I’m delighted to be bringing to your attention a lovely new ebook by Lynda Renham writing as Amy Perfect. Lynda’s books are funny, heartwarming and thoroughly entertaining.

Published by Raucous on 11th November 2015, Frankie Bell’s Christmas is not going to go quite as she expects, but it could turn out better than she thought.

Just £1.99 for a lovely Christmas read, you can find this and all of Lynda’s wonderful books by clicking here.

If you’re new to Lynda’s writing, you might like to read my review of one of her other books, ’50 Shades of Roxie Brown’, by clicking here.

If you’re a regular reader of Lynda Renham’s books you’ll know she is quite mad! Anyone whose books have titles like ‘Coconuts and Wonderbras’ and ‘Frog’s Knickers’ must be!

To catch up with a brilliant selection of reads, see Lynda’s blog, or follow her on Facebook and on Twitter.

Recently here on the blog I’ve been featuring books that support charities or good causes. Today I’m introducing ‘Rarity from the Hollow’ by Robert Eggleton which is published to raise money to help prevent child abuse.

You can buy Rarity From The Hollow here.

Rarity From The Hollow

Lacy Dawn’s father relives the Gulf War, her mother’s teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in the hollow is hard. She has one advantage — an android was inserted into her life and is working with her to cure her parents. But, he wants something in exchange. It’s up to her to save the Universe. Lacy Dawn doesn’t mind saving the universe, but her family and friends come first.

Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire.

“The most enjoyable science fiction novel I have read in years.”

—Temple Emmet Williams, Author, former editor for Reader’s Digest

“Quirky, profane, disturbing… In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It’s quite a trip.”

—    Evelyn Somers, The Missouri Review

“…a hillbilly version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…what I would have thought impossible; taken serious subjects like poverty, ignorance, abuse…tongue-in-cheek humor without trivializing them…profound…a funny book that most sci-fi fans will thoroughly enjoy.” — Awesome Indies (Gold Medal)

“…sneaks up you and, before you know it, you are either laughing like crazy or crying in despair, but the one thing you won’t be is unmoved…a brilliant writer.” —Readers’ Favorite (Gold Medal)

“Rarity from the Hollow is an original and interesting story of a backwoods girl who saves the Universe in her fashion. Not for the prudish.” —Piers Anthony, New York Times bestselling author

“…Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find.” — The Baryon Review

About Robert Eggleton

Robert Eggleton has served as a children’s advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next — never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency.

Today, he is a recently retired children’s psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia, where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns.

Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.

An Interview with Robert Eggleton

Hello Robert. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed.

Hi, Linda, and thanks for the opportunity to tell you a little about my debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow, myself, and how a science fiction story helps to prevent child abuse.

Why don’t you start by telling us about your book?

Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction that includes serious social commentary presented satirically and comically. I know. It sounds impossible to address topics like child abuse without sounding preachy or serious. Nevertheless, that was my goal – to write a story that tugs heart strings, hard, but that is also a lot of fun to read.

The protagonist in Rarity from the Hollow is Lacy Dawn, a skinny eleven year old who speaks in colloquial voice, but if you think of her as a kid you may be shocked. She is a true daughter of Appalachia who lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who becomes very skilled at laying fiber optic cable.

Lacy Dawn’s android boyfriend, for when she’s old enough to have one, has come to the hollow with a mission. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop ’till You Drop): he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save the Universe in exchange for the designation of Earth as a planet which is eligible for continued existence. Will Lacy Dawn’s magic enable her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family?

I understand that you recently retired from the field of children’s mental health. Why did you decide to start writing fiction?

Since winning the eighth grade short story contest in 1964, I’ve dreamed of being a writer. Instead, I went to college and graduated with degrees in social work and have been a children’s advocate for over forty years. Except for a couple of poems published in the early ‘70s, I supplanted my need to write fiction by concentrating on publishing nonfiction related to my work: social services manuals, research, investigative, and statistical reports, you know – the stuff that sidetracks the dreams of aspiring fiction writers.

