Book Extract: A Family Affair by Joy Wood
It’s so exciting to be welcoming Joy Wood to Novel Kicks today and the blog tour for her book, A Family Affair.
Odele Gardia . . . married to wealthy businessman Howard, is the hard-nosed matriarch of the family and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. She’s ruthless in the boardroom and not afraid to lean on adversaries.
Sebastian Gardia . . . Odele’s brother and business partner. His wife, Freya, reveals that she is pregnant with their first child.
Elliot . . . the prodigal son, is returning from America with his girlfriend, intending to propose to her.
Business is booming, her brother is going to become a father, and her son is coming home – it’s surely a time to celebrate. But Odele is hiding a huge secret and is constantly looking over her shoulder. If the secret came out, it would destroy the family.
Jimmy Alder . . . booted out of the police force, has been paid to spy on the family. The discovery he makes could have catastrophic consequences for them all.
A dysfunctional family, protectors of their power, wealth and each other, have no warning of the revelations about to erupt and the cost to their dynasty.
Joy has kindly shared an extract from A Family Affair with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
*****beginning of extract*****
Odele Gardia, matriarch of the family was sitting in their luxurious offices where her and her brother Sebastian ran a successful business selling upmarket properties in London. Seb is married to beautiful Freya who he is deeply in love with.
“Okay, what’s going on?” she asked.
“Freya and I have had a bust up,” his face crumpled as he scratched his forehead, “it’s a big one, she’s thrown me out.”
“Thrown you out? What the hell’s happened, Freya adores you?”
“Yeah well, not right now she doesn’t.” He took a deep breath, “She’s found out I’ve slept with someone.”
“You what!?”
“I know, I know, it was a one off. It just happened one night.”
“You bloody idiot! Why the hell would you do that?”
He shook his head but avoided meeting her eyes.
by 
NK Chats To… Robert Whanslaw
Hi Robert, thank you so much for joining me today and for inviting Novel Kicks onto your blog tour. Can you tell me about your book, Dark Orchid Affair and what inspired it?
It was an idea I’d had in my head for over ten years—how one event can change your life. I always knew I’d write it; it was just a question of when. I love understanding how people work: the psychology behind why a person is driven to do the things they do. The most interesting of those people are the ones with flaws in their character. We all have flaws, so my focus in my writing is on characters with major flaws.
What are the challenges of this genre. Also, what do to find the most fun about it?
Knowing the boundaries. Noir is dark, but you need a little bit of light in any story, so getting the mix right—and the importance of getting that balance—is something I worry about, and hope I get right. The fun parts are just that: pushing the boundaries.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any rituals?
It depends where I am in the writing. I am a big planner. This is what I would call my creative stage, and there’s no routine to this. I can wake in the middle of the night and think of an idea. I tend to wander around the world in a daze during this time. When I have the concept of the book in place, I write intensely, but I will break every thirty minutes for five to regenerate my energy.
What’s your favourite word and why?
I bought a book a few years ago about ‘words everybody should know’. I came across the word callipygian, which means well-shaped buttocks, and thought, “That is a word I am going to have to use one day.” The Dark Orchid Affair provided that opportunity when Ben watches Maxine get up from the table and head to the exit.
In your opinion, what are the most common mistakes people make when writing a novel for the first time?
by Novel Kicks Book Club: The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Book Club.
Who else is excited that it’s finally December? The tree is up, the lights are on. Ot maybe you choose to be a little bit low key for the last month of the year or are simply looking forward to a new year? However you spend December, I hope you’ll join me in our book club.
This month, I had to admit, it was the cover that originally drew me to this title. The book we’re reading is The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale.
The blurb sounds so intriguing and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the novel.
Anyone can take part in our book club, whether you’ve read this book or if, like me, you’ll be discovering it. You can join us at any point in the month. Like always, I’ve put a question in the comments below to get the discussion going.
See you there!
About The Toymakers –
The Christmas Emporium opens with the first sign of frost . . .
It is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment.
by NK Chats To…Susanne Dunlap
Hi Susanne, thank you so much for joining me today and for inviting Novel Kicks onto the blog tour for The Falconer’s Lost Baron. Can you tell us a little about it?
