Blog Tour ~ Guest Post | It's A Wonderful Life ~ Julia Williams

I'm delighted to be talking part in the blog tour for Julia Williams' 10th - yes 10th!! -novel, It's A Wonderful Life, which is published by Avon.

For today's stop, Julia has very kindly offered to share her favourite festive movies with us, and we would love to know what your's is too so please comment below.

Its A Wonderful Life

Julia Williams

Avon

November 2016

Kindle | Paperback

Christmas with the family. Cosy, relaxing…and a total nightmare?

Driving home for Christmas, Beth has everything she wants. The kids and the house, the career and the husband. So why is it that when the New Year comes, she can’t stop thinking about her old college boyfriend?

Her husband Daniel is tasked with bringing a struggling school up to scratch, but when family life catches up to him, can he be a good father and a good teacher at the same time?

Beth’s sister Lou has just been dumped…again. Single and childless, she can’t help but be jealous of her sibling’s success. But is the grass really always greener?

It’s a Wonderful Life is a heart-warming novel about the lives that could have been, and what happens when you start to question the choices you made…

My favourite Christmas films... by Julia Williams

Ah, Christmas. Where would we be without fighting the family for the television control? There’s always something someone doesn’t want to watch. But never fear, here’s my definitive Must-Watch films for the festive season, some old, some new, but there should be at least one in here that everyone can agree on...

1 The Wizard of Oz

To anyone over the age of 45, Christmas isn’t complete without a viewing of this family favourite. (HEY, we grew up with three channels and it was on every year). However, it’s a film which still has appeal for a modern audience, and given the popularity of Wicked, there’s still room for modern families to revisit the charming story of Dorothy, Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion (my favourite character) and enjoy the old classic songs for the umpteenth time.  And where better than to watch it in the company of your nearest and dearest? After all, there is no place like home...

2 Home Alone

Always a firm favourite to those who grew up in the eighties, this is a story which never loses its appeal. McCauley Culkin never ceases to be cute. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, never stop being funny. It’s a film which makes you laugh out loud however many times you see it, and you’d have to be a complete  Scrooge not to feel touched by that heart-warming ending. What’s not to love?

3 Die Hard

For those without an emotional bone in their body (do such people exist? Apparently they do) a bit of 90s mindless violence is just the ticket. Bruce Willis’ solo fight against Alan Rickman’s baddie to save a bunch of hostages, and get back together with his Mrs still pulls its punches. Snow, fist fights, Bruce going it alone, getting the girl - and all done and dusted by Christmas Eve. It’s the perfect Christmas movie for those who don’t do soppy. And even those who do, can always enjoy seeing Bruce at his very very best…

4 The Holiday

However, for those for whom Christmas isn’t Christmas without a chance to get gooey at least once, I offer you The Holiday: a near perfect rom com in which career focussed Cameron Diaz swaps houses for the Christmas season with jilted Kate Winslet. They both find love in unexpected places, and it’s a wonderful, touching and fabulous film. But be prepared to get your hankie out!

5 Star Wars (THE ORIGINAL)

This is going a bit off piste, but I saw the original film during a Christmas holiday, and for me, the excitement Star Wars offers is what Christmas viewing is all about. But it has to be the ORIGINAL three movies as they are just brilliant. (Although I might let you have the third prequel). I am particularly fond of Princess Leia’s sassy no-nonsense approach to destroying the Empire and not needing help from the boys to do it. Star Wars is a must for SF nerds (that’ll be me then) and the good news is with the revival of the franchise there’s plenty more to come. So we’ll probably be watching Star Wars for many Christmases to come!

6 Frozen

If Star Wars is just too out there for you at Christmas and you REALLY insist on seasonal films then Frozen is a must. A great modern feminist story, about sisters and friendship. A frozen heart, a great baddy, a cute snowman called Olaf, and true love saving the day in a way you don’t imagine, this is fabulous festive viewing. So, get your pjs on, bring out the hot chocolate and get cosy on the sofa...

7 The Woman in Black

True love and Disney cartoons are all very well, but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a ghost story to complete it, and The Woman in Black is a ghost story par excellence. Granted watching Daniel Radcliffe play something other than Harry Potter takes some getting used to, but you’ll soon be caught up in the creepiness and suspense of the house haunted by the mysterious woman in black, whose appearance generally presages doom.  I’ve watched it three times now, and still it makes me jump...

