Today I am delighted to welcome Rosy Thornton to my blog. Rosy has very kindly sent me an e-book copy of her latest book, Sandlands, which I have added to my review list. In the meantime Rosy agreed to answer my questions 🙂

Enjoy!

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Hello, I’m Rosy Thornton, and to date I’ve written five novels (More Than Love Letters, Hearts and Minds, Crossed Wires, The Tapestry of Love, and Ninepins), the last of which won the East Anglian Book Awards prize for fiction. My current book, Sandlands (published on 21^st July by Sandstone Press), is my first collection of short stories.

The sixteen stories are all set in the same small village in strip of coastal Suffolk known locally as the ‘sandlings’ or ‘sandlands’. As well as a setting and a few shared minor characters, they are linked by their common themes: of the natural world, wildlife and the relationship of people to their landscape, and also how the past can make itself felt in the present in various unexpected ways. Some of the stories are ghostly or magical; some are poignant and sad; one or two are (I hope!) funny.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

That’s an easy one, with this book in particular. The village where the stories in Sandlands are set is my own village of Blaxhall, where I acquired a home about four years ago now. The place is utterly beautiful and has an amazingly diverse natural habitat, endowed with a rich variety of wildlife, and it is that which inspired my stories. Nine of the sixteen stories take as a central motif a particular species of animal or bird, flower or butterfly. The opening scene of the first story in the book, ‘The White Doe’ – which is also, in fact, the first one I wrote – is of a woman watching from her bedroom window in the early morning as a string of roe deer come up a bank into her garden and through to the lane, and one of the deer is white. That was me: my bedroom window, my garden, ‘my’ white doe. Of course, the character who developed as I wrote the story isn’t me, and what happens to her is all invention – but it began with what was in front of my nose, with the wildlife all around me.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

Absolutely not. Given that I have set my stories in the village where I live – a small community, with only just over 200 inhabitants – and have made no attempt to rename or disguise it, I think it is very important to stress that my characters are not based on anyone I know! As the old disclaimer on the movies goes, ‘any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental’! I should especially like to stress that Raymond, the rather morose landlord of the village pub who pulls pints gloomily in several of the stories, is in no way based on the warm, hospitable and sunny landlord of the real life pub. (Please don’t bar me, Mike!)

How do you pick your characters’ names?

Character names, for me, always have to have a reason behind them. At a very basic level and for reasons of authenticity, with Sandlands I made extensive use of a list of old Suffolk surnames. But it’s not just about choosing appropriate names for the time and place in which the story is situated, I also like choosing names which have a meaning connected to the theme or content of the story or the attributes of the particular character.

For example, one story (‘Whispers’) is about a man who is in a rather depressed and isolated place in his life, surrounded by self-imposed walls, and who has purchased a derelict Martello tower on the Suffolk coast. I called him Dr Whybrow – a name which means ‘fortress’. Another story (‘High House’) has a central character by the name of Mr Napish, which is my shortened and anglicised version of Ut-Napishtim, a figure from Babylonian legend. I can’t tell you what the legend is about without spoiling the end of the story!

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I’m not sure I would dignify what I do with the word ‘process’. Most stories begin with one tenaciously preoccupying idea, which gnaws away at me for a few days or weeks, until it solidifies into the shape of a story. Then I have to think where the way in is – where it begins – and that’s often the hardest part. Once I’ve started, it usually then all splurges down onto the page fairly fast. Followed by being put away for a week or so, before being taken out again, re-read and either chucked in the bin or else edited into something resembling a half-way decent story. Is that a ‘process’?

Were you a big reader as a child?

Definitely. I remember the Saturday morning trip to the library to change my books being a highlight of the week – the children’s sections had big floor cushions and I can still remember exactly what they smelt of! – and how I couldn’t wait to be alone in my bedroom with my new hoard. I especially liked animal books, the sadder the better. Black Beauty, Sajo and her Beaver People, Tarka the Otter, The Call of the Wild. But I read anything and everything – whatever I could lay my hands on.

When did you start to write?

