Inspirational author Amanda Barrett's latest book, The Warsaw Sisters shines a light on an oft-forgotten corner of World War II Poland, and the true stories of ordinary individuals who fought to preserve freedom and humanity in the darkest of times.

Hi, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler, and today on Binge Reading, Amanda talks about how she excavates the forgotten fragments of history in her books and why she loves the enduring power of story.

The Warsaw Sisters tells of two women fighting against the darkness engulfing their homeland, one by entering a daring network of women sheltering Jewish children, and the other by joining the ranks of Poland's Secret Army, the Polish version of the Resistance.

As Warsaw buckles under German oppression, they must rely on the courage of ordinary people - so-called ordinary people - to resist the power of the state.

Binge Reading Thriller Giveaway

Free Books - THRILLERS R US - Mystery and Thriller Lucky Dip

Our Giveaway this week is Thrillers R Us an opportunity to get free books from a wide -ranging selection of mysteries and thrillers from many authors, including my own book, Sadie’s Vow, a San Francisco Mystery set in the mid- 19th century.

 You'll find the links for downloads for these free books in the show notes for this episode on the website, www.thejoysofbinge reading.com.

Buy me a coffee and defray production costs

And before we get to Amanda, just a reminder you can help to defray the cost of production of this episode by buying me a cup of coffee on Buymeacoffee.com/jennywheelx.

And if you enjoy the show, don't forget, leave us the reviews so others will find us too. I make this plea every time I podcast. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they would love to read.

Events and books mentioned in this episode

The Warsaw Sisters Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWyLFWfMD6nXlZrylX1eMw-SbKHz7t05P

Irena Sendler – Polish humanitarian https://irenasendler.org/

Warsaw Uprising:  https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-warsaw-polish-uprising

Polish Resistance: https://polandatwartours.com/unsung-heroes-the-brave-men-and-women-of-the-polish-resistance-during-ww2/

Dietrich Bonhoffeur’s fiancée, Maria Von Wedemeyer/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_von_Wedemeyer_Weller

Treblinka: - the concentration camp where many Warsaw Jews died.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/treblinka

Sophie Scholl: ( From The White Rose Resists,) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57008360

Amanda's books mentioned in this show:

Within These Walls of Sorrow: https://amandabarratt.net/within-these-walls-of-sorrow/

The White Rose Resists; https://amandabarratt.net/the-white-rose-resists-a-novel-of-the-german-students-who-defied-hitler/

My Dearest Dietrich: https://amandabarratt.net/my-dearest-dietrich-a-novel-of-dietrich-bonhoeffers-lost-love/

Books Amanda is reading:

Kristen Hannah, The Women, https://kristinhannah.com/books/the-women/

Jennifer L. Wright, The Girl From The Papers, (A Bonnie and Clyde story - to be released in August.)

https://jennwrightwrites.com/the-girl-from-the-papers

Where to find Amanda Barratt on line

Website: https://amandabarratt.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandabarrattauthor/

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

Introducing inspirational author Amanda Barratt

Amanda Barratt - inspirational historical fiction

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Amanda. Hello there, Amanda, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Amanda Barratt: Thank you so much. It is such a joy to be here.

Jenny Wheeler: We're talking about The Warsaw Sisters today. You've got a real track record with inspirational historical fiction. The Warsaw Sisters is set in Warsaw during the Second World War, as the ghetto is being set up, that notorious ghetto,

Rachel Hore is a UK Sunday Times bestselling author. whose latest book, The Hidden Years is the story of secrets, loss and betrayal set in Cornwall during World War ii, and then looking ahead closer to contemporary times, to the heady days of the 1960s.

Hi there. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and today on the Binge Reading Show, Rachel talks about families and their secrets, and the strange coincidences when life mirrors art in ways we can't possibly anticipate.

Our Free Books Giveaway

Our Free Books Giveaway this week is Sweet Snow Closed Door Romance, a selection of Valentine's Day love stories to round out the month, including Tangled Destiny, the prequel to my of Gold and Blood Historical Mystery series.

This offer closes February 29, so act right now. The links for where you can download those books can be found in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading.com.

