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Today I'm thrilled to welcome Author Anne Goodwin to Beadyjans books for a return visit. Her latest novel Underneath, is out on 25th May. I read and reviewed Sugar and Snails her moving and original debut novel which you can read about on my blog. "Underneath" is Anne's breakthrough into writing thrillers and psychological chillers for those who like to genrify books (I think I just invented that term) and Anne has kindly written this article about changing genres, I hope you'll find it as fascinating as I did. Over to you Anne: On genre hopping – or not My second novel began with an image of an unhappy little boy, seated at the bottom of a carpeted staircase, who popped into my head at the end of the country walk. At the time, I was struggling with what was to become my debut novel, Sugar and Snails , but this little boy had no place there. So I pushed him out of my mind, until he reappeared as the child version of the narrator of what has now become my second n...

Widdershins by Helen Steadman  The Blurb ‘Did all women have something of the witch about them?’ Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she and her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane will soon learn that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world. From his father’s beatings to his uncle’s raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witch-finder and save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft. Inspired by true events, Widdershins tells the story of the women who were persecuted and the men who condemned them. My Review: I am inexorably drawn to stories of witchcraft and the notorious Witch trials of the 17th century and this one in particular called out loudly to me, especially as it is set in the North East of England, as am I. It is based on factual events that will quite frankly make any womans blood run cold! Narrated in 2 ver...

Today I'm very excited to be sharing with you an enticing and tempting excerpt from the very latest psychological thriller by one of my favourite and most highly anticipated authors Barbara Copperthwaite. If you haven't yet discovered Barbara's superb writing you're in for a rare treat, and, lucky thing, you still have her 2 previous, sensational novels to look forward to as well. Barbara writes wonderfully scary, true to life twisty thrillers about crimes and the impact they have on all the people involved, she puts the reader so deeply inside the characters psyche you emerge  gasping. Barbara Copperthwaite You can find my enthusiastic ravings about her first two books on my blog: Her Debut novel Invisible and her second mind blowing thriller Flowers for the dead I kid you not if you haven't read them yet you really MUST! But I digress. What we're here for today is to tantalize and tempt you with the release of Barbara's third thriller The Darkest Lies  av...

Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh Blog Tour. Today is my stop on the blog tour for Leopard at the door a gritty historical novel about life in Kenya in the 1950s. The blurb Stepping off the boat in Mombasa, eighteen-year-old Rachel Fullsmith stands on Kenyan soil for the first time in six years. She has come home. But when Rachel reaches the family farm at the end of the dusty Rift Valley Road, she finds so much has changed. Her beloved father has moved his new partner and her son into the family home. She hears menacing rumours of Mau Mau violence, and witnesses cruel reprisals by British soldiers. Even Michael, the handsome Kikuyu boy from her childhood, has started to look at her differently. Isolated and conflicted, Rachel fears for her future. But when home is no longer a place of safety and belonging, where do you go, and who do you turn to? My Review: Leopard at the door is not your average historical romantic fiction, it is a dark and powerful look at a time and place whe...

A Dangerous Crossing - Rachel Rhys - Review The Blurb 1939: Europe is on the brink of war. Lily Shepherd, a servant girl, boards an ocean liner for Australia. She is on her way to a new life, leaving behind the shadows in her past. For a humble girl, the passage proves magical - a band, cocktails, fancy dress balls. A time when she is beholden to no one. The exotic locations along the way - Naples, Cairo, Ceylon - allow her to see places she’d only ever dreamed of, and to make friends with people higher up the social scale who would ordinarily never give her the time of day. She even allows herself to hope that a man who she couldn’t possibly have a future with outside the cocoon of the ship might return her feelings.  But Lily soon realises that her new-found friends are also escaping secrets in their past. As the ship’s glamour fades, the stage is set for something awful to happen. By the time the ship docks, two of Lily’s fellow passengers are dead, war has been declared and Lil...

Midnight Blue by Simone Van Der Vlugt Blog tour and review. Description: Amsterdam, 1654: following the sudden death of her husband, twenty-five year old Catrin leaves her small village and takes a job as housekeeper to the successful Van Nulandt merchant family. Her new life is vibrant and exciting in a city at the peak of its powers: commerce, science and art are flourishing and the ships leaving Amsterdam bring back exotic riches from the Far East. When an unwelcome figure from her past threatens her new life, Catrin flees to Delft. There, her painting talent earns her a chance to try out as a pottery painter. Slowly, the workshop begins to develop a new type of pottery to rival the coveted Chinese porcelain – and Delft Blue is born. But when tragedy strikes, Catrin has a hard choice to make. Rich and engrossing, Midnight Blue is perfect for fans of Tulip Fever and Girl with a Pearl Earring My Review: Every now and again a novel comes along that so clearly calls out to me it might b...