Today – 4th March 2024 – the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) is celebrating two hundred years. I prepared a blog post for my publisher, Boldwood Books, briefly outlining how the RNLI was formed and giving some key links to their website. You can read the my blog post here but do check out some of the links in it to the RNLI’s website where there are some fascinating posts, videos and podcasts.
The Starfish Café series shines a light on the amazing work undertaken by the RNLI and it has been a privilege to spend time at Scarborough Lifeboat Station to research the operations of the lifeboat station and the work of the crew.
I’ve interviewed several volunteers, observed a training session and posed with my books…
I’ve met their mascot Stormy Stan (who features in the series)…
I’ve made a financial donation and dropped off signed copies of the series to raise funds in a raffle…
And I’ve purchased lots of merchandise from the RNLI shop…
And a few other nautical items which fit so perfectly with the series. Any excuse!…
It was a beautiful day in Scarborough (aka Whitsborough Bay) today and hubby took a few pics for me while on his walk with our dog, Ella. The harbour and lifeboat station were looking mighty fine in the sun…
I love The Starfish Café series. It’s probably my favourite series I’ve completed so far. Thankfully readers have loved it too and the combined series so far has sold over 168,500 copies with book 1 – Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café – selling nearly 93,000 copies alone.
That particular book has been in The Works and was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year in 2022 (Christmas/Festive Holiday category) which was such an honour. And it was translated into Serbian last year (although I think that version might be out this winter as I haven’t received my paperback of the translated version yet).
Onto my news about the series, if you haven’t already read the three books in The Starfish Café series, you might be interested to know that they’ll be released as a box set later this month. This is an eBook box set only and comes with some additional bonus content.
And, finally, I’m offering a signed copy of book 3 in the series – Summer Nights at The Starfish Café – and a fabulous bundle of goodies, many of which I bought from the RNLI’s shop, helping support their incredible work. You need to be signed up to my newsletter to have a chance to win. You can do so here. A newsletter will be issued in the next few days with a form to enter the competition so existing subscribers can also take part. The T&Cs for the competition can be found here.
I’ll finish with a thank you to all the amazing crew at the RNLI, the lifeguards, and the volunteers who help run the shops, fundraise, and raise awareness. What they all do is amazing but the lifeboat crew in particular are heroes in my eyes. These are volunteers who put their own lives at risk to help those in difficulties. That’s just phenomenal and must take incredible courage but, as Sir William Hillary said, “With courage, nothing is impossible”. And the lifeboat crew couldn’t do what they do without the amazing support of a team back at base planning and supporting each launch.
Congratulations on 200 years, RNLI, and here’s to the next 100.
Today is the day when the third and final part of The Starfish Café series – Summer Nights at The Starfish Café– goes out into the world. It’s available on all formats – eBook on all platforms, paperback, hardback, large print, physical audio, audio download and audio streaming.
Book 2 – Spring Tides at The Starfish Café – celebrated its first book birthday yesterday so it’s almost exactly a year since readers visited this gorgeous café on a clifftop outside Whitsborough Bay above a seal haven, spending time with Hollie, Jake, Pickle the dog and the lovely café regulars. I certainly enjoyed writing about them again and hope readers love being back with them.
Running alongside Hollie and Jake’s story is that of Kerry, a single mum of four primary school aged children, who works in the café. She did appear in book 2 but her part was deliberately brief, ready for her big storyline in book 3. Kerry’s is a story of a difficult summer when a letter arrives from someone she never expected to see again, throwing her plans for the summer into disarray. Hollie and Jake’s story is an emotional one so do have those tissues ready as their summer is going to be bumpy.
It’s always interesting seeing comments from early reviewers who haven’t read the first two books and, while some will say that they managed to follow the story, several comment that they didn’t feel they knew the characters that well or that they feel they’d have enjoyed it more if they’d read the previous books. We know! This is why we did specifically put guidance with the blurb for early reviewers not to read the book if they hadn’t read the others but I guess not everyone reads this important information which is put there to help them with their reading decisions.
Anyway, I personally do not recommend this book be read as a standalone. Why would anyone want to dive in at book three of three? It’s a much richer reading experience to have been there at the start with book 1- Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café – when Hollie and Jake (and Pickle) first meet and to go with them on their journey than to join them at the conclusion. If you haven’t already read this first book and are put off thinking that it’s April and you don’t fancy reading a Christmas book, please don’t be. Although Christmas features in the story, it is not a Christmas book which is why the word ‘Christmas’ deliberately doesn’t appear in the title. It’s a book set in winter i.e. a seasonal book and can be enjoyed at any time of the year.
Spring Tides is on a 99p eBook offer so do take advantage of that. You can get all three for less than £7 which is sooooo cheap for hours and hours and hours of entertainment.
Summer Nights at The Starfish Café is embarking on a blog tour as usual and I’m excited about reading all the reviews across a whopping 16 days with 48 stops. An enormous thank you to Rachel Gilbey from Rachel’s Random Resources for setting it up and to all the amazing bloggers/reviewers who give their time so generously in sharing their thoughts.
