Books and Friends

One of the really great things about being a writer is that I get to meet some really great peple who are also writers.  In fact I get to meet so great people who are also great writers.

And those great people prove how great they are by giving me copies of their books.

So this is what arrived in the mail this week.

I've known Julie Cohen since  - well, I can't quite recall exactly when but I know we met at the RNA Conference before she was ever published. I  was thrilled to share the celebrations of her first ever Mills & Boon Modern Extra, Featured Attraction and the other books she had published with them and then Little Black Dress. I've watched her career grow as she moved on the bigger books -  Getting Away with It and The Summer of Living Dangerously.  I've even taught  a weekend course with  her in Leicester - and had a great time doing so.

And I've been waiting to read this new book ever since Julie told me all about it. Well, not all  - she didn't tell me how it all works out and I didn't want her to. That's part of the pleasure of reading it for myself. 

Claire and Ben are the perfect couple. But behind the glossy façade, they’ve been desperately trying – and failing – to have a baby for years. Now, the stress and feelings of loss are taking their toll on their marriage. Claire’s ready to give up hope and get on with her life, but Ben is not. And then Ben’s best friend, Romily, offers to conceive via artificial insemination and carry the baby for them.
Romily acts in good faith, believing it will be easy to be a surrogate. She’s already a single mother, and has no desire for any more children. Except that being pregnant with Ben’s child stirs up all sorts of emotions in her, including one she’s kept hidden for a very long time: Ben’s the only man she’s ever loved.
Two mothers—and one baby who belongs to both of them, and which only one of them can keep.

So the other books on my TBR pile are going to have to be put aside for a while - sorry Robert Goddard, Diane Chamberlain . . . The Edna O'Brian and Billy Joel biographies are going to have to wait - even the book on Perkin Warbeck that I'm half way through. All I can say is that I'm glad I'd finished Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) and The Good Father (Noah Hawley) before this arrived. Otherwise I'd have had a real problem.

So if I'm missing for a few days - you'll know the reason why.

Thanks Julie!