Not until my forties. Fiction, that is to say, because I had always written: I write academic legal books and articles as part of my day job as a university law lecturer. But although I was a voracious reader (I must have read two or three books a week from my teens onwards) writing fiction is not a thing that it had remotely occurred to me I’d be able to do. We lawyers are famously rather pedantic, narrowly analytical thinkers, not given to flights of imaginative fancy.

Then, eleven years ago at the age of 41, I watched the BBC’s adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South and was smitten. I’d always loved the book – and now fell under the spell of the very beautiful Richard Armitage who played the mill-owner, John Thornton. So I went online to chat about the adaptation and the book – and found fellow devotees writing North and South fanfiction. I’d never heard of this phenomenon before, but was beguiled, and soon tried my hand at writing my own… and three months later found I had written a full-length pastiche sequel to Gaskell’s novel!

It was complete tripe, of course, but by then I was in the swing of the thing, and carried straight on afterwards to write my own first original novel.

Do you have a favourite author?

I have too many to mention. I love the nineteenth century classics – Austen, Eliot and Gaskell in particular – and the period fiction of authors such as Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Bowen and Penelope Fitzgerald. But I also love many contemporary writers: Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith, Kate Atkinson, Sarah Waters, Deborah Moggach, Esther Freud, Andrea Levy, Helen Dunmore, Jane Smiley, Lorrie Moore, Barbara Trapido… The common factor is probably that they tend to be women.

If you could meet any author, who would it be? And what would you ask them?

Given my reasons for starting out in fiction-writing, it would have to be Elizabeth Gaskell really, wouldn’t it? And I could ask her what she thinks would have happened next, after Margaret and John get together at the end of North and South. What intrigues me especially – and the thing I most wanted to explore in my fanfiction – is what on earth Mrs Thornton senior would have to say about the matter.

What are you working on right now, and when can we look forward to a new release?

I have an idea for a new novel, but so far that’s all it is: an idea. A setting, a rough shape, a few hazy, half-formed characters, but no actual words yet on the page. I’m sure it will emerge in due course… but it may take some time. Sorry!

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Readers can visit my website and leave comments or messages for me there:

http://rosythornton.com

They can also find me on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/rosy.thornton

And on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rosy_thornton

Thank you so much, Rosy, for joining me on my blog today 🙂

Publisher: Sandstone Press (21st July 2016)

A collection of linked short stories, all set in and around the small village of Blaxhall in the sandlings of coastal Suffolk, which is the reason for the title, ‘Sandlands’. The collection is inspired by the landscape of the area and its flora and fauna, as well as by its folklore and historical and cultural heritage. Six of the twelve stories focus around a particular bird, animal, wildflower or insect characteristic of the locality, from barn owl to butterfly. The book might be described as a collection of ghost stories; in fact, while one or two stories involve a more or less supernatural element, each of them deals in various ways with the tug of the past upon the present, and explores how past and present can intersect in unexpected ways. The stories uncover what is real and enduring beneath the surface of things.

Buy your copy here – Sandlands by Rosy Thornton

Why not check out all of Rosy’s books? You will find them all here on her Amazonuk author page

I am thrilled to be todays stop on Hattie Holden Edmonds’ / RedDoor Publishing’s Blog Tour for Cinema Lumière.

I will be sharing my review later on in the post, but first I have a Q&A with the author herself for you to enjoy…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

My name’s Hattie Edmonds (I use my fanciful middle name Holden when I write) and I’m a bit of a late bloomer in that I didn’t start writing fiction until I was 35. In my 20’s I worked for a pop magazine, interviewing more boy bands than you can shake a teddy at. After that, I became the in-house writer at Comic Relief, working on projects with some of my comedy heroes – Steve Coogan, Sacha Baron Cohen, Richard Curtis and Armando Iannucci. Cinema Lumière is my first novel and it took 7 years to write (I know, bit embarrassing). It’s about a cinema with one seat where you are shown a film of your life. Now I write full time, including a blog on the Huffington Post and volunteering for the refugee charity CalAid as their copywriter. I also run a ramshackle cinema from a fisherman’s hut in Whitstable.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

The idea for Cinema Lumière came from two different sources – the first was a non-fiction book called Testimony of Light by Helen Greaves, which follows the true story of Helen’s friend Frances Banks, who died (deep breath – huge leap of faith required here!) and yet was able to return and describe to Helen what she was experiencing ‘on the other side.’