8 The Nightmare before Christmas

If you’re not so keen on scares, but enjoy a bit of Tm Burton gothic quirkiness, A Nightmare before Christmas is just great. Telling the story of how Jack Skellington (an unlikely hero given he’s a skeleton, but a deeply affecting one) gets fed up with always being in charge of Halloween and decides to kidnap Santa and put on a Christmas no one will ever forget, it’s by turns, funny, moving and very gothic. You may never look at the presents under the tree in quite the same way again...

9 Elf

Ok, ok, maybe gothic weirdness isn’t for you, so for utter cuteness and the perfect way to end Christmas Day, I give you Elf. A film I only saw for the first time this year, but will now be watching over and over again. Will Ferrell’s utterly clueless Buddy, who doesn’t know he is human, turning up at his real dad’s house and trying to fit in is just genius. Again, touching and funny by turns. I cannot believe it took me so long to see it!

10 It’s a Wonderful Life

And finally… it had to be really, didn’t it? The story of how George Bailey is so distraught he plans to take his life on Christmas Eve before being talked out of it by an angel called Clarence who has to earn his wings, is fully deserving of the word classic. It’s a fabulous film, with a powerful message, and a really feel-good ending. And in case you’re wondering, I haven’t stolen the plot for my latest book. I would have done, but I  already used it in Last Christmas…!

Thank you Julia for sharing your favourite Christmas movies with us - I hope the GiFs are OK?!
I feel it's only right that I end this blog post by sharing one of my favourite's with you -  remember to let us know your's in the comments below!!

Jack Frost

I will warn you now that tissues are required for this one.
Jack Frost is more dedicated to his band than his son Charlie, and is forever breaking promises. When he dies in a car crash, he returns as a snowman to put things right between him and his family before leaving them forever.

A Message From Me To You... | 2015 Wrap Up....

Wow - where has the year gone again? I can't believe I've been blogging for nearly a year either, and its taken off in a way that I completely wasn't expecting!

I decided to start my blog as I was fed up with reading the same books over as I'd forgotten I'd previously read them, and this seemed a great way to keep track of them as I could write a 'mini review' to look back on.

Well, the mini reviews didn't stay very mini for long and I quickly got into full scale book reviewing. Over 100 posts and almost 15,000 page views later, I never ever thought for one second that my blog would get 100 page views, so I am totally amazed and totally grateful for everyone who has clicked through.

I had planned to do a Christmas book review per day during December but time has completely run away with me - I'm so very sorry to those Authors and Publishers whom have sent me Christmas books - I'm just not going to get around to them all now.

This week alone I have done over 47 hours with work, and I shall be working right over the Christmas festivities too with only a few hours off both Christmas and Boxing Days - for those of you unaware, I am a home carer, primarily working with Dementia and Alzheimer's clients, as so as opposed to an office job where if someone is off the work can just pile up and wait. In my job it can't - people still need to get up, washed and dressed whatever day of the year it is. We are incredibly short staffed too at the moment and so I have been filling in left, right and centre.

I am also due to become an Aunty again within a matter of weeks, with my nephew due early January. I can't wait to meet him, I adore my four beautiful nieces even though I only see two (that's a story I may write into a book one day!) but I'm excited to buy all things blue!

So with everything going on right now, I have decided to take a 'Blogiday' and have some time off.

This shall be my last post for near on a month, apart from a small cover reveal here or there. I shall be  back fully blogging and reviewing on February 1st 2016.

I shall still me contactable on email and twitter, although social interaction will be limited.

I've seen many bloggers post their top ten books of 2015 and thought it sounded like a great thing to do, only I have been totally unable to narrow it down so here is a wrap up of various categories....

As it is the season to be jolly, let's start with my favourite festive reads! (Please click on book titles to read my reviews)

Christmas At Lilac Cottage and Snowflakes On Silver Cove both by Holly Martin, were the first books of the season I read and even now, almost 2 months on, I can recall their stories and characters like it was yesterday, I cant wait for book 3 in the White Cliff Bay series!

