Novelicious - The Female Fiction and Chick Lit Blog

Undiscovered Showcase #18 - Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Jill Steeples

The eighteeth entry of our Top 20 Undiscovered Shortlist is Knockin on Heaven's Door by Jill Steeples.

We encourage comment and critique on each entry but any offensive remarks or spam will be removed.

Remember your favourite entry because you'll get the chance to vote after all twenty excerpts have been posted!

Over to Jill Steeples...

KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR (BLURB)

As a top notch PA, Alice Fletcher is used to dealing with problems, but on her way home from work one day she’s landed with a dilemma that tests her super organisational skills to the full.

A car has crashed off the road and a man emerges from the wreckage.  It’s only when Alice is driving him home that she realises the man is Jimmy Mack, the nation’s favourite TV presenter.  The second surprise of the day is that he’s dead.

Alice is the chosen one, the one to help Jimmy get to the other side.  The only trouble is she hasn’t the first idea of where to start in re-housing homeless ghosts.

But Jimmy isn’t the only man demanding Alice’s attention.  When her colleague Damon leaves work to set up his own business she has no excuses for turning down his frequent requests for a date.  But how can Alice’s relationship with Damon blossom with an uninvited house-guest on the scene, the ghost of Jimmy Mack?  And with Donna Diamond, the reality TV star, announcing she’s carrying Jimmy’s baby, Alice is the only one who can clear his name.

With Alice spending so much time with Jimmy, her relationship with Damon flounders.  But where does her heart really belong?  In this world with Damon or on the other side with Jimmy?

READ THE FIRST 3000 WORDS OF KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR OVER THE CUT

Novel News - The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

Hester Browne books are such a treat to read. We've just seen the synopsis for the new one The Runaway Princess (due out in October) and it sounds so charming and escapist. What do you think of the blurb? Have you read Hester's Books before?

 

The Runaway Princess

As a high-rise gardener in London, Amy Wilde can make roses and salad leaves spring out of nowhere. But it’s love that blossoms when the normally withdrawn Londoner meets Leo at one of the parties thrown by her socialite friend. Tall, blond, and startlingly handsome, Leo is incredibly easygoing, as if he’s been brought up to make small talk with complete strangers. In fact, he was—and after a delightfully romantic date, he admits that his real name is Leopold—Prince Leopold III of Nirona, a wealthy European principality. After the two become engaged, a scandal makes Leo the heir to his nation’s throne and his mood abruptly changes. As the extravagant wedding plans consume the little country, Amy feels increasingly apprehensive and unsure of whether she’s the girl Leo thinks she is—especially with a scandal brewing within her own family. But can she run from her true love—and the glitter of royalty—and return to life as a commoner?

More about THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS

Miranda Dickinson Is Looking For A Choir!

Are you in a choir?

Sunday Times Bestselling author Miranda Dickinson is searching for a choir!

The ChoirStars competition is open now and is giving one choir the chance to perform at the London Launch of Miranda's next book, "When I Fall In Love" in November.

To enter, email your video links to mirandawurdy@gmail.com (to arrive no later than FRIDAY 30TH JUNE 2012) ready for a showcase in July!

Good luck!

For full information, check out Miranda's blog here.

Bookish Etsy Pick - 'I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie' Canvas Bag

It made me laugh. And it's only £11.79. From ExLibrisJournals on Etsy

Hazel Osmond's Top Tips for Writers

• Put your bottom on the seat and write

• Be true to your characters – don’t make them do something completely bizarre just because it rounds the story off nicely

• Don’t wimp out of writing tricky scenes for fear they might upset

• Leave enough room for the reader’s imagination

• Count your blessings – it’s a fabby job and you get to sit down

Hazel Osmond's novel is called Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe and it was shortlisted in the Romantic Comedy category at the recent Romantic Novelists' Association Awards.

Undiscovered Showcase #17 - A Friend Like You by Jennifer McDermott

The seventeenth entry of our Top 20 Undiscovered Shortlist is A Friend Like You by Jennifer McDermott.

We encourage comment and critique on each entry but any offensive remarks or spam will be removed.

Remember your favourite entry because you'll get the chance to vote after all twenty excerpts have been posted!

Over to Jennifer McDermott...

A FRIEND LIKE YOU (BLURB)

Issy and Hannah meet on their first day at university. Far away from home and trepidatious about the adventure ahead, they stick close together, not least because it quickly transpires that Hannah is an excellent cook and Issy hates not knowing where the next meal is coming from.

Through boys and booze, lectures, essays and rodents, they form a firm friendship that will affect who they are for the rest of their lives. Even after university, when their paths diverge, they remain each other’s emergency call; the person you know will be able to make anything better, even at 3am when the world is bleak and blurry.

So why is Issy sneaking in to hide at the back of her best friend’s wedding, rather than playing the major role they’d always envisaged on each other’s days? How did it get to the point where she wasn’t even invited to witness the happiest day of her best friend’s life?

This is a story of female friendship. About a relationship you always assume is immune from the breaks and fractures other partnerships suffer. About the utter desolation, grief and rage when you realise that your best friend, one of the most important people you’ve ever met, no longer even numbers you among her casual acquaintances.

READ THE FIRST 3000 WORDS OF A FRIEND LIKE YOU OVER THE CUT

Review - The Village Vet by Cathy Woodman

Reviewed by Debs Carr

When animal welfare officer and part-time fire-fighter Jack Miller storms into Tessa Wilde’s wedding and announces that her fiancé, Nathan isn’t quite what he seems, he triggers off the concerns that Tessa has been working hard to ignore. When Nathan still can’t say those three little words, Tessa decides that marrying him would be a dreadful mistake.

She moves back in with her family while Nathan goes on their honeymoon and as she tallies up the mountain of debts Nathan has amassed in her name, she has find a way to cope with the loss of her house, her car and the future she’d imagined with him.Tessa finds that trying to recover from her heartache while living with her sociable parents is a little too much to bear. Her aunt Fifi runs an animal sanctuary and wanting to help her niece and make the most of Tessa’s veterinary nursing abilities, she offers her a home, albeit an unfinished one and an unpaid job setting up and running the sanctuary. Unfortunately for Tessa this also means that she’ll have to spend time with Jack, but she’s determined to keep him at arms length and never forgive him for ruining her big day. At least, that’s her intention, but as Jack helps her rescue frightened and damaged animals, Tessa can’t help being affected by his compassionate nature and determination to do the right thing.