Category Archives: women’s fiction

Accent Press, contemporary fiction, Kate Field, Novels, women's fiction

THE MAGIC OF RAMBLINGS by Kate Field #guestpost #giveaway

September 12, 2016 Melanie 2 Comments

The Magic of ramblings

by

Kate Field

Genre: Contemporary women’s fiction

Release Date: 8 September 2016

Publisher: Accent Press

Running away can be the answer if you run to the right place…

When Cassie accepts a job as companion to an old lady in a remote Lancashire village, she hopes for a quiet life where she can forget herself, her past and most especially men. The last thing she wants is to be drawn into saving a community that seems determined to take her to its heart – and to resuscitate hers…

Frances has lived a reclusive life at Ramblings, a Victorian Gothic mansion, for over thirty years and now Barney is hiding away there, forging a new life after his medical career ended in scandal. He doesn’t trust the mysterious woman who comes to live with his rich aunt, especially when she starts to steal Frances’ affection – and maybe his own too…

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AMAZON

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My Writing Room by Kate Field

One of my favourite blog posts by authors is the ‘My writing room’ feature. I’m unashamedly nosy, and love driving round at that time in the early evening when lamps are lit but curtains not yet closed, looking in at thumbnails of other people’s lives through front windows.

A couple of years after we moved to our current house, we finally emptied the last of the packing boxes, and bought a desk for the study. It’s a lovely room, with an overflowing bookcase filling one wall, a glorious view over fields, and on the rare occasion when we have a sunny day, the light streams through the window. Here it is:

Kate Field

I wish I could say that this was my writing room. It would be such a treat to come in here each morning for a few uninterrupted hours with my notebook and pen. But the truth is that I’ve never written a word at that desk. Like most other writers, I have a day job and a family, and writing has to fit in the gaps, whenever and wherever it can.

In reality, much of The Magic of Ramblings was written in the kitchen, while keeping an eye on the dinner and struggling to help with impossible homework questions. Some of it was written in the car outside school, or in Sainsbury’s car park while waiting for a Saturday morning activity to end. Sparks of inspiration for scenes and conversations flared during the ironing or on the drive to work.

For me, the important point isn’t where I write, but where I write about. Ramblings is set in Lancashire, the county where I live and which I love. Here’s a picture taken on one of my favourite walks:

Kate Field

This is the Lancashire where my stories come to life. Cassie, my heroine, might lean on this gate to admire the view as she takes her solitary walks around the Ramblings estate; Barney, my hero, would stride through these fields, his dog, Gin, scampering at his heels.

So I don’t think it matters whether I use a writing room or not. As long as I have a window, I can look out and see thumbnails of my characters’ lives, and it’s all the inspiration I need.

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ABOUT KATE FIELD

Kate Field

Kate Field lives in Lancashire with her husband, daughter, and a recently arrived Russian Blue kitten, who may prove so distracting that she never has time to write again. The Magic of Ramblings is her first published novel.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateFieldAuthor/

Twitter: @katehaswords

GIVEAWAY

A £25 or equivalent Amazon Voucher

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#cover, #reveal, Book covers, cover reveal, family noir, Novels, Pauline Barclay, The Wendy House, women's fiction

The Wendy House by Pauline Barclay #cover #reveal

August 27, 2016 Melanie Leave a comment

wendy

The Wendy House

by

Pauline Barclay

When Nicola changes overnight from a bright, happy young child into a sullen, rebellious girl, ceasing to show interest in anything or anyone around her, her parents struggle to understand why. As she develops into a difficult, troubled, hostile teenager they put it down to hormones, believing it will pass. Yet Nicola goes from bad to worse and no matter how much her mother tries to reach out to her, it seems she is hell bent on self-destruction. When she leaves home at seventeen, rushing into the arms of a man ten years her senior and quickly becoming pregnant, her despairing mother almost gives up on her. A decade later, the events that stole Nicola’s childhood and changed the course of her life threaten finally to destroy her. She knows if she is to cling on to her sanity she must tell her mother the dreadful secret she has carried all these years, but her fear that she will be met with disbelief, hostility and branded an evil liar drives her to the edge.

