A huge delight to be handing over the blog today to the lovely Carol Thomas to help celebrate publication day of A SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES!
Over to you Carol….
Thank you so much for your support and for having me on your blog, Karen. I hope this is OK; I enjoyed writing it. xx
Release Day for A Summer of Second Chances: Hidden Stories and Family Secrets
Sometimes inspiration strikes in a single moment. That is what happened when I got the idea for A Summer of Second Chances. A few years ago, I was volunteering in my local charity shop when a donation was brought in. Nothing unusual there, of course. However, in the box, amongst other things, were a stack of photo albums. We always check the quality of donations, and so I flicked through the albums. They were all empty apart from a single photograph that had accidentally been left. The picture was of a woman holding a baby.
My mind started weaving stories. What if that photograph held a secret? Who were the people? What was the occasion? What happened before and after that picture? I made notes in my notebook, something I always did between customers. Charity shops, in general, are inspirational places; everything around you has its own tale to tell.
In A Summer of Second Chances, Ava Flynn runs a charity shop to support her mum’s beloved animal rescue centre – All Critters Great and Small. She is at a point in her life where she feels bogged down by the donations; Ava recognizes that they all have a story but sees that as a sign that the things around her have lived more than she has.
But Ava’s life is about to change in more ways than one. When Ava’s first love, Henry Bramlington, returns to the village of Dapplebury, it is not just the donation he makes to the shop that unlocks secrets and emotions related to her youth.
I enjoyed writing Ava’s journey of discovery. She grows as a person through the story. Part of that comes from gaining a greater understanding of her past. I am interested in family secrets – not least because my family has one. We all know there’s a secret. My granddad was very strict about us not trying to find out what it is, forbidding us to do our family tree. Hmm, now what would you do in that situation, many years after his passing?
ABOUT THE BOOK
A heart-warming romance full of love, friendship and four legged friends!
Does first love deserve a second chance?
Ava Flynn sometimes feels like the clothes donated to her charity shop have seen more life than her, but ‘maximum dedication for a minimal wage’ is what it takes to keep her mother’s beloved wildlife charity, All Critters Great and Small,
running especially in the village of Dapplebury, where business is certainly not booming.
But when Ava’s first love, Henry Bramlington, returns to the village, suddenly life becomes a little too eventful. Henry escaped Dapplebury many years before, but now he has the power to make or break the village he left behind All Critters Great and Small included. Can Ava trust the boy who ran away to give both her and her charity a second chance?
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Published by: Choc Lit
Buying Links:
Amazon: http://getbook.at/SOSCAmazon
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-summer-of-second-chances-1
Choc Lit: https://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/a-summer-of-second-chances/
About the Author:
Carol Thomas lives on the south coast of England with her husband, four children and lively Labrador. She has been a primary school teacher for over twenty years and has a passion for reading, writing and people watching. When she is not in school, chasing after her children, or stopping her dog from eating things he shouldn’t, she can be found loitering in cafes drinking too much tea and working on her next book. She also volunteers for her local Cancer Research UK charity shop.
Carol writes contemporary romance novels, with relatable heroines whose stories are layered with emotion, sprinkled with laughter and topped with irresistible male leads.
Website and Social Media Links:
http://carol-thomas.co.uk/blog
http://facebook.com/carolthomasauthor
Books and Me! 
