When your world shatters, how do you put it back together? @rararesources @JuneAConverse #mentalhealth #coverreaveal

Decide to Hope

An unimaginable trauma. A future that seems impossible.

When your world shatters, how do you put it back together?

For 950 days, Kathleen Conners has struggled with that choice. Behind a scarf and sunglasses, she hides from the world, from herself, from The Event, from any future with anyone.

After receiving a box of letters from his deceased mother, Matt Nelson is shoved from his predictable, controlled life to a secluded beach in North Carolina. While trying to understand his mother's intent, he discovers Kathleen.

Matt must choose whether to follow the path his mother orchestrated or rescue the woman who has captured his heart. When the only person Kathleen blames more than herself reappears, can Matt be the strength Kathleen needs to create a new life, or will he be forced to walk away if she decides the climb is too great?

Cover Reveal

…drum roll...

Pre-order your copy!

Amazon.US | Amazon.UK  

~~~

Author, June Converse, happily resides in Sandy Springs, Georgia, with her husband, Dave, and their dog, Sodapop.  They have two wonderful adult children and two grandchildren.  She is an enthusiastic exerciser and an accomplished cook.  She and her husband enjoy hiking with Sodapop, traveling, scuba diving, trying new restaurants, concerts, and whatever other adventures they can find.  Reading and a constant desire to learn keeps her busy too. 

A trauma survivor who struggles with mental illness, June is continuously reaching for hope like the characters in her books.  She openly discusses her personal struggles on her blog, JuneConverse.com

Decide to Hope is her first novel and relies a great deal on her own experience with trauma, choices, recovery and hope.  If you’d like to discuss trauma, coping and recovery, contact her at JuneConverse.com or DecideToHope.com

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Think #romcoms are just for women? Think again! Check out this brillant debut from @LjHurleyWriter .@rararesources #xfactor #chicklit #guestpost

…from the mind of a fictional character

by

Jimmy Rowland

(a character from Liam Hurley's You, Me and Us)

I did something terrible the other night. I watched The X Factor. Maybe terrible is an overstatement. But it was definitely bad. Very bad. Not for the reasons you’d expect though, yes, the singing wasn’t fantastic, but the main reason I hated it was the audience. Half of them were there to see the judges. They cheered the compliments and boo’d the criticism. Like a pantomime. All whilst some poor sod is stood on stage being judged like some sort of freak show.  I feel nothing but empathy for the people who go on that stage to chase their dreams. I applaud it. Well done to them, they’re at least having a go. 

However, some of them are absolutely awful. Really really bad. And the producers throw them on stage, full of dreams to be crushed in front of the entire country. Some of these people are severely deluded, to the point where you wonder how no-one has ever stopped them from doing this, and they are about to get embarrassed in front of a nation. It is gut-wrenching. People are boo’ing, chanting ‘off, off, off’, laughing at the judges’ snarky comments and all I feel is pain for the people up there. They are shit though. 

This isn’t sore grapes, trust me, I am in a band myself. The X Factor has never appealed to us, although it does seem to be one of the many suggestions we get from family and friends. “You should go on! You’d be great!”. It just isn’t our bag. Like I said, fair play to the people for having a go, but it really isn’t for us. Plus we probably wouldn’t get through considering half our act is me telling crap jokes to the audience whilst my two band mates argue about what key to play Faith in. And I’m not 100% sure Simon would like that. 

The only time I’d want an audience to chant ‘off, off, off’ at me is if I joined the cast of Magic Mike. Even then I’d be laughed at but at least I’d understand why! There are no illusions of grandeur when it comes to what’s underneath my many layers of clothing.

Even if you’re good and you get through to the live shows, being on The X Factor isn’t always the step to fame and glory it pretends to be. Look at the many winners of past seasons, half of them are now long forgotten about. Singing in pubs or hosting VIP nights are their local nightclub. Tosh. Utter tosh. The problem is that the vast majority go on the show for all the wrong reasons. When they get asked what their dream is they respond with words such as ‘superstar, famous, celebrity’ they hardly ever say ‘singer, artist, band’. And this is the crux of it. Being on one of these shows is advertised as being a route to fame rather than success. The two do not always go hand-in-hand.

I am not blind to the fact that my band may not end up being a worldwide success. However, if I could do well enough with music to do it full-time that would be the goal. Anything at all beyond that would be extra. If I could earn minimum wage from singing full time that would be amazing. I’d be living the dream.

So, if you’re out there reading this, future contestants, try and think about what your dream really is. Is it to sing? Come down to an open mic. Is it to be famous? Make a fake viral video and become a YouTube star. Trust me your local nightclub will always need someone to drink apple sours and pose for pictures with drunk seventeen-year olds. Or you could get embarrassed in front of millions whilst singing I Believe I Can Fly. It’s up to you.  

Introducing... 

You, Me and Us

“F*** you for breaking my f***ing heart…”

This is the heart-breaking yet hilarious story of Jimmy Rowland and Erin Poppet.

Jimmy Rowland has the perfect life. He works in his favourite bar by day, and by night he lives his dream with his two best friends in his band.

Amazon.UK | Amazon.com

Erin Poppet crashes into Jimmy’s life like a beautiful storm. He falls in love with her as quickly and as deeply as possible. The intensity of their relationship leaves Jimmy with a broken heart, a useless vacuum and a demon inside him. 

Jimmy’s dream life quickly becomes a nightmare when he loses his dream job and destroys his musical career live on stage. 

When he hits rock bottom, he decides he only has one choice, to rebuild his life from scratch. He has to get back the life he had before Erin. 

