Romantic comedy How To Marry Your Husband

Romantic comedy How To Marry Your Husband is now available as an ebook at Amazon for only £1.99!

Most romantic novels end with a kiss. This one starts with one. When Olivia asks Kieran to marry her on Leap Year Day, the answer isn't quite what she's expecting. Still, even reluctant fiancés will eventually understand what's best for them, and Olivia is plunged into a summer of scary dress shops, mad mothers and bad hair days. VERY bad hair days. 

Will Olivia be able to negotiate her way through the marriage minefield whilst keeping her sanity almost intact, and can she ever be truly prepared for the perfect day of her dreams?

It will shortly also be available as a paperback. I hope you enjoy the read!

Anne Brooke Books

The Hit List: gay romantic comedy

Gay romantic comedy The Hit List has just been republished with a brand-new cover at Amazon, so pick up your copy today!

Jamie Chadwick is straight. Determinedly straight. Or so he keeps telling himself. His small conference business is doing okay and, even though he looks after his ailing father, he loves living in the countryside and life is good. Sort of. But the arrival of old college friend, David Fenchurch, who’s just come out on the distinctly camp side of camp, together with Lucy Reid, his father’s sexy new physiotherapist, sets Jamie on a path he’d never dreamed of taking.

On top of all that, the unexpected return of long-lost family friend, Robert Trevelyan, himself openly gay, means that Jamie can no longer ignore the past he’s kept hidden for six years. When Robert and David get together, Jamie’s feelings begin to surface in surprising ways. Who, amongst the crowd of people set to blow his life apart, will make it onto his fantasy hit list? And in the midst of Jamie’s own emotional battlefield, how can he keep things together at all?

Reviews:

"a well written and engaging read that zips along at a great pace. A real page turner." (From a 5-star review at Goodreads)

“A touching book; in turns funny, true and heartbreaking" (From a 5-star review at Goodreads)

Happy reading!

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy

HALF PRICE Romantic Comedy: Pink Champagne and Apple Juice

Until Friday, romantic comedy Pink Champagne and Apple Juice is HALF PRICE at Amber Quill Press!

Angie Howard has one ambition--to escape from her home in the idyllic UK countryside and set up her own cafe in London. Once there, she seeks out her long-lost Uncle John, who runs a gay and sometimes quite naughty nightclub.

Before she can achieve her catering ambitions, Angie has to juggle the needs of a glamorous French waiter, a grouchy German chef and her exuberant, transvestite uncle.

What's more, if she manages to keep the lid on all that, what will she do about the other hidden secrets of her family?

Reviews:

"Pink Champagne and Apple Juice was a great, laid back story with many twists to keep you laughing. The fast paced flow of the wacky story was undeniably fun. I say that if on a rainy day or just when you need to laugh in a ‘The Birdcage’ feel, this book is for you ... Rated 5 Delightful Divas & Recommended Read." (From a 5 Diva review at Dark Diva Reviews)

So hurry along and get YOUR copy for half-price now! And while you're there, many of my other Amber Quill books are being offered at at 25% discount, so why not stock up now for your weekend - happy reading!

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy

Monday to Friday Man by Alice Peterson: nice plot, shame about the menfolk

This is a pretty decent example of comic romance though it does take a while to warm up. The female characters are far stronger than the male ones who aren't terribly interesting, sadly. Personally I would have preferred less airtime for Jack and Guy, and a greater focus on Gilly's friends and her marvellous boss - I think that would have made for a far more gripping read.

That said, aspects I very much enjoyed and which were very well written were Gilly's relationship with her twin brother and his irritating wife, and also her relationship with her life-limited sister. Really, the sister story is a tour de force of writing, and it made me cry on several occasions - and I don't even like families or children, so you can see just how powerful it was!

