Today I’m delighted to be a host in the blog tour for ‘Pictures in the Sky’ by Amanda Paull.
She gave up on romance years ago. He’s going through the motions. Their lives change forever when he makes contact out of the blue.
With her daughter leaving the nest, Michelle Cameron would rather spend her time with good friends, a glass of fizzy and a box set, than with another idiot bloke chipping away at her self-esteem. But when childhood friend Daniel Helmsley gets back in touch, the years roll away on a tide of laughter and friendship, which soon gives way to another roller coaster of love, excitement and panic. Can Michelle let herself trust again? What if Dan is just another idiot bloke, disillusioned with the present and nostalgic for the past?
If you like cosy romance that makes you laugh as well as cry, then you’ll love this feel-good tale of past disappointment, renewed friendship and finding true love.
Download Amanda Paull’s Pictures in the Sky today to discover if Michelle dares to love again.
‘Your lively style and humour are exactly right for this genre.’ Susan Davis.
My review
Any romcom that has more mature characters at his heart is going to have an extra layer to it. They’ve had time to accumulate emotional baggage as well as scars from the knocks that life has given them. They’re at an age when health concerns can begin to niggle and, if things haven’t quite gone to plan, disillusionment can set in.
Thus ‘Pictures in the Sky’ with divorced, middle-aged Michelle is a romcom with added grit. There’s lots of lovely humour for us to enjoy, but also an edge. Michelle has been happy enough in the shell she’s built around herself over the years to keep the male world at bay, so when Dan suddenly smashes it with a hammer, she runs for cover.
The story moves at a steady pace, a bit like Michelle jogging uphill, but is equally determined. There’s lots of action with tension and drama, and whilst it tends to be of an everyday nature that doesn’t mean it’s mundane. The author extracts the excitement that can suddenly loom out of the blue and make the ordinary extraordinary.
Amanda Paull really gets into her characters’ shoes and thus portrays a cast of very different people, all courageous, all doing their best, all just human.
The settings are at home and abroad and there’s vibrancy a sense of movement to them.
I especially liked how the book came full circle with an airport scene at beginning and end, but we see a very different Michelle as this book closes.
This is a clever, engaging and well thought-out novel.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pictures-Sky-Amanda-Paull-ebook/dp/B07FZKK42H/
Author Bio –
Amanda Paull is a writer of humorous romantic fiction. She lives in the North East of England with her husband and works in the public sector. The inspiration for her stories comes from real life, which she tries to show the funnier side of by embellishing to the hilt.
Amanda’s Website: http://www.amandapaull.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Apaullfiction/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Apaullfiction
This is a lovely, lively, funny and very enjoyable Christmassy novel.
Born in a small village in Staffordshire, I wanted to be a female James Herriot, a spy, or an author when I grew up. After many years, and many different jobs, my dream of writing a bestseller came true.
I was nine when Slade (consisting of Dave Hill, Noddy Holder, Jim Lea and Don Powell) shot to fame in 1971 with their first of six number one chart-toppers: Coz I Luv You. I had a brother and sister who were a good bit older than me and so I guess I was a bit precocious pop-music wise as I could listen (not always with their permission) to the singles albums they bought. These included Slade’s. I quicky fell in love with glam rock. Like every other young person in Britain at the time, I’d watched Top of the Pops every week, hoping Slade would be on, and if so, what on earth would Dave Hill be wearing this week! 
Dave Hill was born in a castle in Devon and moved with his parents to Wolverhampton when he was a year old. As a teenager he taught himself to play guitar and in 1966 formed the band Slade. After the break-up of the original band, Dave eventually re-formed Slade, and twenty-five years later, they are still regularly touring the world, playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. Dave married his wife Jan in 1973, and they have three children and six grandchildren. They still live in Wolverhampton.
Given its story line, you might expect this to be a harrowing book. However, whilst it portrays raw grief very effectively, it’s at heart a positive, optimistic book. Pam has to deal with a nightmare scenario, and she does. Not always the best way perhaps, and not without succumbing to despair a few times, but she copes. Not only for herself, but also her teenage daughter who is already at a difficult time of life and now has all this extra awfulness thrust on her. Pam has support from her family, and Nate’s, but she still feels very much alone. So when her daughter vents her frustrations on her too, it’s not easy.
Author Bio – Sarahlyn Bruck writes contemporary women’s fiction and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of DESIGNER YOU, published by Crooked Cat Books on August 31, 2018. Sarahlyn teaches writing and literature at a local community college and also coaches writers for Author Accelerator.
This is a spirited cozy mystery featuring mature sleuth Isabel who may only be an amateur at the moment, but is training to become a professional private detective. She was let go from her job at a newspaper a few years ago and was kicking her heels. Solving mysteries, like the ones her mother so enjoys reading about, seems to suit her personality and skills very well.
Joan Livingston is the author of novels for adult and young readers. Redneck’s Revenge, published by Crooked Cat Books, is the second in the mystery series featuring Isabel Long, a long-time journalist who becomes an amateur P.I. The first is Chasing the Case.
I’m a huge fan of cosy mysteries, and especially ones with witty titles, so how could I resist ‘On the Monet’? And I’m so glad I couldn’t, because it’s a super book.
Malcolm Parnell has a passion for painting and teaches art and drawing skills when he is not working on his next novel.
Paranormal is a literary genre that continues to be massively popular. Others come in and go out of fashion, but not this one, and in the hands of this author it’s easy to see why it retains its freshness and appeal. Paranormal combines a real world setting but include elements that defy a rational explanation. Thus is A Stain on the Soul we have a historical setting with real characters, as in they were real people (William, Godwin, Matilda and Brihtric). And we also have Caitlyn, nickname Cat and who is a cat some of the time, and her witch mistress, Arlette, who is William’s mother. Caitlyn combines the roles of witch’s familiar and royal spy very competently.
Author bio 
Giveaway – Win signed copies of Three Bloody Pieces and A Stain on the Soul plus a magic mug and a coaster. (Open Internationally)
Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in a new series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner. 
Joseph Barnaby is an atmospheric novel of place, romance and journey, both physical and spiritual. For me it was also a novel of discovery, learning about the horse racing world from the inside, travelling to Madeira for the first time and finding out more about the experience of deafness. The author has a deft hand and whilst creating what outwardly appears a fairly placid, gently novel on the whole, there is a lot of depth to it and turmoil beneath the surface.
In her forties with a divorce behind her, Hattie is resigned to just keeping on keeping on. She makes enough from her dog-walking business to get by, and enjoys time with her son Fin. However, he’s a teen now and increasingly independent. Her mother is determined to get Hattie to remarry and is doing all she can to push a certain man her way so Hattie prefers to avoid her. Fortunately she has a good friend Jo, and it’s when she’s out buying korma for a girls night in with Jo that something life-changing happens in the baked beans aisle…
Prior to turning her attention to writing, Debbie Viggiano was, for more years than she cares to remember, a legal secretary. She lives with her Italian husband, a rescued pooch from Crete, and a very disgruntled cat. Occasionally her adult children return home bringing her much joy… apart from when they want to raid the fridge, or eat her secret stash of chocolate. Follow Debbie’s (intermittent!) blog: