Extract: Feel-Good Stories, by Sarah Swatridge

Feel-Good Stories by Sarah Swatridge

Overall Blurb – An eclectic mix of heart-warming stories, full of memorable, quirky characters. Read about the heroic postie, the eccentric duke, a spoilt parrot, a true friend and a determined would-be husband. Perfect bite-sized reading with your favourite drink.

Choose Your Words Carefully page 36 For people interested in the importance and power of words. Generally, a gentle story that might make you think twice.

Can Mollie use her heartfelt words to get her message across to Joe? And therefore, save a potential unhappy relationship.

Choose Your Words Carefully by Sarah Swatridge

“You shouldn’t do it. It’s not honest Joe,” snapped Mollie from her chair beside him.

“It’s only a bit of harmless fun,” said Norah.

“Harmless!” screeched Mollie, waking up at least two of the residents of Dove Farm Nursing Home. “You shouldn’t meddle in other people’s affairs, especially not affairs of the heart.”

Mollie stood up and made her way out of the communal lounge, as quickly as she could, on legs that had seen too many decades.

          “What’s wrong with Mollie?” asked Heather, the warden.

          “Joe’s written a song. It’s lovely. Read it Joe,” urged Norah.

Joe read out his lyrics. When he came to the last line, some of the residents clapped.

          Heather looked puzzled. “It’s very good Joe. What’s made you start writing love songs at your age?”

          “That lad you’ve had on work experience,” admitted Joe, “he’s had a tiff with his girlfriend, and wants to make up. They sing in a band and he wanted to write a love song for her to show he really does care. I said I’d help, but Madam’s got a bee in her bonnet about it!”

          “Stop him!” cried Mollie, from the doorway. “Don’t let him give that song away,” she said to Heather urgently.

     “Calm down Mollie, he’s only trying to help.”

          “He’ll do more harm than good. It’s dishonest, that’s what it is.”

     “She’s only jealous,” chimed in Norah.

          “Not now Norah,” soothed Heather as she straightened her crisp, white uniform. “Sometimes I feel more like a referee than a Carer.”

          “She’s bitter and twisted. She should have appreciated Sid when he was alive,” continued Norah, unable to let go.

          “You leave Sid out of this.”

          “Ladies please. Why don’t I go and make a tray of tea, while you two make up?”

     “I’m going to lie down,” announced Mollie. Heather followed her as she went to put the kettle on, but Mollie refused to come out of her room.

          “There’s no need for all this fuss,” began Heather. “And be careful about calling other people dishonest. You’re forever telling people you’re sixty-nine, but we both know you’re nearer seventy-nine.”

          “Ok. Point taken,” agreed Mollie. “But please stop Joe handing over that song.”

     “I don’t know that I can,” admitted Heather.

          “Well, if you can’t, maybe I can,” said Mollie getting up and making her way along to Joe’s room.

     “Not you again,” said Joe by way of a greeting.

          “Just hear me out,” asked Mollie. Her voice was tired and pleading.

     “You’d better take a seat, if I’m in for a lecture.”

          “Not a lecture Joe, just a life story….

Want to read on?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feel-Good-Stories-Sarah-Swatridge/dp/1914199626/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FNLUJ9D53D89&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.013ojV4EN5qbFr–iaUL2Q.ryTj0Q1cBuwkA_BG9LYneOc5z_v9iw5i5qgsDVrVcQo&dib_tag=se&keywords=feel-good+stories+by+sarah+swa


Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feel-Good-Stories-Sarah-Swatridge/dp/1914199626

Author Bio

ADRIAN POPE COPYRIGHT2024

Sarah Swatridge’s name can often be seen in women’s magazines worldwide such as My Weekly, Woman’s Weekly, Fiction Feast. She also writes novels, mainly historical, which can be found in the Large Print section of your public library. These novels are standalone and the themes vary from – women setting up a co-operative together in response to dishonest traders in the area (United we Stand) to stories set around employees in a biscuit factory (Biscuit Wars, Gentle Annie, Cakes in the Biscuit Factory etc) to the work of pawn brokers (Adam’s Emporium) or a woman in 1900 wanting an adventure before agreeing to marry (Biddy’s Big Adventure – also available from Calibre Audio if you have problems accessing print in the traditional way)

Social Media Links – www.sarahswatridge.co.uk

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084730450618

Giveaway to Win 2 x Paperback copies of An Honourable Wager by Sarah Swatridge (Open to UK Only)

https://gleam.io/C3Bqe/win-2-x-paperback-copies-of-an-honourable-wager-by-sarah-swatridge-uk-only

Lizzie’s badgered by the local paper who want to print a story about her.

