Donna looked at the discarded items of clothing strewn about her bedroom and could feel the flickers of anxiety that she had been trying to tamp down for the last hour, now flare in to full-blown distress. She sat down heavily on the bed. That was it, then. She’d have to phone and cancel. She’dRead more
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Here’s my take on it: So many women suffer the tyranny of being expected to conform to a physical stereotype and experience profound self-loathing when they don’t. I would love to be able to state that I have always accepted myself as I am and rejoiced in my body… but I haven’t… and I don’t.Read more
It’s the day of my official launch at Waterstones Dorking. And I’m nervous. The shop looks lovely. Canapes and champagne flutes have been arranged on a flower-decked table and the first cork has just popped. The room starts to fill with expectant people, all looking forward to the presentation of my debut novel, The LoveRead more
The blog tour for The Love Detective is now complete – what a whirlwind it was! To make it nice and easy for you to catch up, I have collected all the reviews, interviews and articles in this blog post. Do follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter to be notified when new articles featuring TheRead more
You bet it can. I love Chick-lit, as many women do. The adventures that befall our chick-lit heroines often run in parallel with our own experiences. We laugh and we cry with them… and for them. We play out our lives in tandem with theirs. And that’s what makes them special to us. And whenRead more
This extract from The Love Detective follows Clarry through the highs and lows (admittedly mostly lows) of working a busy restaurant shift. I’m sure any fellow hospitality workers will be able to relate! The whole of the basement had been booked for an office do by one of the claims division from aRead more
Clarry Pennhaligan, my twenty-six-year-old heroine in The Love Detective, has a definite romantic streak. She enjoys men and everything they have to offer. She has an innate trust that The One will turn up someday or other but meantime she’s in no hurry and is happy trying a few on for size. But, the refreshingRead more
Twenty-six-year-old Clarry Pennhaligan of The Love Detective is a generously proportioned size 14. And she’s completely cool with that. She’s healthy, she’s fit, she’s attractive… and she loves food. “I am not, repeat not, a fitness freak (I’m very happy being a curvy girl), but I do need something to work off my highly indulgentRead more
The role of amateur detective has always appealed to me. The artless inexperienced meddler asking questions, stirring things up and getting in to a whole heap of trouble. So I decided to write a novel from the perspective of a young female investigator and let her loose upon an unsuspecting world. Clarry Pennhaligan is anRead more
I have found that one of the most enjoyable aspects of reading a novel that has really grabbed me, is discussing it afterwards. Conducting a literary post-mortem. We all see things differently, often subjectively, and so discussing a book’s central themes and the issues it raises, as a group, can be enlightening and good funRead more
