L.T. Marshall's Blog, page 30
March 2, 2019
Free ebook for March
An emotional roller coaster of epic proportions, spanning an entire series and two high powered families.
Flawed but addictive characters, and a roller coaster ride of emotions.
Each part of the series is made up of 3 books, a Bonus Book (fan requested chapters from the Carrero POV) and a playlist.
#clubcarrero #thecarreroseries #PictPublishing
💛 purchase links for of this eight book series, to date.
getBook.at/CarreroSeries
💛 Carrero Bonus Books:
myBook.to/BonusBookSeries
(fan requested chapters from Jake and Arrick's POV)
💛 Playlist Link on L.T Marshall's Blog
https://ltmarshall.blog/playlists/
Jake's view: Fan requested chapters in Jake's POV
March 1, 2019
Blog Tour Organisation Is Underway
We are putting together an informal blog tour and looking for bloggers all over to join in in the last week of March 2019 and first weeks of April.
We also want Bookstagrammers, Twitter contributors, Facebook book pages and general book lovers who want to join in and post for #JustRose.
You don’t need to review the book, you can participate with an extract or just a promo post. The point is that this is an informal tour, so we are flexible on dates and posts and coming together to have ourselves a happy little book share. I want the smaller people to have the opportunity to join a tour, maybe for the first time. Of course, everyone is welcome.
The first contact emails have gone out but there is still time to join in.
If you wish to take part, email me using the form here (enquiries must be in by midnight 1st march 2019 )
Over 18 year olds only.
Enquiry form
Those wishing to review will be sent an Ebook at the end of the day on March 2nd, so you have a month to read and review. If you do not want to review you will be sent an extract along with the usual press pack to display instead. Simply copy and paste along with the images we send you.
We also have free printables if you are a bookstagrammer and only want to join in with a chance to make pretty pictures. Feel free to use them.
Just drop us a message or comment below.
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Want to know more about the book?
The blurb
(Contemporary Romance)
The unexpected death of Rose’s beloved aunt ends up being a driving force in her uneventful life. She gives up her lonely, unfulfilled big city existence for the country home and life from cherished childhood memories.
But can it live up to them?
All she wants is to find her place in the world; the happiness and independence she has been searching for. With her little dog Muffin by her side and a much needed new friend, it does seem possible – until an encounter with the handsome local Laird of the Munro Estate sends her spiralling from young professional woman to hormonal bundle of goo.
Their chemistry is undeniable, but with him not seemingly on the market, this might not be the place for her after all.
Thrust into the world of country living, will Rose ever find true love?
In this roller coaster of emotions and a whole lot of country charm, one thing is for sure: Rose is certainly not going to be bored anymore!
Get the book
getBook.at/JustRose
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Free Carrero Bonus Book – March 1st to 5th 2019
We are onto our 4rth giveaway in our year long Carrero freebie calendar.
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The beloved romance series, with a growing fanbase that follows multiple characters as they learn to trust and fall in love.
What is the Carrero series?
Books 1 – 3 are the story of a young, emotionally scarred woman, embarking on a new relationship with her employer. Recently promoted to his side; a friendship forming which helps her face her scars, her past and forms a new life built on mutual trust and love. This is an epic turbulent story about letting people in, letting people go and learning to reconnect with emotion. Lots of engaging characters, twists, turns and drama.
Books 4 – 6 follow the character Sophie, from the first books, and Jake’s brother Arrick. A close friendship formed by mutual need that leads somewhere neither expects.
Books 7 – 9 featuring Alexi Carrero and Camilla Walters. When an ex hooker is saved by the mafia king himself, their relationship kick starts a turbulent affair that neither are prepared for.
The Carrero series is known for it’s gritty insight, it’s basis in child abuse and other forms of control, shining a light on sexual harassment and other topics.
Each trilogy has a bonus book – selected fan chapters rewritten from the male point of view which gives insight into the thought process beside some of the action.
For the entirety of 2019 Book 1 – The Carrero Effect is staying at £1, although the entire series if Free on KU.
Get the Carrero Effect – http://mybook.to/TheCarreroEffect
What are you getting this month?
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Jake’s View – Bonus book for the first 3 books.
Book 1 in my Carrero bonus book series.
These books are a series of their own, as male POV extras.
