The prized girl By Amy K Green – Reviewed by Natalie Jayne Peeke

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Before

Jenny Kennedy- beautiful, brilliant but troubled- is the pageant queen of New England. From ages Five -Thirteen, she won more prizes than any of her competitors, inspiring admiration and envy in equal measure. Jenny has more than a few secrets of her own, but what thirteen-year-old girl doesn’t?

 

After

But now Jenny is dead, in a murder that has rocked a perfect town and a perfect family. Virginia Kennedy, whose relationship with her half-sister was far from close, finds herself thrust into Jenny’s spotlight as she becomes a suspect in the brutal killing.

 

In a small town where death is public property, it’s up to Virginia to uncover the truth behind her sister’s murder, and she soon realises that maybe Jenny’s life wasn’t so perfect after all…….

 

Within the first few chapters I was hooked, Green’s writing style is brilliant, it’s very easy to read as each chapter varies from Jenny to Virginia changing from Virginia’s life after her sisters brutal murder to Jenny’s life and what resulted in her untimely death.

The more I read the more secrets of the “picture perfect family” were unearthed. Green does a fine job in portraying realistic characters, in real life everyone has their own flaws or internal battles and this is also true for the characters from Linda’s(Jenny’s mother) mental state to Calvin’s(the father) deep dark secret that he has kept for 30 years .

I would recommend for fans of ‘Have you seen her’ by Lisa Hall and those who enjoy a good old Who done it.

Paperback £7.99

eBook & Audio available

 

Things I am Doing During The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic

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coronavirus, COVID-19, staying sane, healthy, self isolation, social distancing, 2020 has brought the super scary coronavirus, official name COVID-19, to our lives. We live in uncertain times and I think we are all feeling anxious. Social distancing is essential at the moment but has an impact on our mental health. Ditto for self isolation. Well, as I saw on Facebook, our grandparents were asked to go to war. All we have to do it read and watch Netflix.

I have young children so hunkering down and binging on Netflix is sadly not an option for me. But I am doing the following things for myself.

Learning a language everyday. I do Duolingo which is amazing and free as well as Babble.

Reading. I am lucky to get sent a lot of books. I even got sent one from one of my favourite authors, Adele Parks, today. I read when my children let me or when they have gone to bed.

Staying active. We are lucky to have a garden but there is also a lot of stairs in our house. Cleaning and tidying are good but it is important to do actual exercise. The NHS recommends 150 minutes a week.

Keeping in touch with my friends and family via WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and FaceTime. I am lucky as a self-employed freelancer that I am used to not having a lot of people around me. I do miss it though!

Switching off. Sometimes I just put my phone away and turn the TV off. The constantly rising numbers and scare stories can be too much.

Eating as healthily as possible. Food is medicine. There are few greater truths in life.

I also watch TV or try to watch a film. It is good to keep my mind of things.

After my surgery last year and then getting a life-threatening illness (pneumonia and pleurisy. In both lungs because I like to go all out, clearly) I appreciate the small things in life. Sometimes I am in the garden or even just having a shower and I realise how much of a miracle life is. There is beauty everywhere.

For my children.

I am making sure I take them out into the garden. We play football usually but my daughter also loves bubbles. I read them a lot of books and they do a lot of writing too. I am trying to work on their development as much as possible with various toys and games. I have two under four so they are still at a crucial stage in their development.

My daughter is too young to know what is happening and my son is not worried. I am thankful for this. I shower them with kisses and cuddles every day.

Has your holiday been cancelled?

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If your plans for a holiday have fallen foul of the recent travel warnings or flight disruptions, it is a perfect opportunity to put into action all those projects you have been putting off.

You could write a book, compose a song or learn something new. So don’t despair there are plenty of enjoyable ways to occupy yourself without interacting with strangers or flying off to a different country.

Stay at home and learn

If you have always had a burning ambition to learn a different language, play the guitar, or write a book, now is your chance. With a broadband connection or a CD player, you can do all of these and more.

There is a multitude of online resources to help you fill your time in isolation, and some of them are free. With music available for lead, bass or even Ukulele, you can emulate Peggy Lee Radiohead or Oasis. All you need is patience and some equipment.

If you want to learn a language in preparation for when life returns to normal, then the world is your oyster, and it won’t cost a penny. From beginner, intermediate or conversational level, you can learn a little or a lot depending on your mood. It might not make you proficient, but it will give you an excellent start.

