#BlogBlitz A Little Birdie Told Me by Sharley Scott

It's my turn on the Blitz Tour A Little Birdie Told Me by Sharley Scott.

About the Author

Sharley Scott is the author of the Devon Seaside Guesthouse novels – Bedlam & Breakfast and B&Bers Behaving Madly – and the Maddie Meadows series.

Sharley is a guesthouse owner in South Devon. She is thankful to have been blessed with lots of amazing and kind-hearted guests, who are nothing like some of the fictional characters featured in the Devon Seaside Guesthouse series.

The Two Lives of Maddie Meadows – and its sequel The Gift of a Rose – portray the life of a working single mum. Some of the mischief Maddie's little one, Josh, gets up to will be familiar to all parents. In real life, Sharley has carried out the threats she made to her son decades ago and now gets her own back him by telling tales to his girlfriend (some of the incidents in the books are inspired by him), although he returns the favour by recounting utterly embarrassing stories about his mum.

Sharley's latest novel ‘A Little Birdie Told Me…’ is being published in February 2021. This book goes back in time to the late eighties: a time of fun music, interesting fashion, strange hairstyles and no internet or mobile phones. Fancy having to talk to each other! (Says the author who frequents Facebook too often).

With that in mind, Sharley can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SharleyScott3/ or follow Sharley on Twitter: @SharleyScott

About the book

It’s 1988. The era of young love, with Scott and Charlene melting hearts in Neighbours, and a new princess for the Royal Family. With Bros, Madonna and Wet Wet Wet in the charts, and children hoping for Ghostbusters’ toys in their stockings.

But it’s not all fun for Belinda. If her life was a board game, she’s losing at snakes and ladders. Once she’d been working her way up one of those ladders but, thanks to her snake-like polytechnic lecturer, she’s toppled from the rungs. Now she works in an old people’s home, where her chief duties involve cleaning toilets and emptying commodes.

At least her lovely colleague, Joe, offers excitement in her otherwise dreary life. But Belinda can’t believe he'd be interested in someone like her. Not when her pretty friend, Tracey, only has to glance at a man to have him fall for her.

But just when it seems things are looking up for Belinda, the residents’ precious possessions start to go missing. Then she witnesses a disturbing incident and doesn’t know what to do. Luckily, Belinda has Joe to guide her – until she discovers that he’s hiding a secret, one that forces her to make an agonising decision.

Will she continue to hide in the shadows, never speaking out – or will she put her future on the line to stand up for what is right? After all, she’s caring for a generation that's lived through two wars. Now it’s time to fight for them.

Review

Belinda has started a new job at a care home - totally unsupported and without any kind of dialogue or instruction. In fact some of the colleagues appear to be working against her and another new colleague. It's not long before she realises there are things happening at the care home that aren't acceptable and that the elderly people need someone to look out for them.

The read is a blast from the past and a nostalgic walk if you were a certain age during the 80s. It's more a story about learning to love yourself for who you are and not who people think you should be. At the beginning Belinda is very much a woman lacking in confidence and subservient to everyone around her. She tends to ignore her gut instincts, especially when it comes to working in a care home. During the story she learns to stand up for herself and others, which is a milestone for Belinda.

The author gives readers a story that will pull at the memory strings for certain readers and perhaps make others take a moment to consider the situations of the elderly in care homes. I can't imagine feeling more disempowered and vulnerable than as an elderly person who has reached an age where living alone has been deemed no longer sustainable. Alice's story in particular is quite tragic and routed in realism. The plight of women when they are considered a nuisance, a troublemaker and refuse to fall into line with what society deems normal.

Buy A Little Birdie Told Me at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com.