Book Tour Extravaganza and the Grateful Author

Book News:

Well, gosh. This week has certainly been astonishing. Literary gay short story Where You Hurt The Most was published on Monday, and since then the party hasn't stopped. I've never had so many people buy so many copies of one of my books and be so generally very enthusiastic about it. Thank you very much indeed - I'm utterly gobsmacked by it all, and very appreciative. I'm so glad you seem to be enjoying the read.

To put all this amazement and gratitude into some kind of order, I'd like to acknowledge the following with a great deal of thanks:

Seven official reviews have been received, including:

4.5 stars from Joyfully Jay Reviews
4 stars from Hearts on Fire
4 stars from Pants Off Reviews
4 stars at Amara's Place
5 stars from The Novel Approach
A-/B+ from Words of Wisdom Reviews
5 stars from Top 2 Bottom Reviews

Not only that but the book has also gained the following:

* 26 reviews/ratings at Goodreads, mostly 4 or 5 star

* Reviews at Amazon US where it reached No 48 in the charts, and at Amazon UK where it reached the dizzy heights of No 20 in the charts.

* Additionally, it's already a bestseller at All Romance Ebooks and even has a rating there too, goodness me.

Honestly, I swear it must be something in the water as never, at any time in my writing life, have I had a book be so popular in so short a space of time, if indeed at all. The only thing I can say is thank you hugely.

Meanwhile, the book tour for Where You Hurt The Most is in full swing, with a competition at each stop for you to win THREE ebooks of your choice from my backlist, so definitely worth having a go. Here are the stops and themes so far:

1. An interview with high-class escort Adrian at All I Want And More blog
2. An article about the pleasures of art at Words of Wisdom
3. An interview about my writing life at Long and Short Reviews
4. An interview and extract at Top 2 Bottom Reviews
5. A feature on the Meet An Author Tuesday slot at Pembroke Sinclair's blog
6. An article on change and how to survive it at Tracy's Place
7. An interview with facially disfigured Dan at Pants Off Reviews
8. An article about the healing power of parks at Joyfully Jay Reviews.

So there should be something there for everyone and I hope you enjoy the reads, and don't forget to enter the competition! Good luck.

Other writing news this week is as follows (goodness, there's been more? What fun!...):

* Lesbian paranormal short story The Girl in The Painting reached No 7 in the Amazon UK charts which, after two years of being on the market, is pretty damn amazing. Again, I hope people are enjoying the book.

* Gay romantic comedy The Hit List is still on sale at a 25% discount direct from Amber Allure Press

* Lesbian paranormal short story The Gift of The Snow has just been accepted by Untreed Reads and should be published sometime this month. Further news to follow ...

* At Vulpes Libris, my review of Madeleine Wickham's wonderful romantic comedy Sleeping Arrangements is now available - definitely a book I can recommend to you, and perfect summer holiday reading.

This week's meditation poems are:




Meditation 652
Some discoveries
lie waiting
for years until
we turn and see them

for in the richness
of our secret life
we must be strong enough
to free them.




Meditation 653
Words spoken aloud
change the shape
of the air
into something
rich and rare

for the fact
of them lasts forever
carved in your skin
in the silent place
where your memories begin.


Life News:

On Bank Holiday Monday, K and I braved the metropolis of Kingston (no, it's not improved much in the years since we've been, and if anything I think it's got worse ...) for the joys of John Lewis. They're quite magnificent and how I wish they had an outlet in Guildford, sigh ... Anyway, we ordered a double futon for the Reading Room, and if that works out we'll get one for the Music Room as well. Hey ho, there's a pretentious sentence if ever I wrote one, but what the heck, eh. Live dangerously. We also bought a tea-strainer, a jumper (him), a cardigan (me) and a swiss roll tin in preparation for this weekend's cake. How very suburban we are.

Back home, one of our three rhododendrons is suddenly and delightfully coming into flower and it's going to be a wonderful rich dark pink. Bliss. Perhaps its two friends will follow suit soon. We can but hope. K and I were also thrilled to see a barn owl on the hunt earlier in the week - our first sighting of one at Elstead, and in full view of the house too.

Meanwhile, I'm delighted to see that Barack Obama has come out on a personal level in full support of same-sex marriage. Good for him, and let's hope it can become law as soon as possible in as many countries as possible. It's a matter of justice and equality, after all, so please do consider signing the Thank You form if you're able to. I have. With this in mind, I'm also very happy to say I'm now a member of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement. Because, to my mind, there should be no divide at all between being GLBTQ and being Christian if you want to be. God includes everyone (and occasionally even straight redheads with a mouthy attitude, if my luck's in and the wind's in the right direction ...), and so should we.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK