Another review.

Here is another review for Split Decision:-

What they say:

How was Natalie to know that the decision she was about to make between two potential dates, would forever be a pivotal point in her life? That it would mark the time where childhood innocence ended? How could she even imagine that the wrong decision would send her life spiralling into the stuff of nightmares from where she might not come out alive? Life takes a cruel twist of fate when Natalie, a completely average [almost] 16 year old, is forced to make a split-second decision... a decision that will change her future and forever alter her perception of trust, love and the realities of life.

 

What we say - review by Nikki Mason:

I have to say that this is one of the darkest young adult books I’ve ever reviewed. That’s not necessarily a criticism, but there were times when I felt like a little relief was needed. Having said that, the intensity and increasing sense of danger and horror were both incredible.

Natalie is a very privileged, innocent fifteen-year-old. While shopping with her best friend she is asked out on two dates and must make the choice of which one to accept. Only, she doesn’t know quite how significant that choice will be, a choice that could strip away her cosy life forever.

Natalie is a great character and it’s so interesting to follow her progress throughout one important evening in two separate scenarios. The story splits into two “what ifs” once she has picked her date so readers can see the consequences of either decision, and boy, are there some consequences! It’s a clever format and very intricately plotted but in both evenings the fear and violence never feel far away. It’s a challenging and often uncomfortable read and not for the faint-hearted but well worth a look if you’re after some true grit.

Here is the link http://bestchicklit.com/?p=8783

Happy Reading!

Are you looking for me? ;)

I think I live in a world that is increasingly surreal...

This blog gives me viewing figures and other stats which I keep a less than eagle eye on. However this morning I noticed that the viewing figures had shot dramatically up, [in a major way, literally quadrupling overnight] so I took a closer look.

When I followed one of the entry sites that people had linked onto the blog from, guess what I found...ok I'll tell you 'cos you will never guess... a site selling Viagra! How funny is that? Me and Viagra...what on earth could possibly be the link?

Answers on a postcard please! ;)

BritAsia versus Women of the Year

As you may know, I went to both of these award ceremonies which happened within a few days of each other, and yet which were strikingly different.

Some of that difference was down to the type of awards they were, BritAsia being music based and the Women of the Year being about achievement in the fields of business and personal accomplishment.

Whilst you would expect the BritAsia awards to be more flamboyant [which they were] because it was dealing with entertainment, as well as the fact that it was an evening ceremony, as opposed to the Women of the Year, which took place in the afternoon, there were many other differences which weren't so easy to account for.

One of these [and I know I am crossing over into political territory here] was the lack of Caucasian faces at the BritAsia awards. As far as I could tell I was the only white person there. Now you might be shaking your head and thinking, 'silly Carmen, the clue was in the title of the awards Brit...Asia,' but come on readers, in this day and age where interracial marriage is so common in Britain, was there not one Asian man or woman in attendance who had married outside of his religion/ethnicity? Or not one 'white' best friend who had chosen to accompany his or her friend to the awards? Apparently not!

The Women of the Year was very different with attendees who were from all racial backgrounds sitting together. But please don't assume from this that I am advocating segregation, for I am not and never would. The point I am intending to make is actually quite the reverse.

As the possibly only 'white' person at the BritAsia awards, and indeed the only white female, I was in a rather unique position. But not once was I made to feel uncomfortable or ill at ease. The men in particular were courteous and the women charming. No one shunned me and everyone was polite and chatty. Even the gentleman in the orange suit who reminded me of my dad when he was younger [he liked to dress rather colourfully] who I very untactfully informed that, 'not many people can carry orange off but you are going a great job!' [He turned out to be one of the biggest Asian music producers and instead of being offended, he laughed and laughed and posed for pictures from the professional photographer, insisting I was included. I am only able to tell you about it now, after the embarrassment on my gaffe has allowed my face to finally cool down.]

Similarly at the Women of the Year awards I made another gaffe, asking a very stunning blonde if she was Michelle Mone [well she looked like her to me]. The lady almost collapsed with laughter before saying that no, she wasn't but that they were sitting on the same table...I spent most of the event thereafter trying to avoid catching her eye because every time I did I set her off on gales of laughter again for some reason.

At the start of this blog post I wanted to tell you about the clothes the women wore, but just like in real life I have gone off on a tangent, so I must return now. The Asian women's clothes were spectacular. There is really no other word for it. Deep reds and pastel pinks, vibrant purples and sea-deep blues - there was a dress of every colour and shade imaginable and the decoration on each gown was sublime. Beads and pearls, crystals and sequins, or embroidery with blood red threads or sun-gold ones. Each dress was better than the one before.

