Month: October 2023

The one with the reviews that claim an author has something incorrect … when they don’t really

Jessica Redland Author5 Comments

I’ve said before that I read my reviews and this is very much an individual author’s choice. Lots of authors don’t read reviews, mainly because the negative ones can really hurt, but I do read mine. I don’t do this religiously but, every so often, I check out my most recent reviews. Most of them make me smile, some of them make me laugh, some are so lovely that they bring tears to my eyes and there are others which bring tears to my eyes because they’re so hurtful. But this weekend I spotted a review which generated a different reaction and I felt compelled to write a blog post about it.

So what is this review? It’s a review which declares that there is something factually incorrect in the book. The reviewer may decide that this inaccuracy warrants a scathing one- or two-star review as it has supposedly ruined their enjoyment of the book, or the reviewer might have still loved the book but chooses to deduct one or two stars from their rating because of this inaccuracy.

And that’s their choice. If they’re correct in their declaration of the inaccuracy. But what if they’re the one in the wrong?

In The Start of Something Wonderful, my main character Autumn stays with her penpal Rosie in the stunning Lake District. Rosie lives in a cottage in the grounds of Willowdale Hall and manages the riding stables so we get some small insights into the equestrian world.

I know nothing about horses. My bestie Sharon – who was obsessed with pony books when she was younger and still adores horses – thinks it’s hilarious that I have a main character who manages a riding stables when I don’t like horses myself. Actually, that’s not strictly true. I think they’re beautiful animals … but they scare me. I went on a pony trekking weekend once when I was in my mid-twenties and it was terrifying. I never mastered how to ride and spent the whole weekend terrified of falling off. At the end of one of the rides, they encouraged us to canter across a field and I honestly thought I was going to die!

Why am I telling you this? It’s because my lack of knowledge (and my fear) of horses meant I did huge amounts of research into them. I bought a gorgeous book all about different horse breeds and another about learning to ride, both of which I studied in depth. I read all sorts of articles, I did loads of research about the layout of stables, the best feed and bedding, the amount of exercise needed, and so on. Basically, I took the same approach with all my books – research like mad to ensure accuracy and authenticity. With the horses, one of the things I was really conscious about getting correct was the language so I did extra research on that.

Then yesterday morning, I spotted this 4-star review:

“The story of the main players is great and they all have such depth. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author. One small niggle – if you’re writing about a riding stables get the spelling right for the indoor arena the horses work in, it’s menage, not manege, mentioned 3 times.”I’m delighted that this reader has enjoyed my book and very grateful for a positive review, but I can’t help thinking that the reduction of the one star is because of the niggle. The thing about the niggle is that the reviewer is actually wrong. And I understand why because I also thought that horses were exercised in a menage. But they aren’t. They’re exercised in a manège (even note the use of the accent!) I know this for sure because I checked the hell out of it. I found an article on the Horse and Hound website entitled ‘8 horsey terms you’ve probably been getting wrong for years’ and, guess what? Saying menage instead of the correct term manège is one of them! You can find the article here.

The author, Carol Phillips, explains that it’s a French term (the accent is a big clue to that!) but the incorrect frequently-used term, menage, means ‘household’. We’re probably most familiar with this term in the phrase ‘menage a trois’ which literally translates as ‘three-person household’. But a manège is where horses are exercised. If you Google ‘manège meaning’, various dictionary definitions come up and all confirm that this – not a menage – is where horses are exercised.

This particular reviewer is keen to go on and read the next book in the series – A Breath of Fresh Air (out in January 2024). This is Rosie’s story so we have more action in the stables and more mention of the manège. Because that’s correct. Will I get another even lower star review for not checking my facts in my second book when that’s exactly what I did do?

This got me thinking about other author friends and how many times they’ve had reviews pointing out an error which was actually not an error. I remember Sharon (Booth) being really frustrated with a review for her fabulous A Christmas Carol inspired Christmas story, Saving Mr Scrooge. There’s a company in this book which makes chocolates. The collective term for sweets or chocolate is confectionery with an ‘e’ in it. However – and very confusingly – the place where confections are kept or made is called a confectionary with an ‘a’ in it.

Like all good authors, Sharon had carefully done her research and the two terms were used interchangeably in her story in the correct context – confectionary when she was talking about the factory and confectionery when she was talking about the finished products. However, just like The Start of Something Wonderful did for me, this generated a 4-star review which was positive about the elements of the book the reviewer really enjoyed but finished with this: “I was less keen on the way the word confectionery was incorrectly spelled several times. It’s easy enough to use a spell-checker.”

How frustrating is that when, like me with my manège, Sharon was correct with her mix of confectionery and confectionary?

I turned to my fellow Boldwood authors curious to know whether any of them had experienced similar accusations of inaccuracies and I discovered several tales which I feel fall into three categories…

Category 1 – Where you’re accused of being factually wrong but they’re wrong instead

This is the category my manège review falls into, as does Sharon’s confectionary/ confectionery one. 

Kim Nash shared that she had a review for Sunshine and Second Chances where the reader claimed that she was incorrect about the geography of the Algarve. Kim says, ‘I’ve been to this particular part of the Algarve about ten times so I KNOW it’s right’.

Sandy Barker shared that a reader criticised one of her books because nobody in America eats Christmas cake. Sandy is half-American so does know what she’s talking about. Another claimed there was no way that anybody could visit as many countries in two weeks as she stated in another of her books. Sandy says, ‘I was a tour manager for a European tour company. We went to WAY more places in two weeks.’

Lynda Stacey writing as L. H. Stacey added, ‘On The Fake Date, someone once told me that the courtroom scene was totally improbably and that the questions that the solicitor asked were ridiculous. Well… I have [a friend who] works in the courts and knows the protocols and [another who] is a solicitor who works these type of cases. Both of them hand fed me the information and I couldn’t have done more research if I’d tried… not unless I’d taken the bar myself.’

Category 2 – When a reviewer makes a huge assumption about your levels of knowledge … incorrectly

Samantha Tonge told me that she had a comment in a review for Game of Scones which said that she clearly knew nothing about making scones. Samantha has baked for years and I can attest to this as she regularly posts her delicious-looking creations on Facebook making me drool and wish she lived a bit closer to me!

Siobhan Daiko has a 2-star review for her recent release, The Girl from Portofino, which states, “Not for a moment did I believe the main characters were Italian.” Siobhan’s step-family are Italian and she says, ‘[I’ve] been living here [in Italy] full-time for eleven years and have visited almost every year since I was ten. I write about real Italians, not the stereotypical versions you find in some books.’ I’d say that makes her pretty qualified to write about realistic Italians!

These comments made me think about some of the reviews I’ve had along these lines. I can’t remember which book it was left for and I have too many reviews to scroll through to find it, but I had a review for one of my Hedgehog Hollow commenting on me having a couple of difficult mother/daughter relationships in my books and suggesting that I must have a difficult relationship with my own mum to repeatedly write about this. Well, it’s the same mum but six books so of course the relationship is going to keep cropping up. And as for my own relationship with my mum, it’s excellent and I have something known as an imagination – kind of important tool for a writer!

I have another scathing review (again, can’t put my paws on it just now) where it’s commented that I clearly have no knowledge of mental health issues or counselling. Erm, I beg to differ. I’m a trained and qualified coach and career development counsellor and I have studied counselling in different contexts with the intention of completing a degree in it. I completed an introductory course and got a place on the degree programme but had to defer due to pregnancy and then couldn’t afford it so didn’t continue down that path. But I have a lot of knowledge. And – bit of a theme here – I do lots of research too.

Category 3 – Where the reviewer has speed-read the book and presents an omission which wasn’t actually an omission 

Keri Beevis shared a 4-star review for The Boat House which is pretty long and full of praise for the story and Keri’s writing, but the reviewer then shares her niggle about the book: “The only issue I had with the book was the inconstancy [sic] in some small details. In one scene Emily left the house without her shoes, and in the next, she put her shoes back on…” Keri explains, that there’s a ‘line where it says the character grabbed her boots and threw them in the car when leaving the house’ which clearly the reader has missed.

This is so frustrating as it’s the kind of detail that, as an author, you would only need to mention once but, if a reader is speeding through a book, they can so easily miss.

This brought to mind a 1-star review I have for Making Wishes at Bay View. SPOILER ALERT!!! In the story, the main male character has a baby with his ex. She intentionally sabotages their birth control to get pregnant as she doesn’t want to work and plans to take advantage of the benefits available to a single mum. At no point are any judgements passed on this by the characters but, if there were, that would be fine because this is a book about fictional people and if they wanted to make a judgement because that fit in with their personalities, they’d make a judgement. But in this case they absolutely don’t. Anyway, my 1-star review states, “A very disappointing read. The single mum on benefits bashing wasn’t great!” Where was there any single mum on benefits bashing? Certainly not in this story, but clearly something hit a nerve and this reader read something that wasn’t even there.

In Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café, main character Hollie has experienced several bereavements and I read a review which was extremely complimentary about the book but there was a large chunk of it where the readers said she was disappointed that Hollie hadn’t sought any professional help to deal with her grief. This bewildered me because she did! There wasn’t a scene about it because the story is set some time on from the bereavements, but there is a section where Hollie is reflecting on her home and discussions she’d had with her counsellor on the merits of staying there with memories or moving to a smaller property to start afresh. It’s not even a throwaway line – it’s a big paragraph. But this reader had presumably skimmed past it.

And just to share a review which doesn’t really fit into any of those categories but does fit with this subject, Michelle Salter shared this 4-star review for the fourth book – A Killing at Smuggler’s Cove – in this 1920’s set crime series: ‘This was my first book in this series and I was just a bit confused as the time period didn’t “click” in my mind. When something was described as happening in 1918, I thought “a long time ago” – however, it was only 5 years ago in the book. (My fault, I suppose.)’ Erm, yes. So why leave a review sharing this?

What can we do about this?

I don’t enjoy any sort of criticism in reviews – who would? – but I am very open to constructive points on which I can take action. But when something is already correct and a reader believes it isn’t, what can we do?

Absolutely nothing!

Authors are advised never to engage with the critics and I understand why as that can look like confrontation. I don’t do confrontation – far too scary and not me at all – so we have to suck it up. Which is hard when it’s unfair criticism but c’est la vie! Can’t please all of the people all of the time.