This is her story. This is his story. This is their story.

Or as Jimmy would say…

“… this is the story of You, Me and Us.”

About Liam Hurley in his own words:

My name is Liam; I am an author from Manchester, UK. I love three things in this world, writing, reading and the viral video of the Irish family trying to catch a bat. (My girlfriend, family, friends and cats may be unhappy with this).

My hobbies include listening to podcasts, watching grown men fight and trying every possible type of ground coffee in the world. My hobbies include listening to podcasts, watching grown men fight and trying every possible type of ground coffee in the world. 

Here are my Top Ten reasons to read my book or spend the night with me… 

1. It won’t cost you much. 

2. It will be over relatively quickly. 
3. I will be very grateful. 
4. You can tell other people about it if you enjoyed it. 
5. If not, don’t bother. 
6. It’s always fun to have something in your hands to flick through. 
7. You can review it online. 
8. It will leave a mark on you. 
9. You won’t want to put it down. 
10. It’ll make you laugh. 

Twitter | Website | Goodreads 

Amazon.UK | Amazon.com

Giveaway – Win a signed copy of You, Me and Us (Open to UK only)

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I said I wouldn't do it again. But I have. #freekindlebook

It's FREE!!!!!

Oh no, I've Fallen in Love! has been entered into Select again. Last time, sales fell so it's a gamble it won't happen again. But since big A changed the rules with KOLL (Kindle Owners' Lending Library) payments have changed for authors.

It's exciting times. 

Full-sized novels are no longer paid the same as short stories as it's paid per page read and that means the reader has the control. They don't like the book and stop reading, and guess what, we don't get paid (or get paid for the amount of pages read).

I think that's fair.

Oh no, I've Fallen in Love! is now completely and uttering free to members of Amazon's Lending library. But a word of caution, this book will make you cry, that I can guarantee. 

A story of how love can destroy--and heal.

 

Amazon

When she was eight years old, Valerie Anthrope’s world changed forever. Her childhood dissolved in an instant. She had to survive her brother’s death and her subsequent mother’s mental health illness, and later her suicide.

Faced with the new reality of her life, she must find a way to survive the horror that became her childhood and answer the question—how do you get back to normal, when everything normal has gone?

Her answer was to hide her feelings behind a mask of self-sufficiency and hold would-be friends at arm’s length. She tells herself she doesn’t need anyone.

Love was too painful to risk again.

Then why can't she get client Lex Kendal out of her mind? If life has taught her anything, it's that she has to keep looking over her shoulder because sooner or later the curse that destroyed her family would find a way to sabotage any happiness she was to find—and Valerie couldn’t risk that.

Not again. Oh no, I’m Falling in Love! is a book to make you smile, cry but mainly to remind you to hold on tightly to those you love.

 Praise for Oh no, I've Fallen in Love!

There are good, funny sparky dialogue, and a nice balance of light and dark throughout. Wise uses dialogue as it should be used; to bring the narrative to life. I especially liked the clever little prologue and the way it was picked up again at the end. Polished and accomplished.

I feel that anyone who has experienced anxiety or depression due to past trauma, or is close to someone who has, will find that this book deals sensitively with the subject.

It illustrates the redeeming power of love.

Despite the serious subject matter, Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love! is a very funny love story, the humour ranging from light to dark. The author's descriptions of how Ellen bursts into Valerie's `grey' world and adds shades of colour to it are hilarious.

Over all, this is a well written and entertaining story with a clever ending that brings everything together. 

It has all the ingredients to make the basis for a comedy-drama series on television. Are you listening Sky TV?

Sad scenes say so much...

Yeah, I know the song title is Sad Songs (say so much) by Elton John but for July's theme I'm asking for the most tear-jerking scene in your novel (reading or writing).

Scenes should be no more than 500 words long. Make me cry! Send in your most emotional scenes, author media and book details (if you're an author), if you're a reader all you need to send me is the scene. My Email

Here's my sad scene from Oh no, I've Fallen in Love! Valerie Anthrope has finally realised that her past has much to do with how she is feeling. The house she lived in as a child is full of sad memories: the death of her baby brother, her parents and nan. Their deaths are all linked to a curse she received as a child. And now that her boyfriend has declared his undying love, she needs to get away before he becomes the next casualty.

My house was unwelcoming. Its furnishings tortured me in their familiarity. How could everything be the same, when inside I was dying? I walked through the rooms. I no longer liked the home that I’d grown up in. It was too full of memories; of my mum’s endless crying and of my dad’s tortured eyes. In every room, I could still hear the echo of her sobbing, and see the ghost-like image of my dad as he stood nervously on the side-lines.

   Suddenly, I could see myself as an eight-year-old little girl. I was sitting on the stairs, watching the ambulance from the opened doorway as the paramedics took Sean’s small body away. Mum and Dad had followed them, their heads lowered and shoulders slumped, and every now and then Mum’s body jerked with a tearful spasm. My nan was crying into a large handkerchief and every time I asked what was happening and when Sean would be better, she’d only wailed louder. The house represented everything I was hiding from. There were no happy memories here. Only mourning.

Oh no, I've Fallen in Love!

Amazon 

Kobo

Nook

Apple iStore

Valerie Anthrope has a problem. Only she shies away from acknowledging it. On the outside, she’s a cut-throat business woman running her own financial brokerage. On the inside, she’s lonely, and frightened her past will catch up with her.

And when it does, she's not prepared. 
She'll never be prepared for what awaits her.

Dark romance.