Sexy, cut off the shoulder, tight and fitted or swirling around like a cloud, sari and evening dress, I stood enviously looking at each one and wondering if I was too old/fat/white or indeed all three to have worn it. And the Asian women were so pretty - ok not all of them, for that would have been impossible but on the whole they were incredibly attractive with fine cheekbones and oval eyes. Funny how the men weren't as handsome on a scale of 1-10 as their womenfolk...sorry guys but there it is!

So now to the Women of the Year. Yes it was a completely different thing and of course it was during the day... but the hotel it was staged in was beautiful, the ceremony was snazzy and the food superb. But where were the elegant dresses, the clothing that might have been more appropriate to an awards ceremony than the ubiquitous black trousers and dressy top? Come on ladies of Britain, where is your style, your sexiness, your alluring attire? Where is your pizzazz?

Don't get me wrong - as I have told you often before, I am most likely to be found in jeans and wellies, hair up and no make-up on during the working week, but I do like to dress up when the occasion demands. And surely an award ceremony is one of those times?

So Britain, take a long hard look at your wardrobe the next time you are due to go out to an event. Maybe, just maybe, those trousers can take a break and that dress [you know the one I mean, the one you bought for that wedding reception but didn't have the nerve to wear] can have a turn instead.

Get behind me Ladies of Britain as I lead the charge for a more glamorous Britain, one where we can wear our diamonte drop earings and beaded dresses with pride. But until then,

Happy Reading ;)

Photo courtesy of GEM Media and Magazine.

Full Steam Ahead!

I am a little behind [that made me laugh, writing that for some reason] but I am doing my very best. I promise as soon as I can, I will fill you in on what I thought of the Women of the Year Awards, the play Anita and Me and any other events I haven't yet written up.

After all, I only have a whole house to clean, another to decorate, the contents of one house to pack up, the remaining half of the newest book to write, five more to edit...oh and an entire magazine to sort...what could possibly be taking up all of my time?

Happy Reading!

Horror on a sunny day?

I am just beyond the halfway point in The Letter now. The sun is shining through my window and directly at me, so I am typing this with one eye closed. Perhaps it's just as well for I am at a rather creepy bit...

Although this is not a horror story, there is a dream sequence which is rather significant. Here it is:-

Sleep came suddenly and without warning, transporting her to a meadow which was lush and green. There was a picnic spread out on a yellow checkered blanket. It was a horrible shade of yellow, jaundiced and sickly and she wondered who could possibly have wanted to buy it.

Sandwiches over spilled plates and other dishes held relishes and chutneys. There were quiches and sweet pastries and a plump strawberry flan. She turned in all directions but there was no-one around. The sun was beating down on her and it seemed a terrible shame to let all of the food spoil.

She sat down on the blanket and without cutting the flan or reaching out towards it, there was suddenly a large slice in her hand, jam sliding off the side of the pastry and dribbling down her arm, thick, red and viscous.

She opened her mouth, ready to receive the treat but before a morsel passed her lips she caused to look downwards. The pastry was crawling with big, fat bugs. They jostled one another for space in the jam and wriggled out of holes in the strawberry.

Repulsed, Fran threw the slice as far away as she could. The whole picnic was alive! Squirming and writhing and thrashing in the chutney and falling of the mounds of sandwiches in glutinous, struggling masses, black insectile carapaces intertwined with white gelatinous sheathes, adults and offspring contesting for something she didn’t want to imagine.  She shrank back from the food and the blanket it lay upon.

As if they were aware of her presence, the insects appeared to chase her, running towards where she stood, their short, hard bodies click-clacking as they moved, antennae clawing at the air. At the edge of the blanket they stopped. As one they shuddered as if something terrible prevented their onward charge. Whatever it was that had halted their progress could surely only be worse than them…

Fran looked over her shoulder.

There was a hill behind her. She hadn’t noticed it before. Or perhaps it hadn’t been there.

Over the hill a figure staggered towards her. Too far away and with the sun shining directly in her eyes she had at first to squint to see who it was. But before her eyes could attest to what they were seeing, her head - or perhaps it was her heart - spoke directly to her. You know who he is, don’t you? You already know who he is and what he wants.

Tattered, dirty clothing flapped around his emaciated form and where skin should have provided a covering of flesh over his abdomen, there was none. Instead, putrid, flaccid, decaying organs spewed forth from his gut and were dragged along the ground in his wake.

Will you be brave enough to read my other books? I wonder...

I was at the Women of the Year Luncheon Awards yesterday and was completely blown away by one of the speakers.

Michelle Mone took me completely by surprise, both during her speech and in our conversation afterwards. So much so, that next week, when I have time to catch my breath, I will sit down and tell you exactly why.

