Category Archives: Novels

loveahappyending.com author Richard F Holmes launches his Angelic Wisdom Trilogy

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Angelic Wisdom Trilogy

Richard Holmes’ Angelic Wisdom Trilogy combines three of Richard’s earlier volumes and has been updated.

This wonderful trilogy of angelic insights started life back in 2002, and was originally three separate volumes. It is a delightful piece of work that allows the reader to take a peek into the very souls of these truly amazing celestial beings that we like to refer to as angels. The first part of the book goes into great detail as to how the angels function and what they actually do for the Earth and mankind in general.

Part two gives a deep insight into spiritual (natural) law and answers the kind of questions that tend to keep the average mere mortal frustrated and in the dark. For example, have you ever wondered why you continuously seem to attract the same kinds of people into your life that always causes you hurt and pain? This question and many more are dealt with within the pages of part two.

There are also question and answer sessions in parts one and two, between the author and his celestial guardian, that are both thought provoking and interesting to say the least.

Finally, part three consists entirely of such a session and deals with matters that the author felt remained unanswered from the previous two volumes. This book will change your life; you can’t afford NOT to read it.

Celtic Connexions welcomes Gilli Allan

Celtic Connexions is thrilled to welcome author, Gilli Allan, fresh from her interview at Radio Stafford. No need to worry about hyperventilating here, Gilli. This is a really laid back, relaxed place but in case you do, I am prepared.

So we won’t beat around the bush any longer, we’ll get straight to the fire from the frying pan… well sort of. We’ll at least put Gilli on the hot seat.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and what initially sparked you to write.

I suspect I’ve always been a writer.  Long before I was capable of committing more than a few laborious sentences to the page, I routinely developed long and complex stories in my head, peopled typically with fairies, princes and princesses and the sons and daughters of red-Indian chieftains.  And at primary school, instead of the usual playground games, I forced my friends to enact these dramas.

The idea that I could write down the story I wanted to read did not occur to me until I was ten or thereabouts. Inspired by Georgette Heyer, my fifteen year old sister had begun to write her own Regency Romance.  I copied my big sister.  Set in the olden days, my plot revolved around a party of ladies visiting a lighthouse.  They were trapped there by bad weather.  During the storm, my young hero – the 16 year old son of the lighthouse keeper – fell on the rocks. Confined to a couch by his not too serious injuries, he was nursed by my young heroine. My sister finished her novel, but my imagination and energy failed after only three or four illustrated pages of a small format notebook. But the writing seed had been planted and I continued with the hobby through my teenage.

The ‘love on a lighthouse’ story was a one-off.  Although I did enjoy those Regency romances so beloved of my sister, my own writing settled into a more contemporary style, and dwelt in a darker, seedier world – a world I had no experience of.  I was a lazy and innocent middle-class teenager.  Doubtless I was compensating, through my romantic fantasies, for my lack of a real love life.  I had to rely entirely upon my imagination and, unsurprisingly, never finished anything. I’m sure I bored my friends witless by insisting on reading passages out to them in the break times of the girl’s grammar school I attended.  An experience which wasn’t enhanced for them by the fact I couldn’t get through more than a few sentences without giggling and getting embarrassed by the rude bits (and by rude I mean nothing more risqué than kissing. I was nothing like the bold, sassy teenagers of today!).

I never took seriously the idea of writing as a profession. After all, writers were clever, educated people.  I was neither.  I wasn’t a star pupil at school. I wasn’t even particularly outstanding in English. My parents were both artists.  They never discouraged my writing, but it was ignored. Their interest in my notebooks was not engaged by my literary pubescent outpourings, but by the doodles and illustrations which lavishly embellished them.  It was clear where they thought my talents lay.  I left school at 16 with just enough exam passes to get me into art-college.  In my early adult life I stopped writing.

My career was in advertising where I worked as an illustrator.  When I stopped work to look after my young son, I started writing again.

2. Torn and Life Class aren’t your first two novels. Can you tell us a bit about your earlier works?

The ‘love on a lighthouse’ story was a one-off.  Though I loved to read those Regency romances that had inspired my sister, my own writing swiftly settled into a more contemporary style, and dwelt in a darker, seamier world than the writing of Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer inhabited.

