Author Spotlight - Karen King

Today on Life Of A Nerdish Mum I am happy to welcome Karen King to my blog, Karen is the author of many books and today I am shining a spotlight on her YA novels. 

Hi Karen. You’ve written a wide variety of books in many different genres, most of them are for younger children. What made you decide to write YA (Young Adult) and what was the inspiration behind your two YA books, Perfect Summer and Sapphire Blue?

Hi Helen. Thanks so much for hosting me. Yes, most of my books have been for younger children, although I write romance novels too. I didn’t make a conscious decision to write YA but the story plots I was working on were more suitable for this genre and my characters were teenagers so YA it was. 😊

What inspired you to write Perfect Summer?

Don’t be fooled by the title as this is rather a gritty book.  It’s set about thirty years in the future when society is so totally obsessed by perfection that plastic surgery (now called body enhancement) is the norm and anyone who is slightly different, or disabled in any way is looked down upon. Morgan, the heroine, has a friend called Summer who is beautiful, rich, has cool parents and a seemingly perfect life whereas Morgan isn’t so beautiful or rich and her little brother Josh has Down’s syndrome.  Morgan and her family get a lot of hassle from the Ministry who want them to put Josh in a Residential Learning Centre, where most disabled children are sent, but Morgan’s family refuse. Then one day Josh goes missing and the authorities aren’t interested so Morgan and Summer decide to investigate. They, along with another teenager called Jamie whose little sister, Holly, has gone missing too, uncover a sinister plot involving the kidnapping of disabled children and find themselves in danger. Can they find Josh and Holly before it’s too late? Expect a few shocks and to shed a tear or two.

I got the idea for this story when I read an article about girls as young as four and five being worried that they were too fat or too ugly. That’s really sad. I started to think how far this obsession with perfection would go, would it get so bad that people who didn’t have perfect looks would be shunned from society? And how would people with disabilities be treated? I hope people will read it and start to question whether people should be judged by their looks and that girls, in particular, will stop worrying about having perfect looks. The dedication inside the book says ‘For everyone who thinks they aren’t beautiful, thin, clever or good enough. Celebrate your uniqueness. There is only one you.’ That’s the message I want to get across.

Watch The Trailer

Buy Perfect Summer

Sapphire Blue is very different to Perfect Summer, isn’t it? What was the inspiration behind this title?

Sapphire Blue is set in the afterlife and is based on the concept of true love being eternal.  Sapphire and her boyfriend Will are killed in the first chapter but love each other so much they search for each other. They find that the after-world is split into seven zones, each named after the colour of the rainbow. They each believe the other one to have been taken by the Soul Catchers to Red, a zone where all your nightmares come true. They love each other so much that they go to Red to find each other. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot but it’s a mix of romance and horror – the first time I’ve ever written horror, actually.  It’s not my usual sort of story but it’s the one that I’ve carried in my head for seven years so I hope the readers enjoy it.

The phrase ‘I’ll love you forever’ was the springboard for this idea. I believe that we move onto an afterlife when we die, slipping back into the world we came from, and that we meet family and friends again, that we can grow and process. A story idea of two teenagers getting separated in the afterlife started to form in my head. I wrote a brief synopsis of the story and sample pages and sent them to a publisher I worked with who were planning on expanding their children’s fiction list. The editor loved the idea right away and told me they wanted it when they brought out their YA list. A couple of years passed during which I wrote several other books and added to Sapphire Blue now and again. Then the publisher told me they’d had to shelve their fiction list so I put it away. A friend who’d seen the original chapters persuaded me to keep writing it up. I got about half way through and shelved it again.  Then another writer friend read it and persuaded me to finish it. So finally I did and Solstice Publishing USA offered to publish it. I love the cover of the book, it’s perfect for the story I think.

Watch The Trailer

Buy Sapphire Blue

About The Author

Karen King is a multi-published author of children's books and romantic fiction. She has had 120 children's books published, four romantic novels and several short stories for women's magazines. Her first YA novel, Perfect Summer was runner up in the Red Telephone Books YA Novel 2011 competition. Her second YA, Sapphire Blue, was declared 'The best YA book out there right now' by an Ind'Tales magazine reviewer. Her latest romance novels with Accent Press are The Cornish Hotel by the Sea and I do?... or do I?

In addition, Karen has written several short stories for women’s magazine and worked for many years on children’s magazines such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Winnie the Pooh as well as the iconic Jackie magazine.

When she isn’t writing, Karen likes travelling, watching the ‘soaps’ and reading. Give her a good book and a box of chocolates and she thinks she’s in Heaven.

Connect With Karen King

Website - http://www.karenking.net/

Twitter - @karen_king

Facebook - Karen King Romance Author Page

Facebook - Karen King YA Author Page

Pinterest - https://uk.pinterest.com/karenkingauthor/

Instagram - @karenkingauthor

Watching You by Joyce Schneider - Cover Spotlight

Yesterday the next book by J. A. Schneider went up for pre order (here) and I'm excited to give a peek at the cover as well as announce that I will be on the blog tour for the book release! Watching You will be published on the 25th of April 2017.

The cover is absolutely stunning and it really gives off the feeling of fear which matches perfectly with the synopsis below. It also follows in how perfect each of the Kerri Blasco book covers have been so far which is really good to see. 

About Watching You...

A serial killer texts his victims first. A detective vows revenge. He comes after her.

In the chill of an October night, Detective Kerri Blasco is called to a bizarre murder scene. Leda Winfield, a young volunteer for the homeless, has been shot. Her cell phone displays the frightening text, WATCHING YOU, and into her back, hideously pushed with a hat pin, is a note with the same awful message. Leda’s socialite family and friends insist that no one would have wanted to harm her, but Kerri isn’t convinced.

Until another random young woman is killed in the same way. Kerri and her team profile a monstrous killer who enjoys terrifying his victims before stalking and killing them. But how does he get their phone numbers?

Kerri soon finds that the killer is after her, too, and that the key to finding him may just be in the homeless shelter. When the body count rises, she vows to stop the madman - even if it means battling her own personal trauma, risking her job, her love relationship with her boss Alex Brand, and her life. 

How absolutely amazing does that sound? I was part of the last blog tour for Her Last Breath and I shared my review of that as well as a wonderful Q and A with the author, if you'd like to go check that out, you can right here. As part of this blog tour I will be sharing my review on the 26th of April, so make sure you pop back then to see what I thought. 

About The Author

J.A. (Joyce Anne) Schneider is a former staffer at Newsweek Magazine, a wife, mom, and reading addict. She loves thrillers…which may seem odd, since she was once a major in French Literature - wonderful but sometimes heavy stuff. Now, for years, she has become increasingly fascinated with medicine, forensic science, and police procedure. She lives with her family in Connecticut, USA.

Upcoming Book Spotlight - Her Last Breath by J.A. Schneider

Last week the pre order became available for Her Last Breath by J.A. Schneider and at the same time the cover was released - just how beautiful is that cover! On Life Of A Nerdish Mum today I'm giving a spotlight on the book with an extract and the poster for the upcoming blog tour which begins on the 21st of October which is the day of release for Her Last Breath. 

About The Book

A chilling psychological thriller about a woman caught between two men...
Mari Gill wakes to horror in a strange apartment next to a murdered man, and can't remember the night before. Accused of murder, she feels torn between her husband, a successful defense attorney, and a mysterious, kind man who wants to help. Can she trust either of them - or even her friends? Detective Kerri Blasco battles her police bosses believing Mari is innocent...but is she?

It begins in horror…

Mari Gill’s hand felt sticky.

That was the first thing to trouble her, still clinging to the safe, solid darkness of sleep. Next came pain in her head, a different kind of pain from the other thing, so she squeezed her eyes shut, dreading the day…

…but the stickiness bothered.

Involuntarily, she felt her fingers open and close.

Something was wrong there, in her hand. She squinted open; peered at it. 

Red.

Her palm was smeared dark red.

She blinked. Saw more red smear on her forearm, then the torn cap sleeve of last night’s black dress, then the sheet under her arm, stained with…

“Huh?” Her eyes grew wide before her mind processed it.

Thrashing onto her back, Mari saw bloodied sheet reaching halfway up the torn front of her dress, and then saw an arm. A man’s arm, faintly blue and blood-smeared – and with a cry her whole body practically flipped from the bed. “Oh God!”

She hit the floor hard and then scrabbled back up, gaped wildly and saw him. Her shocked vision jumped and saw two then one then two of him on his back, eyes closed, mouth open dribbling caked blood. She froze; gasped. Couldn’t take in air seeing his black hair, his chest hidden under a tent of bloodied sheet. 

“Mister?”

A high, involuntary whisper. Mari’s heart rocketed but she felt compelled; jerked out a hand and pulled away the sheet.

Under it a knife, its handle long and black, protruding from his chest. 

“Oh God!” Her scream got it out but used up breath as she spun on her knees, recognizing the new trouble. Where was her handbag? What was this place? Who was that guy?

Her bag, her bag…she crawled over hardwood and a man’s flung jacket and hit a cold, metal pole. Something crashed down on her, crashed to the floor but she crawled more, over broken shards with her breath coming harder, wheezing high like a small, dying animal. 

Where, where…? She gasped and scrabbled. 

There.

Her bag, way under a desk. How could it be under a desk? She was always so careful to keep it close but no time to think, she was upon it, fingers fluttering getting it open, her cries a child’s high mewling as she dug past her phone – no time to call - found her inhaler, got her fingers around it then saw it fly from her and skitter through an open doorway.

“No…”

Wheezing harder she crawled toward it, the little white plastic thing that meant life or death to her. Her chest heaved, and heaved again. Her vision blurred and she couldn’t pull in air. She made it through the door onto a wider floor, was inches away with her hand reaching desperately. 

Then her vision darkened and she collapsed, crying; lay her cheek down on the polished cold hardwood. From far away she heard a crash. Her eyes closed. She lay, her fingers stretched futilely toward the inhaler. Her desperate wheezing stopped. 

Running feet. Someone’s hands on her, strong hands. “Lady! Omigod, lady!” 

From deepest, dying sleep she felt herself raised up; heard a voice, urgent, telling her to breathe, breathe - “Please, lady!”

She felt hard plastic pushed through her lips. Felt the little blast of life, then a man’s warm stubble press his lips on hers. He was breathing her. Two good breaths and then holding her, rocking her. 

Her eyes stayed closed as she heard him call 9-1-1…

About J.A. Schneider

J.A. (Joyce Anne) Schneider is a former staffer at Newsweek Magazine, a wife, mom, and reading addict. She loves thrillers…which may seem odd, since she was once a major in French Literature - wonderful but sometimes heavy stuff. Now, for years, she has become increasingly fascinated with medicine, forensic science, and police procedure. Decades of being married to a physician who loves explaining medical concepts and reliving his experiences means there’ll often be medical angles even in “regular” thrillers that she writes. She lives with her family in Connecticut, USA.

And Finally The Blog Tour Poster!

On the 23rd of October I will have my review of Her Last Breath as well as a Q and A with the author!