So much to catch up on!

It has been shockingly long since my last post that you probably thought I'd given up on blogging or that I had no news to share. I've had loads of news but what I haven't had is time. So I'm going to give an update on the last 3.5 months...

MARCH& APRIL

I went away to my happy place – The Lake District – with my family for the Easter fortnight. It was our 4th stay in a lovely holiday cottage on the edge of Keswick Town Centre. I had quite a few days booked in the diary for research meetings and visits but, around those, we were determined to get out and about to a few places we haven't been before.

I'll tell you more about my research around the release of the third book in my Escape to the Lakes series on 3rd September as I don't want to give any spoilers. It's called The Best is Yet to Come and I should be able to share a cover reveal with you very soon. We always share cover reveals with newsletter subscribers first so, if you're not signed up to my newsletter, you might want to do so here.

We didn't have many days of sunshine/blue sky while we were in the Lakes but it wouldn't be the stunning landscape that it is without a spot (or several) of rain.

Our first new-to-us place to visit was Loweswater on one of the only sunny days. We were aiming for a lakeside walk but missed the turning mentioned in the guidebook and pulled into the wrong stopping point which took us on a walk above the lake. As it happens, I think this was a serendipitous error as the views from above the lake were so pretty.

The hubby took this fabulous panoramic photo of me which showcases the view.

A second new-to-us place was Stockgill Force in Ambleside. We've visited Ambleside loads of times and had never noticed the sign pointing to 'waterfalls' but hubby follows a photographer called Black Crag who posts walks on YouTube. He usually gets high into the falls but he'd been doing some round towns and low level walks while recovering from an injury and he did the walk from Ambleside. It looked lovely so we did it too and I highly recommend it. I also have no idea how we missed the 'waterfalls' signs before as they are prominent! It was a bit muddy in parts but I really enjoyed it as I do love a waterfall and there were several of them on this walk, although my photos really don't do it justice.

The final new-to-us place was the beautiful village of Elterwater (one word) near Ambleside, by the lake of Elter Water (two words). I completely fell in love with this chocolate box pretty village surrounded by the Langdale Pikes. A couple of photos to share but, as you can see, it was an extremely dull day so the photos are somewhat dull too. Believe me, it's lovely!

Hubby's pics were far better than mine...

Hubby and I did a walk all the way round Derwent Water with Ella (our sprocker spaniel) which, door-to-door from our cottage, is about 13 miles so quite a trek. Again, the weather wasn't great but there were only moments of rain rather than rain following us all the way round. Photo credit to the hubby for all of these.

If you've read A Breath of Fresh Air, the house behind me in the second picture features in there when Amber and Rosie take a walk past the foot of Cat Bells.

Check out that wonky jetty. It was damaged in a storm last year and I thought it was so fascinating that I've given it a cameo appearance in The Best is Yet to Come so watch out for it in September!

And, of course, the Centenary Stone (aka the hundred year stone) features in The Start of Something Wonderful.

There's a storage shed not far from the southern tip of Derwent Water which always fascinates me. It has a bear in the window which someone once dropped and which was never reclaimed. People send postcards and letters to the bear. The storyteller cogs are whirring about where I might be able to use this one in a book somewhere!

One of my lovely writing friends, Helen Phifer, lives in Cumbria so we met up in Bowness-on-Windermere for a cuppa. The hotel had an amazing position overlooking Windermere but I was a tad disappointed that they weren't serving cake and had to settle for hot chocolate only.

I returned from the Lakes straight into finishing the first draft of The Best is Yet to Come. (When I say first draft, I mean the version I've worked on and edited myself but it's the first time my editor sees it) so it soon felt like I could do with another holiday!

MAY & JUNE

May was incredibly busy with a publication day, a book completed, a trip to London and a family holiday (a relaxing one, this time - not one where I needed to do research and work!)

Publication day was for A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge which is the second book in the Bumblebee Barn Collection but can work as a standalone story. It's one of my personal favourites and I'm thrilled that, at the time of writing this, it has nearly 450 reviews/ratings with a 4.7 star average. Thank you for all the book love!