When I started to write again, after having my son, Tom, it was with the serious intention of finishing the book and getting it published.  The book was a contemporary love story, but although it followed many of the tropes of the category romance (I originally intended it for Mills & Boon), it was unconventional.

My heroine was a young woman whose very first love affair had ended in pregnancy, threatening her budding career.  The story opens when she is in hospital and going through a miscarriage. The romance is between her and the OB & GYN consultant!  When I first had the idea it made me laugh.  I thought: ‘If I can carry this off, I can do anything’. Just Before Dawn was the first novel I ever finished. Given my subsequent experience, I am now astounded it was almost immediately taken on by a publisher, the then new Love Stories.

At the time characterized as the “thinking woman’s Mills & Boon”, Love Stories was a one woman band.  Anne Dewe was looking for un-clichéd stories about women and relationships; stories with a love-theme but which need not be conventionally romantic.  My book fitted the bill.  Just Before Dawn went through its fair share of editing before publication.

Now, feeling full of confidence, I let my hair down and wrote the novel of my heart.  Desires & Dreams, also published by Love Stories, revisited the darker world of my teenage imagination. It was still a love story, but it totally subverted the ‘romance’ stereotypes.

The heroine feels suffocated and bored in her relationship.  She feels there is something missing. She fantasizes about having an affair with an old boyfriend.  On her way to meet him for a lunch-date in London, she’s accosted by a street artist.  He flatters and romances her while drawing her portrait and, already subconsciously primed to go off the rails, she becomes enthralled.  But the face he shows to ‘punters’ is very different to the real man. Poor, bad-tempered and obsessive, she couldn’t have made a worse choice.  But their fatal meeting changes both their lives.  This book is not an HEA!

Both my books were published in hardback, using my own artwork for the cover designs.  Sadly, a few years after publishing Desires & Dreams, Love Stories folded. It was unable to get the promotion, marketing and distribution to gain success for itself or its authors. This was a time when publishing was going through a lot of changes, and moving from a gentlemanly profession to big business.  What became important was not bringing on a new writer who was exploring a slightly off-beat and unproved area of romantic fiction, but publishing the latest slam-dunk best seller, or a new writer who could be described as ‘the next Joanna Trollope’ or whoever. My reflections on my lack of success can perhaps be discounted as special pleading, and the truth is – no one liked what I was writing!  Whatever the real reason, I’ve been unable to find a new mainstream publisher for any new work, from that that day to this.  Thank heaven for digital Indie publishing.

3. Have the rights on your first two novels reverted back to you? If so, would you consider e-publishing them?

Yes they have, many years ago.  In fact, after the rights reverted, the books were taken on by a then new, POD publisher who republished them in paperback, again with my own art work for the covers.  Sadly I believed what I was told about marketing and distribution. And didn’t understand the amount of work I needed to do to get the books noticed and sold.  Also, I think they’d even then passed their sell-by, and were becoming very out of date. They were written in the 1980s before mobile phones and the internet, let alone the twin towers, and the banking collapse.  I feel I would need to do an awful lot of work on them if I was going to reset them in the modern world.  Or I could leave them as they are, and market them as historicals!

4. You’re a member of the Romantic Novelists Association. Can you tell us what that means to you?

More than anything the RNA provides support and a network of friends who understand what it is to be a writer. Before I joined I knew no other writers.  My first two novels were published with no help or guidance from anyone, other than my publisher.  I lived then in Coulsdon, a town in Surrey within striking distance of London. It was only after my husband took a job in Cheltenham, and we moved to Gloucestershire, that I first found out about the Romantic Novelists Association.  I joined immediately and I’m very glad I did.  Apart from anything else, it provides an important component of my social life.

I have never been able to profit from the RNA’s wonderful New Writers Scheme because I was already a published author when I joined.  And I have to admit, it has been a slightly galling experience to meet so many unpublished writers in those early days, people like Katie Fforde (who lives just 2 or 3 miles away from me as the crow flies) and to watch them find publishers, sign contracts and go from nowhere to bestsellers, while I languished – the years steadily piling up since my flash-in-the-pan ‘success’.