Well, I say there’s nothing we can do but there is something. I can write a little blog post like this with a plea that, if you do spot something in a book which you believe is wrong, please, please, please can you check that it’s not you who is actually wrong about it before you leave a negative review/deduct stars from a review because of the thing you believe is wrong? Even if you are absolutely convinced that you are right, a quick chat to Google will confirm it. You see, part of the job is to do research so we will have checked our facts. Most of the time. Sometimes we can be caught out too, believing something is correct and therefore not even thinking to check it. Like menage! I almost didn’t check it because I was so sure it was menage.

And if it turns out that you’re right and the author’s wrong, has it really spoilt your enjoyment of the whole book? Take a deep breath. Is it essential to be angry about that one thing and have a go at the author today? If it really is, then fire away but maybe take another deep breath and have a nice hot chocolate or something equally lovely first. Because is one small error in a book of 100k words really that much of a crime?

If you’re an author, have you ever had a reader flag up something as an error in a review which wasn’t actually an error? If you’re a reader and you spot something you believe is an error, how would you handle it? Would love to know your thoughts.

Big hugs
Jessica xx 

The one with the two auctions

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

Stopping by briefly today to let you know about two book related auctions going on at the moment.

East Yorkshire Food Bank

Although I live in North Yorkshire, I’m in the Beverley Chapter of the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) which is in East Yorkshire. Several members of the chapter and a host of other authors and people with literary connections are participating in a bookish auction to raise valuable funds for the East Yorkshire Food Bank. It’s organised by one of our members, author Jeevani Charika/Rhoda Baxter and the Food Bank Manager. You can find out more about the work of the food bank here.

This year, I’ve donated two lots – a signed copy of Christmas at the Cat Café and a one-hour Zoom which might suit either a reader or an aspiring writer. The book is a UK-only lot but the Zoom can be bid on internationally.

You can find the full auction here and can specifically bid for a signed copy of Christmas at the Cat Café on lot 14 here or the Zoom chat on lot 13 here. But you need to be quick as the auction of promises ends on Friday 20th October at 6pm.

Children in Read

The annual Children in Read auction in aid of the BBC’s Children in Need campaign is also up and running, organised by the amazing Paddy Heron. You can find the full auction here which has a whopping 633 lots on it at the time of writing this blog post. There are so many wonderful offerings across the genres to suit readers, collectors and writers so do take a look.

I’ve donated two lots here too – pretty much the same as those donated to the East Yorkshire Food Bank auction except the Christmas at the Cat Café lot is a small bundle which includes a cat bookmark and cat coaster as well as the signed book.

You can bid on the Christmas at the Cat Café bundle on lot 563 here and the Zoom chat on lot 564 here. As with the East Yorkshire Food Bank auction, the Zoom is available internationally but the bundle is UK only.

£12,709 has been raised in bids so far across this auction with plenty of time still to run as Children in Need day is Friday 17th November.

Happy browsing and bidding! And please do spread the word. Great opportunity for some early Christmas shopping!

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one with the two literary festival appearances

Jessica Redland Author2 Comments

For several years, it was on my bucket list to speak at a writing festival and, this year, I achieved that three-fold.

My first ever festival appearance was in June at the Crossing the Tees Festival where I ran a workshop and appeared on a romance panel. You can read more about it here.

My second appearance was at the Richmond Walking & Book Festival last month. This should actually have been my first ever festival appearance last year but it had to be cancelled as it clashed with the date of the Queen’s funeral so I was re-booked for this year.

Richmond is roughly a two-hour drive from where I live in Scarborough and is therefore absolutely do-able as a day trip, but I decided it would be a nice treat for hubby and me to stop over the night before rather than have a really early start. We stayed in a hotel on the market square called The King’s Head which bought back memories of when I had my teddy bear shop in Richmond twenty years ago. I won the Best Newcomer award in the Best Retailer Awards and was presented with it at an event in that hotel. At the time, I’d just started writing my debut novel and was learning my craft. I never dreamed I’d be back at the same hotel years later with a successful career as an author!

Back to the festival, I’d contacted the organisers earlier in the week to see how ticket sales had gone and was told that they’d been very slow for the daytime events with only eleven sold so far. They were hopeful that they’d sell more last minute. They didn’t. I arrived to the news that there were still only eleven takers and, as I knew two of these attendees were my parents, this was a bit disappointing. The lovely organisers advised me that they’d really struggled with ticket sales this year – something they attributed to the cost of living crisis – so it wasn’t just me unable to attract an audience. At the festival itself, they tole me that last year they’d sold more than 30 tickets for my appearance and that had been with time still to go for last-minute purchases so it could well have been in excess of 40 tickets if we hadn’t had to cancel. Same author, same date, same time, same venue – but not the same level of ticket sales. It wasn’t anyone’s fault; just circumstances.

It was a shame but at least I was pre-prepared for a small audience. And, let’s face it, nothing could be worse than the time I appeared at a writing event in Scarborough when nobody turned up! Although, to be fair, I was a struggling indie author at the time so nobody would have had a clue who I was.

The venue was lovely. We were in one of the cinema screens at The Station which was perfect as the audience had comfy sets and a stepped view, although there were going to be a lot of empty seats! It was even cosier than expected because four of those eleven attendees were no-shows! A couple of members of my Facebook Group, Redland’s Readers, joined us – thank you Ros and Joanne – and Ros brought a friend along who was a fan of my books so it was lovely to be able to chat to them before the talk started.