A heart-rending story of betrayal, secrets and gripping fear.

Publication Date: Saturday 3^rd September

Genre: Women’s Fiction / Family-Noir

The Wendy House is available in Kindle for pre-order on all Amazon sites including

Amazon co uk

Amazon com

A little about Pauline

Wendy

I am from Yorkshire, but have lived in several different locations including, Suffolk, Surrey and Holland. Today, I live on one of the beautiful volcanic islands of the Canary Isles with my husband and our two gorgeous rescue doggies.

Years ago I gained a BA (Hons) degree from the Open University, today I spend my time writing fiction. I have five books published, plus a 20 minute short festive story.

My passion is to write about events that happen in life and change everything for those involved as well as those caught up in the maelstrom. I want my characters to sit at your side, steal your attention and sweep you up in their story. Stories that will bring tears to your eyes, have you laughing out loud and sometimes, what they share with you, will stay in your hearts for a very long time.

www.paulinebarclay.co.uk

http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com

Facebook

Twitter: @paulinembarclay

Instagram: @paulinebarclay

Book covers, Book Promo, contemporary romance, giveaway, Melissa Foster, Novels, women's fiction

BOOK PROMO ~ Seaside Nights by Melissa Foster

September 7, 2015 Melanie 2 Comments

Seaside Nights

by

Melissa Foster

Fall in love with Sky Lacroux and Sawyer Bass in Seaside Nights, the fifth book in the Seaside Summers series!

Sky Lacroux has finally realized her dream and opened her own tattoo shop in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She’s happy as can be, renting a cottage in the Seaside community while renovations to her new apartment are being completed and preparing the shop for its grand opening. The only thing missing is the one thing she longs for, and has no control over—love.

Sawyer Bass, a professional boxer, plays his guitar to escape the painful reality of his father’s failing health and a recent health warning of his own. But when he spots a stunning brunette across the room, escaping reality goes out the door—and the beautiful woman becomes the focus of his next song—and maybe even the rest of his life.

When Sawyer walks into Sky’s tattoo shop and sees the woman from the bar—Sky—the chemistry between them is instant. Sawyer is everything Sky could ever hope for in a man. He’s honest, loving, sensitive, and potently virile—but boxing goes against everything Sky believes in. The closer they become, the more she realizes that her alpha boxer is waging his own emotional battle—only the battle she thinks he’s waging isn’t the one that threatens to tear them apart.

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ABOUT MELISSA FOSTER

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the World Literary Café and Fostering Success. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.

Visit Melissa on social media. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

Authors Links:

http://www.melissafoster.com/newsletter/

GIVEAWAY

The giveaway will be the previous book in the series SEASIDE SECRETS

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Authors, Linda Gillard, Novels, Paranormal romance, Publishing, women's fiction, Writing

Author Interview with Linda Gillard

March 21, 2015 Melanie 4 Comments

I’m thrilled to welcome Scottish author of seven brilliant novels, Linda Gillard, to Celtic Connexions. I’m so excited to host you here today. I’ve read all of your novels and loved them. I’m anxiously waiting for number eight.

Shall we get started?

When did you first get bitten by the writing bug?

1999. I was at home recovering from a nervous breakdown. I’d recently given up teaching which I’d found very stressful. I taught in an unruly school in an impoverished area. One day a disturbed pupil punched me during a lesson and I decided I’d had enough.

I was diagnosed with depression and eventually mild bipolar. I recuperated at home doing a lot of reading and quilt-making, then I read a book called Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise deSalvo. One paragraph sent me straight to my PC and I started to write – almost automatically – the opening page of what became my first novel, EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY.

http://www.amazon.ca/EMOTIONAL-GEOLOGY-Linda-Gillard-ebook/dp/B0055T357G/ref=sr_1_6_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423578797&sr=8-6&keywords=linda+gillard

I was writing for myself, just an escapist novel that was something like an alternative autobiography, but before long I was hooked on writing – and completely in love with my hero!