The much requested favourite chapters from all three books of the Carrero Trilogy. Fans voted on my Facebook group on chapters they wanted to see re-written from Jake Carrero’s point of view. All of these were shared on my blog over weeks and have now been polished and presented in an additional quick read book. Please note that this is not a story, but chapters in order from various points in the romance and you will need to read The Carrero Trilogy for this book to have any value to you. This is a fan requested extra. This is not a complete story, rather selected chapters and you need to read the Carrero series for these to have value to you.
The Carrero Effect, The Carrero Influence and The Carrero Solution tell the story of Emma Anderson and Jake Carrero, work colleagues who end up as lovers and a roller coaster journey in the making.
Get the book – http://mybook.to/JakesPOV
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Next month we give away book 4 of the Carrero series and begin into the next trilogy of the series.
February 27, 2019
Book Swag Ideas and a Free Printable
Here at Carrero HQ we are always thinking up ways the fans can show some appreciation without spending a fortune in fan merchandise. We also have no issue with other authors using our ideas to make their very own book swag for giveaways and events.
This week we came up with a printable which can be turned into a little fan pack for any budding Carrero obsessive.
For best results we recommend printing on Card stock and if you do not have a laminator then you can use clear jotter protector or wide sticky tape.
If you want to show us your makes , tag us on Facebook and Instagram or use the hashtags #clubcarrero (if you do this on twitter your tweet is auto retweeted by Team Carrero for all to see.
Our printable to make all pictured in either Carrero theme or Just Rose
Carrero Printable-fan-packDownload
Just-Rose-fan-packDownload
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The Bookmark.
We simply cut this out, laminated it and then also cut that out leaving a little border. A hole punch can put a hole in the base for ribbon or attaching a beaded dangle. If you want to make your bookmark more epic, check our post out here – Click me
The Notelet
Simply print, cut out, write your name and use a paper glue (Pritt stick or double sided tape) to adhere in the book of your choice. We put ours inside our Planner which can be found here – Click me
The Mini Flags
Cut out, use double sided sticky tape or Pritt stick glue to coat the back, fold over a paperclip or cocktail stick to make mini flags. We use our stick flags for cupcakes. Trim off the top wooden spike that peeks out for a neater look.
For paper clips you want to slide it through only one piece of the clip before folding over to adhere.
Badge/Sticker/Magnet
We laminated our print out and stuck it to a fridge magnet, but you could back this onto felt and add a pin badge brooch or simply glue the piece to a scrap book.
Rosette.
As the rosette is a little more complicated to describe, we have here a video on how to make a version of a rosette for you.
We cut out our printable and laminated it before stitching it to a piece of felt. We glued rows of folded ribbon on the reverse then mounted another piece of circular felt to the back to tidy it up. We then glued on a brooch pin to finish.
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February 26, 2019
Making DIY Bookmarks
This past couple of days I received some really tragic news about a family member and even though this is a person I was not someone I was close to anymore, it still put me out of whack and was felt by us all.
I have buried my head in the only thing which helps me when I feel this way – crafting.
After posting the pictures the last couple of days of my trialing and making bookmarks, I was asked by some of you on Facebook to show you how to recreate them yourselves.
So here is my video, first a description of what to do, followed by showing you.
The video shows you how to make the shaker ones, I filled with sparkles too!
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February 25, 2019
While Awaiting Book 9…
Just for fun we made some Carrero texts to fill the gap for the next book.
Yes they have some flaws, we realised we couldn’t fix them after creation so excuse the human error. We just figured much like humans do, they might have errors in their texts too. So here we go.
Book 9 is still being written
You have our 3 couples
Emma and Jake
Sophie and Arrick
Camilla and Alexi
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For more info on my series and who these adorable people are, Click here
And The Nasty Continues….
I am sure if you are part of the book community then you will have seen this post doing the rounds and highlighting a message sent to the author Belle Brooks these past few days . If not you can read her post HERE . be sure to leave a comment of support.
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For those who have seen it, here’s a recap of the message that was sent to her……
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Shocking, isn’t it?
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I wish I could say incidents like this are uncommon, but sadly after seeing no less than 5 authors this week decide to take a step away from social media I want to highlight how frequently this does happen.
I have only been part of the book community for a little over two years. I published my first book in December 2017 and there after became slowly connected to certain parts of the community before being fully pulled in and discovering a whole book world on social media.
