Grebs and Co Blog Tour: Guest Post from D.T Moorhouse

Hello! I’m delighted to have a guest post from debut author D.T Moorhouse today, about his book Grebs & Co!

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We all know what happens when you post a letter, right? You put it through the slot, it disappears, and, somehow, it eventually turns up at the right house, in the right town, addressed to the right person.

But have you ever stopped to wonder how that happens? Where does the letter actually go after it vanishes through that little slot? Who decides where it belongs? And how does it manage to travel hundreds of miles without getting lost?

Of course, there are perfectly sensible explanations for all of this. But… what if there weren’t? What if there was a whole team of tiny creatures working behind the scenes? What if every postbox had its own secret world inside it? What if letters had to be sorted not only by where they were going, but by what they contained? What if there were teams of gremlins whose entire job is to make sure an important letter reaches the person who needed it most?

In Little Wobbleton, that’s exactly how things work. Hidden inside the old red postbox on Muddlesworth Lane is a secret society of gremlins who have been quietly managing the village’s letters without (most) humans ever knowing.

At the heart of it all is Grebson, the no nonsense Chief Letter Commander. He takes the business of post very seriously. There’s also Flick, who is considerably faster than any postal worker has a right to be; Stampy, who believes that even the most ordinary letter deserves a little artistic flair; Grinkle, who has perfected the art of complaining; and Squeak, who is rather less organised than the others but makes up for it by being extraordinarily kind. Together, they sort, stamp and send letters on their way.

But there’s a problem. The humans of Little Wobbleton have decided that the old postboxes are outdated. They’re planning to replace them with shiny new Smart Mail Drop Off Units. Unfortunately, nobody has thought to ask what lives inside the old ones. But once Alice Fairchild finds out what does, she discovers that the postal system is considerably more complicated, and much more magical, than she ever imagined.

So next time you drop a letter into a postbox, listen carefully.

You never know what might be waiting on the other side of the slot.

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Thank you so much for reading!

Blog Tour Guest Post: The Box of Locks by Sam Hay

Hello! Today I’m really excited to be sharing a post from Sam Hay with you to celebrate her new book Questers’ Academy: the Box of Locks with a guest post.

Strangest Things! 

Questers Academy trains kids to protect terrifying mythical objects such as the ‘Seer’s Eye’ – a scary doom stone that can cause disasters, and the Berserker Claws – Viking weapons that are lethal in the wrong hands. Not to mention the powerful ‘Quill of Fate,’ which allows you to change the future, with a stroke of a pen. Luckily these objects are straight out of my imagination. But in real life there are loads of mysterious – (and often just plain weird!) objects with exciting stories attached. 

Next time you’re in the Natural History Museum check out a potential real doom stone – the Cursed Amethyst! This purple gemstone has a troubled past. Stolen from an Indian temple in the 1800s, it’s said to bring bad luck to whoever has it. The last owner, a writer named Edward Heron-Allen, threw it in the Regent’s Canal to get rid of it, but it mysteriously returned. Thereafter, it was kept in a locked box for years for safety, (just like the Seer’s Eye in Questers), until it was donated to the Natural History Museum. While it sounds scary, some people reckon the owner invented the legend to promote a story he’d written about a cursed gemstone!  

The Basano Vase is a creepy, silver vase which according to legend, was made in the 15th Century for a bride in Napoli in Italy. She was said to have been found dead on the night of her wedding holding the vase. It was then hidden away, believed cursed. But every time it resurfaced more people died. The last reported sightings are in the UK in the 1980s, when it was buried in a lead box, location undocumented. 

Another strange object is the Hand of Glory. A mummified hand, said to belong to a hanged criminal and now held in the Whitby Museum. Folklore says thieves used hands like this when they broke into houses to send the inhabitants to sleep – lighting the fingers as candles, and if anyone was awake the flames would go out! Whitby Museum is full of mysterious objects, including a creepy doll of a local witch. And a hangman’s locket, which was a grisly souvenir sold to spectators of hangings. It’s a glass pendant containing a replica of a skeleton on a gallows, with a piece of the actual rope used in executions! Eek!    

