Competitions: Sophie Hardach
Of Love and Other Wars – we have ten copies plus ten posters to give away.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
Thanks to Sophie and the lovely people at Simon and Schuster, we have ten copies of, Of Love and Other Wars, to give away. As well as the book, each winner will also receive a poster of the stunning book cover.
About the book:
At a rally in the Royal Albert Hall, two Quaker brothers, Paul and Charlie Lamb, sign a pledge of peace that only one of them will honour. Meanwhile, in a draughty Victorian mansion in Hampstead, Mr. Morningstar wonders why his wife, a crystallographer from dynasty of diamond cutters, turns into a cursing somnambulist at night, while their daughter, Miriam, comes home from her shifts at the munitions factory with her stockings inside out. As the streets throng with khaki, the Lambs and the Morningstars must decide how to do good in a world transformed by evil. Should a scientist use her skills to maximise civilian casualties? Should a Quaker stand by as millions are murdered? And is it possible to 
love someone if you hate their convictions? When the two families are torn apart by war, Paul is forced to choose between his conscience and the woman he loves.
To enter: Continue reading
by 
Books Need Us Blog: The London Book Fair
By Maria Vassilopoulos – Books Need Us.
In the Book trade we are currently in the middle of the London Book Fair, the biggest trade event we have in the UK! If you’ve been before then some of what I’m about to say will be familiar to you. If you are coming along then it may help, and if you are thinking of going next time then it will hopefully give you a good picture of what to expect.
What is it?
The London Bookfair has been going since 1971 and originally was a much smaller event – read more here. Nowadays the emphasis for the publishing business is around meeting their sales teams and bookstore buyers, showcasing new products, reminding customers about their past and best-selling titles and selling and acquiring international rights.
What’s there?
Basically most of the UK book trade under one roof. As the big publishing conglomerates have the plush stands its easy to spot them but also great to explore the medium and smaller publishers. There is also a digital zone were you can find out about the latest content driven technology. Each year a different country becomes the Market Focus – for example this year it’s Korea, so it’s quite interesting generally to see what publishing looks like in a different international market. There are seminars throughout the 3 days and these range from finding a job in publishing to marketing a children’s book – if you want to do a bit of networking then these are a good idea.
by Two nations, divided by a common book cover
By Michele Gorman.
I’ll never forget the day I first saw the cover for my debut novel back in early 2010. My editor emailed it to me while I was waiting to meet with my agent. I was sitting in a beautiful café on Piccadilly on a sunny February day (a rare thing in London). Excitement, tinged with nerves, fizzed when I opened that image. For months I’d wondered how Penguin would package the book that I’d spent years writing and rewriting until it was as perfect as could be. Would they take the same care over the cover? Would it reflect the story, about a young American woman named Hannah who moves to London only to find that she’s completely ill-equipped to live there?
It did, and I loved it. The cover fit perfectly with the story and perfectly with the romantic comedy genre in the UK – a pretty illustrated pastel cover. It reflected Hannah’s uncertainty, swept along and buffeted by London.
Then, about a month later, my agent took me out for dinner. “You’re not going to like what I have to tell you,” she said, pushing the cake we were sharing in my direction. “Penguin wants to change the title. To Single in the City. They feel that it has broader appeal.”
That explained why she’d been plying me with wine for two hours.
by Bella’s Scribblings: Ideas Are Everywhere
Those of you that have ever admitted to another living person that you are a writer whether ‘wanna be’ or official will at some point
Bella Osborne
have had the question ‘So where do you get your ideas from?’ fired at you. Unlike me you may well have a very articulate response to this. You see, I’m not entirely sure where my ideas come from, they either just materialise (sometimes at night like a spider from the skirting board) and sometimes it’s a Batman style POW moment.
Just the other day I had a POW moment and of all places it was at the vets. Now you need to understand that whilst I am friendly, I am generally not flirty. So after a tedious wait where me and the child had learnt about what plants are poisonous to rabbits and had both developed spontaneous itching thanks to the poster about fleas, at last the vet called out “Claude Osborne”. There’s an opportunity right there for a comedy moment or two but you need a good quality surname to start with like Ramsbottom or Butts or Winkle … you get the idea. Anyway, a rather good-looking man hiding behind outdated glasses was beckoning us and our protesting cat carrier forward with a welcoming smile.
by Robin York/Deeper Blog Tour: NK Chats to Robin York.
Robin York, also known as Ruthie Knox, is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.
Robin York
We are very delighted to be part of Robin’s blog tour for her new novel, Deeper, which was released on 6th March. Robin tells us about her new book, her best moment as a writer so far and her advice for aspiring writers.
What is Deeper about?
Deeper is a love story and a coming-into-adulthood story. It focuses primarily on Caroline, a college sophomore who is struggling after her ex-boyfriend publishes sexually explicit pictures of her on the Internet, along with her full name, her location, and her Facebook page. Caroline is smart and ambitious — she wants to go to law school and become a judge, like her father — so when these pictures go viral it threatens not just her sense of self-worth, but also her future. What we see over the course of the novel is how Caroline adjusts and comes to terms with what happened to her, partly on her own, partly in a relationship with West Leavitt, a guy she’s always considered dangerous but who she can’t seem to stay away from. Eventually, we get to see her grow into a kind of fierce righteousness that is very satisfying.
Is there a book you’ve read that has made an impact on you?
I’ve never read another book about revenge porn, but certainly I’ve been influenced by all sorts of novels. One of my favorite New Adult novels is Charlotte Stein’s Sheltered, which is a beautiful story of a young woman from a very strict fundamentalist religious family who is falling in love — and experiencing a sexual awakening — with a dangerous-seeming stranger.
by Book Club
