Julia Roberts Author

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Glorious June

Wasn’t June glorious weather-wise, lulling us into a false sense of security that the entire summer was going to be wall-to -wall sunshine. The above photo of the wildflower field was taken on one of our frequent walks near where I live in Berkshire… just look at that sky, not a cloud in sight! The same cannot be said of today. As I write this up in my attic room the rain is pattering down on the Velux windows from leaden grey skies.

At least it’s good for the garden and will mean less watering. These are the first of my runner beans which I’m planning on enjoying with dinner later.

Before I bring you up to speed with my birthday celebrations and what else has been going on this month, I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who have taken advantage of the free download of Little Girl Missing, especially those of you who have already read it then made time to leave a rating or review. As well as it being my birthday last month, it was also her fourth birthday on June 14th. 

This photo was taken at the Publication Day party – believe it or not there wasn’t a dress code to match the cover of the book, but you wouldn’t know it looking at this line-up!

Since the free promotion started, there have been around 130,000 downloads of Little Girl Missing. This is slightly mind-blowing, knowing that all those people may start to read about my detective, Rachel Hart. There have been eight hundred new ratings/reviews on Amazon in the past three weeks and all the newer reviews are four or five star. Here are just a few…

Not only that, but sales on the other two books in the series, What He Did and Why She Died have increased substantially, suggesting that readers really connected with the characters and the storylines.

After a very rough nine months emotionally, I cannot begin to tell you how happy this has made me, so again I say thank you. I have no idea how long this promotion will continue, so strike while the iron is hot and download the first in the series for free.

As mentioned, it was my birthday last month. Unusually, it was a really hot and sunny day which meant we were able to enjoy an al fresco lunch. I’m not sure how healthy this lunch was but it was delicious, especially as it was made by someone else and on your birthday none of the food that you eat or the drinks you drink have calories….

I’d had a lovely morning opening cards and presents. I wanted to share a couple of the cards with you. The one above is from my friend Denise – I’m definitely more pink than beige! 

And this, fairly obviously is from my mum who I had a lovely phone conversation with – she was so chuffed with that card, as was I.

But my sister’s card brought a proper smile to my face, particularly as neither she nor I are big drinkers. Yes, I’ll have a glass of wine or two with a meal and slosh a bit of white into a risotto but that’s about my limit. I think it was the era of the card that made me smile too. 

It’s very reminiscent of the front cover of the 1966 Bero cookery book – yes that is me, an even younger version than the sixteen-year-old dancer from my June blog!

We’d arranged to go over to our daughter, Sophie’s house for a quiet family dinner so what a lovely surprise it was that my friend Denise and her partner, Steve had also been invited… they’re almost like family to be honest!

I had lots of lovely flowers…

This lovely bouquet was from my husband, Chris – those of you you’ve read The Dilemma will recognise the name, Stems as the name of the flower shop where Charlotte works!

These were from my son, Daniel. I love peonies and they always flower around my birthday. The deep pink ones were from him, and the light pink were picked from my garden… such a lovely aroma.

The tulips were from Denise – Wilfie the cat was delighted. For some reason he always bites the head off tulips – weird!

I had a surprise delivery from my friend, Nat. She texted in the morning to say she hoped I wouldn’t be out around midday or I would come home to a wilted, melted mess! No clues as to my gifts in that message… the chocolates were yummy and like I already said, no calories in any food or drink consumed on your birthday!

And then there were these beautiful sweet peas. Those of you who watch me present QVC garden shows will probably have heard me speak of Dennis, the man who helps me with our garden. He also does a bit of gardening for our daughter and had left me a bunch of sweet peas picked from his own garden because he knows they were my dad’s favourite flowers and that I haven’t planted any this year. What a kind and thoughtful person. It restores your faith in human nature when you’ve been having a rough ride.

I’m not sure why we didn’t take any photos of our gathering (too busy eating calorie-free food probably) but we did take this pic of me with the dinosaur balloons. There is a story about short arms and T Rex dinosaurs that goes back to the time my daughter worked as a production assistant at QVC… it never gets old!

All in all, June has been a good month and not just in book and weather terms. My blood test results both for my Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and endocrinology after my pituitary gland surgery were fine and I had my latest brain scan last week which showed no regrowth of the tumour that was removed which is a positive sign. So, because I’m feeling so buoyed, I have a nice little giveaway for you.

Little Girl Missing is still free to download if you ‘do’ ebooks but if you don’t, I thought I’d give you the chance to win a signed paperback and £10 of Amazon vouchers (you could buy all of my Bookouture published books and still have 5p change!!! Or you can treat yourself to something else entirely)

To enter just leave a comment below before midnight on 31st July with the name of the DCI who heads up the investigation in Little Girl Missing – mentioned earlier in this blog. Winner will be randomly selected and announced on my August blog.

Until next time

Much Love 

Julia xx  

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Comments

    • Always love reading your blogs Julia and seeing photos of your lovely family ❤️happy all your results were good xx

      Reply

  6. The answer is Rachel Hart.

    So pleased that you had a wonderful birthday and hope you are well.

    Reply

  8. Rachel Hart is the answer, I would love to win this book as I want it to take to Jamacia in August, glad you had a lovely birthday,xxx will post a pic on the beach of book !!!

    Reply

  9. The answer is Rachel Hart. Do hope that the turmoil you mention in your blog is gradually lessening for you Julia.

    Reply

  15. Rachel Hart

    Love your books, I’ve read them a few times sitting in the garden getting some sun and fresh air 😀

    Reply

  17. Hi Julia, birthday celebrations looked like fun. Glad you had a good time. The answer is Rachel Hart. Take care

    Reply

  18. Rachel Hart

    Hi Julia, happy belated birthday. Glad the health results were ok.
    Lucky girl with all those flowers!

    Reply

  25. I agree that June was glorious weather-wise, although it’s all gone a bit downhill now that we’re in July! It looks like you received lots of lovely flowers and cards for your birthday. The dinosaur balloons look good fun too! Anyway, please do enter me into this month’s giveaway. The answer is: Rachel Hart. I’ve already read Little Girl Missing so I’d gift the signed copy to a friend.

    Reply

  27. Hi Julia,

    What a lovely blog, June is definitely a great month, especially the 10th 🧁(happy birthday to us)
    Answer is Rachel Hart.

    Keep Smiling 😁😁

    Reply

  28. Answer : Rachel Hart

    As always, loved reading your blog and catching up with with what’s been going on! So good re the results and what beautiful flowers for your birthday!!

    Reply

  34. Hi Julia, beautiful flowers and cards. So pleased to hear your results are good. The answer is Rachel Hart

    Reply

  37. Hi Julia,
    The answer is Rachel Hart. Hope you enjoyed your birthday- love your dino pose! We got away last minute for a week in Suffolk at the beginning of June to relax before surgery & it was glorious weather- hot & sunny! Since we’ve come home it’s horrendous although does save watering the garden. Your cards & flowers were lovely & the sweet peas were such a thoughtful sentimental touch & I am sure you were over the moon. Your green beans look delicious- I am not a vegetarian but fruit & vegetables are my favourite food group so any quick & easy veggie recipes would be appreciated (I used to enjoy the ones you sometimes put up on QVC) Let’s hope the weather improves so that we can enjoy more al fresco dining & fresh air.
    Love & hugs
    Mandy 🙂 xx

    Reply

  38. Detective Rachel Hart.
    Beautiful birthday flowers for a beautiful lady.
    So glad that all is going well for you now. All positivity coming to you
    Love Gilly.

    Reply

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