5. In addition to the RNA, are you a member of any other writing groups/platforms?

I contribute to several on-line discussion platforms:  ROMNA, the on-line newsgroup of the RNA, British Romance Fiction and Post Chick Lit, and I’m a member of the collection of Indie writers, Famous Five plus. The last two are Facebook sites.  I also post regularly on several other groups.  I don’t belong to a real-life writing group.  Maybe I should but there’s not enough time in the world.

6. Can you tell us about Torn? And Life Class?

TORN

You can escape your old life, but can you ever escape yourself?

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
smashwords

ISBN =9781458003409

Jessica Avery is a woman in her early thirties with a three year old son, Rory.  She has made a series of wrong choices in her life – job, men and life-style.  Her job came to a disastrous conclusion.  The men in her life have let her down and her life-style involved too many pills, parties and promiscuity. But she believes that by quitting her old relationship and moving from London to the country, she has escaped all that.  Her choice now is to live a steady, responsible life in a tranquil new environment, putting her son’s needs and her role as mother as her number one priority.

But she finds country life less serene and bucolic than she expected. Her ex-partner tracks her down and assaults her as she leaves a local pub.  Luckily, a witness to the encounter steps in and helps to defuse the situation, but she is left badly shaken.  As an in-comer – and even worse, an ex-investment banker – Jessica is not made very welcome by the local mothers.  Then there is the management of the rural landscape – the interests of commerce versus the preservation of the environment – which begins to engage her interest and concern. She wonders if leaving London was the right move.

The narrative is played out against the low-key background story of a proposed by-pass to the local town. Initially Jessica favours a new road until she realizes the route it might take, tearing through the landscape she’s come to love.  She is torn between the pragmatic and the romantic decision. The friends Jess makes represent the differing positions. There is Danny Bowman, the counter-culture shepherd; his employer, James Warwick, affluent widowed farmer and father to three year old daughter, Sasha; Gilda Warwick, James’s match-making mother; and Sheila, the feminist nursery school owner.

The title – ‘Torn’ – can also be understood as referring to the personal choices which confront Jessica.  Despite vowing she wants no emotional entanglements in her life, she is attracted to two very different men.  She finds, to her cost, that in the face of temptation it is not so easy to throw off old habits and responses.  She is a woman who claims she has never been in love. Eventually she is prompted to re-evaluate this stance and to admit to herself, that beyond an undeniable physical attraction, she has indeed fallen in love, but with which one – the suitable man or the unsuitable boy?

LIFE CLASS

About art, life, love and learning lessons

(chosen as book of the week 1/7/12 on Radio Stafford FM’s Sunday afternoon book programme).

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
smashwords

The narrative follows four members of the class, who meet once a week to draw the human figure. All have failed to achieve what they thought they wanted in life. They come to realize that it’s not just the naked model they need to study and understand. Their stories are very different, but they all have secrets they hide from the world and from themselves. By uncovering and coming to terms with the past, maybe they can move on to an unimagined future.

Dory says she works in the sex trade, the clean-up end. She deals with the damage sex can cause. Her job has given her a jaundiced view of men, an attitude confirmed by the disintegration of her own relationships. The time seems right to pursue what she really wants in life, if she can work out what that is. She moves back from London to the country town where she grew up and where her sister still lives, yet she remains undecided whether to make it a permanent move. She’s always been clear eyed realist – love doesn’t figure in her view of the future – and yet she finds herself chasing a dream.

Stefan is a single-minded loner, whose only and overriding ambition is to make a living from his sculpture. So how the hell did he find himself facing a class of adults who want their old teacher back? If he can sell the big old house he’s inherited, he’ll be able to finance himself and concentrate on his work, and maybe give up the part-time teaching job. Love is an emotion he long ago closed off  ̶  it only leads to regret and shame  ̶  but it creeps up on him from more than one direction. Is it time to admit that letting others into his life is not defeat?

