Two great reads to recommend in this post as well as a heads-up on part three of the blog tour for my own Skye series of novels, and news of my appearance at an upcoming book festival..
A mixed start to autumn
September has been a month of contrasts here in Scotland – some beautiful cool but sunny autumn days as well as some incredibly rainy and grey ones.
And as regards my social life it’s been a month of contrasts too.
I got to see friends I hadn’t seen since the start of the Covid lockdown, got out for a couple of lunches, had a couple of friends to the house, and had a lovely staycation week away in Argyll with family.
But then the Scottish government announced we’re back to partial lockdown and we can’t have friends or family to visit us at home or visit them in their homes.
However through all the ups and downs of the pandemic – one thing has remained constant. I continue to find much solace in reading.
And below I have my two of my favourite reads of the month to share with you.
September Books of the Month
First up is a beautiful non-fiction book of contemporary writing about the nature and landscape of Scotland. Antlers of Water is edited by Kathleen Jamie – a favourite writer of mine, and the contributing writers got me thinking even more than normal about our relationship as humans with the natural world.
From the backcover:
The first ever collection of contemporary Scottish writing on nature and landscape, Antlers of Water showcases the diversity and radicalism of new Scottish nature writing today.
Edited, curated and introduced by the award-winning Kathleen Jamie, and featuring prose, poetry and photography, this inspiring collection takes us from walking to wild swimming, from red deer to pigeons and wasps, from remote islands to back gardens.
With contributions from Amy Liptrot, Malachy Tallack, Chitra Ramaswamy, Jim Crumley, Amanda Thomson, Karine Polwart and many more, Antlers of Water urges us to renegotiate our relationship with the more-than-human world, in writing which is by turns celebratory, radical and political.
And second, is a contemporary romance – I know no surprises there – but what is surprising is I read this one in a day – something I’ve never done before. It was a wet Sunday, I wasn’t feeling energetic and the sofa beckoned. And wow! Just wow! The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake is a five out of five stars and is in line for my book of 2020.
From the back cover:
This is the story of two women.
One old, one young.
One looking for new adventures. One looking for a purpose.
Both needing a friend.
And this is how, along with two little girls in need of a family, a gorgeous stranger, and a scruffy dog, they bring the whole community together every Saturday morning for love, laughter and a little bit of running…(well, power walking).
Blog Tour for Fulfilment
As well as reading, I have of course spent much of the month writing. And after a couple of false starts I’m now underway with the first novel in my new series. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the novels I already have out there. And I’m delighted that Fulfilment – the third and final part of my Rachel & Jack: Skye series is off on its blog tour this week – and as before the tour will include reviews and extracts.
This follows on from the recent tour weeks for the first two novels in the series – Displacement and Settlement. These proved very successful and got lots of interaction and sharing and I’m hopeful the same will be true for Fulfilment‘s trip out.
And I must say a huge thanks to Kelly at Love Books Group who organised the tours and to all the book bloggers who have taken part.
You can see below all the stops Fulfilment will be making on its tour – and as always I would appreciate it so much if you could visit, like and share some or any of them. Thank you.
Fulfilment Blog Tour September 2020
28th Sept Review Books ’n’ Banter @AngiPlant http://booknbanter.wordpress.com/
28th Sept Review Undiscovered Scotland @UndisScot https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk
29th Sept Review Vicky Book and Family @Vickybooksandfamily https://www.instagram.com/Vickybooksandfamily
30th Sept Review Book Loving Science Teacher @book_loving_science_teacher https://www.instagram.com/book_loving_science_teacher
1st Oct Review Portobello Book Blog @portybelle portobellobookblog.com
1st Oct Review The Book Reader @the.b00kreader https://www.instagram.com/the.b00kreader
2nd Oct Review Jessica Belmont @jessicaxbelmont Jessicabelmont.wordpress.com
3rd Oct Review & Excerpt Being Anne @Williams13Anne http://www.beinganne.com
3rd Oct Review Rajiv’s Reviews @rajivsreviews https://www.rajivsreviews.com/
4th Oct Review Daisy Says @daisyhollands daisysays.co.uk
4th Oct Excerpt B for Book Review @BookreviewB https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com
Portobello Book Festival
Oh, and before I go, just wanted to let you know that I’m delighted to be appearing at the Portobello Book Festival this Friday (2nd October) at 8pm. Portobello is a seaside area in the city of Edinburgh and has hosted its own live book festival for several years.
This year, of course, the festival is online and free to attend – so even if you can’t watch my session – where I will interviewed about my books – as it goes live on the 2nd – you can catch up any time online on YouTube later. You will be able to find my event by clicking on the link HERE any time after 8pm on the 2nd.
The festival runs from the 2nd to the 4th October 2020 and you see the full programme and timings HERE.