Day 6 of my book tour resulted in two lovely reviews. Once again, both noted how much they particularly enjoyed the setting for my story.

Thank you Natalie @curlingupwithacoffeeand a kindle and Zara @worm_talk_book_club for your encouraging words.

You can read both reviews by following the links above.

Day 7 started with a surprise from splashesintobooks. Another great review but in verse! Thank you Elaine. How creative! It’s amazing how you managed to capture so many aspects of The Starling Dance – characters, themes, storylines – and all in rhyme.

You can read this poetic review here.

Then it was time for me to do some work. MJ Porter was kind enough to invite me as a guest blogger on her site. I chose to write about the street artists who perform for tourists around the squares in Rome who, it transpires, have been a feature of street life in Rome since ancient times.

On Day 4 of my book tour I stopped off at Tea leaves and Book leaves, where I received a lovely review from Emma, which you can read here

Day 5 was busy. My visit to Pickled Thoughts and Pinot resulted in another lovely review. Thank you.

My favourite line was

Quirky, often sweary, highly amusing and yet at times quite reflective and serious, this book ticks plenty of boxes.

You can read the full review here.

Joanne’s review, like many others I received, spoke about the setting for my story – Rome during a sweltering summer. Joanne, who had visited Rome before enjoyed being taken back to the streets of Trastavere. For those of you who haven’t visited, Trastevere is a neighbourhood in Rome just south of the Tevere river. It’s full of small, winding cobbled paths, houses painted the colours of Autumn and little bars and restaurants which teem with people in the evenings. I spent a lot of time there while I was living in Italy – especially eating takeaway pizza on the fountain steps in the ancient Santa Maria square.

Day 3 of my book tour was busy and so exciting.

First I visited TBHonest where I received a wonderful review.

As a new author, it’s quite daunting to put your book out there for others to read. You can never be sure if other people are going to enjoy it as much as you hope, and sometimes self-doubt takes over. So it was such a joy and a real boost to my confidence to see The Starling Dance described as ‘a stunning debut’. Thank you!

You can read the full review here.

This review spoke about my female main character, Laure, as being ‘instantly likeable and relatable’. Many readers have mentioned that she is their favourite character because she is very human – quite fallible and funny.

Laure is a 29-year-old, from Paris and she’s going through a rough patch in her life. After suffering a burnout, she left her job in France and moved to Rome for a new start. She’s weighed down by all kinds of expectations (almost entirely self-imposed) on how her life should look as she nears her 30s. In the book, we follow her journey as she searches for a sense of purpose, self and belonging.