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Browsing Tag

All Over the Place

All Over the Place on Top at iBooks

It’s been all go for All Over the Place this week. This fun, romantic, quirky little book was chosen as a Book of the Week at iBooks Australia/New Zealand—and is currently sitting at number one on the free chart!

Good idea Livi, don’t catch his eye. I hear he has a few…issues.

2015-06-20 AOTP & Gret top on  iBooks

iBooks are doing a wonderful job promoting it (and The Same But Different alongside), and it’ll be free worldwide until June 30. [EDIT: Thanks to ongoing promotions by the lovely people at iBooks, All Over the Place will now remain free until August 25!] The links are here—please do grab it if you don’t have it already!

That guy is everywhere.

2015-06-19 iBooks Whats Hot AM

 

Meanwhile, the first proof copies have arrived—and they’re even more beautiful than I thought they’d be! I have to give Design for Writers a huge shout out for this amazing cover. It’s so perfect for the story, and all that dreamy gorgeousness still makes me smile. The print version is now available on Amazon, and should show up on Book Depository in the next few weeks. And The Same But Different will be next! I can’t wait.

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Oh the pretty! There’s nothing like the moment you open the box and see your book ‘in real life’ for the first time. 🙂

There’s a lot to celebrate at the moment, so I’ll soon be running a special subscriber giveaway. There’ll be paperback and ebook copies up for grabs, and a special selection of New Zealand chocolates and treats! Make sure you’re signed up for my newsletter to be in to win—here’s the link.

Have a great week everyone! 🙂

 

Chick Lit May: What’s on Page 45?

WhatsonPage45

 

Update, 20 May: The winner of one pound of gourmet caramels,
kindly donated by Whitney’s Goodies, is Janine Rowe. Congratulations Janine!
<applause applause applause> 🙂

Did you know that May is International Chick Lit Month, aka #ChickLitMay? There are tons of fun things happening online to celebrate—including today’s What’s on Page 45? post, which is appearing on author blogs all over the internet. Thanks to the lovely Tracie Banister for organising us all!

I was going to use my book The Same But Different for this post, but page 45 is just one giant spoiler! So All Over the Place is having its moment in the spotlight instead. In this scene, Livi finds herself in the city’s hippest nightclub. Her fiancé Rob is competing in a dance-themed reality TV show, and at this glamorous media event, she’s under pressure to smile for the cameras. As she and other assorted family and friends arrive to meet up with the contestants, she has no idea that things are about to take a turn for the worse…

Cameras flashed as they passed along the red carpet (red carpet! oh, please) and into the darkened thud, thud, thud.

The first person she encountered was, of course, Jasmine.

“Hi!” she enthused, her hair glowing pale in the starriness of hundreds of tiny ceiling lights. “You’re Rob’s girlfriend! Wow, he is so great, isn’t he! Hey, is it true, you know, how they say if a man’s a good dancer, then he’s good, you know, elsewhere?” She raised a suggestive eyebrow. “God, you lucky thing… Mum! Dad! Wow, it’s so great to see you…” And she was gone, into the spotlight of a news crew.

Vodka, Livi thought. Vodka. And she headed for the bar. Feeling strengthened with drink in hand, she threaded her way through the crowd looking for Rob, skirting around the film crews doing interviews. Eventually she came upon Therese, in her element with a pack of black-garbed industry insiders.

“All alone!” Therese exclaimed over the music. “Have you seen Rob yet?” When Livi shook her head, she said, “Well, I’m sure he’d like to see you. I saw him going that way a few minutes ago.” She pointed towards the back of the club.

This very small kindness was so unexpected that, after a hard week, Livi felt grateful out of all proportion. “Oh, thanks,” she said. “Thank you.”

Therese just smiled and watched her go.

The club was getting more and more jammed with people, and Livi had to elbow her way through to the back. In the corridor leading to the rest rooms there was a queue of women, jiggling and stepping, waiting to get into the ladies’ bathroom. Livi waited for a few moments in case Rob came out of the men’s bathroom, then went back out. A reporter from a late-night news programme was waiting, glammed up to blend in, cameraman hovering over her shoulder.

“Livi, right? Livi Callaway?”

She held up a hand against the sudden glare of the camera’s light. “Yes.”

“I’m Janet Walker, Newsnight Tonight. We’d love to do an interview with you and Rob. They’re saying he might take out the top spot. What do you think about that?”

“I think he’s doing really well, it would be great if he won. And an interview would be okay, I suppose.” Her eyes strained into the dark crowd outside the pool of light. Was that Rob? “Excuse me,” she said, struggling to see into the corner. “I’ll just go and ask him.”

dfw-sc-aotp-cover-mid

 

Of course, life is never straightforward for a book’s heroine [insert evil author laugh], and what Livi sees next wrenches her life completely off course…but it also catapults her out into the world, where she finds new friends, new adventures, and an entirely new start. You’ll have to read the book to see whether she finds a new man too! (Hint: she does. 🙂 )

To celebrate #ChickLitMay, All Over the Place is just 99c/99p all month — find it here!

