Title: Looking For La La
Author: Elle Campbell
Publisher: Self/Indie
BLURB supplied by Elle Campbell
In a
recent survey 65% of mothers admitted feeling undervalued, over-criticised and
constantly tired.
Cathy is no exception. Her dull, uneventful days as a stay at home, mother of two, are radically transformed however with the arrival of a heavily lipsticked postcard addressed to husband, Declan. Who is the mysterious La La? Could Declan really be having an affair? And is Cathy actually being stalked?
Whatever – it will definitely prove riveting gossip for the Tuesday Twice Monthlies, Cathy’s 'Mothers Restaurant Research’ group where scandal flows as recklessly as the wine. But what starts as a light-hearted investigation with best friend Raz, soon turns into something much more sinister.
With a possible murderer on the scene, a sexy admirer igniting long-forgotten sparks, and all her friends hiding secrets, it’s not only Cathy’s marriage that’s in jeopardy. Add in the scheming antics of Declan’s new assistant, the stress of organising the school Save The Toilet’s dance and the stage is set for a dangerous showdown and some very unsettling, possibly deadly, revelations.
Cathy is no exception. Her dull, uneventful days as a stay at home, mother of two, are radically transformed however with the arrival of a heavily lipsticked postcard addressed to husband, Declan. Who is the mysterious La La? Could Declan really be having an affair? And is Cathy actually being stalked?
Whatever – it will definitely prove riveting gossip for the Tuesday Twice Monthlies, Cathy’s 'Mothers Restaurant Research’ group where scandal flows as recklessly as the wine. But what starts as a light-hearted investigation with best friend Raz, soon turns into something much more sinister.
With a possible murderer on the scene, a sexy admirer igniting long-forgotten sparks, and all her friends hiding secrets, it’s not only Cathy’s marriage that’s in jeopardy. Add in the scheming antics of Declan’s new assistant, the stress of organising the school Save The Toilet’s dance and the stage is set for a dangerous showdown and some very unsettling, possibly deadly, revelations.
EXCERPT
LOOKING FOR LA LA
CHAPTER ONE
Not a sound is heard as it lands
silently on the mat. No drums rolls, crashing thunder, shafts of light. The
walls don’t start crumbling, the ground doesn’t vibrate with terrifying tremors
and a yawning fissure fails to zigzag across the kitchen floor and separate my
husband from his breakfast marmalade.
In short, I’ve no clue as to the impact
it’ll have on our lives. Mayhem. Marital breakdown. Murder. It should at least
have been written in blood or come in the beak of a dark-winged raven.
It is a postcard. “Love from London”
blazoned above a giant pair of pouting lips kissing a cherry-red heart.
At first sight it appears to be one of
those “Please Come to Our Rave” flyers which get thrust through my door
periodically. Now the chances of me, a world-weary, put-upon mother-of-two,
going to a rave are slim to none, but heck it’s nice to be invited.
I turn it over.
Dearest, sweetest Declan – it begins.
My eyes widen as I take in the blue spidery handwriting and race to the
signature. ‘Love from La La.’
A tiny blip courses through me as I
beetle down the hall attempting to identify the exact emotion I’m feeling.
Jealousy?
No.
Anger?
Nah.
It’s – I recognise it now – excitement.
A blip of excitement forcing its merry way around my clogged up veins.
‘Postcard for you,’ I say nonchalantly,
opening the door and stepping back into the kitchen, ‘from La La.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OR SHOULD THAT BE AUTHORS?
Ellie Campbell is a pseudonym for sisters, Pam Burks and
Lorraine Campbell who collaborate across the mighty Atlantic from their
respective homes in Surrey, England and Colorado, USA, finding writing together
a great excuse for endless phone conversations. Together they have written four novels How To Survive Your Sisters, When Good
Friends Go Bad, Looking for La La and
To Catch a Creeper. They love any
chance to connect with their readers.
