Mavis and Dot

by Angela Petch

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA

A warm slice of life, funny, feel-good, yet poignant. Introducing two eccentric ladies who form an unlikely friendship. Meet Mavis and Dot – two colorful, retired ladies who live in Worthington-on-Sea, where there are charity shops galore. Apart from bargain hunting, they manage to tangle themselves in escapades involving illegal immigrants, nightclubs, nude modeling, errant toupees and more. And then there’s Mal, the lovable dog who nobody else wants. A gently humorous, often side-splitting, heart-warming snapshot of two memorable characters with past secrets and passions. Escape for a couple of hours into this snapshot of a faded, British seaside town. You’ll laugh and cry but probably laugh more.

“This book is quirky and individual, and has great pathos…[it] will resonate with a lot of readers.” Gill Kaye – Editor of Ingenu(e).

Written with a light touch in memory of a dear friend who passed away from ovarian cancer, Angela Petch’s seaside tale is a departure from her successful Tuscan novels.

All profits from the sale of the books will go towards research into the cure for cancer.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

They had a good scavenge in the charity shop. Dot found a pair of crotchless tights and held them up to the window to see if there were any ladders. Mavis hurried over and snatched them away. ‘You don’t want those, surely? They’re… you know…’ Dot snatched them back. ‘Yes, I do. Very sensible, comfortable and with draughts in the right places.’ ‘They’re from Ann Summers,’ Mavis said, lowering her voice. ‘Who’s she?’ ‘It’s a brand for – for –’ Mavis searched for an explanation, conscious of the grinning youth rifling through a pile of LPs on a nearby shelf. ‘They’re for entertaining, Dot…’ ‘What are you talking about? I never throw dinner parties these days.’

She pouted and twirled, then swept her untidy curls up with a fuchsia hairband from the Pound Shop. It was a little on the tight side but, as well as keeping her hair off her face, it had the same effect as a facelift, pulling her eyebrows up and back into a permanent look of surprise. Why people went to the bother of having painful operations at exorbitant prices to remove wrinkles, when they could buy a cheap hair-band to achieve the same effect was beyond her comprehension.

‘I’ve got a gateau here to share – reduced for quick sale.’ He held out a chocolate cake decorated with one half of a bridal couple arranged on top. ‘The Baker’s Dozen let me have this cheap because the bride changed her mind the day before the big event and apparently picked up the marzipan groom and stamped on him in the shop.’

She offered him a biscuit and he declined. ‘I have to watch my figure, Mave.’ ‘So do I,’ she said, popping a whole fig roll into her mouth. ‘I watch it grow.’

‘Goodie! I could do with a new fornicator,’ Mavis said. Lance snorted. ‘Do what?’ ‘A fornicator,’ repeated Mavis. ‘You know – a sort of frou-frou thingummybob to wear on the head.’ His eyes widened. ‘Well, I’ve not heard about that in all my experience of kinky doings.’ ‘What on earth are you on about, Lance? I’m going to my niece’s wedding after Christmas and I need a fornicator to finish off my outfit. Something in scarlet to go with my new dress.’ ‘Oh!’ laughed Lance. ‘I think you mean a fascinator.

Dot tutted and peeled off her cotton gloves. ‘Let’s pretend to be ladylike for one hour at least. Please, Mavis.’ Mavis took a swig of the fizzy wine, making sure to stick out her little finger as she held the glass.

My Review:

Mavis and Dot was found treasure and I fell right into this delightful and cleverly written tale, laced with witty and wry humor, and featuring two newly acquainted elderly spinsters both recently relocated to their small village.  Mavis was short and rotund while Dot was tall and thin.  Both were penny-pinching skinflints and the only thing they enjoyed more than a good tipple was finding bargains and planned junking jaunt outings to the second-hand rummage stores, church jumbles, and charity shops.  The outfits Mavis put together from her finds were quite colorful although prone to be ill-fitting, haphazardly patched, and rather outlandish, which led to her being mistaken for a drag queen on one of her evening escapades.

Each and every one of Ms. Petch’s quirky characters was deliciously peculiar and colorfully drawn. I adored them to no end.  Yet I loved Mavis the most and without reservation, as she was so fun to envision and had such sass and bravado.  Mavis also had a tendency to muddle her words, which provided me with more than a few giggle-snorts – such as when she confused agoraphobics for aerobics, fornicator for fascinator, tepee for toupee, and anti-backups for antibiotics.

Angela Petch is a new discovery for me and I found her writing to be refreshingly crisp and packed with clever levity and amusing wit.  The storylines were bright and shiny and cunningly crafted.  Her writing was skillfully amusing yet also poignant and keenly insightful.  Her artful narratives were vividly detailed with humorous and revealing observations that had me laughing aloud and kept a near-constant smirk on my face while I soaked up Mavis’ daring antics, rich fantasy life, fuzzy interpretations, and lusty daydreams.  I adored these eccentric yet highly appealing characters as they fascinated me and left me desirous of knowing every little thing about them.

