Giving a very warm welcome to Morton S. Gray who has another book out. As I’m writing this, a November drizzle is falling and the lights are on. It’s only midday! This can be such a dreary month. Just the time, then, to escape to the seaside. Tell us all about your latest Borteen novel, Morton …

Thank you for inviting me onto your blog to celebrate my latest release, my fifth book for Choc Lit Christmas at the Little Beach Café was published on 17 November 2020. I thought I would give you a short extract to share with your blog readers. This is from Chapter Two where my hero Justin Sadler, a solicitor in my fictional seaside town of Borteen, meets a mystery woman on the beach:-

“The woman walked along the shoreline, her coat and red scarf flapping in the wind, a backpack on her back. She was the only other person on Borteen beach and Justin felt he should walk in the opposite direction to give her space. But as he wandered down to the water’s edge, the woman paused and bent to tie a shoelace. The wind whipped her hat from her head and it began to gambol across the sand towards him.

It was an automatic response to catch the tumbling hat. Justin was actually quite impressed that he’d caught it; he’d never been any good at sports, particularly those which involved catching or hitting balls, much to his father and sister’s disgust.

The woman made her way across the sand in his direction.

Looking at the red woollen hat in his hands, he noticed that there were several strands of long blonde hair attached inside.

‘Thanks so much for rescuing my hat. It’s my favourite. I thought I’d just lost it forever.’

‘No problem.’ He smiled but was alarmed to realise he was blushing like a schoolboy. She was gorgeous. Her eyes were bluer than the sky, she had dimples either side of her generous mouth and her blonde hair was thick and glorious as it whipped around her head in the wind.

She took the hat from him and left tingles where her fingers brushed his hand. He didn’t want her to walk away but found it impossible to know what to say to strike up a conversation. So, after a couple of mutual nods, they parted, and Justin had to stop himself turning too often to watch her progress up the beach and out of his life.

The kindness of the tall, handsome stranger with serious eyes on the beach had Silvie wiping away tears after they parted. He’d only caught her hat, but even that seemed kind after the awful few weeks she’d had. She turned her tear-rimmed eyes away from the wind and walked briskly back up the beach in a bid to drive the bone-numbing tension out of her body. She wasn’t sleeping well and wasn’t eating properly either. Her clothes had begun to hang shapelessly on her tall, slim frame.

She thought she’d done the right thing getting away, renting the remote Quarry Cottage at the far end of Borteen beach, but now she was having second thoughts about its isolation. The fact that there was no back entrance to escape from if she needed it, owing to the cottage backing straight onto the cliff edge above the beach, had begun to worry her.

How had she got herself into this situation? She shouldn’t be worried about safety, escape, danger … What now? She knew no one here in Borteen, unless you considered the brief encounter with the shy attractive man on the beach. Should she just go home to face the music?

Working herself into a panic with her uncomfortable thoughts, Silvie didn’t want to go back to Quarry Cottage just yet and opted instead for a tour of the coffee shops in Borteen.

Even though the coffee wasn’t the best she’d found in the town, she loved the little beach café on the promenade with its view of the sea on one side and the high street on the other. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, the air scented with baking and coffee. The chair moulded comfortably around her like the hug she so desperately needed.

She’d chosen a table where she could hear and see the waves tumbling up the beach as the tide came in. The antics of the seagulls, swooping low over the water, occasionally diving into the surf and sitting on the railings outside of the café, seemingly chatting to each other, amused her for a while. She read, or rather stared at a page in the novel she’d taken out of her backpack, glancing up at regular intervals when anyone different came near to her table, just in case …”

Biography for Morton S. Gray

Morton lives with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K. She has been reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first attempt at a novel aged fourteen. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and The Society of Authors.

Morton’s latest release is Christmas at the Little Beach Café published as an e-book and audio download on 17 November 2020.

Run away to the little beach café this Christmas …

Five years ago at Christmas, solicitor Justin Sadler made the decision to leave his comfortable existence behind and move to the coast. Since then, he’s tried his best to ignore the festive season and, as he sits in the little beach café and reflects on that fateful night when his life was turned upside down, he expects his fifth Christmas alone to be no different to any of the others since he made his escape.

But when he encounters a mystery woman on the beach, he soon realises he may have found a fellow runaway and kindred spirit. Could Justin finally be ready to move on and let Christmas into his life again?

Her debut novel The Girl on the Beach was published after she won the Choc Lit Publishing Search for a Star competition. This story follows a woman with a troubled past as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her son’s new headteacher, Harry Dixon. The book is available as a paperback and e-book.

Morton’s second book for Choc Lit The Truth Lies Buried is another romantic suspense novel, The book tells the story of Jenny Simpson and Carver Rodgers as they uncover secrets from their past. This book is available as an e-book, paperback and audiobook.

Christmas at Borteen Bay was Morton’s first Christmas novella. It is set in her fictional seaside town of Borteen and follows the story of Pippa Freeman, who runs the Rose Court Guesthouse with her mother, and local policeman Ethan Gibson, as they unravel a family secret as Christmas approaches.

Bestselling Sunny Days on the Beach, is her fourth novel for Choc Lit. Again set in Borteen, this book is the story of what happens when craft shop owner, Mandy Vanes takes in an abandoned teenager, Nick Crossten and the repercussions when Graham Frankley, a gin distiller, arrives in town to say he has received a letter telling him he is Nick’s father.

Morton previously worked in the electricity industry in committee services, staff development and training. She has a Business Studies degree and is a fully qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina acupressure massage and energy field therapy. She enjoys crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.

You can catch up with Morton on her website www.mortonsgray.com, on

Twitter – @MortonSGray, her Facebook page – Morton S. Gray Author – https://www.facebook.com/mortonsgray/ and

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/morton_s_gray/

Purchasing links for The Girl on the Beach at http://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/the-girl-on-the-beach/ e-book and paperback

Purchasing links for The Truth Lies Buried at http://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/the-truth-lies-buried/ e-book, audio and paperback.

Purchasing links for Christmas in Borteen Bay at https://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/christmas-at-borteen-bay/ e-book and audio

Purchasing links for Sunny Days on the Beach at https://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/sunny-days-at-the-beach/ e-book, audio and paperback

Purchasing links for Christmas at the Little Beach Café at https://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/christmas-at-the-little-beach-cafe/ e-book and

Thank you so much for coming on again, Morton. Hope the book soars!

Love,

Georgia x