Novel Kicks Book Club: LochBound By Rebecca Templeton
Hello everyone. Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Book Club.
May is now here and with it, sunny days and balmy evenings (I hope). Whether it’s outside or curled up in an armchair with the rain thumping on the window sill, it’s a perfect excuse to settle down with our book club pick.
This month’s book is LochBound by Rebecca Templeton.
I plan to do a separate review of this novel. I don’t know about you but, by the cover and blurb alone, it sounds magical and atmospheric. It combines the Scottish Highlands and The Little Mermaid. I am so looking forward to discussing this book with you.
Whether you’ve already read it or will be starting it this month, anyone is welcome. I’ve added a question below to start the discussion.
I’ll see you in the comments.
About Loch Bound:
There is no happily-ever-after . . .
Kilmara, Scotland. 1725. For fifty years, Iris has accepted the curse that blighted her life. By night, she is a heartbroken woman, destined to walk the misty shores of Kilmara without growing older. By day, she is Moireach, a terrifying monster imprisoned in the murky depths of Loch Moine.
by 
Novel Kicks Writing Room: Plot Challenge – Story Conception
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room and the Plot Challenge.
Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on plotting a piece of fiction, one task at a time.
These will potentially help you master plot structure by writing all major plot points, then analysing how each element builds toward a cohesive story.
Before you begin, ask yourself whether you want to write a short story ot a longer piece – maybe a novella or novel?
The Challenge
You will write a complete story by isolating and deliberately crafting five distinct plot sections. Each section has a specific job to do in your story.
Your Five Plot Roles:
1. Inciting Incident — Your disruption
2. Rising Action — Your complications
3. Midpoint — Your stakes amplification
4. Climax — Your confrontation
5. Resolution — Your consequences
Task One: Story Conception.
Don’t rush these. Take as long as you need with this.
by Book Extract: The Code One Club Series By Alison Naomi Holt
Please join me in welcoming Alison Naomi Holt to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her The Code One Club series.
Some connections don’t come from wanting them. They come from collision, from timing, from something that refuses to stay buried. The Code One Club series by Alison Naomi Holt leans into sapphic stories where that kind of connection takes hold.
Set within the world of the Code One Club, where identities are reclaimed and connections run deeper than appearances suggest, these stories unfold through contrast at every level. Power and wealth exist alongside survival and instability, while control and chaos collide in relationships where trust is difficult and the stakes are never low.
In The Inheritance, Phyla McGuire is powerful, controlled, and emotionally untouchable, while Ash Redux is a former Army K9 handler barely holding on, navigating life on the streets while battling PTSD. When their lives collide, what begins as circumstance becomes something deeper and far more dangerous. Set against a backdrop of power, wealth, and survival, their connection forces both women to confront who they are beneath the roles they’ve built.
Whiskey-Colored Eyes follows Jude Lorcan, a grieving widow trying to rebuild her life one careful step at a time, and Dr. Noémi Boudon, who is confident, refined, and quietly searching for something real. Their connection is undeniable, but it is far from simple. This slow-burn sapphic story unfolds through grief, desire, and hesitation, asking what it means to open yourself to love again and what it costs to stay closed.
In Melt for Me, Alléandra Alfieri is powerful, feared, and emotionally locked down, while Maren Tempest is bold, unpredictable, and impossible to ignore. When their worlds collide, the connection ignites fast and burns hot. As control is challenged and completely undone, this story brings intensity, tension, and a shift that neither woman can walk away from unchanged.
Alison Naomi Holt has kindly shared an extract from Melt For Me with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
*****beginning of extract*****
Melt for Me
Chapter 1
Mar thanked the driver as he pulled her suitcase from the back of his SUV. The portly, florid-faced man had been friendly and talkative on her ride from the airport, something she appreciated since she needed the distraction from the weeklong gathering that she’d agreed to attend with an old friend, Kelsey, whom she hadn’t seen in several years.
It was precisely because of his affable manner that she tipped him more than she usually would. She hadn’t expected to hire a car, but her plane had landed four hours past the time she was due to arrive, and Kelsey had texted that because of the delay, she had to get dressed for the evening’s dinner party and wouldn’t be able to pick her up at the airport.
by Book Review: Unemployed Killers Support Group By Rio
Please join me in welcoming Rio to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for their graphic novel, Unemployed Killers Support Group.
Unemployed Killers Support Group is a razor-sharp, darkly hilarious noir-esque manga from Taiwanese creator Rio, this is not your average self-help group. Selected by Taiwan Pavillion as a featured work to be showcased at the 2023 Angoulême International Comics Festival.
Locker Loyed, once a deadly sniper, lost his vision—and his job—on a mission gone wrong. Now, he’s joined an unlikely circle of former contract killers, each grappling with their own personal collapse. Among them: Gloria Maze, a meticulous assassin whose career imploded after catching her husband cheating and killing the mistress in a jealous rage; Jerry Cole, a justice-obsessed lawyer turned bloodthirsty executioner; and Jordi Joe, a delusional con man who’s never actually killed anyone.
As they try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, Locker begins to realize his past isn’t done with him. A dangerous figure—the one responsible for his blindness and a friend’s death—is still at large. And revenge is still on the table.
For fans of dark comedy, crime thrillers, and twisted found family, Unemployed Killers Support Group is a bold, bloody, and brilliantly offbeat ride through the lives of society’s most dangerous burnouts. Welcome to the group—check your conscience at the door.
*****
This is the first graphic novel I have reviewed although not the first I had read. The plot centres around a group of 4 people all of whom are members of a support group of unemployed killers. I love the concept of hitmen and assassins having their own support groups, it conjures scenes of “hello my name is Chris and I’m an assassin. It’s been 10 days since I last killed someone, and every day is a struggle….”.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Last Library
It’s Friday which means it’s time to start writing some fiction.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing flash fiction prompt.
The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can.
Don’t edit, just write. Once you’re done, you’re welcome to share in the comments but there’s no obligation.
Today’s prompt: The Last Library
You discover a library that exists in the space between closing time and opening time—it only appears during those specific hours. The books here are different: they contain stories that were never written, conversations that were never had, and lives that were never lived.
Tonight, you find a book with your name on the spine.
Write what comes to mind.
Consider exploring:
What story does the book contain?
Why does this library exist, and who maintains it?
What choice must you make before dawn arrives and the library disappears?
by Book Club
