A Special Gift...

I always look forward to reading a Clare Revell book. Almost all of them take place in Headley Cross, and I find it enjoyable to feel familiar with the surroundings, right away. There are also characters from other stories that show up, now and then, and that adds to the sense of reality. I like the feeling that I've “met” those people before. Friday's Child is about one such person, as—being an M-15 agent—he has shown up at just the right time in a couple of other books, already. He is a well-loved member of one of the prominent families in the series, too.

Patrick Page has spent the last ten years with his life centered around his job, and little time for anything else. But when his working world collides with a woman from his past, his normally reliable confidence is shaken. Something that adds yet another element of suspense to Ms Revell's style of dishing up one horrendous thing after another in all of her action-packed stories. Things that keep you turning the pages just to see what happens next.

However, the thing I enjoy most about all of these books is the thread of tangible hope that runs strong and true through each one of them. So much so, that you can actually take that part home with you, no matter where you live. At it's heart, Friday's Child is a testament to the faithfulness of God to not only set us up for “second chances,” but continue loving us during those times when we have become unloveable even to ourselves. A theme so universal, it's the kind I like to tuck away in my own spirit for the inevitable hard places we all seem to run into, from time to time.

Which is why I would recommend this book to anyone. Because it goes beyond entertainment and gives you something of value, besides. A gift that is worth more than just a pleasant bonus, when one considers how priceless such things become should you ever need them along your own journey. So, many thanks to Clare Revell... who has done it, again!

About Friday's Child...

Friday's Child is a man obsessed...

MI-5 agent Patrick Page is on the trail of a drug smuggler. He doesn't have time to revisit his past when he reconnects with the girl who got away--his girlfriend from college working at a library. He's more than surprised to see sweet Ellie singing on stage when he slips into a nightclub to gain intel on the club's owner. Why is she working two jobs? Why is she using an alias? Is she somehow involved? And is her involvement with his suspect merely a business relation or is there more to their partnership?

Ellie has a secret she doesn't want Patrick to know. His daughter. She'd turned custody over to her parents, however now she wants to be a mother not just a sister. But her own mother can't seem to let go neither has she forgiven Ellie for her past. So Ellie works two jobs and supports them both. Her one light is her music. The career she abandoned, and her boss has promised to make her a star. But now with Patrick back in her life she's questioning her choices. And is he interested in her, or does he have some hidden agenda? Does Patrick have a secret too?

About the series...

Clare Revell lives in a small town in England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, and her three children. Writing from a early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fanfiction to using her own original characters. Now, she enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, reading, sewing or keeping house or doing the many piles of laundry her children manage to make, she goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of three registrars. You can find out more about her at her website.

Something to Think About…

A Romantic Suspense for Every Day of the Week.

Thursday's Child chases the whole...

Broken...with bits missing. That's how Niamh, senior prosecutor for the CPS, feels when she wakes in hospital severely injured with no knowledge what’s happened--for the past ten years. A tall man in a firefighters uniform claims he's her husband. While he's everything she's ever dreamed of, she doesn't know him. And if he was so important why can't she remember? Was there something so terrible in her marriage that her mind has suppressed it? 

My Review...

Niamh (pronounced Neeve, it's an Irish thing) has been getting death threats, but being a criminal lawyer, it's all part of her job. They don't have the impact they used to have on her. In fact, nothing does, anymore. For a long time, now, she's simply been throwing herself into work in such a way that there is little room left in a day to think about other things. She's in survival mode. The "I don't care, anymore," "just make it through another day," kind. 

Then--in a moment--her life is over. By the grace of God, she survives a major accident, but all the disaster, turmoil, and memories of the past eight years of her life are gone. Erased. And, blissfully, she can only remember who she was before those horrible times. But is this a blessing or a curse?

The thing I like most about a Clare Revell novel is the subtle yet gripping way she deals with issues we all end up having to face at sometime in our own lives. In Thursday's Child it's what happens when one is suddenly faced by the fact that they don't really like who they've become. Where do you go from there? It's a question we could all ask ourselves. 

Just watching the way Niamh and her family move through this scenario, makes one think a bit about themselves, and what they might do in such a situation. Maybe even shift a bit of perspective to feel better about our own lives because nothing quite so drastic has ever happened to us. 

Yes, that's what I like best about Thursday's Child, and this entire series. Or any other Clare Revell novel, for that matter. They not only give me a story that keeps me turning pages to see what happens, next… they make me think.

And I like that.

A bit of a visit with Clare...

Clare is my English author friend, and in case you haven't noticed, I very much enjoy the food and traditional aspects of each of her books. This time, she caught my interest with the mention of a couple of the more common English dishes that I didn't know anything about. So, hello, Clare, it's wonderful to see you, again.