They’ve challenged her to be self-sufficient for a year. Eventually she 

accepts – but on her terms. It’s not an easy year, but she does learn 

what’s important.

Win 2 x Paperback copies of An Honourable Wager by Sarah Swatridge (UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Gleam box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Extract Post: Sharks, by Simone Buchholz

PUBLICATION DATE: 26th FEBRUARY 2026
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £ 9. 99 | ORENDA BOOKS

In Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg’s so-called ‘problem area’, an American couple is found brutally murdered in a derelict house.

Prosecutor Chastity Riley is assigned the case and quickly finds herself waist-deep in a murky tangle of city planners, shady investors and vanishing officials. The gentrification machine is rolling on, and someone is sending a very clear message.

As November fog settles over the city, Chastity is coughing up blood, her personal life is a slow-motion disaster, and her former colleague, Faller, won’t stop interfering. But nothing’s going to stop her from cutting through the lies – not even the sharks circling ever closer…

Continue reading “Extract Post: Sharks, by Simone Buchholz”

Extract: Tombstoning, by Doug Johnstone

PUBLICATION DATE: 12th FEBRUARY 2026
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £ 9. 99 | ORENDA BOOKS

Your best mate just fell off a cliff in mysterious circumstances. You
were the last person to see him alive. What do you do?

If you’re David Lindsay from Arbroath, you leg it – and don’t go
back. Not for fifteen years.

Then Nicola Cruickshank – yes, that Nicola, the girl you always
fancied but never had the guts to speak to – gets in touch. She
wants you back for a school reunion. At the very place it happened.
Of course you say yes. Not to lay ghosts to rest, but because you
still fancy Nicola.

The thing is, if you are David Lindsay, then returning to Arbroath
isn’t going to bring closure. Because when someone else tumbles
off the cliffs – an act the locals now call tombstoning – David has a
choice: run away again, or finally find out why people around him
keep dying…

Continue reading “Extract: Tombstoning, by Doug Johnstone”

Extract Post: Birdie, by J.P. Rose

Summary:

Birdie Bagshaw has never known her parents. Having grown up in a children’s home for mixed race children in 1950s Leeds, now she has come to live with her great-aunt in the Yorkshire Dales. From her arrival, Birdie is treated like an outsider by the local children. When their bullying drives Birdie to hide in the nearby coal mine, she finds an unexpected rescuer in the form of Mr Duke, the last remaining pit pony in the village. As the weeks pass, Birdie forms a special bond with the spirited little pony. But his future is in danger, and Birdie comes up with a daring plan to save his life in return . . .

Book Information

Title: Birdie
Author: J. P. Rose

Release Date: 3rd October 2024

Genre: YA

Publisher: Andersen Press

Continue reading “Extract Post: Birdie, by J.P. Rose”

Extract Post: THE GUESTS, by AGNES RAVATN, TRANSLATED BY ROSIE HEDGER

P U B L I C AT I O N DATE: 18th JANUARY 2024
PA PE RB AC K O R I G I N A L | £9.99 | ORE N DA B OO KS

It started with a lie…

Married couple Karin and Kai are looking for a pleasant escape from their busy lives, and reluctantly accept an offer to stay in a luxurious holiday home in the Norwegian fjords.

Instead of finding a relaxing retreat, however, their trip becomes a reminder of everything lacking in their own lives, and in a less-than-friendly meeting with their new neighbours, Karin tells a little white lie…

Against the backdrop of the glistening water and within the claustrophobic walls of the ultra-modern house, Karin’s insecurities blossom, and her lie grows ever bigger, entangling her and her husband in a nightmare spiral of deceits with absolutely no means of escape…

Continue reading “Extract Post: THE GUESTS, by AGNES RAVATN, TRANSLATED BY ROSIE HEDGER”

Extract Post: Halfway House by Helen Fitzgerald

PUBLICTION DATE: 18th JANUARY 2024
PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £9.99 | ORENDA BOOKS

They’re the housemates from Hell…

When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O’Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find … working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders.

Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer – all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou…

And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything – including her life.

Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is both a breath-taking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman…

Continue reading “Extract Post: Halfway House by Helen Fitzgerald”

Extract Post: Intercludae, by Felicia Ketcheson

Interlude by Felicia Ketcheson
Release Day – 31st March 
Genre: Young Adult – Dystopian
Format: ePub

Blurb 

In the isolated city of Lexum, following your heart’s desire against the will of the collective 

could be deadly. But for seventeen-year-old Breel Sorep, the urge to express herself is just too tempting.

