New Beginnings: A Garden Uncovered, A Cover Revealed.

Snowdrops at Llanerchaeron

No winter lasts forever… and nor, thank goodness, does every lurgy. After ten weeks of wondering if I’ll stop coughing, the infection loses its grip and I’m well enough to tackle my first Park Run with Helen in the beautiful grounds at Llanerchaeron. Park Run, of course, is not a race but it doesn’t stop Helen and I blatting along each week in pursuit of new PBs.

Tom and I have both been busy at work. One week there’s a strange juxtaposition when I proofread my novella and then check Tom’s draft thesis! I begin ‘Cyborg Music:A Future Musicotechnographic Aesthetic’ with some trepidation about how I’ll cope with the deep philosophical concepts but by the end I’m fully on board and bursting with pride. Tom makes his final amendments and takes three copies to the post office where he pays a whopping £15 to send it on its way. Now ‘all’ he has to do is sit back and wait for the date of his Viva Voce…

Lily’s second baby is due… ooh… tomorrow, so excitement’s running high here and we both jump every time the phone rings. Trying to channel our nervous energy into something positive, we’ve started to tackle our neglected, overgrown garden. It’s hard work, but we’re already making some unexpected discoveries like the extent of this garden path.

Some news I can share is that my publisher, Choc Lit is releasing my novella, Moonbeams in a Jar in May. It’s available for pre-order from today and book blogger Karen Mace has kindly revealed my gorgeous cover which I can now show you. I’ll be talking more about the story in coming weeks (you knew I’d say that!) but here’s a flavour of it for now.

When Chloe Potter wishes on a star that she’ll find a man who’ll accept her and her noisy dachshund Wilma, she doesn’t think that she’ll bump into one quite so soon …

But almost immediately she meets Ryan Green and his boisterous basset hound, Fred. Ryan is larger than life, ruggedly handsome and, most importantly, a dog lover – surely a match made in heaven?

But Chloe soon finds that trying to tie a man like Ryan down is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. Ryan’s job as a photographer means that when he’s not in the middle of a war zone, he’s trying to catch just the right light at the top of Mount Snowdon.

Chloe wants stability and when it becomes clear that Ryan will always put his job first, she knows she has to move on. But then a once-in-a-lifetime trip unexpectedly brings them together once again …

Isn't this pretty?