If you like creepy old stately homes, check out Burton Agnes Hall, in Yorkshire, which has a ghostly skull buried in its walls. It belonged to Anne Griffith, whose father built the house in 1620. Anne was said to have been obsessed with the house, but didn’t get to enjoy it! She died after being attacked, just after it was built. On her deathbed she made her family promise to keep her head in the building. Instead, they buried her whole body in the local graveyard. That’s when she began to haunt them! When the skull was brought back into the house, the hauntings stopped. Over the years people tried to get rid of the skull, but whenever they did, the ghostly happenings began again! If you visit the hall, you can see a portrait of unhappy Anne. 

The Hexham Heads. When two stone heads the size of tennis balls were discovered by kids playing in a garden in Hexham in 1971, neighbours began to report sightings of a werewolf-like figure! The heads were sent off to an archaeologist to examine them, and she too apparently saw the werewolf – as did her daughter. The heads then got lost, whereabouts unknown! Maybe keep a look out for them next time you’re at a car boot sale. Though if you find them, you might need to call Questers for help! #QuestersAcademy     

Thank you so much for reading! If you’d like to see my review of the book, it’s over on Instagram @goldenbooksgirl . Amy x

Blog Tour Guest Post: the Narzat and the Shifting Shadow by Luke Marchant

Hello all! Today I am delighted to bring you a guest post as part of the blog tour for the new Narzat book from Luke Marchant and publisher Everything with Words, with a guest post by Luke on creating monsters.

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Rebel Heart Blog Tour: My Story in 5 Objects by Ally Sherrick

Hello everyone! Today I’m delighted to be welcoming Ally Sherrick to share a guest post as part of the blog tour for her new book Rebel Heart.

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My story in five objects

Imagine you wake up one morning to find an army of enemy Roundheads camped outside your gates. That’s what happens to my hero, Merriweather Pryce and her family at the start of Rebel Heart, my new English Civil War-set adventure. With her beloved Royalist father away fighting for the King, and her stepmother, Lady Ellinor looking set to give in and surrender their home of Compton Blaize at any moment, Merri decides to take matters into her own hands. Disguising as a boy and with only her tame jackdaw, Merlin for company, she sets off to get help. But before she goes, she has another important decision to make. What to take with her on the perilous journey that lies ahead?

Royal birthday shillings

Merri is going to need money of course. Luckily, she has fourteen shillings gifted to her by her father – one for each birthday. Though she never actually gets to spend them herself, as circumstances result in her using them in a rather unexpected way. 

The shillings bear the head of King Charles I, who raised his royal standard to declare war on Parliament in the summer of 1642, almost three years before the story opens. Though no one could have predicted the outcome at the time, he lost both the wars and his head, and for a while at least, shillings and other coins bore the image of parliamentarian and self-styled Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell instead.

A borrowed compass 

In an age long before GPS and when even paper maps were still quite basic, the most useful thing a traveller could take to help navigate their way was a pocket compass. Merri ‘borrows’ the one her father used on his own travels to the New World. He’d promised it to her anyway ‘as soon as she was old enough to go adventuring herself’, and now that day has come. But, though she uses it and the North Star to help guide her on her physical journey, it’s her wits and courage she’s going to need to navigate a safe path through the human dangers she encounters.    

A stolen tinderbox

The ability to make a fire and keep warm is something else a traveller in those times would need to think about. A tinderbox, a pocket-sized metal or wooden box containing a piece of flint, a metal fire-striker and a small swatch of fabric or ‘tinder’, was the perfect solution. Not in possession of one herself, Merri steals it from the pocket of the Compton Blaize garrison commander, Captain John Oakshott. There’s only one problem – as a girl she’s not been taught how to use one. This proves an unexpected danger later in the story, when Captain Jack Flint, the leader of a band of enemy Roundhead troops she gets embroiled with, asks her to set a fire, threatening to blow her cover.    