I hit the mother-load for new additions to my Brit vocabulary list with manky (dirty, worthless, or rotten), faff (waste of time or energy), punnet (a small shallow basket often used for fruit and vegetables), and Knickerbocker Glory, which is an ice cream sundae in a tall glass.

Does it need saying that Angela Petch has a new and scarily rabid fangirl?  I sincerely hope she doesn’t startle easily…

Author Bio

A prize-winning author, Angela Petch lives half the year in West Sussex and the summer months in a remote valley in the Tuscan Apennines. She recently signed a two-book deal with Bookouture for her Tuscan novels and “Mavis and Dot” is a temporary departure from her usual genre. She has traveled all her life: born in Germany, she spent six years as a child living in Rome, worked in Amsterdam after finishing her degree in Italian, moved to Italy for her job, then to Tanzania for three years. Her head is full of stories and she always carries a pen and notebook to capture more ideas.

In May 2017, Angela Petch won PRIMA’S monthly short story competition and recently had a dozen stories published by The People’s Friend magazine.

“Mavis and Dot” was written in memory of a dear friend who lost her battle with ovarian cancer. All profits from sales of the book will go towards research into a cure for cancer.

LINKS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelaJaneClarePetch/

Twitter: @Angela_Petch

Website: https://angelapetchsblogsite.wordpress.com

TUSCAN NOVELS

    “Tuscan Roots” (to be reissued by Bookouture in 2019) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tuscan-Roots-tangle-Italian-Apennines-ebook/dp/B01DDQDMDE/

“Now and Then in Tuscany” – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-Then-Tuscany-Italian-journeys-ebook/dp/B06Y8Y17MG

MAVIS AND DOT

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07JM3KJSB

https://mybook.to/MDot 

Out of the Dark

by Josie Kerr

Amazon / B&N

Daniel Beaujardin spent fifteen years serving his country in the United States Marine Corps until a roadside bomb ended his military career. When a former teammate offers him a job in Atlanta, Dan, left scarred and partially blind from the accident, jumps at the opportunity for a fresh start.

Three years after his partner’s death, Alexander Westport is still simply going through the motions. Work, softball practice, and the occasional family dinner is how he spends his time, but Alex knows he’s not really living.

An anonymous encounter at a local gay club first brings Dan and Alex together, and after a second chance meeting, the men strike up a friendship that quickly turns romantic. When professional and personal troubles threaten their fledgling relationship, Dan and Alex learn battles fought together are won more easily than those faced alone.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

I know you’ve always liked eyes. You have since I caught you kissing that photo of Elijah Wood when you were fourteen.

My Review:

Sizzle and snap – this book was a scorcher, it started off steamy then bloomed into a tender sweet love story between two lonely, mature, and swoon-worthy men. Sigh, why do all the best ones bat for the other team? I adored this couple, they were extra special and Ms. Kerr has created an engaging, heart squeezing, and insightful story to showcase them while kicking off her new series. What a bold move to start off with an M/M romance as an anchor, although the storylines easily meshed and connected with her DS Fight Club crew. I enjoy her unique brand of clever and snarky levity and thoughtful and emotive HEA tales.

Josie Kerr   

Tales from the Pays d’Oc

by Patricia Feinberg Stoner

Amazon US / UK 

Twenty-one tales of life, love, and laughter in the land of sun and vines.  

What is Matthieu doing up an olive tree?  Why won’t Joséphine ever eat pizza again? Who went four by fourth? And who rescued two hapless Americans at Armageddon Falls?

Travel to the Languedoc, feel the scorch of the sun on your shoulders, smell the dust and the lavender and the ripening grapes and follow the adventures of the Saturday Club and the regulars at l’Estaminet.

In this collection of stories, Patricia Feinberg Stoner revisits the territory of her memoir, ‘At Home in the Pays d’Oc’ with a whole host of new and familiar characters.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Any big, butch vehicle with large knobbly tyres and an excess of mud flaps would set his eyes a-spark, but what he really loved were Land Rovers. And by Land Rovers, of course, he meant Series and Defenders. Not for him the high-falutin’ Range Rover, nor the serviceable but still sleek Discovery – these he called Bland Rovers, and he treated them with disdain.

Morbignan la Crèbe, a small village in the Languedoc…

Principal industry, winter and summer: gossip.

Secondary industry: wine.

Today Jeannette and her husband were coming to stay, and bringing the new baby. On the whole, Gaston approved of the fact that the baby was grey and white and fluffy rather than pink and squalling. As a grandfather of seven he was blasé about small humans, but dogs he loved.

Perhaps this was a teeny exaggeration, but Matthieu was never one to let a few facts spoil a good story.

The ladies of the village clung to their old ways: tightly-permed heads in steel grey or the eye-watering auburn universally referred to as menopause red.

My Review:

Being a complete Philistine, I had no idea what or where the Pays d’Oc was, so I went to the source of all things – Mr. Google – who informed me it is a very productive wine region along the Mediterranean coast.   I like wine, and I like Mediterraneans, so it seemed like a good fit. This was a collection of amusing and inter-related short stories featuring a large cast of international characters and their precocious pets.   Each well-written story was laced with clever humor and delightful observations. My favorites were The Boar Wars and those involving the precious little dogs named Visitor and Useless.