Fran – Dory’s older sister – is a wife and a stay-at-home mother without enough to keep her occupied. Her husband’s early retirement plans throws her into a panic. She sees her life closing down and narrowing into staid middle-age. On a collision course with her mid-life crisis, Fran craves the romance and excitement of her youth. An on-line flirtation with an old boyfriend becomes scarily obsessive, putting everything she really loves at risk.

Dominic is a damaged child. He has lived his life knowing all about sex but nothing about love. If he can only find his mother perhaps he can make sense of his past. But perhaps it is a doomed quest and it’s time to look to the future? If he can grow up enough to accept the help and love that’s on offer here and now, he has the chance to transform his life.

7. Which have your found the most difficult – the actual writing/editing of your novels, or the marketing and promotion?

A hard question to answer. I am not one of those writers who are bubbling geysers of plots and new ideas. In fact I’ve described starting a new book as like carving a block of granite with a teaspoon.  I begin with my characters and their back stories, and the scenario in which they come together. I might have a few elements in my mind about the story, but other than those few building blocks it’s always very nebulous and ill-defined.  It’s a type of approach aptly described ‘as into the mist’. (I apologize for mixing my granite and my mist metaphors!) In fact, when I was writing TORN I truthfully had NO idea how I was going to resolve it until I was within a couple of chapters of the end.  It was good.  I feel it made it fresh.  If I didn’t know, then the reader didn’t know either.

It’s the characters who tell you what’s going to happen.  And it’s wonderful and a bit magical when you suddenly get that ‘Of course!’ moment, and everything slots into place.  That’s what makes writing worthwhile – when the story catches fire and races off with you.  You’re left running behind, trying to catch up and get it all down. That’s when you need to be disciplined about the other things in life, like getting dressed, and doing the shopping, the washing and the ironing.

So then there’s the promo and marketing. I’m afraid I’m one of those typically English self-effacing types and find all that sort of thing terribly difficult.  In some ways it’s easier these days, in that you don’t have to telephone people and persuade them you’re the best thing since sliced bread. You can email.  And being digitally published it makes sense to use as many on-line opportunities that I can identify.  But I still don’t take advantage of every opportunity or ‘put myself out there’ as much as I could (or should?) For one thing, it all takes so much time.  I’m not a natural typist, I don’t think in perfect grammatical sentences, and the right words don’t necessarily come to me immediately. So, even just writing emails, I have to edit and correct far more than some people.

8. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

To become a published writer you need to be resilient, tenacious, obstinate, persistent and obsessive. You even need to have a degree of selfishness. In other you have to be bloody-minded.  Think of the ‘wobbly man’  ̶   one of those figures with a heavy rounded base. Though they do fall over if punched, they don’t stay down. They swing around and bob back up again.

And if you truly believe you’ve got what it takes, don’t just talk about it, do it!  There are always reasons to put it off.  But don’t wait until you have the time, until the children are off your hands, until you’ve gone part-time or you’ve retired.  If you procrastinate now, you may never begin, let alone finish.  If you really have a book (or books) in you, you will find a way!

Thanks so much for dropping by today, Gilli. It’s been a blast! And you didn’t need your hyperventilating bag.

You can follow Gilli online at the following links:

Writer Cramped. Gilli Allan’s Blog
On Facebook Gilli Allan
On Twitter @gilliallan
And over at Famous Five Plus

loveahappyending.com author Sheryl Browne launches Somebody to Love

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Somebody to Love

The first of three-book contract, Somebody to Love, described by my agent as ‘thoughtful but funny’ romantic fiction, is finally launched.

This is a book that is very special to me and I am truly delighted it has found a home. The story, centering around a single father’s search for that special someone, a woman with a heart big enough to love him and his autistic son, is fictional – but grew from a tiny incident that fuelled the desire to write it. Somebody to Love was inspired by ‘a lost little boy’. An autistic little boy, who was on a mission, it seemed, to throw his shoes over my garden fence in order to facilitate a meeting with my three-legged dog.

As mentioned, the story is fictional, based on a little fact, and a good deal of research, particularly in regard to Autism Assistance Dogs. To Karl, to three-legged Sadie, and with huge thanks to Danemere Animal Rescue Centre and Our Dog Publications.