The talk itself went very well and I sold a few books afterwards which is always a bonus. Overall, I had a lovely couple of days away. I met up with my friend, Lucy Pittaway (super talented artist) the evening before for a good catch-up, and I had a wander round Richmond with my parents after the talk, with a sneaky ice-cream because the weather was gorgeous. A huge thank you to James, Judith and the other volunteers for including me and being brilliant hosts.

Yesterday, I had my third and final face-to-face festival appearance of the year at the East Riding Festival of Words. I was a delegate before being a speaker as there was a ‘Morning of Murder and Mystery’ on Saturday which I went to with my bestie, author Sharon Booth. It was held in Beverley, East Yorkshire. We were very excited to see our names on the festival brochure on our seats.

There was a fabulous line-up for the crime part of the festival with the super successful multi-million bestselling indie author L J Ross speaking first. Ross is most famous for her DCI Ryan Mysteries, set in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham, although she has a couple of other series out including her ‘A Summer Suspense Mystery’ series which are set elsewhere.

I made a couple of purchases afterwards and got them signed. When it was my turn, I was stupidly nervous and garbled something about my parents being from the north east. Isn’t it bonkers that I can be a million-selling author myself but go to pieces when I meet author authors? You can find L J Ross on Amazon here or read more about her on her website here.

The second session was with two authors – Kate Evans and Kate Rhodes – with a theme around setting novels by the coast. I like crime novels but struggle for reading time so mainly read romance and I therefore wasn’t familiar with either of these authors but really enjoyed learning more about them. Kate Evans is actually Scarborough-based like me and her DC Donna Morris series is set here. Kate Rhodes has written lots of books but her latest series is set on the Isles of Scilly and that’s the series she was focusing on at the festival.

I made a purchase of Kate Rhodes’s latest book but I was a bit slow getting to the book table and Kate Evans’s books were all sold out!

The final slot of the day was with T M Logan who has had some phenomenal success after one of his books, The Holiday, was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick. It has since been made into a Channel 5 series, as has a subsequent book, The Catch. Spookily enough, his most recent release, The Mother, was next to The Start of Something Wonderful in the charts on the morning of the festival with my book at #20 and Tim’s at #21 in the overall Amazon UK chart. I wanted to take a screenshot but I am so incompetent at using my phone and couldn’t work out how to do it (the ‘usual’ buttons didn’t work for it) so I couldn’t take one. Since then, his book has risen and mine has dropped but it was a lovely moment to have us both – as speakers at the same festival – side by side in the Top 100.

There was a big queue for T M Logan’s books and as I’m actually a Kindle reader and had already bought three books, Sharon and I didn’t stay. We also had a table booked for a late lunch at a nearby pub so needed to get there anyway.

All four speakers were excellent, as was the facilitator – author Nick Quantrill – and I really enjoyed hearing them all speak. There was a sci-fi/fantasy session on the afternoon and, while we didn’t attend this, I love that the festival were embracing so many different genres. There are more events on Saturday 21st October so do check out the festival website if you’re local and would like to attend.

Yesterday my appearance was at a different venue – Hornsea Hub – in the small coastal resort of Hornsea. I didn’t really know where I was going so I got there well in advance and had a little wander down to the beach (right beside the venue) to take some photos.

My session was an ‘Afternoon Tea with a Chapter of Romantic Novelists’. Jeevani Charika (also writing as Rhoda Baxter), Sharon Booth and I were representing contemporary romantic novelists and Val Wood, Sylvia Broady and Rowan Coleman (also writing as Bella Ellis) were representing historicals. We’re all part of the Beverley Chapter of the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA).

The contemporary panel went first, we had a break for drinks, cake and book signings, and then the historical panel were on. Both panels had great conversations with some excellent questions from the audience.

I was thrilled to have several attendees purchase my books and get them signed, with some telling me they’ve read some or all of my books on Kindle.

A huge thank you to all the amazing festival and library staff for putting on such a fabulous, well-organised event and for including romantic authors as part of the line-up when there are festivals out there who sadly dismiss this genre. Lovely to have #RespectRomFic demonstrated.

Photo Credit: Linda Acaster

On that subject, Sharon and I attended the same festival several years back and there was a full crime day. We were really disappointed that several of the authors speaking dismissed the romance genre at some point in their talks or in the audience questions. This year, L J Ross actively spoke about the romantic relationship in her Summer Suspense Mysteries and how relationships of all types are so important in literature as those connections are what we all know and desire. Yay! How refreshing to hear that.

Back to yesterday, I had a quick look at the sea before I left as the tide was right in and there was some serious overtopping going on. Several young children were playing by the sea wall, letting the sea crash down over them. There’s a solid sea wall at Hornsea which I’m imagining made the adults feel ‘safe’ that their children/grandchildren wouldn’t be pulled into the sea, but the sea is powerful and should be respected. While it perhaps wasn’t quite strong enough to pull someone in over the wall yesterday, it could do on another wilder day. And the water isn’t the only risk. When the sea crashes against the wall, it frequently hurls debris onto the promenade. A small child of maybe age three or four was dressed in an all-in-one waterproof and his parents or grandparents were allowing him to get drenched. Fun right? Yes, but extremely dangerous! A man standing nearby where the sea wasn’t crashing over had to warn them that the child needed to stop playing because an enormous stone had just been thrown over. Thankfully the adults heeded his advice and took the child away but this could so easily have ended in disaster. If that stone (and we are talking a huge one here) had struck the child on his head, he might have been badly injured or even killed. Why do people take such chances with the sea? Yes, it’s amazing watching it crashing over the walls … but from a safe distance. No amount of play or photo opportunities are worth that dice with death.

