Guest Post: Shh… It’s Our Secret, by Lizzie Chantree

I am thrilled to hand over my blog to international best-selling author, Lizzie Chantree, on her publication day of Shh… It’s Our Secret. She is an author I love to read and follow on social media because she is actively supportive of writers and readers which is always good to see and I recommend following her. If you are a writer, you can read my review of her networking book here.

So a huge congratulations on the release of your new book and over to you, Lizzie.

Shh… It’s Our Secret, by Lizzie Chantree

Shh… It’s Our Secret, by Lizzie Chantree Book Cover

Thank you for inviting me onto your blog today and for the amazing support of the launch of my latest book!

It’s possible that we all might have kept a secret or two at one point. It could be yours, your partners or a friends. It may be harmless, or life changing. For Violet, in Shh… It’s our secret, the secret she is keeping could destroy everything about the quiet life she has built up, managing a rundown café bar at the centre of a small town in Kent.

With many job losses and shops shutting down locally, Violet’s secret could bring immense wealth into the community, push her out of the shadows that she has been hiding in since the death of her parents and into the limelight. She has to find the self-confidence to stand up for herself, when all around her people seem to miss how special she really is.

Blurb

Violet has a secret that could change the lives of everyone she knows and loves, especially the regulars at the run-down café bar where she works. After losing her parents at a young age, they are the closest thing she has to a family and she feels responsible for them.

Kai is a jaded music producer who has just moved outside of town. Seeking solitude from the stress of his job, he’s looking for seclusion. The only problem is he can’t seem to escape the band members and songwriters who keep showing up at his house.

When Kai wanders into the bar and Violet’s life, he accidentally discovers her closely guarded secret. Can Kai help her rediscover her self-confidence or should some secrets remain undiscovered?

Universal Purchase link: mybook.to/ItsOurSecret

Author Biography

Lizzie Chantree

International bestselling author and award-winning inventor, Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now works as a business mentor and runs a popular networking hour on social media, where creatives can support to each other. She writes books full of friendship and laughter, that are about women with unusual and adventurous businesses, who are far stronger than they realise. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex.

Social media links:

Website: www.lizziechantree.com

Author page: https://www.viewAuthor.at/LizzieChantree

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizzieChantree/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7391757.Lizzie_Chantree

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzie_chantree/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/LizzieChantree/pins/

FB Groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/647115202160536/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lizzie-chantree

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lizziechantreeauthor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnCop-RlAcGqggZG3JfE-Mw

Other books by Lizzie Chantree

Thank you so much for popping by Lizzie Chantree and I can’t wait to read this secretive book. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Happy reading and stay safe!

Love

Guest Post: Raising awareness for National ME Awareness Week 2020 by KT King

Last year I had the pleasure to meet KT King here on my blog and we discussed her Little Eden books, writing and health.  KT King has suffered for over 27 years with the chronic and invisible disability called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis also called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She is trying to help raise awareness for this terrible, debilitating and life destroying disease. The main heroine of Little Eden, Sophie Lawrence, also suffers with CFS but she is still a heroine none the less.

I am pleased to pass this post over to her to discuss a subject close to her, ME/CSF Awareness Week.

Raising awareness for National ME Awareness Week 2020 by KT King

 

 Imagine if the self-isolation and social distancing you have been experiencing these last few weeks was going to continue for the rest of your life?

That’s right, for the rest of your life – without let up, without reprieve, without end.

On top of being stuck inside, unable to shop, see your friends, go on holidays, go to the pub, a café or the supermarket, you feel as if you have the flu 24/7. Your body won’t function. Everything aches. You find even the smallest tasks, like taking a shower, cooking a meal or reading a chapter in a book take all your energy.

Millions suffer from this misunderstood illness worldwide but there is little research and no known cause or cure. The World Health Organisation has registered it as an epidemic but governments are still not helping those affected.

It can happen to anyone at any age.

Living in isolation, often bed and housebound, without an income or state support, without medical help or carers, sufferers of ME are forgotten by society and rely on family charity to survive.

We were never supported on TV, by our neighbours or communities, the NHS or carers, we were not given mental health support or had our wages paid at 80% when we had to give up work or lost our businesses. Most of us live in poverty, forgotten and blaming ourselves because no one believes us.

When you return to normal, we will still be in in lockdown without hope.

More about me

KT King

Many may wonder how I can write novels if I have ME/CFS. I am able to write when I don’t need to do  anything else. The fluctuation of the illness baffles everyone as does the resolve of those with it to battle on trying to make a living. I lost my home, my income and my independence in 2012 coming back to live with my elderly parents on whom I now rely for physical daily help and financial support. By age 40 I had lost the battle with ME.

Writing too much gives me migraines so I can only write a few days a week for about an hour at a time on what is called ‘a good day’. I write through chronic pain and fatigue but it keeps me alive and it keeps me sane.

Mental and emotional health deteriorate for all of us because we can rarely socialise or see friends. We feel we have no purpose or usefulness and many of us are in terrible pain 24/7 with Fibromyalgia which often accompanies ME.

We can either give up or we can try to do something even if it’s just a little thing on ‘a good day’.

Becoming a published writer is a lifelong dream come true and escaping into Little Eden helps keep the suicidal thoughts at bay. I hope it’ll be a beautiful escape place for you too. One of the main things readers say is that they would love to live in Little Eden which makes it all seem worthwhile!

I’m an indie author, using my savings from before 2012 to publish. I can’t meet deadlines of publishers or do the usual sales promotions.

I can spend months, even years unable to get out of bed so I need all the help I can get spreading the word about my books, especially from kind book bloggers like Katie.

