Love and Loss at the Beach Hotel by Francesca Capaldi (guest post)

 

I'm thrilled to invite Francesca Capaldi to my blog today. Francesca shares her insight into researching materials for the historical saga.

Love and Loss at the Beach Hotel

Can true love win the day?

Hetty Affleck is working as a maid at the prestigious Beach Hotel in Littlehampton. Her beau, Lorcan, is away at war and has recently stopped replying to her letters but she is determined to keep her spirits up. When she meets wealthy shipbuilder's son Victor Perryman, they pass the time of day and they both feel a connection but she can’t allow herself to think anything more of it - not only does she have Lorcan to think of, but she and Victor are divided by wealth and class.

Yet they meet again and Hetty is charmed and intrigued by Victor and his openness towards her. It becomes harder to ignore the attachment growing between them.

When Lorcan comes back on leave, Hetty is forced to face her true feelings. Who does she really love, and can that love conquer everything in its path?

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zAql23

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/love-and-loss-at-the-beach-hotel

Apple: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/love-and-loss-at-the-beach-hotel/id6504192817

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/love-and-loss-at-the-beach-hotel/francesca-capaldi/9781804368466

 

Author Bio –

Francesca has enjoyed writing since she was a child. Born in Worthing and brought up in Littlehampton in Sussex, she was largely influenced by a Welsh mother who loved to tell improvised stories. A history graduate and qualified teacher, she decided to turn her writing hobby into something more in 2006, when she joined a writing class.

​

Writing as both Francesca Capaldi and Francesca Burgess, she has had many short stories published in magazines in the UK and abroad, along with several pocket novels published by DC Thomson.

 

Her Welsh World War 1 sagas were inspired by the discovery of the war record of her great grandfather, a miner in South Wales. Heartbreak in the Valleys was a finalist in the Historical Romance category of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards (RoNAs) in 2021. Her latest series, The Beach Hotel, is set in her own childhood town, where her Italian father had a café on the riverside. The first in that series, A New Start at the Beach Hotel, won the Romantic Saga Award in the RoNAs in 2024.

​

Francesca is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. She currently lives on the North Downs in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrission.

 

Social Media Links –

Website & Blog: https://www.francesca-capaldi.com/

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaCapaldiAuthor

Twitter/X: https://x.com/FCapaldiBurgess

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francesca.capaldi.burgess/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@francesca.capaldi.author

Researching Love and Loss at the Beach Hotel

I know research isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s always been something I’ve loved, ever since I did a course on it during my history degree, back in my youth. In those days, I used to sit in a records’ office, or in the library, scrolling through microfiche machines to find what I was looking for on the census or on a tithe map.

 

Whilst researching Love and Loss at the Beach Hotel and the other novels in that series, I have spent time at Littlehampton library and in the museum there, but these days so many documents are available online.

 

When I was doing research for my first historical sagas, the Wartime in the Valleys series, I discovered a wonderful newspaper resource on the Library of Wales website, with Welsh papers up to 1919. I learnt about the extensive chapel events, charity collection days, concerts and plays, what films were on at the picture house, what kind of shops there were, dodgy medical cures, detailed court cases… I could go on. If you think general life came to a standstill in World War 1, it certainly didn’t.

 

Now I’m writing the Beach Hotel series, although set in Sussex, those newspapers are still useful in showing day to day life, what’s going on in the war and rationing. However, there are many other very useful and fascinating websites to explore.

 

The 1911 census was ideal for seeing who was registered as living at the Beach Hotel. There’s a manager and his wife and children for starters. Then there’s a housekeeper, storekeeper, bookkeeper, nurse/midwife, four types of maids (chamber, house, staff and stillroom), a barmaid, porters, a cook and a waiter. Only live-in staff would have been recorded though. I know from a later document, from the 1950s, that there would have been around fifty or so staff members in all.

 

Five years later, any list would have looked very different, as all the men qualified to enlist would have gone to war, and their posts must have been taken by women, or sometimes older men.

 

Although the census was useful for seeing what was around the town, even more useful was Kelly’s 1915 Directory of Sussex. This gave me a clearer picture of facilities, types of shops and of businesses. I was intrigued by obsolete wonders like the ‘Fancy Repository’. The Library of Scotland’s historical OS maps helped me to see the layout of the town at the time.

 

Believe or not, I can even check on the weather on any given day, thanks to the Met Office digital archive.

 

Another useful place online has been the Bygone Littlehampton page on Facebook. Here, people with connections to the town post historical information and photographs. I’ve posted photographs on there myself, albeit more recent ones that my father took in the 1960s and 1970s.  

