Tag: Cover Reveal

Catching up with Author Helena ‘Nell’ Dixon

Catching up with Author Helena ‘Nell’ Dixon

sandybarker

A very warm welcome to the wonderful author (and woman) Helena ‘Nell’ Dixon who writes, among other things, the Miss Underhay cosy mystery series, which I absolutely love. She’s here to talk about her next book Trouble in Paradise.

Cover of Trouble in Paradise by Helena Dixon Man on right with dark hair facing woman on left with red hair. A parrot sits in the 'i' in Paradise. Tagline: What happens when opposites attract?'

Hi Sandy. Thank you so much for inviting me.

Great to have you here! Tell us what inspired you to write this book.

The inspiration for writing Trouble in Paradise was my husband. He doesn’t read my books, he isn’t a reader, and although he listens when I’m talking about my plots he isn’t terribly helpful. Usually the conversation will be me telling him about something I’m trying to work out. He will then suggest I put a dog in the book and give me the plot of Lassie come home. I then give him the look and say no, that’s been done. He then used to suggest I put a parrot in the book instead. So, finally the one day I thought you know what? I’m going to do it. Trouble in Paradise (originally released as Animal Instincts) is set in an animal sanctuary with a parrot called Dave, after my husband. The only problem is that this parrot has been kept in a brothel and his choice of language makes him unsuitable for rehoming.

When did you start writing seriously?

I started seriously writing when I was seventeen. I’d belonged to a writers group since I was thirteen but my first attempt at a novel was when I was in sixth form. Needless to say it was pretty awful. I wrote two more books before I was twenty-four which were also pretty terrible, but one was good enough to attract encouraging feedback from an editor. Then I had three children in four years and writing took a back step until I was approaching forty and had a major health issue. That was when I thought it was now or never when it came to taking my writing seriously. The internet had come into being and I started writing and submitting again.

What do you love most about being an author?

The part of being an author I love most is seeing a story come to life on the page. It never fails to amaze me that something that’s lived inside my head can be shared with other people and they get it. I love hearing from a reader when they quote a particular phrase and say it made them smile or they could picture the scene as if it were a film.

What are you working on now?

Trouble in Paradise is a contemporary romance with a hint of mystery. It won the Romantic Novelist Associations Love Story of the Year prize when it was first released. I have several romances written as Nell Dixon. Since then I’ve started writing more crime based stories as Helena Dixon. My latest series is the Miss Underhay mysteries based in 1930’s Devon. These have been hugely popular and I’m working on book 8 in the series at the moment. I also have the start of a potential new series noodling away and another contemporary romance. Plenty to keep me busy!

What do you hope readers will take away from Trouble in Paradise?

I hope readers will enjoy Trouble in Paradise and enjoy the sparks between Clodagh and Jack. The animals paly a big part in the story and the relationship between Clodagh and her step sister Immi is very sweet. It’s a fun story with some surprisingly touching moments.

About the book

Clodagh Martin has enough problems right now.

Her beloved animal sanctuary is facing financial ruin, her celebrity sister has just announced she’s coming for an extended visit, and her foul-mouthed parrot Dave is, well, foul-mouthed.

Combined with a troubling wave of vandalism on her property, Clodagh feels that the whole world is against her. And if that wasn’t enough, a property magnate has been showing a strong interest in her struggling business.

But when Jack Thatcher begins to show not just an interest in the animal sanctuary, but in her as well, there really is trouble in paradise…

Where you can get it

Amazon UK | Amazon US| Amazon AU

Kobo UK | Kobo US | Kobo AU

Also available from other good book retailers.

More about Helena

Helena Dixon a woman with short dark blonde hair and glasses.

Helena Dixon splits her time between the Black Country and Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. Her addictions of choice are coffee and reality TV. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon. She now writes historical 1930’s set cosy crime.

Follow Helena

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Great to have you on ‘Off the Beaten Track’ today, Helena. All the best with your latest book!

Cover Reveal for my next book The Dating Game

Cover Reveal for my next book The Dating Game

sandybarker

Today I am sharing the cover of my next book, The Dating Game!

