The future looks bleak…

Looking for a new series to sink your teeth into? Quite enjoyed The Hunger Games but would prefer to get on the next bandwagon earlier and not be just one of a hundred reading the exact same book on your commute (I hate that…)? Here’s a list of dystopian/post-apocalyptic/utopian series that I recommend. There’s a […]

TEN… of the best fairytale retellings

THE GOOSE GIRL || Shannon Hale Anidora-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kilindree, spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s incredible stories, and learning the language of the birds. Little knowing how valuable her aunt’s strange knowledge would prove to be when she grew older. From the Grimm’s fairy tale of […]

Hidden historical heroines (#26: Penelope Rich)

Penelope Rich, aka Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire (January 1563 – 7 July 1607) was a prominent English noblewoman during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. She was the sister of Elizabeth’s “toyboy favourite”, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex and scandalised her contemporaries with her extra-marital activities. Penelope Devereux was born in 1563, […]

[Guest Post] Ich bin ein Frankfurter – Hayley Chappell

So I’ve been promising Miss Lawless a guest blog for some time now (at least 6 months?!) but I just never quite got round to it. What’s my excuse? Honestly, I’m not sure that I have one. Life, work and trying to master being a grown up in a foreign country all played their part […]

Little White Lies: Johnny loses a bet

This is a special “deleted scene” from ‘Little White Lies’ – as promised! – to celebrate 200 adds of the book on Goodreads. It’s spoiler-free… but a little silly!     Johnny was being uncharacteristically firm. He folded his arms across his chest to emphasise his resolve. “It’s not going to happen,” he repeated for […]

The many faces of Anne Boleyn

At the moment my WIP (or Work-In-Progress for the non acronym-inclined) is a novella featuring historical fiction favourite, Anne Boleyn. I know, I know, you don’t need to tell me – she’s been done to (French swordsman-assisted) death. What more could I possibly add? Still, I feel an overwhelming compulsion to add my little pebble […]

Hidden historical heroines (#25: Blodeuwedd)

  Blodeuwedd was known to Welsh mythology as the wife to the hero and demi-god Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Lleu’s mother, the goddess Arianrhod, has an immediate dislike for her son, resulting from the embarrassment which his birth caused her (a complicated story for another time!). Refusing to acknowledge him, she placed a tynged – a […]