About Patricia Feinberg Stoner

Patricia Feinberg Stoner is a former journalist, advertising copywriter, and publicist. For four years she and her husband were accidental expatriates in the Languedoc, southern France.  During that time she wrote a series of magazine articles which eventually became her first book about the Languedoc: ‘At Home in the Pays d’Oc.’

Now back in the UK, she lives with her husband in the pretty West Sussex village of Rustington, where Michael Flanders encountered a gnu and the mobility scooter is king. 

 She spends much of her time writing short stories and comic verses. Her first book, ‘Paw Prints in the Butter’, is a collection of comic poems for cat lovers and is sold in aid of a local animal charity.  In 2017 she published her second book of comic verse: ‘The Little Book of Rude Limericks’.

In the autumn of 2018, Patricia returns to the locale of ‘At Home in the Pays d’Oc’ with a new collection of stories: ‘Tales from the Pays d’Oc’.

Patricia welcomes visitors to her Facebook page (Paw Prints in the Butter) and to her blog www.paw-prints-in-the-butter.com.

You may occasionally find her on Twitter @perdisma.

My Quickie Wedding

by Christie Ridgway

Amazon / B&N

Instant. Attraction.

It heats the blood, causes the heart to race, and messes with the making of rational decisions. A person, may, for example, find themselves saying “I do” to a near-stranger on an impulsive overnight in Sin City.

The next morning, an aghast Connor Montgomery and Jojo Thatcher stare at each other over the tangled bed sheets. How had this happened? Neither is eager to acknowledge they followed a reckless urge and got hitched. Surely, it’s a bad nightmare.

Or maybe, just maybe, the beginning of a dream come true.

My Quickie Wedding is book three in the Heartbreak Hotel series and is a STANDALONE NOVELLA.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

That aghast expression would make any man take off, even as he’d briefly hoped—like an idiot—that the previous hours had all been a teenage-style wet dream followed by the kind of nightmare where you had to take a test buck naked in a language you’d never studied.

I’m your time and place, Jojo. I’m your person to share things with, sad and happy and all that’s in between.

My Review:

This installment was fast-paced, scorching the sheets sexy, a quick and easy read, and such a pleasant way to spend the part of the afternoon. I enjoyed Jojo and Connor as a couple, the instalove trope worked perfectly for them as they had more natural chemistry than they knew what to do with. Their story moved along at a brisk pace yet even had time for brief glimpses of the previous pairings from books one and two.   The Heartbreak Hotel’s reputation for love connections remains safe and well-merited.

About the Author

Snowed In at The Little Duck Pond Café

The Little Duck Pond Cafe, Book 4

by Rosie Green

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

The biggest snowfall in years has blanketed Sunnybrook, cutting the village off from the outside world. For Fen, who finds herself snowed in at The Little Duck Pond Cafe, it’s little more than a minor inconvenience. Her love life is finally running smoothly; it looks as if she’s found the perfect man for her.

But then a shocking secret threatens to destroy Fen’s new-found happiness.

Will being snowed in be the final straw? Or will Fen find a way through the snowdrifts to the perfect love?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

‘I’ll be okay, Lellie,’ Maisie assures her earnestly. ‘Daddy says you fuss too much because you love me like I love Goldie.’ Ellie laughs and turns to Zak, who’s next to her on the sofa. Zak grins. ‘It’s true. I’m not sure anyone could love a hamster quite as much as Maisie loves Goldie.’

Most methods of contraception are found to be slightly less than wholly effective. But two thick winter coats, I can confirm, are one hundred percent foolproof.

I definitely don’t wish her any harm. A small Chinese burn, perhaps, but nothing major.

My Review:

The clever wordsmith known as Rosie Green strikes again with another sweet and entertaining installment of her Little Duck Pond series, I’ve read all four and have enjoyed each one. This somewhat angsty and heart-squeezing novella continued the freshly bloomed relationship between Fen and Rob but trouble soon surfaced (within a week) when Rob was caught in a small lie of omission, which then snowballed when he was caught in another one, and then yet another rather big one… sigh. MEN! But Fen, being rather naïve and inexperienced and prone to social anxiety and humiliation over the least little thing, was crushed and stewed in her angst, oh the drama. But what holiday season would be complete without at least a little light drama?

In addition to the Fen/Rob saga, Ms. Green also continued with ongoing events of the café and small village community. I adore the denizens of this quirky little hamlet. And instead of new Brit words for my ongoing list, today I have gleaned two unfamiliar British idioms with “gone down a storm” (well received) and “pushes the boat out” (to celebrate lavishly). I can always count on Ms. Green to further my education.

Author Bio

Rosie Green has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all, unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.

Rosie’s brand new series of novellas is centered on life in a village café. The first two stories in the series are: Spring at The Little Duck Pond Cafe and Summer at The Little Duck Pond Café.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green1988