Chat About Books

This weekly meme is hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open to all to participate. Why not join in and let us know what’s on your reading list this week…

To join in, just answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What I’m currently reading…..

 (via Netgalley)

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital (16 Jun. 2016)

Clover Quinn was a surprise. She used to imagine she was the good kind, now she’s not sure. She’d like to ask Dad about it, but growing up in the saddest chapter of someone else’s story is difficult. She tries not to skate on the thin ice of his memories.

Darren has done his best. He’s studied his daughter like a seismologist on the lookout for waves and surrounded her with everything she might want – everything he can think of, at least – to be happy.

What Clover wants is answers. This summer, she thinks she can find them in the second bedroom, which is full of her mother’s belongings. Volume isn’t important, what she is looking for is essence; the undiluted bits: a collection of things that will tell the full story of her mother, her father and who she is going to be.

But what you find depends on what you’re searching for.

What I recently finished reading…..

 (e-book copy via Blackbird Digital Books)

Publisher: Blackbird Digital Books (1 July 2016)

When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness.

But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane…

That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina.

She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend – or does she?

As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears…

A hauntingly intelligent, addictive psychological thriller from debut author S. E. Lynes.

If you haven’t already and would like to, you can read my 5* review for this brilliant book here – Valentina: A Hauntingly Intelligent Psychological Thriller by S. E. Lynes

Also, check out my Q&A with the lovely author herself, as part of the Valentina Blog Tour – **Blog Tour** Valentina by S E Lynes – Author Q&A

What I think I will read next…..

 (ARC via Netgalley)

Publisher: Cornerstone Digital (30 Jun. 2016)

She kept moving forward. She didn’t stop. She didn’t look back.

Lily has been abducted from outside her high-school gates.

For eight long years she’s been locked away from the outside world. During that time she’s changed from a girl into a woman. She’s had a baby.

And now she has seized her chance and escaped.

Running for her life, with her daughter in her arms, she returns to her family and the life she used to know – to her much-loved twin sister Abby, her mum, her high-school boyfriend – and her freedom.

But is it possible to go back?

Lily’s perfect life as a teenager doesn’t exist any more. Since she’s been gone, her family’s lives have changed too, in ways she never could have imagined.

Her return, and the revelation of who took her, will send shockwaves through the whole community.

Impossible not to read in one sitting, Baby Doll is a taut psychological thriller that focuses on family entanglements and the evil that can hide behind a benign facade.

What are you reading?

Have you read any of the above?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments section 🙂

Kerry. x

I am delighted to be one of two stops today on S E Lynes’ Valentina blog tour with Blackbird Digital Books.

Publisher: Blackbird Digital Books (1st July 2016)

Q&A

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

I teach Creative Writing at Richmond Adult Community College. Valentina is my debut novel. It’s a psychological thriller or domestic noir, set in Aberdeenshire. There is a fairytale vibe to it, with plenty of treachery and dark acts.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

Many sources. This one came from a joke I often make about my husband – but I can’t tell you that joke without giving the game away! Flippant remarks often spark something in my imagination. Life experience plays a big part but also other books, radio interviews, films, newspaper articles, anecdotes. This morning, for example, I heard a discussion on Radio 4 about Vantablack, a colour so black, so dark it sucks away all surrounding light…ooh, that got me thinking.

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

No, funnily enough. They tend to come from the central idea or event in the book, from what needs to happen. I then work backwards and ask who they would need to be in order for this to happen. And from who do they need to be comes what is their background, what made them that person? And that’s my way in. For this book, I had the central reversal and a final event, so I worked my heroine out backwards from there. I also did a lot of research on NPD (narcissism personality disorder) and other forms of psychopathy and of course, characters develop as you write them.

How do you pick your characters names?

For my main character I needed a Scottish name, so I picked Shona McGilvery from the various names I heard whilst living in Aberdeen. For Mikey, I had his first name but then I googled Liverpool surnames, which have a distinctly Irish flavour as you can imagine, and I chose Quinn. Valentina came out of thin air…

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

An idea, whatever the source, nudges somewhere in my subconscious. I let it brew, keep it in my head, keep thinking about it and see what emerges. I sit down and write something way too dense, which I then start to unpick to see if it will breathe. Then I make myself write every day if possible even when I don’t feel like it. I try not to worry about the quality until I have something on the page.

Do you have a favourite author?