And from that serious note, onto something lighter. I have one more festival appearance this year but it’s a virtual one. I’ll be on a Christmas panel on Monday 18th December at 2-3pm GMT. It’s run by Northumberland Libraries and I’m joined by fellow RNA authors Sue Moorcroft and Kiley Dunbar as we talk about our latest Christmas releases. The event is free but participants need a ticket. You can secure one here.

That’s it for my festival appearances. I have nothing lined up for 2024. I haven’t contacted any festival organisers about speaking and don’t plan to do so. If anyone approaches me, I’d think about it as it is lovely meeting readers, but it does take a lot of preparation and time spent travelling is time away from writing and the family, so it’s about finding a balance. I’d be flattered if I was approached, but I’m okay if nobody does as I’ve ticked off that bucket list item several times over this year. A huge thank you to anyone who has come to any of the events I’ve appeared at. I’m so very grateful for your support.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one where I went on a lovely weekend to the Peak District

Jessica Redland Author3 Comments

If you’ve read The Start of Something Wonderful, you’ll know it features two main characters – Autumn and Rosie – who have been close friends for twenty-four years after becoming penpals when they were eleven. Until Autumn accepts Rosie’s invitation to stay with her in the Lake District, they’ve never actually met in person.

I didn’t have to go far from home to understand what it’s like to have a longstanding penpal you’ve never met because I ‘met’ my penpal, Liz, when I was fifteen, and we didn’t actually meet in person until I was maybe 28/29.

With busy lives, demanding jobs and the convenience of social media, we don’t write very often now but we have stayed in touch for all these years. We’ve also met in person several times but never for more than half a day. In the summer, Liz stopped off in Scarborough on her way to a family holiday in the Lake District and time flew by. We mooted the idea of meeting up for a weekend and that then grew to our husbands joining us as well as our dog, Ella. We’ve just had that weekend in the Peak District – chosen for being roughly halfway between me in the north and Liz in the south.

We were staying in Bakewell and arrived during Friday afternoon so had a little wander round the town, a drink and a delicious slice of cake in a local pub – The Wheatsheaf – and then booked to go back to the same pub for our evening meal which was also yummy.

There’s a bridge over the river covered in love locks and there was a gorgeous shop selling scented candles, wax melts, natural soaps etc called Willow & Thyme. How fabulous is the autumnal hedgehog display and the needlefelted hare? My bestie, author Sharon Booth, adores hares so I had to take a photo to show her. Made a couple of purchases there.

The following day we went on a walk which Liz’s husband, Ian, had found. It started in the nearby tiny village of Hollinsclough where we had some breakfast in the Chapel Tearooms to gear us up ready for the five-mile circular walk. Check out the sheep looking directly at the camera in that first photo!

The walk was to Chrome Hill which looks a bit like a sleeping dragon, and Parkhouse Hill. You can find a bit more about it here. Our plan was just to climb the Chrome Hill part but we’d see how we did and potentially take in Parkhouse Hill too.

The weather couldn’t have been more ideal. Despite being a week into October, it was warm and bright. A bit of a breeze on the climb kept us nicely cool for a spot of exercise, and the sun only really properly came out on the descent which was great timing as it meant we weren’t melting while climbing.

I’m working on my fitness at the moment and this didn’t look too high or scary, but it was still a fair climb with some parts requiring a scramble. I have little legs (cos I’m only 5 foot 2) so scrambling up hills isn’t very easy or dignified, but I managed it and really enjoyed that part. The descent was hard in parts. It was mainly grassy so not intimidating like the scary slate which had given me the fear when I summited Blencathra in the Lake District over Easter, but it was hard work on the knees. I should have taken my walking poles with me which would have given that bit of extra confidence to walk at a better pace.

As we were on the final descent, there was a discussion about whether we climbed up Parkhouse Hill as well or skipped it and went back to the Chapel Tearooms for cake. Hmm. Mountain or cake? Tricky one! (Yes, I know it’s not really a mountain but mountain or cake sounds better than hill or cake). Anyway, as you probably won’t be surprised to discover, I voted for cake, as did Liz. We were proud of ourselves for our climb but we’d done enough. Ian – who is super fit and amazing at this sort of thing – was keen to continue to Parkhouse Hill so both husbands went on ahead with Ella while Liz and I slowly continued down the slope.

In the photos above, Parkhouse Hill is the one with the very sharp-looking peak.

Ian had gone for a tough scramble climb to the right of Parkhouse Hill and Mark had opted for the steadier grassy slope to the left but, when it rounded a corner, it was ridiculously steep and he decided to call it a day. Ian aka the mountain goat, continued to the summit and was down again in a phenomenally short time. We waited at the bottom and all continued for cake together. As this was a very late lunch, I had a cheese scone followed by chocolate cake, all homemade by the women who ran the cafe and, my goodness, they were amazing. The cheese scone had pumpkin seeds baked in it and roasted ones on the top. I’d never have thought about including them in a cheese scone but they were absolutely delicious.