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book was the bit about seeing a Life Review of your time on earth, or as Frances describes it ‘a kaleidoscopic series of pictures which covers the entire cycle of your life’.

Otherwise, ideas can come from conversations, quotes, snippets from the newspaper etc. I love reading spiritual books (whether about Sufism, Buddhist philosophy or channeling, doesn’t matter, I’ll devour it!) as well as science books. I do like a good firm fact!

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

First novels are often quite autobiographical and Cinema Lumière is no exception. The main character Hannah has some similar traits to me, including the one where she compulsively imagines the worst possible things she can say or do in any given situation – like telling her new boyfriend’s mother that the Sunday roast she has just lovingly prepared for her son and his new girlfriend, tastes like shit.

How do you pick your characters names?

I know writers are supposed to use names which mean something, but for me the names are just ones I happen to like and which seem to fit. Nothing deeper than that, I’m afraid.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

Step 1. See/ hear/ read something that sparks my interest. Jot it down in my little blue notebook with my 20 year old Parker ink pen, whose top looks really unsavoury because I’ve chewed it to bits.

Step 2. Get cracking on the research (I love this bit). For the first book, aside from copious internet trawling, I interviewed several doctors who had written about Near Death experiences where their patients had reported being shown a film of their life, while they were unconscious. At the moment I am interviewing heart specialists because my third book is about the human heart.

Step 3. Start to get the first draft down. This will be unintelligible nonsense to anyone but me. The second draft won’t be much better. But by draft nr 15 (I’m pretty obsessive about language so each draft takes forever), it’s hopefully a bit better.

Do you have a favourite author?

It’s so tricky to narrow it down to one. I love the poetry of Ben Okri, the humour of Nick Hornby and the mind-stretchy ideas of Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler’s Wife). Can I cram them all into a blender and see what comes out?

If you could meet any author, who would it be? And what would you ask them?

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. I’d ask if I could crawl inside his head and experience the world through his eyes – and thoughts.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I used to read a lot – but very old school choices such as Swallows and Amazons and Mallory Towers. I definitely wasn’t one of those children tearing through Dostoevsky at the age of twelve.

When did you start to write?

I started writing about music at university. U2 was the very first band I interviewed, before they were big. I totally ballsed it up by asking Bono where in America he was from (the interview took place after a gig and I was quite well refreshed). To this day I have no idea why I thought he was American.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve just finished my second novel The House of Optics, so now I am finding out some fascinating stuff about the human heart for the third. Did you know that every day the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles, which in the average lifetime is equivalent to driving to the moon and back? Nope, nor did I until this morning.

When can we look forward to a new release?

October 2017 for The House of Optics – if all goes according to my mini self-made masterplan.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

My website is www.hattieholdenedmonds.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hattieholdenedmonds

Twitter https://twitter.com/HattieHEdmonds

Thank you so much to Hattie for answering my questions 🙂

My review…..

4/5*

Cinema Lumière is quite different to other books I have read recently and I have really enjoyed the change of pace to be honest. This is a beautifully written story of real life, friendship, love, loss, regrets and trying to move on from the past.

Hannah Bailey is a very likeable character. I warmed to her straight away. She obviously doesn’t love her job, but like a lot of people, just gets on with it as bills have to be paid. I liked the friendship she builds with Ian when he starts to work with her.

Hannah doesn’t spend nearly enough time with her mother, which she is well aware of, but I think this makes her all the more believable. I think we’re all guilty of assuming those we love will be around forever.

I have to say that Nellie is one of my favourite characters. Nellie is a British Bulldog and is just awesome! I love that she is written with equal importance to the human characters. After all, she was a gift to Hannah, from Victor, when she needed her the most. I love the friendship she shares with Victor and their mutual love of films. It soon becomes clear that Hannah and Victor share a secret, something Hannah doesn’t like to talk about, but we don’t find out what until much later on. This kept me intrigued all the way through as well as wanting to know what happened with Luke, although I did hazard a good guess. Luke was not a character I warmed to, but I really liked Joe and was routing for him and Hannah.

The story flits between the present and 2009 where chapter by chapter we discover what Hannah is trying her best to move on from to secure a happier future.

