My Favourite Things by Victoria Walker

This week I have a lovely post from author, Victoria Walker. Victoria has just published the second book in her Icelandic Romance Series – Hideaway in Iceland. She is going to tell us about some of her favourite things …

Thank you, Morton, for inviting me onto your blog! It’s been a very busy publication week for my latest book, Hideaway in Iceland so it’s been great to take some time out to think about my favourite things. I have so many that I could have written many blog post’s worth about them but I’ve chosen the things that bring me joy every time I use or every time they catch my eye. 

My Favourite Things

This little cat is very special to me. It used to belong to my grandad and sat on a shelf in an alcove at Nan and Grandad’s house. I’d make a beeline for it and just look at it, I loved it so much! I’m intrigued now as to why my grandad had such a thing. Did someone give it to him? Was it a souvenir from somewhere? I’ll never know but that little cat warms my heart every time I see it. 

Also in the picture is a very new bubble glass pot that I bought recently on impulse and LOVE. It’s got my favourite houseplant in it, a string-of-hearts plant which is one of my most successful plants as I’ve managed to take cuttings. Houseplants have never been very successful for me; they almost always end up dead but this one seems to love my erratic care, so it has a special place in my affections.

A few years ago, we got a Nespresso machine, fully expecting it to end up banished to the back of a kitchen cupboard after six months. As it turns out, it is probably the most used appliance in the house, aside from the kettle. During lockdown we began religiously having a cup of coffee at ten-thirty every morning and when I went back to work in the office, I really missed it. I started to make a coffee to take with me but every coffee cup I used leaked until my husband bought me this. It is fantastic, just the right size for me and keeps the coffee nice and hot and leak-free on my drive to work. And it’s pink.

This was my great-grandmother’s sewing machine. My mum managed to save it when my great-aunt’s house was being cleared out. I didn’t know what I wanted it for because I have a modern sewing machine, but I knew it had to be saved. Some years later I had a vague thought that I might have a go at free-machine embroidery and asked my dad if he could get rid of the dodgy electrics that someone had converted it into an electric machine with. He loves a challenge and scoured the local auction rooms for a similar old machine so that he could nick the hand-crank mechanism off it. It only cost him £7. Bargain! So, he converted it and I began to feel guilty that I wasn’t using it. Then lockdown happened and the wonderful Poppy Treffry began her embroidery clubs. Google it, she’s brilliant. I signed up to the first club and have done all of them since and I love this machine. The engineering is beautiful, it’s so easy to tinker with and sews like a dream. It does mean I have to move the embroidery hoop around with one hand, but I’ve got used to it and although I wouldn’t want to have to sew an actual garment or anything on it, I am so happy that I’ve found a use for it that brings me so much joy.

I always read before I go to sleep, usually for about an hour, maybe longer if it’s a really good book! My husband hates the light being on – I am sure I am not the only person to have this problem – so he quite quickly bought me a Kindle. This is probably my fourth one and is quite new. I was very excited about the new feature to have the book cover showing even when it’s off because before that, I would read books without really recognising them afterwards as I just had them in a list on my old Kindle. On a recent holiday I read four books. I had only taken three and therein lies the beauty of an e-reader. Aside from the fact that our bag was overweight, and we had to cram some beach towels into our hand luggage and books would only have added to that problem, I bought a book while I was sunbathing! I don’t think there was anywhere I could have bought a book where we were staying and obviously it would have been disastrous to have nothing to read. I flipping love my Kindle, it might even be my absolute favourite thing. I don’t go anywhere without it. And the font can be enlarged. Say no more.

About Victoria Walker

Victoria Walker has been writing romantic fiction since a visit to Iceland in 2014 inspired her first novel. As well as writing, she spends her free time dressmaking, knitting and reading an inordinate amount of contemporary romance, occasionally punctuated by the odd psychological thriller and saga. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

To keep in touch with Victoria, you can use the following links:

Blog: www.victoriaauthor.co.uk

Twitter: @4victoriawalker

Instagram: @victoriamakes

Facebook: Victoria Walker – Author

About Hideaway in Iceland – Icelandic Romance Book 2

PR executive Anna Mortimer has clinched the deal of a lifetime for the hottest celebrity couple to have their wedding covered by a glossy magazine, but when things don’t go to plan, she loses her job. With no job and no life outside of work to fall back on, an invitation to stay with her friend, Rachel, in Iceland is a well-timed distraction.

Ned Nokes has just left the most successful boy band in history to go it alone. With the eyes of the world on him, he escapes to Iceland in search of solitude while he plans what to do next. Not used to trusting anyone outside of the band that has been his life for the past ten years, he finds friendships in Reykjavik that he never expected.

Visit Iceland at its most beautiful as autumn turns to winter and find out whether the magic that helped Anna’s friend Rachel find her happy ever after, is still there…

Amazon link to Hideaway in Iceland is here

About Snug in Iceland – Icelandic Romance Book 1

Rachel Richards is stuck in a rut. Her boyfriend Adam barely notices her most of the time and her life in London isn’t as exciting as it should be. When the company she works for, Snug, asks her to oversee the opening of a new store in Iceland, she jumps at the chance for a change of scenery. Exploring Reykjavik with the help of Icelandic tour guide Jonas, Rachel discovers that life is out there waiting to be lived. As she falls in love with Iceland, she begins to see what is important to her and wonders whether the life she left behind is what she wants after all…

Amazon link to Snug in Iceland here

Thank you for joining me on my blog, Victoria. Your books have been added to my to be read pile. Good luck with the series. Mx

Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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