Tag: pre-order

The one where Spring Tides at The Starfish Café has a cover reveal

Jessica Redland Author2 Comments

On Christmas Eve Eve, subscribers to my newsletter were treated to an exclusive cover reveal of the second book in The Starfish Café series with a full cover reveal on Christmas Eve. (You can subscribe to my newsletter here). I’d like to say I wanted to delay my reveal on my website until after the big day as followers probably had loads on then, but the truth is I completely forgot. Oops!

So here’s the reveal of Spring Tides at The Starfish Café and the accompanying blurb (a little further down).

It’s out on 5th April and is available for pre-order on Kindle now through these links:

It will be available for pre-order for other eReaders including Apple Books but Kindle is the only provider that permits pre-orders so far in advance of the publication day. The Audible version should also go up for pre-order nearer the time and it will be available as a hardback, paperback and large print versions from publication day.

I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken Hollie and Jake’s emotional story into their hearts. Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café spent much of November in the Kindle Top 100 and all of December right until Christmas Eve when it dipped out. It has also performed really well on Apple Books although there’s no way for an author to track performance like there is on Kindle.

I’ve been thrilled at all the gorgeous reviews and ratings coming in and, at the time of writing this, it’s nearly at 1,900 so will soon be celebrating a whopping milestone of 2k on Kindle.

Spring Tides at The Starfish Café picks up Hollie and Jake’s story a few months on from where Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café ends and readers will meet a new character.

Here’s the blurb:

Welcome back to the Starfish Café – where you will find stunning views, delicious food and lifelong friendships.

A new season…

As winter turns to spring, Hollie – owner of The Starfish Café – is feeling content as she settles into her new life with her loving boyfriend, Jake, and their adorable dog Pickle.

But when an unwelcome visitor threatens the future of her café, Hollie must stay strong to protect her family’s legacy…

A leap of faith…

Emerging from an unhappy relationship, Tori finds herself with nowhere to stay and nobody to talk to. The long-hidden secrets of her past weigh heavily on her until a chance encounter with Finley, struggling to come to terms with his own secrets, provides an opportunity to open up.

Can she find the strength to stop hiding from her past and face up to her family? Especially when that would mean letting her guard down and learning to trust again…

A fresh start…?

Little do Hollie and Tori know that their lives are about to collide at The Starfish Café and they may be able to help each other with a fresh start. After all, with good friends in your life, nothing is impossible…

The plan is for The Starfish Café series to be a trilogy with the final part released in 2023. Each of the first two books tells a complete story with no cliffhangers so anyone reading/listening to Spring Tides at The Starfish Café at the point of publication won’t be left hanging on a cliff edge until the following year.

Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered Spring Tides at The Starfish Café. I really appreciate that support.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

Cover reveal for Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café

Jessica Redland Author5 Comments

I’m thrilled to officially share the gorgeous cover for my forthcoming new release, Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café. Isn’t it stunning?

Here’s all the essential details:

  • PRE-ORDER: Available for eBook pre-order RIGHT NOW! (links just above my signature)
  • RELEASE DATE: Out on 31st August 2021
  • OTHER FORMATS: Available on all other formats from 31st August – paperback, signed paperback (available direct from me), hardback, large print, physical audio, audio download and via streaming services
  • AUDIO NARRATION: Lucy Brownhill and Gareth Bennett-Ryan (the team who narrate All You Need Is Love)
  • SETTING: Just outside Whitsborough Bay on a cliff top above Starfish Point, a colony to over 200 common and grey seals
  • WHAT TO EXPECT: An emotional story (grab those tissues) full of hope

This is my 13th book and sees the start of a brand new 12-book publishing contract with the wonderful Boldwood Books. Over the past couple of years, Boldwood have published four brand new titles from me and eight books from my backlist which have been freshly edited and have new scenes, chapters, titles and covers.

The very last of these is Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop (previously Charlee and the Chocolate Shop) out on 3rd August and also available for pre-order right now.

The new contract will be made up entirely of BRAND NEW titles which is really exciting. The Hedgehog Hollow series will continue with book four – A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow – out in January 2022 and another one or two Hedgehog Hollow books after that before the series concludes.

There’s plenty more to come from Whitsborough Bay too and from The Starfish Café itself. We have a sequel to Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café currently scheduled for April 2022 and possibly a third book in that series.

Here’s the blurb:

Welcome to The Starfish Café – where you will find stunning views, delicious food and lifelong friendships.

Two broken hearts.

Since she inherited The Starfish Café, Hollie has poured her heart into the business, striving to keep her mother’s traditions and warm-hearted spirit alive. But behind closed doors Hollie is searching for true happiness as she grieves the tragic loss of her family who were once the beating heart of the café…

An unexpected meeting.

