Nice Review from Downunder

A little trumpet-blowing never hurt anyone on a Friday afternoon. I've just been sent a nice review from Australian Women's Weekly so thought I'd share in the hope it will tempt you to dash out and buy my new book, SOMEONE ELSE'S SON. Have a great weekend all!

Sam x

Click on image to enlarge

A bit of book stalking

So She-Devil and I did a little bit of book stalking at the weekend. Hey, tell me an author who doesn't? Or vanity-google (or lay in bed really late - ahem). Here are a couple of pics. And did you see my fab book trailer yet? Go to my website to take a look. There's a link on the main page. Not following me on Facebook or Twitter (@samhayes) yet? Please do! Oh, and you can buy my book online here.

In good company WH Smith

Youngest She-Devil doing a bit of promotion work

It might look as if I did an impromptu, in-store reading...

SOMEONE ELSE'S SON Out Now In Paperback!

So it's been that kind of day again...a paperback publication kind of a day - yay! SOMEONE ELSE'S SON is released into the wild. You can buy it at WH Smith in the chart section of their shops and of course from Amazon...or, dare I say it, you can find it in your local library. Assuming you can still find your local library.

The theme of this book was clear from the outset. It's about being different, about not fitting in, about being true to yourself and your beliefs. The main characters, from famous daytime TV presenter Carrie Kent to blind mathematician Brody to the two teenagers and their love-hate affair, all suffer for their differences, their quirks, their circumstances.

The book opens with a tragic event. A teenager is stabbed in his school grounds. Knife crime is something we read about almost daily in the news and every time it makes me shudder. I'm a mother of three (two of them teens) and, not long after I began writing this book, I was shocked to find my home town silenced from fear as yellow police crime tape cordoned off a section of our town centre one Sunday morning. A young man had been stabbed to death only a short distance from our home. Yet we all think This will never happen to me...

Carrie Kent believes just that and is thankful on a daily basis that she's nothing like the no-hopers she interviews on her Jeremy-Kyle-meets-Crimewatch TV show. But then she gets the call every mother dreads--her son has been stabbed at school--and she's suddenly plunged into a nightmare she'd always believed happened to other people. The only witness is a girl too terrified about consequences to speak out. Determined to find answers, Carrie enters an unknown world of fear and violence and gradually discovers things about the son she clearly knew little about. The novel asks: Do we really ever know our children?

Even after four books, it's still a thrill to know that a book I wrote is Out There, being bought, being read, being reviewed, being talked about. Be sure to let me know what you think as there's nothing better for an author than the sound of the inbox pinging with some nice (hopefully!) words. Enjoy! (Although it's quite sad in places so have a box of tissues close.)

Meantime, I've finished next novel. Haha to 'finished' but it now lies in the hands of Lovely Agent and I will await comments without destroying my non-existent nails. You hear about authors saying 'This book wrote itself' - well, of course it didn't - *I* wrote it, but it seemed to have a momentum all its own. I began it during the second week of Septemeber last year and finished the first draft at the end of November. At a hundred and twenty thousand words, that's physically no mean feat, but it's true that the story flowed faster than my fingers could manage. I even have high hopes that no one will chew the end of their pencil over the title on this one. Not saying owt yet but news to follow soon.

I have a number of events coming up this year and a couple of panels with some other lovely writers (does that mean I'm lovely too - oops!). I'm planning on attending Harrogate Crime Festival in the summer and also Crimefest in the middle of May. I had the pleasure reading a fellow Headline author's debut novel recently and I'll be posting a review of CUCKOO here soon. But why not take a look at the author Julia Crouch's site and blog to find out how she got published. NaNoWriMo was involved. We'll be doing a panel event together soon along with author Barbara Nadel. Details to follow soon.

Happy reading!

Sam x