This is a standalone set in the world of Reality Television and here’s the blurb:

Abby Jones has a secret identity …

She is the Anastasia Blabbergasted, Queen of Snark and illustrious recapper of British reality television shows for online magazine, Feed Your Mind. When a recap of reality dating show, The Stag, goes viral, the show’s producers practically insist that she joins next season’s cast, undercover as a Doe – won’t that make her recaps all the spicier! Abby’s editor is all for the idea, but Abby can’t think of anything worse – even though next season is filming in Sydney!

That is until Abby meets scrummy Australian, Jack – rescuer from murderous elevator doors and the producer of the show.

Join Abby and the latest cast of The Stag for madcap fun and romantic adventures in one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

And here’s the gorgeous cover!

Cover of The Dating Game by Sandy Barker A man and a woman sitting on side by side sun-loungers drinking cocktails

Told ya, it was gorgeous! With huge thanks to my editor, Jennie Rothwell, for the concept and to the cover artist, the brilliant Lucy Bennett.

It’s out September 10 (ebook) and December 9 (print) and you can preorder now!

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Amazon CA

Kobo | iBooks | Google Play | Nook

Waterstones | Foyles

Cover Reveal for Lucy Knott

Cover Reveal for Lucy Knott

sandybarker

Very excited to be part of the cover reveal for the next book by the fabulous Lucy Knott, The Little Barn of Dreams.

Book Cover: Woman reading a book in front of a bar on a farm; dog and stack of books in the foreground

About the book

Boy meets girl meets… happy ending? Flo has one summer to make it happen…

Quirky bookworm Florence Danver spends most of her time lost in whimsical daydreams about characters from her favourite books. Who wouldn’t rather be fighting dragons or falling in love with impossibly perfect heroes than stuck behind a computer doing boring data entry all day? But when she loses her job, Flo knows it’s time to make some changes.

Her beloved Nanna Margot encourages her to spend a week at Camp Calla Lily, but this is a place she hasn’t been since she lost her mum and dad, and her return is bittersweet… until she meets Jo Hadlee.

Fellow dreamer Jo is a writer and soon the pair are inseparable as they talk books and build castles in the air. But what happens when the fantasy bubble bursts and real life comes roaring back in? The real world is a place of pain and loss where bosses frown upon her distracted air, where people tease her, and where nothing ever has a happy ending.

If Florence wants to turn her fairy-tale summer with perfectly imperfect Jo into a happily-ever-after of her own, she will have to accept that love, like life, is best when it’s messy and very, very real.

Release date: July 8 (ebook) & October 14 (print)

Pre-order now:

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Kobo

About Lucy

Lucy Knott lives in Manchester England, just around the corner from her childhood home and less than five minutes from her twin sister Kelly and brother-in-law Chris. She loves spending time with her family in addition to writing, reading and cooking Italian food. When not buried in a book, scribbling in a notebook or having dance parties for one to Harry Styles, she works as a teaching assistant where the majority of her days are spent talking about dinosaurs and making Godzilla out of just about everything, from Blu Tac to cardboard boxes, and she loves every minute.

If she could up and move to the stunning Amalfi Coast, San Francisco or live in a cabin surrounded by fairy lights, she would, but for now she’s quite content writing about those magical places. Lucy loves to write uplifting stories that she hopes will put a smile on your face, fill your heart with joy, encourage you to embrace the awesomeness that you are and believe that any dream is possible.

Follow Lucy (and Kelly)

Twitter | Instagram | Website

Cover Reveal for Andie Newton

Cover Reveal for Andie Newton

sandybarker

I’m thrilled to be able to share this gorgeous cover for Andie Newton’s next book, The Girls from the Beach, which is out July 9.

Woman in 1940s civilian dress walking on a dirt track with haphazard fencing - posts and barbed wire. She is walking towards a beach. War planes fly overhead.

About the book

We’d heard stories about the nurses in tent seven. A secret mission, stolen money, and spies…’

In 1944, four American nurses disappeared for five days. No one knew what happened to them. Until now.
When Kit and Red set foot on French soil during the Normandy landings, they know they have to rely on each other. As they head for the battlefield, their aim is simple: save lives. But when they’re called away on a top-secret mission to patch up a few men behind enemy lines, everything changes.

Alongside fellow nurses, Roxy and Gail, they’re told to prepare for the worst, trading in their nurses’ fatigues for civilian clothes and hiding medical supplies under their skirts. But it’s a lie. Their real mission tasks them with the impossible – to infiltrate the Reich and steal something the Nazis desperately need to win their losing war.

