Meet Sheryl


Sheryl Browne brings you Fabulous, Poignant, Heart-breaking Romance. Her novel Recipes for Disaster, commissioned by Safkhet Publishing, was shortlisted for the Innovation in Romantic Fiction Award. Sheryl now has five books published under the Safkhet Soul imprint -
Recipes for Disaster - Sexilicious Romantic Comedy combined with Fab, Fun Recipes.
Somebody to Love - Sigh with contentment, scream with frustration. At times you will weep.
Warrant for Love - Three couples in a twisting story that resolves perfectly.
A Little Bit of Madness – White Knight in Blue rescues The Harbour Rest Home.
Learning to Love – Exploring the Fragility of Love, Life and Relationships.
- and has since been offered a further contract. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Sheryl grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she studied Art & Design. She works part-time in her own business and is a mum and a foster mum to disabled dogs.

LINKS: http://www.sherylbrowne.com/

http://www.safkhetpublishing.com/authors/Sheryl_Browne.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheryl-Browne/e/B0073FUF14/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1365161664&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Sheryl-Browne/e/B0073FUF14/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1365161777&sr=1-1

https://www.facebook.com/SherylBrowne.Author

http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/index.php/about/author/sheryl_browne

Sheryl is a Loveahappyending Lifestyle Author and Feature Editor

https://twitter.com/SherylBrowne

Here I review the fabulous

A Little Bit Of Madness by Sheryl Browne

No rest for the wicked
Saving Charlton Hall will burrow into your heart.

Celia Summers, intrepid mother of two, is too cuddly for sweatpants, she suspects. But then, her class at The Harbour Rest Home are similarly clad. Celia loves her work as an art therapist. She's proud that she gives her elderly independents something to look forward to, even if her partner, Martin, disapproves of her efforts. He also has other things on his mind - telling complicated lies to Celia so he can sell Charlton Hall, his mum's house, to pay off his debts.

Meanwhile, Celia fights to secure gallery space for her geriatric charges' artwork, and to keep The Harbour from being closed. She's even ready to abseil from a church steeple to bring attention to the plight of her old people, no matter that she might fall and end up splattered all over the flagstones. When she does fall, however, it's much more painful - in love with PC Alex Burrows. Will he be her white knight in blue and ride to her rescue?


What a joy to read this book was. A book that will have you laughing aloud, will spread warmth through to your toes as you fall in love with the witty, larger than life eccentric characters that this books concentrates on and you most certainly won’t want to say goodbye to them as you read the closing pages.
Celia is a bighearted (and bottomed) woman, mum to wise-for-his-years 17 year old Luke and 2 year old Ben, her son with her partner Martin. Celia loves her job as care assistant and art therapist at The Harbour Rest Home which is full of complex OAP’s who love nothing more than bickering with each other, group aerobics on the lawn and her art classes but Martin deems it not quite a proper job and not one suitable for the partner of an eminent solicitor. It would seem also that Celia is not quite suitable to be the wife of an eminent solicitor – a fact which preys on her until Martin springs a proposal on her. But is all as it seems?
When Celia discovers that the rest home is to be closed she is determined to do anything to keep it open and rallying her forces, namely a group of geriatrics, the fight is on!
With the upright and somewhat officious Colonel; bright and brittle Eleanor; loopy but insightful May and other colourful characters that seem determined to grow old as disgracefully as possible Celia fronts the campaign to keep Harbour Rest Home open; from a much publicised abseil to an art display to a full on protest.
But life throws spanners in the works and one of them is Alex, the Colonel’s handsome and charming mystery son who appears like a knight in armour to rescue Celia from the scrapes she gets into. The other is Martin and why exactly he wants to sell his mother’s stately home and set her up in a flat at the Rest Home.
Be assured Celia has her work cut out! But with fun, frolics and some skeletons tumbling from cupboards, everything has to work out...doesn’t it?
Although a very funny and heart-warming read this book also has some quite poignant moments and it certainly makes you look at the older generation differently. No matter how old someone is they still have a life and they have lived a life and that comes across very clearly. Cutting as Eleanor can be she has her reasons and the Colonel’s stiff upper lip does not mean he doesn’t have a heart. They are as open to learning new skills and flirting with the opposite sex as anyone 50 years younger is and as such it makes a refreshing, thoughtful and entertaining read.
All the characters are colourful and even with their faults and quirks they all have an appeal to the reader, with the exception of Martin, who we love to hate. From Luke who watches out for his mum and baby brother with a consideration that belies his years to Alex with his own personal heartaches and guilt, I loved them all and felt I knew them well; such is the skill with which their backgrounds are brought into the story.
At the close of the book I was sorry to say goodbye but very glad that I had the chance to meet them. You will not be disappointed by this novel.