In 2002, I went to work as a children’s psychotherapist for our local mental health center. It was an intensive day program for severely emotionally disturbed kids, most of whom had been abused, some sexually abused. One day in 2006 I was facilitating a children’s group therapy session at work. A couple of seats from the head of the table where I sat, a little girl began to disclose the horrors that she had experienced. But, she didn’t stop at mere disclosure, she continued with hopes and dreams for the future, finding a permanent loving family that would protect and love her. It was inspiring to everybody. She inspired me to pursue my own dream to write fiction. Before the end of that session, I had a protagonist and the seed of a recurring story – victimization to empowerment – Rarity from the Hollow.

After I got home from work that day in 2006, I told my wife about my interest in writing fiction. Rita was very supportive. By the end of the next work day, my wife had named the protagonist — Lacy Dawn. Rita explained that since the mother, a downtrodden victim of domestic violence who quit school in the eighth grade because she had fallen in love and had gotten pregnant – couldn’t afford to buy Lacy Dawn pretty things, she was going to give her a very pretty name at birth. That’s how Lacy Dawn was born and why I started finally started writing fiction.

Lucy Dawn does sound inspiring, but why did you decide to use the science fiction genre as the underpinning of the novel as opposed to another genre?

I selected science fiction as a backdrop for Rarity from the Hollow because it was the best fit by process of elimination. The novel also has elements of horror, fantasy, magical realism, mystery, romance, adventure, self-help, and thriller. It is not a good example of the historical or western genres, although the social issues that we’ve talked about, child abuse, sexism, domestic violence, have been present throughout history, including in the Wild West.

In today’s reality, the systems in place to help maltreated children are woefully inadequate. I felt that the traditional literary, biographical, nonfiction genres wouldn’t work because the story would have been so depressing that only the most determined would have finished it.

I felt that Rarity from the Hollow had to be hopeful. I wanted it to inspire survivors of child maltreatment toward competitiveness within our existing economic structures, instead of folks using past victimization as an excuse for inactivity. I didn’t think that anybody would bite on the theme of a knight on a white stallion galloping off a hillside to swoop victims into safety, like in the traditional romance genre.  That almost never actually happens in real life, so that genre was too unrealistic as the primary. There was already enough horror in the story, so that genre was out too. What could be more horrific than child abuse?

Lacy Dawn and her traumatized teammates needed fantastical elements to achieve empowerment. But, as in life, one cannot overcome barriers to the pursuit of happiness by simply imagining them away. That’s where the science fiction came into play. It provided a power source. I tied the science fiction to Capitalism because in today’s reality it would take financial investment by benefactors to significantly improve the welfare of children in the world.

Your book is also, in part, a satire. Was that to offset the more stark aspects of Rarity from the Hollow? 

The satire was both a natural process of writing and consciously inserted to lighten sections. I’ve always loved to read the puns, the double entendres, and satire in the works of others, such as Piers Anthony and Kurt Vonnegut. I’m sure that’s had a big impact on how I write. Some of the satire in this novel evolved as a natural process, while other sections were inserted because I had found the narrative in need of a lighter tone to offset stark aspects. If I found a place during the drafting of the story that I felt was too “heavy” for me to read as its writer, I figured that it would be way too much for the reader. I would look for ways to address the issues honestly, but maintain the novel as a fun read.

What did you find most challenging about writing Rarity from the Hollow?

Writing comes easy for me, but the third scene in the story was challenging. It depicts domestic violence that triggered my own psychological distress, and this is the only graphically harsh chapter in the novel. According to Childhelp, a national fundraising program for the prevention and treatment of child abuse, six million American kids are reported as having been maltreated each year. As a child, I could have been a statistic too. Maybe you or some of your readers experienced some type of childhood maltreatment. It’s more common that most of us want to admit, or even to think about.

When writing the third scene, tears blurred my vision of the monitor each time that I reworked it. For readers, it is a powerful but necessary scene in order to grasp the upcoming empowerment in the subsequent chapters – its harshness amplifies the satire and comedy. The only other challenges that I faced when writing Rarity from the Hollow were the typical ones that all writers of anything experience, such as proofreading what you intended to write instead of what was actually written on the page. So, except for that one harsh scene, I didn’t face any significant challenges when writing the novel.