In the meantime can I say thank you so much, to those who bought my book or downloaded it on the day, and an especially big thanks to Sam who came back for the newest book, Split Decision, after having bought my first book from me the last time I was at the event.

So for you Sam and all you others - Happy Reading.

It's raining outside. Cold, wet raindrops keep bashing themselves against my window as if demanding to be let in.

The weather is no reflection on how I feel, however it does seem to be raining in sympathy with the problems of my main characters, in my newest, unfolding novel.

Fran is discovering there is a lot more going on around her than she had thought possible. Just how much is one woman supposed to take before she breaks, I wonder?

Here in this excerpt that I have just written, she finds out another unpalatable truth...

Danni was silent but her eyes betrayed a determination Fran was sure wouldn’t be shaken. How do I get through to her? “Look I know that you will want to see him, but as your mother I need to know where you are and who you are with.” She tilted the girl's chin so that their eyes were level. “Do you understand that?”

Some of the fire left the girl’s face but the unrelenting sorrow and hurt which replaced it, was no easier for Fran to see. “What if we agreed when would be suitable for you to see him?”

Danni blinked slowly and when her eyes reopened they seemed somehow different to Fran, as if a sly intelligence lurked there.

 

Happy Reading!

OOOOHHH!

I am so, so excited!

Last night I was at the BritAsia awards ceremony, in a VIP seating area at a table close to the stage, after a session of meeting and greeting the stars.

What a wonderful experience! And I met some fabulously creative people. More about that later when the photos arrive.

Today, I am brimming over with excitement at my invitation to attend the Women of the Year Luncheon Awards next week, both for the event and accompanying meal and also to perform book signings. http://www.womenoftheyear.org.uk/ Little 'ol me who walks the dogs in her scruffy jeans, no makeup on and her hair in a pony tail...who'd have thought it?

So today, when I am painting the ceilings of my filthy new house and cleaning the bathrooms of my not-quite-so-filthy old house, I shall be singing to myself. And the tune I will be singing, well I'll let you guess that one!

Happy Reading! x

The sun will come out tomorrow...

Tomorrow I shall be attending the BritAsia TV World Music Awards...I am rather excited.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Another Review.

On the eve of the official Split Decision launch, here is another review:-

"What can I say... I could not put Split Decision down. From the moment I began reading it to the end it held my attention 100%. I was totally engrossed in the book. The Characters were amazing and I felt so emotional at times when reading that I felt I was Natalie. Your storytelling was sheer brilliance. Would love to see this televised as an English drama. It was the perfect book for me to take on holiday." Catherine Phelan.

The Letter

How do you tell your daughter that years ago her father had an affair? Here in the chapter I am currently writing, Fran attempts to break the news to Danni...

“Years ago, when you were only little… your dad and I weren’t getting along. I was busy with you and my mother was ill. Your dad was going through a difficult time at work and having to work away a lot. I guess both of us were distracted.” She wanted to add that her distractions had been more valid than Jim’s, but didn’t.

“What are you saying mum? That dad left you for a while?” Danni asked, her voice a surprised staccato.  

Fran shook her head. She wished it had been that simple. “He didn’t leave. Well not physically…” she clenched her fingers into her palms, feeling the nails bite into the soft flesh, willing the pain to carry her through the awful news she was about to impart.

I hope you are enjoying keeping up with this emerging story.

Happy Reading!

The Letter

Here is the paragraph I have just written [yes I actually AM working today] in my lastest novel. I hope you like it:

The journey was agony, each mile covered bringing her closer to her nemesis, each twist and turn of the route seeming to parallel the shifts in her life, the sudden and almost inexplicable changes of direction.

What would this Cherie be like? The name conjured up a very explicit image in her head: short, tight skirt with high heels, a flurry of too-yellow, dyed hair framing a face that was heavily made up, yet still pretty. Attractive in an explicitly sexual, in-your-face sort of way. She would have ‘boobs’ not breasts, and they would be perched high on her narrow rib-cage, permanently on display in a top that was at least one size too small… she would be everything that Fran herself was not.

Political Envy

Last night, in a social setting, I met the lovely Gisela Stuart, MP. I haven't met too many MPs before, so I guess like most of the population I had a preconceived notion of what might lie beneath the public façade.
 
What I found was a thoroughly nice lady who was able to hold her own without sacrificing her feminine touch. I was really impressed.
 
So I was delighted when she expressed an interest in Split Decision and left with a signed copy. What can I say? Apart from all her other attributes, she clearly has excellent taste.
 
Let's hope she really enjoys it!
 
Happy Reading Gisela!