Jake lives by two rules: don’t let anyone get close and don’t talk about what happened. Little does he know that a chance meeting at The Starfish Café, facilitated by a fluffy lost dog, is about to turn his world upside down…

The chance to love again.

Can Hollie and Jake break down the barriers that have been holding them back from finding love and happiness, before Christmas comes around? After all, with courage, nothing is impossible…

‘Heartbreakingly moving and yet beautifully uplifting, I cried for all the right reasons!’ Jo Bartlett


‘Achingly poignant, yet full of hope – You will fall in love with this beautiful Christmas story’ Sandy Barker


Pre-order links:

UK: https://amzn.to/3zuzjJ3

USA: https://amzn.to/3iwW1cy


A huge thank you to my amazing editor, Nia, for all the tremendous support and editing guidance on this and my other twelve books. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect partnership.

Big hugs
Jessica xx

Reflections on May

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

We’ve reached the end of the month. Where did May go? So here’s my monthly round-up…

With so much time in my editing cave, May has been another month where I’ve read very little I’m afraid. I finished reading the final book in Sharon Booth’s fabulous Kearton Bay series, The Whole of the Moon, and loved it. The book was released on Friday and you can get it here although I’d encourage you to start at the beginning and enjoy the whole series. Sharon writes gorgeous stories of love, friendship, family and community with lots of warmth and humour.

I’m reading a book called Escape to Honeysuckle Hall by Rebecca Raisin at the moment which I was send in advance for a quote. I’m nearly a third of the way through and really enjoying it so far. I read several of Rebecca’s books quite a few years ago while on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed them so it’s lovely to be back reading one of hers.

Line of Duty finished. Let’s not talk about that underwhelming ending eh? And I Can See Your Voice also finished and I really hope it returns for a second season.

I watched the Friends Reunion which I loved. It was funny and emotional and I wish it had been longer as I could happily have watched several hours of it. Friends remains one of my all-time favourite programmes and I loved seeing the genuine friendship and affection the six main cast members had for each other.

I’ve started watching Virgin River on Netflix. I’m only three episodes in but it’s nice gentle viewing so all good so far.

We’ve only managed to squeeze in one film this month: Tenet. Lots of action, lots of explosions, visually impressive… and I have no idea what it was all about. Far too clever for me I’m afraid. The general consensus is you need to watch it a twice and things start to make sense but, with a running time of two and a half hours, I think I’ll pass on that.

I completed my final proofread on the edited version of Charlee and the Chocolate Shop which will be out on 3rd August as Christmas Wishes at the Chocolate Shop. That’s now with production and you can pre-order it here.

I’ve also finished the second round of edits on book 13 – Snowflakes Over The Starfish Café – which is out on 31st August and can be pre-ordered here. It was the toughest of edits but I’m really happy with the way it has turned out and hope readers love it too.

Today, I dived back into the world of Hedgehog Hollow and started on the fourth book in the series – A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow – which is out on 6th January and can be pre-ordered here. I haven’t written many words yet as I needed to do some preparation around the backstory for one of the main characters, but I will hopefully get about halfway through by the end of June. I wrote the first three Hedgehog Hollow books back to back so, after working on two Whitsborough Bay ones since, I need to reset my head away from the coast and into the countryside!

I started off the month with my birthday and, on 4th May, celebrated the release of Family Secrets at Hedgehog Hollow. I was a little nervous about it as I’d had a few negative comments on NetGalley but it seems to have gone down a storm with bloggers and readers. I shared my fears on a blog post here.

With a high Kindle chart position of #38 at the time of release thanks to a phenomenal number of pre-orders, it made the Bookstat eBook Top 10 in The Bookseller for sales that week (see blog post here). Four weeks on, it’s still in the Top 200.

The rate at which reviews have been coming in has astonished me. After a fortnight, I was thrilled by 300. By two weeks, there were over 800. After three weeks it had passed 1,000 and a day ahead of the four-week anniversary, there are nearly 1300 reviews/ratings on Amazon, 83% of which are 5-star. Wow! I still can’t quite believe that quantity or quality. Thank you so much everyone who has left a review or rating on whatever platform.

Book 2 – New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow ­– celebrated passing 2,000 reviews/ratings on Amazon and Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Café passed the 1,500 milestone.

Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow has been on an amazing promotion over on Apple. In the UK and Ireland, it has been the free book of the week and it was selected as the (free) Romance of the week in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. This has had some amazing results for this book, the other two in the series, and also The Secret to Happiness. I’ll write a separate post about this in the next few days.

I celebrated six years as a published author. I’m certainly in a very different place now to how I was back then. You can read all about it here.

As it was my birthday at the start of the month, we went out for a walk along Scarborough’s South Cliff. It might not sound the most exciting when we live in Scarborough but it’s beautiful and, on a bank holiday weekend, the roads get so snarled up around here, we never venture far from home.

