Jenny Kane & Jennifer Ash

Jenny Kane: Coffee, cupcakes, chocolate and contemporary fiction / Jennifer Ash: Medieval crime with hints of Ellis Peters and Robin Hood

Category: Contemporary Romantic Fiction Page 51 of 57

Guest Post from T S Harvey: A Writing Life

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On April 10, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

It’s always good to have a first time visitor to my blog, and today I’m delighted to welcome the lovely T S Harvey, to give us a potted history of her books and her life!

The Author

I was always an avid reader as a child and English always my favourite subject at school. In addition to my writing I’m a breeder and exhibitor of pedigree dogs, having won Best of Breed at Crufts in 2011 with my English Toy Terrier, Ch. Kadaz Authentic (or Hattie as we knew her).

I’ve appeared on several quiz shows over the past ten years and won The Weakest Link in 2005. My mum recently took part in Bargain Hunt and this should be aired later in the year.

TJ Book on sale in Pontyclun book shop

The Books

The Tin Man        

My first completed novel was a family saga sent in Texas in 1946, coming right through to present day. This was self-published through Createspace and has just undergone a make-over so to speak and the revised version is once again available on Amazon.

Written in the first person and narrated by Michael, it follows his life through its ups and downs, from being orphaned at 4 years old, experiencing abuse at the hands of the matron and staff at the Children’s home, his joy at being fostered and becoming a ‘brother’ and ultimately a carer to his foster sister.

TJ Book Cover - The Tin Man

In time I plan to write prequels to The Tin Man from the perspective of several of the characters in this book, including Carl Ryan, the Tin Man of the title.

Four Seasons:

The first book in the four part series is Winter of Discontent

TJ Book cover 2

The initial inspiration for the Four Seasons series came from my daughters and my eldest grand-daughter. Having successfully self-published my first novel they asked me to write something in the Young Adult / Supernatural genre which was more on the lines of the sort of books that they read. I gave a lot of thought to the content / characters that I would like to ‘work’ with and came to the conclusion that there was no point going down the Vampire route as that has been done so often, and in many cases so well, that I didn’t want to find myself competing with the likes of Stephenie Meyer for bookcase space. Having decided to go with Warlock / Witches as the framework for the story I also decided not to go with the fantasy options, dragons, goblins and the like. Having finely honed the genre and direction, I did a lot of research online into Witch folklore and some of the results it produced gave me some really useful ideas, many of which I employed in the storyline.

The second book in the series is Spring of Fools which is due out on the 9th April.

Spring of Fools, book cover 2

The Content

Covens:

The Moirai: These were a powerful group of witches, along with the Grenae, said to exist in medieval times. This helped give me some background ideas as well as some future plot lines.

Segans / Kintarians: In folklore these are also powerful groups of Warlocks. The Kintarian is said to be a shape shifter which also provided me with further inspiration for the characters that appear in this book and in the forthcoming, Four Seasons: Spring of Fools; Book 2 in the series.

Character Names:

Having already inspired me to write in this genre I decided to name my lead female character, Sarah, after my eldest grand-daughter.

I wanted to choose names for male leads that would sit comfortably in European countries as the history of the characters goes way back. Having chosen Erik (I felt it sounded cooler with a ‘K’ and more European) as the main male lead I then had to find a surname. Enter Google translate. I’d decided that his family history would be rooted in / around Germany so I Googled ‘Magic’ and ta dah… Zauber.

TJ Book cover 1

‘Physical’ Content:

I made a conscious decision before I started to write this book that I would include some references of a sexual nature as even though the basis of the story is supernatural the characters could quite easily be the girl or boy you sit next to in History. Given that, it made sense that students at the age Sarah and Erik are, would talk about, and in many cases, participate in sexual activity. None of it is written for shock value; however, Book 2 moves it up a notch which I think is believable given the difficulties and frustrations of the characters in this book.

‘Guest stars’:

I consider myself blessed for having a couple of celebrities willing to lend their name to some of the story lines in this book. I’ve been friends with Jamie Afro’s mom, Jeanne, for some years now and when I needed a Rock Singer for a side story I approached her to ask him if he’d mind if I used him rather than invent one. Jeanne knew I wouldn’t take any cheap shots and Jamie was happy to oblige. There is another section in the story that called for a singer in the US so I approached one of my favourites, Broadway star Telly Leung. Telly was happy for me to use his name providing I sent him a draft of the content for his approval, which I did, and he sent me a lovely message of support back wishing me luck in finding a publisher. He also sent a note of congratulations when I told him that Accent Press had picked it up.

TJ Book signing at Pontyclun book fair

Writer’s block:

I was lucky enough not to have any periods when the story didn’t flow for me. I think a lot of that is down to my style of writing.   I often change direction in my story telling but I always know where my story ends. I look at this as my ‘Writers GPS’. It is like punching in the end destination for me; as long as I know where I’m headed I can cope with the detours on route.

I sometimes need to give myself a bit of a kick to get started but once I do I commit to getting it finished above everything else going on in my life. I think I’d be concerned that if I did call a halt for any reason then I might not pick it up again. This happened to me back in 1987 when I first started to write. I had to stop to do some research, which was a lot harder back then without the internet, and when I couldn’t find what I was looking for, and couldn’t find another direction for the story without it, I just stopped. Hopefully, one day, I’ll pick it back up and start again; but not until I’ve completed this series!

Marketing:

I’ve been fortunate to secure several marketing opportunities. Being asked to talk at my old comprehensive school was a real highlight. I’ve done several book signing events, a few appearances on Cannock Radio and a slot on BBC WM Afternoon Show on 9th April.