This book made me laugh out loud at times and cry at others. It’s a very moving story and one I will happily recommend.

Many thanks to Anna at RedDoor Publishing for my paperback review copy.

Buy your copy here – Cinema Lumière by Hattie Holden Edmonds

Publisher: Red Door Publishing (24th September 2014)

Description:

‘A magical, thought-provoking and uplifting tale … one of this year’s must-reads’ –Daily Mirror

‘A stunning debut. Made me laugh out loud, cry … and ache with recognition –The Huffington Post

What if someone had secretly made a film of your life? Hannah Bailey has resigned herself to a dead-end job, she’s sealed her heart against love and her catastrophic thinking is out of control. In fact, she’s hard pushed to find a single reason for her existence until the day she stumbles across a tiny one-seated cinema and its mysterious French owner Victor Lever… Cinema Lumière doesn’t screen Hollywood blockbusters or even low budget arthouse indies. Instead it shows people films of their lives. But how does Victor create such unique biopics and why is he so determined to coax Hannah into that single red velvet seat?

Set between the bustling streets of both Portobello and Paris, Cinema Lumière turns a literary projector on the timeless experiences of love and loss. If you liked The Time Traveller’s Wife and One Day, this could well be the book for you.

GIVEAWAY

Anna at RedDoor Publishing has very kindly offered a Paperback copy of Cinema Lumière to give away to one lucky winner 🙂

All you need to do is comment on this post, in the box below, by midnight on 31st July and a winner will be chosen at random on 1st August.

Good luck!

Cinema Lumiere is nominated for The People’s Book Prize 2016 in the Summer Fiction collection.

Here is the link to vote: http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=1407

Congratulations and good luck to Hattie and RedDoor Publishing!

Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the Cinema Lumière blog tour…..

Enjoy!

Publisher: Bookouture (5th July 2016)

5/5*

I knew I was on to a winner with The Sister as it’s published by Bookouture and they have some fabulous authors! Louise Jensen is no exception. It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel.

Grace has been struggling since Charlie died. They had been best friends since school. I really felt for Grace because I know I’d be devastated in the same situation. Being accused, by her mother, of causing her death and having no idea why only adds to her heart-break.

Everyone reacts to and deals with grief differently.

Grace seems to just be going through the motions of life, finding no joy in anything, and her relationship with Dan has been suffering as a result. Dan starts to stay out late more often, getting drunk, and is acting differently, but Grace has no idea what he’s hiding or if she’s just being paranoid.

When they were teenagers, Grace and Charlie make a memory box and bury it agreeing to only open it together in years to come. With Charlie gone Grace has no choice but to open it alone. She thought she knew Charlie inside out, but it appears not.

‘I did something terrible Grace. I hope you can forgive me……’ What did Charlie do that was so terrible?

Grace and Dan start a campaign to find Charlie’s father, something Charlie was keen to pursue once turning 18. A girl called Anna gets in touch claiming to be Charlie’s half-sister. Anna and Grace soon become close and Grace finds comfort in her being part of Charlie. However, it soon became obvious that something isn’t quite right with Anna.

I had no idea what was going on with this story, for the most part, which is why I loved it! Each chapter left me wanting to know more. It is full of suspense, brilliantly written with great characters and a shocking twist. A must read for all psychological thriller fans!

Many thanks, as always, to Bookouture for my auto-approval status on Netgalley. I am more than happy to recommend The Sister.

Description:

‘I did something terrible Grace. I hope you can forgive me …’

Grace hasn’t been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie’s words the last time she saw her, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie’s. It soon becomes clear that there was a lot she didn’t know about her best friend.

When Grace starts a campaign to find Charlie’s father, Anna, a girl claiming to be Charlie’s sister steps forward. For Grace, finding Anna is like finding a new family and soon Anna has made herself very comfortable in Grace and boyfriend Dan’s home.

But something isn’t right. Things disappear, Dan’s acting strangely and Grace is sure that someone is following her. Is it all in Grace’s mind? Or as she gets closer to discovering the truth about both Charlie and Anna, is Grace in terrible danger?

There was nothing she could have done to save Charlie … Or was there?

