Hi folks,
Hope you’ve got your presents wrapped, your cards written and your sprouts on! If you haven’t, take a moment to have a breather, pour a Baileys and sit down.
Here’s my yearly round up of goodly things, news and recommended reads.
I’ll gloss over the first part of the year as I wasn’t well and wasn’t functioning properly. However, February cheered up a little with New Beginnings at Lullbury Bay coming out.
Securing some lovely doggie day care and boarding meant we could whizz off on a few days out and weekends away. In June we visited Boscastle in Cornwall. Having visited The Witch Museum as a little girl, I was keen to return. It was a disquieting experience of which I’ll blog about more in the new year.
We also risked the very narrowest of south Devon’s country lanes and stayed in Beesands. A truly tranquil spot – once we’d got there!
August meant the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference. It was a wonderful to be with writer friends again and I was chuffed to come second in the Elizabeth Goodge Trophy.
September saw us taking advantage of the dog boarding we’d found and jetting off to Corfu, an island I’ve longed to visit ever since reading Mary Stewart’s This Rough Magic aged fourteen! I’m glad to say the place lived up to expectations and we’re hoping to return next year.

To reinvigorate my writing mojo, I went on a writing retreat in November which coincided with the winter’s first snowfall. To be in an astonishingly pretty north Devon village in heavy snow was magical but I was glad most had gone by the time I drove home – and just before Storm Darragh wreaked havoc.
I honestly can’t remember much TV, although have enjoyed Only Murders in the Building and the ITV documentary about the Post Office scandal was riveting. The Rivals was okay but fatally miscast and lately I’ve become addicted to old reruns of Gray’s Anatomy, with the added bonus of Dr McDreamy! Strictly’s been great this year, with a fabulous final and a worthy winner.
Books I’ve enjoyed?
Continuing with the Greek theme, I love Emma Cowell’s emotional Greek-set books, and this year read One Last Letter from Greece. Recommended. Can’t wait for Under the Lemon Tree. Out next May.
I’ve recently found Gill Paul (via a book borrowed from my mum) and devoured Scandalous Women and The Affair. I’m currently reading The Collector’s Daughter. As with another writer, Liz Fielding, I always feel I’m in safe hands with Gill Paul. Readable, entertaining and so page-turning.
A recommendation on Twitter/X saw me reading Harriet Evans’ The Wildflowers. The sprawling saga of a family of actors had me totally engrossed. I loved it so much it was nearly my book of the year.
Having discovered Syd Moore last year, I bought The Grand Illusion in hardback as I couldn’t wait to read it. A tricksy WW2 espionage thriller with added supernatural elements it was a book you had to concentrate on as nothing was as it seemed! Glorious.
This year’s discovery (to me) is Sally Page. Having read The Secrets of Flowers, I gobbled up the superb The Keeper of Stories and was glued to the audiobook version of The Book of Beginnings. Sally Page’s books glory in the ordinary but are little jewels. She has a turn of phrase which is breathtaking.
I’ve also really loved Nicola Cornick’s The Other Gwyn Girl and Kathleen McGurl’s The Lost Child, both in my favourite dual story timeline genre.
My Book of the Year? So hard to choose but it’s Barbara Erskine’s The Story Spinner. Another dual story. A new Barbara Erskine book is always eagerly anticipated, and I thought, with this one, she returned to her writing roots. Set in a part of the world I know well, it was the story of Elen, a Welsh princess promised to a Roman general and Cadi, a modern-day writer. Spooky, full of atmosphere and history, it’s my favourite Barbara Erskine book for some time. I loved it and the hardback is a thing of beauty. They may be pricey, but a hardback book is such a treat.
I hope you’ve found some ideas for recommended reads (or gift ideas if you’re quick).
It only remains for me to wish you a Very Happy Christmas and New Year and to thank you all for buying, reading, reviewing and sharing my books. Without you I couldn’t do it.
Here’s to a fabulous, book-filled 2025!
Love,
Georgia x