After a turbulent marriage to a man who walked off hand-in-offshoot with something resembling a twig, divorced mum, Donna O’Conner, doubts happy endings exist. She’d quite like to find herself an Adonis with… pecs …and things. Alas, that’s not likely, when her only interest outside of work is hopping her three-legged dog in the park, carrying a poop-scoop. In any case, Donna isn’t sure she’d know what to do with an Adonis if she fell on one. When PC Mark Evans comes along, gloriously gift-wrapped in blue, however, she can’t help wishing she did.

Mark, a single father, is desperate for love. He doesn’t hold out much hope, though, that there is a woman out there with a heart big enough to love him and his autistic son. Enter big-hearted Donna, plus three-legged dog. And now Mark has a dilemma. Pretending not to mind her house-bunny chewing his bootlaces, he’s smitten with Donna on sight. Should he tell her his situation up-front? Announcing he has a child with autism spectrum disorder on a first date tends to ensure there isn’t a second. Or should he skirt around the subject, which amounts to a lie? When one lie leads to another, can he ever win Donna’s trust back? Admit that he didn’t trust Donna enough to let her into his life?

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Somebody to Love has been made with love… love of animals. Sheryl Browne has done excellent research on assistance dogs, specifically their use with autistic individuals. With a focus on romance with police officers, appealing to all readers who love our boys in blue, the author’s “teasing but not telling” style makes this read appropriate for anyone, including young adults and older teens.

ISBN 9781908208118
Publication Date 1 July 2012
Format Paperback. Also available on Kindle

 

 

 

Publisher Buy Link: http://www.safkhetpublishing.com/books/soul/9781908208118/Somebody_to_Love.html

Amazon Links: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Somebody-Love-Sheryl-Browne/dp/1908208112/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339421531&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Somebody-Love-Sheryl-Browne/dp/1908208112/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339421630&sr=1-1&keywords=somebody+to+love+sheryl+browne

Website: www.sherylbrowne.com

LoveaHappyEnding Author Page: http://loveahappyending.com/sheryl-browne/

Author Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sheryl-Browne-Author-Page/245372252189480

RNA: http://www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org/index.php/about/author/sheryl_browne

Twitter: @sherylbrowne

Author Bio:

Now residing in Worcestershire, Sheryl grew up in Birmingham, UK, where she studied Art & Design. She wears many hats: a partner in her own business, a mother, and a foster parent to disabled dogs. Creative in spirit, Sheryl has always had a passion for writing. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, she has previously been published in the US and writes Romantic Comedy because, as she puts it, “life is just too short to be miserable.”

Sheryl’s debut novel, RECIPES FOR DISASTER – combining deliciously different and fun recipes with sexilicious romantic comedy, is garnering some fabulous reviews! Sheryl has also been offered a further three-book contract under the Safkhet Publishing Soul imprint. SOMEBODY TO LOVE, a romantic comedy centring around a single policeman father’s search for love, launches July 1. The book, which also features an autistic little boy and his Autism Assistance Dog, has already been endorsed by Danemere Dog Rescue Centre and is currently being reviewed by Our Dog Publications with a view to future advertising. WARRANT FOR LOVE, bringing together three couples in a twisting story that resolves perfectly, is released August 1.

 

Celtic Connexions welcomes YA author – Lauren Howell

Today I’m thrilled to host fellow lovehappyending.com author Lauren Howell. Before I put Lauren on the hotseat, I thought I would share the cover and brief synopsis of her debut YA fantasy novel.

Rowan

Jake, a dragon wearing orange chucks, shows up in Kelly Foster’s living room disguised as a human.  When he starts going on about a lost sword, a magical pendant and Stonehenge being the gatekeeper to the lost city of Atlantis, Kelly feels a little more than skeptical.  But when Jake tells her it could all be the key to finding her father, Kelly doesn’t hesitate to jump on board.  Swept away to the world of Rowan, she picks up a band of followers along the way, Henry, Tyler, Sky, and Caesius.  Will they help her find her father or will someone more sinister cause their paths to go in opposite directions.  Will Kelly do what she came to do then go home?  Because the fate of Rowan is up to her.

