Book. Launched.

It’s been almost a week since The Story Collector was released and I think I’ve finally dragged myself out of my post-launch stupor!  How to even begin to explain to you, dear reader, what this week has been like.  It has been a mixture of utter joy, trepidation, excitement, anxiousness, exhaustion and elation.  Let’s say it together, it’s been an emotional roller-coaster!  But mostly, there’s a sense of mission accomplished.

The Story Collector
Launching in style at Ashford Castle!

There are so many stages to getting a book from manuscript to shelf and even though I’ve had a publisher behind me this time, it still doesn’t change the amount of work to be done.  Thankfully, all of the preparation has paid off and my new book has been chaperoned into the world by the most amazing book bloggers – newly christened #TeamEvie !  Book bloggers are quite simply, angels.  I never cease to be amazed by the amount of work they put into helping authors and publishers promote their new books to the world.  All for the love of books and reading.  It’s kind of phenomenal and something I never take for granted.  It’s a huge commitment that they take on for no financial gain, and yet their professionalism is exemplary.  It also helps that readers (we knew this already!) are just the best humans!!  I’ve had such fun on this tour, so big thanks to everyone who is taking part and cheering from the sidelines.

I was so happy to kick off the week with a piece for the Irish Times, all about folklore in fiction.  I loved writing this article and I’ve connected with some fellow folklore fans (try saying that three times!) off the back of it, so do have a read if you’re interested in the inspiration behind the story.

Another feature I really enjoyed doing was My Life In Books for Woman’s Way Magazine.  I love sharing books that I’ve enjoyed and it’s a nice change to chat about other writers!

 

Finally, the lovely people at with Female First UK invited me to do their feature, 10 Things I Want My Readers To Know About Me.  Honestly, I couldn’t think of one at the beginning!  But once I started writing, it kind of snowballed, reminding me of things I hadn’t thought about for years.  Like how I worked as an intern with Airbus Industrie in the south of France, and in a bizarre twist of fate, they are publishing a book this year with my publisher, Urbane!

 

feminine first

So that’s it, The Story Collector is out in the world, revealing its pages to new readers every day.  There is still lots more to come, so stay tuned for details.  If you want to pick up a copy, check out the following stores for more info.

 

Book Depository ~ Dubray Books ~ Foyles ~ O’Mahony’s ~ WaterstonesWH Smith

Amazon UK  ~ Amazon US ~  Amazon (paperback)

Blog Tour – 9th June

Mysterious Bakery Tour Banner

I am delighted to announce my upcoming Blog Tour with GG Book Tours 🙂  See below for the official schedule and please do join me on my whistle-stop tour of some of the best book blogs!  There will be reviews, guest posts and interviews – not to mention some special offers so stay tuned.  As always, you can check out my Amazon Author Page to get your copy first!

Monday, 9th June

  Pyjama Book Girl

Reading In The Sunshine

Tuesday, 10th June

Spoonful Of Happy Endings

Wednesday, 11th June

Sky’s Book Corner

Comet Babes Books

Thursday, 12 June

Laura’s Little Book Blog

Friday, 13th June

She Loves To Read

The Love Of A Good Book

That’s a wrap!

It’s the final day of my two week blog tour and I want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all of the tour hosts who spread the word and wrote some fantastically insightful and positive reviews for The Cross Of Santiago.  It’s been so exciting to read the reviews and discover different readers’ interpretations of the story.  It’s been described as a coming of age, romance, adventure, historical and humourful (that’s not a word, is it…) book that crosses many genres.  So if you want to immerse yourself in a world full of mystery, love and self-discovery, then you can still pick up a copy for $2.99 from Kindle and Smashwords.
I also want to send a big thank you to all the readers who have downloaded the book already – your support is much appreciated 🙂  To wrap up my blog tour, you can check out Crossroads review of my book here.  And in a fitting round off to the year of The Cross Of Santiago’s launch, I revisited the place where I found the backdrop to my book cover – a beautiful stone archway in Ashford, Cong with a really cool king’s head on top.

Image

 

Happy Friday 13th

I can’t say that I’m having more bad luck than usual today, but I have noticed that it’s started to snow on my blog, so I’ll have to watch my step 😉

For anyone who is weeping silently on the last day of my blog tour – cheer up!  I’ve extended the tour by another week, hurray!!  So that means The Cross Of Santiago is still available to buy on Kindle for the ridiculously good value price of £1.88 or $2.99, depending how you look at it and you can still enter the giveaway to win free copies of my book.

