Theatre & Steam

This week I’ve been working on the audiobook of my emotional but uplifting friendship novel Three Perfect Gifts, excellently narrated by Cindy Palmer. It’s proved to be a challenging process - all the sections that made me cry when I was writing them made me cry again as I listened to the lovely Cindy read them. So it’s turning out to be an intense week. I’ve now submitted it to ACX so it should be out as an audiobook sometime in May.

Plus, in exciting news, Three Perfect Gifts is this weekend's FREE Kindle. Simply PERFECT for your weekend.

After our holiday, I’ve done some actual writing to The Music of Flowers. Fleur’s understanding of magic is about to face a huge sea-change. As, I imagine is mine. Anyway, I’m now at 69,000 words, and the flowers are speaking to Fleur for the first time. She’s going to discover some very important things about her past choices very soon …

NEW this week! Dark & spicy MM romance For One Night Only is now available as an audiobook narrated by Everett Sterling. I have Audible vouchers for a FREE LISTEN if you are in the US or UK.

Meanwhile, here’s another reader who has a soft spot for my magician in The Honeymaker's Daughter. Me too, lovely reader, me too, thank you. 🥰

I’ve received a new 5-star review for the audiobook of spicy MM romance School for Doms - the perfect blend of story and narrator. 🤩

Your weekly poem is The Courage of the Hydrangea, from A Fragile Map & Other Poems. Because Nature is stronger than we imagine.

This week I’ve read Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney: this book takes the classic Agatha Christie trapped people story and turns it on its head in a very gripping way. I really liked Daisy, the heroine, and her thoughts about family are top-notch and supremely sharp. It's certainly a very complicated family and the shifting relationships between them are excellent. Yes, the plot is standard but the people are the most important thing in this book. That said, I found the ending something of a let-down, even in spite of the drama & darkness of it all. Still, for most of the novel, it's a very good read.

I’ve also enjoyed my favourite play ever, Macbeth (what else?!) at the theatre. I don’t think it was the best production ever and they needed to let all those glorious & powerful words speak without trying too hard. But the second half was better, and the ‘Tomorrow’ speech was particularly well done. And, of course, a couple of hours in the presence of Macbeth is always time well spent, in my view.

On Friday we had great fun at the Watercress Line Spring Gala, yay! The tiny red engine with the men in top hats in it was built in 1863!

And we have our first crop from the cutting garden - these are ranunculus flowers:

I now have 323 newsletter subscribers so a big thank you, everyone. Have a lovely week. And, if you possibly can, please consider buying one of my books, thank you!

Anne Brooke Books