How long have you got? Pat Barker is my absolute favourite. I love her visceral style, her Northern humour and grit, her intelligence. I love Alice Munro, who can leave me devastated time after time. I love Ian McEwan. Oh, I love Sarah Waters for her fantastic storytelling. Through writing a psychological thriller I have discovered Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, Erin Kelly, Alex Marwood and I have just discovered Tammy Cohen. I like a lot of literary fiction which I think feeds into my writing process. Valentina is accessible and, hopefully, gripping but I still wanted to have some beautiful sentences in there and I love the way some less commercial authors convey nuanced emotions without resorting to melodrama. There is always so much to learn from other authors. Books like Winter’s Bone by Daniel Audrell and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr are gritty and dark but beautiful. I could go on…

Were you a big reader as a child?

Of course! The first book that made me cry was Winnie the Pooh – I cried because it had finished and I was bereft. I still get that feeling now when a book has moved me. I loved Enid Blyton and spent some time wishing I could go to boarding school and have midnight feasts – I grew up on a housing estate so I guess that world was exotic to me. I studied French and Spanish at Uni so that opened my eyes to foreign literature, which I loved. Literature has always helped me make sense of life, other people, myself sometimes. Sometimes you read a character and think: thank GOD it’s not just me that feels that way!

When did you start to write?

When I was in my twenties. There are some very dodgy poems somewhere that need burning. When I worked at the BBC I used to love writing scripts for my presenter, Edi Stark. She was a perfectionist and my aim was to produce an intro, just once, that she didn’t change. I can’t remember now if I ever did. I wrote some children’s books in my thirties when the kids were little and we lived in Rome and then when we got back to the UK I did some writing courses at my local community college, where I now teach. From there I went on to do an MA in Creative Writing at Kingston Uni and studied under some very talented writers like Rachel Cusk and Paul Bailey.

What are you working on right now?

I am ruminating on an idea for the next book and tentatively writing the first chapter or two. I reached a thousand words and already I’ve managed to murder someone. Maybe I’m a psychopath!

When can we look forward to a new release?

I don’t know – but I will put my heart and soul into making it as gripping and satisfying as it can be.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I am on Twitter @SELynesAuthor. Because I teach, I tend to post a lot of tips and advice about writing. Writing is enjoyable but tough, both to do well and to succeed in – I think maybe this is why writers are very supportive of one another. We are like golfers, it’s all of us against the course.

Many thanks to Susie for answering my questions. Also to Rosalie at Blackbird Books who introduced me to Valentina and invited me to be a part of this fabulous blog tour.

You can pre-order your copy of Valentina here – Valentina by S E Lynes

If you haven’t already and would like to, you can read my 5 star review of this brilliant book here – Valentina: A Hauntingly Intelligent Psychological Thriller by S. E. Lynes

Description (via Amazonuk) –

When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness.

But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane…

That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina.

She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend – or does she? As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears…

A hauntingly intelligent, addictive psychological thriller from debut author S. E. Lynes

Make sure you follow the rest of the Valentina blog tour…..

Check out today’s other stop over on Damppebbles book blog

Today I am delighted to welcome Shelley Day to my blog……

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

I’m one of those people who’ve always written. But I didn’t take my fiction seriously until I was made redundant when I was 55. The redundancy turned out to be the very thing I needed to get me off the treadmill of wage slavery. It gave me the chance to do what I’d always wanted – to write fiction. Before that, I’d been a lawyer and an academic, and so I’d always written things in my job. But deep down, I’d always wanted to write fiction. I was working freelance, so my time was my own, and I started with a basic Open University Creative Writing course and I was hooked! And I just went on from there!

My debut novel is just coming out in July with Scottish publisher Saraband. It’s DOMESTIC NOIR, and called THE CONFESSION OF STELLA MOON. The publisher came up with this amazingly macarbre-sounding strap-line which does capture the theme of the book: “Because dark secrets don’t decompose.”  It’s a novel essentially about a Family Secret. It is a black, brooding tale of matricide set in 1960s and 70s Newcastle in a family so dysfunctional as to be sinister. After serving a prison sentence for killing her mother, young Stella Moon is discharged to restart her life. But her plans are soon ruined when she falls prey to a dark family secret that pulls her back into the past. Strange rituals, shame and paranoia haunt her, like the persisting smell of her mother’s taxidermy in the abandoned boarding house. Stella is caught in a tangled web of guilt and manipulation. What truth and what lies are behind the chilling confession of Stella Moon?

