical about Christmas that is not so easy to capture when the celebration has come and gone.

I know that many of my friends have successfully written a Christmas story outside the festive season. They've told me that they have used decorations, mince pies and Christmas music to recapture the mood as they write. This sounded like a great idea and probably works well, but I wasn't so sure if it would work for me and this is why ...

1. Christmas is very special to me and I wanted it to remain that way, neatly tucked away between November and January ... a warm, cosy, spiritual oasis filled with generosity, family and a well known biblical story. Did I want to recreate it in March and April? I'd rather be munching on a chocolate Easter egg by then.
2. By the time Christmas is over I've had my fill and quite relieved to pack the decorations away and give the house a good clean (a task which is so much harder with a wilting fir tree wearing tinsel). The house clean signals that the hard work (and stress) of the big day is finally over. Did I want to be reminded about it during the summer? I didn't think so.

So I set my current novel aside and began to write my first Christmas novella around Christmas time last year.

Did my plan work? Was it easier to write a Christmas themed story around Christmas time?

I loved writing A Daughter's Christmas Wish during the build-up to Christmas. It felt special and not like work at all. I hope I managed to capture the build-up and magic of Christmas, but perhaps only someone who is an expert on Christmas will know the answer to that. What do you think, Father Christmas?

Did I keep Christmas neatly tucked away between November and January?
Not quite. I finished the book in February/March. During the late summer and early autumn I was working with my publisher to prepare it for publication, which inevitably requires immersing myself into the build up to Christmas outside of the festive period.

Although my mind has been pre-occupied with Christmas far longer than I had anticipated (6 to 7 months in all), I've loved every minute of it. Maybe immersing myself in the festive spirit of goodwill outside the Christmas period is not so bad after all!

Now, I think its time to put my feet up. I have a little respite ... until, of course, the real countdown to Christmas begins!

A Daughter's Christmas Wish will be released on 20th November as an ebook and audiobook.
It will be available to pre-order soon!

To find out more about Victoria Cornwall's books click HERE

5 WAYS TO ENJOY A HAPPY, HYGGE CHRISTMAS …

Everywhere I’ve turned this festive season there’s been mention of hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) - the Danish way of living that brings happiness into the everyday. Book store shelves are groaning with hygge instructional manuals (I’ve bought a few!), magazine articles complete with arty photographs show us the perfect way to create a hygge home, radio phone-ins debate whether it’s even possible to be British and enjoy hygge in all its fullness.

The Art of hygge - one of the most
practical instructional manuals

 Now although I adore Christmas, both the original nativity story as well as the excitement and razzle-dazzle it brings, I’m someone who thrives during the sunshine months and can find the dark winter days draining. As I write this, many readers may still be in the throws of preparing the Christmas meal, welcoming family and friends, wrapping, or perhaps even buying festive gifts. It’s a busy time of year and so anything that helps keep our happiness quotient high is perhaps worth giving a go.

But what exactly is hygge?

First off, I should make clear that I’m not Danish and have no connections to Denmark, but living in the north-east corner of Scotland means the natural landscape around me is very similar. We share the same long dark winter days, along with easy access to stunning sandy beaches and woodland trails.

Being a writer, one of the first things I do when researching is to read around a subject, and according to Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and author of The Little Book of Hygge, hygge is about ‘… the pursuit of everyday happiness.’ Hygge is about good times and nourishing the soul. Count me in!

So here’s 5 quick and easy ways to enjoy a Happy Hygge Christmas

1) Light -

Especially in the form of flickering candles, twinkling fairy lights or crackling open fires - all particularly good at helping create that warm hygge feeling. As well as buying a truckload of candles, I’ve also pinched this idea for fairy-light lanterns from Jonny Jackson & Elias Larsen’s The Art of Hygge.