 

Only about half of my research is done online though. When I started looking, I was amazed how many books there were on old Littlehampton. Quite a few I’ve found in second hand shops in the area. One of them, Little Hampton Long Ago I’ve had since I was a teenager, which shows how long I’ve had an interest in the history of the place.

 

The clothes of the era changed quite a lot during the war, especially for women. Hems became shorter and liberty bodices replaced corsets. Towards the end of the decade, Dresses started to take on the look of the fashions of the 1920s. I found a wonderful book which is made up of illustrations and descriptions from Sears Catalogue. It’s interesting to see just how much women’s fashions changed in that era, from the starchy post-Victorian gowns of 1909 to the much more liberal clothing of 1919.

 

In just one day I’ve often found myself researching some very different aspects of life, including entertainments, children’s games, Christmas decorations, menus, popular songs and flying boats (as that’s what Hetty’s potential beau, Victor Perryman, builds). It’s very easy to get distracted.

 

The main aim of writing an historical novel is always to create a compelling story including jeopardy and twists and turns, and with a satisfactory outcome for the characters. But I also feel like I’m taking a journey into a foreign country, discovering a different culture, yet with people who have many of the same problems and emotions that we experience today. I find it fascinating, and I hope my readers do to.

The Hike by Lucy Clarke

"She wiped her face, looked down at her hiking boots. That was why she needed this trip. Needed to walk with these women. She felt so lost - in her marriage, in herself - that the only thing that made sense right now was to follow a trail from one point to another, step by step."

The Hike by Lucy Clarke is a tense destination/psychological thriller, set in Norway.

The Blurb:

THE PERFECT DAY FOR A HIKE

Seeking the escape of a lifetime, four friends hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild - nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky.

THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR

But there's a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago. Now the friends are hiking into the heart of the mystery. And waiting on the trail is someone who'd do anything to keep their secrets buried - and to stop the group walking away alive...

Four women - Liz, Maggie, Helena and Joni - have been friends since school. They are going on an annual trip together. In the past the trips were of a leisurely type of holiday, lounging by the pool, or drinking themselves into oblivion in bars across Europe, all LOLZ and camaraderie. This time they are roped in to do a challenging trek by the queen bee of the group, bossy Liz, who they don't dare to contradict.

Liz works as a GP, and feels like life is passing her by. With two kids and a husband who appears to be decent, it's not quite clear at first, what is wrong with her marriage and life in general. Rather than spending more time with her kids, Liz leads her friends into a trip of a lifetime in Norway.

Maggie is a single mother of a little girl, who she adores. She also has a selfish, unpleasant and controlling ex who insists on having their daughter over at his house, just to prove the power balance. She is in an emotional turmoil from having to spend time away from her child, and hopes that the trip will be a big distraction.

Helena is child-free, and is adamant about it. Yet strangely enough she sleeps around and stops using protection. Her character is so convoluted, and there is no logic to her behaviour.

And then there is Joni, the rock star with a drug addiction, who feels she needs a new meaning in her life. She joins the "girls" at the last minute.

The narrative follows four POVs, with a lot of insights into the background of each character. The initial pace of the story is pretty slow.

Apart from Liz, none are physically fit to do any climbing, yet they agree to climb a treacherous mountain. Despite the weather forecasts, and warning from the locals, they stubbornly plod on.

Liz is in a medical profession so you would expect her to understand how body works. Yet she doesn't seem to comprehend the simple facts that you don't go climbing mountains without any training.

What could possibly go wrong?

The group hikes in the Norwegian wilderness, totally unprepared to any physical exertion. As they get deeper into the forests, there is an uneasy feeling that someone is watching them.

They know that a year earlier a woman has disappeared on the trail they are taking. Her body has never been recovered. That doesn't seem to bother our brave four. 

The physical and emotional strain take their toll, and the bickering among friends turns nastier. And someone is following them, waiting for their chance to strike.

"Trees loomed tall, black shadows huddled between them. She felt watched, although she couldn't remember being further from civilisation".

All four are so unpleasant, neurotic, insecure, that you actually don't care what is going to happen to any of them. The group dynamics is fluctuating from joy to resentment to antagonism.

 "Helena and Joni had clashed often in their teens. They could both be strident and opinionated, quick to rile and slow to back down. Liz and Maggie had become mediators, trying to smooth out the knots in the fabric of their friendship".