It’s published as a CRIME novel, but it’s not a police procedural, or a whodunit. It’s more of a whydunnit, an exploration into the psychology behind the crime.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

It’s truly hard to pin down where exactly ideas come from! My Stella novel, for example, didn’t come from an idea, but from a character (Stella). She emerged on the page during an exercise in a writing workshop. You can get ideas from anywhere, if you allow yourself to be open enough to let them in. When you start writing fiction, you start to notice things more, little details, you make connections, you start to see patterns, ideas press at you, characters come into your mind and make their presences felt … So ideas can come from a lot of places. Out there in the world, in the ordinary everyday world you can notice some strange or interesting things. Or ideas can come from inside you, from vague memories, feelings, images, from your own reactions to people and places and things. Places can be very important to a writer, because places have a spirit, and sometimes you can feel that spirit and it makes you want to write about that place. Or things, ordinary objects, can be inspiring like when, for example, they have a history, a provenance, a load of emotions sedimented down inside them. Or a photograph. You wonder what happened before or after that photo was taken, what happened to those people five years later. Ideas can come from all those places. The ones you write about are the ones that come into your head and won’t go away. You write those down. And if you’re lucky, and kind to them, they will make themselves into stories. As a writer, you are always registering things and asking yourself, ‘what if?…’

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

I’ve never set out to base a character on a real person, and I never would. It would be a difficult thing to do, even if I wanted to. It would be difficult because, as a fiction writer, your imagination is engaged from the start; the minute your pen hits the page, or even before that, your imagination is working on whatever fragments of material are to hand. So even if you begin with some idea of something real, say a place for example, very shortly your imagination takes over and the reality is eclipsed by the story. Not every writer is the same, but I personally find it impossible to stay with ‘the real’ for any length of time. I don’t think I could write a memoir. I’ve tried a few times but by the second sentence I am making things up and have deviated totally from anything that might count as a semi-accurate memory. Now, having said that, all characters must come from somewhere inside the writer, albeit somewhere so deep down they wouldn’t normally have conscious access . There’s a theory that fictional characters are part of the writer’s personality, deeply buried parts of themselves. Sometimes, when I read my work back after a distance from it, I see themes I never consciously intended, and maybe I can see how someone I know might have inspired a particular character. But that would be extremely rare and I can’t think of a concrete example.

How do you pick your character’s names?

My characters come to me with their name badges already on. The name is part of the character and could only with great difficulty be changed. Characters arrive with their baggage, and their name tags. Like Paddington.

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

I don’t have any discipline to my day. I know I should have, but I don’t seem to be able to stick to one. Every time I try to impose a scheme on myself, it goes to pieces in no time. I always carry a notebook. I jot things down if they seem important. I always mean to set aside time to go through my old notebooks in case I find anything good in there to work on, but again that very rarely happens. I have a hut in my garden which is my writing hut. I am sitting there now. There is no internet out here, so no distractions. I’m eating PomBears and drinking black coffee. I am typing directly onto my laptop. When I’m writing fiction, I will often write by hand. Not always though. I’ll type up bits of it as the mood takes me. Inevitably I will edit it as I am typing. Often I will abandon the handwritten draft after half a page and type off at some completely different tangent. My writing process is all a bit random. I have only just realized quite how random it is when I tried to answer your question! I can’t really work at home, not in the house. That’s one thing I can say with certainty. Out here in my hut is almost ok but not quite. I work best in libraries or cafes. You have to be a lot more systematic once you’ve got a first draft, I mean the editing process, and structuring the work, all that demands sustained attention and commitment. I do a lot of that type of work outside in my hut. Also I read out here. I have a lot of books, lots that I dip into for reference or to check things. I have photos on the wall of things I like looking at. But mostly I like the light out here, and the quiet, and the fact that no-one will disturb me here. When I’m out here, my time is entirely my own. I need that solitude.

Do you have a favourite author?

I have many many favourites, and could pick a different handful every day, easily. So today I will pick Muriel Spark. The woman was a genius. I love her dark quirky humour and her spot-on observations. Thomas Hardy. I never read him any more but there was a time in my twenties when I read all his work from start to finish, I got completely carried away with him, wonderful storyteller, and capturer of the spirit of a place and time. The best book I read last year was Agota Kristof’s The Notebook. I was completely blown away by that, completely knocked sideways by the brilliance of it. I also loved, last year, The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas, a Norwegian writer. That was a stunning story and I went straight away to read one of his other books but was disappointed by the translation. And I return to the classics again and again. I’m reading Katharine Mansfield’s letters just now. And stories. Lorrie Moore’s stories. Lydia Davis’s stories. Carys Davies’s stories. Angela Readman’s stories. Jackie Kay, Ali Smith, Janice Galloway, Nathan Englander … I’m putting a short story collection together as we speak so I have been reading a lot of stories. I have so many favourites, it would take me forever to list them and tell you why I love them!

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes. I read all the time. Milly Molly Mandy, I think she came first. Then my mother read Eric Knight’s Lassie Come Home aloud to us and I was transported. I was transported so far away by that book, I don’t think I ever really came back!

When did you start to write?

