{"id":7693,"date":"2019-09-07T09:21:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-07T08:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/?p=7693"},"modified":"2019-09-07T09:21:48","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T08:21:48","slug":"the-birth-of-my-first-novel-the-longest-gestation-in-history-gas-and-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/2019\/09\/the-birth-of-my-first-novel-the-longest-gestation-in-history-gas-and-air\/","title":{"rendered":"The birth of my first novel …the longest gestation in history. Gas and Air!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very excited, apprehensive and shocked but here it is …..my first book. Smelling salts for Craig! And its out on 9th September.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After a shitty time in my life, I started writing to save my sanity and then suddenly the characters took on a life of their own and we were off. \u00a0It’s set in St Andrews, the protagonist Maddy Campbell works and lives in London when she gets a phone call to say her Dad has dropped dead on the 18th hole on The Old Course at St Andrews, she has to come home to sort out his affairs, namely a failing restaurant \u00a0“The Bride and Bramble ” and \u00a0his Jack Russell Frank. \u00a0Of course there’s \u00a0food, drink and a dog in it! \u00a0You know me well enough to know my priorities in life.<\/p>\n

Orion<\/a> publishers in London offered me a 3 book deal ! My reaction was shock, faint, get me a bottle of tequila now! So this is the first of a trilogy. Orion have launched a new Imprint DASH and I am one of their launch authors. \u00a0How cool is that?<\/p>\n

Anyway, early reviews are good…which was a real knicker wetter I can tell you. It’s all very well when your friends and family read your stuff but when real live grown ups do it’s a very different feeling. I will immodestly paste early reviews below this post…I hate blowing my own trumpet but to get the book out there it has to be done. And I am so relieved the reviewers like my funny little world.<\/p>\n

Monday 9th September it is released and you can get a copy here….New Beginnings At The Birdie and Bramble\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s a new world to me and I am finding it fascinating. The book comes out as and E book first so you can get it on Kindle or any other of those digital platforms. And if you like the characters…well there are 2 more in the series. Snowfall At The Birdie and Bramble is next….watch this space….shit I better go and write it now!<\/p>\n

Thanks for your support, as ever, without you it would be a very lonely experience, \u00a0 Alison XXX<\/p>\n

Here are the reviews from netgalley.co.uk<\/p>\n

Member Reviews<\/h2>\n
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Reviewer 489244 \u00a05 Stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I was drawn to this book by the eye catching colourful cover. I also loved the setting of this book as I love Scotland. I was excited to receive an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher.\r\nThe book starts with Maddy, who has moved from Scotland to live and work in London. She receives a phone call from her Uncle, to say that her Father has died unexpectedly and suddenly.\r\nMaddy returns to Scotland, and finds that her Father's restaurant has gone downhill. She has a decision to make about what she should do next.\r\nI really enjoyed reading this book, It has a lovely feel good factor, and it is an engaging read.\r\nI loved the way the characters all worked together, supporting each other.\r\nThe characters are well thought out, and the storyline flows well.\r\n I am pleased that I have found a new author to read, and I am looking forward to reading the next books in the series.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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 Stacey R, Reviewer. 5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Exciting new read by a new author for me. Love the cover, really stands out with the bright colours and draws you in. This novel has interesting characters, a great storyline and is unputdownable. Would recommend you give this read a go.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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 Emma W, Reviewer 4\u00a0stars<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. \r\n\r\nNew Beginnings at The Birdie and Bramble is the first novel by Alison Craig that I\u2019ve read and I can honestly say that I will be picking up more of her work in the future. I really liked her style of writing and found this an easy book to read. Her writing is so descriptive and I could honestly picture everything she was describing, especially the food! \r\n\r\nThis is a story about finding strength and figuring out what you want out of life. It has ups and it has downs just like real life and I felt myself really liking Maddy and everyone in this book. The characters in this book were brilliantly written and all had their own paths of development which I really enjoyed reading about. This is the first book in a series and I cannot wait to continue to read about this group of people and The Birdie and Bramble (which is someone where I would definitely visit frequently!)\r\n\r\nI don\u2019t want to go into too much detail with this book as I don\u2019t want to spoil anything but it really is worth the read if you\u2019re looking for a story which focuses on family, friends and fresh starts!<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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 Clare M, Reviewer \u00a05 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Thanks to netgalley for letting me have a chance to read this book. \r\n\r\nBrilliant book, easy read. \r\n\r\nWhen Maddy who lives in London gets a phone call to say her dad has died she rushes up to St. Andrews in Scotland. Her dad used to run a restaurant called The birdie and the bramble, she needs to decide what to do with it. Does she reopen it or sell the lease to the laird.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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 Alison R, Reviewer.\u00a04 \u00a0stars<\/strong><\/p>\n
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When her beloved father dies suddenly Maddie Campbell returns to St Andrews in Scotland and the family restaurant The Birdie and Bramble. The restaurant may have seen better days, the decor is certainly dated, but it is much beloved. When her landlord gives her 28 days notice to quit the flat above the restaurant, at her father's wake Maddy also discovers that he owns the restaurant and is doing everything in his power to get her to sell the leasehold back to him, without a thriving restaurant the leasehold is worth almost nothing and Maddie's father's legacy will disappear.\r\n\r\nAn imminent wedding booking that can't be cancelled gets Maddy and the staff to pull together to create a wonderful day and leads to a plan to revive the restaurant's fortunes, especially since the British Open is due to be held at St Andrews in a few months bringing a huge influx of tourists to the area.\r\n\r\nThis is very similar to a Katie Fforde novel. I loved the glorious food descriptions (not to be read if you are on a diet), the cosy small town feel, the morning walks on the beach, the romantic tension between Maddie's boyfriend in London and her new venison supplier for the restaurant. There's a suitably evil Laird, secret identities and nefarious plots to reveal all while serving sumptuous Scottish fare.\r\n\r\nI received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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 Karen W, Reviewer. 5 Stars<\/strong><\/p>\n
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This is a lovely story about fresh starts, friendship, love, family, joy, happiness, forgiveness and the power of strength that is inside all of us. I know that this is part of a bigger series and I cannot wait to get to know the amazing array of characters in this story even more. Fun, fab, fresh, joyful and awesome.<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Very excited, apprehensive and shocked but here it is …..my first book. Smelling salts for Craig! And its out on 9th September.\u00a0 After a shitty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,24],"tags":[1734,32,1732,1731,1241,1408,1733,1729,1730,18,840,460],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alisonsdiary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}