NK Chats To….
Our Author Interviews and Guest Posts.
Blog Tour: It Started With Paris by Cathy Kelly
We are so happy to be welcoming Cathy Kelly to our blog today and her blog tour for her new novel, It Started With Paris (released by Orion on 9th October.)
Hello Cathy. Thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little about your new book, It Started with Paris and how the idea originated?
Hello! I begin to think about one book when I’m half-way through another one and during the writing of The Honey Queen, I began to think the classic writer thing of ‘what if…?’ In this case, it was what if I wrote about women who had gone through divorce or were alone through widowhood and looked at how their lives had changed and how they found love again. So then I came up with lovely 29-year-old Leila, who has a glam job in the film industry and was married to love rat Tynan, who got up one morning and walked out – for someone with legs up to her armpits. Nightmare, right? Then there’s Grace, in her fifties, who is divorced and has a really civilized relationship with her ex, so that they spend a lot of time together when their son gets engaged and Grace looks at her ex (who is happily with another woman now) and wonders: ‘Did we split up without trying hard enough?”
And finally, there’s American mum-of-one, Vonnie, who lost her husband tragically, came to Ireland so she’d be able to live without expecting to see him all the time, and she falls in love with a man who was married – and whose ex-wife is not so happy with it all. Basically, the book is about how life is never black and white, how relationships are wonderful and sometimes difficult, and hopefully, there’s plenty of humour and hope.
Do you have any writing rituals?
A very strong cup of coffee with a decreasing amount of sugar. I am trying so hard to give it up because it’s so bad for you – wrinkles, inflammation, the list goes on – but I LOVE it. I bring my sons to school, come home, stick on the washing, do my emails, then make a decent cup of coffee and write.
by 
Author Interview: Nell Dixon
Nell is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her books include Christmas Ever After, The New Bay Series and Radio Gaga. We chat to Nell about her books, fictional characters and theme songs.
Can you tell us a little about the books you write and about your latest book, Sophie’s Choice?
I write contemporary women’s fiction with a dash of humour and a pinch of suspense. Sophie’s Choice is the first in the Ever After series. Christmas Ever After – the second book, was written as a stand alone but readers begged for Sophie’s love story so I gave in. Book 3 in the series will be out before Christmas and is called It Happened at Midnight and is the final one in the trilogy.
How much planning do you do before starting a book? Do you edit as you go?
I do very little planning. I have the characters in my head and I know what their problems are but the rest just writes itself. I don’t edit as I go. I wait till the story is completely done before I start to tinker with it.
What’s different with writing a book for a series and writing a ‘stand alone’ novel?
It’s hard writing series or linked books. You have to remember every detail from what’s gone before and ensure characters that have continuing storylines are still developing and keeping to their original concepts. Plus, you need to keep your timelines straight. Sophie’s Choice happens five years before Christmas Ever After. What advice would you give to someone thinking of writing a series of books? Keep a series’bible’ so you don’t have to keep looking back through your storylines to check your facts.
by Author Interview: Marissa Tejada
Marissa Tejada’s debut women’s fiction novel Chasing Athens was released by Musa Publishing in April 2014. Marissa had a chat with us about her work.
Can you tell us about your novel, Chasing Athens, and how the idea came about?
Chasing Athens tells the story of a heartbroken American ex-pat Ava Martin who is inspired to continue living abroad in Greece after her new husband literally walks out on her. That abrupt decision leads her through a humorous, touching and cultural journey that forces her to confront her disappointing past and redefine the true meaning of home.
I knew I wanted to write a story that was influenced from my experiences as an American expat living in Europe. There were so many funny, strange, crazy, sad, tragic moments happening around me from all angles. Contemporary women’s fiction is one of my favorite genres. I think it was natural that a romantic comedy set abroad in a foreign place came about in my mind. I had some messages and themes I knew I wanted to express and that’s how my novel came about.
Have you ever got writers block and if so, how do you deal with it?
I go and do something other than sit at my desk. I can go take a walk and go for a coffee at a café. It’s the perfect excuse to go to the gym.
Who would you invite to a fantasy dinner party?
I’d love to have Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. They are so beautiful and Hollywood. I’d love to have women’s fiction authors Wendy Holden and Jennifer Weiner. I’d include author and linguist Noam Chomsky. I think Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien are both super funny and smart. George Clooney, well, because he’s George Clooney.
by Blog Tour: The Rosie Effect Winner…
Thanks to Graeme, Penguin and FMcM Associates, we had ONE copy of The Rosie Effect to give away.
Well done to Derek Norton from Co Durham who has won a copy of the book.
About the book:
With the Wife Project complete, Don settles into a new job and married life in New York. But it’s not long before certain events are taken out of his control and it’s time to embark on a new project . . .
As Don tries to get to grips with the requirements of starting a family, his unusual research style gets him into trouble.
To make matters worse, Don has invited his closest friend to stay with them, but Gene is not exactly the best model for martial happiness. As Don’s life with Rosie continues to be unpredictable, he needs to remember that emotional support is just as important as practical expertise.
Join Don and Rosie in the next chapter of their weird and wonderful journey.
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion is published by Michael Joseph on 25th September, £14.99 hardback
Follow Graeme on Twitter: @GraemeSimsion
by Blog Tour: Win a Copy of The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Thanks to Graeme, Penguin and FMcM Associates, we have ONE copy of The Rosie Effect to give away.
About the book:
With the Wife Project complete, Don settles into a new job and married life in New York. But it’s not long before certain events are taken out of his control and it’s time to embark on a new project . . .
As Don tries to get to grips with the requirements of starting a family, his unusual research style gets him into trouble.
To make matters worse, Don has invited his closest friend to stay with them, but Gene is not exactly the best model for martial happiness. As Don’s life with Rosie continues to be unpredictable, he needs to remember that emotional support is just as important as practical expertise.
Join Don and Rosie in the next chapter of their weird and wonderful journey.
How to enter:
by Blog Tour: Review – The Rosie Effect
With the Wife Project complete, Don settles into a new job and married life in New York. But it’s not long before certain events are taken out of his control and it’s time to embark on a new project . . .
As Don tries to get to grips with the requirements of starting a family, his unusual research style gets him into trouble.
To make matters worse, Don has invited his closest friend to stay with them, but Gene is not exactly the best model for martial happiness. As Don’s life with Rosie continues to be unpredictable, he needs to remember that emotional support is just as important as practical expertise.
Join Don and Rosie in the next chapter of their weird and wonderful journey.
I have been looking forward to this book for months. I loved The Rosie Project so there was a little bit of an expectation with this follow-up. I don’t think you’d be able to read this one without reading The Rosie Project first. It doesn’t stand on its own.
It picks up where The Rosie Project left off. Don and Rosie are now married and are living in New York (I love this fact as New York is one of my favourite cities. I had my honeymoon there.)
I have to say, it was so lovely being back in Don’s company. He’s like a friend I’d not seen in a while. There is something so nice and endearing about him and something interesting in how he sees the world. He’s become one of my favourite characters. It was nice to catch up with the other characters in this book but to be honest, both books for me are about Don and how he copes with the world around him and this book certainly gives him loads to try and cope with. His and Rosie’s relationship is tested and some of what they go through can be very relatable.
by Blog Tour: The Rosie Effect
We are very delighted to be welcoming Graeme Simsion to our blog today and his blog tour for his new novel, The Rosie Effect which is the follow-up to the fantastic, The Rosie Project. Graeme talks to us about how writing much of the novel in New York influenced it.
I had about half of The Rosie Effect drafted, and a clear idea of where it was going, when I arrived in New York with my wife for three weeks in December 2013. We had spent seven months there in 2010, and this was a chance to catch up with friends and revisit favourite places. A holiday: but I had vague intentions of working on the novel, which I felt would benefit from being written ‘on location’. By the time we arrived, those intentions had crystallised into a plan: I would try to write two thousand words every day and finish the draft. As motivation, I promised myself that any day on which I failed to meet the target would be an alcohol-free day.
One of the pleasures of NYC is its bars and restaurants, and I’m a reasonably enthusiastic consumer of wine and the occasional cocktail (‘occasional’ meaning ‘on the occasion of being in New York and it being evening’). I didn’t miss a day. My wife was particularly impressed to find me up at 7 a.m. on Christmas morning, writing diligently. We had champagne with the turkey.
by A Moment With: Nell Dixon.
Nell is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her books include Christmas Ever After, The New Bay Series and Radio Gaga. Today, Nell shares her five tips for new writers.
Read lots.
Keep writing.
Write what you love.
Don’t be scared to reach out to other writers.
Never be scared to edit.
For more information about Nell and her books, visit her website: www.nelldixon.com
Follow Nell on Twitter.
For more information on the Romantic Novelists’ Association, visit their website: www.rna-uk.org
by Blog Tour: A Piece of Cake by Trisha Ashley
We are very happy to welcome Trisha Ashley to our blog today as we kick off the blog tour for her new short story, A Piece of Cake which was released today by Avon.