Wish Upon A Christmas Cake by Darcie Boleyn and Winters Fairytale by Maxine Morrey were both debut authors and reading these two books just gave that warm fuzzy festive feeling - I'm looking forward to what they publish next!

Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses by Jenny Hale was the first book of hers, and was perfectly romantic -I do have the others which I cant wait to read.

Dream A Little Christmas Dream is a short novella sequal by Giovanna Fletcher and I loved seeing how the characters moved on.

Julia Williams' Make A Christmas Wish was completely different to what I expected with the main character being a ghost but had a great story line to it,

Carmel Harrington's Every Time A Bell Rings made it to my Special Books page of the blog as it just had that something extra magical for me - if you haven't read any of above I would certainly make this one as priority!

Also making it to my extra special books page this year was See Me by Nicholas Sparks. See Me was the first book by this popular US author and I absolutely loved it!

Being a blogger and reviewing books has enabled me to discover some amazing new authors this year.

My Sisters Secret by Tracy Buchanan was utterly captivating whilst The Tea Planters Wife by Dinah Jefferies was beautifully written.

Nigel May also had me gripped with his bonk-buster Scandalous Lies.

2016 is sure to be a fab year of new books and I've been lucky enough to read two already.

Our Song by Dani Atkins moved me to tears but was a brilliantly written story.

You and Me, Always is quite simply classic Jill Mansell - Jill is a absolute favourite author of mine and I'm looking forward to attending her book launch in January!

During my Blogiday, I shall be reading and hopfully making a dent within my TBR pile, below is just a few that I'm looking forward to, of which reviews will be up and posted on my return.

To finish this post and completely wrap up 2015 I need to say a few Thank You's!

Firstly to me fabulous guest reviewers - Katrina, Nicole, Samantha and Ellisa. Your reviews have been amazing and I look forward seeing what your reading next year!

Zsa, Tracey, Karen, Gillian, Joan, Alison and Lulu for your fab support on the Facebook page - the input you guys give keeps the page ticking over!

To all the amazing publishers and authors who have so kindly sent me ARC's and filled my email inbox with FUN and EXCITING info - I look forward to working with you again in 2016!

To my fellow bloggers - Aggie, Hayley, Rea, Sharon, Becca, Sophie and Rachel for your endless support and answering my blogging questions - you are all stars!

And, finally, to everyone and anyone I've forgotten to mention or who has clicked through the blog, left comments and RT'd me on twitter - Thank You!

All that is left for me to say, is that I wish you all a lovely Christmas full of mince pies and mulled wine, fun and laughter. I'll see you all in the new year!

Lots of Love 

& Reading,

                         

 Laura

        XX

Blog Tour: Make A Christmas Wish by Julia Williams

Today is my stop on the Make A Christmas Wish blog tour and I love, love, LOVED this book! Its quite unusual, will to me anyway, to have a story told by someone no longer with us so at time you have to keep an open mind, but that doesn't take away the brilliantness (is that a word? I'm making it one!) of the story.

Below you will not only find the usual blurb and my review, but I also have something super special too- an audio excerpt!

 

Last Christmas, when Livvy was knocked down in the supermarket car park, she certainly wasn’t ready to actually be dead! For months now she’s floated on the edge of the afterlife, generally making a nuisance of herself.

And she’s not ready to go just yet! She’s furious about the new woman in her husband’s life and she’s worried about her beloved son who doesn’t seem to be adjusting to life without her at all.

This Christmas, Livvy is given one last magical chance to make everything right. Will she take it and give her family the perfect Christmas?

Perfect for fans of CAROLE MATTHEWS, TRISHA ASHLEY and JENNY COLGAN.

When I first started reading Make A Christmas Wish, I wont lie to you, my first thought was "What on earth am I reading?" swiftly followed by "A Ghost? I'm reading a book from the prospective of a ghost?!"

OK, so that sounds a little strange, granted, but bare with me.... because what we actually have here is an incredibly well thought out Christmas novel that had me gasping in places and moved to tears at the end. If your happy to keep an open mind about ghost's and afterlife and remember this is a book of fiction then it really is a true work of art.