I was invited to be interviewed for Cuppa TV (BIG Centre TV) – Regional Lifestyle programme with host Monica Price. This aired on 23rd March and I’m hoping to get a copy to link to my Facebook and Twitter pages soon.

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/julie.baldwin.9028

Twitter – @TSHarveyOfficial
Buy links are:
(All books are also available on Amazon.com)
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Many thank for visiting today!
Happy reading,
Jenny x

 

 

Guest Post from Lisa Ryan: The Swan Lake

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On April 7, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I’m delighted to be welcoming Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, aka Lisa Ryan, back to my site today, to tell us about her wonderful book, The Swan Lake.

Over to you Lisa…

A long time ago I lived in the depths of County Clare, Ireland, in a beautiful old house that had been extended and remodelled according to Steiner principles by the previous owner. The house was surrounded by farmland, with a lake right in front of our land. Along one side of our garden was a dilapidated 300 year old cottage that had a tragic history; a woman living there over a hundred years previously had filled her pockets with stones and walked into the lake to end her life, and there were stories of her ghost appearing often in the cottage.

Previously the cottage had been used as a shed and storehouse. My then husband used it as a studio for a while until it was taken over by my sons, who made it their laboratory for various very smelly scientific experiments devised with the aid of a junior chemistry kit. Health and safety people would have had a field day, but no injuries occurred! The cottage fascinated me. I used to wonder about the many generations of people who had taken their first and last breaths there. The huge inglenook fireplace still had the original hook where countless cooking pots had hung over the fire. Despite its sorry state I loved the cottage even more than the main house. I missed Ireland when we left to return to England. The beauty of the landscape, the musical Irish accents, and the magic that infuses the land through folklore, fairy tales and superstition has stayed with me.

A few years later, when I was living in Bath, an old friend who was an Intensive Care nurse came to stay. She was very much a city person, and while we sank rather a lot of wine we joked about how she would adjust to living in such an isolated rural environment. The next morning I woke, slightly hung over and with the story of The Swan Lake firmly fixed in my mind.

The Swan Lake cover Lisa Ryan

The only similarities between Astarte, the central character, and my friend are that Astarte has been an Intensive Care nurse and is very feisty. I drew on my love for the landscape, our cottage and the lake while writing the book, but the story and characters are pure fiction. Rural areas, especially, facilitate small, tight-knit communities that are rife with old grudges, unexpected liaisons, issues over land rights, and tragedies. Everyone has a story to tell, and rarely do these stories match those of their neighbours.

Once I started writing the book I just couldn’t stop. It took over my consciousness to the extent that I dreamed about the characters. They became like old friends; they felt as real to me as people I knew in everyday life. Meals were prepared and forgotten about, irregular mealtimes and charred offerings were common, the last thing on my mind when I fell asleep was the next chapter, and my children were incredibly patient about having a mother whose mind was frequently in another realm altogether. My mother was dying of cancer at this time, and The Swan Lake kept both of us going. Every evening I’d phone her and read the latest newly completed chapter. Her favourite characters were the warring old people, Mairie and Seamus, and it was wonderful to hear her laughing at their exploits.

For me, a story begins with the question “What if?” and I asked this constantly while writing The Swan Lake. Fiction is a way in which we can enter into another world that’s populated by characters who encourage us to look at their individual stories from their perspective. It’s an invitation to explore other lives and to wonder whether our responses and reactions would be the same as theirs. As writers and readers we have the opportunity to become other people for a while; to wonder about their lives, and to enter into a state of emotional resonance with them. I fell in love with the characters in The Swan Lake while writing about them, just as I fell in love with the beautiful Irish countryside when I lived there.

Amazon link to The Swan Lake:

Paperback version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swan-Lake-Lisa-Ryan/dp/1783757051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426190618&sr=1-1

Kindle version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swan-Lake-Lisa-Ryan-ebook/dp/B00SLD5BMU/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422638320&sr=1-1&keywords=lisa+ryan

Facebook page for The Swan Lake: https://www.facebook.com/TheSwanLakeBook

Lisa’s website: http://www.tenzindolma.co.uk

Lisa Charlie Skye by Kerry

Author bio: Lisa Tenzin-Dolma has had 22 books published, fiction and non-fiction, about a variety of subjects. She’s also a qualified canine psychologist and is principal of The International School for Canine Psychology & Behaviour.

***

Many thanks for visiting the site again today Lisa.

Happy Reading everyone,

Jenny x

 

Guest Post from Jeff Gardiner: Treading On Dreams

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On April 4, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction

A new voice to Accent Press is joining me today. Please welcome Jeff Gardiner…

jeff! 019

Hi, Jenny. Thanks for allowing me to invade your blog today, I really appreciate it. Let me tell you a bit about myself: I was born in Nigeria – to British parents – and now live in southeast England. After being a secondary school teacher for many years, I am now enjoying life as an author and editor. I recently signed a three book contract with the wonderful Accent Press for my ‘Gaia’ young adult trilogy, which begins with Pica, a novel of transformation and ancient magic.

My first success as an author came with my short stories, which can be found in many British and American anthologies and magazines. My collection of stories, A Glimpse of the Numinous, received a number of favourable reviews, including this one that I’m proud of:

“Reading is a form of escapism, and in Gardiner’s fiction, we escape to places we’d never imagine journeying to.” (A.J. Kirby, ‘The New Short Review’)

My first published novel was Myopia, a YA exploration of bullying and the non-violent responses to it. Igboland came next, which is set in Nigeria during the Biafran War, following a young English woman, Lydia, who is struggling with her marriage, identity and faith amidst the turmoil of conflict. Both these books were published by Crooked Cat Books.