I had my hair cut for the first time in nearly 18 months and had a quick whizz around town afterwards, and I also had my second covid jab. These events should not really feature as the most exciting things I’ve done this month but I think it speaks volumes for the world in which we live in that they do just now.

Other than that, I really haven’t been anywhere. That’s partly to do with being heads down for deadlines but also a bit of nervousness about being out and about again. Or is it nerves? I don’t know. I don’t feel anxious when I’m out so perhaps it’s more about routine. I’m so used to not being out and about that home feels more comfortable. And safer. And less peopley. Really must try to leave the house more than three or four times in June!

Hope your May was kind to you. Welcome June…

Big hugs
Jessica xx

The one where I talk about how ‘Bear With Me’ has changed under its re-release title ‘All You Need is Love’

Jessica Redland Author4 Comments

I’m delighted to announce that Bear With Me is now available for pre-order under the brand new title of All You Need Is Love. Woo hoo! It will be out on 11th March 2021.

This is the penultimate book from my back catalogue to have ‘the Boldwood treatment’. As part of my first publishing deal, Boldwood acquired my entire back catalogue. A whopping six books were re-edited and re-released during 2020:

The Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series (available as a box set or individually):

  • Making Wishes at Bay View (previously released as novella Raving About Rhys and short novel Callie’s Christmas Wish)
  • New Beginnings at Seaside Blooms (previously released as Searching for Steven)
  • Finding Hope at Lighthouse Cove (previously released as Getting Over Gary)
  • Coming Home to Seashell Cottage (previously released as Dreaming About Daran)

Christmas on Castle Street:

  • Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes (previously released with the same title but the POV got changed from 3rd to 1st person and several new chapters were added)
  • Starry Skies Over The Chocolate Pot Café (previously released as Christmas at The Chocolate Pot Café, several new chapters being added on re-release)

Re-releasing a book with a fresh edit, fresh cover and (usually) fresh title is commonplace when an author changes publisher and agrees for the publisher to acquire their back catalogue, as in my case.

Prior to being published by Boldwood, my books were relatively unknown as I’d struggled to make an impact on the charts as an indie author. I therefore knew that there wouldn’t be many readers who had already discovered my books and could mistakenly duplicate their purchase on re-release; something I appreciate can be frustrating. 

We make it very clear in the blurbs that the books are re-releases (and specifically name the previous title) and I shout about it all over social media but there’ll always be readers who miss this. Unfortunately, I have a few negative reviews on Amazon criticising this which is disappointing when the blurb has made it clear but I try to look on the bright side: the reader loves my work so much that they instantly purchased it without reading the blurb. Okay, so that doesn’t quite take the sting out of a 1-star review but I’m trying!

Now that Boldwood have worked wonders with my books this year, taking them to a much greater readership, there is more of a risk that Kindle readers will duplicate purchases of the final two re-issued books (a revised version of Charlee and the Chocolate Shop will be out in August 2021) so I’m steeling myself ready for the negative comments and hoping they’re not too nasty/personal. Again, the blurb does make it clear and I will continue to shout about it on social media.

For readers on Apple Books or Kobo duplicate purchases are not a risk as Bear With Me was never available on those platforms.

 All You Need Is Love will be available as a paperback, large print, physical audio, audio download and via streaming services. It will also be available in hardback format which is an exciting new format added to the Boldwood portfolio. This will be the first of my books available in this format but, in time, all the others will be. Bear With Me was only ever available as an eBook.

So what has changed on the re-issue of Bear With Me as All You Need Is Love? 

The changes – as with the Welcome to Whitsborough Bay series – are minimal. Anyone who has already read Bear With Me does not need to read All You Need Is Love unless it’s a book they absolutely love and would choose to read twice anyway. There are no new characters or scenarios introduced that have an impact on any of my other books.

My edits are mainly around tightening up a few sentences, adding a little more ‘colour’ into some of the emotional scenes and removing a little bit of extraneous detail.

Two characters have name changes although their personalities and roles in the stories don’t change:

  • Jemma’s younger brother, Sean, is now called Logan. There are two main male characters called Sam and Scott. Throw in a Sean and we have three one-syllable male names beginning with ‘S’. Potentially confusing. I couldn’t change Sam or Scott due to specific plot points connected to their names but I could change Sean’s name. So I did!
  • One of Sam’s nieces, Connie, is now called Isla. She’s a minor character but is mentioned several times. Connie is also the name of a main character in my Hedgehog Hollow series and, despite me keeping a spreadsheet of character names to avoid duplication, I didn’t actually look at it! Lesson learned. It therefore made sense to change Connie’s name here

This book is written in dual perspective – Jemma and Sam – and each chapter is clearly signposted with the name of the person telling that part of the story. Towards the end of the book, quite a lot happens for both of them on the same day. I covered this in a few chapters but it had potential to be a little bit confusing with the timeline so I have broken it down into several shorter chapters to help the reader keep a better track.