My fairy lantern creations

Simple instructions:

Take 1 large mason jar and fill with 1 string of LED battery-operated fairy lights, covering the battery pack with a piece of hessian – and hey presto – you’re very own handmade piece of hygge. I’ve made several for friends…

2) Cake –

Red velvet cake

For many, indulgent foodie treats play an important part at Christmas-time which is great as they also play a significant role in helping to create that contented hygge feeling too. We’re talking mugful’s of mulled cider, steaming bowls of nutritious soup, hot chocolate with a splash of your favourite tipple after a stomp around the park. Enjoying a hygge moment means it’s ok not to count calories. Instead, enjoy a little of what you fancy - in moderation.

3) Books –

Spending time curled up with a great book, in your favourite corner or nook, with only a mug of coffee or tea for company, is also regarded as being particularly hygge. No wonder I fell in love with the concept…

4) Warm Socks and Blankets –

Forget dressing to impress. Hygge is all about dressing to be comfortable and to relax. Wearing soft, cosy socks whilst chilling with family and friends – playing games, listening to music or watching a movie cuddled under a blanket will all help generate that happy hygge feeling.

5) Friends -

The festive season is a traditional time to catch up with family and friends. Why not try adopting the hygge principle of remaining in the moment by switching off mobile phones and unplugging from social media for a while? Research has shown that giving time to others helps foster that tender, fuzzy feeling of belonging which in turn helps fend off winter blues. 

Christmas meet-up with the
Writers' Room collective

So what does all this have to do with creativity?

The most important lesson I’ve learned whilst devouring all things hygge, is to make time to notice and enjoy small pleasures – the warm tingle of spices on the tongue with the first sip of mulled wine, feeling tired muscles relax when making time for a scented bubble bath, lighting candles for dinner with the family. Remaining in the moment can be hard at times, but has proven to be particularly nourishing for the creative soul.  

December is traditionally a busy month, when finding time to think about being creative may prove hard. Hygge encourages being gentle on yourself – enjoying nature, spending time with friends, making time to relax. All helpful in refilling the creative well, so when we do eventually emerge from the festive celebrations we feel relaxed, refreshed and raring to go!  

If you’re interested in learning more about Hygge, then you may wish to have a look at my Warming Hygge Tips Pinterest board… 

But before you go, may I take this opportunity on behalf of everyone on the Novel Points of View blog team to wish our wonderful band of loyal readers a very happy, healthy and hygge-filled festive season…

Favourite Festive Reads - 2016

Well this must surely be one of the most diverse joint blog posts we’ve ever produced! Christmas is all about accepting everyone into the fold and boy we’ve gone wide with our favourite Christmas reads.

From new writing, fresh off the press, to nostalgic choices, which we hope might jog some happy memories too. We’d love if you might share some of your own personal favourites…

   

Rae - It was impossible for me to select only one festive read, so have limited myself to two!

One of my 2016 reading resolutions was to read more short stories and so was delighted to discover that four pieces, originally written for newspapers and magazines, by PD James have been made into a collection entitled The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories. PD James was a master of setting and characterisation and her writing very much reminds me of illicit evenings spent under the bedcovers reading Agatha Christie by torchlight. This collection is perfect if you are short on time, but still wish to enjoy pitting your wits against a fantastic crime writer.

I really struggled with my second choice as there are so many

sparkling Christmas reads out there (and so many pretty covers to enjoy). So I've opted to share one which I hope to find tucked in my stocking on Christmas morning - Christmas Under The Stars by Karen Swan. Set in Banff, amongst the majestic snow-topped mountains of the Canadian Rockies, I was immediately drawn to its location, as I was lucky enough to visit Banff a couple of summers ago and adored its alpine feel. (I also live not far from Banff - Scotland!) It's the story of couples, of tragedy, of secrets, of jealousy and love. If I'm unable to celebrate Christmas in the Canadian Rockies, then enjoying Christmas Under The Stars sounds like the next best thing. Happy reading!

Gill - I’m going to choose 2 books for this – the first came out only a few weeks ago, the second was practically the first book I ever fell in love with and it was old even then. So, quite a contrast! My first choice is Stella’s Christmas Wish by Kate Blackadder. I’ve read Kate’s short stories and serials before but this is her first full-length novel and it’s truly lovely. Family problems, a gorgeous Scottish setting (of course!) and a great love story. To me it felt like a modern-day D E Stevenson novel, and I can’t praise anything much higher than that.