I have a lot of owl merch so I took it outside on a sunny day for a photoshoot. Might have been a bit too bright as there were shadows everywhere, but I hope you enjoy my owls. The third photo is my crafting one with a pot owl I painted many years ago and a needlecelted barn owl I made.

Thank you so much to all the amazing bloggers who took part in the tour for A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge. As most of the tour happened while I was away or in my editing cave, I've only just caught up on the posts and really appreciate all the kind comments. Thank you to Rachel Gilbey of Rachel's Random Resources for organising another amazing tour.

The first book from the Bumblebee Barn Collection – Healing Hearts at Bumblebee Barn – went into branches of The Works nationwide. It's sold out online but you will probably still find copies in your local store. I nipped into mine to sign them but they'd already sold half of them! Check me out with my bee scarf, especially for the occasion.

The London trip was dual purpose. I was delighted to hear the news that The Start of Something Wonderful was one of five finalists in the Romantic Novel of the Year 2024 Awards, contemporary category, run by the Romantic Novelists' Association of which I'm a member.

The Awards were on the Monday night but I travelled down on the Sunday and met up for tea with a university friend who lives in London. I had a little walk by the River Thames on the Monday morning for a photo shoot with my book. I'd done the same when Snowflakes Over The Starfish Cafe was shortlisted two years earlier, although that had been in March and the weather wasn't great, so it was lovely to have blue sky.

I had lunch with my editor, Nia, which was lovely and we paused for a photo opportunity afterwards. Check out me on brand with my Boldwood orange scarf.

The Awards ceremony on the evening was fabulous and it was great to meet some of the fellow Boldwood Books nominees who I hadn't previously met or had met but hadn't had a chance to chat to.

Anton Du Beke from Strictly fame was presenting the awards. I didn't win and I was going to do a walk-by selfie but Nia took me over to meet Anton and have a photo which made my night as he was so lovely. Huge congratulations to Maxine Morrey who won the Romantic Comedy award, bringing a win home for Boldwood.

The following day, I changed venue to south of the river for our annual Boldwood Books Summer Party at Fulham Palace, celebrating our impending fifth birthday. The last couple of years, we've been able to get outdoors in the gardens but rain kept play inside and it was a bit warm. I didn't get around nearly as many authors as I'd hoped – the three hours just flew – but it was lovely to chat to those I did manage to get to. Here's just a small selection of the photos from the evening.

Write Romantics – Alexandra Weston, Jo Bartlett, Helen Rolfe, Jessica Redland

The 'B' cupcakes were to die for!

Me, Jo and Helen with Diane Saxon

Our CEO, Amanda Ridout

Alexandra Walsh, me and Maxine Morrey

Me with Lisa Hobman

I returned from London, desperately trying to finish my edits on The Best is Yet to Come and then went on our family holiday to Tenerife the next day. What a whirlwind! We didn't get the best weather – several overcast but muggy days and one absolute scorcher but it was lovely to have a non-writing break.

I returned immediately to second edits so it was straight back into my editing cave and I've been trying to play catch-up ever since on everything I had to ignore while I was editing.

Over the weekend just gone, it was the Books by the Beach festival in Scarborough and I attended three talks – David Nicholls, author of One Day among others, debut fiction author Jennie Godfrey, and debut non-fiction author Sophie Elmhirst. All three were really interesting to listen to and I'm looking forward to reading their books.

My bestie, author Sharon Booth, joined me for Jennie and Sophie's talks and we met up with our good friend and author Eliza J Scott the following day for a catch up so I had a lovely few writerly days.

Which brings us up to date. Phew! Apologies for the enormous news dump in the one post but I hope you enjoyed the photos. As for what's coming up next, there'll be a cover reveal as mentioned for The Best is Yet to Come and I'm about to start writing the final book in the Bumblebee Barn Collection which will hopefully be out in January 2025, all being well. A few clues in the book as to what it might be about …

Wishing you a fabulous end of June and, if you're in the UK, pop the heating on and get your brolly out. Isn't this weather grim?

Big hugs

Jessica xx