Ellie Campbell is represented by the Hardman &
Swainson Literary Agency (www.hardmanswainson.com). For further information and
to get in contact with them please visit their website:
www.chicklitsisters.com.
Website:
www.chicklitsisters.com
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Buy Links:
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OUT TODAY
Title: To Catch A Creeper
Author: Ellie Campbell
Publisher: Self/Indie
Publication Date: 24th March 2014
BLURB supplied by Ellie Campbell
Cathy is riding high in her
brand-new job at a (surprisingly bitchy) top London advertising agency working
with best friend Rosa. But when Rosa’s pregnancy goes amiss and enemies
sabotage her new career, Cathy finds herself leading a chaotic double life of
lies and deception, hiding a shameful secret from all, especially husband
Declan who appears in the throes of a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile
she’s agreed to unmask the notorious Crouch End Creeper, a burglar terrorizing
their neighbourhood. Little does she know that her meddling, assisted by fellow
mothers (the Wednesday Once Weeklies) and the Neighbourhood Watch, will lead
their dangerous opponent to murder. And that it's not only the tall
elegant transvestite who is placing herself at risk...
Pre-Order Links
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/To-Catch-Creeper-Ellie-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00I5NMUCU
EXCERPT
TO CATCH A CREEPER
CHAPTER ONE
‘It
must have been horrendously
frightening, Cathy,’ Holly Willoughby’s sparkling white teeth are shining
directly into my eyes causing me to spontaneously blink, ‘finding yourself
stalked and then almost strangled to
death.’
‘Oh
yes,’ I nod and refill my water glass. ‘Terrifying.’
Although,
I squirm as three huge cameras circle closer like a cackle of hyenas moving in
for the kill, nowhere near as terrifying as being on live TV. All through the interview I keep getting these uncanny
impulses to indulge in a touch of Tourette’s, spouting obscenities while
intermittently flashing a nipple.
‘And
then not only did you capture the culprit but you managed to turn the situation
round and through it launched the most talked about advertising campaign this
decade.’
‘Not
just me...’ I grin bashfully as Camera One’s red light gives a little wink in
my direction.
‘So
as a woman who’s spent the last eight years as a mother and housewife,’ Holly
continues brightly, ‘how are you finding it being back out in the workplace?’
How
am I finding it? Fantastic. Sodding-bloody-fantastic, I want to reply but for
some reason, ever since the camera did that little wink, my throat simply
refuses to co-operate.
‘It’s
a...a...’ I cough and reach for the water, ‘case of...’
‘And
balancing this brand new exciting career with taking care of two primary-school
age children?’ prompts her co-presenter nicely. ‘You must be very organised...’
‘Well,
Joseph... I mean Jason... I mean...’
And
that’s it. My mouth freezes while I rifle through my memory bank trying to
recall his name. Jason or Joseph... But no, it can’t be either. Joseph was the
biblical character that this guy portrayed at a West End theatre and Jason...he
was the ex-Neighbours actor who also
played Joseph as well as dating Kylie Minogue and picking David Guest’s nose on
some reality show. So this guy, the one sitting in front of me, all mike-ed up,
awaiting an answer while millions look on... God, who is he? Sweat pools under
the armpits of my new Vivienne Westwood polka-dot dress with the waist-cinching
corset as I scan and rescan his grey speckled hair and cute baby face. ‘The
thing is...’
A
reassuring hand rests on my arm. For the fifth time this morning, Rosa steps in
to save me.
‘Oh
she is, Phillip,’ she laughs lightly. ‘Super-organised, that’s our Cath. Packed
lunches prepared night before. Uniforms folded neatly on chairs. Dishwasher and
washing machine fully loaded. Plants watered. Fish fed. Wonderwoman has nothing
on her.’
She
slaps me on the back, just as I take another gulp of water. Instead of drowning
the giant South American toad now living in my larynx, a fountain shoots out
from my mouth and nose.