On the surface, they are bosom friends, who go on holidays together every year, supposedly being there for each other. There is a lot of talk about how much they mean to each other. That might be the case, but in the immature kind of reliance. All four behave like they are still teenagers, irresponsible and carefree. 

This is the kind of toxic sisterhood I'm so glad I managed to avoid in my life. 

There are many cliches about motherhood, a unique smell of babies, feeling incomplete without a child. The rock chick is the most cliche character of all, with her lifestyle and drug habits.

Lucy Clarke is a very popular author of bestsellers, and the endoresements on the cover of The Hike sounded intriguing. I have a couple of her books stashed in my pile of TBR books. Perhaps this book just didn't gel with me, and I should try another thriller. 

Saying that, it's an easy and quick read, atmospheric and suspensful.

"The mountains are brutal. Impervious. They don't care who is left broken and bloodied. They don't care for weeping or joy. It is why people lose themselves out here. There's no judgment. You can be anyone in the wilderness".

P.S. The Hike is currently free for Amazon Prime members.

Christmas at Polkerran Point by Cass Grafton (review + #giveaway)

 

"The sky wore a pastel-blue cape, with gossamer strands of feather-like clouds trailing its length. The sea glistened under a weak sun, and although the strong wind whipped the sea into white caps, crashing against the rocks beneath the lighthouse, the water barely rippled where it entered the embrace of the cove".

Isn't it a beautiful description of the Cornish coastline?! If you love Cornwall and books set in this distinctive location, you might be pleased to know there is a new book out - 

Christmas at Polkerran Point by Cass Grafton. 

This cosy romance set in Cornwall is the third book in The Little Cornish Cove series, which reads perfectly as a standalone. I read the first book a few years ago (see The cottage in a Cornish cove), and was happy to re-visit Polkerran Point and get re-acquainted with some of the characters from book one. 

Blurb:

Christmas at Polkerran Point

Fate may have brought them together but secrets seem destined to keep them apart...

An accident and a lost passport mean Gemma's six-month sabbatical to go travelling is not off to a strong start. She heads to Polkerran Point to stay at her aunt's while her new passport is processed and to find temporary work in the meantime.

Enter musician Matt. Newly moved into a secluded, renovated mill - complete with a recording studio - Matt is preparing for his band's big reunion. Focused on writing new music for the album, he needs a live-in housekeeper.

Even as sparks fly, Gemma can sense Matt's keeping secrets and with her role ending once Christmas is over, will there be anything to keep her in Polkerran?

Gemma Merriott is recovering from a scary accident on her trip abroad. Having lost all her travelling possessions and a passport, she arrives to Polkerran Point to stay with  her aunt and recuperate. While waiitng for her passport, and dreaming of travelling around Europe, Gemma is looking for a temporary job. 

"The die had been cast. Gemma's plans had fallen foul. Instead of exploring pastures new, she would be in the small Cornish village of Polkerran Point for the foreseeable, and... her aunt had been kind enough to invite her to stay..."

As a child, Gemma enjoyed visiting her aunt and spending time in the harbour. 

It so happens, that there is a job available - as a housekeeper to a reclusive musician Matt, who stays in a newly renovated mill. Years before, Matt used to be a guitarist in the famous band. Now that the band reunion is looming, he is engrossed in his work on a new album. Domestic chores are not his forte, he needs someone to organise his life for him, and around him.

Matt appears to be a grumpy, self-absorbed arty type, not capable of looking after himself, always relying on someone else to provide him with daily comforts, from adoring adoptive parents to the housekeepers. A man-boy in some aspects...

Gemma is not sure whether she even wants to work for Matt, but the job comes with a small cottage to live in, and the money is decent. 

You feel a tad sorry for bubbly Gemma, who loves her food but has zero talents in the cooking department. 

The atmosphere in the house is strained, and it looks like Matt has some secrets from his past that he does not want to share. 

"Rather than rigidly entrapped in the past, Matt seemed haunted by it. Lost and uncertain how to find his way forward".

Despite his aloofness, Matt is the man who sets Gemma's heart aflutter. She is intrigued. "Matt was a strange mixture, one minute dismissive, the next a vulnerable, wounded figure who needed... what, exactly?" 

Living together at the mill, they learn to trust each other and break down the barriers holding them back.

Once Christmas is over, will Gemma resume her travels, leaving Polkerran Point behind?

Gemma and Matt are both likable, yet some of their habits might leave you exasperated.

Gemma is a sweet woman, with a big appetite and an excessive love of all things Christmas-related. The way she obsesses with Christmas decor probably hints there is something missing in her life. 

