Review & Giveaway: The Yearning by Kate Belle

 

Title: The Yearning

Author: Kate Belle

Published: Simon and Schuster May 2013

Status: Read from May 05 to 06, 2013 — I own a copy{Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

” I need your eyes to see, your hands to touch, your spirit to acknowledge that which I hold most deeply and secretly in my heart. My yearning for you.”

A shy teenage girl writes scented letters of longing to her new high school English teacher and neighbour, the handsome and charming, Solomon Andrews. From her bedroom window she watches and hopes for him to notice her.
Solomon is flattered by his young student’s attention, and though wary of another scandal, he finds himself unable to resist her passionate adoration.
While Solomon justifies their affair as his “ultimate and ecstatic gift” to her, the girl believes he is her soul mate, her one and only true love.
When they are discovered and separated she clings to the to the idea that she and Solomon are destined to be together. It is a belief that she cannot relinquish, and well into adulthood the yearning for him remains.

The plot of The Yearning extends beyond the scandalous affair between a teacher and a student, even beyond the a sensual coming of age story of an unnamed teenage girl in love with with a twenty something year old man. It is a compelling exploration of the nature of love, of lust, of longing and desire and how our early experiences with these emotions affect the way in which we resolve them as adults.

For the girl – now a woman, the affair leaves her endlessly searching for a lover able to stir the same feelings within her. It’s an obsession that sabotages her relationships with other men, and even when she submits to Solomon’s absence and marries Max, she is not free of their decades old connection. If she can’t find some way to relinquish her teenage fantasy happiness will always elude her.
For Solomon, whose introduction to sex was divorced from love or even affection, the craving for attention, physical satisfaction and control of his emotions has him at the mercy of his libido. The value of an emotional connection, love if you will, escapes him not only in his relationship with the girl but in all his relationships to follow.

Belle’s lyrical prose ensures The Yearning avoids becoming a tawdry, sensationalist tale of sexual exploitation. Both Eve and Solomon are able to give voice to the motivation behind their feelings and desires. The author captures the excitement and confusion of lust and love with raw honesty. Eve’s letters and diary entries are the romantic, sensual ravings of a young girl in the throes of intense infatuation. Solomon’s musings, though indisputably self serving, are thoughtfully revealing. It is important to know that the descriptions of various sexual unions are at times explicit but not without purpose.

Beautifully crafted, The Yearning is an evocative, sensual novel exploring the connection between love and desire.

Learn  more about Kate Belle, The Yearning and enter a giveaway for a signed print edition by clicking HERE

The Yearning is available to purchase

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AWW Feature & Giveaway: Q&A with Kate Belle, author of The Yearning

Welcome Kate Belle!

I am so pleased to welcome Kate Belle to Book’d Out today. Kate Belle lives, writes and loves in Melbourne, but is a country girl at heart, being born and bred in northern Victoria.  Kate describes herself as a passionate author, adequate wife and devoted mum/step-mum. She holds a tertiary qualification in applied chemistry, half a diploma in naturpathy and a diploma in psychological astrology. Her employment history includes a video library, a travel agent, cleaning campervans for hire, the Victorian public service, a disability organisation and a university sports centre. She has ridden a camel through the Australian desert, fraternised with hippies in Nimbin, had a near birth experience and lived on nothing but porridge and a carrot for 3 days.

Kate has had some publishing success with nonfiction articles and four short stories highly commended in Australian competitions. She recently won the Southern Cross short story competition for Cool Change and has had two erotic romance novella’s, Breaking The Rules and Bloom, published by Random Romance.

Kate’s debut full length novel,  The Yearning, was published in May by Simon and Schuster Australia. This evocative, sensual novel explores the yearning for love, sex, and connection. You can read my y review of this remarkable novel  HERE

“It’s 1978 in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life.
Charismatic and unconventional, Solomon easily wins the hearts and minds of his third form English class. He notices the attention of one girl, his new neighbour, who has taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless teenage crush, until erotic love notes begin to arrive in his letterbox.
Solomon knows he must resist, but her sensual words stir him. He has longings of his own, although they have nothing to do with love, or so he believes. One afternoon, as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up unannounced. Each must make a choice, the consequences of which will haunt them until they meet again twenty years later.”

I had the opportunity to ask Kate some questions and I am thrilled to share our conversation with you today. Read on…

Q & A with Kate Belle

Q: What are the main themes of The Yearning?

Kate: Love, desire, obsession, intimacy, lust and sexual power. To name a few. The Yearning is an intense story of unrequited and unconditional love. It explores how deep longing for connection with someone we believe we love can push us across social and moral boundaries. Sometimes we just want what we want, no matter what, but in love (and lust) there are always consequences and The Yearning doesn’t shy away from those.

It examines the sexual power balance in what appears at first to be an unequal relationship. But there is always more to these relationships than meets the eye. In a way it’s a cautionary tale for young women growing into their sexuality about the damage that mature sexual relationships can cause if we enter into them too early. The main protagonist is anonymous throughout the novel as a way of expressing her sense of invisibility.

Q: Where did the inspiration for The Yearning come from?

Kate: That’s a tricky one because the story sort of evolved out of a deep place within, as many of my stories do. I can’t pin it to one specific thing. The bones of it began as a collection of unsent love letters I’d written to various unattainable lovers throughout my own life, and a couple of short stories that were going nowhere. When I put them together I saw some common themes and the story took root. It rolled out of me as I wrote. I remember finishing a chapter, taking a deep breath and wondering where the story would take me next.