The first of this type of message didn’t actually filter through until my third book release and sporadic as they are I have had many emails about my appearance and general ‘personal life’ over the years.
I remember the sucker punch to the gut when I read how ‘a woman of your loose moral code’ referring to the fact I am not married to my partner of 13 years even though we have two children ‘shouldn’t be a role model in romance’. There were suggestions to clean up my life, stop flaunting myself on social media like a tart, and stop ‘whoring’ out my heroines.
I am guessing the email was from a religious person, I never responded.
I have had comments about my weight when I gained a couple of stone a few years back and I have also had comments about my being too thin too. Looking ‘skeletal’.
I have had comments about my not wearing make up in some of my Instagram pictures, to too much make up at an Author ball when pictures were posted to my Facebook.
I have had many ‘helpful’ suggestions on how to act and be much more socially accepted and respectable after live videos too.
All of these go right to the trash.
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I won’t even read past the first couple of lines if the tone of the email is meant to rip me down.
I am glad to say though that the number of amazing, fan emails and positivity in the content far outweighs the few negative ones and therefore I can just brush them off without a thought. I sometimes wonder if the writers of the critical and unfriendly emails do it to stand out to you and garner some attention. They must realise we get so many good emails and maybe it’s a ploy to be seen and remembered. Who knows? I know in my case, those get zero response from me and I am someone who replies to all my other fan mail personally.
So listen here – I don’t care if Belle went from a tiny size to a quadruple of her former weight… it’s not your place to make her feel bad for it. Her weight in no way changes who she is or how talented she is in terms of writing books. You have no clue why she gained weight or changed in appearance; a true fan would know that she was in fact very unwell, in recovery and on medication when she did gain a little and have some compassion. I personally still think she looks fabulous and glamorous and in no way has she ‘let herself go’ regardless to being unwell. Your perception is flawed. Not that it would matter if she did, as she sells books – not her image.
You are a reader…. not her personal fitness instructor or stylist.
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Have you not heard that curvy is the new cool and your opinion to her dress size means nothing – I also love how you assume she would want to meet you after a message like that. I would be ashamed to ever see her again if I were you. You can’t hurtfully insult someone then expect them to ever want to meet you.
I wouldn’t.
Here’s the thing – Authors are human. We are allowed to have our own lives, styles, weight, personalities and still write great books. We are not there to be insulted and emailed when you decide you are entitled to judge us. The only thing you should be judging is our written word, in our books. That’s what we sell…. our stories. That’s it.
Some of us may be more public and interact with fans and such but it makes no difference. Our craft is what we write, not how we look or act.
It is none of your god damn business.
Yes, write to us if it’s about our books, our stories , or appreciating our skills. Do not write to us if it’s to critic our lifestyle, fashion choices or weight. It’s not your concern and we are all adults that are capable of making our own choices. If you do not like that about us, don’t buy our books. We won’t be changing for anyone.
You my friend need a little self evaluation on how you approach people. Words can hurt. Unnecessary opinions aimed at someone in this manner say more about you than Belle. I hope you see all the shares and comments from your message being passed around and really think long and hard about why you felt you were entitled to send her this message. I hope it teaches you to never do anything similar again.
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Kindness is not hard. It will change your whole outlook on life. It will change how people perceive you.
I am a strong believer in Karma – you receive what you put out.
“Karma means action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering.”
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Make better life choices xxxx
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February 23, 2019
Join Our Informal Blog Tour
Still open for bloggers to join
We are having ourselves a celebratory blog tour to really send my book ‘Just Rose’ into the bookworld with a bang. She was relaunched in January, and the start of February saw her free promo sky rocket her to the top 125 in the entire UK kindle store, top 15 for 2 big categories and top 50 for one of the biggest in my genre.
The download numbers were awesome and the feedback from the book has been great.
This was not a new book, it had been previously with a publisher and we eventually parted ways as we were not a good fit. I have never given this book the love it deserved as it had so many odd feelings attached to it’s journey for me.
I now aim to let all that go and let this book become as beloved as my series books.
We are putting together…
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My Nightmare with Outfox The Market
Ok this is a little deviation to the world of books and such but I really want to warn other people out there about signing up to this utility company. It was the biggest mistake for me and after several months of trying to get away from them I am now free!!!