And Matt, as much as he is busy, surely he is capable of putting his dirty clothes and wet towels in the washing machine? There's nothing remotedly romantic about washing someone else's undies.

There is a whole gallery of supporting characters providing a comic relief to the more dramatic storylines. 

Just the other day I was talking about a different book set in Cornwall and mentioned the hostile locals. This village is the exact opposite - openly nosy, quirky and warm-hearted.

Anna who is the main character in book 1 of the series, is a hard-working owner of a popular B&B. She is also a talented baker, and has her hands full, yet kindly allows a daily stream of visitors.

In her place, I would dread brace myself every morning, expecting being invaded by the over-friendly locals who have no boundaries. They come daily, expecting being served free hot drinks and pastries. This sounds a bit intrusive. Anna is a saint to put up with this.

This book is the quintessential festive reading, full of mischief, nostalgia, amusing word puns. Some of the scenes, like the Christmas fayre, or the ceremony of switching on the Christmas lights in the harbour, make me think of what it would be like to spend a winter holiday in my favourite location. I often watch online the Christmas lights switch-on in Mousehole on webcam, and hope one day to see it in real life. 

This story will delight the fans of Phillipa Ashley, Cressida McLaughlin, Emma Burstall and Trisha Ashley, and will make a lovely festive gift.

I believe this book would make a great Hallmark or Netflix Christmas film.

Christmas at Polkerran Point is a charming, sparkling seasonal read, light, funny and delightful.

This review is part of the blog tour for Christmas at Polkerran Point.

Many thanks to Cass Grafton, Canelo and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

Purchase Link - https://geni.us/CAPP

 

Author Bio – Cass began her writing life in Regency England, enlisted Jane Austen’s help to time-travel between then and the present day and is now happily ensconced in 21^st century Cornwall.

Well, in her imagination and soul; her heart and physical presence reside in northern England with her ever-patient husband and Tig and Tag, their cute but exceptionally demanding moggies.

A bit of a nomad, Cass has called three countries home, as well as six different English counties, but her aspiration is to one day reunite with her beloved West Country.

In the meantime, she writes feel-good contemporary romances set in Cornwall and, in doing so, manages to live there vicariously through her characters and settings.

An Ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation, Cass is also a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Jane Austen Society UK and the Society of Authors.

Social Media Links –

FB - https://www.facebook.com/cassie.grafton

Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cassgraftonwriter/

 

Giveaway to Win a paperback copy of Christmas at Polkerran Point along with a small gift bag (Open Int)

The gift bag contains a pack of Christmas post-it notes, a Cornish coaster, a gingerbread tree ornament and some festive-wrapped Tic Tac mints!

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  

Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  

The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. 

If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. 

Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  

Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. 

This will be passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  

Chez Maximka is hosting  Rafflecopter gadget for the purposes of the book promotion for free. I have no access to the data collected, or the selection of the winner. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Echoing Shore by J.H. Mann

 

"I was running hard, gasping for breath in a dark, damp lane interspersed by shards of moonlight. From what or to where? I had no idea".

The Echoing Shore by J.H.Mann is a gripping psychological thriller, set in Cornwall.

It's been a while since I've read a book at such a speed, just in a couple of days, I just couldn't put it down.

Blurb:

The Echoing Shore

A Yeovil Literary Prize award winner

A lifeboat is lost off Cornwall's wild Atlantic coast. All eight crewmen die. The cause is never fully explained. Ten years later, Kate Tregillis, the editor of a small, struggling newspaper, becomes obsessed with solving the longstanding mystery.

Her investigations provoke a backlash of threats and violence in the insular fishing community of St Branok. In exposing the truth, she risks the future of her newspaper and even her life - and discovers that the man she loves has his own secrets.

From the first pages, we are plunged into the tragic events that would shatter the local fishing community of St Branok. A lifeboat, the Talan Bray, goes into the vastness of the North Atlantic into the storm, only never to come back. Eight crew members perish, including a young man who's only just joined in. There are no answers as to what's happened during the storm.

A decade later, Kate Tregillis, who works as an editor in the local newspaper, is compelled to look into the circumstances of the disaster, when a London freelancer named Danny Flanagan comes into the offices of The Gazette to offer his services.

Kate wonders if bringing Danny into the fold while knowing almost nothing about him is wise, but the newspaper is struggling, they need all the help they can get to keep afloat.

"The fate of the paper was on a knife edge. It could go either way and it was down to me - and me alone - to find a solution. Danny might be part of the answer".