A compelling, gripping psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, I Let You Go and The Girl With No Past.

You can buy your copy here – The Sister by Louise Jensen

About the author:

Louise lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, children, madcap spaniel and a rather naughty cat. The Sister is Louise’s debut novel.

Louise loves to hear from readers and writers and can be found at http://www.louisejensen.co.uk, where she regularly blogs flash fiction.

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming Mark Nolan to my blog.

Mark has very kindly sent me an e-book copy of his book, Dead Lawyers Don’t Lie: A Gripping Thriller (Jake Wolfe Book 1) which I am looking forward to reading as soon as possible. In the meantime, Mark has agreed to an author interview.

Enjoy!

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I began my writing career as an entrepreneur, creating news stories for businesses. I helped them get featured in The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Parade, Readers Digest, Associated Press, and other news sources. I was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Bay Area, so I decided to use that as the location of my debut novel titled Dead Lawyers Don’t Lie. The book is about a mysterious killer who calls himself The Artist, and he is assassinating wealthy lawyers. When a photojournalist named Jake Wolfe accidentally takes his picture during a murder, The Artist adds Jake to his kill list and he becomes a target in a deadly game of cat and mouse that only one of them can survive.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I honestly don’t know where my ideas come from. Everybody asks me that question, even my friends and family. I wish I had an answer. It seems like some kind of magical science. My guess is that I’m highly observant of life, people and situations… always observing everything with curiosity. My mind is a storehouse of interesting things I’ve observed, read about and researched. I ask my imagination the question, “What if ____?” And then I start to think of various possibilities.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

No I purposely avoided doing that. I wanted my characters to start with a blank page so they’d be unpredictable as I wrote about them. And they did surprise me quite often. One character turned out to have claustrophobia, although I wasn’t planning on that. And a policewoman punched a man in the jaw when he (and I) least expected it. You just never know what an imaginary character might do.

How do you pick your characters names?

I think about the character’s personality, their profession, the clothes they wear, how they walk and talk, what they like to eat, etc. And then I use my imagination to start brainstorming some ideas for names. If I get stuck, I do research. I found the name Wolfe in an old reference book of Irish surnames. I went through the entire book, page by page, and at the end I found the name of my main character.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I write a brief note about each scene on a 4 x 6 card, then put the cards/scenes in order and began writing the chapters. It seems to have worked for me on the first book, so I’m doing it that way again as I work on the second book.

Do you have a favourite author?

I like so many authors it’s hard to pick just one. However I do know that I’d buy any new book that Larry McMurtry ever wrote about the characters in Lonesome Dove. I’ve read all of the novels in that series and I wish there were more.

If you could meet any author, who would it be? And what would you ask them?

I’d enjoy meeting Clive Cussler. He doesn’t just write about the discoveries of lost shipwrecks, he actually goes out and finds them himself. I would ask him about sunken ships and lost treasure. I’m sure he would have all kinds of true stories to share.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes, I was one of those kids who would read books under the bedcovers with a flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping. One time in school I got caught reading The Hobbit inside of my math textbook. I had to do extra math homework that week as a punishment.

When did you start to write?

In sixth grade. The teacher had us all write a fictional story for our homework. She enjoyed mine so much that she read it out loud to the class. Everybody liked it, and the teacher told me that maybe someday I could write a novel. My eight grade teacher said something similar. That was very kind of them. Life kept me busy though, running a business and raising two kids (and one very smart retriever dog). But now that I have the time, I’ve finally written a novel like I always hoped I would.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a second book in a planned series about Jake Wolfe and his former military dog, Cody. They live on a boat, and they just want to have some peace and quiet in their lives, but they just can’t seem to stay out of trouble.

When can we look forward to a new release?

I’m working hard on the next book but I’m not sure when it will be released. Readers can go to my author page on Amazon and click the “follow” button, and then Amazon will let them know when the next book is ready.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Readers are always welcome to send me an email, using the contact form at http://www.MarkNolan.com. I enjoy hearing from my readers and I try to respond to every one.

Readers may also follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, or Twitter:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14844422.Mark_Nolan

https://www.facebook.com/MarkNolanAuthor/

Thank you for having me as a guest on your blog.

