Latest Youtube Videos

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

I have read a previous book from author Rosy Thornton, Crossed Wires and enjoyed it, so when Rosy asked if I would review her latest novel, The Tapestry of Love, I had no problem accepting. I’m saddened that I didn’t like this story as much as Crossed Wires. The heroine is Catherine, who sells her home in England and moves to the Cevennes Mountains after her divorce and her kids have grown and moved out of the home. She desires to set up a small business as a needlewoman, creating tapestries among other items for the locals. She must adapt to the mountain life, to her neighbors, and fight to run her business against the demands of the French bureaucracy.
I was about nine chapters into this story and still I was confused on what the plot was. Was there a romance between Catherine and any of her neighbors? Did she want her husband back? I wasn’t sure which direction the plot was going to lead me to, and I felt very confused and a little lost. This novel was just a bit too quiet for my taste. Not a lot of drama, mystery, or passion seemed to by hiding. I didn’t get a real emotional involvement with any of the characters, except for when one of the locals sleeps with Catherine’s sister because “she needed him” and he was doing her a favor. That made me dislike this character the rest of the way. Thornton’s writing is very beautiful though, and her descriptions are picturesque and vivid enough to make me feel like I’m in the Cevennes Mountains. I only wish the characters would have pulled me into the story more, and the plot would have been a bit more enticing.
Rating: 2.5/5

Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton

Mina is a single mom working at a car insurance call center. Peter is a widowed father of twin girls, who crashes his car into a tree stump trying to avoid a cat. When Peter calls the insurance center for help, Mina answers the phone. From that simple phone call, two complete strangers who live miles and miles apart begin a friendly relationship, each wondering if it is possible they found love.
Crossed Wires by Rosy Thornton is a charming love story. I enjoyed reading about not only Mina and Peter’s relationship, but the lives the supporting characters lead. Peter’s twin daughters struggle with growing apart, while Mina’s daughter can’t come out of her shell. There is also a little mystery played out with Mina’s troublesome younger sister that kept my interest. Overall, I thought the over the phone love story was too drawn out, that it took too long for the characters to meet face to face. The sub plots almost held me over, but the last few chapters I found myself frustrated that Mina and Peter had yet to meet. I still enjoyed the read, and I would love to see sequel on how the merging families have turned out.
Rating: 4/5

Author Profile: Rosy Thornton

Author Name: Rosy Thornton

Website: http://rosythornton.com/
Bio: Rosy is an author of contemporary fiction, published by Headline Review. Her novels could perhaps be described as romantic comedy with a touch of satire – or possibly social satire with a hint of romance. In real life she lectures in Law at the University of Cambridge, where she is a Fellow of Emmanuel College. She shares her home with her partner, two daughters and two lunatic spaniels.
Titles: Hearts and Minds, More Than Love Letters, Crossed Wires, and The Tapestry of Love.

In My Mailbox: Week of June 13th

In My Mailbox: Week of June 13, 2010

Title: Crossed Wires
Author: Rosy Thornton
Received: From Rosy Thornton
Synopsis: This is the story of Mina, a girl at a Sheffield call centre, whose next customer in the queue is Peter, and Cambridge geography don, who has crashed his car into a tree stump. Despite their differences, they’ve got a lot in common-both single, both parents, both looking for love. Could it be that they’ve just found it? This is a story about the small joys and tribulations of parenthood, about one-ness and two-ness, about symmetry and coincidence, about the things that separate us and the things that bring us together.

Title: Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker
Author: Marla Martenson
Received: From Marla Martenson
Synopsis: In Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker, Marla takes her readers for a hilarious romp through her days as an L.A. matchmaker and her daily struggles to keep her self-esteem from imploding in a town where looks are everything and money talks. From juggling the demands her out-of-touch clients to trying her best to meet the capricious demands of an insensitive boss to the ups and downs of her own marriage to a Latin husband who doesnt think that she is domestic enough, Marla writes with charm and self-effacement about the universal struggles that all women face in their lives. Readers will laugh, cringe, and cry as they journey with her through outrageous stories about the indignities of dating in Los Angeles, dealing with overblown egos, vicariously hobnobbing with celebrities, and navigating the wannabe-land of Beverly Hills. In a city where perfection is almost a prerequisite, even Marla cant help but run for the Botox every once in a while.