"Even with a skeleton staff, the Gazette was devouring money. We needed more than a few interesting stories to survive. We needed a bloody miracle".

When Danny suggests a feature on the tenth anniversary of the loss of Talan Bray, Kate knows it has to be handled diplomatically, or there will be repercussions.

"The loss of the Talan Bray had been the biggest story to hit St Branok in a generation - hit being the operative word. It'd rocked the community to its core. And there remained a bitterness and rawness about it locally which made it dangerous territory. Still, we needed the whole community to be talking about the Gazette. Better to be talked about than ignored".

When Danny starts digging without a care whose feathers he might ruffle, the locals don't take to it kindly. The community closes its ranks and breathes hostility not just towards the newcomer Danny, but also Kate. The threats and violence escalate, and the future of the newspaper is becoming even more bleak.

"The truth, as Danny had pointed out earlier, was that I couldn't stop him investigating. He was a freelancer, free as a bird: a journalist able to sell his story anywhere he chose. If I told him to get out of our offices, I'd lose any opportunity for the Gazette to be part of the story".

Will Kate and Danny be able to discover the grim truth of what's really happened on that stormy night ten years earlier? 

Suspence and escalating menace are handled expertly, with the past stretching its tentacles into the present.

One of the things I particularly liked about the book is the realistic, ordinary-looking characters. 

I recently read a snippet from a writer's newsletter where she describes her successful colleague. Apparently she writes romance only about young, beautiful, successful women who meet and fall in love with rich handsome blokes, and live happily ever after in mansions, etc. I thought then, that's the kind of books I tend to avoid, though I presume there's a market for them. 

Both main characters in The Echoing Shore are not young, rich or beautiful, at least when it comes to their appearance. They are dedicated to their jobs, to the point of risking their livelihood and even their lives, searching for truth. 

Cornwall is one of my most favourite book settings, but often, this location is seen through rose-tinted glasses, unduly sentimental and idealistic, with ever so helpful, welcoming neighbours, and friendly communities. 

In this story, the small Cornish fishing village can be a hostile environment, aggressive, parochial, judgmental and truculent. 

The descriptions of Cornwall are again, not of a picture-perfect variiety. This landscape is dark, dangerous and deceptive, yet also stunning in its intense beauty. The author captures the atmospheric background perfectly, in fact, it's not so much a background, as a living, breathing entity which builds the local character, with its resilience and determination.

"Another mist had rolled in from the Atlantic and the wind had died. An unnerving stillness prevailed. The ocean swelled languidly, seemingly as thick as treacle, exuding a quiet menace..."

The Echoing Shore is a character-driven narrative. Kate is a strong-willed protagonist who knows her own mind and is not easily scared off.

Tight plotting, authentic setting, convincing real characters make this book riveting, intense and dramatic.

Flew through The Echoing Shore. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to J.H.Mann and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

Praise for The Echoing Shore:

'A gripping story full of twists and turns' - Margaret James, Writing Magazine.

'An enthralling read that keeps you guessing to the end' - Victoria Howard, author and judge for the international 2023 Yeovil Literary Prize.

'I would definitely pick this book up from the bookshop shelf' - Claire Gradidge, winner of the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition.

 

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Echoing-Shore-J-H-Mann-ebook/dp/B0DFT3LPTQ/

https://www.amazon.com/Echoing-Shore-J-H-Mann-ebook/dp/B0DFT3LPTQ/

 

Author Bio –

Jason Mann is an award-winning journalist and writer living in the South West of England with Nicola, his wife, and their lively whippet, Patch. He is also a shore-based volunteer for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Jason says: ‘Many of my stories are set in the wonderful county of Cornwall where truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. I have swum and surfed there much of my life. It has been a special place for me with its legends, soaring cliffs, rugged moors and wild seas. The landscape has a raw, mystical magic. My father and mother’s recollections of rescues and tragedies on the North coast are often the inspiration for my stories. My father became one of the county’s early lifeguards after his predecessor was killed by a strike of lightning while standing in waist-deep water during a rescue.’

Social Media Links –

Facebook – www.facebook.com/jason.mann.9047

Instagram – www.instagram.com/jhmannauthor/

X (Twitter) – www.twitter.com/JasonMa74964503

Website: www.jhmannauthor.com

Murder at the Crooked Horse by Lesley Cookman

 

Murder at The Crooked Horse

After learning of a suspicious attempt to burn down a beloved old pub, The Crooked Horse, Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran reluctantly agree to investigate.

But when a local antiques dealer mysteriously disappears after apparently taking out his boat, it appears there are dark and sinister forces at play.

Can Libby and Fran uncover a connection between the fire and the missing man? And will unravelling a deadly case put them in terrible danger?

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Crooked-Horse-whodunnit-countryside-ebook/dp/B0DBPC7RX8

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Crooked-Horse-whodunnit-countryside-ebook/dp/B0DBPC7RX8

Author Bio –  Lesley Cookman writes the Libby Sarjeant Murder Mysteries and the The Alexandrians, an Edwardian Mystery Series. She lives on the south east coast of England, and is a former model, actor, and journalist. Her four adult children are all musicians and writers.

Social Media Links –  https://www.facebook.com/LibbySarjeantMysteries/

https://twitter.com/CookmanCrime

 

Newsletter sign-up https://subscribepage.io/6ihOsU?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2rxyJBg7q6Po-G-iojYqQE7ivaz7gWMla19N79lwD0XT7TcaL57I5szgE_aem_5tLJHOeCc26CZFkHzUJyVw

Land: The Ten Worlds Book Two by Bjørn Larssen

 

"Land. I heard its song, sensed its heat. The raven stopped perching on me, trying to reach my land before me. Whatever Odin could muster right now, the blazing rage inside me was stronger. I sped up, determoned he'd fail. It was mine and it was calling me".

"The future was becoming the current, turning into the past, making space for the future that followed".

"They didn't name this land, because they knew what it was! Ice-land, that's what it is! Ice-land and ice-sea and ice-sky and ice-fire!"

Land by Bjørn Larssen is the second book in The Ten Worlds series (published 5 November 2024). This is a cool, dark (not just dark, grimdark!), spellbinding re-imagining of the Norse myths. 

It is an enthralling tale of love and hatred, betrayal and forgiveness, revenge and compassion. It is brutal and shocking at times, and there were moments, when I had to pause reading it and take a break. Not because I didn't appreciate the story, but I needed to gather my thoughts and emotions.

The Blurb:

Love. Land. Loss. Happy Never After.

The truth Maya fought for all her life turns out to be a lie a thousand years long. She neither understands nor knows how to wield her hidden power, simultaneously endless and limited, forcing her to face responsibility for the harm she causes and parry countless questions she has no answers to. Neither time nor space can stop her - but can she stop herself?

Bound with an unbreakable love spell, Magni and Thorolf, raised in darkness and pain, share only one thing: a fear of revealing their truths. One was born to be a God; the other only knows a slave's life. One craves peace and quiet; the other believes peace to be a brief reprieve between wars. As they mourn those they have lost, the constant war of their own threatens to destroy all they have left - each other.

Haunted by Gods old and new, in the shadow of Odin's raven, they head to conquer the new Asgard. Apart from their demons, nothing and nobody is what it seems. Unwilling to give up love, freedom, or land they're fated to live happily never after... unless destiny can be altered after all?

Following the events of the first book, when Magni and Maya are accused of plotting against Thor, they have to leave Ásgard. Accompanied by Goddess Freya, they cross from one world to the next, through the roots of Yggdrasil. 

There are two main threads in the narrative, the story unfolds through the voices of two protagonists, Magni and Maya. Their voices interchange, both emotionally charged.

Vengeful Freya puts an everlasting spell on Magni and Thorolf, making them fall in love with each other. One of them is a God, another is a slave. There is so much they can't agree on, the divide between them is a chasm. Both of them have suffered greatly. 

"What Freya had done to them was borne of malice, meant to be a punishment. She failed, or she'd fail".

Magni craves "boring" life, he wants to live an uneventful quiet life, of peace and hard work. Thorolf believes this kind of idyll is not sustainable, and the war is coming to engulf everything they know. It looks like they are totally incompatible. On top of that, their inner demons are trying to take over.

Their love-resentment demands a terrible sacrifice. Is there a happy ever after for them?

Maya's path is not an easy one either. She is trying to figure out her own origins, strengths and powers. Since she is not fully comprehending what she is capable of, Maya presents a danger to the world around her. 

"I was a tree the way Yggdrasil was a tree. I was destiny and I was destination, all the destinations, all the passages and routes and directions..."

The truth about her birth is demolishing all her preconceptions and assumptions, not only about herself, but her parents and even her age.

Maya is haunted by visions. There are too many questions, and very few answers.

"My visions were unwanted. I couldn't choose what or when to witness. What I experienced were destinies".