Trisha will be sharing one of her own recipes shortly but first, we review the book.
A Piece of Cake is the latest short story from best-selling novelist, Trisha Ashley.
Kate is an accomplished cake maker and is currently making the cake for her best friend, Laura who is getting married. Also, much to Kate’s annoyance, as if she’s not got enough to do, Laura is trying to play matchmaker and set Kate up with her groom’s best man, Wes. However, Kate has met Wes before and first impressions die hard. The last thing Kate wants is a romantic encounter with Wes.
This short story was so charming. Once I started reading I couldn’t stop. I am a huge fan of Trisha’s books and this one did not disappoint. Despite its length, it still has the humour and warmth that I would usually find in Trisha’s novels.
I found that the characters were well-rounded and I liked Kate and Laura’s dynamic.
Wes was an interesting love interest who is charmingly awkward toward Kate and this, to me made their relationship and interactions more realistic and believable.
I read this book within about twenty minutes. I would love to know what happens next actually. This book is perfect if you are looking for a quick read before bed, or on the bus or looking for something to read for a relaxing session in the bath.
I loved A Piece of Cake. Bravo, Trisha.
To celebrate the release of her latest short story, Trisha shares with us her recipe for Caribbean-style Chocolate Rum cake and we have to say, it looks scrummy.
Caribbean-style Chocolate Rum Cake (Serves 12)
I spent some Christmases in Antigua and Grand Cayman, where I substituted the usual fruit cake for a local speciality, Rum Cake. You can get them in different flavours all over the Caribbean, but it’s taken me a few attempts to recreate anything similar at home. Here’s my recipe for chocolate rum cake, which is as close as I can get to the original and makes a perfect alternative to the traditional Christmas cake.
by Novel Kicks Chats To: Janice Preston
A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Janice’s debut novel, Mary & The Marquis was released by Mills and Boon Historical earlier this month. We chat to Janice about her book, her approach to her writing and her advice for new writers.
Can you tell us a little about your debut novel, Mary and the Marquis and how the idea originated?
Mary and the Marquis is set in Northumberland in the autumn of 1811. When destitute widow Mary Vale aids an injured man on the road, she is shocked to discover he is the reclusive Lucas Alastair, Marquis of Rothley. She’s intrigued by him, but when she offers to nurse him back to health in return for shelter he proves a difficult patient. Lucas hides some deep emotion beneath his brusque manner, and a stolen kiss leaves Mary longing for more… She’s able to help mend his physical injuries, but can Mary heal the wounds of his painful past?
The idea came from a mental image of a young woman, with two small children, walking through a gloomy wood. Suddenly a deep, rasping groan sounds from amongst the trees. Who is she? Why is she in that wood? Where is she going? What is that noise?
Did you plan much before starting the novel?
I probably knew more about Mary and Lucas’s pasts than I did about what would happen in the actual story. I had ideas for the turning points, but I didn’t plan in any great detail, which is probably why the editing caused me such headaches! I had to delete a few scenes entirely – always hard to do.
How do you approach editing?
Every day, I go over what I wrote the day before as a way of immersing myself back in the story. I do tend to edit at that point, although I’m well aware it can be a waste of time if that particular section ends up deleted (see previous question). I should try and break that habit!
by Novel Kicks Chats To Paige Toon
Paige Toon has worked at various magazines before becoming Reviews Editor at Heat Magazine. Her novels include The Longest Holiday and One Perfect Summer. Her new book, Thirteen Weddings was released in May. We chat with Paige about her book, her favourite word, Tom Cruise and Simon Cowell.
Can you tell us a little about Thirteen Weddings and where did the idea originate?
It’s about a wedding photographer who falls in love with a groom. The year before last I went to four weddings in one summer and I remember watching the wedding photographers and imagining what it would be like to be such an important part of two complete strangers’ ‘best days of their lives’ – I thought it would be an interesting subject for a story.
If Thirteen Weddings had a soundtrack, what songs would you include?
Love by Daughter – even Bronte listens to this song when she’s thinking about Alex. I also listened to a lot of Lana Del Ray while I was writing it – dark and moody yet totally beautiful.
What’s your favourite word and why?
‘Aah’ – I seem to say it a lot on Twitter when I’m conversing with my lovely readers!
by Competitions – Where Love Lies Winners.
Thanks to Julie and the lovely people at Bantam Press we had THREE copies of Where Love Lies to give away.
Well done to Elaine from Lancashire, Rich from Surrey and Annette from Staffordshire who have all won a copy of Where Love Lies.
Here is a little about the novel:
Lately, Felicity just can’t shake a shadow of uncertainty. Her husband Quinn is the kindest person she knows and loves her peculiarities more than Felicity feels she deserves. But suddenly it’s as if she doesn’t quite belong.
Then Felicity experiences something extraordinary: a scent of perfume in the air which evokes memories that have been settled within her for a long time, untouched and undisturbed. As it happens again and again, the memories of a man Felicity hasn’t seen for ten years also flutter to the surface. And so do the feelings of being deeply, exquisitely in love . . .
Overwhelmed and bewildered by her emotions, Felicity tries to resist sinking blissfully into the past. But what if something truly isn’t as it should be? What if her mind has been playing tricks on her heart?
Which would you trust?
Where Loves Lies is available to buy via Amazon and other leading bookstores.
by Blog Tour: Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen
We are super excited to be welcoming Julie Cohen to our blog today. Julie is the best-selling author of Getting Away With It and Dear Thing. Her new novel, Where Loves Lies was released by Bantam Press on 31st July. We are very happy to be kicking off her blog tour today for her new novel. We chat with Julie about her book, her writing rituals and Sherlock Holmes…
Can you tell us about your new book, Where Love Lies and how the idea originated?
I’m calling it a sort of twisted love story. It’s about Felicity, who has been happily married to Quinn for a year—at least she thinks she is happily married. Until out of the blue one day she starts to smell the scent of frangipani, and along with that, she experiences overwhelming memories of a man she was in love with ten years ago, before she met Quinn. Believing this is some sort of sign, she leaves Quinn, to find Ewan, her first love, and discover why she is having these emotions. On the way she grapples with the different kinds of love, and tries to understand her own heart. But sometimes our heart is not ours to control…
I can’t actually tell you how the idea began, because if I did, it would give away part of the story! But it is based, very loosely, on something that actually happened to a friend of mine. I talk about it in a note at the end of the book, so you will have to read the book to find out! Sorry.
Which fictional character would you like to chat to and what would you talk about?
I am an enormous Sherlock Holmes geek, and have been for most of my life—so much so that I’m an official cartoonist for the Sherlock Holmes Society, and I’ve written an alt-reality Sherlock Holmes story that will be published later in the year, under my initials JE Cohen. So I would love to talk to Mr Holmes. In the stories, he’s a charming conversationalist as well as the world’s greatest detective. I’d like to go to dinner with him, and maybe a violin concert, and then I would tag along whilst he solved one of his cases!
Do you have any writing rituals?
I always make a soundtrack for my novels. Sometimes it’s songs that reflect what the book is about, and sometimes it’s just songs that I like and which get me in the mood for writing. My soundtrack for Where Love Lies included ‘Never Going Back’ by Fleetwood Mac, and ‘Our Day Will Come’ by Amy Winehouse.
by Blog Tour: Win a copy of Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.
Julie Cohen kicks off her blog tour with us today for her new novel, Where Love Lies which was released by Bantam Press on 31st July (we will shortly be chatting to her about her new book.)
Thanks to Julie and the lovely people at Bantam Press we have THREE copies of Where Love Lies to give away.
Here is a little about the novel:
Lately, Felicity just can’t shake a shadow of uncertainty. Her husband Quinn is the kindest person she knows and loves her peculiarities more than Felicity feels she deserves. But suddenly it’s as if she doesn’t quite belong.
Then Felicity experiences something extraordinary: a scent of perfume in the air which evokes memories that have been settled within her for a long time, untouched and undisturbed. As it happens again and again, the memories of a man Felicity hasn’t seen for ten years also flutter to the surface. And so do the feelings of being deeply, exquisitely in love . . .
Overwhelmed and bewildered by her emotions, Felicity tries to resist sinking blissfully into the past. But what if something truly isn’t as it should be? What if her mind has been playing tricks on her heart?
Which would you trust?
HOW TO ENTER:
by Novel Kicks Chats To Kathryn Simmonds
Kathryn’s first collection, Sunday at the Skin Launderette won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 2008. Her short stories have been published in magazines and broadcast on Radio 4. Her first novel, Love and Fallout was published by Seren Books in 2014. We chat with Kathryn about her book, her planning process and Oscar Wilde.
Can you tell us about your novel, Love and Fallout and how the idea originated?
The idea for the novel evolved from a short story I was writing about a charity worker who gets a sudden and unwelcome TV makeover. To help fill in my character’s history, I did some research into the Greenham Common peace camp where she’d protested as a teenager, and the more I read the more fascinated I became.