Now for the fun bit…

What prompted you to write Rowan?

I actually started Rowan when I was a kid, though, it was very VERY different from what it is now.  In fact, I don’t think there’s a trace left of the original story except for Jacinth and Henry.  I always wrote stories when I was a kid and I always wanted to be a writer.  I couldn’t get enough of what books did for me and I always wanted to write stories that would do that for other people.  Provide an escape, a comfortable, fun place to go on a cozy afternoon.

Why did you choose Stonehenge for the cover (other than it features in the book)?

There’s a really easy explanation for this.  It was free.  Being as this was my first book and all, I ended up getting the cover for free.  I had wanted to put the sword from the book on the front but the person doing the cover needed to use a photo and wasn’t able to design it themselves.  So I chose something that at least had something to do with the book.

Before self-publishing it, did you try the traditional route?

No, I didn’t try the traditional route before self-publishing.  I wanted to have the freedom of self-publishing would give me.  However, I discovered that I am horrible at marketing so I may be looking to see if I can’t find a publisher.

Are you currently working on another book?

Yes!  Not only the sequel to Rowan but several others as well that I’m really excited about.  They aren’t all young adult fantasy like Rowan is but they do all have some sort of supernatural element to them.

Where to buy Rowan:

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 207 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004Y0AWFK
Lending: Enabled
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (May 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1461134315
ISBN-13: 978-1461134312
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
Sold By: Barnes & Noble

Format: NOOK Book (eBook)
Age Range: Young Adult
Series: Kelly Foster #1
File Size: 758 KB
BN ID: 2940012483034

Amazon (buy): http://amzn.to/k5OfSr
Amazon (buy paperback): http://amzn.to/iLA4S0
Barnes and Noble (buy): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rowan/1031139951?ean=9781461134312&itm=1&usri=rowan+lauren+howell

What are readers saying about Rowan?

Kimberly Hoye: What a great adventure! I finished it in 2 days! From the beginning to the end, I didn’t want to put it down. It kept my attention and made me want to read more.  Humor, sarcasm, suspense, friendship, it’s all there! A great read for anyone who enjoyed Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Neverending Story!

Jay “Dizzle”: This book was a real page-turner.  I finished it in one sitting.  It has great suspense and drama.  The character interactions are fantastic and its very well written.  I can’t really describe how much I enjoyed this read but please take my advice if you like young adult fiction like Harry Potter or Twilight then pick up Rowan.  More please Ms. Howell!!!

SBM: A great adventure story for readers of all ages! This creative storyline is filled with fantastic characters that make it a truly fun read.

MarksLadyJane: I read alot of werewolf and vampire books but the DRAGON in the story surprised me…I love it!

About the author…

Lauren likes reading, writing, gaming, camping, hiking, horseback riding, sports and just about anything else that makes life fun. She’s currently in school studying anthropology and when she’s gets through that program, Lauren will continue her education to get her masters in forensic anthropology and archaeology.

She has many obsessions, some of which are anything to do with fantasy, tigers, cryptozoology, the paranormal and just all around mysteries of the world, post apocalyptic books, shows, and movies, moleskine notebooks, sharpie, and the color orange.

Facebook laurenhowellwriter: http://on.fb.me/m4qtwL
Twitter @lm_howell: http://bit.ly/kA9iSQ

 

loveahappyending.com author Miriam Wakerly launches Gypsies Stop tHere

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Gypsies Stop tHere

“A fantastic, insightful first novel… Challenges prejudices
and entertains thoroughly… perfect holiday read”
Waterstone’s

Will uprooting herself from London to live in the country help Kay escape guilt-ridden memories of her husband’s death? Far from finding a quiet life, she is caught up in an age-old village conflict where passionate opinions on Romany Gypsy Travellers divide the local people.