I’d been an actress and a journalist before I trained as a teacher and writing put me in touch with words and creativity again. I realised writing was the only thing I wanted to do and it led to a new and successful career as a novelist.

I was 53 when EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY was published, so I always tell people it’s never too late to start writing and you never have to retire!

Are you a plotter or a pantster or a combination of the two?

I used not to plot very much and I’ve never begun a book knowing how it will end. Readers often describe my books as “un-put-downable” and I wonder if that’s because even I don’t know how they’re going to turn out. I write to find out what happens.

I think if you let it, your unconscious mind will write a better book than your conscious mind. Your conscious mind will go for quick fixes, easy answers. Your unconscious will surprise you and the reader.

When I was writing HOUSE OF SILENCE

http://www.amazon.ca/HOUSE-SILENCE-Linda-Gillard-ebook/dp/B004USSPN2/ref=sr_1_2_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423578897&sr=8-2&keywords=linda+gillard I didn’t know until quite late on which man the heroine would end up with. The decision I eventually made was one my publisher wanted to reverse and that was one of the reasons I withdrew the book. I didn’t want to re-write for what I considered to be commercial reasons.

I’m now working on my eighth novel and I’ve planned the last few books a bit more, but there are always surprises. I can be writing a scene and some twist will suddenly strike me, or I’ll realise something important about a character’s back story that I didn’t realise. I always listen to my characters and write what they tell me to write, even when I think the story should go in a different direction. Your characters always know best.

Ed. note. House of Silence was the first novel written by you that I read. It’s stuck with me and I want to read it again but most of all, it made me look for more books written by you.

You parted ways with your publisher with House of Silence, because they said it would be too difficult to market, if I remember correctly. Any regrets?

No. It was the best thing I ever did, both creatively and financially, although at the time it felt like professional suicide. I hoped I’d get another publisher, but after 2 years my agent hadn’t found one. We just had a lot of nice rejection emails saying editors liked my books but couldn’t see how to market them.

My fans kept asking for a new book and I had two that my agent had been unable to sell, so I decided to publish them myself. This was in 2011 and indie publishing was quite new. I didn’t expect to sell many copies, but HOUSE OF SILENCE became a Kindle bestseller. Amazon selected it as one of their Top Ten in the indie author category. I re-published my out-of-print backlist and 4 new books and I now earn a living from writing non-genre fiction which is quite rare.

But it’s a lot of work being indie. I’d rather be writing than doing admin and marketing, but I’ve really enjoyed working with a designer on my covers. In my opinion two of my traditionally published novels were sabotaged by their covers and I had a title foisted on me that I hated, so it means a lot to have books that have titles and covers I’m proud of.

How much research do you have to do in advance of sitting down to write?

In advance, not that much. I do preliminary research but start writing as soon as I can. I think if you do too much research it can take over. It’s tempting to include fascinating facts even though they don’t actually help tell the story. I keep in mind Elmore Leonard’s advice to writers: “Try to leave out the parts readers skip”!

You need to do just enough research to be able to write the story. As you write, it becomes clear where the gaps are. But you can do more research later, after you’ve finished the book if necessary.

I recall seeing pictures on Facebook you’d taken while on a tour of a stately home for use in an upcoming book (possibly your work-in-progress). How many actual locations – castles, mansions, cottages, etc. make it into your novels as fictional ones?

I usually base my locations on real places and buildings but they’re adapted. I lift bits from several different places and combine them to make a new location. So the decrepit Scottish castle in CAULDSTANE

http://www.amazon.ca/CAULDSTANE-Linda-Gillard-ebook/dp/B00HZYAIOM/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423579166&sr=8-1&keywords=linda+gillard was inspired by several that I visited in the Highlands – Cawdor, Crathes, but mainly Craigievar in Aberdeenshire.