As I looked at film footage of the 1980s demonstrations, particularly ‘Embrace the Base’, when thirty-thousand women joined hands around the military airbase, I wondered where those women were now and what they might be doing. My original story grew: my character had a secret from her past, an old friend of hers turned up, and gradually a novel began to take shape.
What’s your planning process like when writing a novel?
This is my first novel so I don’t have a tried and tested method. Love and Fallout became difficult to control as the story expanded, and mid-way through I had to stop and properly consider the plot. Writing into the unknown is exciting, but I learned that it’s also necessary to have a loose idea of what’s ahead or you’ll write yourself into a corner.
by A Moment With Carole Matthews
Carole Matthews is the best-selling author whose books include Summer Daydreams (which was nominated for the Melissa Nathan award,) and A Place to Call Home (which was released earlier this year.)
Today, Carole shares her five writing tips…
1. Write every day.
2. Write what’s in your heart.
3. Don’t follow the latest trend. By the time you’ve written your book, it will have passed.
4. Don’t make excuses about why you can’t find time to write.
5. Don’t give up. Determination is the key. And a great story, of course.
Carole can be found at her website, www.carolematthews.com
by Blog Tour: This Family Life by Jon Rance
We are very excited to be welcoming Jon Rance and his blog tour for This Family Life today. Jon’s previous novels include Happy Endings and This Twentysomething Life. His new book, This Family Life, is the sequel to Jon’s novel, This Thirtysomething Life and was released recently by Amazon Media (the kindle version is currently only 99 pence.)
Jon joins us today to talk about his new book and he also gives us a sneak preview too. Hi Jon and welcome….
Hello and a HUGE thank you to Novel Kicks for hosting what is the fourteenth stop on my ‘This Family Life’ Blog Tour. If you missed the last blog you can see it here http://hell4heather.com/
So hello again and today I’m going to talk about my new novel ‘This Family Life’. The book is written as a diary from the point of view of thirtysomething husband and new father, Harry Spencer. The book is the sequel to ‘This Thirtysomething Life’ and Harry’s job as a secondary school teacher wasn’t really integral to the plot in that book, but in ‘This Family Life’ I wanted to explore his career a lot more.
In this book, new father Harry realises that now he’s a parent it’s time he started taking his job more seriously, and so when he’s offered a promotion to head of department, he sees this as the chance to prove to his wife Emily, and more importantly to himself that he can do it. I was lucky enough to have a very good friend who’s actually a teacher and is also head of his department, and so he gave me some great inside information on what it’s really like.
The school scenes in the book were some of my favourite to write and I hope I conveyed what it’s really like. Obviously I added a lot more comedy and took some literary freedom with it, but I tried to add it bits of reality in a hopefully a humorous way. There’s a bit when Harry takes the job as head of department and he gets his new schedule, full of meetings, pre-meetings, training, and other tasks and he innocently asks, ‘And when am I going to find time to actually teach?’ and he’s laughed at, but he wasn’t joking. This is one of those moments that I know a lot of teachers have, and I hope that although in the book it’s sort of a joke, it’s something that teachers can relate to.
by Competition Winners – Liberty Silk by Kate Beaufoy
Thanks to Kate and Transworld, we had three copies of Liberty Silk to give away to celebrate it’s release in the UK.
Well done to Rebecca Carden from Cambridgeshire, Charlotte Ingham from the UK and Tammy Tudor from Greater Manchester. You’ve all won a copy of the book.
About Liberty Silk:
One beautiful dress is the key to three brave women’s destinies.
France 1919: Jessie is celebrating the last heady days of her honeymoon. But when her husband suddenly disappears she finds herself bereft. Until a chance encounter thrusts her into the centre of the intoxicating world of Parisian high life.
Hollywood 1945: Lisa has come a long way from her quiet, unassuming life in London and is taking Hollywood by storm. But all that glitters is not gold, and as the smoke and mirrors of the lifestyle she so longed for shatter around her there are some secrets she can never escape.
by A Moment With…Paige Toon
Paige Toon worked at various magazines before becoming Reviews Editor at Heat Magazine. Her novels include The Longest Holiday and One Perfect Summer. Her new book, Thirteen Weddings was released in May. Today, Paige shares her five writing tips with us.
1. Write what you want to, not what you think you should.
2. If you’re stuck on a tricky scene, move on to something you want to write about and come back later.
3. Make sure your grammar and spelling is perfect before you even think about sending your book off to an agent. Ask someone you trust to check it over.
4. Consult the Writers & Artists’ Yearbook to find a few agents that are right for you – there are tips inside to help you draft a letter.
5. Don’t feel too disheartened about rejection – you can always self-publish your book and spread the word that way. It might just be that what you have written is not quite right for an agent at that particular time, but that’s not to say you won’t ever get a book deal. Don’t give up!
You can find out more about Paige by visiting www.paigetoon.com
Follow Paige on Twitter: @PaigeToonAuthor
by Novel Kicks Chats To Amy Bird
Amy’s first book, Yours is Mine was released by Carina in 2013. We catch up with her to chat about her latest book, Three Steps Behind You (which was released in March of this year.) We talk about her book, her writing rituals and James McAvoy.
Hi Amy, can you tell us about Three Steps Behind You?
Three Steps Behind You is a twisting tale of toxic friendship, psychopathic fixation and author identity. Set in North London and Soho, it tells of Dan, a crime writer who believes he has to experience everything in order to write about it. Method writing, if you will. But underlying Dan’s writing is the obsessional need to get closer to childhood friend, Adam, and Adam’s wife, Nicole. And he’ll keep trying until he achieves it – however brutal the method. The book is all first person through the eyes of Dan, so you really enter into his psychotic little world.
What attracted you to the psychological thriller genre?
I’m a big fan of Hitchcock, who is a real master of the psychological thriller on-screen. There is such technical skill in keeping an audience hooked, even as they feel uneasy, and I wanted to have a go myself. It’s also fun as a writer to create the very intense worlds that a thriller needs. You really immerse yourself in the world of your characters and the style of the genre. For Three Steps Behind You, I wrote my first draft in three months, which was a delightfully claustrophobic experience. Hopefully the reader then shares in some of that intensity.
Do you have any writing rituals?
I try to keep those to a minimum because I think they can be an excuse for not writing unless the ritual is complete – which would mean you couldn’t snatch small bits of time here and there to write. When I’m having a day devoted to writing, though, I generally go for a walk before I write, to wake my brain up, and remind myself about the outside world. Then as soon as possible after I return, I’ll draw back the curtains in my study, fire up my laptop, take off my watch, and start to write.
by Blog Tour – What a Girl Wants by Lindsey Kelk
We are very happy to welcome Lindsey Kelk back to Novel Kicks. Her new book, What a Girl Wants will be released by Harper on 17th July 2014. As part of her blog tour, we had a chat with Lindsey about anthems, favourite words and writing advice…
Hi Lindsey, can you tell us about your new book?
It’s called What a Girl Wants and it’s the follow up to last summer’s About a Girl. It’s fun, funny read, all about the choices people have to make in life and what the consequences might be if they make the wrong ones!
Which three words would best describe you?
Loyal, funny, tired
What song would be your anthem? Which one do you think Tess would pick?
Get Up by SLeater-Kinney. Tess would really struggle because she’s not good with music or bands. She’d probably let Amy choose it for her – actually, she should choose I Knew You Were Trouble!
Favourite word and why?
It would be one of the bad ones so I can’t say. Such a sense of satisfaction…
by Blog Tour: Liberty Silk by Kate Beaufoy
We are very excited to welcome Kate Beaufoy and her blog tour to Novel Kicks. Her new book, Liberty Silk was released by Transworld on 3rd July. We chat to Kate about her book (look out for our review soon,) her writing tips and the fictional character she’d like to meet…
Can you tell us about Liberty Silk and how the idea came about?
After writing a dozen novels as Kate Thompson, I really wanted to write something different. The idea for Liberty Silk came about when I found a cache of my grandmother’s letters in the attic. Written nearly a hundred years ago, they were entertaining, moving and full of fascinating detail about life after the Great War, when she and her artist husband spent their honeymoon traveling through France and Italy. I decided to use the letters as a backdrop to an epic story spanning three generations and three continents, and – because I was writing in a different genre – I took the opportunity to avail of a nom de plume. Beaufoy was my grandmother’s maiden name.
Are you a planner, and do you edit as you go?
Most of my plans consist of scraps of paper covered in indecipherable handwriting, which I discover lying around the house after the novel has been finished. Lots of my ideas get trashed during the writing process, as do some characters. I’ll fine a note to myself saying something like: ‘Louisa’s star sign is Gemini’, and then I’ll wonder ‘who the hell is Louisa?’
I never used to edit as I wrote, and was in the habit of notching up massive daily word count of two to three thousand words (one day I worked for thirteen solid hours and notched up six thousand!), but these days I edit rigorously and continuously – I’m lucky if I manage a thousand words a day (this does not suit all writers, many of whom prefer to finish before they edit). As for how the book ends: I usually have the last sentence in my head all the way through, from day one. And I always, always cry when I finish a novel. I’m actually inconsolable.
Is there a book you’ve read that has made a big impact on you?
I wish I could say there was, but I think that the impact books make is a cumulative thing. I don’t remember a time I couldn’t read, and every book I’ve opened since has made some kind of impact on me, whether positive or negative. You can learn a lot about writing from reading books that you consider badly written, and asking yourself why.
Do you have any writing rituals?
I can write mostly anywhere, but I love a space where I can spread notes, books, print-outs, photographs, etc. I know immediately where I can lay my hands on something, even though it all looks madly disorganised. I also prepare a flask of very strong black coffee at the start of every writing day, and often eat lunch at the computer. I do try and exercise every morning, but sometimes I start work almost the minute my eyes open, and spend the day working in bed, especially when I’m approaching the end of a novel. Then I lock myself away for thirty-six hours until I type ‘The End’.
If you could time travel for a day, where would you go and why?
It depends on the book I am working on. For Liberty Silk I should have loved to have travelled to the French Riviera in the 1920s to meet up with the crowd of hedonists I wrote about – Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso, Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, who was the darling of the jazz age. And of course, there is the allure of 1940s Hollywood, an era that also features in the book. It seems über glamorous, but during the days of the big studios women – even some of the most fabulous stars – were treated like so much cattle. The book I am currently working on is set during the Victorian era; but since much of the action takes during the time of the Irish famine, I can say that it is one of the periods in history I would emphatically least like to visit.
Is there a fictional character you’d like to meet?
I would like to meet Teddy Lloyd, the cool, rather sexy art master in Muriel Spark’s famous novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The character is said to be based on my grandfather, who was a remarkably charismatic man.
Favourite Word?
It changes every day. Yesterday it was ‘lachrymose’, today it is ‘svelte’.
Five tips for new writers?
1: Here is a brilliant trick! I learned it by accident, when I cut and pasted an extract of my work into the body of an email and read it back. Either do just that, or reformat your writing, using a different font and paragraph layout. This helps you to read it with a completely new sensibility.
2: Don’t announce to anyone who isn’t a close friend that you’re embarking on a novel. You will regret it every time someone asks if you have finished it/found an agent/when your publication date is.
3: An extension of tip 2, above: Don’t be tempted to post details of your progress on social media. Aspiring writers will not love you when you declare that you have completed 100,000 words when they are struggling with their first chapter.
4: When your first draft is finished, don’t show it to ANYONE who does not love you. Even the best of friends can have an agenda, and Schadenfreude is an occupational hazard. You don’t need to be told that you’re the new Donna Tartt, but you do need to be handled with kid-gloves.
5: Try not to let your research show. You may have done painstaking homework on beautiful Bugatti motors, but your reader does not need to know that the 1919 models were fitted with overhead camshaft 4-cylinder 1,368cc engines.
About Liberty Silk:
One beautiful dress is the key to three brave women’s destinies.
France 1919: Jessie is celebrating the last heady days of her honeymoon. But when her husband suddenly disappears she finds herself bereft. Until a chance encounter thrusts her into the centre of the intoxicating world of Parisian high life.
Hollywood 1945: Lisa has come a long way from her quiet, unassuming life in London and is taking Hollywood by storm. But all that glitters is not gold, and as the smoke and mirrors of the lifestyle she so longed for shatter around her there are some secrets she can never escape.
London 1965: Cat, headstrong and independent, drawn to danger and passionately opposed to injustice, has no idea of the legacy that precedes her. Once past secrets are unveiled, she has the chance to find out what liberty really means…
An evocative story of survival, betrayal and the invincibility of love.
Visit Kate’s website at http://www.katebeaufoy.com
Liberty Silk was released by Transworld on 3rd July and is available in paperback and e-book. Buy from Amazon.
by No Mercy by John Burley – Competition Winners.
As part of of the Blog Tour for No Mercy, we had two copies of the book to give away thanks to John and Avon.
Well done to Carol Peace and Tracey Walsh who have both won a copy.
About the book:
The peaceful town of Wintersville is a place safe from the crime and congestion of city life, where neighbours feel like family. It’s the perfect place to live.
But when a teenager is discovered brutally murdered in the woods, it becomes clear that a psychopath is roaming the streets. Dr Ben Stevenson, the town’s medical examiner, and father of two young boys, becomes entangled in the hunt for the murderer, determined to keep his family safe.
But as Ben uncovers the dark secrets of his seemingly quiet community, he confronts a truth that will haunt him forever and puts those he loves in serious danger.
(No Mercy was released by Avon on 3rd July 2014 and is availalbe in paperback and e-book.)
by Novel Kicks Chats With Kathryn Freeman
Kathryn Freeman made herself a new year resolution back in 2010 to make time to write her novel. Too Charming was released digitally by Choc Lit in September 2013. Her new book, Do Opposites Attract? was released on 7th July 2014. We chat with Kathryn about her book, her theme song and Scooby Doo…
Hi Kathryn. Thank you for joining us. First, can you tell us about your route to publication? How important was joining the RNA New Writers scheme to you?
At the time it felt as if my route was a long and bumpy one, going nowhere, but looking back now it could have been so much worse! I didn’t write my first book until around 5 years ago, but once I’d got the bug I couldn’t stop writing. Of course there followed several years of disappointments when I sent the first few books off to agents and publishers and the rejections flooded in. Then I did my research (umm, perhaps I should have done this first?) and sent the next two manuscripts to the NWS. That, I believe, was my turning point. I followed their advice and submitted the amended versions to Choc Lit – and was stunned and delighted when both were accepted.
Can you tell us a little about your new book, Do Opposites Attract?
The story line came from my desire to write about a rough, gruff hero who’d had a dubious upbringing but was trying to put it all behind him. He became Mitch McBride, Chief Medical Officer for a charity called Medic SOS who provide medical aid to areas devastated by a natural disaster. While he’s out working in a tornado hit part of South America, he meets Brianna Worthington, his opposite in every way.
by Blog Tour: The Atlas of Us by Tracy Buchanan
I’m pleased to welcome Tracy Buchanan to Novel Kicks. As part of the blog tour to celebrate the release of The Atlas of Us, we have an extract from the book. Happy reading!
Her voice trails off, her eyes losing focus as the bus slows down. A large spiky roof with gold spires comes into view, a mountain shrouded in trees behind it. As the bus draws closer, the whole temple appears before us, curved and ornate with tiered icing-sugar walls and arched windows fringed with gold. Two painted tiger statues adorn its entrance, looking ready to pounce on the frantic relatives and tired- looking officials hurrying around the busy area in front of it. This must be where the foreign embassies are: white canopies, rows and rows of photo boards, lines of desks weighed down with paperwork and flags.
I try to find the Union Jack among all the other flags, as if it might blur the strangeness of this place a little. But all I can see is a tiny beige monkey that is weaving in and out of the table legs. I make a mental note to tell the girls about it. They’ll want to know things like that when I get back. They don’t need to know about the bodies I’ve seen floating in the sea, nor the turned-over cars.
by Blog Tour: The Atlas of Us by Tracy Buchanan – Review
The Atlas of Us is about family, loss, resilience, reconciliation and hope…
When Louise Fenton flies to Thailand to find her mother, Nora, after the Boxing Day tsunami, she fears the worst when the only trace she can find is her mother’s distinctive bag. In the bag is a beautifully crafted atlas owned by travel journalist Claire Shreve, with her notes and mementos slipped in-between the pages. The journal tells the story of Claire’s struggle to find her place in the world following a life-altering revelation, and a tumultuous love affair.
Louise treks across Thailand’s scarred landscape, exploring Claire’s atlas to try to make sense of the connection between this woman and the mother she is so desperate to find.
As devastated people are beginning to put their lives back together, Louise uncovers the secrets that nearly destroyed Claire and the man she loved – the same secrets her mother has been guarding all these years …
This book has such a beautiful cover but from the blurb, I was intrigued to find out how the author was going to tackle the subject matter (the story is set around the tsunami that happened in 2004.)
Told from the point of view of two seemingly unconnected women, Louise and Claire, the story immediately drew me in. It does jump around between the two storylines but this helped build up the mystery and suspense – that urge to keep turning the page as I wanted to know what would happen. I particularly resonated with certain aspects of Claire’s life.
by Blog Tour: Novel Kicks Chats To Kerry Fisher
We’re very happy to welcome Kerry Fisher to Novel Kicks. As part of her blog tour to celebrate the release of The School Gate Survival Guide, Kerry talks to us about her new book, her writing rituals and The Famous Five.
Hi Kerry. Can you tell us a little about The School Gate Survival Guide and how the idea originated?