Many thanks for joining me on my blog today, Mark 🙂

Dead Lawyers Don’t Lie: A Gripping Thriller (Jake Wolfe Book 1) is on Kindle countdown deal from today (15/07/16) until 21st July 2016. Download your copy for only 0.99 here – Dead Lawyers Don’t Lie: A Gripping Thriller (Jake Wolfe Book 1)

A mysterious killer who calls himself The Artist is assassinating wealthy lawyers in San Francisco. When photo-journalist Jake Wolfe accidentally takes his picture during a murder, The Artist adds Jake to his kill list and he becomes a target in a deadly game of cat and mouse that only one of them can survive. How far would you go to protect your loved ones from a killer? Jake is a veteran who wants to leave his secret past life behind him, but the reluctant, flawed hero finds that he can’t ignore his duty and his personal moral compass.

This gripping thriller is full of suspense, plot twists and surprises. It features a cast of interesting characters, including several strong-willed women, two wise-cracking San Francisco Police Homicide Inspectors, one highly intelligent dog, and a philosophical killer who shares Jake’s admiration for Van Gogh paintings but still plans to kill him anyway. As Jake gets closer to unraveling a merciless conspiracy, his life gets turned upside down and the danger level increases, adding to the growing suspense. This entertaining page-turner starts out as a murder mystery and then shifts gears into a high-speed action thriller that takes you on a roller-coaster ride to the riveting ending. A good read for those who enjoy mysteries, suspense, action and adventure, vigilante justice, unique characters, witty dialogue and a little romance too. Now on sale in over a dozen countries around the world. Be the first among your friends to read it.

Fans of new Kindle Unlimited novels will be happy to know this book is one of the best financial thrillers in kindle unlimited books.

Happy Publication Day to Amanda Prowse and Head of Zeus 🙂

MY HUSBAND’S WIFE by AMANDA PROWSE
Publication Date: July 14^th 2016 Hardback and eBook.

Amanda Prowse is a No.1 International Bestselling author who has been a regular visitor of the beautiful North Devon resort of Woolacombe since the 60’s.

Always on the lookout for new stories, a chance encounter at the Beachcomber Café on the seafront during her annual summer holiday last year gave Amanda Prowse an idea for her latest book, with Woolacombe as the setting.  Now, in the summer of 2016, ‘My Husband’s Wife’ is set to be THE holiday read of the season.

Amanda Prowse is recognised in the literary world as the most prolific writer in the UK today and has been hailed as ‘The Queen of domestic drama’ by the Daily Mail.

I have a very beautiful signed hardback copy of this book courtesy of Amanda’s husband, Simeon Prowse. I promise I will be reading it as soon as possible!

You can purchase your own hardback or e-book copy today (the paperback version will be released on 1st February 2017) – My Husband’s Wife by Amanda Prowse

Publisher: Head of Zeus (14th July 2016)

Once a week, Rosie Tipcott counts her blessings. She goes to sit on her favourite bench overlooking Woolacombe Bay and thanks her lucky stars for her wonderful husband, her mischievous young daughters, and her neat little house by the sea. She vows to dedicate every waking hour to making her family happy.

But life doesn’t always work out as we would want it to and when Rosie is on the receiving end of some unexpected and unwelcome news, it sets in motion a chain of events that she never would have thought possible and forces her to re-evaluate her life and everything that she thought she knew.

Read Rosie’s story in ‘My Husband’s Wife’ to see how this ordinary wife and mother reacts when her world falls apart.  Can she overcome the situation and get her life back on track? Does she even want to try?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Prowse is the bestselling author of contemporary family fiction and has written twelve books and six novellas that have been translated into dozens of languages all around the world.

Her titles include ‘What Have I Done?’ which was voted an Amazon Kindle editor’s book of 2013 and ‘A Mother’s Story’ that received the accolade of being the best family fiction novel by the Daily Mail.  It also won the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the Year 2015.

Her summer book of last year ‘Perfect Daughter’ earned a place in the Amazon hall of fame and was also selected as a prestigious World Book Night title 2016 by The Reading Agency who promote and manage the nation’s libraries.