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY - ROMANCE

​https://claims.prolificworks.com/gg/HRDk8Mo8mSQsBhQxhON9​

Buy Me A Coffee

Before we get to Rachel, just a reminder, you can help defray the cost of production of the show by buying me a cup of coffee on buy me a coffee.com/jennywheelx.

And if you enjoy the show, remember you can also leave us a review so others will find us too.

Word of mouth is still the best recommendation for people to find the show and great books they will love to read.

Where to find links for this episode

Rose Tremain

https://www.penguin.co.nz/books/absolutely-and-forever-9781784745202

Ann Cleeves

The Shetland series:

https://anncleeves.com/shetland/index.html

The Vera series:

https://anncleeves.com/vera/index.html

Ann Patchett:

https://www.annpatchett.com/

Paul Harding

https://www.paulhardingauthor.com/

Where to find Rachel Hore Online

Website: https://rachelhore.co.uk/

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.hore/

Introducing women's fiction author Rachel Hore

Rachel Hore - UK best selling author with over 1 million books sold

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Rachel. Hello there Rachel, and welcome to the show.

It's great to have you with us.

Rachel Hore: Thank you, Jenny. It's really good to be here.

Jenny Wheeler: Look, Rachel, I understand that The Hidden Years is your 13th novel,. Is that correct?

Rachel Hore: Yes it is. Unlucky for some, but I'm cheerful about it.

Jenny Wheeler: That's great and it, they're all in very much the same vein. You haven't been one of those authors who's jumped genres. They're character, driven family stories of upheaval and secrets.

Sometimes cross-generational, sometimes not so much in the dual timeline. I wondered how you came to identify that as maybe the area that you were most interested in writing about in the beginning?

Love of family deep and long lasting

Rachel Hore: I think it came from quite deep inside. I've always been very interested in stories of my own family. My maternal grandmother was one of those sorts of grandmothers who was the repository of tales of characters in the family.

And, of all the things that had happened, good and bad, and who was guilty and who said what to whom and so on.

I became very fascinated by that, and although the first of my books, The Dream House, wasn't about any real life family members, it was about family issues and family secrets which was my main motivation really.

Jenny Wheeler: I believe that every family has secrets. I've been a bit of an amateur genealogist myself in my time, and it's amazing when you start to dig what you discover, isn't it?

Rachel Hore: Yes it is. Some of these things might seem very ordinary, but when they're happening in your own family, they are very special. Tt's the old one, that blood is thicker than water. The links of family are very important.

But actually, people within families are always struggling to find their plac...

Jenny Wheeler: USA Today bestselling romcom author Emma St Clair loves sassy heroines, witty banter, and love stories with heart and humor. Her books have sizzling chemistry while keeping the bedroom door firmly closed.

Jenny Wheeler: Hi, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler, and today on the Binge Reading podcast, Emma talks about her crazy writing process - her favorite place to write is tapping on her phone while on the elliptical machine, believe it or not. And how she discovered she's probably ADHD - something she only realized when she was researching a story.

Free St Valentine’s Romances

Our Giveaway this week is Free Historical Romance, for St Valentine's Day, - or St Valentine's month actually. Sadie’s Vow, #1 in my Home At Last trilogy is included.

Books of mine you'll find in each offering listed below with the links to get the offer!

There's lots of other free or sale books there as well.

FREE HISTORICAL ROMANCE

kobo sale

free sweet romance

Before we get to Emma, a reminder. You can help defray the cost of the production by buying me a cup of coffee on www.buymeacoffee.com/jenny wheelx. Just a coffee a month will help!

And if you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they will love to read.

Links for Things Mentioned in the Show

Leah Brunner. Clean and sweet  Ice hockey novella: https://leahbrunner.com/

Courtney Walsh: Clean and sweet ice hockey:

https://www.amazon.com/My-Phony-Valentine-Holidays-Hart-ebook/dp/B0BTB3LPYK

Books Emma recommends:

Hello Stranger from Katherine Center.

https://katherinecenter.com/hello-stranger

Mary E. Pearson

https://www.marypearson.com/

Tana French  The Likeness

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5941114-the-likeness

Where to find Emma Online

Website: https://emmastclair.com/

Facebook: Emma St Clair’s Epic Reader Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/emmastclair

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikimojo/

Podcast: (Retired but website still up and episodes available on YouTube)

www.createifwriting.com

Introducing Romcom author Emma St Clair

Emma St Clair - sweet and sassy 'closed door' romcoms

Emma St Clair: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. It's really nice and I appreciate you reaching out.

Jenny Wheeler: Fantastic. Emma, you are a master of the sweet, sassy, funny rom-com, and you've written a lot of them. Tell me, how did you get started in this particular genre and what do you like about it?

Emma St Clair: Well, it's funny. I got my master's degree in fiction, which is typically more literary. And I never thought I would write romance.

In fact, I didn't read romance. I was one of those people who poo-pooed romance, My attitude was, oh, you know, those romance books. Like that was just not my thing, and after I got my master's, I was writing more like literary young adult fiction.

I had an agent and we were submitting to New York publishers.

And then we had five kids in nine years, and so I just couldn't write at all.

I had a friend, the first inkling I had that romance was a possibility, which I actually rejected. My very best friend was like, you know, a friend. April, from college, is writing these chicklet books. Hers were a little more chick lit than romance.

It was right when chick lit was becoming a big thing, which I don't think there's even a category for that anymore. But anyway, sweet, happy books that had a little bit of romance, but were a little bit more character based.

And I said, oh, I would never do that. And she was like, all right, I think you'd be good at it.

And I was like, oh, no, no, no. I could not do that. I write literary fiction.

How 'literary' author Emma found romance

And then a few years later, I kept trying to see if I could write books again when my kids were at the different ages.

Rochelle Weinstein loves bitter sweet women's stories about finding identity through love and loss and her latest, What You Do To Me introduces pioneer female Rolling Stone magazine, journalist Cecilia, who obsessively pursues the story while – unacknowledged - her closest relationship crashes and burns around her,

Hi, I'm your host Jenny Wheeler, and in today's Binge Reading episode, Rochelle, a former music industry exec, talks about how popular music forms a soundtrack to our lives and why she finds sweet stories of women's lives so alluring.

Our Giveaway This Week

Our Giveaway this week is an action and adventure giveaway, fiction in all genres, free downloads of mystery, romance or crime, including Unbridled Vengeance. Book #5 in the Of Gold & Blood series, a historical mystery with a romantic sub plot,

When Californian rancher Caleb is falsely accused of a vicious murder, his French immigrant neighbor, Madeleine has evidence that will save him from the gallows.. Will she risk her own life to save his?

You'll find the link to download a wide range of books in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading com.

DOWNLOAD FREE BOOKS

Now just another housekeeping matter before we get to Rochelle. A reminder you can help defray the costs of production of the show by buying me a cup of coffee on buy me a coffee.com/jennywheelx.

Thank you Nick, for buying me a coffee last week.

buy me a coffee

And remember, if you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they will love to read.

Links to things mentioned in the episode

Hey There Delilah – Plain White Ts:

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/heres-the-actual-story-behind-hey-there-delilah

Spotify Playlists for What You Do to Me:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2GhwfbTm3xzs2Z9jRje2zW?si=aW2qeHSDT-GALkCAV8zKnw&pi=u-TC_ooXsRR7yC

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kKq1hJpvGEJD7G3T5EOZm?si=qbhlIZioT56PHPd7L88gNw&pi=u-F7QVF5cESmmb

Books Rochelle loves:

A Little Life, Hanya Yangihara https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822858-a-little-life

Lisa Barr, The Goddess of Warsaw, https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-goddess-of-warsaw-lisa-barr?variant=41099496980514

Annabel Monaghan, https://annabelmonaghan.com/

(Annabel on The Joys of Binge Reading -https://thejoysofbingereading.com/annabel-monoghan-evocative-romcoms/ )

The Stationery Shop, Marjan Kamali, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/42201995

Patti Callahan Henry, The Secret Book of Flora Lee, https://www.patticallahanhenry.com/the-secret-book-of-flora-lea

(Patti Callahan Henry on The Joys of Binge Reading,

https://thejoysofbingereading.com/patti-callahan-narnia-magic/)

Barbara Davis, the Keeper of Happy Endings, Echo of Old Books, https://barbaradavis-author.com/

Sam Woodruff, https://www.samanthawoodruff.com/

Alison Wynne-Ryder,  https://www.thequirkymedium.com/home/about-alison

Taylor Jenkins Reid, https://taylorjenkinsreid.com/

Lynne Golodner author and writing coach:  https://lynnegolodner.com/

Where to find Rochelle online

Website: www.rochelleweinstein.com

Social media: Facebook, Threads, X.

Introducing author Rochelle Weinstein

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Rochelle. Hello there, Rochelle, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Rochelle B Weinstein, women's fiction with bittersweet key

Rochelle Weinstein: Thank you, Jenny. I'm thrilled to be here with everybody.

Jenny Wheeler: Now we're talking about the latest book that you've recently published called What You Do To Me, and I thought we'd just start out for people who aren't familiar with your work by asking you how you'd classify it.

It's a romance, but it's more than a romance as well, isn't it? What category would you put it into?

Rochelle Weinstein: I think it's women's fiction...

Welcome to The Best of Binge Reading 2023, Part Two, the second and final of our shows featuring the most listened to episodes on our popular fiction podcast, chosen solely on the basis of the number of times you, our audience, listened to them. It goes without saying they’re all best sellers, authors at the top of their game.

There’s something for everyone here, nerve wrenching contemporary thrillers from Ireland, to a French love story from a well loved TV actress; a World War II spy mystery by an Australian - set in the House of Dior in Paris, and a riveting journey into the world of the famous Mitford sisters, once acclaimed as London society beauties and then reviled as rotten traitors.

We present brief excerpts from each show, with links for where to find them if you’d like to hear more... As in previous years, we’ve selected shows that aired between Dec 1, 2022 and Dec 1, 2023.

So here they are – excerpts from the top six shows of 2023 on The Joys of Binge Reading.

Twisty Thrillers - Catherine Ryan Howard

Irish thriller author Catherine Ryan Howard with her latest nerve shredding suspense Runtime.

Catherine Ryan Howard - Thriller author

It’s a book that was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Crime Fiction Book Of The Year, and is a Top 10 Kindle Best Seller.

She been dubbed the Queen of High Concept thrillers for her intricate plotting which require a special excel spreadsheet...

First up I asked her about her revelation that Runtime was inspired by her actor brother, John Ryan Howard.

Jenny Wheeler: You've said that the original idea was inspired by your brother. Can you tell us about that connection? 

Catherine Ryan Howard:  Yeah, he loves when I do interviews about this book because he gets a mention. So, he is an actor, and a few years ago he was in an independent Irish horror movie called Beyond the Woods. 

Of course, he was telling me all about the experience of being on set and one of the things he said, and in Beyond The Woods - if you read Runtime will sound very familiar because it was filmed in this house out in the middle of nowhere in the Cork countryside, in the dead of winter overnight.

They were shooting everything at night, and he said one of the first things they did is the director had to go to the local police station and say, look, if someone calls you at four in the morning to say, ‘I hear screens, I think someone's getting murdered.’ They're not.

It's just us filming.

And of course, being a crime writer, I immediately thought, what if it's someone getting murdered?

That's a great cover story. You're giving yourself a bit of a bit of time to get away a head start.

When I sat down to write the book, that idea went away and it turned into something else.

Movie making is murder

But that's the initial seed, and I loved the idea of there being a script for horror movie that when the actors go to film it, the same things that are happening in the script start to happen on the set, because of course your first question I think would be, is this really happening or is my director secretly filming me or something?

It’s hard to know what's real and what's not, and I think that's at the core of the novel.

Jenny Wheeler: Yes, exactly. You do open with a scene where the director and an assistant go and knock on someone's door and say, ‘if you hear any screaming, don't worry.’ And I immediately thought, oh, what a perfect cover for a crime.

Exactly that. The story does show a very close understanding of the filming process, what happens on set, and all the different roles that there are in the production side of things. I wondered if you'd had any personal experience of that yourself.

Catherine Ryan Howard: I really don't like, first of all, my brother was a great resource, of course, and I have a couple of other friends who'd be involved in the industry.

So if there was something specific I wanted to know,

Welcome to The Best of Binge Reading 2023, Part One, the first of two shows featuring the most listened to episodes on our popular fiction podcast, chosen solely on the basis of the number of times you, our audience, listened to them.

They include an intriguing range of genres, from a contemporary thriller, to a French story in equal parts about food and love, a World War II spy mystery, a NZ historical family saga pre-dating European settlement, and two romances, one a fresh and funny romcom, the other a tender second chance tale of loss, regret, and the influence family has on life changing decisions.....

And like our audience, our authors reflect our international reach, with two Australians, a Kiwi, one French American, and one each from New York and Massachusetts.

We present brief excerpts from each show, with links for where to find them if you’d like to hear more... As in previous years, we’ve selected shows that aired between Dec 1, 2022 and Dec 1, 2023.

The second part of The Best Of The Joys of Binge Reading will air on January 16.

Kelly Rimmer: Spies – Lies - Betrayal

But now, here’s the first of this week’s guest authors, Kelly Rimmer.  Her sweeping World War II suspense has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide and made international best seller lists, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Her latest book, The Paris Agent, a fascinating dual timeline mystery with multiple romance lines moving from England and World War Two to the 1970s with the daughter of one of those people that was involved in the war. It’s a powerful story of two otherwise ordinary women who become spies dropped into Nazi occupied France.

I asked Kelly to tell us of the story’s genesis.

Kelly Rimmer - Best-selling World War II fiction

Kelly Rimmer: My daughter's name is Violette. It's a family name from my husband's side.

And when I was pregnant with her, and we were talking about names, you do the Googling thing, trying to think about famous people with this name.

Or what the meaning of the name is. And I stumbled upon Violette Szabo, who was an SOE agent, in the F section of the SOE.

Her story was so inspiring and had stuck with me. I loved the idea that we were naming my daughter after someone so incredible.

And I had always intended, always hoped that I would come up with the right premise to write a book that was inspired by her.

And, maybe two or three years ago, I heard a podcast about Diana Rowden, who is another SOE agent, who I had never heard of, even though I'd done a little bit of reading about the SOE.

And I've also found her to be just such an incredible woman. The idea for this book came out of their stories, their real-life stories.

It's fiction. I've taken a few liberties here and there with their stories. And they weren't actually close friends, but in my book, my characters inspired by them are friends.

But for the most part, where I could, I followed the real history.

Traitors operating within the SOE

Jenny Wheeler: Part of its foundation is the understanding that's emerged since the war that the Special Operations Executive, the branch of the British Secret Service that handled all of the dispensing of agents over France.

The ones that were so tremendously brave as to jump out of planes into enemy territory and work to support the Resistance...

Some of those people were betrayed from within the SOE even before they set foot on French soil.

Kelly Rimmer: There's plenty of scenarios where agents landed and were met by Nazi troops on the ground as they were landing.

In hindsight, it's very clear that there were people in the SOE who were betraying information through to the Nazis, but at the time they were operating blind in so many ways.

As soon as I came across that idea and this, gentleman named Henri Dericourt, who was thought to have potentially been quite senior in the SOE,

Lucy Burdette’s Key West cozies feature a magazine food critic called Hayley Snow, her husband's nosy dog, Ziggy, and an indomitable sidekick, Miss Gloria, who's rapidly becoming a reader’s favorite, all that set in page-turning beautiful action in Florida's laid back tropical archipelago.

Hi. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler. And today on Binge Reading, Lucy talks about the joy of combining two of her loves in life, food and Key West, in an award-winning best-selling small town mystery series.

Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Giveaway

Our Giveaway this week as a selection from a group of authors, Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense Giveaway, including Sadie's Vow, Book #1  in my own Home At Last trilogy.

It’s San Francisco, 1872. Sadie McGillicuddy’s word is her bond. Swearing to her dying mother to always protect her wilful sister, she’s soon tested when her beautiful younger sibling runs off into the night.

You'll find a link to download these books in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading.com. That's a Free Download Give away for holiday reading.

DOWNLOAD FREE MYSTERIES

And remember if you enjoy the show, leave us a review, so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best form of recommendation and it will help people find a show that recommends books they'd love to discover and read.

Links to items mentioned in the show

The Bobbsey Twins, Laura Lee Hope:  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/DMJ/the-bobbsey-twins/

Nancy Drew. Carolyn Keene: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/NAD/nancy-drew/

Frank Bruni, Born Round: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Round-Family-Ferocious-Appetite/dp/014311767X#

Ruth Reichl:  http://ruthreichl.com/about/

Dr Laurie Santos: Yale class on happiness:  https://www.drlauriesantos.com/science-well-being

Dr Laurie Santos: Happiness Lab podcast:

https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos

Ann Cleeves:  https://www.anncleeves.com/

Rhys Bowen, Lady Georgiana Royal Spyness series: The Proof in the Pudding, www.rhysbowen.com

Love Marriage by Monica Ali, https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Marriage-Monica-Ali/dp/1982181478

Ragnar Jonasson, Reykjavík, https://www.amazon.com/Reykjav%C3%ADk-Crime-Story-Ragnar-J%C3%B3nasson/dp/1250907330#

Where To Find Lucy Burdette Online

Website: https://lucyburdette.com/

Facebook: @Lucyburdetteauthor

Instagram: @Lucyburdette

Jungle Red Writers Blog: https://www.jungleredwriters.com/

Introducing mystery author Lucy Burdette

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Lucy. Hello there, Lucy, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Lucy Burdette - Her latest book in the Key West food critic series made the USA Today bestseller list

Lucy Burdette: I am so happy to be here and I really appreciate being invited.

Jenny Wheeler: It's lovely. the wonders of technology to think that you are in Key West, Florida and I'm in New Zealand. It's great, isn't it?

Lucy Burdette: Crazy, Yes. Two islands.

Jenny Wheeler: That's right. Lucy, you've got a flourishing career writing these Key West food critic mysteries. You've just published number 13 in those. How did you get started on fiction writing?

Lucy Burdette: It's a strange story, but your listeners might not know that I'm a clinical psychologist. That was my career before writing and when I met my now husband of 31 years, he was a big golfer and I was not, but I wanted to do whatever it took to spend time with him.

So I started taking golf lessons, and I was just horrible, terrible.

I made every mistake. It was embarrassing. I started thinking about what could I write that would combine psychology and learning golf. I began to pitch some non-fiction stories about the psychology of golf.

I had a few published, but it's very hard as a freelancer to get picked up by magazines.

Why don't you try writing a mystery?

Jo Thomas writes funny and sunny best-sellers about food, love and family. Books that wrap their arms around you and give you a “great big hug.”

And her latest release Countdown to Christmas is billed as “the most uplifting and feel good romance of Christmas 2023.”

Hi, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler and on Binge Reading today Jo talks about her own love for books that take you somewhere else, and her ambition to leave readers with hope and a smile on their faces.

This week's Giveaway

Our Giveaway this week is a Deck The Halls BookSweeps bundle of historic holiday romances. Enter the drawer for a library of 20 plus historical romances, including Tangled Destiny, a New York Christmas novella, which is the prequel to my own Of Gold & Blood historical mystery series.

The BookSweeps draw is valued at $250 and includes a new E reader.

Enter the draw here: https://www.booksweeps.com/giveaway/dec23-historical-holiday-romance/

ENTER BOOKSWEEPS DRAW

Now do remember you can support the production costs of the show by buying me a cup of coffee at buymeacoffee.com/Jennywheelx.

And if you enjoy the show, don't forget, leave us a review, so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best form of recommendation for people to hear about the show and great books they will love to read.

Items mentioned in this episode

Books Jo is reading

Katie Fforde: https://katiefforde.com/,

Jill Mansell: https://jillmansell.co.uk/

Milly Johnson: https://millyjohnson.co.uk/

Jilly Cooper: https://www.jillycooper.co.uk/

Galway Bay: https://www.galwaytourism.ie/galway-bay/

Pulia:  https://www.traveldepartment.com/travel-blog/10-reasons-to-visit-puglia-region-in-italy

Where to find Jo Thomas online

Website: JoThomasauthor.com

Instagram: @jothomasauthor

Twitter: @jo_thomas01

But that's enough of the housekeeping, as you can probably tell, I've got a real frog in my throat, so I won't keep talking. I'll introduce Jo.

Introducing romance author Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas Best selling author of feel-good fiction featuring food, love and family...

Hello there Jo, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Jo Thomas: Jenny, great to be here.

Jenny Wheeler: You say up front that the sorts of books you write are about food, love, family, and fun. You like to have happy endings. And they are for people who like sunny and funny. Is that's how you started out your writing?

Jo Thomas: It's really yes, because they were the books that I loved to read. And I would read authors like Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Milly Johnson.

I wanted books that would take me to somewhere different where you felt that you would join in old friends?

Like in the evenings, I can remember reading a Jilly Cooper and getting into bed at night and thinking, ‘I'm going to visit old friends down the pub.’

And it's a nice place to be. I want people to feel that they care about the characters in my books and that they're with them through adversity and that they leave with hope and a smile on their face.

When you start writing, people say, oh, write about what you know, and I thought, I don't know about anything.

The only thing I like is food really. But I'm not a chef. I'm just someone who's interested in where their food comes from and then I thought why not write about the thing I'm interested in?

I was in a restaurant in Galway, in Ireland with my husband and I was like, ‘I dunno what I'm gonna write about.’

A perfect setting for Jo's first best seller

I'd ordered some oysters and they put down this platter of oysters in front of me. And just for a moment, it stopped raining for a while. And I looked out the window and I was looking out over Galway Bay and the moon came and shone silvery shadow across the water and the candle was going in the window and it was like being in someone's front room eating these oysters.

And I thought, this is sexy.

Michelle Major’s USA Today, best-selling romance is all about new beginnings, second chances, and always a Happily Ever After. Just the thing for Christmas relief and her latest festive book, The Christmas Cabin delivers on all fronts.

Hi, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and on Binge Reading this week, Michelle talks about the appeal of Christmas stories -she's written lots of them - and why Second Chance Romance is one of her favorite things to write.

This Week's Giveaway

Our Giveaway this week is a Book Bundle of three holiday novellas for my own Of Gold & Blood historic mystery series. If you enjoy twisty family secrets and a dash of sweet romance, you'll love this trio of novellas et in New York, Hawaii, and California.

DOWNLOAD HOLIDAY NOVELLAS

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/1z2rd1zjlx

You can support the show by buying me a cup of [email protected]/jennywheelx. Your contribution helps to pay for production costs, but all of my time in researching and recording the show is done for no cost.

If you enjoy the show, leave us a review so others can find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to find great books they will love to read.

Links to things mentioned in the episode:

Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series – books; https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/

Bridgerton TV show:  https://www.tvguide.com/news/bridgerton-season-3-release-date-cast-trailers-news-everything-to-know/

Shonda Rhimes: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0722274/

Lisa Kleypas: https://lisakleypas.com/

Jill Shalvis: The Sweetheart List, https://www.jillshalvis.com/the-sweetheart-list

Readers Take Denver: https://www.readerstakedenver.com/

Lori Foster Reader Author Get Together: https://readerauthorgettogether.com/

Where to find Michelle online

Website: Michellemajor.com

Facebook: @Michellemajorauthor

Instagram @Michellemajorbooks.

Introducing romance author Michelle Major

Romance author Michelle Major - feel good books for Christmas

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Michelle. Hello there Michelle, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Michelle Major: I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

Jenny Wheeler: The Christmas Cabin is your newest release. and it's also part of the very successful Carolina Girls series.When I looked at the series, I discovered that this is actually the third Christmas book you've done in that series, so obviously your readers love them. What do you think it is that attracts readers to Christmas stories?

Michelle Major: As a reader myself and a writer I think Christmas stories are so special because it's a time of year when we look back at our memories whether we have those rose-colored glasses on and everybody thinks about the perfect, Christmas around the fire though unfortunately, it's not always the reality in the world at large or in a family.

And so, I think escaping into a Christmas book where you can just sink into all of those traditions and sweetness is really special at this time of year.

Jenny Wheeler: Now the couple in your story, Laura and Ben, were married briefly as youngsters and for quite understandable reasons it didn't last very long. They're now meeting up again quite some time later in their old home territory. I guess you would describe this as a Second Chance Romance, wouldn't you?

Michelle Major: I would. And Second Chance Romance is one of my favorites to write, so I loved it.

The appeal of Second Chance Romance

Jenny Wheeler: Why is that? Why is Second Chance Romance so attractive?

Michelle Major: My writing process often starts with character development and the emotions between the two main characters, You know, in movies, I love Love at First Sight shows, and I love those moments of being hit by something. But I think writing Second Chance, it's just so juicy because they have a history and often it hasn't ended well. You can jump in the deep end on the emotional tension.

Emily Bleeker is a best-selling author whose dual-time-line novel When We Were Enemies moves between a World War II prisoner of war camp in Indiana and the feverish fame of contemporary Hollywood in a story that was partly inspired by her own family history.

Hi there. I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and today on Binge Reading, Emily talks about intimate betrayals made in the promise of fame and tells the remarkable story of how a serious health crisis gave her the Eureka moment when she was determined to write fiction.

Now she's an award-winning best-selling author with 2 million readers worldwide.

Our Giveaway This Week

Our Giveaway this week is Three Holiday Novellas from my own Of Gold & Blood historical mystery series.

They are Book #4 Tangled Destiny, which is a New York Christmas story, Book # 6, Hope Redeemed, a Spanish ranch romance and Captive Heart, Book #8, a Hawaiian Christmas, all romantic sequel novellas, to longer mysteries.

Download these three entertaining reads for one week only. The links are in the show notes for this episode on the website, the joys of binge reading.com

FREE HOLIDAY NOVELLAS

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/1z2rd1zjlx

Binge Reading goes fortnightly 2024

Last week I asked listeners should I stay weekly or go fortnightly with the podcast show next year, and thanks to all those who responded.

The overwhelming number of you (90 per cent) said yes, you'd be happy with fortnightly episodes. So that's what we'll be doing starting in January.

Before we get to Emily a reminder, you can help defray the costs of the production of the show by buying me a cup of coffee on buy me a coffee.com forward slash Jeannie, J E N NY wheel W H EE Lx.  Small x.

And remember, if you enjoy the show, leave us a review, so others will find us too.

Links to places and things mentioned in the episode

Camp Atterbury

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Atterbury-Muscatatuck

Operations Allies Welcome

https://www.dhs.gov/allieswelcome

What Emily is reading now:

Terror, Love, and Brainwashing, by Alexandra Stein;  

https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Love-Brainwashing-Attachment-Totalitarian/dp/1138677973

What You Do To Me by Rochelle Weinstein,

https://www.rochelleweinstein.com/books/what-you-do-to-me

Strong Like You by Travis (T.L.)  Simpson.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/178619792

Where to find Emily online:

Website: emilybleeker.com

Email: [email protected]

Introducing Book Club favorite Emily Bleeker

Emily Bleeker - dual time line saga from WWII POW camp to contemporary Hollywood

Jenny Wheeler: But now, here's Emily. Hello, Emily, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Emily Bleeker: Hello, thank you for having me.

Jenny Wheeler: Emily, When We Were Enemies, which is your seventh book and the one that we're talking about today, is partly set in a POW camp, a prisoner of war camp in Indiana during World War II.

And it dips into aspects of your own family history. I wondered if you'd like to start by just giving us an idea of how it all came together.

Emily Bleeker: Yes, sure. It was years and years ago. My dad told me a story about how my grandmother worked in a POW camp in Mississippi, and I had no idea what he was talking about because I did not even know that was a thing. So it went in one ear and out the other.

But I have just become more interested in my grandmother's life and her story.

I decided to do some research on the topic and found out that was a real thing during World War Two.

And the other interesting part of that story about my grandmother is that she met an Italian priest there. She was married to my grandfather and they had a platonic friendship that continued for the rest of his life.

He would draw pictures on postcards and send them to her every so often throughout the rest of his life.

Italian POWs in US camps

Jenny Wheeler: Yes, I must admit,