JGCovers

My third novel, released by Tirgearr Publishing, is currently on special offer – only 99p/99c! Treading On Dreams follows Donny who becomes obsessed with his student housemate, Selena. She, however, is engaged to another and Donny has to cope with the dreaded spectre of unrequited love. Donny refuses to give up easily. Unrequited love is something that many of us can relate to. What do you do when the one you love says those cringe-inducing words, “I just want us to be friends”? Aagh!

I’d be very interested to hear any comments your readers have about those two themes: obsession and unrequited love. Has anyone out there got any good advice or tales to tell? Please do read the extract below and leave comments. I will endeavour to reply.

For more information see my website (http://www.jeffgardiner.com/) and blog (https://jeffgardiner.wordpress.com/)

Regards, Jeff

Treading on Dreams by Jeff Gardiner - 500

Here’s the blurb for Treading On Dreams:

Donny is obsessed with his housemate, Selena – but his love is unrequited. He enthusiastically accepts her willing friendship, which only fuels his deepening fantasies.

Jaz is their crazy landlord who likes sleeping with women – lots of them. He takes pleasure in educating the once innocent Donny in the hedonistic pleasures of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. It blows Donny’s mind.

Selena is engaged to Melvin – the perfect man – but is also keen to befriend the ever-demanding Donny … until she falls pregnant and her wedding looms.

Donny expresses his true feelings at the wedding, causing mayhem and anger. But there remains a chink of hope: perhaps Selena’s marriage to Melvin is not quite as perfect as it seems.

Treading on Dreams by Jeff Gardiner - sm banner

An extract from Treading On Dreams:

One evening Donny overheard Selena talking to Melvin in her bedroom. Melvin’s unusually animated voice mentioned his name.

‘Because I don’t particularly want to invite Donny, if it’s alright with you.’

‘But we were asked to invite friends and he’s my friend,’ Selena replied, to Donny’s delight.

‘That’s all I ever hear from you. Everything has to involve Donny. You must really feel sorry for the guy.’ Right outside her door now, he crouched, ready to pretend to be going to the toilet in case it should suddenly fly open.

‘Sorry. Wish I hadn’t mentioned it now.’ For the first time Selena spoke in a sarcastic voice, before.

‘If I didn’t know better,’ Melvin continued, ‘I’d suspect something was going on between you two.’

Melvin was jealous of him. How wonderful. After so much time and energy resenting Melvin this change of affairs came as something of a welcome revelation. Even better, she spoke about him constantly.

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ She sounded annoyed. ‘It occurred to me that we should invite Donny to Tuesday’s meeting.’

‘I suppose the more people we evangelise to the better,’ Melvin’s voice admitted. Donny jerked back from the door. He wasn’t about to be groomed as one of Melvin’s religious conquests. But were Selena’s attentions part of some process to convert him? Perhaps her friendship was completely fake, with the sole intention of evangelising and converting them, like taking scalps. But no. Selena wasn’t shallow or conniving. Instead, he imagined her friendship to be a response to becoming disillusioned with Melvin. Had he worked a bit of magic and she was genuinely attracted to him, realising there were other men to fall in love with? How did she put up with what Melvin said? Donny left them to their squabbling and watched a DVD instead.

The next day he read long through the night and into the morning, until his eyes ached when he finally submitted and went down for an early breakfast. Hearing voices, he assumed Jaz had brought home a girl. However, to his surprise Selena and Melvin came into the kitchen to make some toast and coffee. Melvin did not normally stay over, but then Donny guessed they’d probably sat up chatting through the night until it got too late for him to go home. Eventually, Melvin made his excuses to leave and Selena saw him out. Because they took a long time whispering on the doorstep, Donny feigned aloofness and took his mug of percolated coffee upstairs. He sat in his room reading again, until interrupted by a light tap on his door.

‘Is it okay if I come in?’

Selena!

He jumped up and opened the door. ‘Of course. I always allow beautiful women into my bedroom.’ She didn’t respond with her usual coy smile.

‘I need to have a chat with you, Donny. Is now a good time?’ She sat on the corner of the bed and he sat next to her, carefully cradling his drink. He was ready to say yes to the invitation to the meeting, because going would at least annoy Melvin. A long silence suggested this was not going to be her opening gambit.

‘Donny, I get this feeling you and I have been getting quite close recently and I’ve really enjoyed your company and friendship.’

Donny’s face went hot.

‘Yes, it’s been wonderful. I love being with you.’

‘Well, I don’t think we should spend so much time together.’

Blood pumped in his ears and it almost deafened him. ‘Sorry?’

‘I only want us to be friends. I don’t want any more than that, Donny.’

‘Oh…no, okay.’ However, it wasn’t him speaking; he was a character in a corny film.

She walked out without looking at him or saying another word.

***

The phrase haunted Donny’s mind, echoing through the lonely darkness of each night: ‘I only want us to be friends.’ He imagined Selena saying it to him with her face warped into a mocking snarl.

After a while, the tablets started to lose their effect and waiting to drift into sleep was a tortured agony, but the more he thought about sleep, the more awake he felt.

How stupid he was to believe he had a chance with Selena. Scared of bursting into tears when meeting her, he avoided her for a few days, until one day he walked in on her making a cup of tea.

They both smiled politely but managed to avoid a conversation. He guessed they would no longer invite him to church meetings. Once Selena had made her drink, she quickly scuttled off to her room for the evening.

Donny struggled to put his thoughts together with his mind a jumble of loss, vulnerability, and dismay.

***

‘Women, eh?’ Jaz shook his head. ‘Don’t try to understand them, mate, that’s a mug’s game.’ Jaz sat opposite him in the snug bar of The Huntsman with two pints of Guinness each lined up before them. ‘My theory is that women fall into two categories: lizards and androids.’

