Some skills we hone. And some we mess up.

 

After taming new wordprocessing software to my will (ooh, calm down there...) the good news is that the interior of the paperback of The Forever House is finally finalised: headers, footers, blank pages, et al. 

Hurrah! and all that jazz. Do you like the Half Title page? I thought I did quite well with that.

However, just as when reading a good-news missive from an agent or editor, we know there's a but lurking in the wings.

The but isn't so much lurking as staring out from that embarrassed pink border which should not be there. I am so used to working with covers for ebooks that is what I've done, whereas the height & width specifications of a paperback are not the same. The trick, I now realise, is to create the paperback cover first and pull the ebook cover from it. And it is no compensation to read that I am not the first to mess this up, not by a long chalk.

But there we go. Some skills we have to hone more than others.

Smirking alone on its Amazon page, you'll find the ebook HERE.

Thanks for not throwing cabbages. I will get there - eventually.

A Brilliant Break and a Brilliant Review

We've had a few days down London way - Windsor Castle, Kew Gardens, Stratford-up-on-Avon - and doubtless I'll be writing about the visits when I get myself back on an even keel.

I returned to a mountain of washing and a garden going rampant after much-needed rain, but found awaiting me a brilliant review for The Forever House by Terry Tyler, writer of dark suspense and member of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team.

...I did enjoy this book, and read it in just three days.  It's so well-written...  

...The story did not develop as I was expecting it to - it turned out to be something completely different...

...a nicely rounded-out novel with complex relationship dynamics...

Check out the full 4* review HERE.

The Forever House is currently only available on Amazon (global link) to purchase or read for free as part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription. 

Regarding news on the paperback...[pause for silent scream followed by much gnashing of teeth]... there was a slight problem with page formatting which I should have foreseen but didn't. However, new software is loaded and now I am home I shall lock the office door so as to concentrate on taming it. 

I'll keep you posted. 

Ebk Launch: THE FOREVER HOUSE and its first #Review

 

Hang out the flags! Yes, Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee is upon us, but so is the release of The Forever House, on Amazon Kindle at least. Subscribers to Kindle Unlimited can download it free. What's not to like?

Global Amazon link: https://mybook.to/ForeverHouse

Moreover, it has its first review, and a 5* at that!

"Linda Acaster writes with great elegance and tension. In this story of grief, crime and mystery she draws the reader in, all without a wasted word. As a reader, I followed Carrie's journey as she strove to find justice for a seemingly forgotten child and the child's mother. Family relationships, past and present, are delicately explored, and the ending is apt, hopeful."

It's enough to warm the cockles of my heart - as the saying goes.

The paperback is currently being formatted. Follow the blog to hear when it becomes available.

If you are looking in on the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, either within the UK or via global television coverage, join me and mine as we crack a bottle of fizz and toast 'The Queen' who has willingly served her country and the Commonwealth for 70 years.

 

Book Launch: THE FOREVER HOUSE #psychologicalthriller

The Forever House is now available for pre-order via Amazon – global link:
https://mybook.to/ForeverHouse

Many thanks for all the good wishes received after last month's heads-up. It's good to know so many are interested in my up-and-coming novel, which will be – traa-laa! – launching to a less than unsuspecting world on Monday 30 May.

Originally, it was scheduled for the first week in June, but someone forgot there was a certain little celebration taking place in the guise of the Platinum Jubilee. One does not cross swords with the Queen – ahem!

So what's The Forever House about? First a recap of the blurb:

Resisting family pressure to sell the too-big house Carrie and her late husband began to renovate, she is determined to carry through their shared project to prove she can manage alone.

And she can, until a discovery beneath old wallpaper chills her to the bone.

As her need to know more becomes all-consuming, Carrie’s family fears she's tipping into irretrievable obsession. Can she be dissuaded, or must she take that final step? How far is too far to right a wrong?

Early readers are calling it ...deeply moving...  ...an enthralling read... which is most satisfying.

Yes, yes, that's the blurb, but you want to know what the novel is about – right? Of course you do. Novels are rarely just about their front-end story; they're about what that story carries in its subtext.

Having lost her husband before the novel begins, Carrie is working her way through the grieving process. All their married life, she and her husband have renovated houses, slowly climbing the property ladder. This house, with its large kitchen and huge garden, was to be their Forever House, the one they didn't sell but made into their long-lasting home. Except life isn't fair, and now she faces it alone.

As she continues with the refurbishment, the papered-over cracks of an earlier family begin to reveal themselves in the fabric of the house, and long-held questions within her own family start to surface, until the strain of denial in exchange for a quiet life is no longer an option, on any front.

The novel launches on 30 May in ebook format to purchase through Amazon, and to read via Kindle Unlimited for subscribers. A paperback will closely follow.

Order your copy now: https://mybook.to/ForeverHouse