**Christmas with Orenda Books** featuring Louise Beech @Orendabooks @LouiseWriter #Giveaway #BookBundle

Oh my the days are beginning to run out before we reach the BIG day! I still have plenty to do between then but hopefully it will all be alright on the day! Today I’m thrilled to welcome Louise Beech to the book review café, and to learn more about ‘a Beech Christmas’.

What is your favourite Christmas memory?

The one where I was almost nine months pregnant with my son. I was only twenty, and on my own, but so excited about becoming a mum for the first time. I wondered if we would end up with a Christmas Day baby because I kept getting backache – but he made me wait another two weeks!

Where will you be spending Christmas?

I’m excited to be going to my son Conor’s for Christmas. It will be my first time spending Christmas Day at one of my own children’s homes! They have both left home now, my daughter Katy for university in Lincoln, and my son to live with his girlfriend in Mansfield. It will be just the five of us; me, husband Joe, Katy, Conor and his girlfriend Ieva. Perfect. They will cook, and we are taking drinks, crackers and dessert.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

I had some when the kids were little. Leaving the carrot out for Rudolph and some chocolate and whisky for Santa. Leaving one small gift at the foot of their beds to amuse them until a semi-human hour. All going downstairs together and ‘seeing if Santa had been’. Enjoying watching the kids open all their gifts before we even looked at ours.

What was your best ever Christmas present?

It was the first one my husband Joe ever bought me. We had only been dating about six weeks. It was back in 1996 before mobile phones. I only had one telephone in my house, downstairs in the kitchen. And we liked to talk late at night when I was in bed. So he got me twelve red roses and a telephone to plug in upstairs. So simple and so thoughtful.

What was your worst ever Christmas present?

I actually love gifts so much that I appreciate them all – even the ‘bad’ ones. So I couldn’t possibly say.

Favourite Christmas tipple?

You can’t beat the very 80s and naff Snowball. I don’t often drink red wine, but I do like a nice glass with the festive lunch.

What are you hoping for this Christmas?

That my family are happy, safe, and well. I’m also excited to see advance copies of my next novel, I Am Dust, as there is a good chance I will have one in my hand by Christmas. It might be book number six, but the excitement is just as clap-hands-jump-around-the-room as it was for my first.

Have you got a Christmas message you would like to share with readers and bloggers?

I take the time to thank every single reviewer on my blog tours in the acknowledgments of the next novel. I am eternally grateful for readers who put reviews online or message me with their kind words. And endlessly appreciative of bloggers who read and share my books, simply out of love. They don’t have to do it. I hope they all have the most wonderful 2020, and that it’s a year of great books for us all.

About Louise Beech

Louise Beech is an exceptional literary talent, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a GuardianReaders’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. Both of her previous books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers on Kindle.

The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award in 2019. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. Louise lives with her husband on the outskirts of Hull, and loves her job as a Front of House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.

Books published by Orenda Books

My thanks to Louise Beech for taking the time to write this post.

Giveaway

The giveaway includes all the books featured in the above photo, 18 fabulous books in total. The competition is open to UK residents only. Competition will close on midnight on the 19th December and please note the prize will be sent directly from the publishers (hopefully in time for Christmas) and you must be following my blog.

To enter click on the link and good luck Orenda Books Christmas bundle 📚🎁🎄

Morecambe & Vice Crime writing festival Adam Croft in the #Spotlight #BookReview #AuthorInterview @adamcroft @MorecambeVice @BOTBSPublicity

 

Today I’m thrilled to be part of the blog tour for the Morecambe & Vice Crime writing festival which is running from Saturday 28th  until Sunday 29th September, there are some stellar authors attending.  Unfortunately due to the distance it’s not an event I will be attending but it does sound amazing. Adam Croft is one of the author’s appearing at the festival, and as part of the blog tour I have my review For Tell Me I’m Wrong, as well as an interview with the author himself, but first………. 

Here are some details about the event……….

In September 2017, Morecambe & Vice made its sparkling debut at the glorious Morecambe Winter Gardens. Described as a weekend ‘full of warmth, wit and wisdom’, authors, speakers and guests from across the globe flocked to the sunny seaside for a weekend filled with criminal shenanigans.

Now, in 2019 they are back for the third year running! This year the North West’s quirkiest crime-writing festival will be bigger and better than ever before! 

bring me some crime..

This year, the theme for Morecambe & Vice is (rather fittingly!) :

‘Bring Me Sunshine’ 

The festival will be shining a bright positive light on the world of crime fiction, filling our festival with tales of inspiration, overcoming hardships and that warm fuzzy feeling you get when good things happen!

If you want to learn more about the event, which authors are appearing or book tickets for this event you can find out more here…  https://www.morecambecrimefest.co.uk

You self-published your 9th book Her Last Tomorrow with great success. What made you decide to move from self publishing at this point to a publisher? 