The idea came to me years ago when I lived in Italy and noticed that social snobbery was mainly confined to job title and geographical location – north vs. south. I was often introduced as ‘Dottoressa (Doctor) Fisher’ even though I’ve got a degree in languages! (I was always terrified there’d be some medical emergency and I’d have to say, ‘I can’t help with the heart attack but I can give you a hand with the subjunctive’.) When I came back to Britain, I noticed that there were all sorts of little social judgements constantly taking place – where you came from and your job was just the beginning. So I decided to write a humorous book about class and thought that the school gates would make a perfect comedic vehicle – a kind of Downton Abbey in a contemporary school setting.
If you were told you were only allowed to pick three things to survive, what would they be?
I’m not going to count my family as they’re a given. My needs are very few, but I couldn’t survive without the friends I’ve know for years. I don’t think anything can compete with that feeling of flopping down with a glass of wine and bouncing from topic to topic without having to fill in any back story. The dog is pretty vital – I love walking her and seeing the changing seasons. If I didn’t have her to exercise me, I’d have to spend even more time being ridiculed by my children when I hula-hoop on the Wii Fit! I don’t care about ‘stuff’ – I hate shopping and am still dinosauring about with an ancient mobile, much to the despair of my daughter. If I were really pushed for something else, I’d have to say, as a service to humankind, I should continue to have pedicures to avoid contaminating the environment with my aesthetically displeasing duck-billed platypus feet.
by Blog Tour: The School Gate Survival Guide by Kerry Fisher – Review
Feisty Maia Etxeleku is a cleaner for ladies who lunch. She spends her life wiping up spilt Sauvignon and hoovering around handbags before rushing back home to skivvy after her children’s feckless father on an estate where survival depends on your ability to look the other way.
But an unusual inheritance catapults her into a different world where no child can survive without organic apricots and Kumon maths classes – and no woman can contemplate a week without Pilates and pedicures.
As she blunders through a middle class minefield, dashing from coffee mornings to her mops and buckets, she is drawn to the one man who can help her family fit in. But is his interest in her purely professional or will her modern My Fair Lady experiment end in disaster?
Maia is a character with whom the reader can immediately empathise with and I liked her straight away. She had an honest feeling about her. She is a mother of two who is working hard to make a better life for herself and her two children, Harley and Bronte. Her partner, Colin, is very little help. He’s lazy, unemployed and feels entitled to sponge off Maia who struggles to make ends meet working as a cleaner.
by Blog Tour: The School Gate Survival Guide by Kerry Fisher.
The School Gate Survival Guide was first published as The Class Ceiling. It’s now got its new titile as was released as an e-book by Avon earlier this month with the paperback release following later in the year. We were very pleased to be invited to take part in Kerry’s blog tour to celebrate the release of her new book.
Below is an extract from the book. Enjoy.
Posh women with dirty houses sometimes phone me. Posh men never do.
Until today, when this solicitor bod burst into my morning with the sort of booming confidence it would be impossible to argue against. My ears closed down, rejecting the steamroller voice, pushing away his words.
‘I’m sorry to be the bearer of ghastly news.’
I’d just got home from my worst job cleaning the changing rooms at Surrey’s grottiest leisure centre. The phone rang while I was in the shower scrubbing away the taint of old plasters and plughole cack. As I clumped down the stairs wrapped in a towel that barely covered my backside, I was praying that the call was from Colin, with good news about work. Instead I stood in the kitchen, holding the phone away from my ear so I didn’t drip water into the receiver while Mr William Lah-di-dah bellowed away at a slight distance, a sort of old Etonian-cum-Clanger. Then I heard it.
‘I’m afraid Professor Rose Stainton passed away last Friday.’
by Blog Tour: John Burley talks about his debut novel, No Mercy
We are pleased to welcome John Burley to Novel Kicks. As part of his blog tour for his debut novel, No Mercy, John talks to us about how his job experience and knowledge contributed to his plot.
My experience as an Emergency Department physician came in handy during the writing of NO MERCY. The novel merges the genres of medical thriller, crime, murder mystery, and psychological suspense. It’s fueled by adrenalin, the drug that got me hooked on emergency medicine in the first place. I tried to bring a level of realism to the medical scenes, to convey the intensity of these environments and how they affect the people working there. NO MERCY is a story about bearing witness to the struggles of others, and the E.R. is a place for that, as well.
My wife is a forensic psychiatrist, and I also incorporated her experience into novel. The story involves a serial killer who terrorizes a small town. We tend to think of such individuals as extremely rare. But many serial killers are sociopaths, and what I learned through discussion with my wife is that sociopaths are present in almost all communities. About 4% of men and 1% of women fit the diagnostic criteria. They frequently blend in to the community, and are harder to identify than one might imagine. Not all sociopaths become serial killers, of course, but for many of them the potential is there. If that doesn’t make you lock your doors at night, I don’t know what will.
by Blog Tour: Win A Copy Of No Mercy By John Burley
Thanks to John and Avon we have two copies of No Mercy to give away to celebrate it’s release on 3rd July.
To enter:
Comment on this post before the closing date of Wednesday 9th July 2014 at 23.59. The two winners will then be chosen at random from the entrants and announced on the Novel Kicks blog on Thursday 10th July 2014. The two winners will also be contacted via the e-mail they provide when they enter the competition. UK and Ireland only.
About the book:
The peaceful town of Wintersville is a place safe from the crime and congestion of city life, where neighbours feel like family. It’s the perfect place to live.
But when a teenager is discovered brutally murdered in the woods, it becomes clear that a psychopath is roaming the streets. Dr Ben Stevenson, the town’s medical examiner, and father of two young boys, becomes entangled in the hunt for the murderer, determined to keep his family safe.
by Blog Tour: No Mercy by John Burley – Review
The peaceful town of Wintersville is a place safe from the crime and congestion of city life, where neighbours feel like family. It’s the perfect place to live.
But when a teenager is discovered brutally murdered in the woods, it becomes clear that a psychopath is roaming the streets. Dr Ben Stevenson, the town’s medical examiner, and father of two young boys, becomes entangled in the hunt for the murderer, determined to keep his family safe.
But as Ben uncovers the dark secrets of his seemingly quiet community, he confronts a truth that will haunt him forever and puts those he loves in serious danger.
I do love a good mystery so I was intrigued to read this book once I had read the book blurb. The first few pages are a little graphic but at the same time, you’re immediately plunged into the story, the action and the lives of these people portrayed in the book.
Ben works in the local CO in the small town of Wintersville – a safe place that sees very little in the way of violent crime until the body of a teenager is found mutilated near the local high school which marks the beginning of a spree of murders.
by Novel Kicks Chats To Jon Rance
Jon’s previous novels include Happy Endings and This Thirtysomething Life. His new book, This Family Life, was released today. We chat to Jon about his new book, his writing rituals and the character he’d like to meet.
Happy publication day, Jon. Tell us about your new book, This Family Life and what inspired it?
Hello. It’s great to be back on Novel Kicks! This Family Life is the sequel to my debut novel This Thirtysomething Life. I always knew I wanted to write a sequel because I fell in love with the characters from the first book and I knew I had continue their story. Both books are in some ways autobiographical and I use lots of experiences from my own life as a parent. There’s just so much comedy in being a father.
The difference to the first book is that this is a much bigger story. The first book really focused on Harry going through pregnancy with his wife Emily, and the book covered the nine months until they had their baby. This Family Life takes us through their whole first year of parenthood, and includes more characters, some old ones return and a few new ones are introduced. This reason it’s called This Family life is because it focuses on Harry and Emily’s family a lot more. With the introduction of baby William, his grandparents are much more involved than the first book, and so we really see the whole family in all its complicated, hilarious, uncomfortable, and brilliant best.
If you loved the first book then I think you’re going to love this even more. I’ve tried so hard to make this sequel even better than the first book, and hopefully I’ve succeeded. It’s definitely a very real, honest, hilarious and heartwarming story about family life and being a new parent, and one that I hope my readers will be able to relate to and laugh along with.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Just lots of tea, coffee, and me staring at a blank screen waiting for inspiration. I think every book is a little different. I think the beginning process for me is the nearest I have to a ritual. When I start writing a book, it’s very much me just brainstorming ideas and I spend a long time writing down completely unrelated bits of lines, character info, jokes, ideas for scenes, and then eventually, after lots more coffee and tea, I start writing the actual book. I also wear my lucky underwear through the whole year-long process – which my wife isn’t very excited about.
by Novel Kicks Chats To Sue Watson
Sue was previously a journalist with national newspapers and magazines before moving on to being a TV Producer for the BBC. Deciding that she’d love to write a novel, Sue became a writer. Her latest book, Love Lies and Lemon Cake was released today. We chat with Sue about her book, her writing process and cake.
Are you a planner? Do you edit as you go? How many words do you aim for on a first and last draft?
I’m not a planner as such, I have a worked out synopsis but I like to allow the characters to develop while I’m writing. I usually write a first draft then add layers as I go over and over it – a bit like icing a cake! I start with about 90 thousand words and after editing and layering and cutting end up with about 80 thousand.
Can you tell us a little about Love, Lies and Lemon Cake (we love that title,) and how the idea came about?
It’s about a woman who’s disillusioned with her life, her marriage and her career. Discovering an old rucksack at the top of her wardrobe she is reminded of all the plans she’d had as an eighteen year old and when she opens it finds a list of all the things she’d planned to do with her life. She realises she’s barely ticked this list off – and decides to try and get her life back before it’s too late. Of course there’s a gorgeous man in the mix to help her achieve those dreams – and to add to his credentials he makes the most amazing lemon cake.
The story was driven by the title really. I used it as a chapter title in Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes which I wrote about 5 years ago and the title’s been in my head ever since.
by Novel Kicks Chats With Fiona Sussman
Can you tell us about Shifting Colours and where the idea originated.
‘Shifting Colours’ is a story of secrets, love and loss. Set against the violent backdrop of apartheid South Africa and then the calm of late twentieth century Britain, it traces the lives of Celia and Miriam – mother and daughter separated by land, sea and heart-rending circumstance.
Its genesis was a snapshot from a current-events programme I saw many years ago. I held the image in my head for a long time, knowing that one day I would elaborate a story from it.
What’s your writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals? Do yo prefer to write in silence?
I begin each day with a coffee expertly brewed by my husband, but only start writing after doing some sort of exercise (running/walking/Pilates) and then seeing my family off to their respective commitments. I’m usually at my desk by 9am and write through until 2pm, after which life again intervenes.
I try to write Monday to Friday and get very frustrated if I don’t manage to achieve this. I like to write in the silence of my study for a first draft, but for any editing and rewriting after that, I prefer to go down to a local coffee shop. I sit in the same corner each day – the owner calls it ‘my office’ – and a cappuccino and a piece of ginger-and-oat slice go a long way to improving my writing skills.
by A Moment With Marianne Kavanagh
Marianne Kavanagh is the author of For Once In My Life. She shares her writing tips for new writers.
- Read a lot, and think about how other people write.
- Find a writers’ organisation that suits you. I went along to seminars and events organised by Spread the Word in London, which I really recommend.
- Find a good plot. Most novels tell a story. It’s not enough just to write well.
- Remember that writing a novel is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
- Don’t give up.
Buy For Once In My Life from Amazon.
For Once In My Life is published by Text Publishing, 29th May 2014.
by A Moment With Lilian Carmine
Lilian Carmine is the author of The Lost Boys. The second in that series, The Lost Girl, was recently released by Ebury and is available in paperback and e-book.
Lilian, do you have any writing rituals? Do you prefer silence when you work?
I must have music to inspire me when I’m writing and a lot of coffee too. Those are the two essentials I must have before I begin to write anything.
What’s your best writing moment so far?
I love Tristan’s letter in The Lost Boys, it was a special emotional moment for me. And the ‘Without a word’ chapter in The Lost Girl was also very special to write.
by A Moment With Talli Roland
From My Head to the Page: Creating Main Characters.
Every book is different, but when it came to developing the main character for THE NO-KIDS CLUB, the ideas just flowed. Clare was there, waiting inside my head, already fully formed and biding her time under I finally sat down at the computer and started typing.
As with many of my characters, Clare contains a little piece of me. Like Clare, I never wanted to have children – for many of the reasons she outlines in the novel (although it’s fair to say I didn’t feel quite so vehemently about it!). I’d watched many of my friends become parents, marveled at how their lives changed, and wondered if having a baby really was worth all that upheaval. When Clare spilled out onto the page, a lot of my own sentiments did, too.
Of course, it’s never that easy. In any story, characters need to inhabit a world beyond their creator. I needed to figure out why Clare felt so strongly about not having kids, and how her character would transform and grow over the course of the novel. With each book, I ask myself what the main character wants in the beginning, who will stand in their way, and how their desires will change by the end. From there, I come up with ideas and scenarios that will either hinder or help the character’s development. I won’t give away the plot here, but let’s just say Clare’s notion of the life she thinks she wants is severely challenged!
by Novel Kicks chats to Mark Kotting
Mark Kotting’s novel, Teach Her was released by Legend Press in May. Mark had a chat with us about his novel, the simple way in which he deals with writer’s block and his favourite word.
Can you tell us about your novel, Teach Her and how the idea came about?
Teach Her is inspired by a teacher who i had the pleasure of sharing a class room with, she was nuts and had strange discipline methods.
Is there a character from fiction that you’d like to meet?
Jonathan Living Seagull.
Have you ever got writers block and if so, how do you deal with it?
I turn the music up.
Who would you invite to a fantasy dinner party?
I’d have to practise my table manners before I could come up with a list.
by The Separation Blog Tour – Dinah Jefferies On Her Main Characters
The Separation is the debut novel by author, Dinah Jefferies.
We are so happy to be welcoming Dinah and her blog tour to Novel Kicks today. Dinah chats to us about her main characters.
They say that a writer needs to fall in love with his or her characters, and I’ve discovered that can pitch you right into an emotional rollercoaster, in the way that a real love affair might. Take Emma, the second of my two main characters. Feisty and opinionated, but very loving, she was a delight to write. She has a temper, but I love her spirit, and her grief and anger at being separated from her mum, Lydia, and leaving Malaya, the country that she loves, is heartbreaking. As she says:
‘I imagined a fine line that ran halfway round the world. It was the invisible thread that stretched from west to east and back again; one end was attached to my mother’s heart and the other to mine. And I knew, whatever happened, that thread would never be broken.’
While Emma’s voice came in to my head straight away, it took longer to get to grips with Lydia. She’s sometimes misunderstood, but in some ways is a typical middle-class woman of the 1950s, when a wife was often under her husband’s control, and obliged to ask his permission about everything.
To make it worse, Lydia is a colonial wife just like my mother was. Not allowed to work and with not enough to do, through no fault of her own, Lydia, doesn’t turn to the increasingly early cocktail hour. Instead she sings, eventually in a night club, but she also makes her children’s clothes and her own. Lydia loves her children desperately, but trapped in a loveless marriage, she falls in love with Jack, and that costs her dearly, especially when she comes home to find her children gone, and is then faced with a hazardous journey through war- torn Malaya to find them.
by The Separation Blog Tour – Win A Copy
Penguin, 22nd May 2014
The Separation is the debut novel from author, Dinah Jefferies.
Thanks to Dinah and the lovely people at Penguin, we have a copy of The Separation to give away.
To enter:
Comment on this post with your name and county (UK and Ireland only.) Comment before the closing date of Sunday 1st June 2014 at 23.59. The winner will then be picked at random from the entrants and announced on the Novel Kicks blog on Monday 2nd June 2014. The winner will also be contacted via e-mail within 24 hours. Good Luck.
About the book:
What happens when a mother and her daughters are separated; who do they become when they believe it might be forever?
1953, the eve of the Cartwright’s departure from Malaya. Eleven-year-old Emma can’t understand why they’re leaving without their mother; why her taciturn father is refusing to answer questions.
Lydia arrives home to an empty house – there’s no sign of her husband Alec or her daughters. Panic stricken, she embarks on a dangerous journey to find them through the hot and civil-war-torn Malayan jungle – one that only the power of a mother’s love can help her to survive.
by The Separation Blog Tour – Review
What happens when a mother and her daughters are separated; who do they become when they believe it might be forever?
1953, the eve of the Cartwright’s departure from Malaya. Eleven-year-old Emma can’t understand why they’re leaving without their mother; why her taciturn father is refusing to answer questions.
Lydia arrives home to an empty house – there’s no sign of her husband Alec or her daughters. Panic stricken, she embarks on a dangerous journey to find them through the hot and civil-war-torn Malayan jungle – one that only the power of a mother’s love can help her to survive.
Not a book I would normally pick out from the shelves, I was very pleased that this book was brought to my attention and I had the opportunity to read it. I was hooked on this story from the moment I picked up the book and started to read.
The plot is compelling and in some places, it’s outright heartbreaking. The plot was paced so well. It’s told from two point of views – Lydia and her daughter Emma with each character taking up alternative chapters. I don’t think I can pick which character I preferred. To begin with, I was really interested in Emma’s part of the story but as the book went on, I couldn’t wait to read what happened to Lydia, who doesn’t seem to have much luck throughout the first half of the book especially as she tries to come to terms with tragedy and the idea of living without her children.
by Going Back Blog Tour – Music and Memory
We’re very pleased to be welcoming Rachael English to our blog today. As part of her blog tour for her new release, Going Back, she chats to us about Going Back, music and memory.
