aaa

Brake Failure is a romcom with a feisty heroine and a hero in uniform. The story is set in one of the most fascinating periods of America’s history: the months leading up to Y2K “meltdown.”
“Is it too late to tell him you love him when you’re looking down the barrel of his gun?”
Ruby is an English lady who knows the etiquette for every occasion and never loses her temper … until she ends up in Kansas. Far from home, she transforms from Miss Perfectly-Correct to criminally insane as she breaks the bonds of her rigid upbringing. Sheriff Hank Gephart tries to reel her in, but she’s out of control and she ain’t hitting the brakes.

As the clock strikes midnight of the new Millennium, she’s on a freight train with three million dollars and a smoking gun.
What happened to Miss Prim-and-Proper? And why did she shoot Mr Right …?
Note: Alison Brodie wrote this story from first-hand experience. She lived in Kansas during this time and was stunned by the global hysteria, unnerved that the US government was spending $150 billion preparing for Armageddon. As Lionel Shriver says in her novel, We Have to Talk About Kevin: “1999, a year widely mooted beforehand as the end of the world.”

Brake Failure – Chapter One

Shady Acres Retirement Home, Kansas City
11.56 pm. New Year’s Eve, 1999

‘There’s a dead man at the door,’ Mrs Whitaker hissed, leaning over the desk.
Nurse Betty sighed, took a bite of donut, closed the magazine on “How to get Slim for the Millennium” and heaved herself to her feet. ‘Come on, Mrs Whitaker.’ She curved an arm around the old woman’s shoulders and began to guide her along the corridor. ‘Let’s get you back to the lounge. You’re missing all the fun.’
Mrs Whitaker twisted away. ‘Didn’t you hear me? There’s a dead man at the door!’
Nurse Betty stopped, mid-chew. The doors to the lounge were wide open. Garlands festooned the ceiling; coloured balloons drifted over the carpet, paper-cups lay scattered like there’d been a stampede. ‘Where is everybody?’ she demanded.
‘Where do you think?’
Nurse Betty pivoted, turned sharp right and marched into the entrance lobby. Beyond the glass doors, the residents stood in the snow, illuminated under the porch light. The doors slid open and she was outside, cold biting her cheeks, shoes slipping on ice as she descended the ramp. She paused when she saw the snail’s trail of blood in the snow. It came out of the blackness, from the direction of the railroad, and into the light – a red line disappearing into the huddle of residents who were shivering and whispering.
She pushed in to see what they were staring at. A big man in a sheriff’s uniform lay spread-eagled on the ground. The snow around him looked like Strawberry Slurpee. She couldn’t see his face because Mrs Peterson, who was seventy-five and wore leopard-print blouses, was giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. As Nurse Betty pulled her off, she gasped.
Hank! Blood stained his neck, his uniform, his hands. She dropped to her knees and opened his jacket. He’d been shot. Above their heads, the sky exploded in bangs, fizzing and popping. A high, keening whistle screamed low over the rooftop.
The new Millennium.
She struggled to her feet to go call an ambulance. Mrs Peterson was again bending over the body. Nurse Betty had to shout over the noise of the fireworks. ‘Don’t give him mouth-to-mouth!’
‘I’m not!’ Mrs Peterson shouted back. ‘He’s delirious. I’m trying to hear what he’s saying.’
‘And?’
A huge explosion shook the air. Silver starbursts lit up the sky.
In the sudden lull, Mrs Peterson again lowered her head to the sheriff’s mouth and when she looked up her eyes were big.
‘He’s saying: “Don’t do it, Ruby. Don’t do it.”’

London. Sixteen weeks earlier …

ABOUT ALISON BRODIE:

author-photo Alison is a Scot, with French Huguenot ancestors on her mother’s side.

