Sophie King - Second Time Lucky - Guest post & Writing competition

Today I am pleased to share an author guest blog post by writer Sophie King, plus news of a romantic fiction short story writing competition!

Guest blog post by Sophie King

AM I THE ONLY ONE to have secrets from my children? I do hope not.....

The other day, my newish husband (who knew me as a friend for thirty years before we married), let slip that I had smoked during my university days.

The effect on my three children was electrifying.

'But you've always told us not to,' spluttered my youngest.

'You said you'd be furious if we tried it,' said the middle one, her eyes narrowing with suspicion at me.

'Why didn't you tell us?' demanded the eldest.

All three nodded vigorously. 'Why didn't you tell us?', they chorused with crestfallen faces.

In vain, did I try to explain that I only smoked for six months and that I haven't had so much of a whiff since (apart from sniffing my eldest son's jacket when he's been out for the evening).

No. It was the fact that I had omitted to tell them that I had done something which I've spent years advising them not to.

Their faith in me had been dented and I felt gutted...

Then I got thinking. How much should we tell our children about our previous lives? Isn't it, after all, our own affair? Not long after the smoking bust-up, I read a problem page letter (don't you just love them?) in which the writer, a grandmother, was deeply distressed because her ten year old grandson had found some revealing pictures of her from her teenage years, hidden in an old shoebox at the back of her wardrobe.

'He'll never see me in the same light again,' she'd wailed. I could almost hear her pain through the page. 'What should I do?'

It was one of those problem pages where readers are invited to write in with their solutions for the next issue so I don't know what was suggested. But I nearly wrote in myself to point out that actually it wasn't the grandson's business. If his gran had had a bit of a wild life in the past, good on her. In fact, if she hadn't, maybe the grandson wouldn't be there now...

Personally, I think we're entitled to some secrets, no matter how old we are. I wouldn't dream of checking anyone's text messages in our family. That, in my book, is as bad as reading your daughter's diary - something that my own mother did when I was 17. As a result, she insisted that I broke up with my then boyfriend. I was made to feel shameful, even though I was, by today's standards, extremely conventional.

Still, it's all good material for my novels. In fact, secrets play a big part in SECOND TIME LUCKY. And no - I can't reveal what they are or they wouldn't be secrets!

What's the biggest secret you've hidden from your children and why? Write to me at sophie@sophieking.info and you could win a prize. Look forward to hearing from you!

Look out for more AM I THE ONLY ONE posts on my blog at http://blog.sophieking.info

About the novel

Second Time Lucky by Sophie King

Second Time Lucky: Another engaging tale of love and life from Sophie King, the bestselling author of The School Run. Meet the residents of Bridgewater House, once a grand stately home, but now converted into apartments which house a host of colourful characters, each with their own desires and secrets.

Louise thought she had everything, then suddenly finds herself as a single mum with an uncertain future. Can she build a new life for her and her children? And has real happiness been right under her nose all along?

Roddy was once the heir to Bridgewater House, but now he's a drunken lord who's fallen on hard times. Can he prove to his ex-wife that he has cleaned up his act, or is he about to risk everything in a desperate scheme to show how much he loves his kids?

Molly is a famous actress, coming to terms with retirement and the recent death of her actor husband Gideon. But dare she tell anyone that Gideon still comes to visit her? And how will she react to some unexpected messages from beyond the grave?

American Marcie always fantasised about marrying an English gentleman, just like one of her Jane Austen heroines. But will two resentful stepchildren, and failed attempts to have a baby of her own, get in the way of her dream happy ending? And what would her husband David make of her secret shame from the past?

As each of these neighbours faces their own challenges, their lives are about to become entwined in ways they never could have expected.

Second Time Lucky – doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? 

Romantic fiction short story competition! 

The Sophie King Prize

This romantic fiction short story competition aims to discover a great new romance short story. The winning story will be chosen by best-selling novelist and short story writer Sophie King.