‘But that’s the problem…she’s not either. She’s beautiful, intelligent, fun to be with and sensitive.’

‘Bloody hell, man, you’ve got it bad, ain’t you? You’ve started moping. Gotta stop that, right now.’

‘How?’

‘You’ve got to stand back and realise she’s just another human being no better than anyone else.’

‘Or a lizard? Is that what you do? Discard anyone after the conquest.’

‘It’s got its benefits. I don’t get hurt.’

‘But then you never get into a relationship.’

‘Well—nor do you—but at least I get some satisfaction.’

‘I suppose I got too hopeful and wanted it so much. It would only end in agony or ecstasy and knowing my luck…’

‘Hate to say this, but you’ve got to forget her.’

‘And how am I supposed to do that then?’

‘Join the foreign legion?’ Jaz returned without pause…

***

Links for ‘Treading On Dreams’ (Currently only 99p/99c):

Publisher: http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Gardiner_Jeff/treading-on-dreams.htm

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Treading-Dreams-Jeff-Gardiner-ebook/dp/B00J4Z63PI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415641077&sr=8-1&keywords=treading+on+dreams+jeff+gardiner

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Treading-Dreams-Jeff-Gardiner-ebook/dp/B00J4Z63PI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415641139&sr=8-1&keywords=treading+on+dreams+jeff+gardiner

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Many thanks for visiting today Jeff – Treading on Dreams sounds great.

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

 

Another Cup of… The Dawn of a Series

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On March 31, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction

As I approach the last stage of writing the draft of Another Cup of Champagne– the fourth in the Another Cup of… series, I can’t help but look back on how it all began. I’ve had so much fun writing the adventures of Amy, Kit, Jack and their friends- but I honestly never thought I’d still be telling their stories four books along!

Another Cup of Coffee - New cover 2015

Although Another Cup of Coffee was the first book I wrote under the name Jenny Kane, it is actually my seventh novel. Without exception, all of my other works, be they long or short, have been formed from a single moment of inspiration- a flash point of certainty sparked from a conversation, location, or random thought, that has expanded and developed as I’ve penned the words.

Another Cup of Coffee however was a very different cup of tea! (If you’ll pardon the pun!). It’s dawn was thirteen years ago, shortly after the birth of my first child, and it started by accident. My youngest child never slept at night as a baby, nor did she feel inclined to eat much, so she was constantly awake, starving and grumpy (although she is totally lovely now!!), and as a sanity buster in the middle of the night I would lay on the sofa with her, and think back to all the wonderful times I’d had as a student when I worked as an archaeologist, all the fun I’d had with my university friends, I’d reminisce about how I met my husband, all the places we used to go, the music we used to listen to, the mistakes we made…and then, as the long nights wore on, I found I’d begun to think about the ‘what if’s’ in life.

It was these ‘what if’s’ that made me reach for a piece of paper- What if I hadn’t met my husband when I did? What if I’d met him years later in a totally different place? What if my first boyfriend had hurt me badly, rather than finishing things amicably? And what if he’d been my best friend ever since- as, in fact, he is- but with the past still an open wound between us, rather than just something we look back on fondly as a lovely adventure on the way to growing up? (I use the term ‘growing up’ very loosely!!) What if my heart had been so broken that I’d run away from all my friends and started a new life many miles away? What if…..?

ACOChristmas- New 2015

I wrote all those thoughts down- and then did nothing with them. Then, when my second child was born, and the lack of sleep began again, I picked up that piece of paper, and gave the characters associated with this ‘what if-ness’ names- although not the names in the book now- the main character was called Jenny back then, rather than Amy as she is now…

Thirteen years ago Amy Crane ran away from everyone and everything she knew, ending up in an unfamiliar city with no obvious past and no idea of her future. Now, though, that past has just arrived on her doorstep, in the shape of an old music cassette that Amy hasn’t seen since she was at university.

Digging out her long-neglected Walkman, Amy listens to the lyrics that soundtracked her student days. As long-buried memories are wrenched from the places in her mind where she’s kept them safely locked away for over a decade, Amy is suddenly tired of hiding.

It’s time to confront everything about her life. Time to find all the friends she left behind in England, when her heart got broken and the life she was building for herself was shattered. Time to make sense of all the feelings she’s been bottling up for all this time. And most of all, it’s time to discover why Jack has sent her tape back to her now, after all these years…

With her mantra, ‘New life, New job, New home’, playing on a continuous loop in her head, Amy gears herself up with yet another bucket-sized cup of coffee, as she goes forth to lay the ghost of first love to rest…

As you can see from the blurb, I took all those midnight mixed up memories, those sips of coffee from my life- a life which has involved one hell of a lot of caffeine- and weaved them into the story I first played with thirteen years ago!

CITC- New cover 2015

It was been an amazing amount of fun to write a book which is so close to my life and yet, at the same time- is nothing like it…with maybe one exception. There is a character called Kit in Another Cup of Coffee– she is an erotica writer, she has two children, she is happily married, she never wears make up, can’t be bothered to worry about clothes, and she sits in a cafe all morning to write her stories!! Beyond that she isn’t like me- but that part of Kit is the real me all over!!

***

You can buy Another Cup of Coffee as either a paperback from all good bookshops or an eBook from-

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605533&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee

Amazon US – http://www.amazon.com/Another-Cup-Coffee-Jenny-Kane/dp/1783751126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377605667&sr=8-1&keywords=another+cup+of+coffee+jenny+kane

It is also available on Kobo and Nook.