Holly
smiles once more as she smoothly links back to the weather, before the cameras
wheel away, allowing her to dab at her water-spotted jacket and mercifully
ending the second most scary moment of my entire life.
INTERVIEW WITH ELLIE CAMPBELL
AKA
PAM BURKS & LORRAINE CAMPBELL
What
is your name, where were you born and where do you live now?
Our
names are Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell, sisters writing together as Ellie
Campbell. We were both born in
Inverness, Scotland, although the family moved to Edinburgh and then when we
were teens to the south of England.
These days Pam lives in Surrey, just outside London and Lorraine lives
in Longmont, just outside Boulder, Colorado.
Did
you always want to be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
On
one level, yes, it was always there in that we both loved reading, writing,
creating fantasy worlds. But it never
felt like a real option. Growing up, Pam
wanted to be a farmer or work with horses and Lorraine wanted to be an
explorer, or a sailor or a cowboy.
Something adventurous. Of course
we both ended up doing clerical and secretarial work on leaving school. We loved books but ‘authors’ were people who
studied great literature and we just weren’t that academic.
When
did you first consider yourself as a "writer"?
Probably,
for each of us, when we’d had several short stories published and magazine
editors were contacting us, asking for more work. We were writing separately in those days.
Did
it take a long time to get your first book published?
We’d
been writing shorter things for years before we even attempted a novel. How To Survive Your Sisters was the first
book that we started to work on together from scratch. We had an agent by then and once our agent
sent it to Random House, things seemed to happen quickly. But we both have at least one unpublished
manuscript on our shelves so we definitely paid our dues.
How
does the writing process work with two authors?
Well
there are compromises of course but it’s actually great to have the support and
encouragement of another person and we fire each other’s imaginations. We
brainstorm by phone, email and Skype, throwing out ideas and then, when we’ve
hashed out a basic story, we each pick a character or chapter, start writing
scenes and send them to each other. We
both add our input to every page and chapter so that by the end we can’t really
separate who wrote what.
Do
you ever disagree on the direction of a character or the plot?
Yes,
sometimes – rarely - we get quite snappy with each other, especially if someone
has spent ages on writing something and the other decides it should all go a
different way. Luckily it doesn’t happen
very often and it does help that we live thousands of miles apart. Usually we just need time to cool off and
think about what’s best for the book.
That’s really our main objective - since we’re both working towards a
common goal, we make it about the work rather than about our egos.
If
there's a disagreement, say about plot, title, cover, etc how do you solve it?
We
keep brainstorming until we come to a solution we both like, especially with
something as important as titles. As far
as plot, if one has an idea that the other really detests, then it’s out. It’d be pointless to try to force the
case. Having said that though,
partnership involves compromise. If we
really can’t agree then one of us may have to concede in order to move the
whole thing forward. Usually we’re not
that stubborn.
Do
you market the book any differently with it having two authors?
Not
really, apart from the photos on our author pages and social media accounts are
of two people. Really it’s the books that are talking. Hopefully it’s
far more interesting than Lorraine and I could ever be.
Do
you write alone as a sole author of a book too? If so which do you enjoy most?
We
have written alone in the past, both novels and short stories. I think
with short stories, it’s preferable to do it alone, especially if there’s a
tight word count. But even when we work solo, we tend to give each other
pieces of advice, and hopefully we both listen.
Do
you get together in the same room to do the writing or is it all done via
computers?
Living
the other side of the world from each other, it’s hard to be in the same room. Our
time zones are about 8 hours’ difference, so that complicates even Skype calls.
On the rare occasions, when we visit each other on holidays, we always imagine
we might get some writing done, but it’s never worked out. When we meet up in
person, it’s just too easy to go off and have fun instead.
AUTHOR LINKS
Website
http://chicklitsisters.com
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Twitter
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Pinterest
Fabulous. Thanks so much Sandra. Brilliant feature! So great to visit your blog :)
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