A disastrous modelling assignment in the Scottish Highlands gave Alison the idea for FACE TO FACE which was published by Hodder & Stoughton. “Fun to snuggle up with” –GOOD HOUSEKEEPING Pick of the Paperbacks. FACE TO FACE became a bestseller in the UK, Germany and Holland.
Alison moved to Kansas. She loved the people, the history and the BBQs! And it was here she first had the idea for BRAKE FAILURE.
Alison lives in Biarritz, France with her rescue mutt, Bayley.
Alison is now an indie author. THE DOUBLE was reviewed in 2016: “Excellent … Proof of her genius in writing fiction” -San Francisco Book Review

teaser-2

BRAKE FAILURE has just been released. Here are some editorial reviews:

“Masterpiece of humor” –Midwest Book Review
“5/5 Empowering … I’d love to see more from this author” –San Francisco Book Review
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31683339-brake-failure
Alison would love to hear from you. Here is her website:
http://www.alisonbrodiebooks.com

BUY LINKS – Brake Failure

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/yXiKdH

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/UhU5b3

AUTHOR LINKS

Twitter:

Tweets by alisonbrodie2

Website:
http://alisonbrodiebooks.com

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31683339-brake-failure

Facebook PAGE:
https://www.facebook.com/AlisonBrodieAuthor/

Pinterest: https://fr.pinterest.com/a_brodie/

Although I will be promoting and reviewing The Path Keeper on 23rd Feb, I’ve managed to grab a pre-publication chat with Natali. Among other things, we’re talking about her life, her writing and, of course, that all important debut novel…

Good morning Natali and welcome. Can I start by asking you a little about yourself?

Hi Jo. My name is Natali Drake but I write as N J Simmonds. I’m a proud north London girl but I’ve lived all over the world including Australia, Spain and The Netherlands. When I’m not busy being a YA author I’m a freelance writer and brand consultant. I live in Delft, a very arty, cute town in Holland, with my husband and two daughters (6 and 8). Although due to my husband’s work we may be moving on somewhere else in a few years…who knows where. I’m a perpetual wanderer and a creative nomad. I love it!

When did your writing career begin?

Writing has been a passion of mine since I was a young girl. It sounds trite but becoming a published author has been a dream of mine since I first learned to read. Professionally I have been writing since the age of 18 when I began working for various corporate publications and then moved on to marketing and advertising…but it really kicked off in 2014 when I began submitting articles to online magazines and newspapers and became a freelance writer. In 2015 I co-founded an online magazine called ‘The Glass House Girls’ which now has tens of thousands of followers worldwide and really gave me the confidence to complete my novel. By 2016 I had received a three book offer from Accent Press for ‘The Path Keeper’ series and that’s when I knew I was probably a ‘proper’ writer.

Your debut, The Path Keeper, due out on 23rd February, is a YA novel. What was the inspiration behind the story?

Firstly I never set out to write YA (when Accent Press told me that they wanted ‘The Path Keeper’ for their Young Adult division I had to Google what that actually meant). My book centres around the life of a 19 year old girl, but it’s not your usual coming of age romance – so don’t expect another Twilight! The story came to me (and I shall quote my favourite YA author here, John Green) like sleep, slowly at first then all at once. I watched a TV documentary about a girl so fixated on wanting to be loved that she didn’t realise that her ‘boyfriend’ was actually her best friend dressed up, it was crazy and it got me thinking back to my days as a teen. I thought back on what it felt like to be so wrapped up in the drama and intensity of first love, that all-consuming obsession with someone unobtainable, that the person themselves ceases to actually matter. In fact, you only see what you want to see. That was the starting point that I wanted to explore. Then I had to make Zac more than just unobtainable, he had to be extreme and unique – and once I realised just how different he should be (no, he isn’t a zombie or vampire) the story took on a life of its own. Then one day the characters popped into my head fully formed and haven’t left since. I had to write down their story because they were driving me mad!

Is this a stand-alone or are there more books planned in the series?