Intent on finding a new Ásgard, they have a perilous journey ahead. They cannot completely escape the old Gods, as Odin's raven accompanies them, uninvited, and ever watchful. What are Odin's plans? 

What is destiny? Is it truly impossible to re-shape or invalidate?

The story blends a twisty plotline with compassion for the flawed, vulnerable characters. There is wisdom, and courage, and flares of dark humour.

Magni's voice is full of confusion and internal strife. His anxiety is overwhelming, and affects his mood swings on a constant loop, he has difficulty concentrating on the present, and feels guilty and worthless. Even when clearly loved, he doesn't believe he is worthy of being loved. His thoughts are chaotic, the events of the past appear as an incomplete puzzle in his mind. 

Magni's stream of consciousness is so confused at times, that you plunge into that dark chaos and uncertainty with him. His mental distress is palpable.

"I have voices in my head," I said. My heart was racing. I am insane. "Some have names. Sometimes they argue and I can only listen, like I am outside. I think some don't even like me. Sometimes... I think that's why I forget... they take over..."

It's an authentic portrayal of a complex and nuanced nature of severe despondency, and of a dissosiative identity disorder.

While Why Odin Drinks is a satirical retelling of the Norse myths, this story is far from straight-comic (though the introducion written by Loki is truly amusing). That's not to say that humour is not present, but the overall narrative is charged, intricate and even shocking.

 This book will engulf you, and keep you captive. Perhaps because this year has been very challenging for my older son who struggles with his mental health, I found it haunting and devastating at times (Magni's dissosiative identity disorder, his mental anguish, disorganised behaviour, etc).

I might have read it differently in a different situation. I really wanted to hold this vulnerable giant in my arms and soothe his pain. 

What do I want to say? Read this book, and be blown away.

Author Bio:

An award-winning author of historical fiction and fantasy, dark and funny in varying proportions. His writing has been described as "dark", "literary", "cinematic", "hilarious" and "there were points where I was almost having to read through a small gap between my fingers".

His debut novel, Storytellers, won a Readers' Favorite Gold Medal (Best Historical Fiction Novel) and was shortlisted for Eric Hoffer Prize Award. His fantasy works, Children and Why Odin Drinks have been shortlisted for eleven (11) Indie Ink Awards - so far; Children was also nominated for a Staby Award (Best Indie Novel of 2020). Bjorn is a Queer Indie Award Laureate (best speculative fiction author) and very proud of it.

Bjørn has a Master of Science degree in mathematics, and has previously worked as a graphic designer, a model, a bartender, and a blacksmith (not all at the same time). He currently lives with his husband in Almer, which is unfortunately located in The Netherlands, rather than Iceland.

He has only met an elf once. So far.

His upcoming release, the second book in The Ten Worlds cycle - Land - is coming out on November 5, 2024.

The Sea House by Louise Douglas

 

"Still, it felt to Mila as if Elisabeth's anxiety, real or imagined, had pervaded the very fabric of the house. It was contagious".

The Sea House by Louise Douglas is a captivating psychological thriller, set in the fictional town of Morranez in Brittany.

The Sea House is the third book in the Toussaints Detective Agency series. I have read the first book (The Lost Notebook), which introduces Mila Shepherd, the main protagonist, and tells the story of how she ended up in Morranez.

The blurb:

The Sea House

A mysterious bequest and the legacy of a tragic love - only one person can unravel the hidden secrets of the past before it's too late...

When Elisabeth Quemener dies, she leaves a small parcel with the instructions that it must only be opened by Astrid Oake. The trouble is, no one knows who Astrid Oake is...

Elisabeth's family turn to Touissants detective agency for help but, when Mila Shepherd and Carter Jackson try to track Astrid down, their frustration soon mounts. Their only clue is a photo of two young women holding the hands of a tiny child. The women are smiling but Mila is haunted by the sadness in their eyes. Is this Astrid and Elisabeth and if so, who is the child? And why are there signs everywhere in Elisabeth's home that the old woman was frightened despite her living a quiet life with no known enemies?

As Elisabeth and Astrid's story slowly unfolds, Mila feels the walls of her home The Sea Houe closing in. And as the secrets finally begin to reveal themselves, she is ever more determined to carry out Elisabeth's final wishes. Because what is inside that unprepossessing parcel might just save a life...

Louise Douglas is back in the Brittany seaside town of Morranez with a heart-stopping, heart-breaking, brilliantly written and utterly compelling mystery. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Eve Chase and Lucinda Riley.

