5 Amazing Authors!

As a bookblogger, I am always finding time to sit back with a good book. Often I am making my way through loads of contemporary dramas and YA stories. I also love getting to grips with a well written biography now and again.

Today I wanted to recommend some amazing authors of contemporary drama novels. These writers are my go-to experts in building tension, exploring relationships and making me chuckle.

Joanne Harris

I first read her brilliant novel Chocolat back in 2000 and absolutely adored the French setting and the intriguing characters. She tends to write in short chapters which are told from different characters viewpoints.

‘Chocolat’ was followed by three more France based novel. My favourite of these was ‘The Lollipop Shoes’ which I would love to see made into a movie, set in Paris. She also writes YA books related to the Norse God Loki and short stories which are always well worth reading.

Liane Moriarty

Liane is known for her books which were turned into huge TV series. ‘Big Little Lies’ drew my attention as the book had Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon on the cover of the TV tied edition. I went on to love the TV shows and her writing.

Now I always have one of her incredible books on the go. She is Australian and her novels are all based there. Liane writes in the close third person which means she focuses on one character at a time.

Matt Haig

Matt writes fiction and non-fiction rather well. Having experienced mental health problems, he writes in detail about that experience and provides motivational texts such as ‘The Comfort Book’.

Having also explored Matt’s brilliant fiction, I am now always looking out for his content. His story ‘The Midnight Library’ sees Nora caught between life and death. She gets to find out what alternative lives she might have had. All of his work is easy to read and very relatable.

Lily King

When I randomly selected the book ‘Writers and Lovers’ based on its brilliant blue cover, I had no idea who Lily was. Now I am a big fan of her writing style. Writers and Lovers is a modern book about a woman who waits tables and writes in her spare time. It also follows her difficult dating life.

Since then I have enjoyed her short stories in the book: Five Tuesdays In Winter. This is an eclectic selection of tales exploring social issues. I totally recommend checking out her publications.

Celeste Ng

Again, I became aware of her books when Reese Witherspoon created a TV version of ‘Little Fires Everywhere’. As I knew the TV series was being made, I quickly read the book and both impressed me. I then went on to read her debut, ‘Everything I Never Told You’ which explores a family dealing with a significant loss.

Her stories deal with issues such as race, sterotypes and disadvantage. The characters feel very real and their storylines are very thought-provoking.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for something new to read, then please consider one of these amazing authors. They are all very talented and write very well developed characters with complex but fascinating narratives and cleverly planned plot points.

I have written a review of Blackberry Wine by my top author, Joanne Harris which may tempt you to try her insightful style. You may also want to consider following my blog for more bookish content.

Being Watched – Book Snippet

Happy Easter! Today is Good Friday and my newish YA mystery book has finally been discounted with 50% off. To celebrate this special offer I have included another snippet of this story of two teenagers constantly overshadowed by some watching eyes. I hope that you enjoy it and it might intrigue you enough to add it to your TBR list.

Blackbirds are sinister reminders in Being Watched.

Having got around to arranging with the applications people to delay my Uni course until the next year, I met up with Max and Siobhan at the Hub for lunch. It wouldn’t be long until we were all separated as they went off to different cities, but I had a feeling we ‘d get the chance to go and visit them both, so I wasn’t that worried. I bought them both a milkshake and Siobhan asked Max about his plan.

“It’s simple. We break in one night…”

“How though?” I piped up.

“We go on our bikes, ditch them behind the hedge that surrounds the front garden. Just in case the cameras see us, we wrap scarves around our heads…”

“Me losing my scarf is what started all of this.”

“…and I reckon I could easily pick the lock to the conservatory at the back.”

“Since when have you known how to pick locks?” Siobhan said, with a grin.

 “If not, we bash a little bit of glass away, wear gloves and make sure we don’t leave any signs that lead them to us. We know nobody actually lives there. It’s almost like a museum these days.”

The waitress dropped off the milkshakes and we all took big sips. I could feel the questions brewing.

“So how are we going to see?” she went on.

“Torches… I meant we can walk across the garden without light.”

“Moonlight only?” I said.

“Yeh, as long as we stick together and don’t knock anything over.”

Siobhan wasn’t impressed. “The place is scary as sh@#t. Are you telling me we have to walk around it in the pitch black?”

“No. Just till we get inside the building. Then we use torches,” he replied getting a bit touchy.

I knew we needed to do something. We couldn’t go on not knowing more about the place. I agreed that the time to act was now. As far as we knew, Bonita’s mum was the old man’s only child and whatever the situation was, we probably weren’t going to get another chance like this… to explore.

“Oh f*#k it. Let’s just go for it,” I said, trying to show Max that I had his back, even if I didn’t really know what I wasn’t getting myself into.

“Yeh, I’m up for anything. It’s a pretty sick idea. Just chancy,” said Siobhan, bouncing off my enthusiasm and deciding to go for the optimisation slant.

Changing subject, Max asked how I felt about my decision.

“Well, it’s done now. I doubt I’ll regret it,” I said in a matter of fact kind of way.

“I mean, I almost did the same thing. Uni is gonna break the bank for me,” said Max, frowning.

“That’s if we’re still alive by the time term starts,” Siobhan said, looking furtive.