We were all a bit pooped after that. Well, Ian wasn’t, but the rest of us were and I wasn’t sure I’d manage to get up again once I sat down in the hotel room. All I wanted was to lie on the bed in front of Strictly so we suggested doing our own thing that evening. And I did lie on the bed watching Strictly … and The Wheel … and Blankety Blank while my aching muscles objected with every move! We were staying in a lovely place called Bagshaw Hall which was a short (but steep) walk into Bakewell, so perfectly situated. The rooms were lovely and the beds very comfortable.

Earlier in the week, I’d asked my lovely reader group, Redland’s Readers, if anyone lived in/knew the area well and what they’d recommend. The historic village of Eyam (pronounced Eam like cream) came up a few times so we decided to check it out en route to Chatsworth. I’m so glad we did. What a beautiful and fascinating place.

When the great plague was rife in the mid-1660s, tragically believed to have been brought to the village in infected fleas on clothes shipped from London, the villagers – led by the Rev. William Mompesson and his predecessor Rev. Thomas Stanley – isolated themselves to prevent the plague spreading to other nearby villages and towns. It was an incredibly brave move but the tactic worked as none of the surrounding villages reported any cases of the plague.

Villagers would place coins dipped in vinegar (to sanitise them) in holes cut into a boundary stone outside the village where food and provisions could be dropped off for them. Sadly, Eyam was badly hit with 260 lives out of approx 800 residents lost to the black death. Entire families were wiped out with several cases of just one family member surviving. In one case, this was a three-year-old child. Heart-breaking.

We visited the Eyam Museum which was fascinating (only assistance dogs allowed so Mark and Ella went for a walk) and had a wander round the village where there are lots of plaques explaining the history.

Having been through a global pandemic and lockdown, personal experience made this visit all the more poignant. The volunteer in the museum said that, when schoolchildren visit, they can completely relate to what happened all those centuries ago whereas only a few years back, the idea of a highly contagious disease keeping people in their homes to prevent spreading would have seemed alien.

I highly recommend a visit to both the museum and the village. It doesn’t feel eerie or sad as it’s very much a thriving village with some beautiful properties.

You can read more about the village today here and the history here. There were several fabulous-looking cafes in the village centre. We chose Eyam Tea Rooms and sat outside to have a delicious breakfast.

Our final trip was to Chatsworth. Mark and I have been before but it was pre-pandemic so a few years back. We only bought tickets for the gardens as they are sizeable and there’s so much to see in the whopping 105 acres.

Again, the weather was gorgeous for us – warm with some sunshine. We’d been looking forward to seeing the fabulous cascade fountain but the water had been shut off for a major repair project. Everything else was open though.

The weekend away was perfectly timed for me as it has been a tough couple of months with some big deadlines and a few non-work challenges thrown at us. I just met my latest deadline a couple of days earlier and it was great to go away and be able to completely switch off. Thank you, Liz and Ian, for your great company and to the Peak District for being so kind with the weather.

Have you visited the area before? Perhaps you live there. What are your favourite places? Please do share in the comments.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

Photo Credit to Mark Heslington for all the best, most colourful pics. The rest are taken by me!

The one where I thank the lovely reviewers on the blog tour for Christmas at the Cat Café and talk about being derailed by the early negative reviews

Jessica Redland Author6 Comments

August and September were a crazy couple of months in our household both writing-wise and personally so I’ve fallen behind on so many things. I’ve been ridiculously late in posting a couple of birthday cards (i.e. on the day of the person’s birthday) and even missed a friend’s birthday completely which is very unlike me as I’m normally completely on the ball with things like that.

One of the writing-related things to fall by the wayside has been the blog tour for Christmas at the Cat Café.I’ve been very slow in thanking bloggers for their posts, haven’t shared everything on Twitter (yes, I know it’s really called X but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it!) and I’m nearly a week behind with my end of tour thank you post. The tour ended on 30th September. Eek!

Better late than never, here’s a huge THANK YOU to all the bloggers/reviewers who took part in the blog tour for Christmas at the Cat Café and Rachel Gilbey of Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it.

I was really apprehensive about this blog tour because I received some scarily negative early reviews for this book. Thankfully my fears that I’d written a dud have been unfounded and there has been a lot of love for Castle Street, the cat café, my hero Tabby, and all the cats and kittens. Phew!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m always honest and transparent about the lows of my writing journey as well as the highs, so I’d like to talk about the negative reaction on the early review site.

First thing to put out there is that I don’t like the early review site at all. In my opinion (and it’s an opinion shared by a lot of authors I know), it’s broken. It started off as something really good and positive – an opportunity for bloggers/influencers to get an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of books which they could read for free in exchange for sharing their honest opinions with their following. Hopefully they’d pick books which appealed to them, they’d love what they read, and their reviews would be positive. They’d give authors quotes which could be used in the early promotion and they’d help create a buzz ahead of and around release date because they’d amassed a big following. This is not so much the case anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of genuine site users who do have a strong following on the socials and/or on their own blogs/websites who use the site properly. But there are way too many who completely abuse the system, using it as a way of bagging free books and, scarily, often grabbing books that aren’t within their preferred genre. It’s often obvious from reviews that they’ve not read the blurb because they declare their dislike for things which are spelled out in the blurb as being part of that book. They then give the book a 1 or 2-star review to keep their feedback rating high (they don’t get approved by publishers if it’s low).