You mentioned that you wanted to tell us about how a science fiction novel helps to prevent child abuse. What did you mean by that?

Half of author proceeds from Rarity from the Hollow have been donated to Children’s Home Society of West Virginia (CHSWV) for its child abuse prevention programs. Established in 1893, this nonprofit agency now serves more that thirteen thousand children and families each year. I worked for this agency in the early ‘80s and am familiar with its track record. Unlike some charities which have high salaried executives that may allocate your donation into its administrative costs, I stand behind this agency. The name of the Executive Director is Steve Tuck. We’ve been acquaintances for over thirty years. He’s a good guy. The program is honorable.

CHSWV provides an enormous range of supportive services for families and children. If you would like to find out more about CHSWV or to contact the agency, visit their web site.

Thank you Robert for talking about this important topic with us. I’m even more glad I had the kind of parents and upbringing the children you’ve worked with could only dream of.

Thank again, Linda. If you or anybody has any questions about Rarity from the Hollow, I’m available and will reply to email.

If Robert has made you want to support his writing, you can buy Rarity From the Hollow on Amazon UK, Amazon US and from Dog Horn Publishing

You can connect with Robert on Facebook, Twitter, the Lucy Dawn web site and the Lucy Dawn Facebook page.

My grateful thanks to Hannah Robinson at Quercus books for a copy of Smoke and MIrrors by Elly Griffiths in return for an honest review. ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ was published in hardback on 5th November 2015. It is also available as an ebook.

‘Smoke and Mirrors’ is the second in the Stephens and Mephisto series by Elly Griffiths, but not having read the first book made no difference to my enjoyment of this one.

When two children go missing in Brighton during the pantomime season, there are horrible similarities with a murder in another panto almost 40 years earlier. Could they be connected?

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, the title being totally apt as a theme throughout, referring to the actual events in the panto as well as the twists and turns in the story. Elly Griffiths writes so cleverly that the reader is kept guessing along with DI Edgar Stephens and his team.

There’s quite a cast of characters, which I sometimes find confusing in novels, but here all of them were so well portrayed that each was easy to get to know and care about. By the end of the story I wanted to go back and read the first in the Stephens and Mephisto series to learn more about them, especially Max and Ruby, and I am looking forward to finding out what happens to them next. Even the weather feels like a character and helps create brilliant atmosphere.

What makes reading Elly Griffiths so enjoyable is that she constructs a tight plot with natural, almost conversational, writing so that there is no effort needed in reading her – just pleasure. Direct speech is lively and engaging, adding to the narrative in a way that feels perfect for the era and setting.

As the story is set in the run up to Christmas, ending on Christmas Eve, I think Smoke and Mirrors would make a perfect gift for any crime fiction lover. It’s a really good read.

I’ve been desperate to read ‘How To Be Brave’ by Louise Beech since it was published in paperback by Orenda on 17th September 2015. It is also available as an ebook. So many in the blogging community have been raving about this book that I was delighted to be offered the chance to listen to the unabridged Audible audio version read by Finty Williams. My enormous thanks to Karen Sullivan at Orenda books for this chance in return for an honest review.

Whilst Natalie’s husband, Jake, is serving in Afghanistan, she finds she has to deal with her nine year old daughter Rose’s sudden and life-threatening onset of Type 1 diabetes. When they both seem to encounter the same familiar man in their dreams and at the hospital Natalie realises there is a story belonging to her grandfather Colin that also needs to be told.

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about listening to, rather than reading, ‘How To Be Brave’ but Finty Williams’ delivery of Louise Beech’s spellbinding writing is incredible and I think she does perfect justice to the story, and is obviously assisted by the wonderful quality of Louise Beech’s prose. ‘How To Be Brave’ is stunning. The craft of storytelling is outstanding and all the more so because this is a debut novel. There are spirals of narrative that interweave so that Rose’s condition is closely linked to the story that emerges from her great-grandfather’s diaries as he is stranded on a lifeboat at sea. The style is fluid and natural and almost hypnotising to listen to.