This book is #4 in my Double-Dilemma romance series, and features a few characters from the previous book—although not as protagonists. Unlike the others, The Falconer’s Lost Baron takes place in Cornwall rather than London, and not during the height of the season. The story begins on December 1, 1814 and goes through Christmas, although it’s not really a holiday romance.
In it “twin” sisters, Antonella and Belinda, discover right at the beginning that they are not, in fact, twins—or even sisters. This propels the story as Belinda tries to right a wrong and discover the mystery behind Antonella’s birth, and Antonella has to grapple with losing the identity she’s had for 18 years. Also damaged in a profound way is Lord Atherleigh, who has returned to his estate following the loss of his left hand in the battle of Nivelle and undergoing months of painful surgeries. His friend, Hector Gainesworth, tries to get him to rejoin the world—especially after he meets Belinda at a dress party during the Little Season and discovers she is a neighbor of Atherleigh in Cornwall.
Antonella’s love of birds and fascination with falconry is threaded throughout.
The Falconer’s Lost Baron is book four in the Double-Dilemma series. What are the challenges when writing a series, even when each book stands alone?
I think for me the biggest challenge has been deciding on the timing. If they’re consecutive, how do the characters in one age out of the picture? And what exactly is it that ties the books together as a series? I’ve chosen to have characters reappear, which means I have to write the possibility of those reappearances in the books that precede them. Which means, too, creating enough of a secondary character in the earlier book to make them a believable protagonist in the next book.
What’s your writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals?
I have no set writing day pattern. I work full time for myself as an editor and book coach, so I generally try to do all that work first so it’s not weighing on me before I sit down at my laptop and write. Because I’m trying to get these books out in a certain time frame, I’ve lately sacrificed what used to be my leisure reading time—the hour before bed—to writing. That means the books I read have to be consumed as audiobooks for when I’m walking, cooking, ironing, etc.
If your book featured a playlist with modern day songs, which songs would you include?
by Book Extract: A Husband is Hushed Up by Helen Golden
I am so pleased to be welcoming Helen Golden back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, A Husband is Hushed Up.
A fatal fall. A duchess determined to uncover the truth. And barely any time for tea.
Fenshire, 1891. It was meant to be a birthday celebration weekend in the country—cucumber sandwiches, polite conversation, and maybe a waltz or two. But when the Duke of Stortford is found dead in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs everything goes dreadfully sideways. The police declare it a tragic accident. His wife, Alice, has her doubts. After all, only hours before, the Duke had promised to give up his mistress and make a go of their marriage. Now he’s inconveniently deceased.
Driven by a need for answers, and helped by her fiercely loyal maid Maud, her observant footman George, and her childhood friend Lord Rushton, Alice sets about uncovering the truth. But as she navigates a house full of secrets, simmering tensions, and more than one guest with murderously bad manners, her suspect pool grows to include those closest to her. Can she piece together the truth? Or will her husband’s murderer get away with it after all?
The guests are leaving. The killer may be among them. Time is running out…
Helen has kindly shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
*****beginning of extract*****
It’s May 1891. Alice, Duchess of Stortford, is travelling from London to her family’s estate, Francis Court, in Fenshire, to celebrate her father’s 60th birthday. It’s meant to be a festive reunion, but Alice’s marriage to the Duke, Vance, has been under considerable strain. The couple have agreed to attend the gathering together in the hope of mending their fractured relationship.
As the rain falls and the carriage draws closer to the house, Alice confides her apprehensions to her dearest friend, Fiona ‘Fee’, Countess of Tilling and Alice’s older brother, Duncan, who is Fee’s husband. But Fee, ever the meddler with the best of intentions, has arranged a surprise guest—one whose arrival promises to make Alice’s reunion with her husband considerably more complicated…
“Come now, Alice,” Fee said, adjusting the pearl clasp on her gloves. “Tell the truth—how do you feel about seeing Vance again?”
She didn’t answer immediately as she gazed out at the hedgerows; they blurred past the carriage windows, along the long, winding driveway to the stately home.
by Book Club