There seems to be a culture of skim-reading books to presumably achieve self-set targets on sites such as GoodReads. A case in point of this recently was where a reviewer gave an author friend a 3-star review for her latest release which she had claimed to read in an hour. An hour?! I know there are some very fast readers out there, but that’s ludicrous. Skimming and skipping out chunks is not reading and what on earth is the point in that? You’re not actually getting to know the characters or immersing yourself in the nuances of their unfolding stories.

Anyway, back to the negative reviews for Christmas at the Cat Café, let me explore what they were. 

Complaint #1 – There were cats in it

I don’t know about you, but if I saw a book with seven cats pictured on the front cover, with a title that includes the words ‘cat café’, a blurb full of cat puns and frequent mentions of cats, I’d kind of expect to find cats in the book. And if I really didn’t like cats, it probably wouldn’t be a book I’d choose to read. 

I’ve been stunned by how many early reviewers have given negative reviews because of the cats. A scary number of these negative reviews include the words: I don’t like cats / I’m not a cat-lover / I’m not a cat-person. For example this 3-star one: I’ve loved all of Jessica’s books and whilst I didn’t hate this one it is probably my least favourite. Not sure why. Maybe it was the cat theme, I’m not a cat fan

It turns out there are a lot of people out there who don’t like cats. That’s fine. But if that’s you, then step away from the cat book about cats! It’s not for you!

Which takes me onto the second complaint…

Complaint #2 – There were too many cats in it

As well as the cat-haters, there were reviewers who could have maybe coped with a few cats but not the volume in my book, as demonstrated in this 2-star review: I’m afraid this one wasn’t for me. I like cats but this was over the top – 15 cats! I mean, seriously! 15!

And in this 3-star one: Finally a cat lady story with an ACTUAL cat lady. And I loved all our feline friends, though with 15 cats, I’ll admit even I was on a cat overdose…

Again, if a book is set in a cat café, what did readers expect? One cat asleep in a corner really isn’t going to make fifty customers very happy! A responsible cat café owner will ensure there is a safe space for their cats to go for some peace and quiet away from customers and won’t expect all the cats to be present each day the café is open. This is why Tabby needs 15 cats (it’s actually 16 but one of them is older and was never going to go into the café).

Clearly the early readers complaining about too many cats didn’t get the concept of cat cafés, which takes me onto complaint number three…

Complaint #3 – Cat cafés

Some readers don’t like the setting of a cat café like in this 1-star review: Sorry but did not like this [the book] at all… The concept of a cat café did not sit right either. 

If someone doesn’t like the idea of a cat café, I again cannot understand why they would choose to read a book set in one. Even if somebody mistakenly thinks that ‘cat café’ is just the name of the café and there are no cats in it, the cover and blurb should confirm that’s not the case *sighs*

Complaint #4 – Not enough Christmas

I love writing Christmas books but, as those who’ve read my other ones will know, they don’t always purely focus on Christmas. Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes is the only one of my six Christmas releases which is purely set in December and carries a focus on Christmas throughout the entire book but even that includes lots of other themes and ends with a Christmas wedding … before Christmas Day!

This particular story starts in October and follows Tabby’s journey of opening up the Castle Street Cat Café in the lead-up to Christmas. 

I personally don’t see the need for a Christmas book to be purely about Christmas but, if it’s marketed as a Christmas book (which this is), I would expect there to be plenty of references to Christmas and Christmassy activities. 

There are. 

Christmas is mentioned throughout – 185 times, in fact – and the whole book is about gearing up ready for Christmas. We have scenes putting up the Christmas decorations, planning Christmas-themed baked treats for the café, going Christmas shopping, and the annual Castle Street Christmas lights switch-on ceremony which is magical. Granted, Christmas Day is only a small part of the story near the end, but Christmas does feature throughout.

However, you can’t please all of the people as shown in this 3-star review: Lacked any significant Christmas magic … really the book could have been set at any time of year.

Ouch! 

I personally think there’s a great balance there – 185 mentions of Christmas (and a whole host more where the word ‘Christmas’ doesn’t specifically appear) gives a pretty great flavour of Christmas but, for readers who prefer not to dive into a Christmas book until November/December, there’s enough of this story set before Christmas to dip into it earlier. Best of both worlds!

Complaint #5 – Not enough romance

I’m a British author who writes women’s fiction set in the England. In the UK, women’s fiction falls under the umbrella category of ‘romance’. Illustrated covers like mine can cover a massive range of styles from light-hearted romcom to emotional women’s fiction. I write the latter.

Women’s fiction can be emotional, typically handles some challenging subjects, and is all about the journey that the (usually female) protagonist goes on. All of my books have the big focus on the journey, the setting, the community. There’s a romance in all of my books but it doesn’t necessarily take centre stage because the story is about the protagonist. 