The Finer Things in Life.

Two nights ago with a glass of fine champagne in my hand, I watched the sun set from the balcony of the penthouse suite in the Rotunda.

With a view across the city which was completely unhampered by the waist-high glass safety-barrier, I watched the sky turn crimson in the distance, before finally slipping beyond the edge of the world and I was reminded of a paragraph in one my Owners books:

    "The horizon had been full of promise. Now the pink sky which hovered overhead reminded her of nothing more than a sky which harboured malevolent intent.
    Under that watchful blood sky, she made her way back to her group of fellow conspirators."

Luckily there was no malevolent intent in the real situation, in fact nothing could have been further from the truth.

But as gorgeous as the interior of the apartment was, with floor to ceiling windows in every room affording that unbroken view, it was Birmingham itself which captivated me, drawing me out onto the balcony and holding me there as witness to its strange beauty.

When I had arrived it had been light and people scurried across the ground below like ants, some hurrying, some mooching along with unknown agendas - all of them criss-crossing each other's paths in a constant stream. Steel and glass buildings reflected the sunlight and there was a sense that Birmingham, once old and tired, had found a fresh lease of life in its new, modern, structures. And yet in the distance there was a lush greenness of leafy suburbs, a thing I hadn't anticipated at all, such was the wide-ranging view available.

Once the sun went down everything changed and the city came to life in a new and even more exciting fashion, neon lights flickering and dancing across the horizon. And still I stood outside, entranced and mesmerised in a way I hadn't expected to be.

So if you do decide to follow my footsteps to stand on the balcony, champagne in your hand, take a moment to look down...one of those scurrying little ants might just be me!

A new review.

Here is the latest Split Decision review which has come in:

"Split Decision is one of the most enticing books I have ever read. I couldn't wait to immerse myself in it every night. An absolutely brilliant book! Thoroughly recommended!"

 

Zena Weeks, Special Projects Manager, England Athletics.

 

 

I'm so glad you liked it Zena! Thank you!

 

Poor, poor Fran...

I really feel for the main character in my latest book. Her name is Fran and her husband has just died under the most horrible of circumstances. But as if that is not enough, misery upon misery is being heaped on the poor woman's shoulders.

Here is the paragraph I have just written:

 The house seemed wrong in every way possible. It felt too big, too empty and too full of memories - sad and happy ones – and it seemed that no distinction between the two could ever make her smile again.

There was a letter lying on the mat. Addressed to Jim, it would of course no longer be opened by the person for whom it had been intended. Fran bent and picked it up, running her finger over the little plasticised window which allowed the name and address of the recipient to show through, as if some lingering trace of Jim could be found in those printed words.

The white envelope was not bulky, containing perhaps only one printed sheet. She carried it with her into the kitchen.


Oh dear God, I know what she is about to read in that letter...

Just so you know what I look like... sometimes, on a good day, when I am wearing make-up and am happy...

Women of the Year Awards!

I am so excited I can barely stand still!

I have been asked to do a book signing at the  Women of the Year Awards ceremony!

http://www.womenoftheyear.uk.com/

When I did this before, a couple of years ago, there were a multitude of famous faces at the event and this year will be no exception, with Michelle Mone as this year's speaker, along with Baroness Stedman-Scott as keynote speaker.

It can be daunting chatting to these impressive, powerful ladies who have made such a huge impact on industry and commerce, as well as on our daily lives, in ways that we often don't stop to think about, as role models and innovators in their fields.

Indeed the event will be rammed with women who have risen to the top of their particular industries, and for them, there can be nothing better than knowing that they got there on their own merits. I hope one day I will be joining their ranks!

But it is Ms Mone who I am most eager to chat to, both as a woman and as a fellow Glaswegian... I wonder what her particular reading-taste will prove to be...

I'll keep you posted!

A Little Bit...

Here is a little bit from book I am currently working on. Such a hard chapter to write...such huge emotions...


“Sometimes towards the end,” she hesitated, “he was almost like a baby. I had to change him in the middle of the night. Either he was drenched in a sulphurous sweat or he had wet himself in his delirium…it wouldn’t have been right to involve his sister when he was like that,” she ended sadly.
“I wasn’t just his sister, I was his twin Fran,” Alison reminded her, as if she might have forgotten.
“Yes I know. And that was why he made me promise not to let you see him like that…” Just how many revelations were going to come out this fateful night, Fran wondered.
I have a splitting headache from the tension of writing this chapter and my heart is broken.

Here it is!

I am overwhelmed!

Thank you so, so much to Elonex in general, and to Pat and Adam in particular, for making this happen.

http://elonexoutdoormedia.co.uk/