My second selection is actually a children’s book, but one I return to year after year at Christmas-time, like many other Chalet School fans. It is Jo Of The Chalet School by Elinor M Brent-Dyer, and contains one of the most perfect

evocations of a traditional Christmas ever. It is set in Austria in the 1920s but the warmth of the characters and the beautiful snow-filled setting are timeless. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it!

Neil - The other half Audrey has taken the reins for this one... over to you Audrey.

Audrey - I must admit I have never knowingly bought or read a festive story since becoming an adult, so this week I received a £2 thank you credit from Amazon.

I decided to be brave and try an E-Book that I could read on my phone, and if that wasn't enough, I

downloaded The Cosy Christmas Teashop by Caroline Roberts.

It wasn't until I scrolled through reviews that I discovered this was the second in a series, however it didn’t impact on my enjoyment of the read.

Ellie the main character has breathed life into the teashop at Claversham Castle, expanding her business into wedding cakes and planning. The descriptions of delicious cakes in the teashop will have you reaching for the biscuit tin. I read the majority of this whilst sitting in a coffee shop, so the ambient noise added to Roberts wonderful descriptions of the tearoom. This novel was filled with the just the right amount of Christmas cheer, along with a few weddings and the emotional ups and downs that these bring. The Cosy Christmas Teashop was a fantastic introduction to festive reads.

Merry Christmas, when it comes… Audrey

Jennifer - I’m not a seasonal person. Not that I don’t like Christmas — far from it — but I don’t feel obliged to do everything in a particularly Chrismassy way. You’re more likely to find a summer fruit pavlova on our table on 25 December than a Christmas pudding, and I’m as likely to wear tinsel in summer as in winter.

That applies to reading, too. Over the year I’ve been building up a to-be-read pile so long that it’s a mercy it’s on a Kindle, because I certainly don’t have room for it on my bookshelves. But because it’s been accumulated over so long, there’s no real seasonality about it. I won’t be tucking into A Christmas Carol for the umpteenth time, just because it’s December. 

But I will read. I will read at times I never normally read. I’ll sit down after breakfast with a book. I’ll

read if I wake up unusually early. I’ll read while everyone else is sitting through Love, Actually. And I won’t get through the long list of books, but I’ll make a dent. So, in no particular order, here are just some of the ones I hope to tick off my list:

The Bowes Inheritance by Pam Lecky

The Family at Farrshore by Kate Blackadder

A Way From Heart to Heart by Helena Fairfax

The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains by Brevet Col J C Fremont 

Courting the Countess by Anne Stenhouse

The Last Dreamseer by Katy Haye

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Linda - I'm going off piste with my choice of  'Christmas Reads'. I have yet to have a Christmas where I have time to read much beyond the TV listings even though I doze off in front of what I've chosen

anyway. So.... I've gone for children's Christmas stories, which I do find a window of time to read aloud.  My first choice is Raymond Briggs' classic Father Christmas. My copy is rather dog-eared and the white of the cover and the pages rather less than that now. I bought it for my own children and I now read it to my grandchildren. What I - and they - love is the cartoon-strip way the story is told. The artwork is as good as the writing (imho!!) There is minimal dialogue, which means that the children are happy to have a stab at reading it by themselves. I like that Father Christmas has not one, not two, not three, but four (!!!) bottles of wine on his Christmas dinner table. Well, he would need a stiff drink after all that present-delivering worldwide, wouldn't he?

My other choice is a thick card book, written in rhyme (sort of, more doggerel really) which my five-year-old granddaughter

will happily look at any time of the year. The artwork is simple but bright and very engaging for a child. I've been known to read this one six or seven times in a row.... thank goodness there are only fourteen pages! And my excuse for choosing these over the hundreds of Christmas novels and novellas there are out there is that Christmas is for children. We have to make the time magical for them, I think, and that doesn't mean being swamped with expensive presents. What could be better than snuggling up with Grandma under a fleecy blanket, listening to a story, munching on Christmas chocolate?

Please don't be shy, we'd love to hear what will make it to the top of your festive reading pile... from all at Novel Points of View