One plot line I found irritating or nonsensical, however, was the "deep, dark secret weekend life" Jack keeps from everyone, and which - in the Big Reveal - is supposed to make us like him even less. Um, I'm sorry? The kind of secrets he's keeping are actually rather sweet and he should definitely be congratulated for his compassion and sense of duty. I have no idea why Gilly and Guy think Jack is so dreadful for what he's done here. He most certainly is not - and I began to lose a great deal of interest in Gilly and Guy, and certainly in their opinions, at that point.

I also groaned very deeply indeed when Gilly's confusion about her lack of career is miraculously solved by her instantly becoming a best-selling writer - honestly, this was a cliche when it first arrived as a plot solver in the 1980s, and I wish writers would stop it! It's dull, unrealistic and a serious cop-out of the storyline. Besides of which, if writers were actually being realistic about the writing life, then Gilly would need to endure ten years of serial rejections, several nervous breakdowns, one or two scam publishing deals, at least one sweet-talking but ultimately useless agent, an incident involving foreign lawyers and a nasty email campaign, poor reviews (amongst some good ones), the silence of her family and the embarrassed sympathy of her friends. Put that in your pipe, Gilly, and smoke it is what I say. Harrumph already! So, writers: please get over yourselves and stop writing about writing. For the sake of all our sanities. You've got an imagination - venture outside your own heads once in a while and stop being so damn lazy.

Verdict: some good writing, but a tendency to laziness. 3 stars.

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy

Omnilit Books: BIG discounts

There are currently BIG discounts on all my fiction at Omnilit Books, so don't miss out! You can choose from a range of gay and lesbian fiction, romantic fiction, erotic fiction, literary fiction, comedy, science fiction and thrillers. Happy reading!

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy

Signs of springtime amidst the sickness

Book News:

Later this year, all six erotic menage Delaney stories will be published in a paperback collection, The Dangerous Delaneys and Me. It will be available sometime around May, but I'll keep you posted.

And romantic comedy, Pink Champagne and Apple Juice, will be republished by Musa Publishing later this year, so that's something to look forward to also.

This week, I finally finished my BDSM story, Training Timothy, and have submitted it to Riptide Publishing to see if they like it. For the first time ever, I submitted actually on the day that particular anthology call was closing, so that was a bit scary, I can tell you. Usually, I plan way in advance, but I have the excuses of yet more illness (for which see below) and also lack of inspiration until very late on indeed to blame, hey ho.

I've also completed an interview for the Lambda Literary organisation focusing on Christian writers of erotic gay romance, but I'm not sure yet when or even if they'll use it. Still, always lovely to be asked (thank you, Richard!). And I've slowly begun thoroughly ripping apart and severely editing a literary gay short story I wrote last year, The Beginning of Knowledge. So far that means I've cut it from 19,000 words down to 5,000 words, so that leaves me with the sex scenes at least. I just have to work a rather different story around them and all will be well. I am indeed the Queen of the Scalpel ...

Life News:

Earlier this week, I succumbed with some sense of drama to the Winter Vomiting Bug. My dears, I really cannot recommend this, at any level (Squeamishness Alert!). Sunday night and most of Monday was therefore spent being gloriously sick every two or three hours and wondering if death might be the kinder option. The factor that utterly felled me was the fact that being sick also involved fainting (something I rarely do), so I had no idea where either I or the ... um ... err ... product would end up at any given session. All I can say is thank goodness we don't have carpets downstairs, toilet water is very cold indeed and blankets wash out very nicely, hurrah. Ho hum.

I tell you, every day I bless the fact that one of my mother's wedding presents to me was the huge and very tough plastic bowl I was always ill into as a child (well, I was very delicate, you know ...) and I swear I have had the most use of it over the last twenty years of married life than any other present I received on the day. How well my mother knows me indeed ...

So that was two days off work but back in on Wednesday, where I just about survived the day but felt extremely delicate. Eating commenced again on Thursday, however, which was great news as it was Valentine's Day, and so a definite Champagne moment.