If you go over onto Book and Tonic’s Facebook page, there’s lots of special content today. You can enter a competition for a signed paperback copy here. You can also listen to an exclusive audio extract here, see a very short video of me introducing the book here and see my short bloopers reel here.
I also have some amazing news. My fantastic publisher, Boldwood Books, have made the RNLI their charity of the year and will be pledging a donation to help them with their amazing work in saving lives at sea. We can only use specific wording for this which you’ll find in the blurb on Amazon (and at the end of this post) but if I was to say that anyone who has bought or does buy this book in the next calendar year will help influence the size of that donation, you can probably read between the lines as to how this works! So thank you xxx
I’m not in Whitsborough Bay for publication day. I’m actually spending it in the Lake District where my next book – book 20 – is set. We exclusively revealed the name of the first book and the series name to my newsletter subscribers this morning and I’m excited to share that information here today. The first book is called The Start of Something Wonderful and the series is called ‘Escape to the Lakes’.
Format-wise, it’s going to be a little different to my Hedgehog Hollow series and The Starfish Café series, both of which had one consistent protagonist telling her story across all the books, alongside a guest narrator. The Escape to the Lakes series will have a different protagonist each time. There were be lots of connections, for example the best friend of the main character in book 1 will step forward in book 2 to tell her story, but not having a consistent protagonist means it will be easier for readers to dip in as the series develops rather and they will not lose out on any of the story like they would if they dipped in later in the Hedgehog Hollow and The Starfish Café series.
There’s no blurb or cover yet but it’s up for pre-order on Kindle here. It’ll go up on the other platforms nearer the release date of 17th July.
I’m not going to say exactly where I’ve spent today just yet as it’s very relevant to The Start of Something Wonderful so I’ll bring you that detail in later blog posts.
For now, a thank you to everyone for the well wishes and for pre-ordering/buying/downloading/borrowing Summer Nights at The Starfish Café and for helping to make publication day another really special one. Thank you also to the amazing bloggers on the tour.
Big starfish-shaped hugs Jessica xx
Welcome back to The Starfish Café for a glorious summer, but with a few dark clouds on the horizon…
A new beginning…
As her summer wedding to Jake approaches, Hollie is excited for their new beginning as a family. But when some unexpected news threatens the future she and Jake had hoped for, Hollie will need to find the strength to overcome heartache once more.
A fragile heart….
Single mum, Kerry, loves her job at The Starfish Café, but behind the brave smiles and laughter with customers there is a sadness deep within. So when someone from her past re-appears in her life, Kerry can either hide away or face her demons and try to finally move on from her heartbreak.
A summer to remember…
For Hollie and Kerry it promises to be an emotional rollercoaster of a summer, but the community at The Starfish Café will always be there to help them through – after all, with courage nothing is impossible…
Join top 10 bestseller Jessica Redland for a wonderful summer at the seaside, full of love, friendship and community spirit.
Boldwood Books are proud to support the RNLI. Boldwood Books have pledged a donation to the RNLI in 2023 as part of our support for the work they do saving lives at sea.
I am so excited to have joined forces with my publisher, Boldwood Books and my favourite artist, Lucy Pittaway, to bring you a fabulous Christmas giveaway.
One lucky winner will receive a framed 18″ print of their choice from Lucy’s Open Collection and signed paperbacks of the four books released in my Hedgehog Hollow series so far, including the newest one – A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow – out on 6th January.
You can view Lucy Pittaway’s open collection here. Whether it’s sheep, cows, hedgehogs, houses, cyclists or something else that draws your eye, you’ll be spoilt for choice!
You can read the blurbs of my first four Hedgehog Hollow books here although if you’re not familiar with the series, there will be spoilers if you read them all so maybe just read what the first book – Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow – is about!
I’m really excited about joining forces with Lucy Pittaway for this giveaway as, not only is she an amazingly talented artist, she’s a lovely person too who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times recently. We already knew there were some spooky connections between us but were astonished to discover how parallel our lives have been. You can read all about this in a blog post on Lucy’s website here.
The full details of the giveaway can be found on Lucy Pittaway’s Facebook page here but I’ve posted the stills from the video here to give you an overview of the offer.
For the full T&Cs and to enter, you’ll need to check out Lucy Pittaway’s website here. The closing date is midday on Christmas Eve and the winner will be announced later that day. What a special Christmas gift! Obviously you won’t get your prize in time for Christmas. My fourth Hedgehog Hollow book isn’t released until 6th January so I’ll be bundling up my share of the prize after then.
Please note that delivery will only be to a UK mainland address so if you’re based overseas, you absolutely can enter providing you have a friend/family member in the UK to whom the prize could be sent for safekeeping.
Hope you enjoy the article about our parallel lives. Good luck!
A week today, it’s publication day for All You Need Is Love. Eek! So exciting!
All You Need IsLove is love was originally released as Bear With Me and is the penultimate book from my back catalogue to get a fresh edit and re-release via my amazing publisher, Boldwood Books.