A pistol for protection

Before he rides off to join the King’s army, Merri’s father gives his wife, Lady Ellinor a flintlock pistol for her protection. Merri filches it, though she feels guilty for doing so. It’s something else she doesn’t know how to use, though she hopes the sight of it will be enough to hold off an attack by any enemy soldiers, thieves or deserters she might meet on the road. The pistol changes hands more than once in the story, and plays a key role in the final climactic scene with the villain of the piece, Corporal Abenazar Shine. But I’d best keep my powder dry on that one to avoid spoiling things!

A precious poesy ring

Merri’s most precious possession of all – aside from her pet jackdaw, Merlin – is the gold ‘poesy’ ring which her dead mother had presented to Merri’s father on their betrothal. It is engraved on the inside with Fearless and true, my love for you – echoing the words of the Pryce family motto.

Poesy rings were love tokens, exchanged by sweethearts and also by husbands and wives, often on parting, as in the case of a war. Merri wears her mother’s ring on her thumb when she steals away from Compton Blaize. Though the ring is lost for a time, the words act as a touchstone, giving Merriweather the strength, resilience and heart to pursue her mission to save the family home. 

Thank you so much to you for reading, and to Chicken House and Ally for having me as part of the tour. If you want to see what I thought of Rebel Heart, I will be posting my review on Instagram later today so please do check that out !

Amy xx

Blog Tour Extract: the December Witches by Jennifer Claessen

Hello everyone! To start off the last month of the year, I have the most perfect blog post possible- an extract from the December Witches. This is the last book in the marvellous Month of Magic middle grade series and I am so excited to read it soon, especially after this sneak peek at the first chapter ✨️

Thank you so much for reading! Are you a fan of this series? If so, I’d love to fangirl about them with you, and if not, I’d love to convince you to read them! Please do come chat to me!

Amy xxx

Blog Tour Review: Kiss Me at Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

I’ve been a huge fan of Jenny Bayliss since reading her debut the Twelve Dates of Christmas in the dark old days of 2020 and since then her festive releases have become a real highlight of my bookish calendar, so I was delighted and honoured to be invited to be part of her new book Kiss Me at Christmas’s blog tour today 💖

As a late November baby I tend not to pick up any festive reads before my birthday but I made an exception here and it was a wonderful way to kick-start that part of my reading year- it is so warm and cosy and just an utter delight.

We follow a woman named Harriet who is a mum whose daughter is living abroad and she is dreading spending Christmas alone. She works in pastoral care at a school and her life suddenly changes completely after a magical night with a mysterious stranger and then her being roped into putting on a play with some of her students with said mysterious stranger after an incident occurs.

Harriet is such a great character and as someone who didn’t have the best time at school, the amount she cared for her students made me well up on multiple occasions. Emma was a brilliantly funny and also hugely supportive best friend and I enjoyed James as a love interest. I also really loved Ali and kind of really want him to have his own book so him and all his degrees have a true chance to shine 🤣. And the famous five! What a bunch of lovable rogues, and of course I must also mention that Gideon and Grace stole my heart when I got to know them better too. Oh, and Evaline, what a woman! Truly, what a cast we have here; they are magnificent.

I think something Jenny has always written so well in her books is that sense of communities coming together and that being the true spirit of christmas, but it reaches new heights here with this production of a Christmas Carol and how it changes so many lives of those involved with it in such beautiful ways. Yes, this is a romcom, but it will also warm your heart in many other ways and absolutely deserves a spot on your festive reading list… unless of course you are a Scrooge!

Handle With Care Blog Tour: Author Interview with Louisa Reid

Hello everyone! Today I am delighted to be sharing my interview with Louisa Reid with you all as part of her blog tour for her stunning new book Handle with Care.

