Kate Hewitt: Celebrating Spring

Yesterday, here in the English Cotswolds, it snowed. Proper snow, a good inch on the ground, slush on the streets. The cherry blossoms quivered under the onslaught and I shivered in cold—and trembled with outrage. This wasn’t spring!

Unfortunately, in England, there are no guarantees when it comes to any season of the year. It’s why British people talk about the weather so much—it’s like a national obsession, and a warm, sunny day is something to celebrate. (And why a day in the 60s Fahrenheit is treated like a scorcher).

In any case, I want to celebrate spring even if I’m not feeling it in the air. My second romance in my small town trilogy, Falling Hard, has a gorgeous spring cover for the UK and is set amidst the cherry blossoms—and the maple trees, as making maple syrup plays a part in it. Having made maple syrup in Canada with my parents for many years, I loved writing about that aspect.

Falling For The Freemans follows three brothers as they each in turn return to the small town where they grew up—and where they lost their father in a tragic accident. In confronting past memories and hurts, they find forgiveness and also true love—of course!

Falling for Christmas, a prequel novella, and Falling Hard are both available now, and the following two books in the series, Falling Fast and Falling Forever, will be available in the autumn.

To celebrate spring, I’m giving away an ebook copy of Falling Hard as well as a print copy of my April Presents, Inherited By Ferranti, to two different readers. Just leave a comment telling me what you like about spring!

Happy Reading,

Kate

Kate Hewitt: Reading to Escape

 

As a reader as well as a writer I have different moods. Sometimes I’m up for a weighty, thought-provoking read, and at other times I prefer something to simply sweep me away. Lately life’s stresses and sorrows—my father died five weeks ago—made me want to escape with a good book into a world where a happy ending is guaranteed. I ended up reading several of Lucy Diamond’s chick lit books, which are not froth-only as they deal with some weighty issues, but do so with a light hand and a happy ending, and they were definitely the balm I needed.

There sometimes is an attitude in our culture that reading to escape is wrong, a ‘guilty pleasure’ it is often called. I’ve met countless woman who dismiss their reading choices as light or unimpressive with a shrug of their shoulders and a downward gaze, as if they’re ashamed they’re not reading War and Peace or the latest nonfiction bestseller every other day. I’ve even found myself doing it—when asked what I’m reading, I’ll pick the weightiest book I’ve read recently rather than the bit of frothy fun I’ve just devoured. And even worse, I sometimes do it as a writer, especially with some of the academic-types I meet living close to Oxford and its prestigious university.

‘What kind of books do you write?’ someone will ask me, and I will shrug my shoulders and dismiss my career as ‘the kind of book you find in the supermarket’—as if that makes it a lesser thing.

One of my (many!) New Year’s resolutions is to stop this bad habit of semi-apologizing for my reading and writing choices. Reading to escape, and writing to offer that escape, is not only acceptable, it’s necessary. 2015 was one of the most difficult years of my life and if I hadn’t had the reprieve from reality offered through various novels—Harlequin Presents, chick lit, and other ‘light’ books—I  think I might have exploded with stress. I’m grateful to the writers who give me books that take me away from my current worries and leave me with a smile on my face.

And if you’re looking for a new escapist read, you can try one of my releases: The Emigrants Trilogy is the kind of historical saga that hopefully sweeps you away, and my March release, Falling Hard, kicks off a series set in small town Upstate New York.

Also if you a book you’ve read recently that you’d like to recommend, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Reading,

Kate