Q: What about a small Australian town in the late 1970′s made it the ideal setting for The Yearning?

Kate: I grew up in a small country town in 1970’s, so that setting holds a lot of ambience for me. The 1970’s was a time when Australia was coming to terms with the massive social changes sweeping across the Western world. Women’s liberation, the sexual revolution, the civil and equal rights movements. Big changes that challenged people’s moral boundaries and social norms.

Combine this sense of boundaries crumbling with a lack of public scrutiny and the relentless boredom that comes with being a teenager in a small town that offers nothing – no bookstore, no cinema, no culture – and you have fertile ground for a relationship like the one in The Yearning to evolve.

Q: The relationship in the novel  defies social and moral conventions, what can readers learn from this?

Kate: When we are young, it’s so easy to give ourselves away in the name of love. Yet entering a mature sexual relationship too early can be damaging in so many ways, ways we can’t comprehend until we hit full adulthood. I hope people will understand how a relationship like this can evolve, and that Solomon isn’t a monster. He struggles with his attraction, but is a bit helpless in the face of his own psyche and a young girl’s powerful desire for him.

There is a lot of hysteria and blame around student-teacher relationships. Certainly there is a power imbalance, but too often the teenagers are painted as hapless victims without any power at all. The truth is young people hold enormous sexual power and this is part of the reason these relationships happen in the first place. Through popular culture our young people learn early the value of sexual allure and how to ruffle their sexual feathers. If they are to protect themselves from potential exploitation it’s important they also understand the emotional ramifications that come with being involved with an older person.

Q: What scene in the novel was the most challenging to write?

Kate: The challenging bit wasn’t so much a scene as a character. Solomon. True confession: I went through so many redrafts trying to get behind his eyes to get his point of view. In the end my gorgeous critique partner, Margareta Osborn, very gently pointed out that perhaps I was so in love with Solomon that maybe I couldn’t see straight and if I wanted to write him properly I had to stop being so sympathetic toward him. It was a bit of a shock, but she was right. I had a very complicated relationship with Solomon throughout the novel, and it wasn’t until I talked it through with Margareta that I realised it was compromising my ability to write him. Weird, I know, but there it is.

Q: The Yearning is promoted by your publisher as erotic fiction – what does that term mean within the context of this novel?

Whenever a novel like this hits the bookshelves it needs to be categorised in some way so that people understand its genre. While The Yearning contains strong erotic themes and explicit sexual scenes, all of which are absolutely necessary to the story, I hope it’s not defined by that content alone. It’s a love story (as opposed to a romance). The ending isn’t a traditional HEA, but it is perfect for the story. I think the common themes of expectations and disappointments in love and negotiating challenging relationships give it a much broader appeal than erotic fiction.

Q: I understand you need music to write – what was on your playlist during the writing of The Yearning?

Kate: The majority of The Yearning was written to a gorgeous CD of sensual classical music. My hubby received Seduction by Luminesca, an Australian cello/guitar duo, for his birthday. I fell in love with the music and it perfectly captured the intense emotional journey the characters undertake in The Yearning. It inspired me while writing the intense love scenes and scenes of longing in the book. If I could embed the music into the book for readers to enjoy I would.

Q: What’s next for you?

Kate: I’ve just signed a contract with Simon & Schuster for my second novel, working title Saint. It’s another intense and challenging story about a marriage between Jade, a wild artist who flouts social conventions, and her ever patient husband, Banjo. For the first time in twenty years Banjo walks out  after a fight with Jade and is killed in a hit and run accident. Banjo is left with an unanswered question: did his wife, Jade, love him above all the others? He can’t be at peace until he discovers the answer. Only when their daughter, Lissy, discovers Jade’s book of lovers, an artistic journal chronicling her extra-marital affairs, does he discover the truth.

Q.    Can you please share three of your favourite novels by Australian women writers?

My One Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson – I just fell in love with the prose in this book. It’s a wonderful exploration of eroticism in all its forms.

Tremble by Tobsha Learner – The way she weaves myth and mysticism into this collection of erotic short stories is awe-inspiring.

Anything by Margareta Osborn – Not just because she’s my critique partner. She is a master at character. I can hear them breathing when I read her work.

Q. What is your preference?

·           Coffee/Tea or other? I’m a brewed coffee addict.

·           Beach/Pool or River? River or beach. Pools are fake.

·           Slacks/Jeans or Leggings? Jeans. Even when I’m too old to get away with them. (Do people still wear slacks?)

·           Butterfly/Tiger or Giraffe? Some days are tigers, some days are butterflys, but they’re rarely giraffes.

·           Swing/Slide or Roundabout? Since I did my knee on the trampoline I don’t do play equipment.

The Yearning is available to purchase

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Blog Tour: From the Kitchen of Half Truth by Maria Goodin

I am excited to be part of Sourcebook’s Blog Tour for From The Kitchen of Half Truth by Maria Goodin today and share with you not only my thoughts about this engaging story but also a short Q&A with the author.

