The Magic Spark Cover Reveal!

Here it is! The title and cover reveal of my next book, The Magic Spark! 😀

Blurb:

Successful businesswoman Alex is content with her life in London, and any ideas of romance have been left on the back burner. But when her fairy godmother, FG, waltzes into her office one morning announcing she has come to help Alex rekindle a passion for life and love, she is about to check herself into therapy!

The fairy godmother’s incessant wand-flicking soon lands them in the isolation of the Scottish highlands, where Alex’s next client, Mal Ross, not only stirs her professional interest but her romantic ones too.

Tasked with the enormous challenge of turning a historic castle into a flourishing hotel, the pair must work closely together whilst attempting to avoid the awkward situations the rom-com obsessed fairy godmother keeps forcing them into.

But the path of love is never smooth, no matter how much magic you throw at it.

The Magic Spark is a light, enjoyable read, full of fun and romance.

Excerpt:

Forking over a flowerbed by the castle walls was Alex’s supposed perfect match, his plain grey t-shirt stained with mud and his ripped jeans just as dirty. His face was hidden behind a thick curtain of dark brown hair, layered and falling to the base of his neck.

“That’s him?” Her voice choked.

FG beamed a grin. “Look at him!” She spread her hands out in emphasis, apparently proud of the man she’d found for Alex. He stood up, running his muddied hands through his hair, excitement bubbling within Alex as the hint of a chiseled jaw line shadowed with heavy stubble became visible.

Alex rolled her eyes and folded her arms at FG’s enthusiasm. “He’s lovely, but that’s not the point-”

“Lovely? That’s all you’re going with?” FG cocked an eyebrow and they both turned back to the man who dug his hands into a pile of compost, the muscles of his arms flexing as he did so. When he leant his head back, his face became visible.

Alex wished he hadn’t been so damn handsome, it only made attempting a blasé attitude that much harder.

“He’s very nice.” Alex tightened her lips, but FG kept her brow raised, the expression battering against Alex. “Fine! He’s gorgeous.” It wasn’t a hard admittance to make.

“You got that right.” They both looked at him again, the man thankfully too far away from them to hear the conversation. Her only consolation was that he was the gardener and not the owner, at least he could be avoided.

Alex ripped her focus from the man back towards FG as she pulled her wand out of thin air. The woman flicked the star end towards the gardener and a sudden ray of sunshine burst through the heavy cloud cover and lit the man in a spotlight.

Again FG flicked her wand, but this time directly at the man. A stream of gold glitter smashed against him, but he didn’t seem to notice it. Instead, he blew out a heavy breath as though growing hot under the beam of sun that shone only on him.

He gripped the edge of his shirt and yanked it up to wipe the sweat forming on his brow, revealing a lithe, well-toned body beneath that Alex couldn’t seem to rip her gaze away from.

It took quite a bit of mental strength to finally tear her attention away and avert it to the grass beneath her boots. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned. “Stop it!” She slapped FG’s hand, the wand now directed at the ground.

The sun disappeared and the man went back to working, instead of posing like a model in a Diet Coke ad.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it,” FG said with a sly smile and a wiggle of her brows.

Alex gritted her teeth. “Let’s just find the owner and get this business over with.” She turned away, ignoring FG who was staring at the gardener once again with a dreamy gaze. “Shall we find our rooms?”

“Only if I can take him to mine,” FG replied and Alex rolled her eyes, nudging the woman back to the front of the castle.

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I was pretty pleased with how the cover turned out, which once again I did myself, including drawing out the silhouettes!

The Magic Spark is out on Tuesday 30th September!

Hope you enjoyed the preview!

Have a great weekend everyone 🙂

The Attack of the Blurb!

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter! 🙂

Thank you for sharing your links and recommendations in my last post, definitely a great list of new books and authors to take a look at!

So, over the Easter break I thought a lot about writing (which I wasn’t supposed to be doing 😀 ), and thinking about what I need to do in order to prepare for self-publishing my books. One of the things I realised I could go on and get ready were the blurbs for my books.

Easier said than done! 😀

Looking around and doing some research on what others have written for their books I realised there are lots of different approaches, as there are with all things writing related. Some people recommend not using questions in the blurb as it can make it sound as though the writer might not know the answer themselves, for example:

Kate and Jack have a difficult journey ahead. What will they face? Will they take on these dangers together- or fall apart?

Not great, but you get the idea 😀

Others say you should use questions, as it gets the reader intrigued.

In general though, a blurb has to be a short, snappy introduction to your book that hooks the reader’s interest. I think of it as the cover should entice the reader to look at the book (I know, don’t judge a book by its cover, but everyone does!), and the blurb should be the thing that makes them want to read it.

Some of the best advice I found was to write a summary of your story, including everything: characters, plot and even the ending. Then pick out all the most interesting and important bits, condense it and fit it into a blurb, like they do for movie trailers.

Again, easier said than done.

Another tip I found was to think about the layout of the blurb, a chunk of text might not be as appealing as lines that are split and easy to read (much like the advice given for writing a blog post).

But as I’ve been trying to come up with a great blurb, I realised I need to think of it not as a writer but as a reader. What would get me interested in a book?

I need to know certain things if I am going to consider buying a book:

– Genre and tone
– An idea of the plot- What is going to be going on throughout the story?
– Main characters

If I pick up a book and the tone of the blurb makes it sound like a fantasy, but it turns out to be contemporary I’m going to be disappointed, even if it’s a great book. That’s not a good way to build up a good relationship with a reader.

Now I’m trying to go back over all the books I have bought and see what it was about those blurbs that got me interested in them.

I recommend checking out this article-How to Write an Effective Blurb. I found it had some great advice, and I will definitely be following some of the points she has talked about.

So, in summary, a blurb needs to be short, set the tone of the book, give an idea of the plot and characters, all whilst engaging the reader’s interest enough to purchase and read the book. Wow, not too much to ask then!

What is it in a blurb that makes you buy a book? How do you go about writing a blurb for your own work? Do you have any advice or tips?

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Progress Report

Status of Third Manuscript: 2 out of 3 copies back from readers.

April E-Book Review: Book read. Review ready.