Tuesday, 7 February 2017
A Little Luck, A Lot of Fate by Linn B Halton
Release Date: 23rd October 2016
Publisher: Choc Lit UK
Publisher: Choc Lit UK
Genres: Romance / Contemporary Women's Fiction
When destiny calls, you need to pick up …
On the surface, Kristi Danielson has it all. She’s lifestyle coach to the rich and famous, has a bestselling book to her name and is described by her fans as “the veritable Queen of how to lead a fulfilling life”.
But the harsh truth is that Kristi has never practiced what she preaches. Her home life is a mess, her relationship with artist boyfriend, Tom, not much better – and now she has to redeem herself before all is lost.
At her wit’s end, Kristi is driven to seek out the help of Patrick Blakeslee, a tarot card reader and psychic medium, in an attempt to make sense of the mounting panic she’s feeling.
But Patrick’s visits have an unexpected effect on Kristi, leaving her with more questions than answers – and a life-changing decision to make.
a Rafflecopter giveawayWhen destiny calls, you need to pick up …
On the surface, Kristi Danielson has it all. She’s lifestyle coach to the rich and famous, has a bestselling book to her name and is described by her fans as “the veritable Queen of how to lead a fulfilling life”.
But the harsh truth is that Kristi has never practiced what she preaches. Her home life is a mess, her relationship with artist boyfriend, Tom, not much better – and now she has to redeem herself before all is lost.
At her wit’s end, Kristi is driven to seek out the help of Patrick Blakeslee, a tarot card reader and psychic medium, in an attempt to make sense of the mounting panic she’s feeling.
But Patrick’s visits have an unexpected effect on Kristi, leaving her with more questions than answers – and a life-changing decision to make.
EXCERPT
I’m the
middle child, sandwiched between my eldest brother, Luke, and the baby of the
family, Drew. My mother had three brothers and so, as the only two daughters in
two generations, we were always in the minority. That rather tends to shape the
way you look at things and there are only two ways it can go. Either you are
the one whose voice is seldom heard above the sea of testosterone around you,
or you make yours the loudest voice of them all. You become the organiser; the
one who leads – in short, my brothers accepted that I was in charge. Maybe it
was because I had inherited the bossy gene, if such a thing exists. But, from a
tender age, what I lacked in practical knowledge, I made up for with sheer
common sense and the dubious ability to be believable.
I say dubious, because I learnt that I had the
power to organise and control what went on around me. I was a natural. What
surprised me was the fact that people around me loved being told what to do.
They sought my advice, opening up to me and looking for guidance at every step
of the way. As a teenager I felt I had a heady power and it gave me a sense of
confidence. At the time I didn’t understand that it was something to be treated
with respect and a healthy dose of reality. People simply lapped-up what I told
them and that, I suppose, was the blessing that has become a curse. When people
are unsure about what to do next they look around for someone strong to advise
them. In their desperation they are grateful and comforted and the person
delivering the advice? Well, it’s addictive and each little success elevates
you in their eyes, as well as in your own.
The truth is that I am supremely confident when it
comes to organising other people’s lives. I’m extremely proud of the fact that
I can inspire others and encourage them to develop their full potential. When
it comes to my own life, it’s held together with the emotional equivalent of
string and Blu-tack. Simply put, I’m a fraud.
Money and fame go hand-in-hand and there isn’t a
chat show worth mentioning that hasn’t featured me at some point in the last
few years. My name constantly crops up around the world and even in countries
like the US, Japan, and Sweden, it’s instantly recognisable. Grab Life and
Run With It is in its fourth season in the UK and I’ve just signed a
contract for a further six episodes. My fan club is full of hopeful people,
eager to share each of their milestones on Twitter, as they follow my
celebrated Twelve Steps to Finding YOU plan.
To the world it appears I have all of the trappings
of success. The harsh reality is that I spend my time trying to cover the
tracks of a life that has no balance. All I have is my work – there is nothing
else.
Every time Linn B Halton writes a new book I simply cannot wait to get my hands on it. Her writing is just so good. A Little Luck, A Lot of Fate certainly didn't disappoint! At the beginning of the book we are immediately introduced to Kristi, a life coach whose own life is anything but perfect and certainly not what she preaches to her band of followers and the press. Its time for her to make some changes to her very unfulfilling life and she does this by taking time off work to write a book and bring some semblance of order and normality to her life. Kristi of course also takes the rather unconventional route of consulting a psychic medium / tarot reader to help her on her journey of self discovery and and to help her find her way through the maze of confusion over where her life should be.............who she should be! And, like her, Kristi's boyfriend Tom has been playing it safe with his life, keeping Kristi as his safe bet too but feeling very unfulfilled.
In this book, Linn has created some brilliant characters and my favourite has to be Eve the housekeeper / cleaner. Like Kristie, Eve's life is not perfect, although in a completely different way. As the friendship between the two women develops we also see their personalities develop and evolve, both in different ways. Eve is definitely instrumental in making Kristi more self aware and more empathetic to those around her than she previously had. I love how Kristi actually starts off being someone I didn't really warm to but as the story progressed I found myself wanting better outcomes for her and becoming invested in her character. And its so easy to see how Kristi ended up the way she did, caught up in making everyone elses life so perfect that she forgot to live her own life. There was, for me, a feeling of sadness about this.
I love stories that incorporate lesser understood things like psychic mediums and tarot readers as I am totally intrigued by such things and I'm a firm believer in the fact that maybe, just maybe there is something more out there in the great big universe. Having had some experience of psychic mediums, this was a book that kept me interested and I was fascinated by the character of Patrick. This was also a book I could totally fall into and escape. Linn B Halton's books feel like your favourite big fluffy cardigan, wrapping you up in a hug and making you feel so good. Told from different viewpoints of the main characters this is another fab book for me to highly recommend!
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ABOUT LINN B HALTON
Bristol-born Linn B Halton lives on the edge of the small
market town of Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, in the UK.
"I'm a hopeless romantic, self-confessed chocaholic,
and lover of strong coffee. For me, life is about family, friends, writing ...
and house renovation! Oh, and the occasional glass of White Grenache..."
An Amazon UK Top 100 best-selling author with A Cottage in
the Country in November 2015, Under The Stars also became a best-seller in
November 2016. Linn's novels have been short-listed in the UK's Festival of
Romance and the eFestival of Words Book Awards. Linn won the 2013 UK Festival
of Romance: Innovation in Romantic Fiction award.
Linn writes chick lit, women's contemporary fiction and
psychic romance for Choc Lit, Harper Impulse and Endeavour Press.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LinnBHalton
Goodreads Author Page: http://ow.ly/pv6N306918g
Website: http://linnbhalton.co.uk/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/linnbhalton/
I love visiting and having a Brook Cottage Books tour is always a highlight every time I release a new book! I'm thrilled you enjoyed Kristi's story and it was a fun one to write ... Hugs and thank you so much lovely lady! xx