Check out my reviews page here to see all the lovely feedback I’ve received from this weeks’ reviewers here.  It’s great to hear readers’ opinions, so if you wish to write a review, please let me know and I’ll post it on my site.  Alternatively, if you or someone you know enjoys historical fiction with a touch of adventure, romance and good humour thrown in, this is the winter read for you!

~The Cross Of Santiago Blog Tour – PART TWO~

December 18th –
Dreamer *Review

December 19th –
[OPEN]

December 20th –
Crossroad Reviews *Review

Chic-Storical Fiction – A New Sub-Genre?

Check  my guest post on Angees After Thoughts blog here, along with a short excerpt from The Cross Of Santiago to whet your appetite.  This intriguing time-slip novel straddles the genres of Chic Lit and Historical Fiction, so if you like your Diana Gabaldon with a dash of Marian Keyes, this is the book for you!  Don’t forget that all this week you can enter the giveaway to win a $20 Amazon gift card, just by downloading a copy of the book at a very festive $2.99 on Amazon or Smashwords using the coupon code GQ83M .  Best of luck!

 

 

Giveaway Goodies :)

Hi everyone,

Just to celebrate my blog tour with IFB Tours, I have a great giveaway to share with you – just in time for Christmas.  You can be in with a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card by simply purchasing a copy of The Cross Of Santiago at the reduced price of $2.99.  That’s it!  Just download one of the hottest ebooks of 2013 and you could be the winner of a $20 gift card to spend on all your loved ones, or yourself (I won’t tell!).  Follow the link to enter here.

And don’t forget, you can download The Cross Of Santiago from Smashwords in any format you like using this 25% off discount code for the next two weeks – GQ83M.

Tour Schedule

As promised, I’m happy to announce my whistle-stop blog tour starting on Monday, December 9th in conjunction with IFB Tours.  My novel, The Cross Of Santiago, will be available at the very special price of $2.99 and not only that, if you buy a copy, you can also enter a draw to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card.  Well, it is the season for giving after all 🙂

So I hope you’ll join me and all of my wonderful tour hosts for a week-long celebration of the best, Irish time-slip novel EVER!

December 9th –

Dreamer *Interview
Book Reviews *Blurb & Excerpt
December 10th –
December 11th –
the enigma of herself *Review & Playlist
December 12th –
All in One Place *Review & Excerpt
December 13th –

December Tour Launch

Image

I’m delighted to announce my December 9th blog tour with IFB Tours.  The Cross of Santiago will be touring with 12 hosts for the week of December 9th-13th, with reviews, interviews, guest posts and of course a fantastic giveaway!  Stay tuned for the tour schedule and a very special discount offer to buy The Cross Of Santiago ebook just in time for Christmas.

Must – keep – writing!

Hello all,

Today is the one week anniversary of my NaNoWriMo adventure and I’m delighted to report that it’s actually going quite well (I’m whispering that last bit, as I don’t want to jinx it!)  Novel number two is really taking shape and I have to say I’m loving it.  It’s strange because, when you finish a novel, it’s almost hard to say goodbye to the characters because you’ve spent so much time getting to know them and living in their world.  However, NaNoWriMo has given me the perfect opportunity to move forward with my new novel and to meet a whole host of new characters.  And just between you, me and the world wide web, it’s set in France with some historical elements and a great jazz soundtrack!  That’s all I’m giving away for the moment.

In the meantime, I am organising a blog tour extravaganza for the week of December 9th, so stay tuned for more details on that.  There will definitely be giveaways and offers and lots of interviews, blog posts and other bits n’ bobs to look forward to.  Also, for anyone interested in writing and having their novel published, there is a fantastic online workshop for FREE run by Writers Web TV and you can watch it tomorrow here.

That’s all for now folks and to all my fellow NaNo’s, keep writing!!

More Launch Day Shenanigans!

Ok, so I know I’m gonna sound like this guy listing the elements, but here’s a list of all the wonderful bloggers that will be hosting me and my book on Monday 16th September.  *sharp intake of breath*

Well there’s 

 http://booksandtales.blogspot.co.uk/

 http://brookeblogs.com

http://cassidycrimson.wordpress.com

 http://serenityslovelyreads.blogspot.be/

 http://foreverbooklover.wordpress.com

 http://spicedlatte.blogspot.be/

 http://auggie-talk.blogspot.be/

 http://readingpastmybedtime.net/ 

 http://iheartreading.net

http://editorcharlene.wordpress.com

…And exhale!  Please join us for interviews, guest posts, reviews and a town hall raffle for a free copy of my book.  It’s not really in a town hall.  In the meantime, take it away Tom Lehrer!