Blog Tour: It Started With A Tweet, Guest Post from Author Anna Bell

It Started With a Tweet by Anna Bell

Published: 7th December 2017

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre

Pages: 416

Available on Kindle

Pre-Order from Amazon

Blurb

Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall . . .

Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria. Soon, too, Daisy a welcome distraction there in Jack, the rugged man-next-door.

But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village?

And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone?

Today I'd like to welcome the wonderful Anna Bell to my blog to talk about one aspect of her fabulous new book It Started With A Tweet, out on Thursday. So over to Anna:

Social Media And Me

I adore social media. Being a British expat living in France I love the fact that I feel connected with the UK with a simple swipe. From a work perspective I love that I can talk to readers and other authors. From a personal perspective I love that I can lose hours watching Instagram stories and finding out everything I ever needed to know in an instant.  But I also hate social media. I hate the fact that I am always tempted to check my phone. I hate the fact it can cripple with me anxiety that my life doesn’t look as fun as everyone else’s. And I hate the fact that I ignore people who are actually in the room with me to speak to virtual strangers. I’ve started to wonder is it possible to find a balance between love and hate.

When I started to write my main character Daisy in my latest novel It Started With a Tweet, I was laughing at the way she acted when she was forced offline and the ridiculous lengths she went to find the internet. Only the more I started to write her, the more I started to see myself in her and I began to notice how obsessed with my phone I actually am. I started to track the time I spent on it and was amazed that those little email refreshes here and that scan of Twitter there actually added up to hours during a day.

Shocked to discover my addiction, I was determined to do something about it and I ended up doing a three day digital detox. I prepared myself for tears, tantrums and misery, only they didn’t come. It was as if I knew that I wasn’t allowed it so I didn’t even reach for it. I felt freer than I have in a long, long time and for once I didn’t have major FOMO (fear of missing out) as I wasn’t seeing what everyone else was up to.

Realising that I treated my phone like another person in the room - always giving it priority over everyone and anything else - I decided I needed to change. I’ve

now deleted Facebook off my iPad and phone. I’ve off all my notifications from all my apps and now the only way to know now if someone’s got in contact with me is if I check. I no longer jump to the beat of my phone as it’s pretty much silent all day. I’ve started to tweet more as I’m trying to be more of an active participant rather than just a reader, in the hope that I’ll get more out of it. I’m also trying to wean myself off Instagram stories, as yet with no success - but you’ve got to have one achilles heel, right?

I think writing the novel was great for me to remind me that there’s a world away from my phone. Life goes on whether I’m on or offline and I don’t always have to know what’s happening all the time. My great love affair with social media isn’t over, but like all love affairs I’m beginning to think perhaps it’s healthier not to spend all your time together!

Thank you so much Anna for sharing your social media thoughts with us and look out soon for my review of the hilarious It Started With a Tweet.

The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even by Anna Bell

The Good Girlfriends Guide to Getting Even by Anna Bell

Published: 26th January 2017

Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre

Pages: 432

Available in paperback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

When Lexi's sport-mad boyfriend Will skips her friend's wedding to watch football - after pretending to have food poisoning - it might just be the final whistle for their relationship.

But fed up of just getting mad, Lexi decides to even the score. And, when a couple of lost tickets and an 'accidentally' broken television lead to them spending extra time together, she's delighted to realise that revenge might be the best thing that's happened to their relationship.

And if her clever acts of sabotage prove to be a popular subject for her blog, what harm can that do? It's not as if he'll ever find out . . .

Review

Having loved Anna’s previous novel The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart last year I was really excited to read her new book The Good Girlfriend’s Guide to Getting Even and it did not disappoint, in fact I think it was better than her last book.

Lexi and Will have been together seven years, seven years where Lexi has patiently put up with Will’s extreme love of watching sports, but that’s about to change. On the day of her best friend’s wedding Lexi is optimistic that Will has changed his ways and will go with her without a fuss knowing how special the day is to Lexi. Oh no Will has other ideas, he fakes food poisoning to avoid going to the wedding and instead goes to watch his beloved Southampton play football. When Lexi receives a text showing Will at the game she is furious.