I’ve always written. As a kid I wrote and wrote in my school jotter, I was always going to the front and asking for a new one. I wrote from the time I could hardly manage to manhandle those big fat blunt wax crayons. I wrote poetry about my dog. Well, not really ‘poetry’ but you know what I mean. And magazines, I made little magazines and coloured them in and stapled them together and sprinkled glitter on. My grandfather got me a little kids’ typewriter when I was about 9. I still have it. It’s very precious. I typed many a magnum opus on that little machine.

What are you working on right now?

I’m putting together a short story collection which is called A Policy of Constant Improvement. In 2015 I won a New Writing North Award for it, and was lucky enough to be mentored by Carys Davies. So I am currently finishing that off. It will be out in 2017. I am also working on a second novel about a character called Clara. I’m not yet sure how that will pan out. She’s a complex character and leading me a bit of a dance at the moment.

When can we look forward to a new release?

My debut THE CONFESSION OF STELLA MOON will be launched in Edinburgh on 7^th July and in Newcastle on 13^th. They are free events, both at Waterstones. Everyone welcome!

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I have a website where my events and things are listed, and a facebook author page, and I am on Twitter. Here are links to my book and my author pages etc

Amazon http://amzn.to/1sFJGak

Waterstones http://bit.ly/1Pt1lXy

http://shelleyday.com

Twitter @PascaleBientot

Fb author page https://www.facebook.com/Shelley-Day-Author-1649675385297734/

Thank you so much for inviting me onto your blog! I really hope you’ll enjoy my book!

(Shelley ~ in the white shirt ~ at The National Library of Scotland, 21st June 2016)

Thank you so much for joining me on my blog today Shelley. I’m looking forward to reading your book!

Publisher: Contraband (1st July 2016)

A timely and intelligent book’ – AL Kennedy. 1977: A killer is released from prison and returns ‘home’ – a decaying, deserted boarding house choked with weeds and foreboding. Memories of strange rituals, gruesome secrets and shame hang heavy in the air, exerting a brooding power over young Stella Moon. She is eager to restart her life, but first she must confront the ghosts of her macabre family history and her own shocking crime. Guilt, paranoia and manipulation have woven a tangled web. All is ambiguous. What truth and what lies are behind the chilling confession of Stella Moon?

Pre-order your copy here – The Confession Of Stella Moon by Shelley Day

Thank you to Emma at Wellthumbedbooks for my nomination 🙂

The Rules are:

• Post the award on your blog.
• Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you.
• Answer the questions assigned to you.
• Give 10 random facts about yourself.
• Nominate 10 deserving bloggers for the award.
• Ask 10 questions to your nominee.

What entices you more – a book cover or a book description?

I am always drawn to beautiful book covers, but the description will determine if I read it or not.

What is your favourite clothing brand and why?

I don’t really have one. I’m not one for designer labels, I just buy what I like and what I think will suit my shape. Now, handbags on the other hand, I do like my Radley’s 😉

Are you a caller or a texter?

A texter.

What is your favourite dessert?

Tiramisu (if it’s done properly. Zizzi’s is amazing!)

Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

I have my ears pierced. Not very exciting, I know!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I don’t think I’d realistically want to live anywhere else to be honest. Living by the coast, somewhere warm, has it’s appeal though.

Who was your favourite author as a kid?

Enid Blyton. I loved The Magic Faraway Tree!

Do you prefer a walk in the woods or a stroll along the beach?

Along the beach, but it doesn’t happen often as I live in Staffordshire!

When eating out, do you prefer a starter or a dessert?

Dessert

What is your favourite name?

Taylor (my daughter’s name). I love my son equally of course, but my Hubby chose his name. We had a deal that he would choose for a boy and me for a girl 🙂

Ten random facts about me:

1 – I am the oldest of three siblings.

2 – Touching/scratching my chin makes me hiccup!

3 – I love Big Brother.

4 – I love to cook and bake.

5 – I was Head Girl at High School.

6 – I used to have over 100 pen-pals.

7 – I’m our Church treasurer.

8 – I made my Sisters Wedding cake.

9 – I recently started running with my husband having never run in my life before.

10 – I just celebrated my Mums 60th Birthday with afternoon tea at The Ritz in London (Mon 20th June) and it was fabulous!

I nominate:

Kaisha @ Thewritinggarnet

Lindsay @ Bookboodle

Kate @ Bibliophilebookclub

Joanne @ Mychestnutreadingtree

Sarah @ Bytheletterbookreviews

Wendy @ Littlebooknesslane

Linda @ Lindasbookbag

Joanne @ Portobellobookblog

Em @ Keystrokeblog

Claire @ Art and Soul

My questions for you all are:

1 – Chips or Jacket potato?

2 – Seaside or countryside?

3 – Do you have a holiday booked? If so, where are you off to?

4 – Do you have pets?

5 – What’s your favourite sport to play?

6 – What’s your favourite sport to watch?

7 – Do you have a favourite author?

8 – If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would be the first question you would ask them?

9 – Your favourite restaurant?

10 – Ice-cream or cake?

Thanks for reading!

Today I am over the moon to welcome the very lovely Valerie-Anne to my blog. It’s exactly 1 year since this lovely book was published. Check out the beautiful new cover…..

Publisher: Novelistas Ink Press (24th June 2015)

You’ll find more info, including a link to buy, further on. In the meantime enjoy Valerie-Anne’s Q&A…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your books please?

Firstly, I just want to say a quick thank you to Kerry, for inviting me here to answer her questions. We met a few years ago on Facebook via a mutual friend, and Kerry’s been a much appreciated supporter of my books ever since.

I write contemporary, grown-up fiction with magical threads woven through it, although my earlier books published by Hodder & Stoughton were straightforward mainstream romances with a touch of comedy. My debut The Wrong Sort of Girl won the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writer’s Award, and my latest novel Four Sides to Every Story was shortlisted in the 2015 Love Stories Awards.

Where do you get your ideas from?

If you can forgive the cliché, sometimes it feels as if I pluck them out of thin air. They come from so many different places, and in so many forms, that it’s hard to keep track. A snatch of song lyrics on the radio, a painting or photograph, an article I’ve read, a TV programme, something I’ve overheard or something left unsaid… The list is endless. I find it impossible to think back to the ‘conception’ of a book and remember precisely how it came about (just as well I’m talking about books and not children!) Plots and characters evolve, they rarely end up how they began.

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

My characters’ physical features might sometimes be based on an actor or celebrity, at least at the start. I find Pinterest a great source of inspiration – and fun – on that score. But they soon take on a life of their own. I’ve never based a fictional character on anyone I know personally; I don’t see any fun in that. Half the enjoyment is creating someone new.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

Haha, well this is tricky too. They come from anywhere and everywhere, much like my plots. I do try to ensure I don’t have characters with similar sounding names in the same story. If there’s a large ‘cast’, I make a list of all the letters of the alphabet and fill in names accordingly in the gaps, although I don’t start at A and systematically work my way down, because someone would be bound to notice! But it’s a tip I picked up to avoid the confusing possibility of having Amy, Adam and Alice all popping up in the same book. It helps to have names of varying length, too. Even if real life isn’t like that, and you personally know a Sarah and a Sara, or a Ben and a Benny, it’s hard work for the reader to keep track if the names aren’t different enough. As for surnames, my favourite method is to flick through a road atlas of the British Isles. There are some great names there, ranging from the common to the bizarre!

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

I ought to conform to the fashion of the moment and say I bash out a first – very messy – draft and then go back to tackle all my editing, but I’ve never been much good at that. I always do some editing along the way, even in the first draft, as I often read back over the previous day’s work to get myself in the mood and the right frame of mind for continuing with the story. I’ve found if I write an overly messy draft, I end up making a colossal error at the start that impacts the whole story, which I only notice during a second read-through. Any subsequent drafts take much longer because of it. In the grand scheme of things I’m somewhere between a plotter and a panster. When I start work on a new novel, I usually have a beginning, and I often know where I want to end up, with a few key scenes along the way. Personally, I feel stifled if I map out the book any more than that, although of course I’m constantly making notes along the way. I appreciate that every writer is different. This is just my own version of the writing process – sorry it wasn’t ‘in a nutshell’, Kerry!

Do you have a favourite author?

Not really, as I love too many different authors’ styles and stories. But if it helps, one of my favourite books is Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I always recommend it to any newbie writer of romance. If you’ve read it, you’ll understand why. Romance isn’t always about tall, dark and handsome with a six-pack, or feisty modern redhead/blonde/brunette in designer heels who’s worried about her weight/job/children/insert-anything-really. It isn’t always about looks, or sexual tension. In my opinion, there’s a lot more to it. And I think it’s a good writing exercise to try stripping away physical attraction and lust from a romance, at least once, to understand the deeper elements at play within a dynamic, page-turning love story.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I was a petite child with a huge reading habit. There was a library on my way home from primary school, so my family always knew where to find me if I wasn’t at home or school. My parents fed the habit by buying me Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series – two or three at a time. Then it was the Secret Seven. Then Nancy Drew. In between all that I was back at the library, devouring anything else I could get my hands on. I have to confess though, I started reading The Hobbit but never finished.

When did you start to write?

When I learned how to read and write. Quite literally. When I was about four or five, I wrote and illustrated very simple little books and asked the nearest available adult to staple them together for me. I vividly remember penning a story about a little boy whose mother’s nose was incredibly long and spiral-shaped, although I didn’t use such descriptive language – I wasn’t that advanced! But I remember what the nose looked like in the pictures I drew. Needless to say, this wasn’t based on anyone I knew!