Title: From the Kitchen of Half Truth

Author: Maria Goodin

Published: Sourcebooks April 2013

My Thoughts:

From the Kitchen of Half Truth (published as Nutmeg in the UK, and in Australia as The Storyteller’s Daughter) by debut author Maria Goodin is a a poignant story of a relationship between a mother who has taken refuge in fantasy and a daughter who wants only the facts.

Meg’s mother has told her daughter whimsical stories of her birth and early childhood, stories Meg had no reason to doubt since she has no memory of anything that happened before her fifth birthday. But at eight years old Meg May’s belief in her eccentric mother’s tales of runaway runner beans, neighing horseradish and nipping crab cakes was shattered by the taunts of her peers. Now twenty-one, with her mother, Valerie, dying from a terminal illness, Meg has one last summer to discover the truth about her past.

From the Kitchen of Half Truth can not really be labeled as magical realism but it has a sense of whimsy that creates that impression. The imaginative tales stemming from Valerie’s obsession with food and cooking are absolutely charming, from the mint slice that bestows super speed to the hotdogs that bark and the toad in the hole that refuses to stay put. Apparently initially developed from an award winning short story, there are some flaws to be found, with holes in the plot, and sometimes weak characterisation yet the writing has a delightful rhythm and lovely imagery.

Meg’s rejection of her mother’s make believe world has driven her to excel in science, finding comfort in logic and order. In returning home to care for her sick mother Meg is forced to confront her mother’s delusions in her quest for the truth of her early childhood. Humorless and patronising, Meg is not immediately likeable, though she is sympathetic as it’s easy to understand her frustration with her mother’s evasion of the truth.

Valerie’s eccentric behaviour is both endearing and quite maddening. She is an attentive, loving and supportive mother but her denial of reality is quite absurd. It is obvious however that beneath the fantastical stories Meg’s mother has concocted lies a dark secret, and in fact we eventually learn she is hiding some horrifying truths. Truths that Meg finds that she regrets insisting on knowing when they reveal painful memories.

From the Kitchen of Half Truth is an enchanting tale of love, loss, and the conflict between what the head knows and what the heart wants. It is quirky and unusual but altogether I thought it moving, tender and funny.

A quick Q&A Maria Goodin

Q: From the Kitchen of Half Truth was adapted from a short story (that won the 2007 Derby Short Story Competition), did you think as you were writing the story that it had the potential to become a novel?

It didn’t even cross my mind. I had just started dabbling in short story writing, and my only thought was that I wanted to write something that I could enter into a competition to see how it got on. I was really just testing the waters at the time to see if I had what it took to make some success of writing, even if only on a small scale. It was winning the competition that gave me the idea to turn the story into a novel.

Q: What do you think about the varying titles of the novel – in the UK it is titled Nutmeg, in Australia as The Storyteller’s Daughter and in the US as The Kitchen of Half Truth?

It took me some time to get used to the new titles. It’s strange to have your work renamed. I am happy enough with the Australian title, although it focuses on the aspect of storytelling over food, whereas the UK title focused on the food theme alone. The US title manages to combine both and is my favourite. I have never been to the US or Australia, so I think it would be rather narrow-minded of me to assume I know better than the publishers what would appeal to their audience. Unless I strongly objected, I was happy to go with their suggestions. My aim is for people to pick up the book and read it; I’m not precious about the title.

Q: What has surprised you most about the reactions to the story?

The number of times the novel has been called ‘quirky’ has really surprised me. Some of the publishers in the UK said lovely things about the book but felt it was too ‘quirky’ to market. I never set out to write anything particularly unusual – to me the story seemed quite ‘normal’, so maybe that says something about my mind! Perhaps some publishers were concerned that readers might pick the book up, scan the first few lines and decide it was some kind of fantasy book. It’s easy to see how people might start reading the story and think it’s going to be a fairy-tale, but it doesn’t take long to realise something much deeper is going on in the novel, and that underneath the humour and the bizarre stories lies a story about confusion, hurt and self-protection. Maybe there is an assumption that readers like to know exactly what they are getting when they pick up a book, and maybe the way my novel swings from humour to pain makes it hard to pigeonhole. However, a lot of readers have said they really like the fact that the book is a little bit different, so I think being ‘quirky’ has turned out to be a good thing.

Q: Are you working on a second novel?

I am thinking through a few ideas. Life has been rather hectic since having my first novel published, but I am planning on starting to write the next one later this year. For updates, feel free to take a look at my blog on Goodreads.com or see my website, www.mariagoodin.co.uk, which will be live by April.

From The Kitchen of Half Truth by Maria Goodin

is available to Purchase

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FROM THE KITCHEN OF HALF TRUTH – BLOG TOUR

April 1 – Luxury Reading

April 2 – Laura’s Reviews

April 4 – A Bookish Affair

April 5 – Mrs. Condit Reads Books

April 6 – Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

April 8 – Cocktails and Books

April 9 – Library of Clean Reads

April 10 – Broken Teepee

April 11 – Dew on the Kudzu

April 12 – Raging Bibliomania

April 15 – Daystarz

April 16 – Chick Lit Plus

April 17 – Peeking Between the Pages

April 18 – Book’d Out

April 22 – Books and Needlepoint

April 23 – Write Meg

April 26 – Bookmagnet

Aust Edition

Review: Ask Me To Stay by Elise K Ackers

Title: Ask Me To Stay {Homeland #1}

Author: Elise K Ackers

Published: Destiny Romance April 2013

Status: Read on April 13, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

I have previously read and enjoyed The Man Plan by Elise K Ackers a sweet, lighthearted contemporary romance. Ask Me To Stay, the first novella in a new series by the author, is quite different with less emphasis on the romantic relationship between the protagonists.