She closed her eyes as tightly as possible, so tight that the blackness faded to a caramel brown, the way it had done when she was a schoolgirl and the class were told to put their heads on the desk and go to sleep. She pretended she was on her own. Music spilled in from one of the other apartments: Tracy Chapman, ‘Fast Car’. She must have heard it a thousand times that summer.
This morning, I sent a hundred dollars to Stephen Sondheim. Not, I suspect, that one of the world’s most accomplished composers is in urgent need of money; it was payment for permission to use lyrics from one of his songs in my next book. Anyway, it got me thinking about music and songs and about the role they can play in books, especially when it comes to their power to bring you back to a certain time and place.
My book, Going Back, is a story in two parts: the first half is set in Boston in 1988, the second in present-day Dublin and Boston. For the early chapters I needed to evoke what it was like to be young and Irish in America at the end of the 1980s. I was helped by the fact that I did spend the summer of 1988 in Boston, so, to begin with, I wrote a list of all the things I remembered about those months.
The big stuff was easy; in no time at all, I’d scribbled down pages of notes about my job, Continue reading
by Going Back Blog Tour – Win A Copy Of The Book.
Win a copy of Going Back by Rachael English.
To celebrate the release and blog tour of Going Back, we have three copies of the book to give away, thanks to Rachael and Orion.
How to enter:
Comment on this post with your name and county. UK and Ireland only. The closing date will be Wednesday 28th May 2014 at 23.59. The three winners will then be chosen at random from the entrants and announced on the Novel Kicks blog on Thursday 29th May 2014. Winners will also be notified by e-mail.
About the book:
How do you know where you belong?
In June 1988, Elizabeth Kelly’s parents think she belongs at home in Ireland. Her boyfriend is certain of it. Unwilling to settle down just yet, she decides to spend the summer in Boston with her college friends. But the next four months change all of them, especially Elizabeth. Quiet and dutiful at home, she surprises herself and everyone else by falling for Danny Esposito, a restless charmer with a troublesome family. Continue reading
by Going Back Blog Tour – Review
Going Back by Rachael English.
How do you know where you belong?
In June 1988, Elizabeth Kelly’s parents think she belongs at home in Ireland. Her boyfriend is certain of it. Unwilling to settle down just yet, she decides to spend the summer in Boston with her college friends. But the next four months change all of them, especially Elizabeth. Quiet and dutiful at home, she surprises herself and everyone else by falling for Danny Esposito, a restless charmer with a troublesome family.
More than 20 years later with opportunities in Ireland scarce once again, a new generation looks to America, awakening memories of a golden summer for their parents. When a crisis occurs, Elizabeth returns to Boston where she is drawn back into the life she once lived. But will she be able to reconcile the dreams of her 20-year-old self with the woman she has become?
This book interested me when I read the blurb and it was a story I got engrossed in very quickly, reading it in almost one sitting. It does jump around a little between characters but once I was used to that, I flew through it.
Elizabeth sounds a little like me when I was her age in that I was a serious person so I could relate to that. Her behaviour is a little questionable Continue reading
by A Moment With Janey Lewis
Janey is the author of The Sweetness of Liberty James, released by The Book Guild in March 2014. Her book is about Liberty deciding to open up her own patisserie after going through a traumatic life changing event.
Today, Janey shares her five writing tips.
Only write for yourself.
Write about something you are passionate about. Books, like food, show if you put love into them.
Only write if you feel like it.
Read.
Read more.
The Sweetness of Liberty James is available to buy in hardback and e-book.
by A Moment With Renita D’Silva
Renita D’ Silva
Renita D’Silva’s novel, Monsoon Memories was released in 2013 and her second novel, The Forgotten Daughter was recently released by Bookouture. Renita talks about the books that she’s read that have made an impact on her.
Oh there are so many. I am reading constantly and I try and read as variedly as I can. While writing ‘MonsoonMemories’, some of the books that made a huge impact were Julie Myerson’s ‘Something might happen’,Chimamanda Ngosi Adichie’s ‘Purple Hibiscus’, MaggieO’Farrell’s ‘The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox’ and Rose Tremain’s ‘The Road Home’.
While writing ‘The Forgotten Daughter’ I read Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Blind Assassin’ and was blown away by the sheer beauty of her prose.
The book that made a big impact on me growing up was Arundhati Roy’s ‘The God of Small Things’. I obsessed over it – the plot, her prose, her beautifully evocative descriptions, Continue reading
by Novel Kicks Chats With William Thacker
Charm Offensive was published by Legend Press in March 2014.
William is an author and scriptwriter and this book is his debut novel. We chat with him about Charm Offensive, his writing rituals and his favourite word.
Can you tell us about Charm Offensive?
It’s a contemporary novel about a retired politician’s recovery from a scandal. It contains tragedy and comedy – two of my favourite bedfellows.
Which authors do you admire?
I admire many of the novelists and playwrights who are closely associated with the 1930s and 1940s – the likes of Steinbeck, Orwell and the neglected-until-recently Patrick Hamilton. I admire the moral integrity to their works which came amid economic depression and war. They had soul as well as style. I once wrote my dissertation on the great American playwrights – Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams – for the same reasons.
by A Moment With…Michelle Scott
The author of the Lilith Straight series, talks about writing urban fantasy.
I’ve always liked books that take me away from the humdrum of everyday life and into a world of monsters and heroes, demons and angels. My first introduction to these books came in the form of my mother’s old copy of Grimm’s Fairytales. Mind you, these weren’t the sanitized, Disney versions, but the raw, scary tales. There was a murder in nearly every story. Fingers were cut off. Eyes gouged out. People were eaten…
Fun times.
Yes, I was drawn to the scariness of the stories as much as I was the incredible world of fairies and giants and talking animals. I liked to think that one day I might run across something as rare and wonderful as a magic horse or a house made of sweets. I guess, in some ways, I’m still waiting for that day.
As I matured, so did my tastes. As a teenager, I fell in love with Anne Rice’s vampire novels. Instead of dreaming about knights and princes, I started dreaming about the vampire Lestat and his friend Louis. After those books, it was Sunshine by Robin McKinley. And then Mercy Thompson and Sookie Stackhouse.
Years have passed since then, but I’m still as into the supernatural now as I ever was. Of course, I’ve upgraded to werewolves and vampires and demons, but still. The same principles apply. Scary is good and the fantastic is awesome.
by A Moment With CL Taylor – Five Writing Tips
CL Taylor’s novel, The Accident, was released in April by Harper Collins.
Today, she shares with us her five tips for new writers…
1.Don’t write what you know, write about something you feel passionately about. When I wrote THE ACCIDENT I wanted to explore how an abusive relationship continues to affect the victim long after it ends. I think readers can sense when the writer feels passionately about a theme and it makes the novel a more powerful, compelling read.
2.Wait for the voice of the character to appear in your head before you write a word. It makes writing your novel a million times easier. Don’t force it, just wait. She or he will speak to you when you least expect it, just make sure you write down whatever they say as quickly as you can.
3.Don’t compare yourself to other writers or assume that they have it easy or are brimming with confidence. Published authors blog and tweet about their successes and keep their failures to themselves. I know so many authors who’ve had books rejected by their agents and their editors, even after they’ve been published to critical acclaim. EVERYONE, even multi-published and award-winning authors, feel insecure about their writing ability at some time and we all reach a certain point when writing a book where we’re utterly convinced that it’s rubbish and we should ditch it and start something new. The secret is to keep writing through those insecure periods (and stock up on chocolate and wine).
by Victoria Fox
Victoria is the author of Temptation Island, Hollywood Sinners and Wicked Ambition.
We chat to Victoria about her ideal dinner guests, her favourite author and her approach to writing.
What’s your writing style like?
Bonkbusters should have a great sense of humour and fun, and be a bit tongue-in-cheek, so that’s what I aim for. My characters are larger than life and get up to some seriously outrageous antics, so I try to keep my writing light and funny to accommodate this. All the bonkbusters I read as a teenager – Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran – have influenced my style. The thing I love best about these women is how ballsy and brave they are. I don’t want my sex scenes to be watered down or uninspired – they have to be confident, assured and blazing-hot!
Are you working on anything at the moment that you can tell us about?
I’m finishing the final draft of my new book POWER GAMES, which is published July 2014. This one’s about seven celebrities who fall victim to a shocking revenge plot: their private jet gets sabotaged and they must fight for survival in the Borneo jungle! It’s my most ambitious novel to date and I’m very excited.
Who is your favourite author? Continue reading
by A Seaside Affair Blog Tour – We Chat To Fern Britton
Photo: David Locke at Headshot London
A Seaside Affair by Fern Britton was released by HarperCollins on 24th April.
We are very pleased to welcome Fern and her blog tour to Novel Kicks. We had a chat about her book, the fictional character she’d like to meet and her advice for writers.
Can you tell us about A Seaside Affair?
