Classic Comfort Reads… with Sharon Booth

The idea behind the Classic Comfort posts is that each featured writer chooses a favourite title from the classics – we’ll define ‘classic’ as pre-1940 – and a favourite comfort read, a book they always return to, for whatever reasons. As third book in each post, we’ll have one by the writer, usually their latest book. This week, we have romance writer Sharon Booth, who I first ‘met’ on Facebook in – I think – 2013, when we were both writing a short story for the charity anthology Winter Tales.
Over to Sharon:

Classic:

I watched an adaptation of this novel in my late teens and thought Jane an insipid weakling. A few years later, a good friend of mine begged me to forget the television series and films and read the actual book. After much persuasion I finally gave in. I was hooked. The story and the setting are fantastic, and I’m a great admirer of Mr Rochester (!) but it’s Jane who really delights and amazes me. She has such a strong sense of social justice, and I love how she knows her own worth, no matter how badly she’s treated by those around her. When I read, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself” I honestly get the shivers. Jane knows who she is, and she doesn’t lose sight of that, no matter how great the hardship or the temptation. I absolutely love her, and she has my total admiration.   

Comfort:

Any of the Adrian Mole books would do. I just love them. They’re full of humour, but there’s such pathos in them, too. Laughing at Adrian’s misfortunes one minute, in the next I might shed a tear over his sense of hopelessness or feel angry as he and his mother wait for the mythical giro, and Adrian frets that they’re about to starve to death.

It’s a great social commentary on life at that time, and hits pretty close to home for many contemporary readers, sadly. Who would have believed that a diary of a spotty, angst-ridden teenage boy would be so gripping? Adrian is the product of genius, and I recognise and understand his world and the people in it. I will never get tired of reading about Moley and his family.

Sharon has written several series of romantic novels. I’ve read several and they’re all lovely feel-good reads. The latest is The Whole of the Moon, published at the end of May. It’s number four in the Kearton Bay series, which begins with There Must be An Angel.

When Harry Jarvis arrives in Kearton Bay on the evening of the Samhain ceremony at The Hare and Moon Inn, his sole intention is to rebuild his relationship with daughter Amy and start afresh. But Amy isn’t the little girl he left behind, and she’s not going to let him off the hook that easily. With two ex-wives to placate, a failing career, a tumbledown property to renovate, and a terrible reputation to live down, Harry’s about to find that making a fresh start in Kearton Bay won’t be as easy as he’d hoped.

Rhiannon Bone understands what it feels like to be estranged from a child, since her son left Kearton Bay nearly four years ago, leaving their relationship in tatters. When he returns for a special event, she hopes they can put the past behind them, but is Derry ready to forgive and forget?

For both Rhiannon and Harry, the mistakes they made in the past are still making ripples in the present. But as secrets are revealed and life-changing decisions are made, they begin to realise that it’s not just other people’s forgiveness they need.

If they’re to have any sort of future, they must first forgive themselves…

Thank you, Sharon! I love Adrian Mole and Jane Eyre too!

Sharon Booth writes uplifting fiction with a touch of magic. Happy endings are guaranteed for her main characters, though she likes to make them work for it.
Sharon is a member of the Society of Authors, the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and an Authorpreneur member of the Alliance of Independent Authors.
She loves Doctor Who, Cary Grant movies, hares, and horses – not necessarily in that order.
Sharon grew up in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and the Yorkshire coast and countryside feature strongly in her novels.

Her stories are set in pretty villages and quirky market towns, by the sea or in the countryside, and feature lots of humour, romance, and friendship. If you love gorgeous, kind heroes, and heroines who have far more important things on their minds than buying shoes, you’ll love her books.

For links to social media and Sharon’s website visit: https://linktr.ee/sharonboothwriter
where you can also subscribe to her newsletter and get a FREE novella.

Next month, we’re having crime writer AB Morgan with her choice of books. 🙂