I find crafting is good for mental and emotional health so when I can I make handmade jewellery to give to friends and to sell in my Etsy shop where all the gifts inspired by Little Eden. I rarely have the energy to bake but now and again I manage to make a cake or some cookies! Some of my recipes have made their way into the novels.

Come and browse in my little Etsy shop http://bit.ly/KTKingShop

You can follow the global campaign called MillionsMissing and/or KTKing on Twitter.

http://bit.ly/KTKingTwitter

For more information please visit the ME Association website https://www.meassociation.org.uk/about-what-is-mecfs/

About Little Eden Books

Little Eden Books thrillingly combine the supernatural and spirituality in a magical mystery set in the cosy, idyllic and ancient sanctuary town of Little Eden. The hero, Robert Bartlett-Hart, goes on a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment with the help of his friends and plenty of tea and cake! The novels are a comical yet genuine look at the spirit world based on the work of psychic, healer and ascension coach, KT King.

To purchase Book One and Two as Kindle or paperback just click on my linktree https://linktr.ee/ktkingbooks

Thank you for visiting my blog KT and good luck in spreading awareness of ME and CSF.

Keep an eye out for future posts on KT’s books here this week.

Happy reading and stay safe!

Love

 

Guest post: Real History versus Fantasy History; or, the Dangers of Pushing Research Too Far by M.K Wiseman

I am pleased to introduce M.K Wiseman, as part of a blog tour to celebrate her book, The Kithseeker.  Welcome Duvet Dwellers Books and over to you.

Real History versus Fantasy History; or, the Dangers of Pushing Research Too Far

I almost went back to change the title of this post. In hindsight it comes across as quite menacing. But then, considering the topic at hand, I think I’ll keep it as typed. For you see, my writing jam is historical fantasy and sometimes real history just … *shiver

Have you ever heard of Hew Draper? I ran across his name while putting together a few fun table props for a convention I attended in August. ExpectoCon in Madison, Wisconsin is a new immersive wizards and witches weekend brought to you by the same mind that created the series of TeslaCon immersive steampunk conventions. As such, I needed a few really nifty outfits and a set of cool new props.

I decided to be so bold as to do a cheeky mild cosplay of one of my own characters. Well, more a nod than a true character cosplay. I fashioned Nagarath’s cinnabar staff and tried to have at least one of my weekend outfits resemble something akin to what I believe a 17th century Croatian wizard would wear. And I made reference books.

And to do so, I did (admittedly shoddy) research so that I could have with me the means to discuss, at length, various magickal histories. Books. Wizards. Strange facts (e.g. the history of the wand is quite fascinating). These filled my little note books in the hope that I could fill strangers’ ears with impromptu in-character lectures. To some extent, I was successful in this attempt and had a blast doing so. But to another extent this exercise mainly served to scare me.

Nicholas Flamel—made more recently famous through J. K. Rowling’s having dropped his history into the Harry Potter series—proved an interesting if non-threatening maybe-maybe-not wizard. I mention Hew Draper above. He managed something potentially more exciting. I say potentially for, no record exists of his having escaped the Salt Tower of the Tower of London on May 30, 1561 … but neither does there exist proof that he did not, in fact, conjure himself away after making the cryptic astrological carving on the wall of his cell.

And then there’s La Voisin. Catherine Monvoisin, French poisoner for hire for the aristocracy in the seventeenth century. Her fate we know. She was publicly executed in Paris on February 22, 1680. Charge of witchcraft (amongst other things.) I stopped researching when I found out how she was performing “black masses” and I figured I no longer wanted to know anything of real wizards from history.

I guess I’ll stick to fantasy for now?

 

The Kithseeker

Title: The Kithseeker

Author: M.K Wiseman

Genre: Historical fantasy

Release date: 21st August 2018

Blurb

France, 1680

Liara’s defense of the Wizard Nagarath has rendered Anisthe incantate–bereft of magick–but even this cannot guarantee her safety. Because the death of her father-in-magick would seal the girl’s fate, necessity demands she and her wizard maintain a watchful eye on the war mage, while protecting her from his dark designs.

Anisthe has embarked on a journey across Europe, aided by his half-fey manservant with an agenda all his own. They search for a legendary mirror that contains the world’s most powerful magick. Although the stuff of fairytales, the possibility of its existence compels Nagarath and Liara to seek the artifact themselves. Both know that should Anisthe lay claim to that power, Liara would be at his mercy and not even Nagarath could save her.

Thus, the pair find themselves at Versailles, surrounded by agents who ferret out magick users and destroy them. Uncertain who is friend and who is foe, with their rival on their heels, they must discover the mirror before Anisthe releases its evil, or worse, it lays claim to Liara’s magick and brings doom upon them all.

Purchase Links
https://smile.amazon.com/Kithseeker-Bookminder-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07FMSMHW8/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kithseeker-Bookminder-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07FMSMHW8/

Author Bio

M. K. Wiseman has degrees in animation/video and library science – both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, her office is a clutter of storyboards and half-catalogued collections of too, too many books. (But, really, is there such a thing as too many books?) When she’s not mucking about with stories, she’s off playing brač or lying in a hammock in the backyard of her Cedarburg home that she shares with her endlessly patient husband.

 

Social Media Links 
https://twitter.com/FaublesFables
https://www.facebook.com/FaublesFables/
https://www.instagram.com/faublesfables/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7073540.M_K_Wiseman
http://mkwisemanauthor.com

Thank you for visiting M.K Wiseman and I love the idea of cosplay and hope you took lots of photos. I am also tempted to read more of the real wizards you researched.

For book reviews on her book The Kithseeker, why not pop in to other blogs in the tour. Details are below.