With her passion for drawing on the list of banned activities, Breel is devastated when she receives her final warning. Art offers an escape from the harsh realities of her life, but to be caught once more would have dire consequences for the rebellious teen.

If only Uncle Famut’s stories of the fictional world of Intercludae were real. Then Breel could be free to express her creativity instead of being trapped in the field of computer programming—a career chosen for her as a small child. 

Starting in a new role, Breel encounters Cafrec, a co-worker with striking sparkling blue eyes, who’s unlike anyone the young woman has ever met. Together, the pair begin to decipher a series of clues which seem to reveal that Intercludae may not be so fictional after all.

Using her programming skills and cunning, Breel must decide how far she’s willing to go to have the freedom she so desperately wants. But as Breel and Cafrec try to escape the forces of oppression, can Breel leave everything she knows and risk her own life for the faint hope of finally finding freedom.

Continue reading “Extract Post: Intercludae, by Felicia Ketcheson”

Extract Post: Starlight Stables Gang, by Esme Higgs and Jo Cotterill

Information About the Book
Title: The Starlight Stables Gang (The Starlight Stables Gang #1)
Author: Esme Higgs
Author: Jo Cotterill
Illustrator: Hannah George
Release Date: 30th March 2023
Publisher: Puffin Books UK
Genre: MG (8 – 12 year olds)

Summary:

Summer has always loved horses but she never thought she’d be able to learn how to ride them – not with money being so tight at home. Then she discovers the Starlight Stables where she meets a new gang of friends and learns how to ride in return for helping-out with the horses. It’s a dream come true!

Summer falls in love with life at the stables and especially with Luna, a beautiful dapple-grey pony. But one day, Summer arrives at the stables to find that Luna has been stolen in the night. It’s up to the Starlight Stables Gang to follow the clues and rescue Luna before it’s too late!

Full of fun, friendship and and mystery, this is the first book in the brand-new Starlight Stables Gang series. Beautifully illustrated by Hannah George.


Author Information

Esme Higgs

Esme Higgs is one of the biggest social-media content creators in the equestrian world with over 1.5 million followers. She’s a writer, presenter, video producer – and a horse-mad ordinary girl.

Her online videos are a mix of tutorials, horse-care videos, and vlogs about her horses (Mickey, Joey and Casper) and her life. She is also a proud ambassador for the Brooke charity and a patron to her local charity riding stables – Team Tutsham.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/thisesme

Instagram: http://instagram.com/this_esme

Tiktok: http://tiktok.com/this_esme

Facebook: http://facebook.com/thisesme

Jo Cotterill

Jo Cotterill is a multi-award-winning author with over forty books for children and young people. Her novel A Library of Lemons has sold into twelve countries and her superhero-comic strip series Electrigirl has encouraged many reluctant readers to enjoy reading. She has written stories for Disney and Doctor Who, and her background in acting and teaching makes her a hit on school visits. Jo lives in Oxfordshire with her daughters, one of whom is a massive Esme fan!

Instagram: http://instagram.com/jocotterillbooks

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jocotterillbook


Extract

There are two routes to school. One goes along pavements and across roads. The other is twice as long and involves going down a little alleyway and round the back of the houses. For maybe fifty metres, the path borders a couple of fields. In one of the fields there are two ponies. One of them is a small chestnut gelding who stays at the other end of the field, but the other is a dapple-grey mare and she always, always comes to the fence to say hello.

When we first moved here, I was miserable – until I discovered the path behind the houses, and now I visit the grey mare on my way to and from school. She’s my best friend, which is either amazing or very sad, depending on how you look at it.

This morning I leave the house extra early so I can spend even more time with the pony. She makes this funny sound when she sees me – they call it ‘nickering’: it’s like a cross between a snort and a purr. She trots over and nuzzles me. I used to give her an apple, but then a sign appeared on a fence post saying PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE PONIES’ so now I pull up handfuls of grass because I figure she eats that anyway. And I check to see that no one else is around, in case I get into trouble.

‘Hello,’ I say softly this morning. I don’t know what her name is, but I call her Pebbles because the markings on her back look like pebbles in a stream. I rub her velvety nose and she tips her head and bumps it against mine. ‘How are you today, Pebbles? Have you eaten any nice dandelions recently?’ I place my hand against her neck, feeling the muscles

underneath. She’s warm and solid and has this smell that I can’t describe – like biscuits and friendship.

I tell her about the video I watched this morning where a girl my age was talking about the three ponies she owns, and about the different tack she uses, and Pebbles nods like she understands. I think Pebbles is a Welsh Cob, according to the pictures I’ve looked at on the internet. She’s the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen.

