New Beginnings...

I’m sitting here at my dining table contemplating the whirlwind last few months... if you had told me earlier this year that I’d be living in a new town in my own home, pfft – I’d have said you were crazy, and yet here I am!

My husband and I were only looking at what possibilities were available to us when we came across a cute place that ticked nearly all of our boxes, and in such a fast moving housing market we had to make a split second decision. Happily, things came together fairly easily, although I definitely gained a few more grey hairs from the paperwork alone! But we're now all unpacked and the kids have settled into school really well so it's happy dances all round!

I have a garden!

We've already started to put our personal stamp on things and I have a list as long as my arm of little jobs that need doing just to brighten the place up a bit, and as the previous owner neglected to keep up with general maintenance I have some big jobs to get to also, but you know what - I'm happy to do it because it's my own home!

The only real downside of buying my first home is that I need to get a job - the days of being a stay-at-home mum while hubby goes to work are long gone sadly, and expenses like a new roof are going to set me back more than I can put aside on a weekly basis! I've already had to put in a new stove as the old one was a fire hazard, and I just purchased a new range-hood - although I've yet to book an electrician to put that in... those elusive funds and all! So it's time to dust off the C.V and start looking at job possibilities.

As some of you know I closed up Book Chatter Promotions late last year and the running of My Book Chatter has slowly fallen by the way side also as my family commitments at the time meant my time was needed elsewhere. The last time I read a book was about three weeks ago and I only left a short review on Amazon. The time just seems to slip away on me and if I'm being completely honest, I'm really struggling to find something that holds my attention - even my trusted favorites (authors) no longer hold their same allure.

Hopefully I might be able to get in some reading time in the future but for right now it's all about the house...

Sunset from my yard

Halloween, Missing Book Reviews, Cover Reveals, and more...

Ghost pops!

I managed to clean off my desk over the weekend - in between getting kids ready for Halloween, making ghost pops, and handing them out to all the local kids that came by my door! And I came a cross a number of unpublished book reviews in a notebook. They're from around the time my grandmother passed away and have just been overlooked and forgotten about.... so I'm going to revisit the scribbled notes I have and refresh myself as to them and get them up over the next week - hopefully!

some of the kids Halloween decorations

My daughter finishes high school on Wednesday!!
Where the hell has the time gone - it seems just like yesterday I was sat in my car crying on her first day... and if I'm honest it'll be the same again, but for entirely different reasons!

I'm hosting a Cover Reveal for author Maegan Beaumont next week.... the sign up link is here if you're interested in jumping on board, there's still time to join.
 
I need to catch up on my NZ Authors blog series - yes, it's still coming along - I've just had a few kid busy weeks but I hope to get back on track soon.

Have a great week folks!...

Making Changes

After book blogging for almost five years, writing online articles, beta reading, proof reading, taking on a personal assistant roll with an author, forming a promotional company and running author services, and wearing so many hats that I sometimes forget where I've lain them all - it's time to pull back. In fact it's probably time for a well earned vacation, but for now it's time to reel everything back in.

When I first started out with My Book Chatter, it was just about the joy of reading. Of finding a great book and telling the world (or my little slice of it) all about it. Of finding new authors, talking to like minded friends, discussing and sharing thoughts and ideas... but things changed some time ago, and not necessarily for the better.

The way we blog in general has changed, just about everyone is talking about, blogging about, social media-ing up the same book, movie, the next best-thing. It's as though bloggers now have set in stone rules to follow, a kind of conformity which in turn is making us all robotic - it just seems all the same; everyone is reading - blogging - doing the same damn thing!

And while I'll never loose my love of books and reading, I've definitely lost the passion for almost everything else. Some of that can be attributed to outside influences, innumerable new authors and books flooding the market, but mostly I'm just burnt out... and bored. And boredom is pretty much a death knell for a book blogger!

So it's time to make a change... and the time to make those changes is now!

From September I will no longer be jumping on every cover reveal, book blitz and blog tour that comes my way. I will be shutting the doors on Book Chatter Promotions (except for a couple of tours I've committed to later this year). I will no-longer accept any books for review (unless it's from friends who know I'll always read their work) and I'll start removing all tabs on the blog pertaining to those things.