Charlee and the Chocolate Shop is the only novel of mine that is still indie released but will be freshened up and reissued in late July.
To celebrate the release of the revised version of All You Need Is Love, we’re running a competition to give away a little bear-themed bundle consisting of an A5 hardback spiral-bound notebook, a small jotter pad and a coaster all with bear designs from Alex Clark Art’s collection and a trio of bear-themed body washes from Cath Kidston.
If you’d like to have a chance of winning this bear-themed bundle, all you need to do is pre-order All You Need Is Love on eBook (it’s available for Kindle, AppleBooks and Kobo), paperback or audiobook before midnight GMT on publication day (Thursday 11th March 2021) and email proof of purchase to Boldwood.
The exact details of what’s needed are in the competition T&Cs here.
You can pre-order your eBook of All You Need Is Love: For Kindle here For Kobo here For AppleBooks here
If you’ve already read Bear With Me you can find an earlier blog post explaining what has changed on the revised version right here.
Good luck!
Big hugs Jessica xx
When you’ve loved and lost, how do you find the strength to let love in again?
Jemma thinks she’s found the love of her life. Scott is everything she ever dreamed of and she can’t wait to begin the next stage of their life together. But just as she is heading for her happy ever after, a shock revelation shatters Jemma’s life as she knows it. Left to pick up the pieces, Jemma’s friends and family rally round to help her find the courage to move on.
Sam thinks he has his future all worked out. A thriving career, lovely home and an amazing fiancée. But when tragedy strikes, he finds himself alone, far from everyone he cares about. Did he do the right thing by running away and trying to rebuild the tatters of his life alone?
This is the story of Jemma and Sam. Two lost souls, desperately trying to find closure and happiness. When a chance meeting brings them together a friendship is formed, but the guards are up.
Will it finally be their turn for a happy ever after? Or will the secrets from their pasts prevent them from moving on?
Escape to Whitsborough Bay for an emotional, uplifting story of love and friendship from top 10 bestseller Jessica Redland.
This book was previously published as Bear With Me.
Boldwood Books ran a fab competition a few months back to win an opportunity to name a hedgehog in the second book in my Hedgehog Hollow series – New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow. Entry was through subscribing to my newsletter and then a draw from all subscribers (including those who’d signed up pre-competition).
The winner was contacted by Boldwood and I was hoping they’d come up with a fun/clever name. I was not disappointed and could not have been more thrilled with the suggestion:
SNOOP HOGGY HOG
Oh wow! Absolute genius.
Today we announced the winner along with this fabulous illustration my super-talented husband, Mark, created. Check out Snoopy Hoggy Hog wearing his Boldwood bling! Absolutely love it.
Thank you so much Sarah for the inspired name and to Mark for the gorgeous illustration. Sarah is named in the acknowledgements at the back of the book. She’ll receive a signed copy of the paperback of New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow, a bookmark, and will see ‘Snoop Hoggy Hog’ appear in the book itself. We’re also going to print off a colour image of the Snoop Hoggy Hog illustration and will sign that too as a special bonus!
Do you have an idea that could top Snoop Hoggy Hog?
Or simply a great name for a hedgehog that you’d love to see appear in Book 3 in the series?
Then act fast by signing up to my newsletter as THE CLOSING DATE IS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!!
The winner will be drawn from all newsletter subscribers and contacted by Boldwood Books requesting a name. We won’t be able to include anything too rude, offensive or that has already been used in one of my books but I’m sure you can come up with something fabulous and I look forward to hearing the winning suggestion(s).
To see full T&Cs of this competition and all the others Boldwood are currently running, please click here.
Book 1 in the series, Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow, is available worldwide as an eBook for Kindle, Kobo and Apple, as an audiobook, via streaming services, as a paperback or large print edition and via the uLibrary App in UK libraries. It’s currently being stocked in branches of The Works and online. You can find it for Kindle here.
And you can pre-order New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow on Kindle here. It will be available in all formats listed above from publication day although I don’t yet know whether The Works will stock it.
A couple of months ago, we ran a competition to win a chance to name a hedgehog in Book 2 of my Hedgehog Hollow series – New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow.
The winner came up with such a fabulous name that we decided to run the same competition again, this time to win a chance to name a hedgehog in Book 3.
The prize:
A chance to name a hedgehog
Your name in the acknowledgements thanking you for the hedgehog name
A signed copy of the paperback of Book 3 when it is released
If you’ve already subscribed, you will automatically go into the draw again.
The prize won’t be distributed until Book 3 is released in May 2021 but Boldwood Books will contact the winner when the draw is made, requesting the name. If it’s a name that I’ve already used in either of the first two books, we will need to ask you to suggest an alternative.
The winner of the Book 2 competition generously gave us a few suggestions and asked us to pick our favourite. There was an absolute stand-out winner from that which we can’t wait to share with you. We’ll be announcing the winning entry for that previous competition ahead of the publication day of New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow.
To find out more:
For the full T&Cs, please click here. You’ll also find details of other Boldwood Books competitions via that link.
Jessica Redland Author 