It’s time for another Friday Reads post and this week I’m handing over to prolific author Jenny Kane who is going to tell us all about her latest romance novel, Bluebell Season at the Potting Shed. So grab a cuppa, get comfy and let’s find out all about Jenny and her work.
Welcome to my blog, Jenny. Can you tell us what inspired you to write Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed?
Thanks Karen, delighted to be here talking to you. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved garden centres. In fact, I love being around plants anywhere, whether in my own garden or in the countryside. I am particularly fond of trees and taking a walk through the woods – come rain or shine. If I can combine that walk – or that garden centre visit – with a decent cup of coffee – then all the better! All of these passions – coffee, walking, trees and plants, come to together in my Potting Shed stories.
I’ll be honest, unlike Maddie Willand and her team at The Potting Shed, I’m pretty hopeless at remembering what flowers, shrubs, and tree species are called – and I couldn’t tell you much about how to look after them (in fact I can kill a houseplant stone dead in seconds.) – but I do know that I enjoy the magic of the colours, the sound the breeze makes as it ruffles the trees, the sight of the birds and insects as they explore the natural world around them. It all just makes me feel better – and as I’m hopeless at relaxing – that’s a rather special thing.
You’ll have noticed that I didn’t mention their scent – that’s because I’m allergic to so many perfumes that I tend to keep enough distance from any scented item. The level of sneezing that comes from sniffing a scented rose just isn’t worth the second of nasal pleasure!
It was this love of the outdoors, garden centres, and plants in general, that lead me to write The Potting Shed series in the first place. Beginning with Frost Falls at The Potting Shed (published last October) – the series opened in November, when newly bereaved sisters, Maddie and Sabi Willand, and their friends and family in Mid-Devon, were running a plant nursery – that they hoped to expand into a garden centre.
Now, with the publication of book two, Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed – we are firmly in spring. and those plans of expansion are tantalizingly within reach – or are they…
I love garden centres too, Jenny. Such a wonderful variety of plants, and I can’t resist the statues either!
Let’s find out a bit more about Bluebell Season at the Potting Shed.
Blurb
Maddie and her sister Sabi are back at The Potting Shed, but are their troubles over?
Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed is the sequel of Frost Falls at The Potting Shed, part of a new series by #1 Kindle bestselling author, Jenny Kane, that revolves around a family-run garden centre.
Spring has arrived at The Potting Shed and things seem to finally be going Maddie’s way. Her relationship with lovable lawyer Ed is going well and the business is thriving with the help of her new friend Jo and his bright orange coffee van.
But troubles are just around the corner… The upgrade of The Potting Shed from a nursery to a garden centre is at a critical point – turning part of Maddie’s business into a building site, and just as she has to temporarily move out of her home, a major garden centre announces its grand opening only twenty miles away.
With money running out Maddie and her sister Sabi must think fast – they only have until the end of bluebell season to save The Potting Shed…
(Each novel can be read as a standalone or as part of the series)
My favourite time of year is, without doubt, bluebell season; and everyone in my story shares that sentiment – so much so, that when a local farmer offers Maddie and her team the chance to borrow his bluebell wood, they jump at the chance. And that isn’t the only bluebell walk in the story.
When Sabi comes across a picture of Hawthorn Park, she is confronted, not just by pictures of a beautiful bluebell wood – but a reminder of her past…and an unexpected connection to The Potting Shed’s coffee provider, Jo…
EXTRACT
Sabi sat in the smallest bedroom of her new home. In time, it would be her office, but for now it bore the usual marks of a guest room.
Ignoring the urge to continue planning its redecoration, she opened the laptop that sat on the table she was using as a temporary desk. Sabi was about to log onto the Internet when she got up and closed the door. Just the act of doing so made her feel guilty. More guilty.
‘You’re doing nothing wrong. This is pure curiosity. Nothing more.’ Talking to herself, Sabi clicked a few buttons on her keyboard and pulled up the website for Hawthorn Park.
Her heart began to beat faster as she searched through the options at the top of the screen. Then a sound from the hallway stilled her hands.
It’s only Jemima heading to the kitchen.
Making herself breathe slowly, Sabi gave herself a shake. ‘Stop acting like a criminal! You’re only looking something up.’
Hitting the Forthcoming Events tab, Sabi was immediately confronted with a photograph of Hawthorn Park’s formal garden. It was more beautiful than she remembered. A symmetrical patchwork of colour, neat and yet pleasingly eclectic, gave the sense of observing a maze; albeit one in which you wouldn’t get lost.