AMAZON  |  iBOOKS  |  BARNES & NOBLE  |  KOBO

 

The Same But Different is on sale too, and lots of other great chick lit, romance, and women’s fiction writers have also discounted their books. Check out these authors for more fun excerpts and some great book bargains!

Jillianne Hamilton • Clodagh Murphy • Maggie Le Page • T. A. Munroe • Meredith Schorr
Kristina Knight • Pippa Franks • Laura Kenyon • Jayne Denker • Amy Gettinger • Gina Henning
Jennifer Ammoscato • Lauren Clark • Laura Chapman • Celia Kennedy • Jennifer Farwell
Glynis Astie • Stacey Wiedower • Bethany Turner • Franky Brown • Tracy Krimmer
Catherine L. Hensley • Becky Monson • Georgina Troy • Zanna Mackenzie • Jennifer Collin
Monique McDonell • Samantha March • Sky Greene • Whitney Dineen • Kathryn Biel
Karen M. Cox • Rachel L. Hamm • Heather Balog • Jennie Marts

BONUS: WIN A SWEET TREAT!

Here’s your chance to win a one-pound package of caramels from Whitney’s Goodies. The lucky winner can choose their flavour from those listed below. (This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only.)

1poundcaramelsforchicklitmay

The Girl Next Door (Crème Caramels)A scrumptious, full-bodied caramel. Old fashioned, melt-in-your-mouth bliss!
The Charmer (Chocolate Crème Caramels)This smooth, chocolate cream caramel will add panache to your day. An exquisite and elegant morsel, simply irresistible.
The Movie Star (Orange Crème Caramels)A timeless treat that will satisfy caramel fans of all ages. “The stuff that dreams are made of!”
The Bombshell (Lemon Crème Caramels)A bodacious bit of heaven with a bold citrus pallet. They will leave you satisfied and refreshed. Caramels are a girl’s best friend!
Always a Lady (Rose Caramels)A delicate bouquet of rose essence infuses this lovely caramel: alluring, tantalizing and reminiscent of another era. They are perfect for weddings and bridal showers. A definite for ladies who lunch or breakfast at Tiffany’s.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter, answer the following question in the comments section below: “In 4 or 5 words, why do you think All Over the Place would be a good read?”

Make sure to leave your full name, along with an e-mail address. A winner will be chosen via Random.org on Tuesday, May 19th. You can also enter at each of the blogs listed above, so that’s 36 chances to win. Good luck! 🙂

 

When Stephen King met Jim Morrison

Amy WinehouseYou’ve probably heard of the 27 Club—that exclusive group of musicians who died at the age of 27, after a short life of wild excess. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse all joined the club, leaving their fans bereft and guaranteeing themselves a place in rock legend.

That rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, huh? You wouldn’t read about it…and if you did, you wouldn’t believe it. That’s the trick with fiction. People want a page-turner. But if you put in something really extraordinary, they say ‘pfft, that would never happen!’ Well, I’m here to tell you that it would. Here are just a few things I discovered while researching for my book All Over the Place

Jim MorrisonJim Morrison is in the club—he died when he was 27. Well, that’s what they WANT us to believe. Actually, he’s alive and living in the Seychelles. No, he’s really a cowboy in Oregon. And he also has a regular gig playing a small club in Anaheim. Seriously though, he’s in the Lone Star state: Stephen King reports picking up a hitchhiker in Texas he swears was Jim Morrison.

There’s no disagreement about the fact that Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones was 27 when he died. He drowned in the swimming pool at his English country house, the former home of Pooh Bear and the real Christopher Robin. Murder was suspected, but never proven. Later, the swimming pool was re-tiled. And in 2001—not wanting to let an opportunity go to waste—the Brian Jones Fan Club offered the old tiles to souvenir hunters for £130 each, every one numbered, with a certificate of authenticity. Classy.

Sid & NancyAnd don’t people love to blame their mothers for their problems? Try this one. Everyone knows the story of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. When she was found dead in their hotel bathroom with a single stab wound, Sid claimed to know nothing about it. He overdosed not long afterwards, having only made it to 21. It’s rumoured that his mother confessed to giving him a lethal injection of heroin, so he wouldn’t have to face a jail term for Nancy’s murder. No one knows where his ashes are—some say his mother scattered them on Nancy’s grave in Philadelphia. But witnesses claim to have seen her accidentally spill them at London’s Heathrow airport, where they were blown around by the airport ventilation system. Thanks mum.

“There’s nothing glorious in dying,” wrote Johnny Rotten later, in his autobiography. “Anyone can do it.”

Watching the VMAs this year made me wonder what stories we’re yet to hear about today’s stars, up there collecting their awards. Some of them have made it to 28 and beyond already. Others are still waiting to discover what 27 holds. Whatever happens, we’re sure to read about it—and somewhere, a writer will probably use it for inspiration. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction…but turning it into fiction can be a lot of fun!

To see where fact meets fiction in All Over the Place, head to your favourite retailer:
AMAZON  |  AMAZON UK  |  BARNES & NOBLE  |  KOBO  |  iBOOKS