Book 5 of the Escape Route Series - Victor's Story - Now available on Amazon!

As promised, and earlier than expected, thanks to my efficient beta readers, Victor's Story is now available. This link will take you to the Kindle version on Amazon.com. It is also available in audio, paperback, hardcover, and for Kindle Unlimited, on Amazon.[Everywhere].

Victor is book five in the Escape Route Series. If  you haven't read any of this series yet, why not? It's really good. Okay, maybe I'm biased, why not judge for yourself? While the underlying theme is escape from domestic violence (DV), there is far more to each of the books. 

Obviously, because the author (that's me) is a survivor of DV, all of the instances related in the books really did happen. 

My hope is that by relating these stories, and the escape and recovery, I can help others in similar circumstances. And, if you are lucky enough to have never been a victim, you can still enjoy the stories.

Naturally, I don't mean enjoy DV, I mean enjoy the fact that the victims escaped the abuse and rebuilt their lives, while at the same time having other interesting and exciting adventures.

To bring you up to date. Book 1, Caitlin's Escape Route follows two sisters, both survivors of domestic violence. They set up an escape route to help other victims get away from their abusers. Believe me when I tell you, it's not easy to leave such a situation. The fear of even worse violence is always there. Add to that the shame a victims feels, at allowing themselves to get into such a situation in the first place.

Each of the books in the series follows one of the victims Caitlin helped, as they attempt to rebuild their lives, and figure out why they allowed themselves to be treated so badly.

As I mentioned before in a previous post, you don't have to read these books in any specific order. But you do have to read them! Go on! And if you have a free minute, I would really appreciate a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or even both. Reviews do help to sell books, and they help other readers to decide whether or not they want to buy them.

Book 5 in the Escape Route Series coming soon

I'm excited to announce, Victor's Story will be published later this month, or early in August.

The fifth book in the Escape Route Series, follows Victor as he escapes from an abusive relationship and attempts to rebuild his life.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I find it hard to force myself to take a break from writing. But, with Victor out for a final beta read, it was essential that I do just that. Luckily I had booked three weeks in Europe, briefly passing through Ireland, to the North of England to visit my son and his family, then skipping across to the West of France to spend time with my daughter and her family, a final couple of days in Ireland with my siblings and back home to the US. 

This was the first trip in 20 years that I had managed to talk my husband into accompanying me. It was exhausting but absolutely wonderful. Now I'm trying to shake the jet lag and get my head back into my writing. 

I have one last polishing task to do before pushing Victor out for all of you to enjoy. And yes, to answer a question a number of you have asked, there will be a Book 6, but I'm not sure if that will be the last in the series. Perhaps, but if so I will have to come  up with something else to write. But first, in order to get Victor out to you, I need to clear this brain fog caused by international travel. That's why I turn to my blog to get my fingers and my head back in the game.

Writing is such a strange activity. It's very solitary, probably one of the reasons I do it, I like being solitary, not just on my own, but in silence. I tried having music in the background while I write, but it distracts me. Then, you invent people, and their stories—stuff that never even happened to people who never existed, and you write, or in my case, type it all down. What on earth made me think anyone would be interested in reading fiction my crazy mind conjures up? Mind you, not all of it is entirely fiction. Everything I write is written based on personal experience, observation, or second hand experience, that is, things that family and friends have experienced and related to me, woven into something I hope is readable.

The bit I don't like about being a writer, is the marketing. Oh, I don't mind writing a blog about the upcoming publication. It's the selling of the books that is so difficult. As I said in previous blog posts, it's difficult to ask people to be beta readers. Asking someone to give up their time to read a manuscript, and then comment on it for my benefit—that's hard. It feels very demanding. But asking people to pay out money to purchase a book you have written, a book they may not enjoy. That is very difficult. As a result, I don't do very much of that. I do create some Facebook ads. and I am making an effort to master Amazon Ads, not nearly as easy. But I don't do all of the other marketing work recommended by writer groups. So, I guess it's kind of surprising how many books I have actually sold, in the US, UK, Canada and of course, Ireland.

Thank you all for being my readers! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon, that really does help to sell books.

If you haven't read any of the books in the Escape Route Series, here is a link to them on Amazon (the US site). They are also available on all of Amazon's other sites. They are best read in sequence, but that is not necessary. I have made an effort to make each book readable on it's own merits. All of the books are available in Audio, eBook (Kindle), Paperback, Hardback and of course, Kindle Unlimited.