Nearly Almost Somebody… is released!

It’s been three years in the making, but I’m proud to say that Nearly Almost Somebody is finally available to buy! Hurrah.

NAS started out in life as “Distraction” and it was the book that made me think – people actually like what I write. Back in 2012 I was lucky enough to get proper feedback from a proper editor at a proper publishing house, and I took the brave decision to take my books down from the writers sites, Authonomy and You Write On (which were doing very little for my writing other than sucking up most of my evenings in chat.) I was totes determined to knuckle down and edit the hell out of Forfeit, which had some major flaws – such as no one liking my main character Daisy. But then a friend said, Wattpad had introduced a Chick Lit genre section and were looking for books so I thought, bugger it and put Distraction on there.

One month later – with zero promotion – Distraction had over 17,000 reads, was in the Chick Lit top ten and everything spiralled from that point on. Caitlin, from Wattpad HQ contacted me asking if they could make Distraction a Featured Book. Um… okay. A month later I have 5,000 followers, Distraction has 500k reads and finally hits the #1 spot in the chick lit chart. Distraction won a ‘Most Read’ award that year – as in it was one of the most read books on Wattpad. WTF. It doesn’t feature a single werewolf, vampire or One Direction band member, but those crazy Wattpad readers LOVE my book. And it made me think, maybe some other people will to. 🙂

#Forfeit had to come first – as that story takes place before Distraction – but the second #Forfeit was published, I moved onto what I think is my best book.

I’ve worked with editors to improve the plot, characters and title – I think Nearly Almost Somebody is just perfect for the story – so Wattpad fans should expect a few changes from the book they new as Distraction. That said, the love story of Patrick and Libby is largely unchanged, it’s mainly that minx Zoe who gets a little more airtime.

So ta da… I give you Nearly Almost Somebody!

Banner courtesy of the fab Chicks That Read

You can get Nearly Almost Somebody from Amazon for just £1.99 / $2.99. Paperbacks coming soon.

Burlesque and Beautiful

Happy Publication to the gorgeous Kitty French and her beautiful new book, Genie. If it’s anywhere near as good as the Knight series (Knight & Stay was my fave book of 2014), then we’re in for a treat. And look at the cover; it’s just too, too pretty…

Feathers. Lies. Glitter. Secrets. Lust.

Meet Genie Divine, the wise-cracking London show-girl on a hell-bent mission to save her beloved family theatre.
Now meet Abel Kingdom, the Australian gym mogul determined to buy it out from underneath her.
On paper they have nothing in common, and when they meet, they have even less.
The only thing they DO have is chemistry.
Undeniable, rip-my-clothes-off-and-do-me-now-against-the-wall chemistry.
He wants her theater. She wants him dead.

The stage is set for an explosive summer…

Amazon US http://amzn.to/1vzUdEc
Amazon UK http://amzn.to/1EsUSJE
Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/genie-3
B&N http://bit.ly/1DWHkHp
Itunes http://apple.co/1ES4M5o

I’m off to One-Click.

I Am Still Here. Promise.

Seriously rubbish – that’s what I’m being. My head is so up Nearly Almost Somebody’s ass, I’ve stopped replying to emails – to newsletter and street team applicants, to wattpad.com book comments, even to my friends and beta readers who’re asking when NAS will be ready for them to read.

That’s so not cool, right?

I keep ignoring my emails or posting anything on my blog because I need to spend every second I can on NAS. A week’s skiing hasn’t helped. Nor a few out of office hours training courses. Nor a trip to Newcastle for my DH’s birthday present. But they’re excuses.

And that’s sooo not cool right?

So quick update. I am still alive. I am working my cotton socks off on NAS. Pinky promise. But when’s it coming out? Well, if you want to know that, you need to pop your ass over to Orchard Book Club on Sat 28th Feb at 9pm. I’ll be taking over for an hour and more excitingly I’ll be…

Revealing the NAS cover
Revealing the NAS launch date
Revealing a super exciting competition… da-da-daaaaah!

So if you want to be part of the fun, come say hi! Saturday 28th February – 9pm

#Forfeit Soundtrack – No. 12

Ta-Da!!! We’ve made it to the end of the #FORFEIT soundtrack. Thanks for following me and my little ramblings. If this song doesn’t make you smile then nothing will. It’s Tom Odell’s Grow Old With Me…

He turned her around and when he kissed her, Daisy had to cling to his t-shirt to stay upright – her legs, as ever, turning to spaghetti.

‘You know,’ Xander said, his fingers trailing down the bumps of her spine, ‘you don’t need handcuffs to prove you trust me. I know you trust me.’

Ducking out of his arms, hoping to hide her burning cheeks, Daisy headed for the door, grabbing the gift bag along the way. ‘But proving I trust you was only half the reason for my little shopping spree.’

‘And the other half?’ Xander called, that Colgate smile taking over his face.

She shot him her cheekiest wink and left.

