Sunday 18 December 2011

Love Hurts - Love, Vampires and Werewolves


Love Hurts is about a young woman who runs a bookshop in Cornwall with her best friend. She falls in love with a local police detective and later discovers that he is a vampire, and that his identical twin brother is a werewolf. She is dragged into their complicated and dangerous lives, to her detriment, where secrets are told and lives are lost...

Here is a snippet from the novel, to whet your appetite:

“She is connected to the job in Scotland; they both are.” he said, “I’m sorry Jessica; it looks like we have inadvertently drawn you into our mess.  I need to find Jack and go sort this out.  Please promise me you will stay home, don’t answer the door unless you know who it is, and phone Jack or me if you get worried about anything, no matter how small or trivial.  Will you do that?”
             
He grabbed my shoulders, staring directly into my eyes, and I gasped, shocked at his forcefulness.  I nodded, feeling sick with nerves. 
             
“Yes of course.” I said, “Am I in danger?  What about Liz?” 
         
  He relaxed slightly and eased his grip on me.  
             
“Liz will be fine,” he said, “she is of no concern to them.  But they seem to have found out about you and your relationship with Jack and me.  You don’t need to be overly concerned just yet; hopefully we can settle this tonight.  Please just stay home and keep all your doors locked and your mobile phone handy, ok?” 
           
I nodded and Danny left, saying he would call Jack on the way. (END)

If you want to know more about Jessica Stone and Jack and Danny Mason, check out my website http://www.catherine-green.co.uk

On there you will find a free short story featuring the Redcliffe werewolf pack, and more details about my book.  

Merry Christmas!







Wednesday 7 December 2011

'Love Hurts' Book Signing Event at Waterstones Warrington, Cheshire, UK

Join me on Saturday 10th December at Waterstones in Warrington, Cheshire, where I will be signing copies of my debut paranormal romance novel Love Hurts.  I will be at the book shop from 11:00am - 3:00pm and I look forward to seeing you there!


Love Hurts is about a young woman who runs a bookshop in Cornwall with her best friend. She falls in love with a local police detective and later discovers that he is a vampire, and that his identical twin brother is a werewolf. She is dragged into their complicated and dangerous lives, to her detriment, where secrets are told and lives are lost...


Friday 2 December 2011

Let's Talk About Love in Books

After a very successful broadcast back in October, I am proud to invite you to join me and my good friend, historical novellist Borislava Borissova for a webchat at Coffee Time Romance.

The talk will begin at 12:00 EST (17:00 BST) and end at around 15:00 EST (20:00 BST). We will chat about Affairs of the Heart, Love Hurts, Love Kills, and all related subjects around this most fascinating human (and not so human) emotion. We have a nice mixture of historical and paranormal interest, so there is something for everyone, and maybe even a few ideas for Christmas presents!

Join us for lively conversation, web games, novel spoilers, story telling, and a generally fun interaction.

Paranormal Book Signing at Waterstones Knutsford

Join me tomorrow (Saturday 3rd December) at Waterstones Knutsford where I will be signing copies of my paranormal romance novel Love Hurts.

This is the first in the series set  in a fictional Cornish town called Redcliffe, and the story is told by bookshop owner Jessica Stone.  She is in love with police detective Jack Mason, but there is more to him than meets the eye. When Jessica meets his identical twin brother Danny, her comfortable life descends into chaos and tragedy as the Mason brothers introduce Jessica to a whole new way of life in picturesque, coastal Redcliffe.

I will be at Waterstones from 11:30am until 3:30pm and I look forward to meeting you there...

Saturday 26 November 2011

I'm a NaNoWriMo 2011 Winner - Hooray!

Well I did it! I entered NaNoWriMo for the very first time, and I succeeded, and I won. Tonight at midnight I validated my novel with 50,168 words. The best thing is, I haven't even finished yet but I am so close to the end I can taste it, and it is sweet!