The competition is free to enter, and is open to both published and unpublished writers worldwide. The winning story will be recorded by a professional actor, and broadcast from a dedicated online audio player. The winner will also receive a pair of Silver-Plated Life Long Champagne Chalices and £50 (approx $79) gift voucher courtesy of www.handpickedcollection.com. One runner up will receive a £25 (approx $39) gift Handpicked Collection voucher.

The Sophie King Prize is now open for entries. Entrants must submit a short story of between 1,500 to 2,500 words with a romantic theme. The submissions deadline is January 10th 2014 and the winner will be announced on February 14th 2014. To enter, go to: www.thesophiekingprize.com

An interview with me!

Well, it's a much more common occurence that I feature guest authors and ask them questions, but...today it's the other way around and I am delighted to have been interviewed myself by author Claire King for a feature in her series of discussions with a few book bloggers - you can read it on her website and here's the link:

Word of mouth: Lindsay Healy

I am talking amongst other things about book blogging, star ratings for books, taste in books, and recommending three books that blew me away.

Claire's debut novel The Night Rainbow was published earlier this year. (You can read my review of it here.) 

Thanks very much to Claire for asking me to take part in her feature and challenging me with some interesting questions.

The Night Rainbow - Claire King

‘I fly up into my head to play with my thoughts.’

Pea (Peony, or Pivoine), spends her days playing with her little sister Margot in the sprawling countryside around her home in the south of France. It is summertime when we meet her, and we learn that her Maman is heavily pregnant. Sadly she lost her previous baby, as Pea explains, telling us ‘she didn’t bring back a baby like she promised. She left it at the hospital, along with her happiness.’ Pea wonders at the sadness inside her Maman, so deep that she cannot reach in and bring her back to them no matter how she tries.

Pea tells the story throughout and she captivates the reader. Her five year old voice is completely honest; at times so delightful in her observations, yet at other times so fearful and sad, and prone to moments of darkness. Her imagination is her strength and the key to a part of this story.

She is insightful in her observations; on one occasion, seeing the swallows, she recalls when she saw them in their nest, and now they are out in the world, no longer fed by their mother but having to fend for themselves. I felt that Pea and Margot were like these little swallows, having to do things for themselves, as the mother bird was no longer able to always be there for them at the moment. In this way, Pea is strongly bound up in the life and nature around her.

The sense of place is strongly evoked and provides an important backdrop to Pea’s adventures and exploring. I felt I could picture the meadows and trees, the little village market, and the family home.

Pea and Margot befriend Claude and his dog Merlin, who are both an integral part of their countryside surroundings. They find companionship and wisdom; Claude advises Pea that ‘you can’t mend everything that gets broken.’ Claude is an intriguing character; I wondered at his past and his life now.

Claire King has crafted a very special tale and told it beautifully. It is a tale of sadness, grief and loss, and of friendship, belief and hope. Surely an author to watch. 

I must add, I absolutely love the cover of this book, so beautiful and attractive and fitting.

Published by Bloomsbury

Thanks to the author and the publisher for a copy of this novel to read and review.

You can follow the author on twitter @ckingwriter  and visit her website here

Tales from the Heart - Sophie King

This newly compiled ebook exclusive is a collection of twenty stories written by author Sophie King, which have been brought together in this format for the first time. The stories have previously appeared in various well-known women's magazines like Woman's Weekly and My Weekly. At their heart, the stories all concern themselves with things that lie at the heart of all our everyday lives - love, relationships, families and friends, and are written with warmth and humour, and sometimes with a twist in the tale.

I enjoyed reading this collection, and I found that it was lovely to be able to just pick it up and read a couple of stories, then come back to it again later, and read some more, with each story being a satisfying and complete read within itself. Short stories are not a format I read regularly, but I found these light, entertaining and engaging. 