Knowing getting mad with Will will not make her feel better Lexi decides to get even. After a couple of her revenge plans result in bringing her and Will closer together Lexi is over the moon, this is exactly the relationship she wants, so she carries on. When challenged by her writing class Lexi decides there will be no harm in writing about antics in her new blog and loves it when the blog hits keep rising….surely there is no way Will will ever find out right?

The Good Girlfriends Guide to Getting Even may be a book with a very long title but it’s a book I loved. It’s light hearted and full of humour which kept me entertained all the way through.  I loved wondering just what crazy plan Lexi would come up with next and just how far she would push Will to get her revenge.

I liked Lexi as a character as she seemed initially to have good intentions about her plans especially when she got more quality time with Will as a result. I did start to think she was maybe going a little too far and I ended up feeling a bit sorry for Will, he must have been a bit bewildered as to why things kept going wrong with all his sports plans. I enjoyed the rest of the characters in the book which Anna has brought to life so well, my favourite had to be sex-obsessed Cara and her secret slipper wearing boyfriend.

This book was a joy to read and Anna is quickly becoming one of my go to authors when I want a book which will cheer me and leave a smile on my face. If you’re a fan of Sophie Kinsella or Christie Barlow then I’m sure you will enjoy this book.

Thank you so much to the publishers who sent me a copy of this book to review if I chose, it was brilliant.

The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell

The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell

Published: 10th March 2016

Publisher: Zaffre

Pages: 432

Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Pre-Order now from Amazon

Blurb

Abi's barely left her bed since Joseph, the love of her life, dumped her, saying they were incompatible. When Joseph leaves a box of her possessions on her doorstep, she finds a bucket list of ten things she never knew he wanted to do. What better way to win him back than by completing the list, and proving they're a perfect match? But there's just one problem - or rather, ten. Abi's not exactly the outdoorsy type, and she's absolutely terrified of heights - not ideal for a list that includes climbing a mountain, cycling around the Isle of Wight and, last but not least, abseiling down the tallest building in town ...Completing the list is going to need all Abi's courage - and a lot of help from her friends. But as she heals her broken heart one task at a time, the newly confident Abi might just have a surprise in store ...

Review

Anna Bell has been an author on my must try list for a long time so when her publisher contacted me and asked if I would review her new book  The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart I jumped at the chance, so thank you Zaffre. The book itself is gorgeous, with metallic pink letters and confetti sprinkled all over the cover what is not to love, it’s definitely one which catches your eye.

Anyway onto the story, Abi’s just been dumped by the love of her life Joseph and is completely heartbroken. She’s hoping he’ll come back realising he’s made a terrible mistake but after two weeks when he conveniently leaves a box of her stuff on the doorstep while she’s out Abi realises she’s going to have to do something drastic to get Joseph back. While looking through the box Abi discovers something which might just help her get her man back….a copy of Joseph’s bucket list. Deciding to prove to Joseph their perfect Abi sets out to complete the list despite there only being a couple of things she might enjoy doing. What follows is three months of Abi attempting the list along with support from friends Sian and Giles and new friend Ben. But dos Abi manage to win back the man she loves?

At first I didn’t warm to Abi as she moped about over Joseph for a long time and I really wanted her to pull herself together and find someone new as Joseph didn’t sound the nicest of people anyway. As she begun the list I began to like her as her determination to succeed comes and out and she doesn’t give in, even if the more adventurous things on the list are a struggle for her. This leads to some quite comical moments which I really enjoyed. I was longing for her to see what was right under her nose and make the right decision.

I found the idea of completing someone else’s bucket list an original and very interesting. My favourite part of this novel was reading about how Abi changed as she went from a virtual couch potatoes to climbing up mountains. As someone who is complete couch potato herself I found Abi’s journey quite inspirational and just wonder if I would have as much courage as she did to complete the list

 Anna’s writing style flows easily and is full of humour making this a lovely read to fully immerse yourself in for an afternoon. I loved how real her characters felt each with their individual personalities shining through. My favourite I think was Giles, I loved how he becomes softer and more loved up whenever he was around wife Laura.

I have really enjoyed my first Anna Bell novel and know it won’t be my last. I’d rate The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart 5 out 5 as its chick lit at its best. Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.