I didn’t move to a publisher at this point — it was the year after. In short, they offered me a very good sum of money for a book which had already been out for months and had mostly saturated its market, plus they wanted my next book, which I was only half-sure about releasing as I wasn’t massively keen on it. It was a no-brainer for me to take the money and run. As expected, it didn’t work out particularly well and the sales they achieved for the books was far lower than I was doing on my own, so I took back control of my rights and re-published the books under my own imprint.

 

What are the advantages/disadvantages of having a publisher?

In terms of advantages, it’s great for people who aren’t interested in learning how to publish and market effectively and don’t mind giving up 90% of their royalties for the small chance their publisher might give them that support. For anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit and who wants to take advantage of the massive shift in the industry and to have a direct relationship with their readers and the people who carry their books, going indie is ideal.

 

What are the advantages/disadvantages of being self published?

I think this is mostly covered above, as it’s more or less the same question. But the disadvantages would be that it’s a huge amount of work and a steep learning curve. I enjoy that challenge, though, and relish it.

 

What’s your biggest achievement since you began writing?

That’s a really difficult one and I’m going to sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet! I’ve been very fortunate to have multiple worldwide number 1 bestsellers, to hit the USA Today bestseller list twice, to be ranked by Amazon as the most widely-read author in the world for a brief period in 2017 (J.K. Rowling was in second place!) and to be made a Doctor of Arts by the University of Bedfordshire last year — the highest academic award in the UK — in recognition of my ‘services to literature’. The inverted commas are mine, as I’m not entirely sure what I do could be considered ‘literature’ but still, it looks nice framed in my downstairs bathroom.

 

What advice would you give to other indie authors?

Get going, keep going, carry on.

 

Quick five questions

Favourite drink?

Beer or red wine, depending on my mood and whether we’re talking evening meal or breakfast.

Favourite book? 

I get asked this a lot and it’s impossible to pick one, but I tend to plump for To Kill A Mockingbird because it makes me sound intelligent.

Favourite film? 

I’m not a great film watcher, but I like anything that makes me think long after I’ve watched or read it. A rather bizarre film called Swimming Pool (I think) did that a few years back. It’s not exactly a blockbuster, but it still makes me think about it years on.

Are you a panster or a plotter?

I’m definitely a plotter, but I give myself the freedom to pants it if I need to. I find it vital to have some form of structure or skeleton, otherwise it’s pure anarchy.

Describe yourself in five words? 

Far too old for this.

Tell Me I’m Wrong by Adam Croft

What if you discovered your husband was a serial killer?

Megan Miller is an ordinary woman with a young family — until a shocking discovery shatters her perfect world.

When two young boys are brutally murdered in their tight-knit village community, Megan slowly begins to realise the signs all point to the lovable local primary school teacher — her husband.

But when she begins to delve deeper into her husband’s secret life, she makes discoveries that will make her question everything she knows — and make her fear for her young daughter’s life.

Facing an impossible decision, she is desperate to uncover the truth. But once you know something, it can’t be unknown. And the more she learns, the more she wishes she never knew anything at all…

There is nothing more satisfying than picking up a book that misleads the reader, one that constantly has you questioning each characters narrative, and Tell Me I’m Wrong by Adam Croft does exactly that! With an array of psychological thrillers on the market and one of my most read genres I find it difficult to find a book that stands out from the crowd. For me a psychological thriller has to mess with my head, keep me gripped and most importantly hit me with that “OMG I never saw that coming” moment and yes this book managed to do just that!

Like most psychological thriller Tell Me I’m wrong could not be considered to be fast paced, but like any really good psychological thriller the author builds on the suspense and mystery the whole time leading the “reader down the rabbit hole” into the world of Megan and Chris, where nothing is as it seems. On the surface Megan and Chris seem to be a “perfectly normal couple”, when two young boys are brutally murdered in their tight-knit village community, Megan slowly begins to realise the signs all point to the lovable local primary school teacher, her husband, Chris.

Fuelled by lies and mistrust the story is told in alternating chapters from the POV of Megan and Chris. As I got to the 60% I can honestly say I had no idea where this book was heading, yes I had numerous theories but I found myself so caught up in where the author was leading me I really couldn’t turn the pages of my kindle fast enough. The sense of foreboding radiates from the pages of this well told tale, at times I find myself holding my breath as the tension and mistrust between Megan and Chris grew.

Adam Croft certainly surprised me with a couple of those “OMG I never saw that coming” moments, so I applaud the author for being so devious. Well written, this is a book that I will definitely be recommending to anyone who loves a gripping psychological thriller with some very devious plot twists. Tell Me I’m Wrong is the first book I’ve read by Adam Croft but it certainly won’t be my last!

Buying links:   Amazon UK 🇬🇧         Amazon US 🇺🇸

Paperback: 274 pages

Publisher: Circlehouse (18 Jan. 2018)

My thanks to author Adam Croft for my ARC in exchanged for an unbiased review, and for taking the time to answer my questions.

My thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book On The Bright Side Publicity for giving me the opportunity to take part in this blog tour.

Follow the blog tour for author interviews and reviews…….