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Hi Louisa, I’m so delighted to have you here today! To start us off, can you please describe your new release Handle with Care in 5 words? 

Hello! Delighted to be here! Tragic, moving, propulsive, engaging, tear-jerking.

Your past work has been a mixture of prose and poetry, but I believe Handle with Care is the first time you’ve combined both in one book. I really loved the blend of the two styles; what was the reason behind that writing choice? 

I love writing in verse, but I wrote both narratives in ‘Handle With Care’ in prose first. After a reread, I knew that Ruby’s voice needed to be in verse, partly to differentiate the two main characters, but also because her story is so emotive. Verse works so well to express subjective emotional experience with the right amount of punch and power. It brings the reader very close to the speaker and so, because Ruby is going through a really traumatic time, I made the decision to change her voice to verse. I’m glad I did! I hope it works much better to reveal her desperation and fear and to heighten the tension in the story.

Also on the theme of verse writing/poetry, I’d love to hear what some of your favourite poems or novels in verse are? I’ve got so much more into both this year after a lifetime of thinking I wasn’t clever enough to ‘get’ them!

I adore novels in verse; my all-time YA favourite is ‘Long Way Down’ by Jason Reynolds. It’s a phenomenal book that is so clever and so powerful and really engages with issues of grief and violence in the most gripping way. I have heaps of other favourites too including Tia Fisher’s Crossing the Line and the poetry in Danielle Jawando’s latest novel ‘’If My Words Had Wings’.  I’m reading ‘Wild East’ by Ashley Hickson Lovence at the moment which is fabulous. The joy of this form is that you need no qualifications to get into it! It’s so engaging and accessible – and hopefully will attract more and more readers as time goes on. My love of poetry was sparked at school – I was lucky enough to have a phenomenal English teacher – and maybe writing in verse was an inevitable consequence of studying a lot of incredible narrative poetry. My favourite ‘classic’ is Tennyson’s ‘Maud’ which I’ll never get tired of. It’s brilliant to see new readers finding verse novels; I’m so glad you’re loving them, too!

Based on reading other reviews and my own experience, I think it’s safe to say that your books are incredibly emotional and powerful reads. What are some books that have had a strong impact on you, and if we’re totally honest about it, made you WEEP? I think Handle with Care’s message will stay with me for a very long time ❤️

I think I’ve cried most at ‘The Book Thief’. That book tore me apart. Amy Beashel’s writing always make me cry –  I was in floods of tears during her debut adult novel ‘Spilt Milk’. ‘The Blue Book of Nebo’ by Manon Steffan Ross is also incredibly moving. I love a book that can move you to tears –  it’s definitely doing its job when that happens! 

All of your books handle (no pun intended!!) quite hard-hitting subjects. What do you most want readers to find in your work? 

I would love for readers to find great stories but also to consider new ways of looking at the world. My characters are often going through really difficult times and learning a great deal about themselves along the way. I’d love readers to have empathy with those journeys and maybe think more about how it feels to be someone going through a tough time. I’m always hoping to have my world-view challenged and expanded when I’m reading so maybe a little bit of that too. I don’t set out with a didactic message, just a character and a situation, and I hope that readers really grow to care for those imaginary people! 

Your author bio mentions that in addition to being a writer, you’re an English teacher. What effect, if any, would you say that’s had on your writing life? 

I am continuously reading and analysing so I suppose I am a bit too used to unpicking texts. When I’m writing I’m not really aware though of the methods I’m using  – everything comes from the heart. The analysing comes later. I think a lifetime of reading and exploring other brilliant writers’ work has enabled me to grasp what makes a great story almost as if by osmosis. I find it difficult to break down my writing into acts or beats, it emerges instinctively. I hope that working with teenagers helps me to write their stories authentically. But I definitely never use my students as material –  that would be a total betrayal of trust. 