What are you working on right now?

I’ve got two projects on the go at the moment, one more advanced than the other. The less advanced is a sequel to Four Sides to Every Story and is purely in note form, apart from a prologue and an epilogue, which I’ve already written, both of which have made me cry. Although there’s no guarantee they will end up in the completed book, they’ve become my anchor points, and there’s an awful lot of emotion ready to be packed in between. The other project currently stands at around 45k, and is being written by my alter ego, who is a little shy and sensitive at the moment and trying out something new, without a fairy tale theme to fall back on. She’s inching forward, because writing it is painful and bewildering and soul-destroying, but she suspects it will be OK, because she knows the ending, and it’s not all doom and gloom.

When can we look forward to a new release?

Sometime in 2017 – hopefully. So, message for my three kids: take note, and let me crack on with the writing while you sort out your own PE kits (all the clean stuff can be found in your respective wardrobes). It’s not as if you’re not old enough. I promise to still cook wholesome-ish dinners, and your dad will still do the primal hunter-gatherer thing and escort you safely wherever you need to go while raiding the Co-Op every few days for bread and milk.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I enjoying tweeting @VABaglietto. I’m also on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Wattpad. You can find all the links on my website: valerie-annebaglietto.com along with the option to contact me via email. And please do get in touch, as I love to hear from writers, readers and bloggers, and anyone with a love of books, basically!

Thank you so much to Valerie-Anne for joining me on my blog today. I’m a big fan and always happy to support you and your books.

Happy Book Birthday! 🙂

Buy Four Sides To Every Story here – Four Sides To Every Story by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

Description:

*SHORTLISTED IN THE 2015 LOVE STORIES AWARDS*

If you found ‘the one’ would you know it straight away, or would you need a little push in the right direction?

What if there was someone like Lily Rose Whyte in your life, whose sole aim was to help you? Someone who could jiggle fate and fortune in your favour, without you even realising.

And what if you live in a sleepy Cheshire village where nothing much seems to happen, except suddenly one summer, everything does. Your life is turned upside down and inside out. As we all know, love has a habit of doing that.

But hold on. Slow down. Because what if – for once – Lily’s got it wrong? About as wrong as she can get. What would you do then?

Don’t worry, though. Life isn’t a fairy tale, and magic doesn’t exist. So, as long as you don’t read this book, and you never meet Lily Rose Whyte, you’re perfectly safe.

Aren’t you…?

If you haven’t already and would like to, you can read my review for this lovely book here – Four Sides To Every Story by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

Why not add all of Valerie-Anne’s lovely books to your TBR list? You’ll find them all here – Valerie-Anne Baglietto Amazon author page

Publisher: Blackbird Digital Books (1st July 2016)

5/5*

WOW!

I finished Valentina late last night. I loved it! I can’t believe this is a debut novel.

This is going to be a tricky book to review as I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but Shona seemingly has it all. She has a man she loves and who loves her, they have a beautiful baby girl together and their dream cottage in the Aberdeenshire countryside. Yes Shona misses her job and yes she misses Mikey, when he’s away for two weeks out of four for his off-shore work, and she feels a bit lonely, but it’s bound to be difficult for anyone moving to the middle of nowhere, away from your family and friends. Things start to look up when she meets Valentina. They click immediately and Shona is glad of her company. That is until little things start to niggle her. She’s just being paranoid though, surely.

I did guess part of the twist in this story quite early on, but I would never have guessed in a million years where the story would actually lead! Just brilliant!

I had a feeling from the very first page that I was going to love this book and I wasn’t wrong. I love the way the characters address the reader directly. This is their story and they each want to tell their side. I thought this was a very clever style of writing and it flows really well.

I liked Shona, but I can’t say I particularly warmed to Mikey or Valentina. Perhaps I could tell early on that there was something not quite right about them both.

Needless to say, I was gripped from the first page. Early reviews were very positive (although I didn’t read them in full to avoid possible spoilers) so I already had an inkling it was going to be something special and it has certainly proved to be. I will be more than happy to recommend Valentina to anyone and probably will do for a long time to come. I just know this is one of those books that will stay with me. I can’t wait for S. E. Lynes’ next book!

Many thanks to Rosalie at Blackbird Digital Books for my Kindle review copy of Valentina and for inviting me to be a part of the upcoming Blog Tour for this fabulous book.

Watch this space for my Q&A with the author herself.

You can pre-order Valentina here – Valentina by S. E. Lynes 

Description:

When Glasgow journalist Shona McGilvery moves with her partner Mikey and their baby to an idyllic cottage in rural Scotland, they believe that all that lies ahead of them is happiness.

But with Mikey working offshore, the frightening isolation of the Aberdeenshire countryside begins to drive her insane…

That is, until she is rescued by a new friendship with the enchanting Valentina.

