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.

———————————————————————

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.

 

My Current Projects

Sometimes I feel like just taking stock of what I am up to with regards to writing and blogging. This post is to let you know what my current projects are and how I am getting on with these.

As a teacher, I have to be very organised in order to write fresh content. I also want to keep expanding my horizons because one day I want to write for a living.

Blogging

My blog is nearly two years old and I have varied the amount of content I produced. Lately I have tried to be more consistent and I can see the engagement has gone up. Here are a couple of recent articles I am proud of:

Audio

I have also decided to really get into podcasting again. I dallied in it once before but did not make enough time to grow the podcast. Now I have decided to make sure I produce some spoken content weekly, even if just a small amount.

Here is my first episode:

Or you can find it here:

JamieAdStories Podcast – on Apple Podcasts

Final Thoughts

I appreciate your thoughts on my current projects and would love some followers for my brand new podcast. Thank you for being supportive and keeping up to date with my content.

Read, Watch and Listen – April

It is time for me to share a variety of entertaining things that you might want to read, watch and listen to. This has been an incredibly busy month for me and so as we move into spring I need time to myself. Time to consume TV shows, books and podcasts.

I have got lots of TV shows on the go at the moment but some go faster than others. Maybe because they have different numbers of episodes or just because I get hooked on particular shows more than the rest.

With reading, I always like to have a couple of fiction novels on the go and a YA book, as well as a biography. For ages I was plodding along with my reading list but now I have reached the end of several at once.

As for podcasts, many of mine are only on for short seasons as they track TV series such as Bridgerton. Finding a positive podcast is always my mission and I think today’s suggestion delivers when it comes to this.

Read – What If It’s Us

Becky Albertelli is my favourite YA author and is closely followed by a couple of other greats, including Adam Silvera. Knowing that they wrote a book together, I simply had no choice but to delve into it.

An LGBTQ story flips between two characters and their take on things. Arthur is staying with his parents while his lawyer mum carries out a project in New York. Meanwhile, Ben is going to summer school to make up for some poor grades.

A chance encounter in a post office leaves them both wishing they had made a connection. Arthur tries to find a way to discover who the mysterious parcel guy is and the narrative takes on a journey of intrigue and romance.

As YA stories go, this is well told. Ben and Arthur alternate chapters so you can see their misconceptions and anxieties and you find yourself rooting for them to get together. Overall this is certainly a great YA fiction novel.

Watch – One Of Us Is Lying

A yacht plays a big part in season two.

After reading the first book in the series by Karen M McManus, I was thrilled to see Netflix making a series about it. Now, the second season is just as fulfilling. Telling the tale of a group of young adults thrown into a situation of bribery and murder, this story is exciting to watch.

Cooper, Addy, Bronwyn and Nate have a lot going on in their lives ever since Simon died during a detention they were all in. Now, in series two, it is Jake who is missing and eyes are firmly fixed on these four alongside Janae and Maeve. Maeve is the tech savvy sister of Bronwyn and comes in useful when trying to work out who is manipulating them.

‘Simon Says’ is texting people randomly with challenges to do. If they don’t do as requested, someone comes off worse for wear. Or maybe even dies.

I absolutely love this gripping series which reflects the adventure outlined in the book. These actors do a good job of convincing us that they are up to their necks in problems.

Listen to – Made With Love Podcast

I have just started listening to Tom Daley’s brand new podcast about things that people love doing. He begins by interviewing Shania Twain and talks about anything his guest is passionate about.

Tom switched his love of diving for a new hobby – knitting. He wanted to make a podcast that discusses positive subjects and so encourages a range of famous people to share why they love what they do.

In the episode with Greta Thunberg, she discusses why she loves activism. Her retelling how she journeyed to America by sea and came across many adversaries such as Donald Trump, is fascinating.

I think this podcast is going to continue to be uplifting and satisfying. Check it out if you are searching for something new to tune into.

Final Thoughts

So if you are looking for something fresh to read, watch and listen to, maybe have a search for one of my suggestions. I feel as though I have leaned towards YA products this time, but they are really good sources of content and you may find that they suitably grab your interest.

Please share your thoughts in the comments and consider following my blog for similar future blog posts. For another of my review posts, check out Read, Watch and Listen from February.