Mila Shepherd has moved to Brittany to look after her orphaned teen niece Ani, following the tragic death of her step-sister Sophie. They live in a big secluded house on the outskirts of Morranez on their own. Mila works in the Toissaints detective agency, which specialises in tracking down lost family members etc.

When the agency is approached by the daughter of the local lady who has recently died and left a strange request, they take on the case to find the recipient of the mysterious package - someone named Astrid Oake. The instructions are pretty bizarre: if the recipient is not found, then the package should be buried within the grave, and never to be opened.

Who is Astrid Oake? Nobody knows of her, she can't be found on any social media, and any search brings no results.

Mila is starting her search for clues in Elisabeth's house, and feels very uneasy. The empty house has spyholes, security cameras, burglar alarms, a number of bolts on bedrooms and panic buttons. 

"... Being alone in a dead person's house had never made Mila feel vulnerable before... Everything pointed towards Elisabeth having been afraid of someone or something. And that, Mila concluded, was what was making her scared now: fear by proxy."

The investigation seems to draw blanks. The only clue left in the house is an old photo of Elisabeth and Astrid as young women, holding a hand of a little girl. They are smiling in the camera, but their eyes are sad.

"It was, superficially, a lovely picture, with the two young women smiling, but when she looked closely, Mila could see the smiles were guarded; as if they were for  the camera; not from the heart".

The investigation's progress is slow, yet there is a development, which brings Mila to the UK, in search for Astrid's story, as well as getting answers to Mila's personal life issues.

On top of the problems of finding the elusive Astrid, Mila has to deal with very unsettling discoveries in her family's past, related to the death of Sophie and her husband Charlie. 

Will Mila find the elusive Astrid Oake? What's inside the mysterious parcel?

The setting of the sea resort in winter works perfectly as a bleak background to the dark drama that is going to be revealed, both in Mila's family life and the investigation she is conducting for the agency.

This is the fourth book by Louise Douglas that I've read, and as always I admire how the author sets the scene. The backdrop - descriptions of the seaside town out of season, the eerie house, the sinister farm in the English countryside - are evocative, vivid and atmospheric. 

The story is gripping and emotionally-charged, though I couldn't warm up to any of the main characters. Mila is rather insipid, still in thrall to her late step-sister's bossy and selfish behaviour. While reading this story, I remembered how much Sophie irritated me in the first book. 

You know this self-obsessed, fickle and capricious type in real life and try to avoid them at all costs. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, left by her egoistic father, unloved by her narcissistic mother, Mila is looking for crumbs of affection anywhere she can find them, and is not able to assert herself.

Mila has to decide what she is going to do with her life in the long term. She left her boyfried Luke behind in the UK, he is expecting her to come back at some point, yet Mila is uncertain about what she really wants. You feel sorry for Luke, who's been more than patient. The position which was supposed to be temporary until the solution is found turns into an indefinite one.

Mila is not a maternal material, having no children of her own, and her niece Ani is a moody teen, self-centred, totally unappreciative that Mila has sacrificed her job and personal relationship to look after her. Given her own parents' egoism and her sad upbringing, it comes as no surprise that Mila finds it hard to set the necessary boundaries. 

Themes of love and loss, bereavement and coping with grief, continue running through the book. These  topics are dealt with sympathetically and sensitively, and resonated with me, as I lost a very dear friend this year, who was like a family to me. Her death has affected me, and I'm feeling very emotional every time I think of her.  

One last quote from the book which I found very true and heartfelt,

"How easy it was to take people for granted when they were alive. Even when you didn't see someone often, still they were there, living and breathing, laughing and loving... But when they were really gone; when they were dead, and there would be no seeing them ever again, no chance to call them, or even to exchange a quick message, then the absence was something different; the missing became deep-rooted. And the world was different too. It was colder. It was lonelier; lacking something; less than it had been."

The Sea House is a gripping story, full of twists and turns, emotionally-charged and deeply sad at times.

When I see Louise Douglas's name on the book cover, I know it will be a tense psychological read, moving and immersive, and incredibly evocative.

Many thanks to Louise Douglas, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/seahousesocial

Author Bio –

Hello! I'm Louise, author of 12 novels mostly set in the Somerset countryside close to where I live and Sicily. I'm thrilled to have won the RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller award 2021 for The House by the Sea which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies.

Social Media Links –  

Facebook: @louisedouglasauthor

Twitter: LouiseDouglas3

Instagram: louisedouglas3

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/LouiseDouglasNews

Bookbub profile: @lesley119