“It’ll be fine,” I said, disguising my nerves. “We just stick together.”

“Glued man,” said Max, slapping my back. “We are glued together.”

“That sounds a bit too weird,” Siobhan sniggered.

I started to blow bubbles through the straw of the milkshake and snorted a bit as he whacked me again.

“You know it bro…and erm… sis?”

She snorted and I struggled to breath as I accidentally sucked some milkshake froth into my nostril.

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Here are the current links to Being Watched on Amazon:

UK link £1.77 on kindle

US link $2.95 on kindle

Now is the time to get in on the mystery.

Thank you so much for reading my extract. For more of my suggestions, have a look at Read, Watch and Listen. Then perhaps follow my blog for future similar content.

 

Sharing A Brilliant Book

Today I am excited to share with you the work of another Indie writer, Maureen Morrissey. This tale of growing up has an energy about it and brings with it a certain amount of nostalgia. It is very rare that I will share an indie author’s work, unless I feel that it is of a high standard and would intrigue my readers. This extract from a brilliant book is very worthy of checking out, commenting about and sharing with reader friends.

Maureen – showcased author

Snippet from Sonder: Janie’s Story

Janie, like many city kids, quickly became a member of the neighborhood pack once she began school. In all weather on Saturdays, the children in the area burst out of their apartments as early as eight o’clock in the morning and began their street games. Janie and Greg stayed in their pyjamas to watch Rin Tin Tin or Davy and Goliath cartoons or Bozo the Clown, until their father woke up around ten and threw them out of the house.

Waving at Ben, who was not allowed to join the games and was watching out the window, Janie followed Greg to the common backyard behind the apartments, where a dozen kids were in the middle of an intense game of Ring-a-Levio.  

“How do you play, Greg?” Janie asked a bit anxiously. The yelling and wrestling of the kids, mostly bigger than her, was intimidating.

Greg put a reassuring arm around her shoulders as they watched the game.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be on my side for your first game.  One team is hiding and the other team is looking for them.  When they find someone, they have to hold on to them and yell, ‘ringalevio one two three, one two three, one two three, ringalevio one two three.’ If they can say the whole thing without letting him get away, the one they captured goes to jail.  See, jail is the old sandbox there.  When they catch the whole team, they switch places.  But if one of the hiders can sneak in and tag the jailed ones, they can escape and hide again.  Got it?” 

She did, and the game went on for over an hour until they all got tired of it. Janie had caught on quickly.  Tackling one of the bigger boys, she wrapped her arms around his knee and her legs around his ankle, hanging on for dear life and screaming the entire Ringalevio call Greg had taught her while the boy, laughing so hard he almost wet his pants, tried to shake her off his leg and finally gave up, falling to the ground.  Both teams cheered as she triumphantly led her captured enemy to the jail.

After the game, the whole group trouped around the neighborhood for a while, and then ran down to the Grand Central Parkway side road. At the foot of the overpass into Flushing Meadow Park, they hung around a garbage-strewn area. They took turns climbing into a tree with an old piece of plywood, precariously perched in lower branches, that served as a treehouse; and played pirates. 

When the noon fire bell went off, they split up, yelling, “See you after lunch!” and ran back to their apartments. Gulping down peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese or rice and beans or Pop Tarts and milk, they were back out running the neighborhood in under an hour.

Janie loved being a big girl, and loved going to school every day. She leaped out of bed with the sun, ate her Apple Jacks or Cocoa Puffs cereal sprinkled with extra sugar, and was dressed in her light jacket, hopping up and down by the front door while Greg was still slurping the milk out of his bowl at the kitchen table.

“Come on, Greg! We’re gonna be late, hurry up!”

“We are not going to be late, Janie. Hold your horses, I’m coming.”

“Mom, can I walk by myself? Greg is taking too long!” she called.  

Their mother had the window screens leaned up in the bathtub, working to remove the brown crusty filth caked on them since she had cleaned them just a month ago.

“Not until first grade, dear.  You won’t be late, give Greg a few minutes.”

When he finally led her down the stairs, she zoomed around the corner and found Deidre waiting on her cement stoop.  They grabbed hands and skipped ahead of the boys, singing nursery rhymes as they went. When they got to the corner of the busy 108th Street, they did not pause to look for traffic as they began to cross.

“Janie! Deidre! Stop! Stop!”  Greg and Deirdre’s three brothers screamed as they raced towards the girls, who did not hear them through their singing.  

Just as they stepped into the street, the boys reached them and roughly pulled them back onto the sidewalk. At that second, a large sanitation truck was backing up at the intersection to pick up the overflowing trash cans, right where Janie and Deidre had been standing.

“And this is why you won’t be allowed to walk yourself until next year!” Greg yelled into Janie’s shocked face, while Deidre’s brothers gave her a few solid smacks on the arms and bottom. The tearful, shaken Kindergarteners held their brothers’ hands for the rest of the walk.

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Thank you so much for checking out Maureen’s work. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did and may wish to check out her Amazon Author Page. Also, kindly drop a supportive comment if you can. Authors welcome feedback and it is lovely to get enthusiastic responses.

If you want to discover more about the value of book reviews, check my article on Why You Should Write A Book Review.