I’m a big fan of the lovely books of Linn B Halton – under her own name, or written as Lucy Coleman – and I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing A Greek Affair for the blog tour in January. I’ll share that review again, as part of the promotion blitz organised by Rachel’s Random Resources, but it is for a very good reason – A Greek Affair is now only 99p, so grab your copy now…
More than just a holiday romance?
Her daughter, her job and divorcing her untrustworthy ex are Leah’s main priorities. She isn’t really bothered that her life might be missing a few things. But after winning a prestigious travel blogger award, she’s inundated with offers to review glamorous holiday destinations. Lying around drinking exotic cocktails and being paid for it! What could be better?
Perhaps a romantic trip to idyllic Greece to find the one man who might make Leah risk her heart again…
Here’s my review again…
I can always rely on Linn B Halton for vividly described locations – making Leah a travel blogger was rather inspired! – and if you’ve never visited Athens you’ll feel as if you’ve explored all the sites yourself when you reach the end of this book. I haven’t visited in many years, and I thoroughly enjoyed my tour.
But there’s a great deal more to this book than the Greek settings – it’s a great story about resilience, recovery and hope for the future, with more than a touch of the power of friendship, family and relationship issues, and the damage that can be caused by the keeping of secrets. The friendship thread was one I particularly enjoyed – something a little different, and I really warmed to Harrison as he wrestled with his issues. The family problems were well-handled too, with real threat and tension about their outcome.
I will admit that the book took me in a slightly different direction from the path I expected, but that was just fine. I did struggle a little with the big romance though, mostly because he didn’t completely win me over – but perhaps it’s the sign of a particularly good book when you have total belief in its very real characters but don’t always agree with their actions and choices.
As always, the writing is excellent – the author has a real gift for characterisation, and I particularly like the naturalness of the dialogue. These are real people, wrestling with very real personal issues, but the whole book is infused with warmth and kissed by sunshine.
Let me hand you over to Linn…
In the mood for a heart-warming holiday read to whisk you off to Italy and Greece?
When Leah Castelli’s husband – Antonio – walks out of her life, he leaves behind a lot of heartache, his two-year-old daughter, Rosie, and a mountain of debt. With no contact at all from him over the next seven years, Leah focuses on her job as a freelance photographer to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads.
In the evenings she expands her photographic website to include holiday snaps. After a chance interview with the iconic popstar, Harry Martin at the prestigious Altar Bar resort in Cannes, her post went viral. And dreams of becoming a full-time travel blogger didn’t seem quite so distant.
And now, having won the Traveller Abroad: Top Travel Blogger award, overnight she’s finally able to give up the day job and work from home. Plus, the offers to experience some fabulous trips begin to roll in.
Leah soon finds herself on a cruise ship heading off to Monaco, Portovenere and on to Civitavecchia in Italy. But when her daughter accompanies her on a working trip to Athens, out of the blue life suddenly begins to get a lot more complicated. Can one chance encounter change Leah and Rosie’s life forever – or is that one risk too far?Do you love a competition?
Hello lovely readers and bloggers!
To celebrate the price drop to 99p I will be running a competition on Twitter for one lucky person to win a goody bag – a limited edition mug and pen, and a Disaronno/chocolate gift box!
No purchase is necessary to join in – just RT one of my lovely blogger’s Tweets for the 99p promo including @LinnBHalton and #AGreekAffair, to take part.
If you have already read/reviewed A Greek Affair and take a photo of it on your reading device and/or send a link to your review in your Tweet – IF YOUR NAME is the ONE drawn by the third party, I will add two signed paperbacks from my backlist to the prize!
Don’t forget to include @LinnBHalton and #AGreekAffair so we can include your Tweet in the competition. Thank you so much for dropping by and good luck!
Terms: Competition closes noon GMT 19 April 2019; international; anyone can enter; prize to be provided by the author; prize winner will be announced on Twitter by @LinnBHalton and on Linn’s website (competition page) at noon on 20 April 2019 after being selected at random by a third party.
About the author
From interior designer to author, Linn B. Halton – who also writes under the pen name of Lucy Coleman – says ‘it’s been a fantastic journey!’
Linn is the bestselling author of more than a dozen novels and is excited to be writing for both Aria Fiction (Head of Zeus) and Harper Impulse (Harper Collins); she’s represented by Sara Keane of the Keane Kataria Literary Agency.
When she’s not writing, or spending time with the family, she’s either upcycling furniture or working in the garden.
Linn won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award; her novels have been short-listed in the UK’s Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards.
Living in Coed Duon in the Welsh Valleys with her ‘rock’, Lawrence, and gorgeous Bengal cat Ziggy, she freely admits she’s an eternal romantic.
Linn is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and writes feel-good, uplifting novels about life, love and relationships.
Thanks so much for your support, Anne – so appreciated! Hope you have an awesome Thursday and the sun is shining for you! xx