….then today would be the day that we would be having a picnic.

Well I can smell lunch and I have just spied bubbles, courtesy of Carmel’s best friend Anne. So I suppose you could call it a picnic of sorts.

Just a classy one. Nothing else would do for my wonderful friend, Carmel Harrington, on this the publication day of Beyond Grace’s Rainbow with Harper Impulse, a digital imprint of Harper Collins.

Isn’t it pretty!

So here is what the book is about

Beyond Grace’s Rainbow is a poignant story about a young mother’s battle with cancer. Single mother Grace Devlin faces what will be the biggest fight of her life and the stakes are high. She cannot contemplate leaving her adorable little boy Jack all alone in the world. Unfortunately for Grace her best chance of survival is to receive a bone marrow transplant, so she embarks on a heart breaking search for her biological parents, as she was adopted when a small baby. This search will unravel a web of lies and deceit that has spanned over thirty years.

And just when she thinks life can get no more complicated, Jack’s father Liam is back in town full of remorse and he’s made it clear that he’s not leaving until he’s won her back. Liam was the love of Grace’s life but can she trust him ever again? Helping Grace muddle her way through her cancer treatment and complicated love life are her friends – Tara, Sean, Abby, Tom and Gerry. Tara is Grace’s cousin and is happily married to Sean but they are desperate for a baby of their own; Abby, Grace and Tara’s friend from college is single and looking for her one true love which is proving difficult, whilst Tom would be happy if his boyfriend Gerry for once didn’t max out their credit card! Beyond Grace’s Rainbow will bring the reader into Graces world where friendship, courage, loyalty, laughter and above all love are abundant. The story will bring you on an emotional journey with Grace and her friends that will have the reader both laughing and crying at the turn of a page.

This post isn’t a review, I did that a long time ago and you can check it here. I also interviewed Carmel and you will find that in the same post, though I will be interviewing her again in the coming weeks to talk about how things have changed since then.

What I am writing this post for is to tell everyone how absolutely delighted I am that Beyond Grace’s Rainbow and Carmel herself were signed under the Harper Collins umbrella. How delighted I am about how much more recognition the book is going to get, and the fact that Harper are also launching it along with the other Harper Impulse titles over in the United States. I am not going to say that this has made me proud of Carmel. Why? Because I was already proud of her. I was proud of her that she took the decision to self publish, to put herself out there. It’s a very brave thing to do. Without the backing of a publisher you could well be setting yourself up for a fall. I am also proud of her that she believed in herself. She would not back down and would not give in. I am proud of her that she didn’t get all negative when she faced rejection. She drew a line under that publisher and waited on word from the next one. I am proud of her because she worked for this. Because she put the work in and now she is seeing the fruits of her labour.

Today is Carmels day and I hope she enjoys every minute of it. She deserves this!