Thank you, Lilly, it's good to be here.

OK. First up, BEANS ON TOAST. Now, that's an interesting combination. What kind of beans? Is it cold or hot, and is this a common breakfast item in England?

Tinned Baked beans on hot toast. Usually part of a full English breakfast but can be served alone. Very popular over here, and not just for breakfast. They make a quick substantial meal any time.

I'll have to try it. Although when I googled for a picture, someone commented that there was nothing quite so good as English sliced bread, and it was hard to get anywhere else. 

Well, I suppose some things can't be improved upon.

No doubt. Next up: What are cheese and onion pasties? Are they something you buy already made and are quick for dinner?

Pasties can be home made or shop bought. Shortcrust pastry filled with grated cheese and chopped onion and then oven baked. I often serve them for lunch or dinner with chips ( fries) or jacket spuds. 

Mmm. I imagine they'd work well for traveling (I think about that a lot, these days).

Very good for traveling. In fact, the Cornish miners used to take them down into the mines for lunch so often that when they immigrated to other countries, they became famous.

The miners or the pasties?

Both. But probably for different reasons. 

I see. One could definitely get a story out of that bit of information.

Go ahead if you'd like. I'm booked for the next couple of years just writing about people from Headley Cross.

And that's another thing, Clare. I love Headley Cross, and I really enjoyed seeing characters from some of your earlier books pop up in this one. It was a nice touch. Which makes me wonder where it is, exactly.

Headley Cross is about thirty miles southeast of London. It's in Berkshire on the edge of the Chiltern Downs. Weather is typically English. Lots of rain, some really hot days. Snow in winter. Fog in spring and autumn. Cold in winter. It's a small town about seven square miles with a population of 27,000. Readers can find out more by visiting the website I created for it, too.

Well, I definitely enjoyed my visit there, this time. And with you, too, Clare. Thanks so much for coming back, again. Here's wishing you all the best with Thursday's Child, and you can bet I'll be looking forward to Friday's Child, when it comes out in September.

Thank you, Lilly, and thanks for the visit, too.

Clare Revell

Clare Revell lives in a small town in England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, and her three children. Writing from a early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fanfiction to using her own original characters. Now, she enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, reading, sewing or keeping house or doing the many piles of laundry her children manage to make, she goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of three registrars. You can find out more about her at her website.

A Wild Ride...

Hold onto you hats, Clare Revell fans, because WEDNESDAY'S CHILD is a wild ride. One that takes us out of Headley Cross, and halfway around the world to Africa. But not just for fun because there are mysteries to solve and sinister forces afoot. All of which will keep you turning pages right up to the end.

That's not all, however, because Ms. Revell is up to her usual abilities to give heroine, Jacqui Dorne, a delightfully interesting job all by itself. Oh, yes, and if you are wondering how she comes up with so many of these diverse occupations, see the interview following this review ( I just had to ask).   Anyway, Jacqui is a landscape artist who is as good at what she does as what she believes.

Which brings me to what I like best about any Clare Revell novel, and that's the little bits of spiritual wisdom woven throughout. I say wisdom because it's always something that one can readily apply to our own “ordinary” lives. Something that makes WEDNESDAY'S CHILD (in my opinion) one of the best forms of pure entertainment there is. Along the romance variety. Just right for a quick getaway, and one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Here's what it's all about...

Wednesday's Child grieves for his soul...

Liam Page, school teacher and ex-missionary, is a man with a secret agenda. Revenge. But when he says it with flowers, and accidentally drenches a woman who just happens to be the school's landscape architect, he may have found a light in his darkness.

After an abusive relationship, Jacqui Dorne prefers work to men. It's safer. But Liam Page with his boyish charm and wounded soul, manages to change her preferences. Has God led her to Liam to help him heal?

When their growing relationship is marred by the reappearance of Jacqui's ex-boyfriend, they find themselves suddenly embroiled in a series of dangerous events which leads them to Africa and has them fighting for both love and life.

Now, for a chat with Clare...

Clare Revell

Hello, and welcome back, Clare! OK... where in the world do you come up with so many interesting and diverse vocations for your main characters to have? 

Good question, Lilly. Short answer is, I have no idea. 

You're kidding.

Well, sort of. The truth is, sometimes from TV programmes I watch. Or, maybe while I'm writing something else, and one of the secondary characters will interrupt long enough to demand a book of their own.

Ah-ha. But I think you must have your antenna tuned for the especially quirky ones because they're all so unusual. For instance, did you have any personal interest in landscape artists before you wrote WEDNESDAY'S CHILD? Was there a particular moment that gave you that idea? 