***

Want more? #FORFEIT is on sale now – at just £1.99 or $2.99 and it’s FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

If you missed the previous tracks, check them out here:

#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 7
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 6
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 5
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 4
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 3
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 2
#FORFEIT Soundtrack – No. 1

Fortuitous Research

I love doing research, not just because you get to learn something new, but also because of the interesting tangents it can send your book in. I’m working on Nearly Almost Somebody rewrites at the moment (ready for the big launch in Feb – eek!) and I have a scene where Zoe is in a coffee shop. To set the scene, I gave this description:

After shedding her mac and taking out her book, Zoe folded herself onto an oak chair and sank back against a purple velvet scatter cushion. All credit to Mr Coffee Shop, the place was a little oasis of boho class. Zoe smiled at the three blackboards hanging side by side on the wall: Eat, Listen, Ponder. Under the first were the daily specials, under the second was trackl ist of the eclectic music they’d be playing, and under the latter was a quote:

Oh, better come up with a quote of the day then. Off I trot to Google and since Zoe has gone to the coffee shop to see a bloke she really likes, I type in “Quote About Love”. And since I can’t be bothered to trawl through websites, I select Images and the first one I see had this quote:

I can’t begin to tell you how perfect this quote is for Zoe, Libby and the whole NAS plot. It’s so freaking perfect I’m thinking of using it as the epigraph. How cool is that an little hunt for a window-dressing quote could give me the thread that ties the book together? Cx

Get some Sex, Drugs & Social Media in your life with #Forfeit. It’s available from Amazon for just £1.99 / $2.99 or totally FREE with Kindle Unlimited.

Photoshop Blues… and pinks and greens…

*sigh*

I’m going through a Bokeh phase at the moment with my marketing ads. You can go Google it, or you can accept my rubbish description that Bokeh is a blurry background effect, mostly with lights. After watching a YouTube Photoshop tutorial, I made this:

~~I’m totes in love with it~~ I think it turned out really well and the Facebook ads I’ve used it on have performed better than usual. Hurrah.

This year, I’m going to four author signing events, so I thought I’ve get some business cards made – natty ones with rounded corners I can give away as SWAG. So I checked out Zazzle and Moo and Vistaprint and I got busy with my design. It was all going well until I converted my pretty bokeh background from RGB (so fit for screen use) to CMYK (fit for print use). And it all went wrong…

The pic on the left is the RGB original; the pic on the right the ghastly CMKY transtlation. But they’re no different my lovely husband said. *sigh* Possibly if I’d done the CMYK version first, I’d be happy with it, but in comparison to the one of the left, I’m not. I like the colours in the RGB version more – the green is cooler, less yellow and the pink is pink, not erring towards red. And no matter how many levels and adjustments I make… I can’t get the CMYK version ot look as good as the RGB version.

My options… suck it up and accept that most of the rest of the world won’t notice the difference (even if I have to have a little weep over them), or get a graphic designer / photoshop whizz to help me out.

Any takers? You can have a free Kindle edition of #Forfeit…

Laters.

How bad is bad…

So I’m working on some minor rewrites for Nearly Almost Somebody and I have Zoe (she’s a bit of a one) thinking this:

“Besides, going on a date when she was still saddle sore from shagging a different guy the night before was low, even by Zoe’s standards.”

Is it low? It’s not something I’ve ever done, but then Zoe’s a little less inhibited than me (and most people I should think).

What do you think? Cx

#Forfeit Soundtrack – No. 11

After our super chirpy Bruno Mars song, number 11 in the #FORFEIT soundtrack takes a much darker turn. It’s Let You Go by Chase and Status.

No extract this time – way too spoiler-ridden. Instead, have some lyrics:

There’s nowhere to run
No place you can go
Nowhere you can hide
Where you won’t be found
There’s no place on earth
Where you could lay low
Wherever you are
I will track you down

There’s no way in hell
I will let you leave
Let you just get up
And walk out on me

There’s no way on earth
Hell would have to freeze
More than twice before
I will let you go

***

Want more? #FORFEIT is on sale now – at just £1.99 or $2.99 and it’s FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

If you missed the previous tracks, check them out here:

#Forfeit: Chapters 1-3

Want to read the first three chapters of #Forfeit to whet your appetite? You can get them here:

#Forfeit: Chapters 1-3

Or you can just buy it from Amazon and get it on your Kindle or Kindle App quicker than I can neck a shot. It’s just £1.99/$2.99 or utterly FREE if you’re signed up to Kindle Unlimited. Awesome.

#Forfeit Soundtrack – No. 10

Here’s No.10 in the #FORFEIT soundtrack. Such a fun song I was almost tempted to write in a flashmob scene. It’s Marry Me by Bruno Mars.

***SPOILER***

He waited for her to look up. ‘Marry me?’

‘What?’ Was he serious?

‘You need to know I’m for real, that I’m not going to shag around, and I need to know you know that so you won’t.’ There was no cheeky smile or glint in his eyes. He was serious. ‘Do you want me to get down on one knee?’

‘No. So you want to get married so neither of us shag around? That’s your romantic proposal?’ Still stunned, she couldn’t look away from his eyes.

‘Christ, you’re hard work. Why can’t you just say yes, like any other girl I asked would?’

She swatted his arm.

‘I want to marry you because it’s what people who love each other do.’

***

Want more? #FORFEIT is on sale now – at just £1.99 or $2.99 and it’s FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

If you missed the previous tracks, check them out here: