SHARP, STEELY HOOKS

It's always interesting when you get the first copy of a book you've written.  It's real!  You can hold it in your sticky little hands and flick through the pristine pages.  You can sniff the gorgeous new-booky smell and read the first line all over again.  And that first line should leap out and grab you.  Hard.  It should capture your imagination and make you hungry to devour those pages....  

Of course, I haven't yet got a copy of A WHISPER OF DISGRACE.  I've simply seen the front cover of the UK edition - and seeing a picture of the characters you've created is weird.  These people have existed in your imagination for so long that you have a very definite idea of what they look like.  Sometimes that idea is matched by the art department and sometimes not.  Long, dark hair means different things to different people.  And a single image of a pair of eyes gives us only a hint of what's going on behind them.

This is Rosa and she's running away.  Running from the truth and a life which has become a lie.  Running straight into the arms of a man who is pure, emotional danger.



 I haven't got a copy of this manuscript to hand, but I remember the first line.  You should always be able to remember your first line.  That sharp, steely hook which grabs you....

The bottle was cold, but not nearly as cold as the ice around her heart.