A young woman, Lena, enters her life, unwittingly putting Kay’s plans on hold. Kay struggles to not only come to terms with her emotional past but also to resolve Lena’s problems, those of the village and the Gypsies. And another relationship blossoms that she would never have dreamed of…

Gina Dickerson’s Lies Love Tells blog launch


 Lies Love Tells:

Saze Monnivan thinks Mr Him is not being completely honest with her. Fingers of suspicion tap at her, telling her that he’s not vanishing night after night to guzzle alcohol with his friend, Mr Dry, who appears to hate Saze. She pours her emotions into her blog diary and her real life takes a sharp turn, spiralling her into unknown territory, giving her the courage to stand up to Mr Him. Unfortunately Mr Him’s not the only person Saze needs to be afraid of. Something awful is happening to young women in the town and their lives are being extinguished frighteningly early.

As Saze’s life peaks and falls spectacularly and her blog attracts interest, comments, and trolls, she can’t help wondering if her followers exist only in the virtual or whether she needs to be looking over her shoulder.

Is Saze foolish to trust new faces, will she ever survive the madness she is inadvertently drawn into, and will she find the love she craves?

Where to buy:

For the Kindle:
Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/MpKWVs
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/LZn49C

Paperback version:
Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/LYCElJ
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/LronQG
In other e-book formats:
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/SmshwrdsLiesLT

The book is also on other sites like WHSmith’s in paperback  here and ebook here. Waterstones in paperback here. The Book Depository (link is for the UK site) also in paperback here.

About Gina:

Gina Dickerson lives by the Thanet coast with her family and Siberian husky. Besides writing, Gina loves vintage shopping, scoffing crisps with cheese (sometimes accompanied by a glass of sparkling wine), de-fluffing her dog, and buying new shoes. She has had short stories and poetry published in collections. Lies Love Tells is her first novel.
You can find Gina online at the following links:

Lovehappyending Feature Author, Richard Holmes, launches his first book in the Fragments of Divinity series

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“The first book in the Fragments Of Divinity series. An innovative publication of blog style articles that deal with potentially complicated spiritual subjects in an easy to read and understand way. based mainly on the author’s own actual experiences, these delightful articles will provide both inspiration and insight to the reader, and will also answer many of those nagging questions that you thought you would never receive answers to. A truly inspirational read.”

 

 

About the Author
Richard was born in London in 1955 and has lived a very topsy turvey life that hit rock bottom as we entered the new millennium.

I always felt like a bit of a misfit, not really belonging anywhere. This is illustrated by the fact that I left school at 15 with no qualifications and would have been asked to leave had I not done so voluntarily. By the time I was 17 I’d had 24 jobs and was just not able to settle anywhere.”

Out of frustration and boredom Richard joined the army in 1976, but this did not work out either and he left at the end of 1979. After a three month interim period Richard went off to Germany to work and remained abroad for six years. It was during his time in the army and in Germany that he succumbed excessively to the temptations of alcohol.

I had taken certain drugs at a younger age but my body had not responded well to this punishment. Because of this I had no trouble giving up the drugs but alcohol represented a different proposition, and for many years I sought solace in this substance which inevitably led to depression”.

Richard returned to the UK in 1986 and by the mid 1990’s found himself in a pretty sorry state. Things came to a head during the latter part of 2000 when Richard’s life seemed to sink down to an all-time low.

Finally, out of the darkness there came a light and in 2001 I found my spiritual pathway giving me a purpose in life“.

These days Richard lives in Tetbury, Gloucestershire and has been working as a medium for over ten years. He runs workshops in various spiritual topics, gives private consultations for guidance along life’s pathway and also tutors on a one-to-one basis in meditation and spiritual awareness. He is a Reiki healer, psychic surgeon, spiritually inspired artist and gives profound interpretations of dreams.

You can find Richard here:

Website: http://www.richardfholmes.org
Facebook: Author Richard Holmes
Twitter: @atmicsplendour

And his books here:

www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Holmes
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Holmes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/146207

The Unveiling…

Presenting the new Melanie Robertson-King “brand”

As children, we’ve been taught that bragging, boasting or tooting our own horn is not an attractive quality and we shouldn’t do it.