Ethan Foster left home at eighteen without any explanation, deserting the brother who raised him after the tragic death of their parents and his childhood sweetheart, Samantha O’Hara. In the past ten years or so he has returned only a handful of times for family occasions, never staying more than a day or two, leaving town with gossip trailing in his wake. But this time it’s different, Ethan’s brother’s wife has died, leaving Dean to raise their two young children alone. Despite the animosity between the brothers, this time Ethan doesn’t leave, even though he risks disclosing the secret he has carried for the last decade, the secret that has stopped him coming home.

Though written in the third person, which allows us to learn what Sam, and the other characters, think and feel, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Ethan takes the lead in this story. The plot centers around the ruinous secret that haunts Ethan and it is his regrets and hopes that drive the story.

Ethan is a credible, sympathetic character and I found his motivations believable. I especially liked the way in which Ackers developed his relationship with his niece and nephew, child characters are notoriously difficult for authors to get right and I think the author did so wonderfully in this instance.

I thought Sam could have been a stronger character as I didn’t get much of a sense of why she and Ethan should be together above all things but I did like her. She is one of the few who never loses faith in Ethan despite having good reason to.

While within the scope of the story the romance works fine since it is a relationship rekindled, fans of the genre may be disappointed by the lack of direct interaction between Ethan and Sam. There is a happy ending though which should satisfy most romance readers.

The secondary characters in Ask Me To Stay are also likeable, with subsequent books in the Homeland series to feature Ethan’s best mate, Cal and brother, Dean.

At only 130 pages, Ask Me To Stay is a short, quick read but a very engaging novella with appealing characters and surprising emotional depth. I am looking forward to reading Cal’s story in July.

Click HERE to read a guest post by Elise K Ackers posted earlier today

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AWW Feature & Giveaway: Elise K. Ackers and her reputation

I’m happy to welcome Elise K. Ackers back to Book’d Out today to introduce you to her  new Homeland series being published by Destiny Romance.

Elise K. Ackers is from Melbourne, Australia and is an animal foster carer, a magnet for unusual accidents and an enthusiastic couch commentator. She writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense and is published with Destiny Romance and Escape Publishing.  Late last year I reviewed The Man Plan, warm, lighthearted, contemporary romance, and Elise shared a post about subconcious inspiration.

Ask Me To Stay: A Homeland Book is her fourth book, an engaging novella I have reviewed HERE. Here is the blurb:

“When family tragedy brings bad boy Ethan Foster home, he doesn’t expect a warm welcome. In the small town of Hinterdown reputation is everything – and Ethan’s was ruined long ago. Nobody wants him around, particularly not Sam O’Hara, the girl he left behind. There’s still a powerful spark between them, but Sam is afraid to risk her heart again. And Ethan is hiding a secret that will have repercussions for his whole family. Will the townspeople ever forgive him? More importantly, will those he loves the most find it in their hearts to take him back?”

The second title in the Homeland series will be available in July 2013. To learn more about the series and how you can win a copy of Ask Me To Stay, read on…

Reputation as a currency

Ask Me To Stay: A Homeland Book is the first in my novella series with Destiny Romance, and it introduces the common theme across the series: reputation.

Ethan Foster, enigma, run-away and all-round contradiction, has just returned to his home town with an undeserved reputation and a whopping great secret. Over a decade ago, he fled the small country town of Hinterdown in New South Wales, Australia. He left behind a brother, a lover, a best friend, and a life interrupted by untimely death.

People made their own assumptions about his reasons for leaving, and as the years passed, assumptions became fact, and fact became legend.

By the time Ethan returns home, people’s misconceptions are inflexible and damning, and their opinions are getting in the way of salvaging a relationship with his brother, Dean. Because Ethan rarely kept in touch, and because Dean has built a life for himself that Ethan’s had almost no part in – their estrangement is only fuelled by inaccurate gossip.

Both experience and research had told me that a person’s reputation in a small town is like a kind of currency. It’s either tracking well against the baseline, or it’s underperforming. You only get one reputation – and no one is likely to forget what you choose to do with it.Your reputation represents your worth. It determines if people are likely to trust you, rely on you or even like you.

But one wrong move – one mistake – can cancel out years of good behaviour. Ethan’s only mistake was to leave. Prior to that he was a well-liked teenager who was afforded a lot of patience because of his parents’ untimely deaths. Everything changed the day he stopped deciding to put on a brave face. When he left, he was condemned for abandoning his brother, for breaking his then-girlfriend’s heart, and basically for daring to start again.

Ethan quickly learns that rebuilding a reputation takes a lot longer than it takes to lose it, and that taking on someone else’s mistake – and thereby adopting their bad reputation – has heart breaking, far-reaching consequences.
Maybe it’s time to set things straight. But to restore his reputation, he must ruin another’s. Is the price of acceptance too high?

In the second and third Homeland books, which explore the lives and loves of Ethan’s brother, Dean, and Ethan’s childhood best friend, Caleb; reputation is similarly explored. Without spoilers, Cal reignites a friendship with an ex-local with a bad girl reputation, and Dean must battle against people’s perception of him, since his loss in Ask Me To Stay. Both men will challenge their reputations, and the reputations of those they love.