A SEASIDE AFFAIR is my new novel, out on the 24th April, and it’s all about the theatre. The Pavilions theatre in Trevay specifically, which is the fictional Cornish village I write about, based on the real village of Padstow. Left to rack and ruin, not supported by the local people or the local council, it’s on the brink of closure, until a giant coffee chain step in and prepare to buy it. Of course, the community quickly rallies round and a host of villagers decide it’s worth saving! Actors and celebrities descend on the town, and there are affairs, flings, misunderstandings – lots of fun. I was partly inspired by my tour last year with Strictly Come Dancing. I used to be a stage manager myself in the 70s, and when I was on tour I spent a lot of time with the stage management crew, sharing stories about all the scandals that went on, and thinking, yes, I want to write about the theatre next!
Who has been your favourite character to write?
My favourite character – and it’s hard to choose them – Continue reading
by The Seaside Affair Blog Tour: Review
A Seaside Affair by Fern Britton.
We’re happy to welcome Fern to our blog today with her blog tour for her new novel, A Seaside Affair.
The Blurb:
When the residents of the Cornish seaside town of Trevay discover that their much-loved theatre is about to be taken over by coffee chain, Café au Lait, they are up in arms. It is up to Penny Leighton, hotshot producer and now happily married Cornish resident, to come up with a rescue plan. Armed with only her mobile phone and her contacts book, she starts to pull in some serious favours.
The town is soon deluged by actors, all keen to show their support and take part in a charity season at the theatre. One of the arrivals is Jess Tate, girlfriend to TV heartthrob Ryan Hearst. His career is on the rise while hers remains resolutely in the doldrums. But when opportunity comes calling, it isn’t just her career prospects that are about to change. Trevay is about to put on the show of its life – but can the villagers, and Jess, hold on to the thing they love the most?
This book was my introduction to Fern Britton’s novels and so I didn’t know what to expect. I did also read that there were recurring characters from her previous books but as I discovered, you don’t need to have read the previous novels to keep up with this one. All the old characters are reintroduced in a concise way without holding the plot up. Continue reading
by Jennie Ann Rake
Jennie and her writing space.
Jennie Ann Rake was a primary school teacher before opening her fair trade shop in 2005.
Deception, Lies and Chocolate Muffins is her debut novel and was released by Book Guild Publishing in September 2013. We chat with Jennie about her writing process, her ideal dinner guests and superpowers…
What was the experience like writing your novel alongside running your own business?
Writing in my shop was – overall – the ideal location. I had a nice flat surface, and a strategically placed display and pot plant behind which I could hide my notebook. Also, there are many times when you don’t get a customer in the shop for twenty or more minutes and it was great to ignore the dusting and speed on with my writing. Sometimes a customer might tell me something that gave rise to a spark of an idea. I never quote anything. I’d hate to think that I might be reprimanded about disclosing part of a private conversation. I don’t work full-time in the shop – although I run it and am responsible for ordering, paying suppliers, doing shop display – so I’d type up the latest chunk of story when I got home.
by A Moment With Pippa Croft
Pippa Croft is the author of The First Time We Met.
What was that first moment that you realized you wanted to become a writer?
I can tell you exactly. I was watching a BBC period drama called North & South in November 2004. Although I’d always worked as a journalist and copywriter, I’d shied away from writing fiction. I was worried that I’d be rubbish at it and I didn’t have any inspiration. North & South suddenly – and out of blue – inspired me to have a go at writing some fan fiction, which was quite a new thing back then. I shared my story on an Internet forum and haven’t stopped writing since. In my role as a journalist, I also actually got to do a phone interview with the sexy star of North & South, Richard Armitage.
What authors, books, or ideas have influenced you most?
Jane Austen, definitely, Continue reading
by The Illusionists Blog Tour – Review
The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas.
London 1870.
A terrifying place for a young, beautiful woman of limited means. But Eliza is modern before her time. Not for her the stifling if respectable conventionality of marriage, children, domestic drudgery. She longs for more. Through her work as an artist’s model, she meets the magnetic and irascible Devil – a born showman whose dream is to run his own theatre company.
Devil’s right-hand man is the improbably named Carlo Bonomi, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. Carlo and Devil clash at every opportunity and it constantly falls upon Eliza to broker an uneasy peace between them. And then there is Jasper Button. Mild-mannered, and a family man at heart, it is his gift as an artist which makes him the unlikely final member of the motley crew.
Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked: the fortune of one depends on the fortune of the other. And as Eliza gets sucked into the seductive and dangerous world her strange companions inhabit, she risks not only her heart, but also her life…
by The Illusionists Blog Tour – We Chat to Rosie Thomas
The Illusionists by Rosie Thomas.
We are very happy to welcome Rosie and her blog tour for The Illusionists which has just been released by HarperCollins. We chat to Rosie about her book, her fantasy dinner party guests and where in history she would like to go…
Can you tell us about The Illusionists and how did the idea originate?
In one sense The Illusionists is about imagination and reality, and I have taken stage magic as a means of illustrating how we don’t always know the difference between the two. Devil Wix, my anti-hero hero, is struck as a young boy by the gift of ‘wonder’ in a harsh world, and he sets out to create wonderment through magic and illusion. The setting is Victorian London, starting in the 1870s, so it’s quite creepy and gothic in places. It’s also a love story between Devil and Eliza Dunlop, who is a modern woman looking for more from her life than marriage and motherhood. There’s also a cast of strange characters including a dwarf, an engineer of automata, and a woman made of cogs and springs. Their theatre of magic and illusion, the Palmyra, is a character too. The idea for the story came to me when I was researching a classic ‘box trick’ for a scene in The Kashmir Shawl.
Which authors do you admire and is there a book that’s stuck with you?
I like Anthony Trollope. There’s so much sly wit and energy in his books, but he is full of human sympathy too and he doesn’t caricature the way Dickens does. I’ve always loved Georgette Heyer – such lightness and sparkle. Continue reading
by A Place To Call Home Blog Tour – Review
Sphere, April 2014
A Place To Call Home by Carole Matthews.
Ayesha flees her abusive husband in the middle of the night. Scared and alone, they go to London where they take shelter in the home of reclusive pop star, Hayden Daniels. Ayesha and her daughter Sabina soon find a family with the occupants of Hayden’s home. Crystal and Joy, the other people taking refuge in the house soon become Ayesha’s friends as she tries to find her feet and her new life for her and Sabina. However, she doesn’t stop looking over her shoulder wondering when and if her past was going to catch up with her.
This book tackles quite a dark subject of domestic abuse with sensitivity, warmth and humour. The characters drew me in from the first page as I wanted to know whether Ayesha and Sabina were going to be OK. At the beginning, Ayesha is very timid and very unsure of herself and I loved seeing how she progressed for the better through the book whilst she was with Hayden, Crystal and Joy.
The mix of characters were fascinating, funny and loveable. I especially thought Crystal was great. I want to be her friend. Despite the bad things in her life she still manages to be positive. I disliked Suresh immensely and although I am ashamed to say it, I still could feel little sympathy for him, even at the end.
by A Place To Call Home Blog Tour – We Chat To Carole Matthews
A Place To Call Home is the fantastic new novel from Carole Matthews.
We’re very happy and excited to welcome the lovely Carole Matthews and her blog tour to Novel Kicks. Her latest book was released by Sphere on 10th April and we chat with Carole about it as well as what writing rituals she has and which fictional character she’d like to meet.
Can you tell us about A Place To Call Home?
Yes, it’s a story about a woman who escapes an abusive relationship and flees with her daughter. She ends up living with a rag-tag of characters in a place that she comes to feel safe. When that’s threatened she does everything she can to save it. The story is about finding a place to belong and making a family out of a fairly disparate bunch of people. It’s very heart-warming and a little bit teary too.
Do you plan and do you edit as you go?
Yes, I do a lot of planning and have a four or five page synopsis when I start out that I pretty much stick to. I start every morning by editing what I’ve written the day before and, then, when I’ve completed one draft, I go through it all again.
by Portia MacIntosh
Portia is the author of How Not to be Starstruck and Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place.
Hi Portia, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us about Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place and How Not to be Starstruck?
My books tell the tale of music journalist Nicole Wilde, and the situations she finds herself in thanks to her famous mates, newsworthy relationships and generally chaotic lifestyle. Between a Rockstar and a Hard Place takes place over 24 hours, and sees Nicole’s rockstar best friend get drunk and go missing in a hotel, whereas How Not to be Starstruck takes place over several months and is more of an insight into that kind of lifestyle.
What’s your writing process like? Planning, editing?
Messy. Finding time to write is something that I have found difficult to fit in (which you can read more about in my guest post, My Constantly Changing Writing Space). When you’re touring, going to gigs and sleeping in different places, you can’t always have access to a laptop. Sometimes you have to use a pen and write on bits or paper, or write entire chapters in the notes app on your phone. Editing is something I have to make time with a laptop for. I’m just so lucky to be living in an age where my laptop, phone and tablet all link together and share information. I still have to type up my written notes the old-fashioned way though [laughs].
by Book Club
