I’m delighted to welcome my good friend, Karen King
back onto my blog today. Karen and I have shared many a school visit, talking
about our books to assembly halls full of primary school children and encouraging youngsters to read and write. Our KAT
visits (Kids and Authors Together) are legendary – to us anyway!
With an incredible 120 children’s books to her name,
Karen is now expanding her writing prowess into other genres.
One genre being
more edgy young adult books. Her first YA, Perfect Summer, was runner up in the Red
Telephone Books 2011 YA Novel Competition and her second YA, Sapphire Blue, now republished as Rise of the Soul Catchers by Littwitz
Press, was called ‘the best YA book out there right now’ by a reviewer for
Ind’Tale magazine.
Having read Rise
of the Soul Catchers, I have to agree it’s a great read, and a fascinating, thought provoking look at what the afterlife could be like.
She is also writing sassy, heart-warming romance. She
currently has four romcoms published by Accent
Press, and a fifth one is due out in June this year. Her latest romcom, The Cornish
Hotel by the Sea, was #3 in the
Amazon bestseller holiday reads, and she has recently signed a two
book-contract with Bookouture for more romance novels.
If that’s not enough, she
has also written several short stories for women’s magazines. Well done, Karen!
We are both members of the Romantic Novelists’
Association (RNA) and plan on attending their conference again this summer.
Looking forward to that very much.
I have pleasure in sharing the blurb
and an extract from Rise of the Soul Catchers
for you to enjoy…
Blurb
Can
love survive anything – even death?
Sapphire and Will vow to
love each other forever. But when a car crash ends that dream all
too soon, they find themselves separated in an afterlife with zones named after
the colours of the rainbow. Determined to find each other, they start an
adventurous journey alongside a cast of characters they don't know whether to
trust. They finally meet again in the terror-fuelled Red Zone where the dreaded
Soul Catchers are planning on taking over the entire afterworld and are plunged
into a dangerous battle. Is their love strong enough to survive against the odds?
(Previously published as Sapphire Blue)
Rise of the Soul
Catchers – Extract – Sapphire’s Viewpoint.
My mind is a mess. I can’t leave Will. I’ve got to help him.
But how can I? I don’t know this world. If I don’t go with Grandpa and my
family, I’ll be on my own. The Soul Catchers might get me too.
Soul Catchers. The very name
makes me shudder. Have they got Will? What are they doing to him?
Will and I promised to love each
other forever. How can I go without knowing he’s safe? I can’t leave him. But
if I stay, how can I help him? My head is such a mish-mash of thoughts and
fears I’m hardly aware of Grandpa leading me over to the silver bus, of
climbing up the steps to board it.
It’s crowded so we have to go right
at the back to find a seat. Grandpa gently pushes me into the seat by the
window. I look out and see the guy still waiting on the steps. He’s not giving up on his sister. How can I give up on Will
so easily?
That
guy belongs here. He knows his way around, I remind myself. I’m new. I need to
stay with Grandpa. Besides, the zone guides will find Will.
What
if they don’t? I might never see him again.
The
realization smacks me like a punch to the stomach, momentarily winding me.
I can’t go. Going with Grandpa
might mean leaving Will forever and I can’t do that.
I can get another bus and meet
up with Grandpa later, when I find Will. He could be on his way here, right
now. I think of him walking in alone and confused like I was, of running to
greet him, hugging him, letting him know that even though we’re here we still
have each other. I have to wait for him.
I
get up from my seat, almost jumping over Grandpa in my haste to get off.
“I’m
waiting for Will,” I shout as I race down the aisle toward the closing door.
I
can hear Grandpa and Aunt May calling me to come back but I ignore them. The
doors are closing. With a final burst I reach them, slip through the narrowing
gap and leap out, landing sprawled out on the ground. I hear the doors slide
shut behind me and a loud whoosh. Scrambling to my knees I swivel around just
in time to see the silver bus rise up and soar off into the sky, swiftly disappearing
behind the clouds. Okay, so that’s why it’s called a sky-bus. Now what
the hell do I do?
Buy
Links
Rise
of the Soul Catchers is available for pre-order from Amazon and
will be published on 25th April.
Author links
Twitter: @karen_king
