A Holiday to Remember: Justine Elyot and sexy secrets

A Holiday to Remember

 

Hello, everyone, it's lovely to be here with Kristabel and I love her chosen topic of holidays. As it happens, I've just come home from one – on the Isle of Wight. It was terrific, but it's not the one I'm going to talk about today.

Since I'm here to tour my new novel, Saxonhurst Secrets, I thought it would be very easy for my post to tie into the book, because the village setting is based on a real place – and I have taken holidays there myself, staying with friends and family members.

Now, I'm not going to say exactly where the village is, but I can tell you that it's in the Midlands of England, not far from the Cotswolds and the Malvern Hills, and I'm going to tell you about a few great places to visit in the region.

1. Chipping Campden

A beautiful little town, built of characteristic honey-coloured Cotswold stone, this is well worth a visit if you like poking around little crafty/antique shops and pretending to be a character in a Jane Austen novel. I love that kind of thing, so I always enjoy a day out here.

2. Warwick Castle

Fittingly, given that my novel is paranormal and Warwick Castle is reputed to be haunted to the hilt. Excellent dungeons, amazing exhibitions and a chance to pretend to be medieval instead of Regency. Picture all those imaginary knights on the battlements!

3. The Rollright Stones

These ancient monuments dating back to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages always give me a feeling of mystical chill. Very appropriate to the book, I think. Who built them? Nobody knows. Why did they build them? Probably for the purposes of burial rituals. There is a story that one of the stones is a knight who was turned that way by a witch – another interesting clue to the book.

So, if you're ever down Saxonhurst way – you know where to visit!

Blurb:

On the surface, Saxonhurst is like every other sleepy English village in the Vale of Parham.

But what explanations are there for its unfailingly bountiful harvests, its amazingly successful cricket team, its bizarre and bacchanalian May Day rituals?

New vicar Adam Flint is bent on finding out why Saxonhurst has the nickname 'most godless village in England'. With the help and hindrance of village siren Evie and the strange and remote Lady of the Manor, Julia, he uncovers closets full of skeletons. And not just skeletons - flesh and blood bodies rich in temptations as well...

Will the secrets of Saxonhurst be Adam's ruin?

Where to buy:

Xite