Last year, it was an absolute delight to join the blog tour and share my review of Kimberley Adams’ independently published debut, Love Lindisfarne. It was a thoroughly lovely romantic comedy, with a gorgeous Northumberland setting, and a book I’d very much recommend – you’ll find my review here. And I was so thrilled when I heard she was releasing a sequel – Love Beyond Lindisfarne was published on 23rd May, now available both for kindle and in paperback via Amazon in the UK and US – until I realised there was no way I could fit in an early review, mainly because I was due to be away on holiday (and would you believe it?) in Northumberland. Ah well, I’ll just have to look forward to catching up with it later – let’s take a closer look…
Take a spring to summer trip to magical Northumberland and find love and laughter in this feel-good novel, which will transport you to the iconic island of Lindisfarne and beyond…
Ellie, and Zen with the coffee-bean eyes, met at Christmas when she came to Northumberland to look after rescue animals. They are taking their first tentative steps into a love-at-first-sight relationship and all in their spring garden should be wonderful.
When Lady Grace becomes ill, life at the castle changes overnight, and not for the better. The new custodian and his fiancée have plans, and the islanders are far from happy. When the filming of a reality show means the animals must move out of their yard due to the Queen of the Castle production company taking over, it’s the final straw.
Amongst all the drama, Love Beyond Lindisfarne is a story of love, intergenerational friendships, camaraderie, and oodles of the warmth and humour found in this very special corner of the world.
Doesn’t that just look thoroughly lovely? I’ll be really looking forward to catching up with it. I’m so sorry there’s no review from me today, but I’m really pleased to welcome Kim as my guest to tell us more…
My debut Love Lindisfarne took me totally by surprise gaining a lot of love and followers in the relatively short Christmas book market which led to demand for a follow on.
One of the things I am told that people liked best about the first book were the characters, and how easy it was to get involved in their lives and friendships. An important element in my writing is to reflect real life, and we don’t live in bubbles of being only with people of our own or a similar age, I have friends of all ages, and am passionate about putting the message out there that ‘older’ people are often full of vim and vigour and have a lot to contribute. It annoys me so much when characters that have earned their stripes on this planet are not celebrated and given a lesser role in a novel.
In Love Lindisfarne we meet several of the island’s older population and this book is no exception as they are all back and playing an important role in life on the island. I wanted to highlight intergenerational friendships, it seems like something I always do when writing about communities, and I hope that in Love Beyond Lindisfarne it stands out that each community member despite their age, have important roles to play and support each other. There’s a character called Ethel, referred to by someone in the book as ‘older than grass’ – their words – but Ethel is full of vitality and life and I hope that one day I might be like Ethel (although without her predilection for the odd glass or three!)
Us Geordie’s, and there’s no mistaking that the book is northern, are in the main a warm, friendly bunch and I wanted to put this across even more in book two. There’s a lot of drama going on, but between the intergenerational community then they rise to the challenge together to work through the issues put before them.
Love Beyond Lindisfarne is a little escape from the anxieties in the real world. Light, funny, not to be taken too seriously and hopefully will leave readers feeling happy after a bookish visit to beautiful Northumberland!
It really does look like a “must read”, doesn’t it? Thanks for joining me Kim, and wishing you every success with this one – thanks also to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the tour invitation and her support.
About the author
Kimberley Adams released her debut novel, Love Lindisfarne in Autumn of last year. The book, a romantic comedy, is set in her beloved Northumberland and is a heartwarming tale of love and friendship on the small tidal island of Holy Island. Kim was stunned by the way the book took off in the busy Christmas book market and it became one of the highest rated of its genre on Amazon and gained Kim a lot of new friends!
Kim hadn’t thought about writing a sequel but demand was there and so Love Beyond Lindisfarne was born. The book features all the favourite characters but can be read as a standalone. Kim’s Lindisfarne books share a special feature as Kim engages with a local artist and between them, they create the covers to match a scene within the book.
Kim is also to be published traditionally by Farrago in April 24 in The Book of Witty Women. This was as a result of her being a finalist in the Comedy Women in Print Prize and her story, Go Your Own Way, is a comedy set on urban Tyneside and introduces two of her favourite characters, Donna and her nana Mary!
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