It has been a long, hard month. My poor baby daughter has become very well-acquainted with her toys and the popular British children's TV channel CBeebies. I haven't cleaned the bathroom in a long time, but I did hoover the house vaguely, and I have dusted in the last two weeks, I think.

My laptop and home computer have been used and abused, and my husband barely knows who I am. I have stayed up late practically every evening, and got up early in the mornings, and neglected any number of household chores and jobs on my to-do list. But it doesn't matter, because I won something! I didn't win a specific item such as a cash prize or a gift.

I printed a beautiful certificate with my name on, and I now have an almost-complete first draft novel which will be edited during the next two months, and then despatched to various agents and publishers for approval. It will be published next year, though the time depends upon the final publisher.

Congratulations fellow NaNoWriMo winners, and to everyone who participated in the challenge. It was fun, and inspiring, and motivating, and totally worth it.

Saturday 12 November 2011

Compassion and Love Hurts (A Redcliffe Novel)


A fellow author has decided to focus on the theme of compassion in his novels, and also on his blog http://www.tommach.com/.  This got me thinking, how does Love Hurts deal with this issue? Do my characters feel compassion for each other, do they have strong decisive morals, or are they completely indifferent?

My heroine Jessica Stone believes herself to be an independent and compassionate woman. She does not show prejudice, she lives a good honest, hard working life, and she is friendly to everyone that she interacts with. But when she discovers that the man she loves is a vampire, and his brother is a werewolf, her morals go out of the window. In her confusion she experiences adultery, pain, heartbreak and terror.

Following her tumultuous experience after the revelations of the people she loves, Jessica is thrown into turmoil about her own feelings. Her friends and lover have betrayed her in the worst possible way. How does she continue? Well her story is still being told as I write the sequel Love Kills. The title alone may give you some idea where this paranormal romance is heading.

Will Jessica show compassion and remain faithful to her vampire Jack Mason? Or will she share herself with his werewolf brother Danny? Or will she leave them altogether, and make a clean break and a fresh start?

Monday 7 November 2011

The Indie Writer does NaNoWriMo


November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo to everybody involved or aware of it.  This is an international competition, which has no prizes and no entry fees.  Participants are simply expected to write a novel with a word total of 50,000 during the month.  It is a wonderfully simple way of motivating yourself to finally write that story that has been festering in your head for all these months or years.

I have entered this competition.  Having published my debut paranormal romance novel, Love Hurts, in July this year, I now need to write the sequel.  Indeed I need to write the whole Redcliffe series, but this is my starting point.  I decided that NaNoWriMo would be the ideal opportunity.  It would motivate me to actually finish another piece of work, instead of procrastinating and avoiding the inevitable.

My sequel is called Love Kills and picks up the story of Cornish bookshop owner Jessica Stone as she recovers from her life threatening injuries sustained from a werewolf attack.  She is settling back into normal life, but struggling to deal with the reality of having a vampire boyfriend, and werewolf friends.  She is also working through the revelations that she is a witch, and deciding whether she wants to pursue her training and unlock her powers and abilities.

Finally, Jessica’s best friend and business partner has just given birth.  The new baby will throw up all sorts of challenges between the friends, and also between Jessica and her lover Jack Mason.  That is where my story stands at the moment.  As of today (Monday 7th November), my word total is 19,148, and I am very pleased with that.  It was easy to start my novel because the story was already in my head.  Indeed, I had begun the story while I was finishing writing Love Hurts, but I had to separate the novels out, and make time to write Love Kills. 

That is why NaNoWriMo is important to me.  I have informed all of my close friends and family about the competition, and warned them that I will become a social hermit while I get my novel finished.  My plan is to complete the 50,000 words, and hopefully even write more than that as quickly as possible.  I certainly have the story; I just need to find time to write it around my duties of motherhood and housework.  But now that I have told people, they will expect me to complete this challenge, and that is my motivation.  NaNoWriMo, I will succeed!