Saturday Sneak-Peek: Reluctantly Charmed by Ellie O'Neill

I've just started reading Reluctantly Charmed by Ellie O'Neill which is due for release in October. Unfortunately, there's not yet a cover image available except for the advance reading copy one, filled with all the Simon & Schuster's in-house endorsements.

"But why?", I hear you say!

Well, along with a number of well-known and much respected book bloggers here in Australia, I have been selected by the wonderful team at Simon & Schuster to help spread the word about the misadventures of Kate McDaid in this very special book, with one of us lucky bloggers being chosen to host the official cover reveal in August.

Here's the blurb:

"Kate McDaid is listing her new-year's resolutions hoping to kickstart her rather stagnant love life and career when she gets some very strange news. To her surprise, she is the sole benefactor of a great-great-great-great aunt and self-proclaimed witch also called Kate McDaid, who died over 130 years ago.  As if that isn't strange enough, the will instructs that, in order to receive the inheritance, Kate must publish seven letters, one by one, week by week.

Burning with curiosity, Kate agrees and opens the first letter - and finds that it's a passionate plea to reconnect with the long-forgotten fairies of Irish folklore.  Almost instantaneously, Kate's life is turned upside down.  Her romantic life takes a surprising turn and she is catapulted into the public eye.

As events become stranger and stranger - and she discovers things about herself she's never known before - Kate must decide whether she can fulfil her great-aunt's final, devastating request ... and whether she can face the consequences if she doesn't."

And, if that's not enough to convince you that this is going to be one of the biggest hits of the year, here's the delightful Irish-Australian Ellie O'Neill, who describes it even better:

Already, this is proving to be a delightfully bubbly, warm and hilarious read, full of good ol' Irish charm, folklore, hopefully some mischievous fairies and perhaps some love.

So, "if you like the warmth of Monica McInerney, laughed at the self-depreciating humour of Bridget Jones, and were charmed by The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, you will fall in love with the story of Kate McDaid".

Please feel free to follow the adventures (or misadventures) of Kate McDaid with me on social media as I Tweet and Facebook some of my favourite quotes.  I promise I won't give too much away!

Here's one of my favourites so far:

"I looked up over the heavy cream paper.  'What? Have I died and nobody told me?'

Matthew looked as baffled as me.

'Is this one of those weird after-death dreams? I don't remember a white light.'"

My thanks of course to the publicity team at Simon & Schuster for inviting me to spread, by word-of-mouth, my thoughts on this charming novel.