A Moment With… Mary Wood
I am pleased to be welcoming Mary Wood to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, To Find My Mother.
A HARROWING AND YET UPLIFTING STORY OF SURVIVAL AND LOVE
Best friends Jana and Eva are carefree eight-year-olds in Prague-until Nazi occupation tears their lives apart.
As their mothers are taken away and the girls face the horrors of war, survival becomes all that matters
In Theresienstadt, two desperate women make unimaginable sacrifices to one day find their children.
But will love and hope be enough to help them reunite?
To chat about her writing and experience in both the self and traditional publishing world, it’s over to you, Mary.
Coming Full Circle.
Hello, everyone, it’s great to be here on this lovely blog.
I am the author of THIRTY-SIX published books: My latest being: ‘TO FIND MY MOTHER’ a story set in the holocaust.
After twenty years of trying, my career began with Amazon offering a lifeline to wannabee authors to self-publish, and sell, their books.
I was nervous at first. Self-publishing had previously been known as vanity publishing, and it was said publishers wouldn’t consider your book if you had indulged in this practice.
But I took the plunge when a fellow wannabee author and friend, published on Amazon. One day she contacted and told me I must join; that it was wonderful to be published, and she had just earned £400 for a month’s sales! Wow, did my ears prick up! We were rock-bottom and this was a fortune.
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A big massive hello to Berni Stevens. She’s here with the blog tour for her book, Bad Moon Rising.
Rock and roll relationships are complicated. They’re even worse when one of you is a werewolf.
Stevie Vane, nightclub manager of Dusk, prefers London’s nightlife to life in the pack — fewer claws, fewer challengers, far less bloodshed.
But when tragedy strikes, Stevie is forced back into a world where dominance of the pack is won by strength… and every weakness is punished. Some new members begin a brutal contest for control, and they soon discover his greatest weakness is Kat Matthews.
Kat’s band has just landed the best gig of their career at Dusk. And the instant chemistry between her and the charismatic manager is undeniable — but so are the secrets he’s keeping. Secrets that come with sharp teeth.
As the rival wolves close in and old grudges resurface, Stevie realises it isn’t just his pack at risk. It’s the woman he loves.
Witty, romantic, and gripping, Bad Moon Rising is the third book in The Immortals of London series– where feelings run wild and loyalty can cost you everything.
Berni has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
*****beginning of extract*****
Stevie drops Kat home after their first date …
I released the seat belt and turned to face him. ‘It’s been great. Thanks, Stevie,’ I said.
He leaned forward to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. ‘It’s been more than a pleasure.’ He gently tilted my chin upwards and kissed me softly on the lips. My stomach did a strange kind of flip at his kiss and I looked into his eyes as he drew back.
‘When are you free again?’
‘Not until Monday. Are you working?’
He nodded. ‘Want to come and sit at my bar?’
‘Sure.’
‘I’ll pick you up at seven and we’ll grab something to eat on the way.’
‘See, there you go again – feeding me. I’ll never be able to resist you now.’
‘That’s the plan.’ He leaned in and kissed me again. Another gentle kiss, but a kiss with an underlying promise of passion. He cradled my face with his hand and dropped one more feathery kiss on my forehead. ‘Go inside, little rock chick, before I change my mind and kidnap you.’
‘I’m going, but only because I might let you.’
He gave his now-familiar throaty chuckle and leaned across me to open my door.
Sliding out of the car, I leaned back in the open doorway. ‘Goodnight, Mr Bartender. See you Monday.’
‘Count on it. I hope the gigs go well.’
I closed the door and he drove off. The tail lights of his car held my attention until they turned the corner at the bottom of the road. I hadn’t felt like a besotted teenager since … well … since Josh, actually.
‘And look how that turned out,’ I muttered to myself.
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It’s a pleasure to be welcoming Isobel Blackthorn to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, The Haunting of Willows Cottage, the third story in the Strathbairn Trilogy.
Ingrid and her daughter Susan return to the Western Highlands of Scotland, staying at Strathbairn with Gertrude McCleod while their new home, a cottage by the loch, is redecorated. The very same day, the ghosts of Ingrid’s past return when Gertrude’s brother Miles arrives with his new bride and his friend Timothy.
When her former beau turned betrayer Hamish starts work on a barn conversion, Ingrid is desperate to leave Strathbairn. She rushes to move into the cottage only to find she is sharing her new home with a violent ghost.
Realising the haunting is somehow connected to Strathbairn and sensing that something at Willows Cottage must be returned, she makes every effort to discover what that it is.
While Hamish and Gertrude conspire to force Ingrid into marriage, Timothy becomes a regular caller with a romantic motive. With two suitors and two marriage proposals, who will she choose – and can she solve the haunting of Willows Cottage?
A gripping conclusion to a classic gothic mystery trilogy laced with dark family secrets.
*****
Ingrid is hoping that her return to the Western Scottish Highlands will be a fresh start for both herself and her daughter, Susan. It’s not long after her arrival that she begins to feel unwelcome by both the living and ghostly inhabitants of Strathbairn.
I do like my paranormal mysteries and so I jumped at the chance to be a part of the blog tour for The Haunting of Willows Cottage.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: The Unfamiliar
Welcome to Fiction Friday, our weekly flash fiction challenge.
Here’s how it works:
Set a timer for five minutes and start writing
Keep going for as long as you can once the timer goes off
No editing allowed—raw writing only
When you’re finished, feel free to share in the comments (but there’s no pressure)
Today’s Prompt: The Unfamiliar –
You wake up in an unfamiliar room with no memory of how you got here.
by Novel Kicks Writing Room: Climax
Welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room and the Plot Challenge.
Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on plotting a piece of fiction, one task at a time.
These will potentially help you master plot structure by writing all major plot points, then analysing how each element builds toward a cohesive story.
Task 5: Climax –
This task is all about bringing the central conflict to its peak. You ideally want to force your protagonist to face what they’ve been avoiding.
When you’re doing this task, answer these questions –
by Book Club
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