Aug 16, 2012

Yours Truly

By
Yours Truly by Kirsty Greenwood

Synopsis:

Newly engaged Natalie Butterworth is an easy-going girl. She’ll do anything for a quiet life and if telling a few teensy white lies keeps her friends and family happy, then so what? It’s not like they’ll ever discover what she’s really thinking…

Until one night, thanks to a pub hypnotist, Natalie’s most private thoughts begin to bubble up and pop out of her mouth. Things get very messy indeed, especially when some sticky home truths offend her fiancé.

Natalie must track down the hypnotist before the wedding is officially cancelled. So along with bad influence bestie Meg, Natalie finds herself in the Yorkshire Parish of Little Trooley – a small village bursting with big secrets, nosy old folk and intriguing Wellington-wearing men.

When the girls get stranded in the village with no means of escape and no way to break the hypnotist’s spell, Natalie is forced to face the truths she has been avoiding her whole life…

To find out more about Kirsty Greenwood, check out her Facebook page and her website Kirsty Greenwood.

Aug 17, 2012

Sucker Literary Magazine

By
Sucker Literary Magazine by Hannah Goodman

Synopsis:

Sucker Literary Magazine is a platform for emerging, hugely intelligent writers who have the grit and talent to create compelling, authentic young adult literature that both adults and teens can enjoy.

Sep 25, 2012

Add A Little Colour to Your Life

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Add a Little Colour to Your Life

Synopsis:

Have you ever wondered why some colours fill you with joy and inspiration and yet others just leave you cold and flat? Did you know that yellow speeds up decision making and green gives the feeling of slowing down time?

Add a Little Colour to Your Life reveals the hidden power of colour, this great little book gives you an introduction to and insight into the silent yet powerful language of colour, including décor, clothing, healing, and how to find your own personal life path colour. A little book that goes a long way.

Dec 24, 2012

John Keats and Benjamin Robert Haydon: The Pursuit of Beauty and Truth

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John Keats and Benjamin Robert Haydon. The Pursuit of Beauty and Truth.

Synopsis:

When John Keats and Benjamin Robert Haydon were introduced in late 1816, the two men could hardly have been more different. Keats was a virtually unknown young apothecary who had a passion for poetry and a growing belief in his own abilities. Haydon was several years older and one of the most famous painters in London, a man who was certain that he was destined to create a new Renaissance in English art. He was known throughout Europe for his vivid but controversial essays on the deplorable state of painting in England at the time, and his belief that the Elgin Marbles, recently transported from the Parthenon in Athens to a back yard in London, were the greatest work of genius in the history of European culture. Underpinning Haydon’s confidence in his paintings and his opinions was a theory of beauty and truth which Keats absorbed and gradually made his own. Today, Haydon is almost forgotten but Keats is among the greatest poets in the English language.

How did this incredible reversal of fortune come about? Colin Silver’s book attempts to answer this question, and along the way we meet many of the characters who were central to the story of Haydon and Keats’ relationship. Charles Cowden Clarke, Leigh Hunt, John Hamilton Reynolds and Percy Bysshe Shelley all knew Haydon and all influenced Keats as he struggled to find his voice and assert his poetic identity. The poetry of William Wordsworth (a personal friend of Haydon’s) and James Beattie caused Keats to consider the study of philosophy as essential to the development of a poet, and when he had the chance to spend some time with a scholar called Benjamin Bailey in Oxford, he shared Bailey’s interests in Plato, the Bible and linguistics. Parallel to this story of Keats’ development as a poet is the story of Haydon’s life as an artist. Haydon was already famous when he met Keats but he had suffered some terrible trials and tribulations. He was lonely and seeking a “kindred spirit”, someone who had a “high calling” (ostensibly a desire to achieve perfection in art, but also a desperate need for fame). Keats was that kindred spirit and Haydon took it upon himself to be his guide and mentor, to ensure that Keats’ education as a poet paralleled Haydon’s as an artist. When Haydon took Keats to see the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum, he introduced the young poet to his own theory of beauty and truth. “Beauty of form is but the vehicle of conveying Ideas,” said Haydon, “but truth of conveyance is the first object.” Haydon was applying this principle to a monumental painting of Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem and its success or failure would ultimately determine the course of his career.

William Hazlitt was a close friend of Haydon’s who became a central figure in Keats’ story. Hazlitt, the man whom the lawyer and diarist Henry Crabb Robinson described as “the cleverest man I know”, was a published writer who had an ambition to be a painter, and as such he loved to spend time painting at his cottage in Winterslow near Salisbury. Realising he could never make a living as an artist, he decided to give up painting and return to London where he gave a series of lectures on the English Poets. When Keats attended Hazlitt’s lectures at the Surrey Institution, he learned enough to ensure that his education was almost complete.

The final part of Colin Silver’s book brings all of these threads together and shows how Keats used Hazlitt’s lectures and Haydon’s theories to write some of his most beautiful poetry, and in particular what is perhaps his best known poem, the Ode on a Grecian Urn. This poem is famous for its enigmatic final statement:

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’ – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Mar 4, 2013

Disconnect

By
Disconnect

Synopsis:

Dirtying fingernails in sewers is fast approaching worthlessness for Zachary, a 16-year old Underworld scavenger. When footage of an Overworld girl, Rosa, is discovered, his intrigue heightens at why she expresses sadness with a lavish lifestyle.

