West Yorkshire SPECIAL - Hebden Bridge and Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings.

I am more than delighted to include in  my West Yorkshire theme,  Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings. 

What makes this book special is that it is set in Hebden Bridge.

Hebden Bridge is a market town which forms part of Hebden Royd in West Yorkshire, England.

Not only is the location perfect for my Yorkshire them, but nine authors have written beautiful stories set in this mill town.

So, please  help yourself to a glass of bubbly and then settle down to meet my lovely guest, Helen Fairfax who will tell you all about the authors and what to expect from, Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings. 

A few years ago a group of us northern romance authors began to meet up in Hebden Bridge. This town is conveniently located for us all near the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire, and a handy meeting place for both sides of the Pennines. It’s also a lovely place for a day out. As well as being a picturesque old mill town, surrounded by stunning hills and moors, Hebden Bridge also has a fab selection of cafés and cakes – which suited us all!

One day we were chatting over lunch (tea and cake may well have been involved again :) ) and we realised that between us we’d written a wide variety of romance novels. The eight other authors in the group are all writers whose books and short stories I’ve read and loved. When I suggested us collaborating on an anthology together, I was absolutely thrilled when they all threw themselves behind the idea with enthusiasm.

And so our anthology, Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings, was born!

As we talked over our ideas for stories, we knew we needed a common theme to hold the collection together, and we decided Hebden Bridge would make the perfect setting. It’s a beautiful town, and the perfect location for a romance, as you can see from the photos. We’ve fictionalised our town and called it Haven Bridge in our stories, but Miss Moonshine’s Emporium and many of the other scenes in the anthology are all recognisable locations.

As I mentioned, besides myself there are eight other authors in the anthology, and we all live in either Yorkshire or Lancashire. Here’s a little bit about all of us!

Melinda Hammond is a West Country girl by birth but has lived for 30 years in the Yorkshire Pennines, writing her award-winning romantic historical adventures. She also writes as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Find out more about Melinda  

Jacqui Cooper lives on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, which means she doesn’t have to look far for inspiration for her writing. Her short stories regularly appear in popular women’s magazines, including Woman’s Weekly, The People’s Friend and Take a Break. Writing has always been her dream and she is thrilled to now be able to do it full time.

Marie Laval  is originally from Lyon, but  now lives in the beautiful Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, where she writes contemporary and historical romance with a French twist. Her latest romantic comedy, bestseller Little Pink Taxi, is published by Choc Lit. Find out more about Marie

Helen Pollard had a vivid imagination as a child. Fuelled by her love of reading, she started to create her own stories in a notebook. She still prefers fictional worlds to real life, believes characterisation is the key to a successful book, and enjoys infusing her writing with humour and heart. Find out more about Helen

Angela Wren is an actor and director at a theatre in Yorkshire, UK.  She loves stories and reading and writes the Jacques Forêt crime novels set in France.  Her short stories vary between romance, memoir, mystery and historical.  Angela has had two one-act plays recorded for local radio. Find out more about Angela

Sophie Claire writes emotional stories set in England and in sunny Provence, where she spent her summers as a child. Previously, she worked in marketing and proofreading academic papers, but now she’s delighted to spend her days dreaming up heartwarming contemporary romance stories set in beautiful places. Find out more about Sophie

 Kate Field writes contemporary women’s fiction, mainly set in her favourite county of Lancashire, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and hyperactive cat.

Kate’s debut novel, The Magic of Ramblings, won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon Award for new writers. Find out more about Kate

Mary Jayne Baker is a novelist from Bingley, West Yorkshire. Since her debut in 2016, she has published four romantic comedies with two publishers, HarperImpulse and Mirror Books. Her latest, A Bicycle Made for Two – set in Yorkshire against the backdrop of the 2014 Tour de France – was published in April 2018. Find out more about Mary Jayne

And here’s a bit about me…!

Helena Fairfax is a freelance editor and author. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize and the Global Ebook Awards. Helena lives in an old mill village on the edge of the Yorkshire moors with her husband and their rescue dog, Lexi. Find out more about Helena

And here is a little bit about our Miss Moonshine:

Miss Moonshine’s Emporium of Happy Endings

Sometimes what you need is right there waiting for you...
Miss Moonshine’s Wonderful Emporium has stood in the pretty Yorkshire town of Haven Bridge for as long as anyone can remember. With her ever-changing stock, Miss Moonshine has a rare gift for providing exactly what her customers need: a fire opal necklace that provides a glimpse of a different life; a novel whose phantom doodler casts a spell over the reader; a music box whose song links love affairs across the generations. One thing is for certain: after visiting Miss Moonshine’s quirky shop, life is never the same again...
Nine romantic novelists from Yorkshire and Lancashire, including best-selling and award-winning authors, have joined together to create this collection of uplifting stories guaranteed to warm your heart. This intriguing mix of historical and contemporary romances will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the happy-ever-after.

Available from Amazon in print and as an ebook. Buy link: http://mybook.to/MissMoonshine

Release date: 18th May 2018

I hope you’ve enjoyed our introduction to Miss Moonshine and Hebden Bridge. Thank you for having us, Pauline! x

Thank you Helen, and everyone involved, for sharing your wonderful book and how it all came about. I hope it flies of the shelves. I am away to get my copy...

 Thank you also my wonderful visitors and friends for stopping by. Please call back again to see what else is going on here. Until then, have a fabulous day and I hope the sun is shining on your face and in your heart.

Pauline

Brought to you by Storm Clouds Gathering
set in a Yorkshire Mill town in 1965

And

Chill Awards for Independent Authors

www.chillwithabook.com