Amanda is a regular panellist on the popular daytime TV show ‘The Wright Stuff’ and co-hosts the BBC Radio book club in Bristol in addition to narrating most of her own audio books.

Amanda lives with her husband and two sons in the West Country, where she writes full-time.

Website:  www.amandaprowse.com
Twitter:  @MrsAmandaProwse
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/amandaprowsenogreaterlove
Email:  becky@amandaprowse.com

PRAISE FOR AMANDA PROWSE

‘Deeply moving and emotional, Amanda Prowse handles her explosive subject with delicate skill’ – Daily Mail

‘Uplifting and positive, but you will still need a box of tissues’ – Hello

‘Captivating, heartbreaking and superbly written’ – Closer

‘A deeply emotional, unputdownable read’ – Red

‘You’ll fall in love with this…’ – Cosmopolitan

Today I have the pleasure of being the next stop on Netta Newbound’s Prima Facie blog tour. Netta is a new-to-me author, but needless to say, all of her books are now on my TBR list!

Check out Netta’s Q&A…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Firstly, I’d like to thank you for inviting me today. Originally from Manchester, England, I now live in beautiful New Zealand with my husband, where I write full-time. Most of my novels are psychological thrillers, although I do have three non-fiction books that I co-wrote with a friend.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Good question. The initial idea can come from anywhere. It may start as a tiny thought and before I know it, the thought morphs into something much bigger that demands attention.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

No is the short answer. It’s funny, but people who know me read my books looking for somebody they recognise. They may take the most minute of details like a type of car or breed of dog and try to make it fit. In a couple of my books, the husband is gay and my husband was worried at first, thinking everyone would suspect I was writing about him.

How do you pick your characters names?

The main characters names come to me in the same way the story does—they’re already named. But the minor characters I will take from anywhere. I’ll sometimes call out to my husband… ‘I need a name for a thirty-five-year-old female lawyer living in the USA’…and he’ll fire suggestions at me.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I begin at page one and write. I know that probably sounds as though I’m being a smartarse, but I’m not. A lot of writers will write the main scenes first and then fill in the other details around them. I can’t do that – I write it in sequence. If I come across any difficult scenes (i.e. the rape scene in An Impossible Dilemma) I will write the basic details and then come back to fill out the rest once I can face it.

Do you have a favourite author?

Stephen King is my all-time favourite. I love his twisted thinking—it makes so much sense to me.

If you could meet any author, who would it be? And what would you ask them?’

The man himself – Mr King – although I probably wouldn’t ask him a thing—I’d be tongue-tied!

Were you a big reader as a child?

Absolutely. I read anything and everything – Enid Blyton was my favourite when I was very young but then I read all my mum’s Mills & Boon books and progressed to my grandmothers more terrifying bookshelf. James Herbert’s The Rats was my first horror. It petrified me, yet I couldn’t stop reading it. That book cemented my love of that genre.

When did you start to write?

Around 12 years ago. Well, that’s when I became serious about my writing.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve just released my latest book, Prima Facie – the 4^th in the Adam Stanley Series. And now I am embarking on something totally new to me—working with another author on a psychological thriller called The Watcher. I’m totally excited although a little apprehensive about this, as, up to now, I’ve been able to write exactly what I want, without having to consult with anybody… wish me luck! Haha.

When can we look forward to a new release?

We’re aiming for October 2016 at this stage.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I have a webpage at nettanewbound.com or you can find me on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks so much for joining me on my blog today, Netta 🙂

Thanks also to Sarah at Bytheletterbookreviews for inviting me to take part in this fab blog tour!

Publisher: Junction Publishing (8th July 2016)

You can purchase your copy here – Prima Facie by Netta Newbound

If, like me, you need to play catch up, you will find all of Netta’s previous books on her Amazonuk author page

Don’t forget to check out the other awesome bloggers who are taking part in this blog tour…..

Today I am delighted to welcome Susan Moody to my blog.

Susan’s Penny Wanawake series has recently been reissued by Williams and Whiting.