In meeting Rosa, Zachary is scorned by her opinion of the deprived. She pities him and provides a means for them to communicate. With time, friendship and something he’s never felt grows; love for another human. Knowing Rosa calls him when it suits her isn’t enough; he wants to meet her, but how? Relationships in Underworld are few, let alone the impossibility with those above the ceiling.

Underworld will suffer when plans to conquer Jupiter’s moon, Europa move ahead. Worse is Rosa’s father, a disgraced Overworld ambassador, approving the plan.

Zachary must defeat the prejudice of the worlds, sneak within opposing forces, lose friends and challenge Rosa’s sadness. In doing so, a twisted secret is uncovered that may devour the reason he lives; Rosa.

In space, love has boundaries.

About the Author

Imran Siddiq may have tried to leave Leicester a few times, but its become his place to wake up to two cats, freeze when the heating’s off and most of all, get down to writing. During a night in the jungle (2007), the bug inside awakened, and since then he’s been sacrificing every second that he can to write. A veteran of writing festivals, a presence on Twitter and always reading to find new worlds. His preferred genre is Science Fiction in YA, though will meddle with fantasy. He has a tendency to throw a droid in every novel – literally.

Aug 2, 2013

Return To Cardamom

By
Return To Cardamom

Synopsis:

Life is sweet for Caramel and things are finally getting back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be for a telepathic elf who can train trees and control computers, but she soon finds life on Cardamom is not all cupcakes and apple cider.

A saboteur is hiding in the rainforest canopy, and the elves’ precious cardamom export has been wiped out. Caramel is certain it’s another trick of Alexander222 and her Aunt Isabel, but no one will believe her, and the clock is ticking. She must expose the saboteur in time to save the crop or the Elves of Cardamom will lose their livelihood.

Caramel won’t rest until her theory is proven. While she is on the hunt, she makes a shocking discovery, one that will change everything.

Follow Caramel’s gripping adventures in the exciting sequel to “Escape From The Forbidden Planet.”

Suitable for children ages 9-12

About the Author

Julie Anne Grasso is an Australian with a background in paediatric nursing. She spent many years literally wrapping children in cotton wool. Every day she witnessed great courage and resilience from the tiny people she cared for, which inspired her to write stories about a little girl elf just like them. Add in some very funky technology, her love of science fiction and desire to impart great values through her little girl elf named Caramel and there you have it, Escape From The Forbidden Planet and Return To Cardamom were the result.

 

Nov 28, 2013

Whispers from Heaven

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Synopsis:

Can love find a way?

Arianna and Tristan are both struggling to come to terms with a great loss; one that is having a detrimental effect on their future. With all the emotions that come with being a new mother followed by feelings of immense grief and mourning the death of her partner, Arianna is struggling each and every day. Lost in her world of grieving, she is struggling with moving forward. Tristan, her baby’s uncle, is by her side, giving her his unwavering support, as promised to his brother before he passed away. His only brother, his only family; now gone forever. Tristan has fallen irrevocably and undeniably in love with Arianna, unbeknown to her. Through loyalty to his dead brother, he struggles daily to suppress his feelings, not wanting to scare Arianna away. Baby Ben is all the family he has left now and if being friends with Arianna is all there ever will be then he will suffer in silence.

May 1, 2014

The Housekeeper’s Legacy

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Synopsis:

Following her introduction in Maureen's first novel, Rain Around the Moon, this is the story of Trafina Paris, who rose from poverty, taking her personal revenge on those who used the cruel class system, and abused innocent children like her to attain their ill-gotten gains.  Set amongst the satanic mills of Northern England.  Her own life hides its tragedies, and overcomes its most devastating moments, as she struggles to free herself and her family from the past.

Dec 29, 2014

Dispatches From The Dating Zone

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Synopsis:

Having exhausted all the conventional ways to meet her ‘Mr Right’ (and because now she really is a little bit desperate), Fleur Summers turns to her well-meaning, but eccentric friends and family for help.

From ‘Man Mountain’; an engineer who eats everything in sight and tall dark handsome Tom with big hands but no idea how to use them, to the mysterious and brooding Henry Austin. Follow the trials and tribulations of Fleur’s journey as she works her way through a number of eventful blind dates, all in the name of finding true love.

Dispatches from the Dating Zone is the British racy rom-com novel from KT Valentine.

Feb 2, 2016

The End Game

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Synopsis:

Eminent scientist Dr Ralph Padley is dying – and he knows it’s time to finally tell the truth. Padley has a dark secret, which, if it got out, would have deadly consequences. But there are powerful men who will stop at nothing to silence him.

FBI Special Agent Reilly has an agenda of his own. For months he has sought the man who kidnapped and brainwashed his five-year-old son. But that man is a ghost – a highly protected CIA official with no name and no identity, and who may have links to Reilly’s own father.

Watched, manipulated, and framed for crimes he didn’t commit, Reilly becomes a fugitive, making it next to impossible for him to uncover the truth about his past while protecting the family he loves. He’s left with no choice but to risk everything to unearth secrets that would shake the country to its core – if he’s ever allowed to get that far.

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