Another Glass of Champagne will be out next year!!

Another Glass of Champagne_edited-1

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Happy reading,

Jenny x

Novel Progress 5: Novel Interrupted

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On March 26, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

Here I am, sat at my desk in the corner of my local café with only a third of Another Glass of Champagne left to write, and yet that is not what is occupying my time this week.

Last year I drafted the Cornish romance novel, Abi’s House – and as regular readers of this blog will know, it is now available for pre-order. However- Abi’s House isn’t actually finished yet!

This week I have closed the Another Glass…file and reopened Abi’s House so that I can tackle the edits; polish it, perfect it, and generally make sure it is as good as myself and my lovely editor, Greg, can make it for you.

Abi's House_edited-1

This ‘two novels at once’ technique of writing is fairly standard, and ensures that an author always has one book brewing, just as another is about to come out. The final tackling of the publisher’s edits, proofing, and (in my case at least), making sure the dyslexia hasn’t messed things up too much, is always a rewarding process. It’s also an extremely useful reminder for me- for six months has passed since I wrote Abi’ House, and I’ve written a novella and three quarters of a novel since then- I have to confess, some of the plot had already left my mind, and came as a nice surprise to me- I hope it does to you when the novel is released on the 13th June!

Another Glass of Champagne_edited-1

Next week however, I’ll be back to the Pickwicks crew…and believe me, the sooner the better, because I’ve left poor Amy at a very inconvenient moment – for her at least…

Happy reading,

Jenny xx

 

 

 

ABI’S HOUSE: AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

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On March 19, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I am delighted to be able to announce that my forthcoming novel, Abi’s House, is now available for pre-order!!!

Abi's House_edited-1

Blurb

Newly widowed at barely thirty, Abi Carter is desperate to escape the Stepford Wives-style life that Luke, her late husband, had been so keen for her to live.

Abi decides to fulfil a lifelong dream. As a child on holiday in a Cornwall as a child she fell in love with a cottage – the prophetically named Abbey’s House. Now she is going to see if she can find the place again, relive the happy memories … maybe even buy a place of her own nearby?

On impulse Abi sets off to Cornwall, where a chance meeting in a village pub brings new friends Beth and Max into her life. Beth, like Abi, has a life-changing decision to make. Max, Beth’s best mate, is new to the village. He soon helps Abi track down the house of her dreams … but things aren’t quite that simple. There’s the complicated life Abi left behind, including her late husband’s brother, Simon – a man with more than friendship on his mind … Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?

***

I am particularly excited to announce, that not only is Abi’s House out on Kindle on 13th June, but it will also be released as a paperback on 18th June. It will be available in all good bookshops as well as from Amazon and other online retailers.

Available for pre-order from:

Kindle
 
Paperback
 
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Happy pre-ordering everyone!!
Jenny xxx

Guest Blog from Alison Rose: The Long Path to Publication

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On March 17, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I’m thrilled to be welcoming my fellow Accent author, friend, and RNA Chapter member, Alison Rose to my blog today!

Over to Alison…

Hi Jenny,

Thanks for inviting me to your blog. I’ve followed a very long path to get here!

It all began years ago when my husband bought me an Amstrad Word-Processor – yes, it was THAT long ago!

“You read so many books,” he said. “Why don’t you write your own?”

“I’ll be published by the time I’m thirty,” I declared.

Well, I think God must have had wax in his ears that day, because he misheard me. Either that, or he thought I needed to learn the art of patience. It took thirty years.

I haven’t wasted the time. I’ve learned my craft, through courses, workshops, and writers’ groups. I’ve tried lots of different genres and styles of writing, and eventually found a voice – or rather voices, as I now write contemporary women’s fiction as Alison Rose, and YA adventures as Alison Knight.

Off the Record3

My first book, Off the Record, was published by Accent Press in December 2014:

“Journalist Kate Armstrong has always known that music icon Johnson Brand’s platinum-selling first album was written about his break-up with her mother, Alexandra. When Kate’s boss sends her out to interview the star himself, her life is turned upside down when her resemblance to Alexandra prompts Johnson to seek out her mother and renew their relationship.

Kate suddenly has a lot on her plate – coming to terms with Alexandra and Johnson’s rekindling relationship, as well as keeping the two of them out of the public eye, all the while trying to resist the advances of Johnson’s playboy son, Paul. She thinks she has everything under control, until a threatening figure from the band’s past rears its ugly head. Will love tear them all apart … again?”

Available at: http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/13662/Off-the-Record and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Off-Record-Alison-Rose/dp/1783752491/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425213920&sr=1-1&keywords=off+the+record+alison+rose

Another romance, as yet untitled, is due out from Accent Press in June, followed by the first in a series of YA time-slip adventures in early 2016.

I’m currently working on a novel based in 1960s London, and have lots of ideas for further books – thirty years’ worth!

I can’t describe how thrilling it is to be a published author. But that’s only a part of the story. I’ve been so lucky to find many special friends in writing groups, classes and organisations like the Romantic Novelists’ Association. They encourage and inspire me, and never let me give up on my dream.

So, if there’s a message in this post today, it’s: if you want to achieve something, keep going and never give up. Work hard, and learn from every experience, and one day you’ll get there. It might take longer than you expect, but it will be worth it in the end. Oh, and when you do get there, give a hand to others on their way and tell them not to give up!

Alison

www.alisonroseknight.com

https://www.facebook.com/AlisonRoseAuthor?ref=hl

Off the record

Biography

Alison was born in London, and now lives in rural Wiltshire with her husband and their crazy Jack Russell terrier. She has two grown-up children and one and a half grandchildren (number two is due in May 2015!).