One element that appealed to me too was Rose’s tackling and frequent criticism of Natalie’s storytelling which actually gave me as a reader a real insight into the writing process as well as enjoying this emotional and beautifully written narrative.

The concept of bravery ripples through so that every reader can find someone to relate to in the cast of characters. I don’t usually enjoy children in books, but Rose is utterly believable. She is stubborn, cheeky, frightened, sad and challenging – all the things a nine year old can be, and she is also brave as she endures the injections and blood checks. Equally, Natalie’s attempts to deal with her changed daughter, Jake’s time in Afghanistan, and Colin’s stoic attitude whilst hoping for rescue are acts of bravery that I found so compelling.

I think it’s impossible to encounter this story without being affected by it. I’m finding it difficult to convey how fabulous the writing is – as Louise Beech has left me, to quote her, ‘speechless, full of silent words’ and not a few tears. Given that Louise Beech has based her debut on her grandfather’s diaries and it is grounded in fact, following her own child’s illness, I think her grandfather would be immensely proud of what she’s achieved in creating a book that will stay with readers, and listeners, for a very long time.

This is a book that everyone should read – or listen to.

You can follow Louise on Twitter and find out more about her on Amazon where you can also buy ‘How To Be Brave’.

The Rest of My life, recommended by the WHSmith Travel Fiction Buyer and recently at Number 2 on the Amazon Top 100 Paid Women’s Romance Fiction Best Sellers List, has been shortlisted for the Love Stories Awards 2015!

To celebrate, Sheryl is sharing a little Christmas cheer early by giving away a beautiful love bird key pendant and a FREE e-copy of any one of her other books. To be in with a chance of grabbing your prize, check out the #restofmylife Rafflecopter comp below.

Click here for the giveaway

As a special pre-Christmas treat, anyone leaving a review for the The Rest of My Life on Amazon is also welcome to choose an extra FREE e-copy of one of Sheryl’s other books. Simply message her on Twitter @sherylbrowne or Facebook with the Amazon link.

‘183 Times a Year’ by Eva Jordan is a debut novel currently available in ebook here and here.

We all need friends in our lives and it is my very great pleasure to introduce a guest post by Eva Jordan who writes here about her novel ‘183 Times a Year’ and about the importance of strong female relationships.

Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.

                                                                                      William Shakespeare

Strong, female friendships – hopefully we’ve all got some. And you know the type of friend I mean – the one that would pick up the phone at 3am in the morning to listen to your sobbing voice should the need ever arise, the sort that doesn’t judge you by your mistakes and the kind that accepts you for being you – including all your flaws. And yet, sometimes these unique pairings stem from the unlikeliest of alliances. The history books are littered with them. By way of example take a look at these: Elizabeth I and Mary Dudley, Mary Todd Lincoln (wife of Abraham) and Elizabeth Keckley (an ex-slave), the Russian poets Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva, and Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe, to name but a few.

All these relationships have been inspirational and edifying. Mary Todd Lincoln wrote to Elizabeth in 1867 declaring that Keckley was her “best living friend.” Others have changed the course of history. When Ella Fitzgerald tried to book a gig at the Mocambo in Hollywood in 1955 the manager was unsure she’d draw the crowds needed because of segregation and racism problems at the time. Marilyn Monroe stepped in – she promised to book a table in the front row every night if they gave Fitzgerald the job. Needless to say, thanks to the media interest in Marilyn, the gig was packed and the rest, as they say, is history. Ella Fitzgerald never had to play a small jazz club again.

Strong, female friendships are, I believe, important for women. Good friends, along with family and loved ones often support us through the bad times and laugh with us during the good times. This is one of the themes I chose to include in my debut novel 183 TIMES A YEAR. Friends since childhood, one of the main protagonists – Lizzie – and her best friend Ruby, have known each other forever. Nonetheless, although privy to one another’s innermost thoughts and secrets – or so they believe – as events unfold, their friendship is pushed to the absolute limits. Does their friendship survive or sadly, as the history books reveal, does it crumble as Lincoln and Keckley’s did? Apparently Mary felt betrayed by Elizabeth after she disclosed “behind the scenes” information in her biography about her time in the Whitehouse whilst working at the First Lady’s favourite seamstress.