What inspired you to become an author?

Well, I decided to become a literary superstar when… Haw, haw! I’m not sure many writers become literary superstars nowadays, unless they can come up with something unique. Seriously, I am artistic by nature therefore I’ve always had a creative imagination. Reading, anything and everything, and making up stories in my head as a child was a kind of escapism for me. And, believe me, when you come from a large family, escapism is as necessary as food for survival sometimes. I think I started writing seriously as a kind of catharsis to loss in my own life, though I do strive to bring humour into my writing in the hope leaving the reader with that all-important feel-good factor. The loss of my mum when I was quite young prompted me to write down my thoughts, about the fun times we had, though. Does that make sense? I just kept right on writing and refused to stop, no matter how hard the knockbacks, I suppose that makes me either determined or stubborn, I’m not sure which. The first book I read which made me think, I want to write like that, was Marika Cobbold’s, Guppies for Tea. Someone at Random House recommended it to me years ago. I read it and totally loved it. I also wanted bring to some of the warmth Marian Keyes, whose first book Watermelon I simply loved, into my writing (her books tend to deal with modern ailments, but are always written with compassion and humour), along with some of the sharp wit of Kathy Lette (think Mad Cows and Foetal Attraction). I’m still trying!


What was your best ever job?

In all honesty, I think writing is my best ever job, though painting would come a close second. As a single parent, financial constraints in the past meant I had to be realistic and choose jobs that would put food on the table. I tended to work in office based jobs therefore. I always give a hundred per cent to anything I do, but boxed in creatively just isn’t me. The outlet for my creativity tended to come through commissions to paint: theatre scenery (I once tipped a whole tin of black enamel paint over my head whilst painting partitions for one such commission, but that’s a whole other story. Suffice to say, paint-thinners as shampoo is not the best way to healthy, glossy hair). I also had a few commissions to paint the signage on boats. This is Aquaduck, my own little boat, by way of example:

What does your workspace look like?

This is my office space. You can see my co-writer is keen to get started! In summer, I love to write in my conservatory, where it’s light and airy.

What is a typical writing day like for you?

A disaster, darling!! I try to be organised, but short of running away from home… By way of explanation, I foster odd dogs. Currently I have one wee partially sighted Jack Russell and a little boy with behavioural problems.

They have to be walked separately, which is down to me. My son and partner also work odd hours, which makes concentration difficult in the mornings (does this sound like a moan??), so I tend to get up before anyone else has surfaced to check emails, attend to anything urgent and browse FB and Twitter – connecting with other people: readers, reviewers and likeminded authors is terribly important, and they really are so supportive, I wouldn’t know what to do without them. Writing takes place when all goes quiet (unless someone knocks the door, cue dogs splatting themselves against it. Uninvited callers be warned, I might mount a gun on the turret soon). I break off to cook and eat around six, and then it’s back to the PC, where I work until about nine…ish, and then it’s back to social media to find all those things I’ve missed. Posts and interviews I slot into the weekend, along with website maintenance, updating promotional material, etc. Housework… What housework? I’m Mary Poppins, don’t y’know? It all gets done by magic.


Your desert island 5 books?

Assuming they still haven’t got around to putting plug sockets in palm trees, ergo no e-readers, I’m going to plump for a cross section: Martina Cole’s, Revenge. Liz Fenwick’s, A Cornish Affair (I read A Cornish House and loved it. Just started this one!). A Room with a View – E M Forster (I’m ashamed to say, I haven’t read it). The Bronte Sisters Complete Novels (not cheating. It is one book!) Marika Cobbold’s, Guppies for Tea (to remind me what started me on my journey).

Find out more about Sheryle Browne http://www.sherylbrowne.com/ https://twitter.com/SherylBrowne http://www.safkhetpublishing.com/

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