Maddie would love it.
Scrolling down the page, she saw another picture, this time of the park’s manor house. A relatively modest building, given the vast acreage of the land, it proudly sported a hotchpotch of architectural styles, where flashes of the original Elizabethan structure were only obvious to those who knew where to look.
Not allowing herself to linger, nor wonder if the interior of the house was as she remembered, Sabi moved further down the page. This time a stunning photograph of the bluebell woods, which ran around three-quarters of the manor house, stole her attention. But not as much as the picture that followed it.
A beaming Jo, stood next to his bright orange VW camper van, was serving coffee to a family sat at a picnic table in the park’s grounds. Beneath the photograph the caption, ‘Jo Dunn, close family friend to the Northcott’s, will be serving delicious, exclusive coffee blends, alongside fresh pastries and cakes, during the Easter weekend and during the weekends while the bluebells bloom their best.’
‘Close family friend? Jo?’ Sabi’s eyes narrowed. She couldn’t square the Jo she knew – a quiet, slim, slightly ethereal man, in a grey beanie hat who always wore loose-fitting jumpers and jeans or oversized coats and jackets – with being the sort of person who associated with one of the richest families in Devon.
Knowing Maddie would tell her off for such snobbery, Sabi moved on to search for what she’d been hunting for in the first place.
A minute and a half later she found it. And immediately wished that she hadn’t…
If, like me, you love the sound of this story you can get a copy from all good retailers in either paperback or ebook format.
Amazon.co.uk – Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed: A totally heart-warming and uplifting spring read! eBook : Kane, Jenny: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Kobo – Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed eBook by Jenny Kane – EPUB | Rakuten Kobo United Kingdom
Waterstones – Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed by Jenny Kane | Waterstones
Meet Jenny
Bio
‘I love Jenny Kane’s writing.’ Katie Fforde
From the comfort of her cafe corner in Mid Devon, award winning author, Jenny Kane, wrote the contemporary women’s fiction and romance novels, Bluebell Season at The Potting Shed, (Aria, 2023), Frost Falls at The Potting Shed, (Aria, 2022), Winter Fires at Mill Grange (Aria, 2021), Spring Blossoms at Mill Grange, (Aria 2021), Autumn Leaves at Mill Grange, (Aria, 2020), Midsummer Dreams at Mill Grange (Aria, 2020), A Cornish Escape (2nd edition, HeadlineAccent, 2020), A Cornish Wedding (2nd edition, HeadlineAccent, 2020), Romancing Robin Hood (2nd edition, Littwitz Press, 2018), Another Glass of Champagne (Accent Press, 2016),and Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013).
(Misty Mornings at The Potting Shed will be published by Aria in September 2023)
Jenny has also written 3 novella length sequels to her Another Cup of… books: Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds (Accent, 2014), and Christmas at the Castle (Accent, 2016). These three seasonal specials are now available in one boxed set entitled Jenny Kane’s Christmas Collection (Accent, 2016)
Jenny is also the author of quirky children’s picture books There’s a Cow in the Flat (Hushpuppy, 2014) and Ben’s Biscuit Tin (Hushpuppy, 2015)
Under the pen name, Jennifer Ash, Jenny has also written The Folville Chronicles (The Outlaw’s Ransom, The Winter Outlaw, Edward’s Outlaw, Outlaw Justice – published by Littwitz Press, 2016-2020), The Power of Three (Spiteful Puppet, 2020) and The Meeting Place (Spiteful Puppet, 2019). She has also created five audio scripts for ITV’s popular 1980’s television show, Robin of Sherwood.
The Waterford Boy, Mathilda’s Legacy, The Baron’s Daughter, The Meeting Place and Fitzwarren’s Well were released by Spiteful Puppet in 2017/2018/2019/2020.
Jenny Kane is the writer in residence for Tiverton Costa in Devon. She also co-runs the creative writing business, Imagine. Jenny teaches a wide range of creative writing workshops including her popular ‘Novel in a Year’ course. (www.imaginecreativewriting.co.uk)
Contact Jenny
All of Jennifer Ash’s and Jenny Kane’s news can be found at www.jennykane.co.uk
@JenAshHistory
@JennyKaneAuthor
@Imagine_Writing
Jennifer Ash https://www.facebook.com/jenniferashhistorical/
Jenny Kane https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011235488766
Imagine www.imaginecreativewriting.co.uk
Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today, Jenny. I hope your book soars!
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/