However, when it comes to strong, female friendships there is one particular relationship that is extremely important and that is the relationship between a woman and her mother. Notable mother-daughter relationships include: Elizabeth I and Anne Boleyn, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, Marie Curie and Iréne Joliot-Curie, Sharman MacDonald and Keira Knightley. Arguably some of these mother-daughter relationships are less formidable than others but all of them are important and influential in their own right.

It has been suggested that the mother-daughter relationship is so powerful it affects everything from a woman’s health to her self-esteem. Dr Christiane Northrup, author of the book Mother-Daughter Wisdom (Hay House), says: “The mother-daughter relationship is the most powerful bond in the world, for better or for worse. It sets the stage for all other relationships.”

That’s all fine and dandy when your daughter is small – in the eyes of their infant daughter a mother can rarely do no wrong – but what happens when puberty calls. While most five-year-old girls love their mothers with an unshakeable conviction, it’s often a different story by the time they reach their teens. The once-adored mother who rarely put a foot wrong is suddenly always doing or saying embarrassing things. Dumbfounded mothers discover their testing teens often feel criticised or judged by their well-meaning actions or advice. Throw in stepparents and stepsiblings to the mixing pot of today’s divided and extended families – “hubble, bubble, toil and trouble” – and the stage is indeed set for a spectacular display of fireworks.

Never fear though, its not all doom and gloom. This finale of fireworks does not mark the beginning of the end of the mother-daughter relationship. Fortunately this wild swing from closeness to remoteness doesn’t last if mother and daughter can hang in there. If, as a mother, you can make it through all the door slamming, the arguments over bedroom tidiness, the answering back and dating problems, the relationship comes full circle and moves to a different level altogether. Often blossoming into a loving, respectful friendship.

In a survey carried out by The Telegraph in May 2013 studying the relationship between teenage girls and their mothers, three quarters of the women taking part in the survey said that, “they felt grateful to their mother for the way they were raised, even if they failed to realise it at the time. And 67 per cent said their mother made them the person they are today – and they owe her a “debt of gratitude” for guiding them through tough times.”

Again, the mother-daughter relationship (partly based on my own experiences) is another theme explored at great length with much humour throughout my debut novel.

Lizzie – exasperated Mother of Cassie, Connor and stepdaughter Maisy – is the frustrated voice of reason to her daughters’ teenage angst. She gets by with good friends, cheap wine and is often found talking to herself – out loud. Whereas 16-year-old Cassie is the Facebook-Tweeting, Selfie-Taking, Music and Mobile Phone obsessed teen that hates everything about her life. She longs for the perfect world of Chelsea Divine and her ‘undivorced’ parents – and Joe, of course.

Although at times the mother-daughter relationship is a road fraught with diverse and complex emotions, it can also be – like many strong, female friendships – very enriching and rewarding. 183 TIMES A YEAR is a poignant, heartfelt look at the complex and diverse relationship between a mother and daughter set amongst the thorny realities of today’s modern family.

Eva Jordan

You can follow Eva via her Facebook page on Twitter and her web site.

I so loved reading Luana Lewis’s novel ‘Forget Me Not’, published by Corgi on 5th November 2015, that I was delighted to be able to ask her some questions about it. You can read my review here.

How long did it take to write ‘Forget Me Not’ and what were your routines when you were writing it?

From start to finish, it took me about two years to write Forget Me Not. For the first draft, I tended to push forwards and not look back on what I’d written too much, so that I didn’t lose momentum. Later, when the story was in place, I did several edits to polish the writing and finesse the plot and character development.

I write part time, because I still practice as a clinical psychologist. I don’t have a set routine, in that I’m happy to write wherever there’s a plentiful supply of coffee and at any time of day. Sometimes I find when I’m tired, late at night, ideas flow faster and easier than they do in the morning when I’m supposed to be sitting at my desk and working. I try to write six days a week, and I think the act of writing daily is really my routine, more so than the time or place.

Initially I assumed that the title ‘Forget Me Not’ referred only to Vivien, but as I read I felt the title could be applied to other characters, their actions and the premature babies. Was this your intention and how did you decide on the title?

