#Blogtour #TheCancerLadiesRunningClub @HQStories @JosieLloydBooks

Thank you to HQ Stories for my place on the blog tour.

My Thoughts

I normally avoid books about Cancer for fear they will be very sad but, this is hugely up-lifting. This is such a beautiful story of friendship, hope, positivity and how the strength of family, friends and a good support network can get you through anything.

The author describes in detail the processes and procedures in Keira’s cancer diagnosis and treatment, it’s a very honest account and feels very real. It made me realise how very vital the support roles a patient needs when undergoing treatment and the wonderful resources that are available, although none of this matters if you are treated like a number and the doctor forgets to tell you their name. It feels a very enlightening account of living with cancer and how it affects those around you. Yet, it isn’t sad, Keira takes everything in her stride, whatever is going on in her life and she shows that having cancer doesn’t have to define you.

When Keira met her running friends they bonded immediately, I could tell what warm people they were and their hope and positivity was radiating. I loved these characters and all that they stood for. Supporting one another at their most difficult times and using their own personal skills to help one another, this is a very uplifting read and I read it feeling like I had been enlightened into another side of the world of a cancer diagnosis.

I finished this feeling like I could take on a challenge; Keira is a hugely inspiring character and I loved everything about her. I started the book not realising that this is based on the author’s own experience, while reading it soon became clear that this was too real to be based on just research alone, I want to thank the author for sharing her own personal experiences in such a wonderful way which I am sure will inspire women going through this themselves or the fear that they one day will. This is a very beautiful book.

The Blurb

Sometimes we need our friends to help us find our feet…

When Keira first receives her breast cancer diagnosis, she doesn’t want to have to tell her family, or step back from work. She doesn’t want to sit in a hospital, or be part of a group of fellow cancer patients. Cancer is not her club.

But as she accepts that her health is no longer something she can rely on, Keira finds herself embracing running. And running in the company of a group of brilliant, funny women each going through treatment unexpectedly gives Keira the hope she needs.

Because the C-word is not going to define Keira’s identity. And with the Cancer Ladies’ Running Club cheering her on, she’s going to reclaim her life.
One step at a time.

Life isn’t always the race we expected to run but this moving and uplifting novel is full of hope and about love, family, friendship and the power of finding your tribe.

The Author

Josie Lloyd’s first novel, It Could Be You, was published in 1997 and since then she’s written fifteen bestselling novels (as Joanna Rees and other pen names) including the number one hit Come Together, which she co-authored with her husband, Emlyn Rees, which was number one for ten weeks, published in twenty-seven languages and made into a Working Title film. Josie has also written several best-selling parodies with Emlyn, including We’re Going On A Bar Hunt, The Very Hungover Caterpillar and The Teenager Who Came To Tea. They both live together in Brighton with their three daughters and their dog

In 2017 Josie was diagnosed with breast cancer, picked up on a voluntary mammogram. She underwent an operation, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, during which she met a group of women with whom she ran with regularly. Despite all of them being affected by cancer, and being in the middle of chemo and completely bald herself, she entered and finished the Brighton Marathon 10K with her gang of running mates.  

This amazing experience inspired her latest novel, The Cancer Ladies’ Running Club.

Thanks to the amazing cancer treatment available here in the UK, Josie is restored to fine health and is now an Ambassador for The Sussex Cancer Fund. She believes that a mid-life shake-up has been no bad thing and that it’s possible to not just survive cancer, but to positively thrive because of the experience of going through it.  

She hopes that her book will enlighten people who are – like she was – terrified even of the word ‘cancer’. She also hopes that it will bring comfort and hope to people who have been affected by this dreadful disease.