Even though I’ve got to the field early, I’m nearly late for school because I always lose track of time when I talk to Pebbles. I would spend all day talking to Pebbles if I could. Even simply resting my head against hers makes me feel … I can’t explain it. Calm. At peace, like all my worries and fears have gone away. I wave goodbye and have to run the rest of the way, arriving at school breathless ten seconds before they close the gates.

Extract Post: The Crew, by Sadir S. Samir

Blurb 

Kings of the Wyld meets Deadpool in this action-packed fantasy adventure set in an Arab-inspired landscape.

Varcade fled to the deserts of Harrah to escape his past as an Educator, a member of an order of zealot warrior-monks that aims to shape the world according to their sacred Teachings by force. Varcade makes his living as a reckless sword-for-hire, caring only about himself, until his self-centered lifestyle is turned on its head when he is contracted to recruit a misfit team of unruly assassins and take out the mighty Bone Lord of Akrab.

But the Bone Lord is aware of the plot and sends her band of Dusters to stop them; individuals who have gained bizarre and lethal magical powers by snorting the pulverised bones of dead gods. Hunted by Educators and Dusters in a city-state where an escalating conflict between the human and demon population threatens to boil over in a civil war, will Varcade and his ragtag crew save Akrab from the cruel Bone Lord, or will they make things even worse?

“The Crew is a rampaging romp of an adventure, as thrilling and hilarious as it is fantastically unique. I loved it.” – Dyrk Ashton, author of The Paternus Trilogy

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG1CBSRY

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62672715-the-crew?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XFllluZSRG&rank=1


The Crew Excerpt 1

Before the killing began, Varcade wanted to enjoy a glass of iced milk sweetened with honey. He licked his lips, drumming his fingers on the counter as the bartender poured the drink in a clay cup, then set it before Varcade. “There. Happy now?”

Varcade flipped a copper coin to the woman. “You bet,” he said with a smile before downing it in one swig. He exhaled and wiped the milk from his upper lip. “Alright, with that out of the way, it’s time for me to kill a guy. I’m looking for someone by the name of—”

“You what?” the bartender interrupted. “Kill a man? Here?”

“Yup.” Varcade nodded. “That’s the job I’ve been paid for. Why else would I be somewhere like this? No offence, but we’re in the middle of the desert. You couldn’t have chosen a livelier place for your tavern?”

“Are you bloody stupid?” the woman said. “You can’t come to my establishment and tell me you’re gonna kill someone. I’m trying to make a living here.”

“You do you, and I’ll do me. How ‘bout that?” Varcade turned away from the bartender and leapt on the nearest table, knocking over their drinks and food to the dismay of the patrons sitting around it. Now he had everyone’s attention. Behind him, he heard the bartender shouting something about guards.

“I’m looking for a guy calling himself Frying Pan Pete,” Varcade said. “I’ve been told he likes coming here. Just point me in the right direction and I’ll be gone before you know it.”

The man seated by the table tugged on Varcade’s leg. “You really don’t wanna be messin’ with Frying Pan Pete, man,” he whispered. “Trust me.”

Extract from ‘The Hostage of Rome’, by Robert M. Kidd – Giveaway!

The Hostage of Rome

217 BC. Rome has been savaged, beaten and is in retreat. Yet, in that winter of winters, her garrisons cling on behind the walls of Placentia and Cremona, thanks to her sea-born supplies. If he could be freed, a hostage of Rome may yet hold the key to launching a fleet of pirates that could sweep Rome from the seas. For that hostage is none other than Corinna’s son Cleon, rival heir to the throne of Illyria, held in Brundisium, four hundred miles south of the Rubicon.

But Hannibal is set on a greater prize! Macedon is the great power in Greece, feared even by Rome. Its young king, Philip, is being compared with his illustrious ancestor, Alexander the Great. An alliance with Macedon would surely sound the death knell for Rome.  

Given Hannibal’s blessing, Sphax, Idwal and Corinna face an epic journey against impossible odds. Navigating the length of the Padus, past legionary garrisons and hostile Gauls, they must then risk the perils of the storm-torn Adria in the depths of the winter. If the gods favour them and they reach the lands of the pirate queen, only then will their real trials begin.

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hostage-Rome-Histories-Sphax-Book-ebook/dp/B09X3L8WLB/

US – https://www.amazon.com/Hostage-Rome-Histories-Sphax-Book-ebook/dp/B09X3L8WLB/

Continue reading “Extract from ‘The Hostage of Rome’, by Robert M. Kidd – Giveaway!”