I always intended for ‘The Path Keeper’ to be a trilogy – why write one first novel when you can write three? I like to challenge myself! The book works fine on its own, but it doesn’t have a neat ending because I always knew what would happen next. My stories are not linear; they flit about through time and from character to character demonstrating the complicated links and threads that bind us and push us through our life journey. The book is multi-layered and doesn’t begin from the very beginning, for that you have to read the second one ‘Son of Secrets’ which is out later in the year. Then the third pushed you forward in time and who knows, perhaps there will be spin offs after the third? At the moment I’m two chapters away from completing the sequel ‘Son of Secrets’ and have already started planning the third. I don’t think Ella and Zac will be leaving my head for a while – they have taken permanent residency in there!

Who are your favourite authors and have any of them influenced your writing?

I’m terrible at answering questions like this because I think ‘do I answer in a way that makes me sound highly intelligent and well read, or do I answer honestly?’ I’ll go for honesty. I don’t tend to have favourite authors as much as I have favourite books. I like a book to shock me, question myself and give me an effortless ride. If I want to be educated or take my time wading through complicated passages I will read non-fiction…but for a good story, I want to be entertained. Terry Pratchett was a genius and made me howl with laughter, as does Ben Elton’s satirical books. Roald Dahl taught me from a young age that words were magic. Stephen King has the ability to use simple words to build terrifying worlds. Isabelle Allende was the first writer to make me sob uncontrollably. And now that I’ve stepped into the realm of YA I am devouring books by John Green, Jennifer Niven, Rainbow Rowell and Nicola Yoon…they cover important themes in a light and real way, much like Judy Blume did during my childhood. But the books that actually stick in my mind and made a huge impact on me are ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver, ‘The Time Travellers Wife’ by Audrey Niffenegger and ‘Killing Me Softly’ by Nicci French. The first book made me really think, really THINK, the second mixed fantasy with romance in an effortless way and the third gave me an enigmatic main character and a raw passion that I found really powerful. So the emotions those three bring out of me every time I read them are the emotions I aimed for when writing ‘The Path Keeper’.

What would your advice be to aspiring writers?

I love giving advice, it’s my favourite hobby…here goes.
1. Read. Read EVERYTHING. All genres, old and new, easy and complicated. Immerse yourself in other worlds, look at the way writers use words and punctuation to add drama and ambience, study books – especially the ones that make you feel something. How do they do it? Where does the magic lie?
2. Write. Then write some more. And if you think you can’t write any more…keep writing. Journals, blogs (aspiring writers are so lucky now that they can set up a free WordPress site in an hour and get their words in front of the world so quickly, I never had that growing up), submit articles to websites and magazines, volunteer to guest write for someone else’s publication. It doesn’t matter where you do it…just write. Don’t do it to impress or make money (seriously, leave now if you think writing will make you rich), do it because you can’t go a day without writing. It has to hurt. Does it physically hurt when you go a day or two without writing anything? Yes? Good! You’re on your way…
3. Don’t give up. I got over thirty rejections for my first novel, but I didn’t give up. It wasn’t an option. I wrote my book so others could read it, so it was my duty to keep pushing to get it out there.
4. Grow a thick skin! I penned an article once for The Independent that resulted in three days of Twitter death threats until I shut down my account. I changed the entire ending of ‘The Path Keeper’ because my beta readers thought it was ludicrous. I was told that writing my book was a pipe dream and self-indulgent, that not just anyone would be a writer. At any point I could have got upset, but I didn’t. Today is my launch date, tomorrow I may get my first hideous review…it’s simply part and parcel of what we do. Take it on the chin, accept criticism graciously, learn from the feedback and move on.
5. Keep the day job. If I can write three novels while running a business, emigrating abroad where I knew no one and raising two kids in a foreign country then I’m sure you too can write your first novel in your spare time. Don’t give everything up to write unless you already have a steady income because it won’t make you rich…at least not for quite a few years. I also believe that the more sacrifices you make to find the time to work on your masterpiece the harder you will work to make it a success.

Many thanks for stopping by to talk and good luck for publication day.
Any time…I had fun!

NATALI’S SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Click for each page URL
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads

THE PATH KEEPER IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER – CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR DETAILS