I visit places as part of my research but I also use photographs. I visited a lot of ruined tower houses for UNTYING THE KNOT http://www.amazon.ca/UNTYING-KNOT-Linda-Gillard-ebook/dp/B005JTAMQO/ref=sr_1_3_twi_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423579351&sr=8-3&keywords=linda+Gillard but for the restored version of Tullibardine Tower I had to rely on photographs of towers that had been refurbished as family homes.

Of all the books you’ve written to date, does one remain your favourite?

I think my best book is A LIFETIME BURNING but my favourite – the one of which I’m most fond – is HOUSE OF SILENCE. I really enjoyed writing that one, though the plot did rather strain my brain! Both HOS and ALB are family stories and I enjoy writing about extended families.

Of all the places you’ve lived in Scotland, is there one would you like to return to or would you like to stay in your current location?

I would like to return to the Isle of Skye where I lived for six years. I wish I had a holiday home there, but it wouldn’t be very convenient. Skye is a long way. When I lived there hardly anyone came to see me from the south and I didn’t see much of my adult children, so I think I’d just have to go back for holidays. But not in the summer. Skye midges are legendary for their ferociousness!

There are three words that come to mind when I look at these photographs of your home on Skye – beautiful, rugged, remote.

~~~

Biography

Linda Gillard lives in the Scottish Highlands and has been an actress, journalist and teacher. She is the author of seven novels, including STAR GAZING, short-listed in 2009 for Romantic Novel of the Year and HOUSE OF SILENCE, which became a Kindle bestseller and was selected by Amazon UK as one of their Top Ten “Best of 2011” in the Indie Author category.

Links

Website: www.lindagillard.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaGillardAuthor

anthology, Carol Cooper, Jane Davis, Jessica Bell, Joni Rodgers, Kathleen Jones, Novels, Orna Ross, Roz Morris, women's fiction, Writing

OUTSIDE THE BOX ~ Women Writing Women

February 25, 2015 Melanie Leave a comment

Seven authors, all with impeccable writing credentials, present their anthology called OUTSIDE THE BOX: Women Writing Women.

We’ve each proved our worth with awards, fellowships, teaching posts and commercial success. We’ve all self-published to keep our hard-earned independence and our artistic identity. Now we’re teaming up for an ebook collection of our full-length fiction featuring a diverse collection of unlikely heroines. There’s no one genre. Each novel is a character-led page-turner.

We want to prove that fine, original writers are creating work of value and quality. And we want to entertain you.

The anthology will be available for 90 days from February 21, 2015.

BLUE MERCY by Orna Ross

The book: Mercy stands accused of killing her elderly and tyrannical father. Now, at the end of her life, she needs Star, the daughter she fought to protect, to know what really happened that fateful night in 1989.

The author: Orna Ross writes novels, poems and the Go Creative! book series. The Bookseller calls her “one of the 100 most influential people in publishing” for her work with The Alliance of Independent Authors.

CRAZY FOR TRYING by Joni Rodgers

The book: A regional bestseller short-listed for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. In the 1970s, a troubled young woman heads west to create a new identity and shake off the burden of her mother’s radical past, but love and loneliness take her life in an unexpected direction.

The author: Joni Rogers hit the New York Times bestseller list with her cancer memoir Bald in the Land of Big Hair. She is also ghost-writer of numerous other bestsellers and founder of the League of Extraordinary Authors. Joni lives in Houston, Texas.

MY MEMORIES OF A FUTURE LIFE by Roz Morris

The book: In this work of literary fiction, a brilliant pianist’s career is ended by injury. She turns to a mysterious healer and faces the possibility that her life is someone else’s past incarnation.

The author: Roz Morris earned her spurs as a ghost-writer, selling more than four million books writing the novels of other people. She is a writers’ mentor and a radio show host, and she teaches writing masterclasses for The Guardian newspaper.

THE CENTAURESS by Kathleen Jones

The book: Bereaved biographer Alex Forbes goes to war-ravaged Croatia to research the life of a celebrity artist and finds herself at the centre of a family conflict after she uncovers a mutilated photograph, stolen letters and a story of indeterminate gender, passion and betrayal.

The author: Kathleen Jones lives in Italy and is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow. She is best known for her award-winning biographies, and has also written extensively for the BBC.

