For the third year running our Winter Party came to computer and phone screens across the country as we gathered to celebrate another year of books and fifteen fabulous Authors. We fit more than ever into two very short hours with over seventy attendees watching on as we talked genre changes, being fabulous and over forty, suspense and historical fiction, uplit, contemporary and debuts & beyond!
Take a peek at our group photo above! We always try and take a party photo halfway through (with warning!) Those who wish to were able to turn their cameras on and be captured for eternity! We are so very grateful to all of the Authors who gave up their time to be with us yesterday evening – and to award winning Book Blogger, Linda Hill, of Linda’s Book Bag. Linda interviewed two of our attending debut Authors about what’s next and how it feels to be published. Every mini-panel that we had could have gone on for hours – it was fantastic to listen to every single one. And we finished the evening with an extract reading from M J White, aka Miranda Dickinson, which is always the best way to end a Winter Party!
And what an hour we had! Many of our guests remarked that they hadn’t quite known what to expect, and it’s very hard to put a bookish event into words. But it’s like sitting down with old friends, friends that you probably never met before but have had glimpses into their lives through social media, writing blogs and interviews. Friends who have crafted the characters that you have come to know and love, or the ones you have yet to discover. Friends who have put words onto a page that have meant so many things to so many different people.
We were also able to hear some pretty amazing exclusive news from many of our Authors and 2025 is shaping up to be an incredible publishing year for many of our favourites! Please do follow the Authors on social media if you aren’t already and are interested in news and updates. Lots of links and details below!
Heidi Swain
Heidi Swain is a Sunday Times Top Ten best-selling author who writes feel good fiction for Simon & Schuster. She releases two books a year (early summer and winter) and the stories all have a strong sense of community, family and friendship. She was one of the first Authors to be a Tea Leaves & Reads Book Club pick.
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | order signed copies of Heidi’s books
Miranda Dickinson aka M J White
Miranda Dickinson is the author of contemporary fiction books, including six Sunday Times bestsellers. Her books have been translated into ten languages, selling over a million copies worldwide. She also writes crime thrillers with a magical realism twist as M J White. She has been a Tea Leaves & Reads Book Club pick on more than one occasion!
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | order signed copies of Miranda & MJ’s books!
Emma-Claire Wilson
Born in Scotland, Emma-Claire travelled the world as the child of military parents. She has recently relocated back to Spain. She is the Author of emotional, commercial and book club fiction and writes to make sense of the world.
Instagram | Facebook | order signed copies of Emma-Claire Wilson’s books
Vikki Patis aka Victoria Hawthorne
Vikki Patis is a bestselling suspense author. Her latest gothic suspense novel, Return to Blackwater House, was published in March 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton and became a bestseller on Amazon. She is currently working on another.
She also writes historical fiction as Victoria Hawthorne. Her first historical suspense novel, The House at Helygen, was published in April 2022 by Quercus and later became a bestseller. The Darkest Night was released in April 2024 and was the Tea Leaves & Reads May Book Club pick.
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | order signed copies of Vikki’s books!
Jess Kitching
Jess Kitching is an avid reader, writer and binge-watcher. Originally from Bradford, England, she currently lives in Australia. Her two goals in life were to move to Australia and have a book published. To be able to say she has done both is something she still can’t wrap her head around.
Barbara Havelocke aka Barbara Copperthwaite
Barbara Havelocke is an international bestselling author, whose psychological thrillers have topped Amazon and Kobo. Her writing career started in journalism, interviewing the real victims of crime—and the perpetrators. The realistic, complex characters who populate her fiction reflect this deep understanding.
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | order signed copies of Estella’s Revenge
Jane Costello aka Catherine Isaac
Jane Costello is a Sunday Times bestselling author of romantic comedies. She also writes as Catherine Isaac. Jane was a newspaper journalist before she became an author, working on the Liverpool Echo, the Daily Mail and the Liverpool Daily Post, where she was Editor.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | order your copy of It’s Getting Hot in Here – Jane’s latest book!
Bonnie Burke-Patel
Born and raised in South Gloucestershire, Bonnie Burke-Patel studied History at Oxford. After working for half a decade in politics and policy, she changed careers and became a preschool teacher, before beginning to write full time.
Gillian Harvey
Gillian Harvey is a freelance journalist and author who has written for the Guardian, The Telegraph, the Independent and the New York Observer as well as lifestyle magazines including, Woman’s Weekly and People’s Friend.
Website | Instagram | X | Facebook | Order signed copies of Gillian’s books
Kimberley Adams
Kim might be new on the writing block, but she was first published as a teenager writing happy ever after stories for other teens! She usually sets her work in the Northeast finding inspiration amongst the many cafes she frequents, accidentally overhearing interesting conversations which are stored away for future use!
Instagram | X | Facebook | Order signed copies of Kimberley’s books
Julie Haworth
With a degree in English and American Literature, Julie Haworth worked as an English teacher for a number of years, specialising in working with learners with literacy difficulties, before launching her own freelance copywriting business.
Instagram | X | Facebook | Order signed copies of Julie’s books
Kate Baker
Kate Baker lives in Suffolk with two of her biggest fans: her husband and her miniature daschund. Adult children frequently reappear at the farm for meals but know they’re more likely to find their mother typing than cooking (or in her barn workshop repairing horse rugs for clients at her sole-trader business).
Kate wrote terrible holiday diaries as a young teen, which her husband insists she read out loud on regular occasions for entertainment. After many years of no writing, she has recently renewed her love of storytelling, and, in the last three years, has typed two full manuscripts which are waiting to be turned into something readable. Her love of writing short stories is something she has been working on during the pandemic.
Ella Allbright aka Nikki Moore
A self-confessed reading addict, Ella Allbright writes commercial women’s fiction set in her beautiful home county of Dorset. Her first novel in this genre, The Last Charm, was published in August 2020 by One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Instagram | Facebook | X | Order your signed copy of The Last Charm
Louise Beech aka Louise Swanson
Louise Beech grew up dreaming of being a writer but it took many years and many rejections for her to finally get a book deal in 2015, aged 44. Her novels include How to be Brave, Maria in the Moon, The Lion Tamer Who Lost, Call Me Star Girl and This Is How We Are Human. She also writes Dystopian Fiction as Louise Swanson.
Website | Instagram | X | Pre Order Lights Out – March Book Club Pick!
Kiley Dunbar
Kiley Dunbar is a Scot living over the border in Northern England where she teaches English and creative writing, devours romance novels, fusses over Amos the Bedlington Terrier, and loves two little Dunbars.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Pre Order A New Chapter at the Borrow a Bookshop
Purchase the Books
Many of their books are in stock on our website and some are available (whilst stocks last) as signed editions. Choose to purchase them alone or in a cosy book box of treats!
No responses yet