Blog Tour - Drumbeats Trilogy

Book Spotlights 

Drumbeats Trilogy

By Julia Ibbotson

On my blog today I have the pleasure of sharing with you A Triology of Books:-

Drumbeats, Walking in the Rain and 

Finding Jess 

I would like to thank Rachel Random Resources and Julia Ibbotson for inviting me on the blog tour.

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Book Information  - For Each of the Books

Drumbeats

It’s 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English background for a gap year in Ghana, West Africa. But it’s a time of political turbulence across the region. Fighting to keep her young love who she believes is waiting back in England, she’s thrown into the physical dangers of civil war, tragedy, and the emotional conflict of a disturbing new relationship. So why do the drumbeats haunt her dreams?

This is a rite of passage story which takes the reader hand in hand with Jess on her journey towards growing into the adult world.

Drumbeats Purchase Link http://myBook.to/Drumbeatstrilogy

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Walking in the Rain

Jess happily marries the love of her life She wants to feel safe, secure and loved. But gradually it becomes clear that her beloved husband is not the man she thought him to be. She survived civil war and injury in Africa, but can she now survive the biggest challenge of her life?

Walking in the Rain purchase Link http://myBook.to/WalkingintheRainDrumbeatstrilogy

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Finding Jess

Single mother, Jess, has struggled to get her life back on track after the betrayal of her beloved husband and her best friend. When she is on the brink of losing everything, including her family and her job, she feels that she can no longer trust anyone. Then she is sent a mysterious newspaper clipping of a temporary post back in Ghana. Could this be her lifeline? Can Jess turn back time and find herself again? And what, exactly, will she find?

Finding Jess is a passionate story of love, betrayal and second chances – and of one woman’s bid to reclaim her self-belief and trust. It is a feel-good story of a woman’s strength and spirit rising above adversity.

Finding Jess purchase link http://mybook.to/FindingJess

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Author Guest Post

My Inspirations: Ghana (West Africa)

and strong women

Today I’m celebrating the publication of my Drumbeats Trilogy as one omnibus edition. The books have been available separately but now they’re on kindle as a box set. I love writing: it’s an obsession. But what inspires me as a writer? Well, my social media accounts and my author profiles say that my main interests are in the medieval world and the concept of time. That’s true; these certainly are the inspiration for my writing, especially currently with my latest books. But there have been other sources too.

Many years ago, I worked in Ghana, West Africa, for a while as a teacher and nurse, and I always wanted to write a book set in that country with its intriguing history and culture. I loved my time there, met loads of wonderful people, and revelled in the climate: hot, hot, hot …! It took me a long time to get around to it: life intervened. You’ll know what I mean. But finally I wrote and published the Drumbeats trilogy which begins and ends in that lovely endearing, beloved country.

It’s a saga of love, betrayal and second chances, but, above all, it’s about the strength and spirit of one woman (Jess) rising above adversity. The strength and determination of women is another inspiration to me as a writer. All my books feature strong women, for whom life is not always easy but yet they never give up. I’m lucky that I come from a family of feisty women but I also look to the inspiration of people in the public eye, like, for example, Michelle Obama, whose autobiography has recently been published, Nadiya Hussain who rose above self-doubt to win the Great British Bake Off, and our own Queen Elizabeth, a tower of national strength through all the crises.

You can find the trilogy omnibus edition on Amazon at http://mybook.to/DrumbeatsOmnibus

So, my trilogy has a strong female character (although her story starts as a rather naïve teenager) and is set in Ghana! The first book of the trilogy, Drumbeats, begins in 1965 which I think is a fascinating period, and certainly was a dramatic time in West Africa. I enjoy the research behind my novels and it was fascinating to investigate the 1960s, a time of so much change and conflict, especially across West Africa. The protagonist, 18 year old Jess, flees a stifling family to ‘find herself’ on a gap year in Ghana, but she finds civil war, danger and tragedy as well as romance http://myBook.to/Drumbeatstrilogy

The second in the trilogy is Walking in the Rain, which sees Jess return to England but the theme is of living with someone with mental health issues, which was inspired by someone I knew http://myBook.to/WalkingintheRainDrumbeatstrilogy

My latest, the last of the trilogy, Finding Jess, which was finally finished last summer and was published by Endeavour (as are all my books).

Jess, now a single parent, is assailed by betrayal, from her ex-husband and her best friend, and returns to Ghana in desperation. But although it’s not a sweet romance, it’s really quite gritty, it’s ultimately a feel-good story of one woman’s strength and spirit against the odds. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but I’ll just say that one of the main characters in the trilogy and the one that really wins out in the end, apart from Jess, is Ghana itself, summed up by some wonderful reviews: “feel the searing heat of Ghana burning right off the pages” and “beautifully written, conjuring up the colour and culture of the country”.

I do hope you enjoy reading it – if you do, let me know!

Find it at on Amazon at http://mybook.to/FindingJess

All my books are available on Amazon, in ebook and paperback editions:

http://Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

But do check out my other sites:

Author website: https://juliaibbotsonauthor.com/

Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JuliaIbbotson

Pinterest page: includes boards with pics and images that inspired each book

http://pinterest.com/juliai1/

Goodreads author page:  https://www.goodreads.com/juliaibbotson

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GIVEAWAY

Win a PB copy of Drumbeats (book 1), book marks, post cards,

key ring and handbag fob

(UK Only)

CLICK HERE ➡️ To ENTER the GIVEAWAY!

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Author Bio

Award-winning author Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and concepts of time travel. She read English at Keele University, England (after a turbulent but exciting gap year in Ghana, West Africa) specialising in medieval language, literature and history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. She wrote her first novel at 10 years of age, but became a school teacher, then a university lecturer and researcher. Finding Jess (2018) is her sixth book and the last of the Drumbeats trilogy (which begins and ends in Ghana). Apart from insatiable reading, she loves travelling the world, singing in choirs, swimming, yoga and walking in the countryside in England and Madeira where she and her husband divide their time.

Acclaimed author of:

Drumbeats (2015), the first of the trilogy set in 1960s Ghana: sometimes you have to escape to find yourself.

Walking in the Rain (2016), the second in the trilogy set in 1970s and 1980s England: never give up on your dreams.

Finding Jess (2018), the last of the trilogy set in 1990s England and Ghana: can the past ever be left behind?

Also by Julia Ibbotson:

A Shape on the Air (2017): historical (Dark Ages/early medieval) time-slip romance. Two women 1,500 years apart, with one aim: to reclaim their dreams and fight the dangers that threaten them both across the ages …

The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen, (first published 2011, rereleased 2017) a feel-good story of the renovation of a Victorian rectory interwoven with period recipes to feed the soul, all from the rectory kitchen.

S.C.A.R.S (first published 2012, rereleased 2016) (children’s novel): a troubled boy slips through a tear in the fabric of the universe into a parallel medieval fantasy world of knights, dragons, and a quest for the triumph of Good over Evil. But can he save himself?

Social Media Links –

Facebook Author page:

https://www.facebook.com/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Twitter:

@JuliaIbbotson

https://twitter.com/JuliaIbbotson

 Author website:

https://juliaibbotsonauthor.com/

Pinterest page: includes boards with pics and images that inspired each book

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/juliai1/

Goodreads author page:

https://www.goodreads.com/juliaibbotson

RNA (Romantic Novelists Association) website author page

https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/rna_author/julia-ibbotson/

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