The title Forget Me Not was really a joint effort between me and my editors at Transworld.  I had given the book the working title of Cravings, which related to both the craving for food and the craving for comfort and love (which can sometimes be much the same thing).  But I seemed to be the only person who thought this title worked, and friends, family and especially my publishers were keen to find something stronger. When Forget Me Not was suggested, it resonated with me straight away. I think it’s both moving and sinister, and the theme of flowers was already in place, running through the book.

For me, the title relates to Vivien, and her powerful presence in the novel, although she dies before the story begins.  But I really like what you’ve seen here, that the theme resonates for the other characters too, as well as the premature babies that are there in the background. I think your response shows this was the right title after all.

(It certainly was!)

How did you plan the novel to keep the reader guessing so effectively, as I must have changed my mind about who was to blame every time I finished a chapter?

The truth is that I can’t really claim credit for having planned this, but I’m delighted to hear that this was your experience!  Forget me Not has a small cast of characters who all have intense feelings for each other, both positive and negative.  The complicated nature of these relationships fascinated me. What I tried to do was to stay close to the characters’ motivations: their wishes, their longings and their pain. I tried to resist making them act in certain ways just for the sake of making them seem suspicious (even though I was really tempted to do this at times). I wanted to create complex characters that couldn’t easily be pigeonholed as ‘good’ or ‘evil’, even though crimes are involved. Because Vivien was both compelling and disturbed, she formed troubled relationships with people close to her and this had potential to brew into a potent and explosive mix.

I found the first person, rather than the third, for Rose’s perspective, really effective. Why did you decide to write it that way?

In earlier drafts, I had written Rose in the third person. This is the point of view I’ve always been most comfortable with, and the one I used in my first book, Don’t Stand So Close. But when I came to work on later drafts of Forget Me Not, I felt I needed to get closer to Rose, to get under her skin and inside her head, and so I experimented with writing in the first person. I think at that point the story really began to take shape. I’m glad you think it worked, because it felt right to me.

There are many layers of guilt in ‘Forget Me Not’. Do you see guilt as a fundamental part of the human psyche?

Yes, definitely. Guilt is one of the core emotions, alongside pain, love, rage and grief. All of these feelings are hard-wired into us and we experience them for good reason. Guilt, although very painful and unpleasant, can be healthy when it leads us to repair the damage we’ve done to our fellow human beings. In the book, Rose’s relationship with her grand-daughter Alexandra is one way she tries to make up for her failings as a mother to Vivien.

You obviously drew on your background as a clinical psychologist. How did it feel to fictionalise your professional world?

The issues that fascinate me as a psychologist are the same ones that fascinate me as a writer, so I really enjoy being able to explore these through fictional characters. I’m interested in understanding why people behave the way they do, especially when under pressure or in crisis in extreme situations. My first job was in a Trauma Clinic for survivors of violence, and I’m particularly interested in understanding how people overcome trauma of different kinds – which lends itself to crime writing.

In my first novel Don’t Stand So Close, Stella is actually a clinical psychologist who works as an expert witness in the family courts. In this book, I drew directly on my own professional experiences and explored some of my own fears. I asked the question: what is the worst thing that could happen to me as a psychologist, both personally and professionally? Stella’s journey in the book begins there.

In Forget Me Not, although I’ve moved away from the direct link to my profession, the emotional difficulties that the characters experience, and the themes of attachment between parents and children, are influenced by my background and training as a psychologist. But Forget Me Not also reflects my personal experience of having a child on a special care ward, and the book is partly a tribute to the medical staff on these units and the incredible work they do.

Rose wonders how she may have affected Vivien. To what extent do you believe we’re the product of our upbringing?

This is such an interesting and complex question. I believe that nature does play a significant role and that to a large extent, our personalities are pretty much there from day one. Some people are more resilient while others are more fragile.  Some people will experience terrible trauma and cope well, while others struggle far more when faced with the same event.

