RICHARD ARMITAGE IN BRAIN ON FIRE AND PILGRIMAGE

I needn't say much about Richard Armitage's devoted attention to details in crafting a new character. If you are reading this post,  you most likely are one of his well-wishers - as he prefers to call his fans - so you know much more than that about him.

That care and that attention have helped him deliver outstanding performances on many an occasion, however little or big his role was, no matter if in a low-budget independent project or in a high-profile one.

Impossible not to notice all that also in two recent low-budget movies he stars in after - and nothwithstanding - his worldwide fame as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit movies:  Brain on Fire (2016) and Pilgrimage (2017)

WHEN WILLS CLASH AND HEARTS COLLIDE, WHO WILL REIGN VICTORIOUS? THE PURSUIT OF LADY HARRIETT BY RACHAEL ANDERSON

The Pursuit of Lady Harriett by Rachael Anderson                                                      

When wills clash and hearts collide, who will reign victorious?                                        

Termed an Incomparable during her first London season, Lady Harriett Cavendish is beautiful, spirited, and confident, capturing the attention of a great many suitors. Unfortunately, they all failed to capture her attention, and she concluded the season as unattached as she’d begun it. Only weeks prior to her second season, Harriett encounters Lieutenant Christopher Jamison while visiting Tanglewood Manor. Recently returned from war, the lieutenant is everything that Harriett's previous suitors were not. He’s arrogant, ungentlemanly, irritating, and challenges her at every opportunity. When he goes too far, Harriett decides that it’s time to turn the tables on him. But as she sets out to put the lieutenant in his place once and for all, she discovers there is more to him than meets the eye, and when it comes to matters of the heart, she has no control whatsoever.  

                           

PERFECTLY YOU BY ROBIN DANIELS - BOOK BLAST & GIVEAWAY

   

Perfectly You by Robin Daniels

Ivy Nixon is the student body Vice President at Franklin High School. Each year, the school holds a date auction to raise funds for the senior class graduation party, and this year, Ivy’s in charge. Planning the event is a huge task and Ivy is determined to prove she can get the job done right. Unfortunately, she’s still one participant short and her deadline is looming. Andy Walker, her cute but socially reclusive art class table mate, is her last resort. He may not be popular, but he’s funny, talented, and full of surprises. With a makeover and some major social marketing, Ivy is sure he could fetch a decent price at the auction. Andy reluctantly agrees to help, but the more time Ivy spends with him, the more her feelings shift from professional to romantic in nature. To top it off, she’s done her marketing so well, that other girls are starting to notice Andy too. Come auction time, will Ivy be able to let him go to the highest bidder? Or will she find a way to keep him for herself… 

This is a stand-alone YA contemporary romance with companion novels set at the same high school. It contains minor language, innuendo, and crude humor, some steamy kissing, a party scene where underage drinking is taking place, and a brief but tasteful conversation about sex. 

The author has attempted to write characters who make good choices in questionable situations, in effort to keep the content appropriate for teens. This book contains no sex, written or implied, and no 

explicit language. Recommended for ages 14 and up.

BOOK UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: DIANE SCOTT-LEWIS, HOSTAGE TO THE REVOLUTION

Diane Scott Lewis's new book,  Hostage to the Revolution, is the perfect reading for historical fiction lovers fond of the Poldark saga, of tales set in the English Georgian Era or the French Revolution,  or for those already appreciating  her writing. 
The story of young Frenchwoman, Bettina Jonquiere, came to  Diane,  while travelling through Cornwall a few years back. Once back in the States, she thoroughly researched the eighteenth century and gave life to Escape the Revolution, set mostly in Cornwall, which was her first novel, and  now to a  sequel, Hostage to the Revolution, set in New Orleans and France.  

Hostage to the Revolution: book blurb

Sequel to Escape the Revolution. In 1796, ruined countess Bettina Jonquiere leaves England after the reported drowning of her lover, Everett.  In New Orleans she struggles to establish a new life for her children. Soon a ruthless Frenchman demands the money stolen by her father at the start of the French Revolution. Bettina is forced on a dangerous mission to France to recover the funds. She unravels dark family secrets, but will she find the man she lost as well? 