I'm stripping My Book Chatter back down to it's original bones.

A place for me to periodically post book reviews and randoms thoughts about books.

Simple - unfettered by outside influences - my own thoughts in my own words.

I never started out to be the same as everyone else and yet, that's exactly what happened.

Hopefully by doing this, I'll again find my true voice, rekindle that love of reading and reviewing, of sharing my sometimes too close-to-the-bone opinion. And that in of itself is exciting - I've missed that part of me!

Do I expect to loose friends and followers etc... of course.
But that's how you find out who your true friends are, they stick by you when you need them most, when you're at your most vulnerable, your most unattractive.

So there you have it - the demise of a bog standard book blog and (hopefully) the re-awakening of a solitary voice in an over-crowded room.

Review Tour ~ Promises to Keep by Maegan Beaumont

Title: Promises to Keep (Sabrina Vaughn #3)

Author: Maegan Beaumont

Release Date: August 8th 2015
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Add to Goodreads

For three years, Michael O'Shea has been forced to act as a personal assassin for Livingston Shaw, the cold-blooded puppet master who controls the remote bioweapon implanted in Michael's back. When Shaw offers to release him if he can recover a kidnapped child, Michael works with every ounce of his being to put the pieces together before all the witnesses are murdered.

Meanwhile, police Inspector Sabrina Vaughn--the woman Michael passionately loves but has been kept from seeing--discovers the body of a little boy that bears a striking resemblance to the missing child. Against all his instincts, Michael must draw Sabrina into his life as one of the world's most notorious assassins if he's to overcome the legacy of his bloodthirsty past.

Purchase Link
Amazon US

As she has a knack for doing - Maegan Beaumont sucked me into the third installment of her Sabrina Vaughn series straight away and I basically didn't move until I'd devoured it!

All of my favorites characters are back to help - and sometimes hinder - Sabrina and Michael as they again face off against a common enemy.
The perfect blend of suspense, mystery, romance and thrilling action came together in Promises to Keep, taking me on an exhilarating ride that had me hanging on to my nerves by a thread!

And that ending - oh boy! I don't want to give anything away but man, I simply could not contain my joy, excitement, torment; my poor overworked heart simply could not take all the feels!!

Maegan Beaumont's smooth and evocative writing is on point, I have been left satisfied and yet I'm so darn hungry for more - I am desperate for more Sabrina and Michael.

I'm emotionally drained but buzzing from the thrill of it - Promises to Keep is a 5 star read.

Carved in Darkness (Book #1)

 Add to Goodreads

Past horrors bleed into a present day nightmare

Fifteen years ago, a psychotic killer abducted seventeen year old Melissa Walker. For 83 days she was raped and tortured before being left for dead in a deserted church yard... But she was still alive.

Melissa begins a new life as homicide inspector, Sabrina Vaughn. With a new face and a new name, it's her job to hunt down murderers and it's a job she does very well.

When Michael O'Shea, a childhood acquaintance with a suspicious past, suddenly finds her, he brings to life the nightmare Sabrina has long since buried.

Believing that his sister was recently murdered by the same monster who attacked Sabrina, Michael is dead set on getting his revenge--using Sabrina as bait.

Purchase Link
Amazon US

READ MY REVIEW HERE

Sacrificial Muse (Book #2)
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She is his muse, and the fates require sacrifice.

San Francisco Detective Sabrina Vaughn is able to shrug off the nine red roses being delivered to her office every day. But when only eight roses arrive on the same day a Berkeley student's mutilated body is found, Sabrina fears that the killer is taunting her. Forced into a partnership with a deceitful reporter who somehow remains one step ahead of her, Sabrina discovers that she's the object of a psychopath's twisted delusion . . . and there may be no escape.

Purchase Link
Amazon US

READ MY REVIEW HERE

A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the light on.

When she isn’t busy fulfilling her duties as Domestic Goddess for her high school sweetheart turned husband, Joe, and their four children, she is locked in her office with her computer, her coffee pot and her Rhodesian Ridgeback, and one true love, Jade.