But authors, well we have to be “out” there. Launching and signing our books, marketing ourselves. Besides good writing, being approachable to our readers, there is still something else that’s important. What’s that you say?

Your author “brand”. A catchy tag line on your products – website, business cards, etc. will make you stand out.

And in keeping with that… I now unveil the “new” Melanie Robertson-King “brand”.

Please visit my website melanierobertson-king.com and sign my guestbook with your feedback about my new “brand”.

Congratulations to loveahappyending.com author Linn B. Halton on her launch of The Quintessential Gemini

My apologies to Linn. I usually have these posts scheduled to go up in advance but this one snuck up on me. What’s sad is, I knew it was today which is also my wedding anniversary. So before June 7th draws to a close, let me get a post up here for Linn and wish her all the best for a successful launch day for her novel.

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The Quintessential Gemini

For twenty-one years, the focus of Katherine Dale’s life has been her work. Love interests and hobbies came and went, but what has always been there for her—her only constant other than her cat delightfully named No. 4—was her nine to five habit. Until she’s replaced.
With her confidence dented, Katherine is angry at life and at herself.

She’s ignored hints of “changes to come” in her horoscope forecasts, written by the wonderful and renowned astrologer, Mark Ainsley-Thomas.

Mark is now an “A” list celebrity in the UK and his new Agent is determined to raise his profile in America, so he has to take on the new, but talented, astrologer James Kingman to help him run his web-site.

Katherine lives her life according to her daily horoscope. When Katherine finds James has been writing her daily horoscopes rather than Mark, Katherine’s life explodes in confusion and, unexpectedly, love as the three lives become inextricably tangled. Insecurity, self-doubt, guilt, stress, and frustration, coupled with village gossips and merciless reporters wanting eye-catching headlines leave Katherine feeling vulnerable and in need of guidance.

Now Katherine has to learn that the stars might be telling her that love is going to feature in her life, but when Katherine finds herself implicated in the headlines ‘Mystic Love Triangle Surprise’ she’s just as surprised as everyone else! None of the men in her life are love interests – so what exactly does fate have in store?

To find out more about Linn, her novels and where to buy The Quintessential Gemini (e-book and paperback formats):

Author Page: http://loveahappyending.com/linn-b-halton
Author’s Website: linnbhalton.co.uk
Amazon UK (buy): amazon.co.uk
Amazon US (buy): amazon.com
Sapphire Star Publishing: Sapphire Star Publishing
Twitter Account: @LinnBHalton
Facebook Author: Linn B Halton

Today marks the day I become one of Loveahappyending.com’s Featured Authors!

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I’m so excited! I joined loveahappyending.com in 2011 as an Associate Reader and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Firstly, I’ve had the opportunity to read books that I might never have before. Secondly, and more importantly, I’ve made some great friends this past year. Most, I still only know virtually since the authors and readers are scattered to the four corners of the world. Each and every one of them is supportive and we all Tweet and Share each other’s book news – whether it be for the authors, or the readers and the great books they’ve reviewed. Talk about global exposure!

Couple that with my wonderful publishing house – 4RV Publishing and I couldn’t be in a better position to launch my debut novel to the world in September.

My novel's cover created by Aidana WillowRaven

A Shadow in the Past

When a contemporary teen is transported back through time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past…

When nineteen year old Sarah Shand finds herself in Victorian Era Aberdeenshire, Scotland, she has no idea how she got there. Her last memory is of being at the stone circle on the family farm in the year 2010.
Despite having difficulty coming to terms with her situation, Sarah quickly learns she must keep her true identity a secret.
Still, she feels stifled by the Victorians’ confining social practices, including arranged marriages between wealthy and influential families, confronts them head on and suffers the consequences.
When Sarah realizes she has fallen in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, she faces an agonizing decision. Does she try to find her way back to 2010 or remain in the past with the man she loves?

Coming in September 2012
Format: Paperback
ISBN: to follow
Language: English
Publisher: 4RV Publishing LLC

Author Website: melanierobertson-king.com
Author Blog: Celtic Connexions
Facebook Author Page: Melanie Robertson-King Author
Twitter Account: @RobertsoKing