Duolingo is a free resource which is easy to use and good fun. OpenCulture can help you learn the most popular languages French, Spanish, Italian, and the harder ones like Mandarin and Russian. Even obscure ones like Icelandic and Gaelic.

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON DEVELOPING AN UNHEALTHY AMAZON OBSESSION

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I’m way behind the rest of the Sister Scribes in this publishing lark and my debut novel has just gone up for pre-order. Another Us isn’t being published until May 14th – indeed, it hasn’t even got a cover yet – and yet there it is, sitting pretty on Amazon with one of those big smiley faces where the cover illustration should be.

No one told me it was up there.

In fact, I would have been blissfully ignorant of all this, had a lovely lady in America not tweeted me to let me know she had just pre-ordered my book and how much she was looking forward to reading it.

Well, if she could only know what that has set in motion!

All I can say if that it was a good thing that my publishers didn’t let me know as soon as Another Us went up on Amazon because that would have meant I started the obsessive, frenzied, ridiculous checking of sales rankings even earlier. Does anyone else do this? Several times a day? First thing in the morning? Last thing at night? Or am I am just really, really weird?

But there is so much to check and it is all so really, really exciting (and nerve-wracking and depressing and thrilling depending on what I find.)

  • There’s the overall sales ranking itself – and a helpful little graph of how it changes over time. (My graph resembles a yo-yo on speed and probably correlates neatly with my blood pressure and heart rate.)
  • Then there are the sub-categories. Someone has put my book into the parenting and family humour, parenting and family relationship categories, which I would say is fairly spot on. For one heady moment, presumably when all my friends and family were busy pre-ordering Another Us, my book made it into top ten of a couple of these categories and my squeals of excitement could be heard from here to Timbuktu to be followed by groans of despair when it subsequently went into freefall.
  • As if the above wasn’t enough, within each category there is a ‘hot new release’ section. Doesn’t that sound brilliant – ‘hot new release’?  Another Us – currently the only one without a cover and looking a bit sorry for itself – has featured in the top ten there too and sent me skipping round the kitchen – which meant that when it invariably plummeted, I was handily placed to scoff a couple of soothing Curly Wurlies.
  • And don’t get me started on Amazon USA! That, of course, has all the same categories, which merely serves to double the joy – or pain (delete as appropriate).. Another Us in the ‘motherhood’ category over there as well, and I did have a little chuckle when I discovered it was a ‘hot new release’ – right next to ‘How to have a mindful epidural’! Fun, fun, fun …

Hubbie fails to share my enthusiasm about all this. When I told him I thought I was close to cracking Amazon’s algorithm, I swear I heard him mutter ‘obsessed’ and ‘addicted’ into his pinot noir. In fact, there may well have been ‘words’ after that and I might have told him I that I didn’t want to hear anything about his Fitbit and his 10k personal best ever again!

Marital harmony has since been restored and, my obsession with Amazon has subsequently waned. But heaven help us all when the book is launched!

 

Kirsten Hesketh’s debut novel. Another Us, will be published by Canelo on May 14th and is now available for pre-order.

 

Michael Rowan doesn’t know whether to laugh or shudder at the world premiere of Bin Juice at the VAULT Festival

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The Vaults, Leake Street, London, SE1 7NN. Tuesday 10th – Sunday 15th March 2020

Madison Clare

Photo credit Lidia Crisfulli

Written by Cat Kolubayev and directed by Anastasia Bruce-Jones this is a fast paced, all female dark comedy, a story of loyalty, revenge and secrecy.

Francine and Marla are on the hunt for a new hazardous waste removal apprentice.

Having just escaped a life of misfortune, Belinda walks in, ready for her interview.

The position isn’t quite what it seems and the advert may have missed a few pertinent details. Showing the nasty side of an already filthy job, someone is about to find themselves in a very sticky situation.

Adeline Waby

Photo Credit: Lidia Crisfulli

A new job at a hazardous waste removal company means Belinda’s going to have

to get her hands a little dirty.

Bin Juice romps about with mess and grime and dirt and selfishness, crime and mobs and savagery.

Helena Antoniou

Photo credit Lidia Crisfulli

Expertly mixing the comedic with the macabre, the three women keep up the pace, but a special mention to Madison Clare, who plays Marla demonstrating innate comedic timing.

The forensic interview technique of Adeline Waby’s Francine, would have most human resources departments heading for the exit, whilst Helena Antoniou’s Belinda/ Barney, proves she can more than hold her own both within the play and on the stage.  

 

Running Time 1 hour

Box Office -Tickets are available priced £10.50 from https://vaultfestival.com/

or 0208 050 9241.