Home of the
"great escape"

Actually, that one had its first draft a while ago, when PBG (has a great discount book club) ran a competition in which the hero was a teacher and the heroine a landscape architect. I'd never heard of them--always assumed they were just gardeners. But once I did a little research, Jacqui (who changed names several times), took on a life of her own.

I'll say she did, look how far she went from Headley Cross. Not to mention what she discovered about herself along the way. Something that reminds me how much these jobs are always a great fit for the actual plot of your stories. What usually comes to you first... the personality, the vocation, or the plot? 

In this instance the vocations came first. But normally, the plot happens first. Then the lead characters pick their names, and the jobs just seem to follow on.

Thank heaven, because with you being such a prolific writer, things could get confusing. Do you have some system for organizing ideas and plotting out future novels? Or do you simply carry it all around in your head? 

It's how I organize my head, actually, because if I don't write I go insane. But here's a sort of system I've come up with. I write a basic blurb for each idea, then out comes my stack of notecards. On them go the book title, hero, heroine (with a brief description of the job), and family history. Now, I may never include that the hero has a great aunt called Edith, but then you never know... 

Next in the series

Which is exactly what I enjoy about picking up one of your novels, Clare. I never know what I'm going to find in there! It's been great having a peek behind the scenes, today, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much I'll be looking forward to THURSDAY'S CHILD when it comes out.

Thank you, Lilly.

My pleasure. Have time for a bit of Seaweed Tea before you  go?

Hmm... I don't know, I've never tried any.

Well, personally, I've had to make a lot of changes since moving onto a boat. How about I file your opinion of it away for our next chat? Along with if you decide to opt in on the Mermaid Cakes I baked, this morning, to go along with it. 

I would have to be honest, of course.

One of the things I like best about you, Ms. Revell... the very best!

Tuesday's Child is...

I look forward to reading books by Clare Revell. She never fails to entertain with diverse characters, and amazingly unique storylines that draw you quickly into the life and loves of each one. 

TUESDAY'S CHILD would have been a delightful scenario all by itself, with heroine Adeline Munroe running a doll hospital that had the same protocols as a people one. Except there was a disturbing serial killer on the loose that kept me turning pages longer than I planned on more than one occasion. I didn't want to see that beautiful little world Adeline had created get shattered.

I also liked how she jumped into life a hundred percent, even to the point of taking a self-defense class in her church. Led by one of the members (a very attractive Detective Sergeant) who  happened to be working on the case. Between his niece needing the services of the doll hospital, and Adeline having detailed visions about the murders before they happened, the Lord seemed to have had a hand in bringing these two together. Even though there were a lot of things working against them from the very beginning.

  

Which is all I'm going to say about the story. It's a good one, and anyone who likes one of those will not be disappointed. However, Clare Revell accomplished something with this book that effected a change in me in a very quiet but impressive way. After having met Adeline Munroe, I will never look at deaf people in the same way, again. Ever.

So thank you for that, Clare.

Well done!

You can find out more about Clare, and the other books in this series by visiting her website. There are seven of them, one for every day of the week. How great is that? Meanwhile, here's a bit of a peek into all of them...

Monday was a good day…

This was not the assignment Luke 

Nemec expected when he came to the

UK-- babysitting a beautiful widow. 

It wouldn’t be so bad... 

if Sara wasn’t such a “hostile” witness.

Well, I don't know about you, dear readers, but I'm starting to look forward to each new release that Clare Revell offers us. Because I love the versatility. Yep. The versatility. It's refreshing. How she comes up with so many different plots and settings that I get totally wrapped up in (and declare I am going to visit afterward), is beyond me. But then that's part of the fun for me. This time, it was off to Scotland with MONDAY'S CHILD.

I love Scotland. Have always wanted to go there. I even have more than a few Scottish ancestors tucked away somewhere. But do I know much of anything about what the place is like today? Not half enough. Which is why I was so enjoyably drawn into the ebb and flow of the town from a real and contemporary perspective. And with an American police officer on assignment thrown into the mix, I did not feel like an outsider. 

QUESTION for Clare if she shows up here: Have you ever been to Scotland? 

(I wonder about these things)

But here's the thing. I had sort of a question about this book. It's the first in a seven book series (one for every day of the week-- for a hint, read the poem), and I wondered how Ms. Clare would be able to keep her marvelous versatility if she had to reign in her imagination too much. Well, don't worry, she had plenty of everything we have come to expect from her. That's when I realized that the things I enjoy most about her books are the constants. All of her books have these things: 

A feisty, not-so-typical heroine 

A realistic hero who is not always perfect (but his heart is)

A colorful setting with people you will think you have known somewhere else before (or would like to)

A plot you've got figured out halfway through that proves you delightfully wrong at the end. One that even lines up with spiritual values

So, I feel much better about this every-day-of-the-week book series. In fact, I'm already looking forward to TUESDAY'S CHILD (who tenders direction), which will be coming up next.  But as for MONDAY'S CHILD? Let's say, after having just read the final words, that I'm sitting here with a cup of tea and a quiet smile, because…

Monday was a good day.