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Review & Giveaway: Sweet Damage by Rebecca James

Title: Sweet Damage

Author: Rebecca James

Published: Allen and Unwin April 2013

Read an excerpt

Status: Read from March 27 to 28, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Allen & Unwin}

My Thoughts:

Sweet Damage is the second novel by Rebecca James. Her first, Beautiful Malice, gained international success for it’s chilling story of twisted friendship.

In Sweet Damage, Tim, an easy going, twenty something kitchen hand who has been staying on his ex-girlfriends couch since his return from an overseas trip. When she insists he finds his own space he is thrilled to find an inexpensive room in a large house in the leafy Australian suburb of Fairlight. The only catch is his young, agoraphobic enigmatic housemate, and landlord, Alice, who is not only haunted by unspeakable tragedy, but perhaps something altogether more sinister.

I was immediately drawn to the premise of Sweet Damage, tantalised by the gothic overtones and the promise of a chilling mystery and I was barely a quarter of the way through when the first wave of shivers rolled over me. It wasn’t the last time I felt that tingle of dread, the measured pace allows the suspense to build as the narrative weaves in and out of the past and present, before twisting unexpectedly.

Anna is such an interesting protagonist, and the ambiguity surrounding her character plays beautifully into the suspense. Her agoraphobia, her secretiveness and her difficulty interacting with Tim suggests she has something to hide and as strange things begin to happen in the house, it is understandable that Tim suspects her, especially since she is unable to deny any wrongdoing.

Tim is a little wary of Anna and her odd behaviour but with the arrogance of youth he is not really threatened by the odd occurrences at Fairview. Tim is more concerned with his on again/off again relationship with Lilla, his ex-girlfriend, with whom he admits an obsession. However Anna ignites his protective instinct and he is drawn to her vulnerability which contrasts so vividly with Lilla’s brash personality.

The writing is finely crafted to create an atmospheric and gripping story of psychological suspense. Several suspects move in and out of the frame as the mystery unfolds. As the story reaches it’s climax I thought perhaps Anna and Tim piece things together perhaps a little too quickly but the final confrontation is shocking and not everyone will see it coming.

I devoured Sweet Damage in a few hours, it is an easy yet engrossing read. I think it can be enjoyed by a wide range of ages (16 and up) and recommend it to those who enjoy spine tingling suspense.

Earlier today I posted a Q&A with Rebecca, make sure you take a look!

Sweet Damage is available for purchase

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AWW Feature: Q&A with Rebecca James, author of Sweet Damage

Welcome Rebecca James!

I am delighted to feature Rebecca James at  Book’d Out today and talk a little about her newest release, Sweet Damage. Rebecca James was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1970 and grew up in various different places throughout New South Wales, including Bourke, Sydney, Wellington and Bathurst. During her twenties Rebecca worked as a waitress, an English teacher in both Indonesia and Japan, a bartender, and (most memorably) a mini-cab telephone operator in London. During her thirties Rebecca spent most of her time having babies, she has four sons, and helping her partner run a small kitchen business in Canberra.

Rebecca’s first novel Beautiful Malice (Allen & Unwin 2010), a young adult psychological thriller, placed Highly Commended in the 2010 FAW (Fellowship of Australian Writers) Christina Stead Award and became a international best seller.

Sweet Damage is a compelling story of suspense that  I devoured within hours. My review is available HERE and I have three copies to giveaway, for now I am going to let Rebecca tell you more about her fabulous new novel, read on…

Q&A with Rebecca James

Q: Can you give us the ‘elevator pitch’ for Sweet Damage?

Rebecca: Laid back surfer Tim Ellison can’t believe  his luck when he scores a cheap room to rent in a  Sydney mansion. The only catch is his new flatmate, Anna London:  withdrawn  and agoraphobic she’s not exactly easy to make friends with. When strange and terrifying things start happening in the house, Tim wonders if he’s made a mistake taking the room and soon he’s caught up the tragic mystery of Anna’s past and the discovery of secrets both shocking and horrific.

Q: What was the first element of inspiration for creating Sweet Damage?

Rebecca: I was thinking about anxiety and agoraphobia and how having a person who’s basically  trapped in a house had a lot of potential for a story. And then I started thinking about how a lot of people view mental illnesses like agoraphobia, how they see it as a weakness, a failure. I thought it would be interesting to narrate most of the story from Tim’s perspective – a well-meaning but slightly insensitive guy who is completely baffled by Anna’s situation, her inability to leave the house. That was the basic set-up and then I had to put Tim and Anna under a whole lot of pressure and create a big mystery and lot of twisty plot elements to keep readers guessing and turning the pages.

Q:  Sweet Damage is written in the first person view from a young male,  did his gender pose any difficulties for you as you wrote?

Rebecca: Sometimes, yes! In my first draft my editor made the comment that Tim at times sounded like a 40 year old woman rather than a young man in his twenties. In redrafting I had to be really conscious not to let my voice override his, make sure he wasn’t thinking the way I would in his situation.

Q:  Is Fairview, the house in which Anna and Tim live,  based on a real location?