In an ultimate test of courage and comradeship, each woman must decide what she is prepared to risk and what she has to live for.

Publication date: July 9 2021

Pre-order from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Kobo | Nook

About Andie

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a black Tshirt and standing in front of a tree

Andie Newton is the USA Today bestselling author of The Girl from Vichy (2020) and The Girl I Left Behind (2019). Andie holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Master in Teaching. She would love to say she spends her free time gardening and cooking, but she’s killed everything she’s ever planted and set off more fire alarms than she cares to admit. Andie does, however, love spending time with her family, trail running, and drinking copious amounts of coffee.

Follow Andie

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website

Cover Reveal for Julie Shackman

Cover Reveal for Julie Shackman

sandybarker

Thrilled to be part of the cover reveal for Julie Shackman’s upcoming book with One More Chapter, A Secret Scottish Escape! And look at this stunner!

Cover of A Secret Scottish Escape, a two-storey cottage on the banks of a loch in Scotland, with mountains in the background. A woman sitting at a table in the garden in front of the cottage. Quote by author, Julie Caplin 'Glorious...a wonderful taste of the Highlands'

Blurb

Escape to the beautiful Scottish Highlands for a heartwarming and feel good cosy romance that will whisk you away!

As Scotland’s sleepiest hamlet becomes the centre of hot gossip, Layla Devlin finds herself caught in a mystery…

When Layla’s fiancée has an unexpected heart attack and dies – in another woman’s arms, no less – Layla is determined to pack up and leave Loch Harris, the village she’s always called home. But an unexpected inheritance and love for her quiet corner of Scotland send her down a new path.

Now Layla finds herself facing a whole new kind of drama. Rumours swirl that a celebrity has moved into Coorie Cottage and Layla is determined to have him headline her opening night at local music venue The Conch Club. But the reclusive star is equally determined to thwart Layla’s efforts. Rafe Buchanan is in hiding for a reason, and soon his past comes to Loch Harris to haunt him…

Where can you pre-order it (ebook and print)? Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Nook | Kobo

Follow Julie Twitter | Instagram

Catching up (again) with Author Fiona Leitch

Catching up (again) with Author Fiona Leitch

sandybarker

I am super excited to welcome back Fiona Leitch, the “mashup maven”. As well as adoring her, I am in awe of her incredible ability to combine my two favourite genres, Crime Fiction and Romance!

She has a new book coming out in a couple of weeks, and this is one not to miss because it’s the sequel to one of my fave books from 2019, Dead in Venice. It’s called Murder Ahoy!

Tell us about Bella Tyson, your heroine in Dead in Venice and Murder Ahoy!

Bella is a famous crime writer in her late 40s from South London. She dropped out of university and went off to have adventures, with a vague idea of writing about them. She loves chocolate, sex and travel, and her language can be pretty fruity. She’s probably my favourite character, as she’s the one most like me!

What do you love most about writing a series?

I love being able to introduce a character or a theme in one book, as maybe a sub plot or secondary character, and then expand on them in the next book. One of the main characters in Murder Ahoy! is talked about in the first novel and has had a profound effect on Bella in her past, but we don’t actually meet him until we’re onboard the cruise ship in book two.

What is the most challenging thing about writing a series?

I think the hardest thing is keeping it fresh. How many dead bodies can one woman come across without it sounding contrived?! I used to love ‘Midsummer Murders’ on the TV, but after a while it started to feel a bit daft – the murder rate in that cluster of small country villages was higher than that of New York!

You have been called the “mashup maven”. Tell us about how you bring genres together.

It all started when I tried to write something serious and it ended up being funny without me trying (if anything I was trying NOT to be funny). I can’t resist making it absurd or giving the characters witty dialogue. I’m also a sucker for romance and a happy ending. But as much as I love reading other people’s romcoms, and I adore the movies, I can’t seem to write a straight romcom. I think the frustrated filmmaker in me wants more action! So I gravitate towards writing mysteries, or romcoms with a darker edge. Readers seem to like a mash up but publishers, not so much sadly.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a new series, The Nosey Parker Mysteries, set in Cornwall. Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker is an ex-copper turned caterer who returns to the small Cornish seaside town she grew up in with her teenage daughter. She’s supposed to be retired from the force, but whenever there’s a crime she can’t resist sticking her nose in and helping solve it, along with hunky local CID officer Nathan, her old school friend, Tony, and a whole cast of colourful characters. The first book, Murder On The Menu, will be out in January.