Age Guidance 12+

Twitter@BinJuicePlay#BinJuicePlay #TheSWRC@VAULTFestival

 

 

Michael Rowan gets a taste for recycling at Montezuma’s WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP, open between 10am and 6pm on 13th and 14th March at 67 Neal Street in Covent Garden, London

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Visitors eat imitation food packaging waste, made from chocolate, at Montezuma’s ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ recyclable chocolate shop, in Covent Garden, London. The pop-up shop lets customers swap old food packaging for chocolate and treats, to celebrate Montezuma’s switch to 100% sustainable packaging across its whole range.     Photo credit: Matt Crossick

You don’t have to be a genius to realise that landfill and carbon footprints are contributing to environmental harm and global warming. However, you probably do need to be a genius to get everyone to think about day to day packaging.

Those clever people at Montezuma’s take their chocolate seriously and their environmental impact just as seriously, which is good news for us all.

Montezuma’s wants people to re-think their daily habits by saying no to waste and yes to chocolate and it’s doing so in the most appetising manner.

Montezuma’s is inviting people to experience the sweet side of eco living, with its ‘WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP’ in Covent Garden. To celebrate the launch of the brand’s new sustainable packaging, the award-winning British chocolate company is opening a pop-up shop, where you can swap your unwanted packaging for tailor-made treats, designed to imitate some of the biggest waste culprits in the UK food industry – think grab-and-go salad bowls, sandwich wrappers and those iconic black sushi trays.

Montezuma Chocolate managing director Bruce Alexander at Montezuma’s ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ recyclable chocolate shop, in Covent Garden, London.Photo credit: Matt Crossick

 

The beautiful, bespoke treats may look like trash, but they are actually formed from Montezuma’s classic white chocolate, filled with its indulgent truffle centre, and hand painted for a realistic finish! All chocolate lovers need to do to get their hands on these decadent chocolates, is simply hand over their used food containers – proving that recycling has more than just the one benefit.

Sitting in the window of the store is a fully edible 3D artwork, made to replicate a bin overflowing with non-recyclable rubbish. The piece will highlight the unrecycled waste that ends up on landfill each year. The indulgent installation will be lit up 24 hours a day, to inspire passers-by to make more sustainable choices when it comes to food.

Photo credit: Matt Crossick

The venture comes in the wake of Montezuma’s newly designed packaging, 100% of the Montezuma’s newly designed packaging is either recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable – a first for a British chocolate company. As well as using recyclable inks, adhesives, stickers and tapes, the company’s best-selling chocolate bars will now be delivered in 100% paper and card cartons, eliminating the non-recyclable metallised wrappers. Look carefully at all the art work as each tells a different story, but you will need to look closely.

Montezuma’s WASTE NOT, WANT NOT RECYCLABLE SHOP is open between 10am and 6pm on 13th and 14th March at 67 Neal Street in Covent Garden, London but don’t worry if you can’t get there because their repackaged fabulously tasty bars can be found in Sainsburys and Waitrose amongst other retailers.

 

 

My Writing Process – Tracy Baines

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tracy-baines-author

I’ve always wanted to write novels, but it felt overwhelming, and to be honest, I didn’t have the confidence to dive into something so all encompassing – so I wrote articles and short stories. I’m so glad I did something – other than procrastinate. I learnt so much from writing short stories: brevity, character, structure and so on. It’s the same skills – you just need more stamina if you’re writing a novel. Gosh, I never knew how draining sitting down all morning could be.

I could always find the time for a short story and it taught me that I could finish things. Finishing is so important. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard people say they’ve got loads of beginnings. If you’re struggling, I’d say choose one thing and keep going until you finish it. My short stories have been published in magazines various magazines in the UK and abroad.

At the moment I’m working on the Christmas with the Variety Girls  – the sequel to The Variety Girls which was published by Ebury Press in February 2020.

I always write straight to my computer but I make a huge amount of notes by hand. I also go back to writing by hand if I get stuck and can’t get the words flowing. I don’t know why it works, but it does. Most mornings I’ll write a page of A4 of free flow. It’s like a warm-up to get the motor running and I find I can express myself more easily when I do this.

Daydreaming is important to me too. I play around with ideas for as much time as I can before I begin to write. I’ll read a lot of books for background details and research, and some of that will inspire a character or a scene. My books are set in the Variety Theatre during WW2 and I love reading books about old theatre and music hall stars to get creative thoughts flowing.