Rebecca: The location is real but the house itself is a product of my imagination. I know Fairlight the suburb pretty well, as I’ve lived there myself (in a small flat, not a mansion!) and my grandmother used to live in the very street – Lauderdale Avenue – in which I set the book.

Q:  What draws you to the young adult /psychological thriller genre?

Rebecca: I didn’t set out to write YA fiction. When I was writing my first book, BEAUTIFUL MALICE, I wasn’t thinking about categories or genres at all. It wasn’t until I started looking for an agent that I had to start thinking of how to pitch it. Interestingly, Beautiful Malice sold as a YA book in most territories, but as an adult book in others. in fulfilling my contract (BEAUTIFUL MALICE sold in a two-book deal) I had to try and write a book with similar crossover appeal – and so I hope SWEET DAMAGE is the same as BEAUTIFUL MALICE in that it will appeal to both teens and adults.

I’m definitely drawn to psychological thrillers. I think it must be my favourite genre in both books and movies. I enjoy the element of suspense and I always love it when there’s a completely unexpected twist that you don’t see coming.

Q: Do you and your sister, Wendy (The Mistake) talk about your writing with each other?

Rebecca: Yes, we do. We read each other’s manuscripts and give feedback. We talk about plot and characters and pacing and style – all the elements of novel-writing basically.

Q: Name three of your favourite novels by Australian women writers

Rebecca: It’s difficult to name only three  and I find it hard to list favourites as I don’t tend to think of books in that way. So I’m going to list three books that kept me thinking about the characters  and the writing long after I closed the last page.

OUT OF THE SILENCE by my sister Wendy is a book I couldn’t get out of my head for a long while. Maggie’s plight really brought home to me how dreadful and unfair life could be for women before feminism made abortion possible. Her story’s a great reminder how important feminism has been for women (and still is) and how much we’re now able to take for granted. (OUT OF THE SILENCE has just been republished as an ebook by Momentum press so you can now buy it from Amazon).

THE SPARE ROOM by Helen Garner is another book that resonated for me. I love Helen Garner’s ability to apply a her sharp critical lens to the domestic life of ordinary people. She’s honest about people’s motivations, and their small pettinesses and there’s a courage and beauty in that honesty that I really admire.

I also love Liane Moriarty’s work, particularly WHAT ALICE FORGOT (I haven’t read her latest yet, but intend to remedy that very soon). Liane Moriarty reminds me a bit of Anne Tyler in that she’s fundamentally kind to her characters. She shows people in all their flawed glory without being judgemental or superior, which is, I think, a great novelistic skill. The idea that people can be both flawed and lovable, that life is sticky and complicated, and that people can surprise themselves in both good and bad ways, is, for me, a recurring message of her work.  Her books somehow make me feel more optimistic and cheerful.

Q. What is your preference?

• Coffee/Tea or other? Tea.
• Beach/Pool or River? Beach. But I love pools too. And rivers.
• Slacks/Jeans or Leggings? Jeans. (Slacks? No way! They sound so old -ladyish!)
• Butterfly/Tiger or Giraffe? Giraffe. They have cute faces. Though I don’t know what I’d do with one.
• Swing/Slide or Roundabout? Actually the thought of either makes me a feel a bit queasy. I’d rather just sit on a bench seat and read, thanks very much!

You can connect with Rebecca James at

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Sweet Damage is available for purchase

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A special edition of Beautiful Malice, with a preview of Sweet Damage, is currently available from Allen & Unwin

Review & Giveaway: The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

Title: The Wild Girl

Author: Kate Forsyth

Published: Vintage: Random House March 2013

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Status: Read from March 15 to 17, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:
The Wild Girl is a stunning tale of passion, love and war where history and imagination intertwine to create a wonderfully rich portrait of a woman whose contribution to the legend of the Grimm Brothers is finally acknowledged.

Dortchen Wild lives in the small kingdom of  Hessen-Cassel in Germany in the early 1800′s, as Napoleon Bonaparte marches across Europe. One of five daughters of an apothecary,  her only relief from her father’s tyranny comes from the rare occasions she can escape his attention and her friendship with her next door neighbour,  Lotte Grimm. As the war intensifies, Lotte’s older brothers Jakob and Williem return home. With a single glance, twelve year old Dortchen falls in the love with the scholarly Williem but he barely notices her and she can only worship him from afar. As war rages and Cassel is plunged into economic ruin, the Grimm brothers hope to reverse their fortunes by publishing a book of collected fairytales.  It’s not until Dortchen shyly offers to contribute that Williem realises Dortchen has grown up, but her father forbids any courtship between the desperately poor neighbour boy and his daughter. While the lovers endure years of enforced separation due to abuse, war and poverty Dortchen never stops hoping for her own happily ever after.

Kate Forsyth uses historical record as the anchor for a story that she then develops with informed imagination. The Napoleonic War and it’s social effects grounds the tale in time and place while her fictional narrative winds in and out of what is known about the Grimm brothers, the origins of their fairytale collection and Dortchen. I don’t doubt that Forsyth’s research, using primary sources such Williem’s diaries amongst others, is impeccable but I most admire how she creates a plausible, seamless narrative melding fact with fiction. The author’s intuitive grasp of behaviour and motive ensures her characters, their environment and their lives feel authentic.