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Let me go back to October 2018 – I was unhappy with another price hike on my current supplier and decided it was time for a little online comparison through a trusted compare site. Their answer was Outfox the market. At a lower rate to what I was paying and they seemed to have good reviews at the time.
Everything went fine for 2 whole payments……
Until only a few days before Christmas I was informed my £75 direct debit , due on Dec 28th was being upped to £259 for their new seasonal plan. Pay more in the winter and less in summer……
No asking if I agreed to this change, no warning, not what I signed up to and not enough notice to be legal. Companies have to give you a set time period before adjusting your DD.
It was Christmas for goodness sake…no one has money left for that kind of unexpected bill when you are already presented up, food stocked and getting ready for a festive few days.
I immediately got onto Chat with them and after waiting a very long time no one picked up at all, so I gave up and emailed a complaint instead, refusing a plan switch and as an extra measure had my bank cease the direct debit until I had communication with them.
I heard nothing back at all. My bank confirmed the direct debit cancellation and I waited for any sort of reply.
Instead…..
They reinstated the debit (illegally) on their side and tried to take the money anyway which would have put that account in debt and I would have been charged fees by my bank had I not had text alerts on that account. I still had no communication from their complaints so I jumped onto chat again, and this time managed to get an advisor who had zero worth.
Not only did they respond in 1-3 word answers in a very non interested way, but they avoided answering anything I asked, repeatedly, and the only long response they gave was I should continue to pay the DD until I got a new amount and adjustment in January. So pay £259 a month until they decided to put me back on my original plan??
Hell to the NO.
As it turns out people continued having to pay inflated prices for several months, after this. The ones who followed the advice and trusted it would be rectified. Some still are. One woman was charged £450 a month from her £59 DD.
I however refused to and made them clarify they had cancelled my debit in both CHAT and EMAIL and I reclaimed the cash they tried to take via my own bank. I am not dumb when it comes to banking and know how to stop this kind of BS.
I asked them for a usage bill to keep my balance paid, which I would do manually every month until i left them. Which I informed them I was doing. I got off the chat with the useless one and immediately went and switched to a new provider.
This is where the frustration grew. And grew, and grew………..
After asking for a final bill and being told (after 2 weeks) £24 was all I had to pay they stopped my transfer, claiming I had a huge debt.
HUGGGEEE £24
I cleared the huge amount of £24 within days of having them check, recheck and clarify (they even phoned me to insist I pay this huge debt.) Well after a phone call and 2 emails of them clarifying this was my only debt via bank transfer. I restarted my switch. Secure in the knowledge they had zero reason to stop it.
I was wrong.
Rejection number 2 – for debt older than 28 days, a measly 14 days after I cleared my balance. ????? How? Unless they are penalising people for the usage between bills while trying to make a switch, there was no way in hell I had debt. I cancelled my DD in December….. before that my previous bills were paid. I had already bank transferred what they said I owed for the time my debit was cancelled.
More emails… more silence for a good couple of weeks.
Then I was told I owed them a whopping £450 for unpaid bills older than 28 days. This sudden appearance of a bill minus any details was sent as a screen grab from their advisor. What kind of professional company supplies a screen grab of cropped amounts as a bill to a customer? nothing of my details were visible at all. Enraged by this I queried why no one had raised an issue with my DD being too low or that there was debt from the start. Again I was palmed off.
I supplied my meter readings 3 times in 3 separate emails and asked for a breakdown of the bill based on usage – they (finally) came back with £36, I owed them….. £36!!! This was only another 12 days after the previous encounter and I even had them repeat this is ALL I owed them.
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Again I cleared the balance via bank transfer and had them CLARIFY I had zero debt. Which again they did, nothing beyond 28 days.
After many emails and having to ask them same questions over and over again, I decided I would no longer deal with the bills on this property and handed them off to be dealt with by my Roomie. His job now, not mine. My nerves could not take anymore and I was satisfied I was debt free and he could have this headache in the future.
He signed up to another company to take over (no debt , no reason to stall it) and was REJECTED…. again, by OFTM.
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I should point out, in my 20 years of having my own home I have switched suppliers many times and never EVER had a company refuse me once, let alone 3 times.