She has been a lawyer, a registered child-minder, and a professional fund-raiser, and currently works for an international development charity as a legacy officer. She lived in the US for a year as a teenager, and has travelled to China, Israel, Egypt, Thailand, and Honduras – where she picked up a very nasty bug which laid her low for a couple of months after she got home.

At the age of forty-five, Alison became a part-time student while continuing to work full-time, and now has a first class degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and a masters in the same subject from Oxford Brookes University. Now she’s trying to learn Spanish in advance of her next holiday, and researching London in the 1880s for her next YA time-slip adventure.

She’s a member of the Society of Authors, The Romantic Novelists’ Association, and the Oxford Narrative Group.

***

Brilliant post Alison. Many thanks for blogging with me today.

Happy reading,

Jenny x

 

 

 

Guest Post from Alice Raine: The Encouragement of Mum

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On March 15, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

Please welcome the lovely Alice Raine to my site today, with a special Mother’s Day post.

Over to you Alice…

To celebrate both Mother’s Day this year, and the fact that the complete Untwisted series is now available on Kindle, I was asked if I’d like to write an article that described a significant memory of when my mother’s input changed my identity as a writer, or some words of encouragement she gave me which may have inspired me, or a story she read me that inspired my own interest in writing. It’s ended up as a bit of a rambling tale, but here goes …

alice raine book covers

There were always books around our house when I was a child, and Mum and Dad would read to me daily; everything from princesses, to explorers to fire breathing sea monsters, which certainly helped spawn my overactive imagination from a very young age. I wasn’t what you would describe as an engaged writer at school, my interests lay in sport, art, geography riding my bike, and falling off my skateboard (frequently), but at some point I must have developed the urge, because to this day my mum still recalls the day she found a book that I had written in my bedside draw.

By this point I was probably early teens, and yes, I’ll admit it … I had a crush on Kevin Costner. Quite an embarrassingly big crush actually, to the point where I had his pictures blue-tacked to my cupboard door and copies of his films lining my shelves. The film “The Bodyguard” had been released a year or so before, and if you’ve seen it, you’ll know the ending is quite open to misinterpretation – are the two main characters still together? Or have they split up and gone their separate ways? This was the question which must have burned in my curious teenage mind, and already being a bit of a sucker for a good romance story I decided that quite simply, the uncertainty just wasn’t good enough. So I sat down and started to write a sequel.

I got sixty pages in – double sided and hand written in neat lines on that old fashioned computer paper with the holes down the side – before preparation for my GCSE’s got in the way. I’d completely forgotten about it until last year when I was on a phone call with my mum excitedly explaining about signing with Accent Press for my Untwisted series, and mum mentioned that she’d always thought I might end up as a writer after she’d found the book in my bedside draw all those years ago. I have no idea if it was any good, or if my mum read any/all of it, but I suppose that can go down as my first official attempt at a manuscript.

Since then I have written far more prolifically, most of it just for my own amusement and stored away on my computer. I must be slightly obsessive/compulsive when it comes to writing, because once I get an idea I simply have to write it down. I now have stacks of projects on my laptop which have never seen the light of day, some of which run to hundreds of thousands of words, but I can be very self-critical, so I tend to keep them hidden away, happy with the knowledge that the idea is out of my brain and at least in print somewhere, even if it is just on my memory stick!

People often ask me if my mum has read my Untwisted books, and the answer, in short, is no (at least I hope she hasn’t!). Once the series got taken on by Accent I politely requested that she didn’t read it because of its, er … steamy contents … Mum was happy enough to oblige, but asked if I could send her something else that I had written so she could read that instead. As a writer I have an overriding predilection for romance, but not always the darker form of romance that is included in my Untwisted series, and many of the bits and pieces on my laptop are actually Chick-Lit. So I looked through my memory stick and selected one of my favourite gentle romances for her. It’s a light-hearted, comical take on real life, containing no steamy stuff what so ever, apart from a bit of innuendo thrown in here and there. After reading it, my mum said, and I quote: ‘I enjoyed it, but it’s a bit rude in places isn’t it?’ Hmm. I hadn’t thought it was rude at all, so I dug deeper and discovered that she was referring to one of the scenes involving a bit of flirting and innuendo. If mum thinks that’s rude, then I’m certainly glad she has taken my advice and stayed away from the Untwisted books!

As for words of encouragement, my mum is great at them. Even though she hasn’t read the published series, still frequently tells me how proud she is of me for pursuing my dream, which means so much to me, and she even bought me a little number ‘1’ pendant when my first book got published which has pride of place on my bracelet.

All in all my mum is pretty amazing, as is my Dad. Love you both, and happy Mother’s Day to all the mums out there.

Alice xxx

Alice Raine author pic

The complete Untwisted series is available on Kindle now, and coming to bookstores near you in paperback too. http://tinyurl.com/o87oczp

You can also expect the first instalment in Alice’s new series by Summer 2015!

If you’d like to get in touch with Alice, please feel free using the links below:

Twitter: @aliceraine1

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Alice-Raine/1433662383579684

***

Many thanks for visiting today Alice!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xxx

 

 

Guest Post from Grace Lowrie: Why am I sitting here at the top of a roller coaster?

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On March 14, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I’m delighted to welcome Grace Lowrie to my site today. Fellow Accent author Grace is posied and ready to launch herself into a life of writing…from a roller coaster…

Over to you Grace..

Why am I sitting here at the top of a roller coaster?

This is the question I’ve found myself pondering ever since Jenny Kane’s generous invitation to guest blog on her site.

roller coaster

Like many people I enjoyed writing creatively as a child, but my recent shift into ‘being a writer’ has been unexpectedly sudden. I’m only a published author as of yesterday and while I am tingling with excitement and walking around with a silly smile on my face, I am also unnerved by the whole thing. You see I am attempting to evolve into an author, having been a full-time garden designer for the past decade.

