When Paige Toon Ran Away...

The first in the series of runaway stories...Paige Toon shares hers .....

When I was about six years old, my parents took my brother and I to Mexico for a holiday. I don’t remember much about the country, but I do remember the brightly coloured straw sombrero they bought me at a market, along with a little yellow guitar. One evening, we were all in our hotel room and, I can’t recall the reason why, but I was very put-out about something. My mum, dad and brother didn’t take me seriously at all. They laughed at me, which made me even more cross, so I decided to teach them all a lesson and run away. I knew I wouldn’t go far – I was thinking just out into the corridor and behind the Coke machine would do. I’d pop out again when I knew they were truly sorry for cruelly mocking me. So I told them I was off, and, not forgetting to pick up my little yellow guitar and don my sombrero, I stormed to the door and pushed down the handle. But the door was locked – I pulled and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge – and this made my family completely fall about with hilarity at the situation. The truth was, I was a bit scared about running away, so it didn’t take me more than a few moments to see the funny side. I’ve never thought about running away again since.

Paige, her guitar and her brother!

Paige's latest book The Longest Holiday is available here.

'Don't wait for the storm to pass; learn to dance in the rain…'
Laura has been married to the man of her dreams for seven months. But a week before the wedding, Matthew made a terrible mistake. Escaping the humiliation that is now her marriage, Laura is whisked off to Florida's Key West by her best friend Marty. A carefree holiday full of cocktails and fun, surrounded by gorgeous, tanned men, is exactly what the doctor ordered. Distraction comes in the form of sexy Cuban scuba diver Leo. Laura's instant attraction to him knocks her flying, and she falls hard. As the end of the holiday approaches, Laura doesn't want to go home. Is it time to face the music? Or is there more to Key West than a holiday romance?

To find out more about Paige and her books, visit her website www.paigetoon.com

It's May - Launch Month For A Cornish Affair

I can't believe how quickly this has come around but A CORNISH AFFAIR is out on the 23rd of May. The book is close to my heart for many reasons, but one of the biggest is that it's about running away...in fact the tag line is 'Sometimes running away is the answer...'

Running out on your wedding day never goes down well. When the pressure of her forthcoming marriage becomes too much, Jude bolts from the church, leaving a good man at the altar, her mother in a fury, and the guests with enough gossip to last a year.

Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the Trevillion family's extensive library. The house is a welcome escape for Jude, full of history and secrets, but when its new owner arrives, it's clear that Pengarrock is not beloved by everyone.

As Jude falls under the spell of the house, she learns of a family riddle stemming from a terrible tragedy centuries before, hinting at a lost treasure. And when Pengarrock is put up for sale, it seems that time is running out for the house and for Jude.

I have run away three times in my life and I'll tell you more about that later in the month but beginning tomorrow some fabulous novelists will be sharing their stories of running away... whether it was with a teddy and two sandwiches or some more recent...

So tomorrow the wonderful Paige Toon talks about the time she ran away.