A new year and a new-look Riverdale book!

Hello and a very Happy New Year!

Here in Kent the temperature is sub-zero and spring seems a long way away, so I hope you're keeping warm wherever you are.

I've spent the last week immersed in the Riverdale world as I've been re-editing the fourth book in the series, Redhall Riders.

You will know that over the last 18 months or so I have released new-look, second editions of The Lost Pony of Riverdale, Against all Hope and Into the Storm.

I wanted to bring the books bang up to date and give them beautiful new covers. After all, I wrote Lost Pony nearly twelve years ago, so a revamp was long overdue!

It was always my intention to work my way through the series, giving them all a refresh, but big deadlines for the thrillers I write under a pen name meant I just didn't have the time to devote to them last year.

However, one of my goals for 2024 is to make the rest of the series a priority, re-editing and re-covering one book a month - which means I should be finished by September.

I'm hoping that by sharing my plans it'll make me more accountable to you and ensure I get it done!

Even though I know lots of you love the black and white covers my talented husband Adrian originally designed for me, I hope you'll like the new ones even more.

So, without further ado, here's the new-look cover for Redhall Riders, along with the new blurb...

‘Moonlight flooded into the empty stable. Poppy left the door open wide and sat down in the straw, her hands clasped around her mug of tea. She wondered where Cloud was, what he was doing. Closing her eyes, she pictured his face, as familiar to her as her own. She could not bear the thought that she would never see him again.’

When a pony trek ends in tragedy at their local riding school, Poppy and Scarlett find themselves unexpectedly in charge. It soon becomes clear someone has a grudge against Redhall Manor and is intent on putting the stables out of business. The two friends blame a rival yard, but are they looking in the wrong place? And when Poppy sets out to prove who is behind the vendetta, she has no idea things are about to get personal – with disastrous consequences for her beloved pony Cloud.

I would love to know what you think about the new cover. Do let me know! And here's the first tranche of the new editions all together.

Four down, eight to go. That should keep me out of mischief for the rest of the year!

If you would like to check out the new edition of Redhall Riders for yourself, just click these links:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

In other news, I've been wrapping up warm to ride Dobbie once a week.

Mud, wind, ponies caked in mud, rain, wind and more mud. That's winter with horses for you. I'm sure I'm not the only one counting down the days until spring!

The boys have both gone back to university so it's just the two of us at home, and once again we find ourselves outnumbered by cats!

Charlie the kitten is growing up fast and is such a character I can't imagine the place without him. He is probably the most affectionate AND the naughtiest cat I have ever owned.

His favourite place to sleep is in his bed on my desk, but it's a case of first come, first served, as all three like it there. And the other day that's where they were. There wasn't much room for me as you can see!