My occupation was perfectly enjoyable, as was my life as a fine art sculptor before that. I was lucky enough to have lovely clients and I gained immense satisfaction from conjuring up creative solutions and seeing them through to fruition. So why am I giving it all up? Because I just LOVE writing stories, almost beyond reason – more than designing gardens and even more than eating cake (which is a lot by the way).

Am I alone in this?

I wrote my debut novel Kindred Hearts because I found I had fictional characters, specifically the twins, Sebastian and Celeste, living in my head and it was a choice between going mad or putting pen to paper. I honestly felt compelled to write their story and I revelled in the process so much that the dark winter months positively flew by.

And then there’s the mysterious magic of timing, which can be hard to ignore. Last summer I relocated from London to be closer to my sister and her family in Hertfordshire, coincidentally receiving the keys to my new home on my company’s ten-year anniversary. Amid a frenzy of decorating and DIY my fabulous best friend Alice Raine encouraged me to submit my book to Áccent Press and before I had time to really think about it I was offered a book contract. Words cannot convey how grateful I am to Alexandra Davies for taking a chance on me and I want to fully embrace this incredible opportunity, give it my all and if possible, turn it into success.

Of course to do that I need to sell books and that means promoting myself … and the thing is I am a hermit at heart – perfectly friendly but generally quiet, unassuming and somewhat shy – so to suddenly launch myself into the alien world of writing and publishing through Facebook, Twitter and blogging, has been a bewildering and exhilarating jump into the unknown. Thankfully everyone I’ve met online so far has been amazingly kind and welcoming, and I’m able to do part-time admin work to pay the bills. So far so good – I’m happily tucked up indoors indulging my romantic imagination, instead of outside in the wind and rain wrestling shrubs into muddy holes.

But the book market and the romance genre in particular, is highly competitive. I find myself wondering if I am crazy to invest so much energy in something that I may or may not be any good at, and anxiously note that I have set myself up for a fall. After all at this moment in time my role as an author is entirely untested – virtually no one has had a chance to read my book yet!

So why am I sitting at the top of this roller coaster, my eyes wide and knuckles white as I wait to find out if anyone will like my baby?

Because life is short.

I owe it to myself to go for what I want, even if I land on my face (I fell down a flight of stairs at Christmas so I already have some idea of what to expect in a literal sense). So all I can do now is try to be brave, enjoy the ride and hopefully make some new friends along the way.

Kindred Hearts new

Kindred Hearts by Grace Lowrie

When the enigmatic twins from Natasha Graham’s childhood sweep back into her life and draw her into their glamorous world, she is seduced by a potent cocktail of love and sexual desire. But Sebastian and Celeste Walker are two sides of the same coin, darkness and light and everything is not as perfect as it seems. Can Tasha make the right choice when it comes to her heart? Or will the past destroy everything worth saving?

An excerpt from Kindred Hearts:

I spent most of the autumn term trying not to obsess about Sebastian, but it didn’t work. I could tell whenever he was somewhere close by a prickling sensation on the back of my neck and I couldn’t resist subtly looking out for him in the playground. Despite his cold indifference I still got butterflies in my stomach every time our eyes met, so I tried to avoid him as much as possible. But in November the twins had a joint fourteenth birthday party.

I felt shy at first – it was strange seeing everyone outside of school and the crisp, clear night felt eerily magical. But Celeste was keyed up about the fireworks and her infectious excitement soon reassured me. The display was breath-taking and we all oohed and aahed as flashes of fiery light illuminated the sky with transient colour, leaving trails of smoky echoes in their wake. Some of the boys snuck up on the girls in the dark to make them shriek and soon we were all giggling and larking about.

Sebastian hung back in the shadow of the house, watching the rest of us from afar with his usual laid-back manner. Most of his dark straggly hair was hidden under a black beanie, pulled low down on his forehead so that he looked even more brooding than usual, but he laughed along as we made idiots of ourselves. Eventually Celeste went over to him, took his arm, and dragged him down the garden to where we were toasting marshmallows over a bonfire in a big circle. Sebastian was forced to stand between Celeste and myself and as I passed him a skewer, I silently prayed that he couldn’t see me blushing.

Maybe I was just distracted or impatient, but I just couldn’t get the hang of toasting my marshmallows. They caught fire and tasted burnt or simply melted off into the flames, disappearing out of sight. I was just about to give up completely when Sebastian unexpectedly offered me his skewer. Perched on the end of it, was a perfectly toasted marshmallow. He didn’t say anything, just watched me with an unreadable expression as I carefully took it from him, my gloved fingers brushing his. I thanked him, my words coming out in a whisper, but he nodded once in acknowledgment before turning away to comment on something someone else was saying. I glanced around the group but was relieved to find no one looking in my direction. I gently blew on the marshmallow before tentatively putting it into my mouth whole. It tasted delicious and I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as it warmed me from head to toe.

Grace Lowrie

Grace Lowrie

Writing was my first love back when I composed poetry and short stories as a child. Since then I have worked a variety of jobs, run my own garden design business and travelled the world. Now I am rekindling my original passion by writing contemporary romance novels in Hertfordshire, where I also help out with the family business, explore the countryside and bake (and eat) cakes.

Kindred Hearts: www.myBook.to/KindredHearts

Website: www.gracelowrie.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gracelowrie1

Twitter: www.twitter.com/gracelowrie1

***

Many thanks for coming by Grace! Great blog. I have been strapped to the writing roller coaster for some time now-  hope you enjoy the ride as much as I have hun!!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny xx

 

Guest Post from Anne Polhill Walton: Real life interventions, crime, and a female Jack the Ripper!