But in terms of nurture, I also believe that our earliest relationships, those with our primary caregivers, form a powerful template for the way in which we view ourselves and the world, and the kind of relationships we go on to form. For example, if a child is abused, neglected or deprived of love, there is a risk that he or she will go on to treat themselves in a harsh, cruel way and to repeat this original trauma in future relationships – because at the core there is a sense of being unloved and unlovable. These patterns of abuse and self neglect are the ones that as a clinical psychologist, I work hard to help people undo.

As the novel progresses, more information is revealed and characters come to understand one another more clearly. Do you think we ever really know ourselves, let alone another person?

Yes, I hope so! I think our views of ourselves and our views of others are intertwined. If we can see ourselves more clearly, then we have a clearer and more accurate view of other people too. Sometimes without being aware of it, we project images from the past onto people in our present life – so a person who has been maltreated by their caregivers might feel the whole world is ‘against them’ and behave in quite a paranoid way. What has been really interesting for me to learn while training in psychotherapy is that often what people complain others are doing to them (neglecting them, ignoring their opinions, harming them) is exactly what they are doing to themselves, unconsciously and automatically, without realizing it. Once we can learn to treat ourselves with care and compassion, many of the difficulties in our relationships with others are easier to resolve.

And finally, Isaac has had an unhappy experience with the Internet. What is your view of it and social media as a writer?

Ambivalent!  Before I was published I thought of myself as a very private person. As a psychologist, it’s natural to have a more reticent, discreet profile and not to disclose much personal information in a work context so it’s been quite a change for me to engage with social media.  I don’t think I’m a natural at it – some people are really funny or have a great ‘voice’ where you instantly get such a clear sense of their personality; whereas I agonise over a boring tweet and whether or not it should have an exclamation mark at the end of it (mine generally all do). But I’m glad I’ve ventured onto Twitter because I get to interact with other authors and an entire community of people interested in books and writing.  I’m also very grateful and moved as a new author to have had support and enthusiasm from book bloggers. Writing novels can be a rather lonely pursuit, which doesn’t necessarily involve much human contact, and so Twitter can be a good bridge to the outside world. I haven’t yet ventured onto any of the other forums…

Thank you so much, Luana Lewis, for answering my questions about Forget Me Not. They have been fascinating responses.

You can buy ‘Forget Me Not’ here www.amazon.co.uk and www.amazon.com

You can follow Luana Lewis on Twitter and via her website

Here is the gorgeous cover for The Revenge, the new book by Holly Martin. This is the third book in The Sentinel Series and here’s the blurb so you can see what happens next for Eve and her friends.

He was created to be her back up and now he’s out to take her place

After the Oraculum orders Eve’s execution, she has to flee her home in the fort as those that have been guarding over her are forced to turn against her. Amongst the chaos, a new Sentinel is named. Adam, Eve’s half-brother.

Adam has spent his life incarcerated by the Oraculum while Eve was allowed to grow up with a family and friends. Now he is hell bent on revenge. He rules over his Guardians and his new kingdom with arrogance and a cold heart, but his one ambition is to make Eve’s life a living hell. Nowhere is safe from him, not even her dreams.

With the threat from the Putarians moving closer, her own Guardians betraying her, the survival of the world hinges in the balance.

Above all else, Adam must be stopped. But when Eve has a prophecy of her and Adam saving the world together, she quickly realizes she needs to work with him not against him.

But can Eve get through to Adam before it’s too late? Or will Adam’s evil heart result in the destruction of all?

Praise for The Sentinel (Book 1 in The Sentinel Series)

It’s a book you HAVE to read, because it’s incredible. An outstanding book that has left me bereft its finished. I wished I’d savoured it for longer. This book was one of those that once you started it was impossible to come away from. It was fast paced, exciting, full of suspense and action that had me gasping in shock at twists I never imagined could happen. It’s a story of courage and adventure. And no matter how dark it gets, there’s always love and hope. – Victoria Loves Books Blog

It’s really hard to find the words to describe how amazing this book is.
This is definitely the best debut I’ve read this year! I just love this book, I want you all to read this book, in fact you all need to read this book! – Love of a Good Book Blog

If you want to pre-order this book so it pops straight onto your kindle on December 1^st then pop over here. Its only 99p/99c

UK http://amzn.to/1GQcNOt

US http://amzn.to/1S7aAOX

And if you haven’t read the first two books in the series yet, then pop over here and get your copy, all three books are 99p/99c at the moment

The Sentinel

UK http://amzn.to/1giKNVp

US http://amzn.to/IKSOUk

The Prophecies

UK http://amzn.to/1DZ8ECN

US http://amzn.to/1khpDuY

 

It’s my very great pleasure to be involved in the Brook Cottage Books launch celebrations for Helen J Rolfe’s new novel ‘What Rosie Found Next’ published on 3rd November 2015.