Twitter ~ Blog ~ Goodreads ~ Website ~ Facebook

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway ~ The Fan by Toni Kenyon

The Fan
Book #2
Published April 18th 2013 by Apeople Publishing
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17348248-the-fan

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fan-Rockstar-Romance-Private-Love

"Have you ever lusted after a famous musician? Or maybe you've fantasized about being 'the one' to be plucked from the audience. What really happens when the lights go down?

With a fast-spinning turnstile on his bedroom door, Julian MacAvoy spreads his musical gospel to his adoring followers, leaving broken hearts in his wake. What did happen between Julian, Barbie and Young Elvis that one night after the gig?

THE FAN is a short explicit romp - written for those of you who desperately need to know what happened in that bathroom - or for anyone else who has lusted after a famous musician!"

The Fan is a quick and easy story to read, and fills in all the gaps about what really happened in Julian MacAvoy’s Hotel room (Private Love in a Public Place) when he picked up a fan and her friend for some night time activities!

All three characters (Julian, Caitlin and Steve) are brought to life quickly and easily and I thoroughly enjoyed their post-concert romp. It was great having a chance to read from Julian’s POV during the sexual interlude. And I really enjoyed getting to feel a little of his frustration and desire for Mags; and the reasoning behind this threesome and his other regular sexual exploits.

I think author Toni Kenyon did a great job of portraying the fan (Caitlin). Her hesitant yet eager display of fandom, and wanting to please her ‘idol’ was very well written; I’m sure we can all relate to fangirling in some way, shape, or form!

Well written, funny and sexy, The Fan gets 5 stars from me.

Private Love in a Public Place
Book #1
Published August 28th 2012 by Apeople Publishing
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15823105-private-love-in-a-public-place

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Private-Love-Public-Place

Mags O'Brien lives on the alcohol-soaked, drug-enhanced concert circuit, managing out-of-control rocker Julian MacAvoy. She helps him spread his musical gospel to his adoring followers, despite the fast-spinning turnstile on his bedroom door, and the broken hearts he leaves in his wake.

Mags believes she’s immune to Julian’s magnetic personality but when controversy hits the tour, she finds herself in danger of falling at his feet, slave to his appetites and her own desire and need.

Julian refuses to be tamed, but the pressure of the ravenous crowds clamps tighter and tighter around him. His chaotic world starts to crumble when he realizes his motivation to continue touring comes from an unobtainable woman. Can he force her to make the agonizing choice between himself and her estranged husband?

An erotic and candid look at life on the road.

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Public Love in a Private Place
Book #3
Published May 21st 2015 by Apeople Publishing
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18008139-public-love-in-a-private-place

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Public-Private-Place

Having faked his own death to escape his out-of-control lifestyle, Rocker Julian MacAvoy and his beloved Mags are lying low in the Far North of New Zealand.

Enjoying their newfound anonymity, Julian has to come to terms with the prospect of discovery when Mags turns their new life upside down by announcing that she's pregnant.

Will this reformed bad-boy be forced to return to his rock star roots?

Romantic, erotic and awash in the beauty of the Far North of New Zealand, PUBLIC LOVE IN A PRIVATE PLACE captures the essence of the rock star's dilemma: The Band or The Girl.

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Toni Kenyon lives in Auckland with her husband (and their two dogs) the goldfish are just squatting! She writes romance by day, sings in a band by night and in her spare (yeah, right) time she wrangles difficult heroes into line, so they can star in her next novel. Toni also loves the garden and has a special place in her heart for her fruit trees and her veggie patch. A keen amateur photographer, Toni posts “Mood of the Suburbs” shots across most of her social media profiles. She loves to hear from like-minded people, so pop on over and say 'Hi' any time.
Visit her website and sign up for her newsletter so you can stay informed about her new releases.

Toni can also be found at:
Website: www.tonikenyon.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Toni.Kenyon.author
Twitter: @Toni_Kenyon
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/Toni_Kenyon
Instagram: www.instagram.com/toni_kenyon

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