In the USA, romance books are separate to women’s fiction. They are purely about the romance and are probably more aligned with what we’d call category romance in the UK e.g. Mills and Boon books which are strongly focused on the couple from the start. This is often where the problem starts as the early review site is used across both sides of the pond and quite often the reviews criticising the romance do come from US-based readers.

There is a romance in Christmas at the Cat Café. It is a love story. But it’s also a lot more than that because that’s what I write.

The romance in this book is slow-burn but it’s absolutely there and the development of the relationship between the couple progresses across the entire book. But several early reviewers disagreed and here’s some examples of the reviews:

3-star: This is meant to be a romance, and while there are slight romance vibes at the very end of the book, the rest is romance free

3-star: This is also being marketed as a romance when the real hints of the story going that way don’t start until well after the 50% mark. I would have set my expectations differently had I known

2-star: There was nothing to keep me interested. I was reading thinking “where is the romance? I thought this was romance.” I double checked and it is a romance. We don’t see a romance until basically the end. It feels like it is thrown at us

Will just point out that it WAS marketed as women’s fiction, not romance. Will also point out that the romance is there throughout and is slow-burn. I do sometimes wonder if readers are reading the same thing that I wrote because I know it’s there because I put it there!

Complaint #6 – Too much fibromyalgia

This is a story about a chronic pain condition and I’ve been very vocal in identifying this as fibromyalgia. There have been loads of positive reviews from readers with fibro or other chronic pain conditions thanking me for the accuracy of my representation of this and for making them feel visible in literature. There have also been loads of positive reviews from readers who were unfamiliar with this condition and feel they’ve learned a lot, and from those who know someone with the condition and feel they have a better understanding of what their friend/family member is going through as a result of reading Tabby’s story.

But there are plenty who didn’t enjoy this. Here’s just a small selection:

2-star: …feel like I was being taught about fibromyalgia at times

[Yes, you were!]

2-star: I had to drag myself through a lot of it. I found the constant reference to the main characters [sic] fibromyalgia quite draining after a while

3-star: I do think it’s very important that people understand the difficulties experienced by sufferers but felt it took over the story at times

[That was the point. It’s about what it’s like to live with chronic pain!]

3-star: …love Jessica’s books but unfortunately this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me, there was a bit too much about her illness for me and not enough about the cafe and what goes on in one

1-star: Sorry but did not like this at all. I felt the first part of the book was a medical lesson in fibromyalgia which I did not like at all. Really disappointing as I like Jessica Redland

Complaint #7 – I failed them by writing a story they didn’t want to read

That last quote was one of several which effectively told me off for writing a dud! It wasn’t the story they wanted. It wasn’t a repeat of anything I’d written before.

Again, just a small selection…

2-star: I’ve enjoyed a lot of this author’s books but I’m afraid this one wasn’t for me

2-star: I normally love Jessica’s books and was so excited to read this one but…

I do get it. There’s always going to be a book that doesn’t resonate, even with fans, but it still hurts.

Publication day usually brings a combination of excitement, nerves and exhaustion. I’ve done a lot of these now, so the nerves aren’t usually too bad but these negative early reviews made me actually dread publication day for Christmas at the Cat Café. I felt weary and reluctant to check the charts. I opened the blog tour postings with a pre-prepared wince just in case they started with the words, I usually love Jessica’s books, BUT… 

But they didn’t, and I couldn’t be more relieved. 

The frustrating thing is that I love this book. I believe in this book. I am extremely proud of this book. Yes, this book teaches readers about fibromyalgia, but no more than the Hedgehog Hollow series educates readers about the plight of hedgehogs, no more than Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop teaches about chocolate-making, and no more than All You Need is Love explores Parkinson’s and dementia. 

I would argue that ALL books teach something – sometimes major, sometimes minor – and I’m sorry if there are readers out there who would prefer that an invisible illness remains invisible because I don’t regret for a moment that I wrote a book about a character living with this condition.

I actually got really upset on my Facebook Live after publication day when we were talking about how I felt on receiving gorgeous messages from readers who have fibromyalgia about how much it meant to them to see a protagonist with it, presented realistically and sympathetically. This led me onto how much the early negative reviews had upset me – not because they were negative (I can certainly laugh off the comments about not liking cats, not liking this many cats, and even the accusations of no romance or very little Christmas because I know that’s not the case) – but because the comments about not wanting to learn about fibro gave me yet another heart-breaking insight into what it must be like to live with a chronic pain condition. The disinterest of others. The lack of understanding. As if there aren’t enough challenges to face. It all seems so unfair to those fibro warriors out there.

And breathe!

To end on a positive note, it’s nearly three weeks since Christmas at the Cat Café was released and there are 356 reviews/ratings on Amazon, 80% of which are 5-star and 14% of which are 4-star – a very different story to the early review site.

Thanks again to all the amazing bloggers/reviewers on the blog tour and to all those who’ve left lovely reviews or ratings on Amazon, Audible and elsewhere. I’m delighted you’ve loved Tabby’s story. And thank you to all those who’ve sent me messages of gratitude. You’re why I keep writing!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the cat facts and the blog tour quotes I’ve interspersed around my little rant! And I have some good news too. If you haven’t already read Christmas at the Cat Café but you’re a Prime Reading subscriber, it has just gone into the Prime Reading programme today. Woo hoo!

Wishing you a purr-fect end to the week.

Big hugs from the cats and me
Jessica xx