Sophie King is adept at writing tales in this format; she quickly paints a picture, draws characters and sets a scene with enough information for us to grasp and enjoy the scenario being played out yet staying within the boundaries of a short story. I liked many of them, including Card Making for Beginners, which deals with a father son relationship and the theme of acceptance, whilst injecting humour through the card making session.

Sophie King has also written full length novels, and within this collection of short stories there is also the first two chapters of Sophie's new novel Divorce for Beginners. She is also a creative writing teacher.

Published by Corazon Books, as an ebook.

Find out more here - Great Stories with Heart.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an ebook of these stories to read and give an honest review.

You can find out more about Sophie King by visiting her website here and follow her on twitter @sophiek_writer


The full list of the twenty tales included is as follows:

Other People's Children
Eating In
The Party
Holiday with a Difference
May I Take Your Picture?
I'm Sure I Put it Somewhere
What's Her Name?
I've Got Something to Tell You
That One is Mine!
Mental Striptease (For Older People Who Should Know Better)
Scattering Bert
Card Making for Beginners
No Presents Please
Here's One They Made Earlier
Bedroom Talk
Odds and Sods
Just One More Coffee
Under My Feet
Best Before
All Wrapped Up

The Au pair by Janey Fraser

'If only she could pick out the good bits from each au pair (and their families) and roll them into one!'

Jilly is becoming increasingly worried about money, and after listening to her friend Paula's problems with her current au pair, Jilly discovers that, apparently, anyone can start up and run an au pair agency, so this is what she herself decides to do. It seems an attractive proposition, a job she can do at home, thereby allowing her to look after her own children, and to help out other mothers in the area who need additional childcare.

What follows are her attempts to successfully match au pairs to families, and to keep the au pairs and the families happy when differences and problems arise, and boy, do they arise! Also the story delves deeper into the background of some of the families, in particular Matthew, a widower who is battling to do his best for his young daughter Lottie, a sweet little girl who seems nevertheless determined to see off any au pair who comes her way! Similarly, the story also looks into the lives of the au pairs, most closely that of Marie-France, a young French woman who has come to the UK determined to find out the truth about her father, and following in the footsteps of her mother, who was an au pair twenty years ago in the same area. 

Poor Jilly made me feel quite sorry for her and also quite stressed as her situation got a bit out of hand, trying to look after her own three children and dog, and run her new business, without an au pair of her own, and with little support or encouragement from her husband David. 

The au pairs themselves are a mixed bunch, with their own motivations and reasons for coming to the UK to work. Some of the families leave a bit to be desired in their treatment of the au pairs too. The author has incorporated little passages with interesting asides regarding au pairs, language, duties and so on, at the start of each chapter, and I enjoyed these and found them a fun addition to the book. One of the major contradictions, or difficulties, in this relationship, is summed up by one of these passages, an extract from 'Jilly's Au Pair Agency: Guidelines for Families - An au pair should be treated as a member of the family. However it is not always wise to let her get too close.' Evidently some of the families and some of the au pairs could do well to heed this advice.

I liked Matthew, and the exploration of the challenges facing a single male parent who is trying to maintain his career and care for his young daughter after losing his wife rang true. 

The Au pair is an entertaining, light and emotional read scattered with amusing moments as various mishaps occur. The plot moves along at a good pace and there is always something happening to keep you reading on. Janey Fraser has the knack of presenting an interesting bunch of characters and fleshing them out, keeping several branches of the storyline running alongside each other successfully, and providing situations that keep the reader interested as the story develops. 

I don't know if I've ever met anyone who has employed an au pair, and I'm not sure how widespread the employment of au pairs is these days, so I can't comment on the accuracy or realism of any of the circumstances, although as someone who has lived in another country, it is certainly interesting to observe the humour and curiosity regarding cultural differences. I would definitely look to this author again if I were in the mood for a well written, amusing and satisfying read about aspects of modern life and it’s ups and downs.

Published by Arrow Books

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel to read and review, and also to the author for asking me to review it.

You can find out more on the author's website here. Janey Fraser also writes as Sophie King.