She has the perfect home, the perfect man, and a charismatic new best friend – or does she?

As her fairytale life begins to unravel, the deep dark wood becomes the least of her fears…

A hauntingly intelligent, addictive psychological thriller from debut author S. E. Lynes.

What advanced readers have been saying about Valentina…..  

Wow! What a debut! This story had me gripped from the outset. – Dawn Walker

The writing is so atmospheric … I couldn’t put this book down. – Abbie, Many Books Many Lives

This read took a dark and unexpected path…and I ADORED it. – Elizabeth, Betwixt These Pages

It really blew my mind this one. – Sue, Sue And Her Books

Intricately plotted and exceptionally well executed. – Rachel Hall, Reviewer

A slam dunk of a debut up there with the big hitters. Move over Gone Girl you’ve got company on the top shelf. – Read & Rated Book Reviews

Surpassed all my expectations. A debut novel that doesn’t read like one. – Fictionophile – Goodreads Top 1% reviewer

Has easily become my favorite book of 2016! I don’t know what else to say besides, WOW. –Between Dreams I Read

The excitement around this book is contagious. – Claire, The Addiction of Books

A beautifully elegant study of psychopathic manipulation. – Sara Bailey, Author

Gives you chills … A labyrinth of twists to put you off the scent of the truth. – Laura Prime

About the author:

After graduating from Leeds University, S E Lynes lived in London for a couple of years before moving to Aberdeen to be with her husband. In Aberdeen, she worked as a producer at the BBC Radio Scotland before moving with her husband and two young children to Rome. There, she began to write while her children attended nursery. After the birth of her third child and upon her return to the UK, she gained an MA in Creative Writing from Kingston University. She now combines writing with lecturing at Richmond Adult Community College and bringing up her three children. She lives in Teddington.

Today I am delighted to share a guest post with you from the author of Games People Play and Old Friends And New Enemies (Charlie Cameron series Book 1 & 2), Owen Mullen.

Over to you Owen…..

WRITING – THE EXPERIENCE

Dorothy Parker, the American poet, short story writer, critic, and satirist had some interesting things to say about writing. I like this one.

‘If you have any young friends who aspire to be writers, the second greatest favour you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re still happy.’

Surely she was exaggerating? Though maybe not. Unless you really want to write it’s best to give it a body swerve. I do want to and at times my resolve has been tested, not to mention my sanity. Why stick your head above the old parapet unless you have to?

I am not in love with the idea.

To quote Dorothy P again. ‘I hate writing, I love having written.’

I understand what she meant. It’s a tough discipline and now and then I could see it far enough. [Some days I do see it far enough. Sometimes I can’t see it at all.]

There are people who are in love with the idea of being a writer. If you are one of them that probably means you would fit right in with the posers on the Left Bank. Those guys in Paris in the twenties who spent the day sitting in cafes, smoking Gauloises and sipping Absinthe, in between jotting down a few pearls. Making sure all their pals saw them. [I expect somebody to remind me that Hemingway was one of them. Agreed. But he was only there for the drink]

In the long run that type runs out of steam because it takes a whole helluva lot to stay with it; there are easier ways to get noticed. So the next time you see a naked girl streaking through the test match at Lords, turn to the person next to you and tell them. ‘Wanted to be a writer, you know.’

——-

Writing was not something I decided to do when I was two years old. [Don’t you just loath those people who say they knew their destiny before they could find their way home without needing the address sewn on the inside of their clothes?]

Though I did start early; at ten I won a schools short story competition and didn’t scribble another word in anger for forty years. When I did…I just did.

And it was terrible. Really awful.

So awful I couldn’t do anything but improve. I poured over everything I could find on writing: Elmore Leonard, Stephen King. Even Dorothy Parker. I made lots of notes and memorised all their wonderful advice.

I would go to Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, take a well known book off the shelf and turn to a page – not the first page – any page. A paragraph or two was always enough to convince me I wasn’t going to find what I was looking for. And what was I looking for?

The secret. The difference. The how.

If only I could discover whatever it was they had. No surprise I never did. That forced me to take the traditional route: open up the computer and start. Every writer will tell you the same. Read and write, and somewhere along the line you might…just might, become what you want to be. At least that’s the theory.

My books Games People Play and Old Friends and New Enemies have just come out on Amazon. The reviews are amazing. [although the one my sister posted isn’t too hot. Must speak to her about that].

People said about Games People Play, ‘I can’t believe this is your first novel.’

I study my shoes and pretend to be a modest genius who has been reluctantly found out. The truth is Games People Play isn’t my first novel; it’s my fifth. And Old Friends and New Enemies is my sixth. I’m not above a bit of showing off. Trouble is it won’t produce a story. The only way that will happen is if you set aside the time to learn the craft and write write write.