The Story:

A shaky upbringing has left Rosie Stevens craving safety and security. She thinks she knows exactly what she needs to make her life complete – the stable job and perfect house-sit she’s just found in Magnolia Creek. The only thing she wants now is for her long-term boyfriend, Adam, to leave his overseas job and come home for good.

Owen Harrison is notoriously nomadic, and he roars into town on his Ducati for one reason and one reason only – to search his parents’ house while they’re away to find out what they’ve been hiding from him his entire life. When he meets Rosie, who refuses to quit the house-sit in his parents’ home, sparks fly.

Secrets are unearthed, promises are broken, friendships are put to the test and the real risk of bushfires under the hot Australian sun threatens to undo Rosie once and for all.

Will Rosie and Owen find what they want or what they really need?

You can buy ‘What Rosie Found Next’ on Amazon UK and Amazon US

About Helen J Rolfe:

Helen J Rolfe writes contemporary women’s fiction. She enjoys weaving stories about family, relationships, friendships, love, and characters who face challenges and fight to overcome them.

Born and raised in the UK, Helen spent fourteen years living in Australia before returning home. She now lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and children.

You can follow Helen on Twitter, Facebook and on Goodreads

To help celebrate the launch of ‘What Rosie Found Next’ by Helen J Rolfe, here’s a giveaway for a £10 /$15 Amazon gift card

Good luck!

I am incredibly grateful to Unthank Books for providing a copy of ‘Between Here and Knitwear’ by Chrissie Gittins in return for an honest review. ‘Between Here and Knitwear’ was published on 1st November 2015.

I have to be honest and say the title of this book did not appeal to me and had I not received a review copy, I probably wouldn’t have read it. What a mistake that would have been.

This little volume is described in the blurb as ‘linked stories, written over two decades’, but that hardly does justice to the quality of Chrissie Gittins’ writing. Each story or chapter could be read as a stand alone, but they make a wonderful coherent whole as we follow Chris from childhood to adulthood. They reminded me a little of a modern day ‘Cider With Rosie’ as they evoke such clear memories in the reader (especially if you’re a woman of a certain age like me!) and there is certainly more than a touch of Alan Bennett in the style. There is a sparseness of prose that somehow manages to convey a huge depth of feeling and emotion and frequently there is a wicked humour underlying Chrissie Gittins’ words. Small details bring her descriptions alive so that it is easy to picture a smelly railway carriage, to feel the change in the weather or smell the urine in a care home. I think it’s Chrissie Gittins’ experience of poetry writing that helps create such vivid imagery with such economy.

I felt that all of life was represented in ‘Between Here and Knitwear.’ The opening six chapters or so took me back completely to my childhood. I had the cardboard Bunty with the tabbed paper dresses that never stayed on. My sister had a collection of foreign dolls, my favourite being a Native American or Red Indian as we called it then. I also had a long haired troll. Reading these passages was like returning to my 60’s and 70’s childhood.

As the stories progress so too does Christine’s character so that by the end it is as if you’ve spend the afternoon reminiscing with a friend rather than reading a book. Chrissie Gittins’ ability to convey family relationships and growing up is outstanding. We learn all about Chris’s mother’s mental health problems, about Chris’s first sexual encounters, about her ‘sophistication’ in drinking Mateus Rose! However, the most poignant part for me was the transition from child to carer as her parents deteriorate and are separated into different care locations. I found this extremely moving and not a little scary as a possible future to come.

I think ‘Between Here and Knitwear’ is less a work of fiction than a touching and emotional reflection of real life. I absolutely loved it.