The dual narrative allows us to see both sides of a friendship that is complicated by a teenage pregnancy, and it is so hard to decide who is in the right or what is for the best for because everyone is so multilayered. What advice would you give on writing characters who feel like they could be flesh and blood people to readers? 

That’s a tricky question as I think I find my characters as I’m writing as opposed to knowing them inside out from the moment I begin. But I think it’s important to be continually asking yourself if your characters’ reactions and responses feel authentic, and important not to stereotype to ensure there’s plenty of complexity and nuance. No one is wholly good, and I hope ‘Handle With Care’ shows how flawed human beings are. I suppose that might be a good thing to begin with in terms of authenticity: what are your characters flaws and how will you expose them? 

Also on the theme of writing, what’s your writing routine like? Do you have any unusual habits or quirks? 

I love to see where my writing takes me. I’m not a great plotter –  but I like to tell myself the story in my head before writing it down which means I will write chapters in my head multiple times before they reach the page. I mostly draft straight onto the computer but I love writing by hand, too. I don’t do it as often as I like because I think I can go faster on my laptop and time is always of the essence. 

Finally, I know you’ve only just released Handle with Care, but can you share anything about what you’re working on at the moment or will be bringing out next?

I’m trying to rewrite my second adult verse novel – I love my main character, a brain surgeon, but the plot is tricky! And there’s lots of research needed so it takes a while. After that, no idea!

QUICKFIRE 

Since it’s October, your favourite Halloween costume you’ve ever had?

Miss Havisham. It was a World Book Day outfit repurposed!

Song you have stuck in your head right now?

The Story of My Life by One Direction alternating with Joni Mitchell Both Sides Now.

Animal you’d most want to be for a day? A swallow.

Top 3 books of 2024?

Boy Parts by Eliza Clarke (I’m late to this one), If My Words Had Wings by Danielle Jawando, Longford by Juliette Tomlinson (my best friend’s debut novel!)

3 books you’re excited for in the remainder of this year/2025?

Not that Kind of Hero by Alexia Casale, The Party by Tessa Hadley, Bad Manners by Amy Beashel.

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Thank you so much for reading! Have you read this, or are you planning to? What are your thoughts on verse novels? I’d love to chat in the comments!

Amy xxx

Blog Tour Review and Guest Post: Black Gables by Eibhlís Carcione

Hello everyone! Today i have a two posts in one kind of deal to share with you, my review of Black Gables and also a guest post from it’s author!

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Blog Tour Review: Nettle by Bex Hogan

Happy Saturday! Today, I have a review of Nettle to share as part of its blog tour ❤️

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This is a bewitching, beautifully told dark fairytale about a girl named Nettle who falls into a faery realm and strikes a bargain with their to complete three tasks in a bid to save her beloved grandmother’s life.

Of course, nothing is ever simple when you make a deal with a faery, so the tasks she has been set are nowhere near as easy as they seem and she teams up with fellow human prisoner Conor, who has been there for centuries, to find a way to survive and hopefully escape.

Nettle is an extraordinary heroine- her bravery and tenacity are astonishing and I loved seeing her try to find ways to outwit the ever-cunning faeries and beat them at their own game, which she becomes incredibly good at as the book goes on. Her bond with and desperation to save her grandmother is incredibly moving, and I also really enjoyed Conor as a character, his story is quite tragic and I loved how Nettle’s friendship changes his life.

I also must mention again how stunning the writing itself is- I would say it has a poetic or lyrical quality to it that very much adds to that fairytale feeling and it is perfect to curl up with on an autumnal evening 🍂

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Thank you so much for reading ! Have you read this, or anything else by the author? What is your favourite fairytale? I’d love to chat in the comments!

Amy xxx

Author Interview with Carrie Sellon

Hello all, and happy Friday! Today, I am delighted to have another author interview to share with you. Carrie Sellon is the author of the Pizza Pete books, the first of which just this week won the Younger Fiction category of the Week Junior Awards.

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