Clare writes inspirational romance, usually of a suspenseful nature. Her books are available through her publisher Pelican Book Group and Amazon. She is married with three kids and lives in the UK. She loves watching sci-fi, crime drama, cross stitching, reading and baking. You can find out more about her on her website.

AFTER THE FIRE by Clare Revell

I love it when Clare Revell comes out with another book, and she always seems to have one in the works. What's more, it is very easy to get to know Clare, and she never seems to mind answering my crazy questions. Reading AFTER THE FIRE left me with a lot of questions.

 Not about the story (very enjoyable!), but about where it took place. I really want to go there, now. And about the food. Which, now that I know what it is, I would really like to try, as well. Is that the sign of a good writer, or what? You can look in on our conversation at the end of my review. But first, here's a bit about the book...

MY REVIEW...

This book has a mystery to solve, and I like mysteries. But it also takes place in a very appealing vacation spot, and I love vacations, too. Mix these in with a couple of private investigators that are not typical, and you get a story that  keeps you turning pages. It also keeps you thinking of that lovely little place, in Cornwall, when you are doing other things. 

Freddie (Frederica) and Jason have known each other before, and neither of them like their assignment. However, the most enjoyable part of this book is the relationship between the two, as one thing leads to another, and they find themselves in ever increasing danger. All of which would make good reading just by itself. But the thing I liked best about AFTER THE FIRE, was the very thought-provoking theme that effected me even after the story was ended. It had take away value. 

Not only did it linger long after the satisfying ending, I caught myself listening for that "still, small voice," myself, and looking at life's disasters in a very different way. I find Ms. Revell's spiritual perspectives extremely refreshing. And I like the way her characters always seem like someone familiar to me, very early on. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romantic suspense… and anyone else, as well.

THEN I JUST HAD TO ASK...

Clare, I really enjoyed your descriptions of Cornwall, have you ever been there, yourself? And what about this location made you want to place this story there? 

I've been to Cornwall several times on holiday with the church. We stayed in Tintagel, right on the cliffs, where King Arthur was. So many happy memories along with all the beaches, caves and islands made it seem the ideal location for the story.

Well, it certainly was, I felt like I was right there. Not to mention all that scrumptious food Feddie and Jason ate. There's some I've never heard of, but would love to find out more about. Like what is a cheese salad?

In the story it'd be in a roll, but it can be just served on a plate. It's slices of mature cheddar cheese (has to be cheddar), with letttuce, tomato, cucumber, radish, apple and lashings of salad cream. I love cheese salad.

It sounds delicious, I'm going to have to try that sometime. How about cream tea?

Cream teas are scrummy. Huge home made scones, with strawberry jam and thick clotted cream. Served with pots of hot tea. 

My goodness, what is clotted cream?

It's really thick, very buttery cream, made with full cream milk. It contains so much fat, it's actually considered butter in the US and not cream. Looks like this picture, here. 

Absolutely heavenly, I'm sure. Definitely made me want to go on holiday in Cornwall!

Makes me want to go back. And the pasty recipe in the book I use a lot.

Mmm… could you be talked into sharing it?

I might consider sharing if people ask.

Lovely. You can put my name down for that one. And last but not least, can you give us a hint about your next book that's coming up? 

I'm working on a series of seven novels which will be out in both print and ebook. The first one comes out April 27th. Based on a new version of the poem Monday's Child (especially written for my series). Each line of the poem is a hint and tag line of the actual novel it refers to. Here's the poem...

Monday’s Child must hide for protection,

Tuesday’s Child tenders direction

Wednesday’s Child grieves for his soul

Thursday’s Child chases the whole

Fridays Child is a man obsessed

Saturday’s Child might be possessed

And Sunday’s Child on life’s seas is tossed

Awaiting the Lifeboat that rescues the lost.

It sounds fascinating, Clare, and I can't wait to read all of them. Meanwhile, thanks so much for visiting with me today. By the way, would you like some tea?

I'd love some, Lilly.

Clare writes inspirational romance, usually of a suspenseful nature. Her books are available through her publisher Pelican Book Group and Amazon. She is married with three kids and lives in the UK. She loves watching sci-fi, crime drama, cross stitching, reading and baking. You can find out more about her on her website.