The first post is from Michelle Clements James with a book review for a lovely sounding novel.. Isobel’s Promise by Maggie Christensen
Book Blurb
A promise for the future. A threat from the past. Can Bel find happiness?
Back in Sydney after her aunt’s death, sixty-five-year-old Bel Davison is making plans to sell up her home and business and return to Scotland where she has promised to spend the rest of her life with the enigmatic Scotsman with whom she’s found love.
But the reappearance of her ex-husband combined with other unexpected drawbacks turns her life into chaos, leading her to have doubts about the wisdom of her promise.
In Scotland, Matt Reid has no such doubts, and although facing challenges of his own, he longs for Bel’s return.
But when an unexpected turn of events leads him to question Bel’s sincerity, Matt decides to take a drastic step–the result of which he could never have foreseen.
Can this midlife couple find happiness in the face of the challenges life has thrown at them?
A sequel to The Good Sister, Isobel’s Promise continues the story of Bel and Matt, which began in Scotland.
If you enjoy reading about strong women who have learned to love and love in later life, you’ll love Maggie Christensen’s books.
Head over to read Michelle’s review of the book: Michelle Clements James Book Chat
And to find out more about Michelle
I am a reader who dabbles in writing. So why am I blogging? I am a reader, and this blog is about sharing the books I love, whether romance, historical fiction, chick lit, classic, contemporary fiction, or even an occasional children’s book. I do not read young adult or teen. What I will never read are thrillers (I even hid behind a pillow during JURASSIC PARK). This blog is a place to talk about current reads and many of the wonderful books I’ve read over the years. It is a place to share writing/blogging tips, to reblog noteworthy posts from other blogs, and sometimes I even include personal events. I invite your comments and recommendations and hope you will find this a place to return to often.
Mary Smith has a great deal of experience launching local history books and also arranging book signings. A very useful post on the strategies she has employed to make both successful.
After my post about the launch of A-Z of Dumfries: Places-People-History, a number of people asked how we organised it. Some of you were particularly interested in the book signing at Waterstones and if it was worth doing. I should clarify that the book launch and the Waterstones book signing were two separate events.
Organising the book launch:
A-Z of Dumfries is traditionally published but everything I did applies equally to an indie-published book (my friend Lynn Otty and I held a joint launch for our indie-published short story collections following the same steps).
Whether you are buying at author discount from your publisher or from Amazon if you’ve gone down that route this is the main event. This is the one at which you hope to sell lots of books, make a bit of money – and generate interest in your book even after the event.
Head over to read all of the essential elements to a successful book signing: Organising a book launch and a book signing
Mary Smith, Buy: Amazon US – and: Amazon UK
Website: Mary Smith – Goodreads: Goodreads
Next is Carol Taylor with her Recycling and Climate Change post for this week and Australia dominates the post with its dreadful bush fires and loss of life and loss of habitat and wildlife. Carol looks at ways we can help. Also a look at the list of those countries making effective efforts to combat climate change… and also a reminder to buy local, in season, fruits and vegetables which have not been transported thousands of miles to reach out plates. A very handy list of food produce that is seasonal in the next couple of months.
Now a week into the new decade what is going on?
The headlines have been dominated by the terrible bush fires in Australia and my heart goes out to those killed, injured and missing those who have lost homes and property, the wildlife and the brave emergency services who in many areas are fighting a losing battle…
Of course, the blame game has started and everybody has their opinions on that one…
Me…I don’t know…
I have read reports and tend to take more notice of bush fire experts, the fire chiefs who are calling for increased funding for fire reduction methods. These same people have also stated that many of the fire reduction methods are dependent on the weather conditions and that much can be done by individuals to protect their own homes and properties. They also state that sometimes those methods don’t work and the fires can still rip through depending on the ferocity…So many factors feature in the scenarios and in an ideal world this wouldn’t happen but it does…
Of course, due to the ferocity of the fires, there are fears that the large pulses of carbon dioxide may not be absorbed through regrowth of the forests as in the past.
However when all is said and done both Australia’s and the US fall very short in this Climate Change Index Annual Report…
Head over to read the rest of the post and also follow links with further interesting information: Carol Taylor Recycling and Climate Change 6th January
You can find all of Carol’s posts here on Smorgasbord: Carol Taylor’s Food and Cookery Column 2019
Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will head over to read these posts in full… thanks Sally.
Smorgasbord Blog Magazine 