Interview with Rosy Thornton

Q: Why did you start writing?

I managed to make it to the age of forty before it ever occurred to me to write a word of fiction. Then, in 2004, I watched a BBC television adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic novel, ‘North and South’, and fell in love with the wonderful Richard Armitage in the lead role. I went on the internet to read more about him and about the programme – and discovered a world of North and South fanfic. That was how I began – having a go at my own fanfic, while still in a Richard Armitage-induced romantic haze.

Q: Did you ever think you would be a published author?

In my day job, I am a lecturer at Cambridge University, where I teach law, so I had already published a fair bit, but all of it a far cry from chick lit. My last book had been the sexily titled ‘Property Disrepair and
Dilapidations: A Guide to the Law’. It never occurred to me in a million years I could write a novel!

Q: Where did you find the courage to submit your writing after never attempting it before?

There were several of us writing North and South fanfic who branched out to try our hand at our own original fiction, and we encouraged one another to have a go at pitching for publication. Of the original band of us, five are now published novelists! Without that support and camaraderie, I’m not sure I’d have dared to make the attempt.

Q: Your contemporary fiction novels are tinged with romance and comedy. Why did you choose this genre, or did it more “choose you?”

I think romantic fiction was a natural choice after starting out the way I did. Blame Richard Armitage! But the contemporary settings and humorous voice just seemed to come from nowhere.

Q: You have your fourth novel coming out in July, The Tapestry of Love.
What can you tell us about this story?

The new novel is set in France, in a remote mountain hamlet in the Cevennes, where Englishwoman Catherine Parkstone moves to begin a new life.
Divorced, with grown children, she has decided to set up in business as a seamstress – and also makes tapestries of the scenes around her. It’s not quite the rural idyll she’d imagined, though: there is mountain weather to contend with, and French bureaucracy, and the reserve of her new neighbours. Among them is the intriguing Patrick Castagnol, who seems to be
a man of secrets And that’s before the arrival of Catherine’s forthright
sister, Bryony, who throws everything into confusion.

Q: Where do you find the inspiration for your characters and plots?

That’s a very difficult question to answer. The characters, I suppose, have traits of people I’ve met, people I know – but then on the page they take on a life of their own. And as for plots, these just appear from nowhere. I am not a planner: I begin with some characters and an initial situation of conflict, and the story then just goes where the characters take it.

Q: Who are some of your favorite authors?

As you might guess from the source of my original inspiration, I love the
classics: Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot. Among contemporary writers I love Anne Tyler, Anita Shreve, Barbara Trapido, Kate Atkinson, E Annie Proulx, Jane Smiley. My favourite chick lit author is Phillipa Ashley.

Q: How do you enjoy your free time?

What free time? I have a full-time job, daughters of 13 and 11, and am moonlighting as a novelist. If I do have any time, I like to spend it with my girls, my partner and our two spaniels, at the beach or walking in the countryside.

Q: Are you more of an indoors or outdoors person?

Too often indoors, working or writing – not often enough outdoors with the kids and the dogs!

Q: What is your best advice for aspiring writers?

Read as much as you can, and read books you know are better than you could ever write yourself. Then just write. Write every day, if possible, even if it’s only a couple of sentences – but write!

Q: What would be your dream vacation?

Since writing ‘The Tapestry of Love’ I have had a hankering to spend a holiday in the Cevennes, in Catherine’s mountains. I set the novel there because of two wonderful holidays we had there before we had the girls – and now I am longing to go back.