Festive Guest Post: Christmas: a time of happy bawling by Lucy Robinson

Christmas:  a time of happy bawling by Lucy Robinson

Christmas: a time of smiling and laughter! Merriment and joy! Or, in my case, repeated and persistent bawling. I can't help it. Generally, I start crying on December 1st, which is the date on which I think it reasonable to crack out the Kings College Carols album. I put it on and I listen to that little boy singing the opening verse of Once in Royal David's City, and I'm completely done for. And I'm not talking a brimful eye, I'm talking proper, sobbing, ugly-crying. The works! 

The following are also guaranteed to bring about wailing:

- The smell of Christmas trees

- The sight of the very bad Christmas star that my housemate and I made years ago when we both had broken hearts

- Nativity plays (I played Mary when I was seven. It was a big deal. I had to sing FIVE solos)

- The smell of Christmas cake mixture

- The Snowman. (The old version. I don't need to watch it to start crying - just writing about it has set me off!)

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I'm sure you're getting the gist. I am a compulsive Christmas crier, and each year it gets worse. 

So what the chuff is going on? One simple word: nostalgia. Nostalgia meant little to me until I reached the age of twenty-four, when all this crying began. Prior to that age I was too closely connected to my childhood to feel that gut-wrenching happy-sadness that now assails me when I remember it all. Now, though, at the ripe age of thirty-four, I find that when one of those corridors to my past is opened by an unsuspecting little something - a smell, a tune, a decoration - I have little option but to cry it out. 

I'm lucky to be able to cry happily at Christmas. I'm lucky that my memories involve innocent things like the magic of candlelight and carols; walks in the woods and family lunches with the dogs and cats trying to steal our food. Many of the tears shed by others at Christmas are for sadder reasons, and for that reason I always make a quiet donation to charity. No fuss, no names, and often only a few quid when I've been really hard up - but enough to remind me how lucky I am to be able to have good things to cry over at this time of year. 

!!Festive Giveaway Time!!

For a chance to win a signed copy of my latest book, THE UNFINISHED SYMPHONY OF YOU AND ME - which seems to have brought tears to many eyes (although lots of laughter too, so don't worry) tell me what makes you cry at Christmas. Happy tears or sad tears - join me in my festive bawling and win a book!

Lucy Robinson x x

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A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stranger

Title: A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stranger

Author: Lucy Robinson

Publication Date: 31st January 2013

Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: Francesca Russell - Thank You ever so much for my copy!

Charley Lambert has put considerable effort into achieving a perfect life. She has the job. The wardrobe. And the flat. Her womanizing, junk food-loving housemate Sam lowers the tone a bit but that aside, things are peachy.  Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her unrequited love propose to someone else and - worst of all - is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy while she recovers.

Workaholic Charley fears that she will soon go mad. Desperate for something to do, she discovers her talent for helping the lovelorn online. And then William arrives in her inbox. Within hours of  his first email, her world starts to change. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with this man and begins to realise that she's not who she thought she was.

But will she be brave enough to turn her back on her old life - all for a total stranger?

Now I am new fan of Lucy Robinson's books, this being the first book I have read by Her and I LOVED it! A true Chick Lit Book it is indeed!
I have to Thank Francesca Russell @ Penguin for sending me a copy of this wonderful book. When I got my copy, I just loved the book cover straight away  looked very cute.

We meet the ever so lovely Charley Lambert a workaholic who has the perfect job, wardrobe and a flat who she shares with her womanizing junk food-loving Sam. However one day Charley ends up breaking her leg in three places and her boss comes to visit her in hospital and is told to take 3 months off work, She must give her job role to her horrible deputy just while she recovers.

Charley thinks she will go still crazy, so she discovers her talent for helping people who are looking for love online. Then a ever so handsome stranger arrives in her inbox going by the name of William, after a few email exchanges, she starts to have feelings for him but then begins to realise that she isn't who she thought she was..

I really did enjoy this book so so much, I was giggling at every page, Charley is definitely a great character for this book, I felt I could relate to her about the workaholic business thing, I do that sometimes. I Loved the chemistry between her and Sam. They are such great friends and end up helping each other in their dating business, which was fantastic, had me laughing at every moment.

All the characters were brilliant in this, They were all such a mixed bunch but however I loved them all, They all stood out in their own ways. Charley was definitely a favourite for me! Sam just seemed such a laid back kinda bloke who just sat on his ass. . . but all that changed hehe which I loved to read and see what happened.  I loved the moments with William and Shelley, They will have you laughing out loud.

This book was written beautifully by Lucy and was definitely a favourite for me. I will certainly be reading more books by Lucy in the future now.A Must read for everyone who loves chick lit books, It will have you laughing every chapter and leaving you wanting more. A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stranger comes out 31st January..Keep your eyes pealed for this one.

January Releases

To kick start 2013 I thought I'd share some wonderful new books that are coming out this month! A lot of romantic and valentine ones which I fore one cannot wait to get my hands on hehe! In this blog post I shall share all the new releases that have come out already or due to come out any time soon in this month.
I will give you my opinions on what I think about the book covers and whether I will be grabbing copies of all the books.

To Kick start the first book to come out this month was Sheryl Browne's A Little Bit Of Madness, Now I am a big fan of Sheryl's books and she is also a lovely down to earth author and I am happy to be part of her book tour which is next month hehe!

These next set of books came out round about the same time! I Purchased two of the books myself the other week, I got Eleanor Moran The Last Time I Saw You and Julie Ashton The Valentine's Card. I picked them both because the covers and blurbs looked and sounded great and I needed a pick me up so I thought Eleanor Moran's book could give me feelings about how I cherish my friendship with my best friend ever so much. I needed a new chick lit romantic book and with Valentine's day just pretty much around the corner I knew The Valentine's Card by Julie Ashton would be perfect hehe!

A lovely book that I got sent by Ally Grant publisher of Simon & Schuster who was kind enough to send me a copy of Ali Harris' new release The First Last Kiss, First time I saw this book, I just knew I had to have a copy, I loved the cover and the blurb just sounded ever so romantic hehe.

All of the other books do have great covers and blurbs and I will end up purchasing them at one stage definitely!

Now coming to end of January we have some wonderful new releases that I think will wet everyone's taste for new books. Here they are:

I cannot wait for these lovely new releases to come out! Although I have already read Lucy Robinson's A Passionate Love Affair With A Total Stranger and I loved It! It was my first book by her and it was amazing, I shall be reading more books by Lucy definitely! I have also sneakily purchased Nick Spalding's new book Love. . . From Both Sides for my Kindle, It was cheap enough and have also bought the next follow on book to it as well hehe!

Also another new release that came out on the 22nd of this month was by Vivien Sparx The Falcon Falls, Now If you haven't read any of her books then I say you must do now!
 
 She is a superb lovely author who always has time for her fans and her books are amazing. If you love erotic romantic novels then you will certainly love her books. I have my copy of The Falcon Falls and I cannot wait to start it, Shortly I will be running a competition for you all to win a e-copy of The Falcon Falls courtesy of Vivien herself.

Now everyone, which books are you most looking forward to reading or have already bought and read? Please let me know!
xox