They claimed that the address was wrong, there was an error and the person signing up had their details incorrect and they had no right to take the supply.
Starting to get as frustrated as me reading this? Oh god yes. I was demented. Luckily, my lovely OH could now deal. And I contacted OFTM and informed them I was no longer responsible for the bill and they needed to let the new bill payer choose to have their own supplier. I had zero debt beyond 28 days and no legal reason for them to block it. I wanted nothing to do with their company. I told them I would take it to the ombudsmen should they persist.
Luckily my new supplier wasn’t playing ball and within a week of clarifying names, address, meter number etc they have finally pushed the switch and my first bill has now been paid.
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Now in the process of going through this I found that I am one of the fortunate ones who refused to pay or be bullied into a corner. I was not alone and there are 2 Facebook groups of customers going through the same exact headaches.
Outfox the market Discussion – Click here
Outfox the market escapees – click here
So much so OFGEM has banned OFTM from taking on new customers and they are being investigated. Finally.
There are customers owed hundreds of pounds in over charged bills and they have still not been refunded, yet continue to be debited these inflated prices. Mass over estimation of bills and usage and ignoring meter readings.
Much like me, many of them are reporting the following –
Reinstated without permission – direct debitsIncrease in bill amount to unbelievable amounts, over estimated usageNo proper notice of the seasonal plan before changing DD’sIgnoring contactRejection to transferring (blocking them from leaving) Ignoring meter readings to get actual bills based on useIgnoring requests for final bills. Continuing to bill ex customers who are no longer supplied by them. (yup still trying that long after people leave)
The last time I used the group there was a staggering 1200 members in one group all making the same complaints. Many had reviewed online on TrustPilot and OFTM was having negative reviews removed as fast as they were going up, and a number of profiles started posting positive reviews in the droves. I am sure mine is even maybe gone although I have not checked.
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Ignoring emails and calls, they have claimed they were snowed under and trying to deal with the vast amount of emails due to their unpopular seasonal plan changes – really?
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They also claim to be rectifying the direct debits, yet while still persisting customers should keep paying the overly inflated bills. They are still raking in money and not issuing refunds on accounts in mass credit.
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I am now away from the company, (yes I am celebrating right now) and it will be interesting to see if they still try to bill me but I no longer have need of the support groups.
I would like to thank the people in those groups for the sound advice and making me stay sane while I was ready to ‘Arnie S’ myself up and go kick down some OFTM doors. ‘I will be back’
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Take this as a warning PLEASE- avoid this small supplier if you value your money, sanity, nerves, and save yourself the headache. Or migraines.
It has taken me countless emails, calls, chat, high blood pressure, bank transfers and frayed nerves to break free from the dark hole that is OFTM and I hope I never have to deal with them again.
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February 22, 2019
Farewell to Mrs Bloggs
I was very saddened to read Mrs Bloggs Book Blog today and discover she has decided that her decision to step back from blogging is going to be permanent.
In a very final last post she has said goodbye to the world of book blogging – Click here to read.
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I am unbelievably heartbroken that this has been a result of the drama from a month back concerning my post Bullying in the blog community.
I first had the honour of meeting her via twitter, both speaking out on the same topic separately and were pointed together by other bloggers who followed us both. Since that moment I would like to say I call her my friend. She is warm, genuine, very compassionate and has very similar ethics to my own. A passionate book lover with amazing reviews. I adore the woman.
So you can imagine the pain that her giving up her long standing passion has given me. She has been a pillar in the community and a helper to so many bloggers and authors alike for a long time and I for one shall miss her posts and reviews.
I thoroughly understand her reasons though, being I too have felt the wave of nasty aimed my way since the posts. I am aware of all of the fallout from my original post, even in private groups as I do have the privilege of being friends with a vast amount in this community who tell me when they see anything. I choose to ignore and rise above it, but I know that is not always possible for some, and poor Mrs Bloggs has just had enough.
As she said herself, it removed her rose tinted glasses, spoiled the love she had for blogging and played havoc with her nerves. She felt the sting of being shunned and decided to walk away for the good of her own mental health.
It’s a sad day and I would really appreciate any who follow my blog, pop over to her post and bid her a proper farewell. Show her the love I know is still in this community and tell her how missed she will be.
It’s a small request but one I know will mean a lot to her. xx
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