Blurb for Murder Ahoy!

Famous crime writer Bella Tyson is hired to co-host a Murder Mystery cruise, on a luxury liner sailing from Southampton to New York. She’s expecting an easy ride; fun and games, surrounded by amateur sleuths and fans of her books, all the while staying in a deluxe cabin and enjoying the spa and the amazing restaurants on board, culminating in a visit to one of her favourite cities in the world – the Big Apple.

She’s NOT expecting to be stuck on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic with her two least favourite people in the world, her hot but unfaithful bastard ex-husband Joel Quigley and fellow crime writer, bitch goddess and Twitter frenemy, Louise Meyers. And when real live dead bodies start turning up – as well as fake not-really-dead bodies – Bella’s dreams of being pampered on the high seas turn sour.

Accused of a murder she would have liked to commit but didn’t, and helped (or hindered) by a gang of unlikely detectives, can Bella find out who the real murderer is before the ship reaches its destination and New York’s finest drag her off?

Buy links

Amazon AU | Amazon UK | Amazon US |

Follow Fiona

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | fionaleitch.com

#CoverReveal Summer in the City by Emma Jackson

#CoverReveal Summer in the City by Emma Jackson

sandybarker

I am thrilled to participate in the cover reveal for Emma Jackson’s Summer in the City,  the heartwarming new holiday read from the bestselling author of A Mistletoe Miracle.

Summer in the City_cover

About the book…
Sometimes the one thing you’re looking for is right in front of you…Stephen is on a very personal mission to find his father as per the wishes in their mother’s will. But he has no idea where to start, not that he’s going to tell anyone that… When Noelle, native New Yorker, daughter of a detective and desperate for a distraction from the novel she’s been struggling to write, offers to help, it feels like the perfect solution.

Except the last time she spoke to Stephen he thought they’d be seeing the New Year in together and instead she stood him up and sold him out! Stephen’s big enough and been around the block enough times to understand that all is fair in love and war, isn’t he? But when Stephen accepts her offer and they begin their search across the city, it soon becomes clear that the weather isn’t the only thing that’s heating up.

A heartwarming summer romance perfect for fans of Heidi Swain, Sarah Morgan and Holly Martin.

About Emma Jackson…
Author of the Best Selling A Mistletoe Miracle, published in 2019 by Orion Dash, Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programmes with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished. Her next romantic comedy, Summer in the City, is due for release in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and speculative romantic fiction as Emma S Jackson. The Devil’s Bride will be published by DarkStroke in February 2020.

You can find out news about Emma via her website www.esjackson.co.uk or on:
Twitter @ESJackson1
Facebook @EmmaJacksonAuthor
Instagram @emma_s_jackson

Cover Reveal Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin

Cover Reveal Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin

sandybarker

It’s a pleasure to be part of the cover reveal for Aria’s Travelling Book Shop By Rebecca Raisin, which is releasing on April 8th 2020 with HQ Digital

Aria's Travelling Book Shop

Blurb:

With her merry band of Van Lifers, Aria heads to France in her travelling bookshop, best friend Rosie by her side for a summer they’ll never forget!

Hopeless romantic Aria vowed never to love again after losing her husband, TJ, but fate has other ideas and keeps throwing the bespectacled, booklover Jonathan in her path. When a memento from TJ turns up it brings Aria’s past back to the fore.

Nomadic by nature, Aria can’t see how love could work anyway when home is always at the end of a new patch of road…

A long, hot summer travelling off the beaten track, surrounded by newly loved up couples reminds Aria of what she’s missing.

Will she bookmark her love life at the point her husband left, or she will begin a new chapter under the sizzling sun of the Cote d’Azur…?

Book Links: 

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Google Play | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About Rebecca:

Rebecca Raisin Author Photo

Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been widely published in short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines. And now she is focusing on writing romance.

Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true love.

Follow Rebecca: RebeccaRaisin.com | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads