My featured Friday Read this week is An Island in the Sun, the new feel-good escapist read by the talented Kate Frost.
Blurb
Running away is easy, until saying goodbye becomes too hard…
When successful songwriter Tabitha Callahan swaps a summer of sadness for pet sitting around the world, she intends to use the time to heal her broken heart.
Tabitha can’t believe her luck when she picks up a housesit on the rugged and beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira. The villa is luxurious, the views breath-taking and her charges, a gorgeous but aloof cat and two cute and friendly Cavalier King Charles spaniels, are perfect companions while she works on some new material and attempts to reconcile her past.
However, her peace is shattered when an unexpected house guest puts paid to her much-needed time alone, forcing her to confront not only her feelings but what she actually wants from life.
New friends and old dominate her time on the island, along with deep-rooted regret and unspoken sorrow. Will a year of running away be enough to put the past to rest and allow someone new to inch into her heart?
EXTRACT FROM AN ISLAND IN THE SUN
Over the last year, Tabitha had got used to being blown away by some of the places she’d stayed. Not all were as large or luxurious as this. A tiny apartment in the artistic Saint-Germain-des-Prés area of Paris looking after a toy poodle had been memorable because of its stunning oak parquet flooring and exposed stone walls, plus a cafe with the most incredible coffee, pastries and macarons just a thirty-second stroll away. Then she’d spent three weeks on a houseboat in one of Singapore’s marinas with a friendly bichon frise. What she loved most was being immersed in the culture of a place, staying in someone’s home and getting to know their particular neighbourhood. She was looking forward to discovering Madeira and staying put in a place for a little longer than she had all summer.
Buy Links
Buy link: https://mybook.to/anislandinthesun
Welcome Kate, your book sounds fantastic. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, since I was seven! I had open heart surgery for a hole in my heart and while I spent months off school recovering, I had a home tutor. She taught me lots of things, but I vividly remember learning about dinosaurs and how to write stories – from that moment on I was hooked (on writing, not dinosaurs!) and I wrote my first ‘novel’ at the age of eight. To be an author has been an ambition ever since.
Oh gosh, Kate, how traumatic for you and your parents. And what a way to develop a love or writing! What do you like writing most?
Character driven stories in beautiful and interesting places. I mainly write women’s fiction and romances now (although I’ve dabbled with all sorts of genres in the past) and I love to explore relationships and not just romantic ones – complex families and friendships old and new feature strongly in my books. I enjoy exploring characters at a crossroads in their life, delving into their past and how their choices throughout the course of the novel impact their future.
Do you have a special place for writing?
As both my husband and I now work from home, we had a loft conversion done last year, which means I now have a proper desk and a dedicated space to write (rather than working on our dining room table which I did for years!). It’s creative and inspiring with a shelf of my published books in front of me and a peg board on the wall that I use for inspiration, adding pictures of the locations of the book I’m currently writing.
That sounds an ideal place to write. Is your writing ever inspired by your family or real life incidents?
Sometimes. Many of my books have been inspired by places I’ve travelled to. Greece features a lot because my husband is Greek and so we visit his family in Greece regularly – the place, the people, the food and the way of life has definitely found its way into my writing.
The premise of my latest book, An Island in the Sun, which was published earlier this week, was inspired by our lovely dog Frodo who we sadly lost in 2021, and the fabulous pet sitters who looked after him when we went away. That experience got me thinking that someone travelling from country to country looking after pets and discovering new places might be a good idea for a book, and so the idea behind An Island in the Sun was born with songwriter Tabitha escaping heartache in the UK to travel the world looking after people’s pets, eventually ending up on the beautiful island of Madeira where the story takes place.
What are you writing at the moment?
I’m working on my fourth book for Boldwood, another romantic escape but this time set in Iceland in winter, so expect snow-covered landscapes, black sand beaches and perhaps a glimpse of the Northern Lights…
Ooh, that sounds gorgeous! What inspired you to write this book?
My long-held desire to visit Iceland! I thought it would be a fabulous location for a winter-set romantic escape novel and I was lucky enough to go there on a family holiday/research trip in February 2022. It’s a magical place, so different to anywhere I’ve ever been before and it more than lived up to my expectations.
What time of the day do you write best?
Probably in the morning after a coffee or two! My working hours are when my son’s at school, so I have to write during those times whether I’m feeling like it or not, particularly when a deadline is looming!
What advice would you give to other writers?
To read lots, write lots and to never give up. Perseverance is key, even when you get knocked back.
I echo that advice, Kate. Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today. Wishing you lots of luck with your writing.
Meet Kate
Kate Frost is the author of character-driven women’s fiction and bestselling romantic escape novels One Greek Summer, An Italian Dream, The Baobab Beach Retreat, The Amsterdam Affair and The Greek Heart. As well as writing novels, she’s also the Director of Storytale Festival, a city-wide children’s book festival that she co-founded in Bristol in 2019 with the ethos of making books accessible to all and encouraging children and teens to read, write and be creative. Kate lives in Bristol with her husband and son.
Contact links
Website: https://www.kate-frost.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katefrostauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katefrostauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katefrostauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7131734.Kate_Frost
Karen King – Writing about the light and dark of relationships.
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-King/e/B0034P6W7I
Website: https://karenkingauthor.com/