K's presents included (a) The Piano Player Book 3 (and I've not yet had the courage to start Book 2 yet, yikes!), (b) The Pumpkin Muffin Murder (a novel of crime and baking - what could be nicer?...), and (c) a pair of fingerless gloves that I can attach to the memory stick ports on my keyboard and they heat up and keep my hands warm. Bliss indeed! I am indeed the archetypal icon of fashion here in the Surrey outback. The only thing I have to remember is the wires aren't long enough for me to reach for my dictionary so I have to unplug myself from my personal heating system if I want to look up a word or risk taking the whole computer to the shelf with me, ah well ...

So, this weekend, I've been well enough to bake Orange and Almond Cake, which is horrendously easy and tastes pretty good too. And it's been warm enough to sit in the garden, heavens above. There, we've been admiring the glorious crocuses across the front lawn, and also the honey bees browsing through the winter heather. Oh, and there was a pair of goldfinches flitting about yesterday, so spring must at last be sprung, even if only temporarily.

However, over at The Angry Anglican, I fear I am growing increasingly disenchanted with my lot. Hmm, perhaps we can blame the weather ...

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandria Fantasy Trilogy
Biblical Fiction UK
Lori Olding Children's Author

Discounts and a double dose of champagne

Book News:

Gosh, indeedy, it appears that the paperback version of romantic comedy Pink Champagne and Apple Juice is experiencing a sudden surge of popularity. I wonder if people are buying it for Christmas? It's been pretty flat (AKA non-existent) on sales for months so it's lovely to have an unexpected change on that front. If you have bought it, then many thanks and I hope you or the person it's intended for enjoy the read. And don't forget the ebook version is also available, so never say I don't try to cater for all tastes.

Speaking of unexpected sales, you'll be pleased to hear that all my Amber Allure Press books currently have a 25% discount, so that's well worth a browse for sure - and with any luck they'll warm your winter up too and put you in a glowing mood for the Big Season. Enjoy!

At the same time, I'm really getting back into writing my gay fantasy novella, The Taming of the Hawk. I'm just getting to the adventure/political struggle sections now so they should be fun. I do so love writing adventure and battle sections - must be my calm and contemplative nature, eh.

Across at Vulpes Libris Reviews, I find I really don't love all in my review of Madeleine Wickham's The Tennis Party, but hey at least the ending was good. All rather disappointing really, as I've definitely enjoyed some of her other work.

Recent meditations are:


Meditation 597
The fields, woods
and pastures
lie empty.

Only the wind
brushes over
the waiting soil

and grasses,
setting the leaves,
the crooked branches

whispering
of everything
that went before.


Meditation 598
The larger the family
the greater the potential
disaster

as each of them
in their various
ways

constantly
strives to be
master.


Life News:

This week so far has been a week of health appointments. Yesterday I had my eye test and was greatly relieved that I don't have to buy new glasses - thereby saving huge amounts of money which can be put to very good use elsewhere. And today it's been the dental hygienist, so my teeth are lovely and shiny for Christmas, hurrah.

Yesterday evening was the third in the church's special Advent & Compline quiet services - it was just so very relaxing I could have stayed there for ever. Such a wonderful change from the huge busyness and general gubbins going on elsewhere. Honestly, there should be more times set aside for group quietness. It's a real boon.

Oh and we've opened our first champagne of the season - K had one bottle left over from his bulk-buy for the office Christmas so we've celebrated by drinking it. Lovely. You can never really have too much champagne, to my mind. Bring it on.

And, in the virtual world, some Evil Person from Indonesia (where they obviously have nothing better to do ...) has this week hacked into my FB account for reasons known only to themselves. Luckily, FB seem pretty hot on this sort of stuff, so contacted me at once so I could change my password (thank you, FB). So I think I'm normal now (relatively), but really who can tell?...

Finally, in the wonderful world of TV, K and I are devastated that we've seen the last of Series One of the marvellous comedy crime programme, Death in Paradise. We've thoroughly enjoyed its quirkiness, humanity and downright simplicity and we hope that some wise person will hurry up and make a second series - in spite of the fact that nobody but us seems to have liked it, sigh. Anyway, you can never go wrong with Ben Miller. In anything. He's great.

Anne Brooke
The Origami Nun