In the tradition of the original Grimm’s fairytales, Dortchen’s childhood is beset by darkness. Her mother was a weak woman addicted to Laudanum and subservient to her husband. Dortchen’s father, pious and strict during her childhood, devolved into a drunken, abusive tyrant in her adolescence, illustrated in several harrowing scenes. The war and resulting economic deprivations is hard on the family and though three of the sisters are eventually able to escape, Dortchen is forced to remain at home and care for her ailing parents. It is saddening to see Dortchen withdraw into herself in self defense, her spirit eroded by her fading hopes for escape from her father. The spark is only revived when she steals a moment or two with Williem. Her relationship with him is fraught with angst, drama and passion, their love is challenged repeatedly and a happy ending is never guaranteed.

The fairytale’s appear in the narrative not just as stories passed between the characters but also with some relationships to the plot. Dortchen often hopes that Williem will recognise her pain in the tales that she tells, though his scholarly focus seems to make him somewhat oblivious to the subtleties. They also reflect the political and social instability of times with tales of greedy kings and an abandoned, unfed children, despite their origin being from other times and places. The fairytales themselves are both versions of familiar stories like Cinderella and Snow White as well as less well known tales like that of a singing bone that identifies a murderer.

Really I could go on, The Wild Child is remarkable. A tale of triumph over adversity, an epic historical romance, a fascinating glimpse into the history of storytelling – it is all those things and more. One of my favourite reads for the year, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

 

Earlier today I posted a Q&A with Kate Forsyth HERE. Visit to learn more about the author, the book and  download an ESampler.

The Wild Girl is available

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Random House is offering my Australian readers the opportunity to win

1 print edition of The Wild Girl

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Entries close March 31st. Winner is drawn via Random.org

AWW Feature: Q&A with Kate Forsyth, author of The Wild Girl

Welcome Kate Forsyth

I am thrilled to introduce you to Australian author Kate Forsyth today. Kate Forsyth is the internationally bestselling author of more than twenty books, including The Witches of Eileanan and Rhiannon’s Ride series for adults, and The Puzzle Ring, The Gypsy Crown, and The Starthorn Tree for children. She has won or been nominated for numerous awards in Australia and the US.

Currently undertaking a doctorate in fairytale retellings at the University of Technology, having already completed a BA in Literature and a MA in Creative Writing,  last year she published  Bitter Greens (Random House 2012)  an exquisite retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale, interwoven with the dramatic true life story of the woman who first told the tale and I was captivated by its effortless blend of history and fantasy.

Today I am delighted to be celebrating the release of Kate’s newest novel, The Wild Girl (Random House 2013), the story of Dortchen Wild and her relationship with the Grimm brothers, the authors of the Grimm’s Fairytale collection. The Wild Girl is a stunning tale of passion, love and war where history and imagination intertwine to create a wonderfully rich portrait of a woman whose contribution to legend is finally acknowledged.

You can read my review of  The Wild Girl , and have the chance to win a copy, HERE.  But first, Kate graciously agreed to answer some questions for me about The Wild Girl. Read on to learn more about this novel and how you can download an Ebook Sampler to enjoy.

Q: Please tell us about The Wild Girl

Kate: ‘The Wild Girl’ tells the beautiful untold love story of the forbidden romance between Wilhelm Grimm, the younger of the famous fairy tale scholars, and the young woman who told him many of their most compelling fairy tales. Her name was Dortchen Wild and she grew up next door to the Grimm brothers in the small German kingdom of Hessen-Cassel. It was a very bloody and turbulent time, with Napoleon conquering most of Europe, and Dortchen’s father was an autocratic man who disapproved of the impoverished Grimm brothers and forbade her from seeing Wilhelm. They met secretly so she could tell him such well-known stories as ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, ‘Six Swan’s, ‘Hansel & Gretel’, ‘The Frog King’, and ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker’, (plus many more). She was only nineteen and he was twenty-six, yet it was a long time before they could at last be together. 

Q: Why did Dortchen Wild capture your imagination?

Kate: It was the irresistible combination of the beautiful and heart-wrenching love story, and the telling of the tales. I’ve always been both enchanted and frightened by fairy tales and I found it extraordinary that this one young woman had a head stuffed full of all these marvellous stories, and that she told them to Wilhelm so they could be saved forever. I felt a very strong connection to Dortchen right from the very beginning – her birthday is actually only a week before mine – and I found it very easy to imagine myself into her skin.

Q: What are the challenges in melding historical fact and fiction?

Kate: The first and most difficult challenge is finding the facts in the first place. Dortchen Wild is virtually forgotten by history. I had to create a lot of story out of my own imagination, using her own stories to guide me. Then there was the difficulty of portraying such well-loved figures of the Grimm brothers as fictional characters. I set the known facts as immovable pegs around which I wove my own intuitive interpretation of their lives. Finally, there’s the need to write a compelling, fascinating, unputdownable novel. I had to make sure the story wore the historical background lightly. I really dislike books where the author feels a need to show off their scholarship by weighing down the story with pages of details and facts. It has to be just enough to bring the past to life without slowing down the pace. It can be a delicate balancing act sometimes.

Q:What was the most surprising piece of information you uncovered in your research?

Two things, which actually strike off each other. Firstly, Jane Austen and the Grimm brothers were contemporaries of each other. Her first novel ‘Sense & Sensibility’ was published in 1811, and the first edition of the Grimm’s fairy tales was published in 1812. She was actually ten years OLDER than Jakob Grimm at this time.