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

My Penny Wanawake series – newly reissued by dynamic new publisher Williams & Whiting – propelled me into the ranks of crime-writing some thirty plus years ago, where I’ve happily remained ever since. In that time, I’ve produced more than thirty-five books, mostly crime, including a second series character called Cassandra Swann (soon to be re-published by W&W), plus many stand-alones and short stories. I’ve served as Chair of the Crime Writers Association, President of the International Association of Crime Writers, Visiting Fellow at the University of Tasmania, Visiting Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, Writing Tutor at HMP Bedford. I recently founded the hugely successful one-day crime fiction event Deal Noir, and will be hosting our third one on March 25th 2017.

Penny Wanawake is tall, feisty, and black. She walks down the mean streets and takes no crap from anyone. I originally intended her to be the female answer to James Bond and other macho heroes, going where she pleased, sleeping with whomsoever she wished, but had to tone that down with the advent of AIDS.

I’m often asked about the genesis of Penelope Wanawake. It began when I found myself living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the Sixties. This was at the beginning of the civil rights movement, when at last people were waking up to the unjustices of a system which allowed the rights of the black population to be ignored. These were the years of civil disobedience as exemplified by Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus so a white person could have it. She wasn’t the first to refuse to do so, but she became an important symbol of the movement. Then came the atrocious killing of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi. In Oak Ridge, black people couldn’t buy a house in a ‘white’ area. They couldn’t swim in the same public pools ort sattend the same schools. My husband and I joined the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and held several meetings in our house. The Klan came into town, their faceless hoods a terrifying sight calculated to strike fear into the heart. We were watched.

Came the day we were sitting – with the blinds down – in our sitting room when we noticed a weird light shining from outside. We drew the blinds aside and discovered that a cross was burning on our front lawn. This was seriously scary stuff. Even more so was the incident when I pulled up at traffic lights, heavily pregnant and with my toddler in the back. Suddenly, a jeep screeched to a halt alongside me and when I looked over at it, there were four grinning rednecks staring at me, each one of them with a rifle across his knees, pointing at me.

When I got back to England, creating the character of Penny seemed almost an obligation.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

I might use a beard here, a quirky mannerism there, but most often, characters step more or less fully formed into my head.

How do you pick your characters names?

With great difficulty. The name has to be right. I’ve sometimes written as much as a third of a book knowing the character shouldn’t be called Jeremy or Alicia, but unable to fix on the ‘right’ name. It’s like having a stone in your shoe or a crumb in your bed. Only once it’s sorted, does everything fall properly into place.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

In a nutshell, it’s bum on seat, fingers on keys, as early as possible (sometimes 5 in the morning in summertime), and slogging on until 2 pm or so. I try to write at least 1,000 words a day, but don’t always achieve that. Of course I get up from time to time to make tea and take a break from the screen.

Do you have a favourite author?

I have many. Impossible to come up with just one. Dickens, Austen, Susan Hill, Anita Shreve, Lee Child, Edmund Crispin, Simon Brett (the Charles Paris novels), Harlan Coben. The book I can’t do without is Vanity Fair, by Thackeray. I buy copies all the time, in case I should find myself without one.

If you could meet any author, who would it be? And what would you ask them?

Probably Thackeray. What an achievement, to produce a heroine (or anti-heroine) as feisty and strong as Becky Sharp, the prototype for all the lively spirited protagonists you find in contemporary crime literature. She’s also ruthlessly amoral and manipulative, somewhat over-painted, in my opinion, so that by the end of the book, she has completely lost any sympathy the reader might have for her. But where did she come from? Was her character based on someone he knew? Was dreary little Amelia Sedley intended as a role-model for Thackeray’s female readers? I do hope not. As for Dobbin, no woman should be without a Dobbin in her life.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I did nothing but read, had to be dragged away from the printed page. Used to read walking in the street until the day I hit a lamp-post and nearly concussed myself.

When did you start to write?

Aged 8, I produced an album of stories and pictures and tried to flog it (unsuccessfully) to my family for 3d.

What are you working on right now?

The third book in the Alexandra Quick series

When can we look forward to a new release?

In September the second book in the series Quick Off The Mark comes out.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Go to my website: http://www.SusanMoody.co.ukPublisher: Williams & Whiting (15th February 2016)

Buy your copy here – Penny Black (The Penny Wanawake Mysteries Book 1)

Many thanks to Susan for joining me on my blog today 🙂