It was such a beautiful day today that I was desperate to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Kaff has towers of TBR books (that stands for To-Be-Read, how well am I getting into this literary speak, eh?), so I clambered up, only knocking out a couple of volumes on my way, and filched this promising-looking book from the top of the pile. Without Alice is the debut novel of DJ Kirkby, one of Kaff’s Twitter pals. Having met the lovely lady in London in May, I wanted to read her book, especially as Kaff is promising to take me to the book’s London launch in October.

As soon as they got wind of me going outside, of course, the crew wanted to come, too. I managed to persuade the chipmunks to stay indoors and guard the nut stash but Fluffy, Patch, Squashy, Leo and Hotty all came out onto the patio with me.

As you can see, we all became engrossed in the story and enjoyed our time in the sun. It’s so much lovelier spending time outside with a good book than reading indoors, isn’t it? And Without Alice is certainly a good book. A very good book. I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far.

*Btw, just between you and me, I have to admit that I don’t think much of the cover model, so I have offered my services to Denyse for her next book.

You can find out more about Without Alice and buy it exclusively from the Punked Books website. It doesn’t go on general sale until October. You can also join in the discussion on the Without Alice FaceBook page . To find out more about DJ Kirkby, visit her Author Website or DJ Kirkby’s Blog .