Secondly, the last witch to be executed in Europe died only 3 years before Jakob was born, in 1782. That means Jane Austen was seven. The woman’s name was Anna Göldi and she was convicted of bewitching her employer’s daughter causing her to have fits.

Q: What was the highlight of your research trip to Germany?

Kate: I had a couple of magical moments, but the one that stands out for me the most is on my first day in Kassel (which used be spelt with a C).

I had had a extraordinarily vivid dream in which a young woman danced alone in a snowy forest, at twilight, dressed all in black. They sky was grey, the ground was white, ravens flew over, crying harshly. Above the forest was a castle, its windows lit up with light. People were dancing up there, their shadows twirling past the golden windows, and I could hear violin music spilling into the dusk. The girl in black was dancing wildly, laughing and crying both at once. Then a tall young man, also dressed all in black, stepped out of the shadowy forest and danced with her and the scene – so strange and wild – turned into a joyous one. I had used this dream as the opening and closing scenes of the novel and, indeed, it became the front cover image as well.

Anyway, when I went to Kassel I went to the castle there and went walking through the parklands and forest around it, looking for a spot that seemed to chime with my dream which I remembered so vividly. I came to the woods below the forest and stood so that the castle was in the same spot as it was in my dream. I wondered to myself – if violin music was played in the castle, could you hear it from here? Just then – I swear to this with everything I hold true – I heard violin music. It was the spookiest, most eerie thing that has ever happened to me. At first I thought I must be imagining it. But no. A young woman stood just below the palace, playing a violin. She was about 19 years old, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, just like I imagined Dortchen would look, and she stood alone on the shore of the lake, just below the palace, playing her violin. Every hair on my body rose up, quivering. I could not believe it!

Kate took a photo of the child and shares it here at left

Q: Which is your favourite Grimm fairytale?

Kate: Can I please have three? ‘Six Swans’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Leaping, Lilting lark’, which is one of the tales Dortchen told Wilhelm. Its a very beautiful and romantic variant of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with a much stronger and more active heroine.

Q. Name three of your favourite novels by Australian women writers

‘Angel of Ruin’ by Kim Willkins.

‘Daughter of the Forest’ by Juliet Marillier.

‘The Forgotten Garden’ by Kate Morton.

Q. What is your preference?

• Coffee/Tea or other? Tea!
• Beach/Pool or River? Beach.
• Slacks/Jeans or Leggings? None of these. I mainly wear dresses
• Butterfly/Tiger or Giraffe? Tiger.
• Swing/Slide or Roundabout? Swing.

You can find out more about Kate Forsyth @

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The Wild Girl is available

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You can download a free Esampler at Random House by clicking on the image below

Hidden Book Tour

Bloomsbury is delighted to launch Hidden by Marianne Curley, the first in the  Avena series.

Marianne Curley’s debut novel Old Magic established her place as an exciting and original voice in the world of children’s literature in Australia and went on to sell in 13 countries.

Hidden is Marianne Curley’s  first book in 8 years.

For as long as Ebony can remember, she’s been sheltered. Confined to her home in a secluded valley, home-schooled by her protective parents, and limited to a small circle of close friends. It’s as if she’s being hidden. But something is changing in Ebony. Something that can’t be concealed. She’s growing more beautiful by the day, she’s freakishly strong, and then there’s the fact that she’s glowing. On one fateful night, Ebony meets Jordan and she’s intensely drawn to him. It’s as if something explodes inside of her–something that can be seen from the heavens. Ebony still doesn’t know that she’s a stolen angel, but now that the heavens have found her, they want her back.

 I was able to ask Marianne a single question in anticipation of her book launch.

How was writing Hidden different from writing your previous books?

When I thought about this question, the first thing that sprang to mind was technology, and how much more convenient computers, the Internet and telephones had become. I know that makes me sound ancient, but there were seven years between The Key and Hidden, and technology went crazy in that time. I had no need to drive to libraries anymore. All the reference material I required was now as close as my fingertips. And how distracting had a telephone become!

Another difference was the pressure I felt to prove I could still write. It seemed like my life had started again after my cancer treatment, and the longer it took me to achieve publication, the more intense the pressure became.

Another difference was my change in lifestyle. I had a physical disability now and was learning to walk without bumping into walls because my balance was wonky. And I was not able to go for my walks on the beach anymore, or down the broken paths of the local rainforest. These were my thinking times, in the open air, when I worked on a plot problem, or a new plan, or any number of issues. Now, because of my pain treatment, when I closed my eyes to visualise my characters and the scenes I put them in, I fell asleep. I fell asleep while typing so many times I had to remember to save my file every few minutes in case I accidently held down the delete key!

But the best thing that’s different now while I write my new series is my attitude – to everything. The successful transplant gave me a second chance at life, and even seven years later, I’m still excited to be alive. My priorities have changed. Small things don’t bother me anymore. If there’s a problem, I deal with it. Today I’m even taking care of my sleepiness by ensuring I go to bed early, get a good night’s sleep, and take power naps whenever I feel my head slide towards the keypad.

Learn more about Hidden, get access to exclusive extras and enter to win a copy  at the Hidden Books Facebook page

Hidden is available from Bloomsbury and all good bookstores