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On March 11, 2015

In Blog, Contemporary Romantic Fiction, News

I’m welcoming a first time blogger to my site today! The lovely Anne Polhill Walton- otherwise known as Nell Peters- is sharing her route to publication.

Over to you Anne…

Hi everyone – and huge thanks to Jenny for taking the risk of letting a complete novice loose on her blog. I’ll try not to lower the tone, or indeed bore anyone to distraction.

Like many, my road to publication was a long and rocky one and dogged by pesky real-life interventions. Along the way, I produced a clutch of strapping sons, moved country and back again and remarried – latterly I went back to Uni to read psychology and sociology, in the hope of giving my plots and characterisation an edge. Some of my fellow students were a study in themselves – definitely a few psychos in their midst, who made me feel quite normal … and as for the lecturers …

Probably my most memorable assignment was a presentation on women serial killers – that was my typically bloodthirsty choice, the brief being based around gender. During my twenty minutes or so in the spotlight (which I absolutely hate!), I managed to persuade a worrying number of students that Jack the Ripper was in fact a fifty-something woman called Evangeline. She had a full, fictitious biography, including nursing in the Crimea with Florence Nightingale, which is where she learned her surgical skills – obviously I should get out more.

The handout has reclined on https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/109930 for ages – and some kind soul recently gave it a 5* review, reminding me it was there! However, Evangeline – a name I plucked from the air, figuring it was rare enough not to cause any problems – had to become Ernestine, when the youngest boy brought his girlfriend (now fiancée) home and introduced her as Evie, short for Evangeline.

Armed with a scraped 2:1 Hons, plus an implied award for being the oldest student on campus, I ditched the textbooks, ceremoniously burned my dissertation on Jean-Jacques Rousseau (who definitely displayed schizophrenic tendencies!), and dug out some of the crime novels I’d written previously. Ignoring the aged pile of rejection slips big enough to fill the local recycling facility, I read through and edited the books to within an inch of their lives and posted some on Amazon KDP.

But there was one book I couldn’t edit, because (when he was going through his mercifully short Bill Gates stage) number three son deleted it in error and it could not be retrieved. No backup. Gulp. So, I set about a rewrite of By Any Other Name, and I have to admit that some of the psychology stuff came in useful – for a start, the protagonist, Emily Kelly, is a mature (though nowhere near as mature as I was!) psychology student. She always was, long before I went back to uni – spooky. To earn a crust Emily takes a vacation job as companion to retired industrialist Sir Gerald Ffinche, and falls in love with his son, Richard – and he with her. So, on the face of it, a romantic novel where everyone lives happily ever after? Nope. I don’t do happy! It seems someone wants to spoil the couple’s idyll and bodies start to mount, while subtle clues are left to incriminate Emily. But who? The reader is spoiled for choice…

When I submitted to Accent Press, I was thrilled to hear from their lovely editor Greg, who asked to read the rest of the novel. Naturally I sent it off before he changed his mind, but realistically I was expecting another rejection to add to my impressive collection.

But on the eve of our youngest granddaughter’s first birthday, Greg came back to me and said he liked the book and had been flabbergasted twice by plot twists. (Even though I wrote the thing, I couldn’t imagine what the second one was …) A brief happy dance and it was back to reality, as I’d foolishly promised to help make a fairy princess castle birthday cake – and I am a complete non-starter in the domesticity stakes. Greg very helpfully sent a link to M&S princess castle cakes, only for my relief to be punctured by the minimum seven day advance order requirement – I was working on not much more than seven hours!

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Son and I somehow managed to construct a cake, which looked quite reasonable from afar (which the kitchen most certainly did not) – and the publishing process began.

At the end of November 2014, genre-hopping By Any Other Name, written under my pen name Nell Peters, hit Amazon as an eBook and POD.

Anne P W By Any Name final

Blurb:

Emily Kelly cannot believe her luck when she is employed as companion to Sir Gerald Ffinche. (Luck had nothing to do with it – but all’s fair in love and job-seeking, right?)

She soon settles in chez Ffinche and builds an excellent rapport with Sir Gerald – but it’s his son Richard who really interests her, and they quickly become inseparable. However, it seems their happiness has enraged someone closely associated with the family, and a series of tragic events is set in motion. Subtle clues are left to incriminate Emily and when she determines to expose the real culprit, she is spoiled for choice. As the body count mounts, Emily and Richard – as well as the police – are perplexed. They’re clearly looking for someone who projects a mask of sanity to the world, whilst being dangerously disturbed: but who? A whole shoal of red herrings support a plot that veers from almost-cosy to a taut psychological thriller to make By Any Other Name an enthralling, chilling whodunit.

You can find it here:

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_4_4?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=nell%20peters&sprefix=nell%2Cdigital-text%2C310

US http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=nell+peters&sprefix=nell+pet%2Cdigital-text%2C412

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Potted bio:

Despite being born in Wimbledon and raised in Twickenham, Anne Polhill Walton is not in the least sporty – and so she thought it prudent to move to Norfolk. Because her name is a bit of a mouthful, she uses the pen name Nell Peters, taken from her parents’ Christian names, and she has actually been asked which is which … Another name she answers to is Grannie Annie, after three out of four sons produced children. Two are girls, and so she is finally able to indulge in buying stereotypical pink. Even though she doesn’t like pink.

***

Many thanks Anne! I am honoured to be the host of your very first guest blog! I loved it!

Happy reading everyone,

Jenny x

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