There are four main characters to the book - Livvy, Adam, Emily and Joe, and the book is told in the 1st person from Livvy and Adam, the 3rd person with Emily and notebook form from Joe so instantly we have a great variation of reading style which is well balanced, keeping the story flowing without getting confusing or lost.

Even though the bulk of the book is set in this year, it is split into three sections as there are odd chapters which in part one looks back on Christmas's from Livvy's past, section two remains as now whilst three takes a look at future Christmas's.

Now I appreciate that all this seems a lot to take in, but when your actually reading the book it flows perfectly, I don't want to give away too many details and spoil the plot but I will give a bit of a summary which will help explain the past and future sections to an extent.

Livvy is knocked down by a learner driver at her local supermarket just prior to Christmas last year, leaving behind her husband Adam and son, Joe. She is aware of things going on around her but cant quite work it all out. It all becomes clear when she overhears Adam and Joe being told that she didn't survive the accident.

After a year she is approached by her spirit guide, Malaki, who explains that she has been left where she passed away as she wasn't ready to go over to the other side.

Despite being dead, Livvy believes that its not her time to go and want to make it her mission to rebuild her family, especially as just before the car hit her she had discovered Adam had been having an affair with Emily.

Livvy hates Emily with a passion, but with her and Adam getting closer and closer, she decides drastic action is needed to drive the couple apart and make Adam fall in love with her again.

Only both Adam and Emily don't believe in ghost.

Livvy starts to play tricks on them - gusts of wind, flickering lights and frozen computer screens and soon enough they start to wonder what is happening.

Joe in the meantime knows its his mum doing this yet isn't believed, however is thrilled to have her back - He has Asperger's and puts things simply... Mums gone, Emily's here, she's my new mum, mums back, Emily must go.... he doesn't quite get the complications involved but knows that his one Christmas wish would be to have his family together again,  which puts pressure on Adam as he wants Joe to be happy which will only be if Livvy stays, but of course him and Emily will be unhappy... its a love triangle at its best!

Over time, Malaki shows Livvy snapshots from her past and how much of a drinking problem she had, one of the main reasons her and Adam's relationship wasn't working.

Livvy confides in another spirit guide who says she can help bring her back to life and gives her 24 hours to make Adam fall for her again, and its only when he sticks to his feelings for Emily that Livvy realises that maybe it was her time to pass, that maybe her relationship was over a long time ago.

But does she do the right thing and leave her son and the man she loves for a second time or does she continue to drive a wedge between Emily and Adam?

Well..... you will just have to read the book as if I type anymore I think I will give the complete story away, and I really don't think that my over view has done the book justice so you are just going to have to trust me on how fantastic it is!

This is the first book of Julia William's I've read and I can say I was not disappointed. The book was a complete page turner and had me gripped from start to finish.

There were bits that made me chuckle out loud (who knew life after death could be such a ball?!) and bits that were pulling the heart strings and the whole concept of the book with the main character being a ghost gave me a completely different prospective and really makes you think about loved ones that you've lost and the process of them passing over.

It also leaves one question - if you could Make A Christmas Wish, what would you choose?

Click here to listen to an exclusive audio clip taken from the book!

I would like to thank HarperCollins and Avon for a review copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

Cover Reveal: Make A Christmas Wish by Julia Williams

I'm pleased to be helping HarperCollins with this gorgeous and festive cover reveal this evening... It's just so beautifully Christmassy!

Last Christmas, when Livvy was knocked down in the supermarket car park, she certainly wasn’t ready to actually be dead! For months now she’s floated on the edge of the afterlife, generally making a nuisance of herself.

And she’s not ready to go just yet! She’s furious about the new woman in her husband’s life and she’s worried about her beloved son who doesn’t seem to be adjusting to life without her at all.

This Christmas, Livvy is given one last magical chance to make everything right. Will she take it and give her family the perfect Christmas?

Perfect for fans of CAROLE MATTHEWS, TRISHA ASHLEY and JENNY COLGAN.

Author bio:

Julia has always made up stories in her head, and until recently she thought everyone else did too. She grew up in London, one of eight children, including a twin sister. 

She married Dave, a dentist, in 1989, and they have four daughters. 

After the birth of the second Julia decided to try her hand at writing. 

Since then she has written 8 hugely popular novels, selling over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone, and hitting the Sunday Times bestseller list.