I wish you well with it. Must boot up the pc now and pretend to be creating. Somebody I know is coming down the street.

Games People Play and Old Friends and New Enemies by Owen Mullen. Available on

Worldwide Amazon http://authl.it/B01BAQYUU8

Owen has very kindly sent me a kindle copy of Old Friends and New Enemies, but I think I will have to read Games People Play first. Both are on my TBR list.

On a warm summer’s evening thirteen month old Lily Hamilton is abducted from Ayr beach in Scotland, taken while her parents are yards away. Three days later, the distraught father turns up at Glasgow PI Charlie Cameron’s office and begs him to help. Mark Hamilton believes he knows who has stolen his daughter. And why.
Against his better judgement Charlie gets involved in a case he would be better off without. But when a child’s body is discovered on Fenwick Moor, then another in St Andrews, the awful truth dawns: there is a serial killer out there whose work has gone undetected for decades. Baby Lily may be the latest victim of a madman.
For Charlie it’s too late, he can’t let go. His demons won’t let him.

The stunning first novel featuring Glasgow PI Charlie Cameron. Games People Play will have the reader guessing to the very last page.

Buy a copy here – Games People Play

The body on the mortuary slab wasn’t who Glasgow PI Charlie Cameron was looking for. But it wasn’t a stranger. Ian Selkirk had been stabbed through the heart and dumped in the loch.
Suddenly, a routine missing persons investigation becomes a fight for survival as Charlie goes up against a notorious Glasgow gangster. Jimmy Rafferty is ruthless. Even his own family are terrified of him. He wants to use Charlie to get something for him. And Jimmy Rafferty always gets what he wants.
Only one problem.
Charlie doesn’t know where it is.

Buy your copy here – Old Friends and New Enemies

About the author:

School was a waste of time for me. Or rather, I wasted time; my own and every teacher’s who tried to get me to work. It took twenty years to appreciate what they were telling me. Life has rules. They aren’t written down but they exist nevertheless. I got that. Eventually. But by then I was thirty five.
Along the way I missed an important clue. At ten I won a national primary schools short story competition – and didn’t write anything else for forty years.
SMART BOY WANTED
APPLY WITHIN
As a teenager my big obsession was music. Early on I realised if I was successful I would probably be rich and famous and pull lots of girls.
So how did that turn out?
Well, you haven’t heard of me, have you? And this morning I caught myself worrying about the electricity bill. So the short answer is: one out of three ain’t bad.
Running around the country in a Transit van with your mates is fun. It’s your very own gang. You against the world. Until you fall out and the dream lies bleeding on the dressing-room floor.
When that happened I went to London
[everybody from Scotland goes to London, it’s like first footing at New Year, or ten pints of lager and a vindaloo on a Friday night; a sacred tradition]
and became a session singer. I also started gigging with different bands on the circuit.
Back in Scotland – most of us come back with wild tales of great success, none of them true – I wondered what I should do with myself and didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Her name was Christine. We got married, I went to Strathclyde Uni and got a bunch of letters after my name, and toughing it out at Shotts Miner’s Welfare, or dodging flying beer cans at the Café Club in Baillieston, was in the past. The long hair was short now, I wore a suit and pretended to like people I didn’t like because we were ‘colleagues’.
After many adventures I started my own marketing and design business and did alright. Christine and I were very happy, we travelled all over the place; India, Brazil, Botswana, Nepal, Borneo, Japan. One day I suggested we move. To the Greek islands. So we did. We bought land and built a beautiful villa overlooking the Mediterranean. Then the pan global financial crash happened, years of fiscal carelessness finally caught up with Greece; the exchange rate dived and the cost of living in Paradise went through the roof.
I had to do something. Then I remembered the short story competition. I had been good at writing, hadn’t I?
I wrote another short story called The King Is Dead…the first thing I’d written since primary school. When I typed the last word [Christine taught me to type] I held the pages in my hand then started to read. An hour and a half, rooted to the chair unable to believe what was in front of my eyes. For four decades I had shunned a god given gift. And as I read I started to understand why. It was awful. Not just bad. Bloody terrible.
But I kept going.
And now, eight years and seven books later, three literary agents plus two I turned down [they were reading a different book] I am a writer. My books are on Amazon. People buy them and come back for more.
One seasoned London agent has predicted I am destined to be ‘a major new force in British crime fiction.’
Yeah!
So is the moral: follow my example, find something you’re good at and stick with it. Hardly. I didn’t, did I? Do it your own way; it’s your life.

If you enjoy reading my novels please leave a review, it is immensely helpful and greatly appreciated.

Many thanks to Owen for joining me on my blog today.

What this space for my reviews.