Read an excerpt

The woman lowered her Carnival mask to reveal the perfect, glacial features of Lucrece Bardou, Geralde’s former fiancée.

Lucrece raised her elegant brows. “Very well, we’ll talk here. Are you seeing my Geralde? You have been noticed with him these past months.” She swatted her fan. “And you were dancing with him out front, like two peasants.”

PERIOD DRAMA NEWS: OLD FRIENDS AND NEW ACQUAINTANCES COMING SOON

1. GENTLEMAN JACK: SURANNE JONES + SALLY WAINWRIGHT + VICTORIAN ENGLAND

Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Save Me, Scott & Bailey)  and  Sally Wainwright (To Walk Invisible, Last Tango In Halifax, Happy Valley) are due on set together again to shoot Gentleman Jack, a coproduction BBC/HBO. Of course, Suranne Jones will lead the cast as the protagonist while Sally Wainwright will sign the screenplay and will direct the 8-part series.

If you love good TV drama you should at least be as excited as me. But if, like me,  you are also a period drama lover, you should be on seventh heaven since this new series is set in 1832.

It’s the story of Anne Lister (Suranne Jones), a remarkable landowner who - after years of exotic travel and social climbing - returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall.

BOOKS & MORE BOOKS - SUMMERTIME READS

Summer means relax and travelling, binge watching and remorseless staying up late,  but it also means spare time for more good books. Have you read anything interesting? I have! Here are some of the best among my holidays reads. Very different genres, international authors - but especially British - all of them  are worth reading and will help you feel good or better.  

Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Book Blurb - Dr Eitan Green is a good man. He saves lives. Then, speeding along a deserted moonlit road in his SUV after an exhausting hospital shift, he hits someone. Seeing that the man, an African migrant, is beyond help, he flees the scene. It is a decision that changes everything.

Because the dead man's wife knows what happened. And when she knocks at Eitan's door the next day, tall and beautiful, holding his wallet, he discovers that her price is not money. It is something else entirely, something that will shatter Eitan's safe existence and take him into a world of secrets and lies he could never have anticipated.

Everything gets more complicated and tense when Dr Green's beloved wife, Liat, smart police officer and detective, starts investigating on the case. 

This new brilliant novel is crafted as a suspenseful thriller, one you suffer putting down and which resonates with you for a while after you finish reading. It is also a touching study of the human mind coping with guilt, shame, desire and resilience. One of the most intriguing books I've read this year. 

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD - MY SUMMER LIST

I still remember when summer was like: what do I watch now? Because all our favourite shows and Tv programmes were interrupted for some time and nothing new was on,  except old movies and silly stuff. Well, that was in the prehistory of TV and eons before the Net, Netflix or satellite pay-Tv were introduced. 

Why am I thinking about that right now? Because, instead, I've been watching quite a good deal of great TV shows in the latest couple of months, that is,  since summer has started. 

That's not bad at all:  we all have more spare time in the summer and feel less guilty binge watching or staying up late to catch up with our favourite series. 

Luckily enough, there are or there have been several interesting period drama series to pick up among.  Here is  my summer watching list: Will, Still Star-Crossed, Jamestown, Poldark and Turn Washington's Spies.

CHASING THE SUN BLOG TOUR - KATY COLINS: TRAVEL PACKING HACKS

Who’s Katy Colins?

A successful travel blogger and published writer, of course. But she is especially a very brave woman who has  succeeded in turning a devastating experience into a wake-up call. We all have much to learn from her. This is why I’m very happy to have the chance to introduce her to you all on occasion of the publishing of her fourth book, Chasing the Sun.

What’s her story?

After Katy’s wedding was called off in 2010, she made the life-changing decision to travel solo around South East Asia, leaving behind her successful career and selling everything that wouldn’t fit into a backpack. As she travelled, Katy finally put her adventures and thoughts into words and secured a six book deal with Harper Collins.

Chasing the Sun is Katy’s fourth novel featuring the inimitable Georgia Green and the perfect beach read for this summer! 

                                         Read Katy’s personal story on her website