AN UNCHOREOGRAPHED LIFE by Jane Davis

The book: Alison gave up the chance to be a prima ballerina when she became pregnant and turned to prostitution to provide for her child, but the tempting hope of a better life may come at a terrible price.

The author: Jane Davis won the Daily Mail Award for her first novel, which secured her a publishing contract. She has now gone on to self-publish four other novels and isn’t afraid to tackle the trickiest of subjects.

ONE NIGHT AT THE JACARANDA by Carol Cooper

The book: Diagnosed with cancer, Sanjay has no time to waste. Laure is a successful lawyer, Harriet is a struggling freelance writer, and Karen is a single mother of four. Before they can find a soul-mate, they each need to confront who they really are.

The author: Carol Cooper is a London-based journalist and award-winning non-fiction author. Her debut novel was a finalist in the Indie Excellence Awards 2014. In her spare time she’s a doctor.

WHITE LADY by Jessica Bell

The book: Sonia, unfaithful wife of a Melbourne drug lord, yearns for sharp objects and blood. But now that she’s rehabilitating herself as a “normal” mother and maths teacher, it’s time to stop dreaming about slicing people’s throats. Easier said than done.

The author: Jessica Bell is an Australian novelist, poet, singer/ songwriter /guitarist who lives in Athens, Greece. She is Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal and author of the bestselling Writing in a Nutshell series.

OUTSIDE THE BOX: Women Writing Women (February 20, 2015 for 90 days) £7.99/$9.99 from Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo and more.

More information on www.womenwritewomen.com.

Some of the authors have answered a couple of questions –

Why do you write?

Carol Cooper:

I’ve always written though I can’t say exactly why. Most probably it began to fill a void. I was so lonely growing up that I invented a large family of sisters, all of them with Hispanic names, which I considered very romantic. As a child I wrote stories about witches burning to death from smoking in bed, perhaps a bit like the medical opinion pieces I now write for The Sun newspaper. As a student it was music reviews, which got me into the best gigs in Cambridge, but writing remained just a hobby till I began making money from magazine columns. The articles in Punch were frivolous, though pieces like those in the Financial Times were more solemn and came from my experience as a doctor. I then had a run of non-fiction books, and at the end of 2013 I published my novel One Night at the Jacaranda, which is finally the kind of fiction I’d most like to read myself for pleasure. It’s a departure in style for me, but it feels completely natural. After all, it’s still the same basic process of getting words down.

Why did you get together for this compilation?

Joni Rogers:

I actually met Roz, Orna and Jane’s books before I met them, which is the best possible way to make friends with another author. I read and loved Orna’s linked novels After the Rising and Before the Fall and learned about her life as a publishing industry mover/shaker when I was searching to see what else she’d written. She turned me on to Roz’s book My Memories of a Future Life, which I inhaled one weekend when I was down with the flu, and as I recall, we connected on Facebook after I reviewed it. When I learned Jane Davis’s An Unchoreographed Life would be in this collection, I had already bought it on Kindle. I’m thrilled to be in such good company professionally, and we’re all quickly becoming good friends.

“Most collections are from just one author, or one publisher, or at least in the same genre, whether that’s historical romance or detective fiction. But these seven books are very different. [How] do you think the mix [of genres] will work for readers?”

Jessica Bell:

True, most authors who have found success with the box sets were a part of very genre-driven compilations. But that’s where Outside the Box: Women Writing Women differs. The spotlight is on “unlikely heroines” and, though the seven novels included may all fit the Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction slot, they are all remarkably and uniquely different in style, which I believe to be a very strong attraction. There are readers out there who don’t like to read the same kind of genre, or about the same kind of characters over and over. This box set is for them.

That’s a very striking cover. How did you choose it?

Jane Davis:

We have here a very experienced team of self-publishers. I think it’s fair to say that we all play to our strengths and know how we can best contribute. It has been wonderful to have someone who designs book covers and interiors spearhead the project. Like everything we’ve done together, all the decisions were democratic.