There are several other tweaks along these lines but the characters and the story don’t fundamentally change. I have slight adjustments here and there but to say what they are would give away some huge spoilers.

There will be an official cover reveal in January but, as it is now available for pre-order on Amazon, Apple and Kobo, you’ll be able to see it so here’s a sneak preview. You can pre-order on Amazon here and the blurb is below.

Isn’t it beautiful? I’m so pleased with it and I hope that readers will love reading Jemma and Sam’s story for the first time or rediscovering the refreshed version.

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 think 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.

The one where I have 9 bestseller flags on Amazon – Eeeeekkkk!!!!

Jessica Redland Author2 Comments

Good morning and welcome to a beautiful Friday. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and it’s nearly the weekend. Yay!

I have just had the most delicious start to the day. I’m sure I’m not the only author who logs into Amazon and AppleBooks first thing to have a quick check chart positions and I was astonished and thrilled to see the most #1 Best Seller flags I’ve ever had on Amazon. Ooh, I love that little orange flag. When books are uploaded for sale, they are allocated to 2-3 categories based on the content of the book and the flag appears when the book makes it to #1 in that particular category.

Don’t they look pretty? (The 9th one is further down the page)

Out of all my books, only Christmas at Carly’s Cupcakes and Charlee and the Chocolate Shop haven’t got best seller flags first thing but the only reason for that is that they’re in the same categories as Christmas at the Chocolate Pot Cafe which does so they can’t all have one! They are, however, numbers 2 and 3 in that chart and therefore would be #1 if one of my books wasn’t already in that slot. So can I pretend that’s 11 flags? Hmm. Maybe pushing it a bit far with that.

Screenshot 2020-06-26 at 09.43.42

Screenshot 2020-06-26 at 09.46.37I’m particularly thrilled to see Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow displaying an orange flag as it’s only on pre-order, out next week on 2nd July. And I’m even more thrilled to see Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Cafe with a flag. This is a re-edited and much longer version of Christmas at the Chocolate Pot Cafe and is also available for pre-order now, out on 8th September. The original version will disappear from sale on 1st July.

Thank you so very, very much to anyone who has bought or borrowed any of my books, left a review, recommended them to friends/family and to anyone in the blogging community who has loved them and spread the word. This could not happen without you all and I’m so incredibly grateful.

Big hugs

Jessica xx

 

 

The one where I reveal my beautiful new cover

Jessica Redland AuthorLeave a comment

I am so excited to be able to reveal the gorgeous cover for The Secret to Happiness. Isn’t it pretty? A massive thanks and big hug to the team at Boldwood Books for everything about it from the title to the tagline to the artwork.

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The fictional North Yorkshire coastal setting of Whitsborough Bay is modelled predominantly on my hometown of Scarborough (with nods to a couple of the other coastal resorts). It’s therefore wonderful to see the actual beach huts from Scarborough’s North Bay on the cover.

Jessica and Beach Huts 2015
Me outside the beach huts which are just around the corner from the ones on my front cover, holding my very first paperback. You can see the grass around them

The beach huts in Scarborough’s North Bay, painted bright red, yellow, orange, lime-green and sky-blue, really stand out and they feature in all of my Whitsborough Bay books. The ones on the cover are at the top of a hill and have grass in front of them but grass doesn’t shout ‘seaside’ does it? The designer therefore took the sand right up to the huts and the cover looks much better for it.

3. Beach Huts
This is the front row of beach huts on Scarborough’s North Bay

In the background you can just see Scarborough Castle, which is Whitsborough Bay Castle in my books.

North Bay view of Castle

Whenever I say to someone that I live in Scarborough, they often smile and say “I used to love going there as a kid”. It has such fond memories for so many people and I’m very proud to have called it my home for the past 15 years. Such an inspiring setting for my stories.

If you’d like to grab yourself an eBook pre-order on Kindle, it’s only £1. What a bargain! Here’s the link.

And here’s the blurb to whet your appetite…

Everyone deserves a chance at happiness…

Danniella is running from her past, so when she arrives at the beautiful seaside resort of Whitsborough Bay, the last thing on her mind is making friends. After all, they might find out her secrets…

Alison is fun, caring and doesn’t take herself too seriously. But beneath the front, she is a lost soul, stuck in a terrible relationship, with body confidence issues and no family to support her. All she really needs is a friend.

Karen’s romance has taken a back seat to her fitness business. But she doesn’t want to give up on love quite yet. If only those mysterious texts would stop coming through …

When the women meet at their local bootcamp, a deep friendship blossoms. And soon they realise that the secret to happiness is where they least expected to find it…

An uplifting story of friendship and finding the strength to come to terms with the past. Perfect for fans of Tilly Tennant and Cathy Bramley.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Jessica xx