When I start writing I tend to stick with one character and work out what she wants most of all. Then I work out what could stop her getting it. Gradually all the other characters and events start to pop into my head. I make a synopsis, then develop a plan or outline which will change as I go along. It’s like having a road map. I can take detours here and there, but I always have a road to go back to. I’ve found this stops me from panicking about where I need to go next.

I try to work for a few hours each morning, actually writing, but I’m thinking about it most of the time. I might work in the evening if I’ve had a disrupted day. I tend to write more when I’m past the middle point. Some days are better than others. But if I’m having a bad day I’m happy as long as I get something down that moves the story forward. I know I can always go back and fix it. Again, the short stories helped me because I am not afraid of deleting huge parts of text to get to the nub of the story

Early in my career I was lucky enough to be mentored by Margret Graham – who also writes as Milly Adams and Annie Clarke. I’ve learnt an enormous amount from her and also from reading her many books. I am loving her latest – Girls on the Home Front series.  She is a superb teacher and if you ever get chance to get to one of her workshops crawl there if you have to. She’s also written two books that are brilliant in explaining things such as show and tell etc. No waffle, just practical advice and instruction – and plenty of exercises. You learn how to write by writing – you have to do the work – but having someone wonderful to mentor you makes such a difference.

Margaret’s explanation of structure took me time to understand. It’s very simple but there is such depth to it. It is foremost in my mind when I sit down to work out my novels: normal world, point of change, a rising arc of tension, crisis point or darkest moment, the slipper test, resolution. If you want to know more I can highly recommend The Writers Springboard. She describes structure so simply.

When the writing’s going well there’s nothing like it. It must be what drugs are like. I forget time and am totally in my little world. And when a character  arrives unannounced and tells you their story. Sublime. The difficult part is maintaining the momentum when the words aren’t flowing. It’s turning up at the desk, day after day, in the hope that this will be the day it all starts making sense.

My advice for other writers would be not to think you’re too old, not clever enough, thin enough, rich enough. Have confidence, work hard but most of all enjoy it. It will shine through in your writing.

the-variety-girls-tracy-baines

The Variety Girls published by Ebury Press £6.99

www.tracybaines.co.uk

You Don’t Have to Love Your Body, Just Don’t Hate it.

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pregnant, woman, pregnant woman, Catherine Balavage

Me when I was pregnant with my son.

It is fair to say that at some point most of us have had a complicated relationship with our body. Women in particular get a rough ride. The media constantly tells us we are not tall enough, thin enough or tanned enough. Yes, the body positive movement has happened, but it is being sold to us by the same people who made us feel crap about our bodies for decades, and do not get me started on how their tagline is usually about ‘real’ women. It is so condescending. There are no fake women. Airbrushing women within an inch of their lives, while those women were already over five foot ten and a size eight, does not make these women an ideal that ‘real’ women no longer have to aspire to because you are woke now.

The beauty industry is still trying to sell us cellulite creams. In 2019 I was still seeing articles on how to get rid of cellulite. It is truly shocking. Babies have cellulite, children have cellulite, even men have cellulite, but for some reason only women are told that it is somehow not normal and we have to spend our time and energy getting rid of it. God forbid we work on our brains instead of our thighs.

P.S: dimples are cute.

Yes, I rant a bit but I have my reasons. As a teenager I thought my body looked awful. All I saw was flaws. Now I am in my thirties and I think it truly is amazing. There are parts I am not keen on, the bits of fat that accumulate around my C section scar and are hard to shift, for example, but I refuse to hate it. My body has made two beautiful children and been through two very different births: one emergency C section and one VBAC. It has been pregnant four times but only has two children and it has endured two traumatic surgeries.

The last few years I have been the fittest I have ever been in between my pregnancies. I am at my lowest weight in ten years and I am proud when I manage to make healthy choices, and gentle on myself when I do not. It makes me sad when I think about how long it took me to love my body on my good days, and not hate it on my bad ones. When I was a teenager I was ill with glandular fever. I was bedridden for years and it took a lot of time to get healthy again. My education was affected and it is only now I am managing to find the time to rectify that. You would think it that was an important lesson but I spent my twenties working fourteen hour days, going to parties and over-exercising. Turns out you can not exist on canapés and champagne alone. My main food groups were pasta and cereal. It is embarrassing to think about now that I try to make sure I have at least five-a-day and that I do not exert my body to much.

What I am trying to say is that your body is amazing. YOU are amazing, and while you do not have to love every part of your body, do not hate it. It is a miracle.