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Group Read - Read Along and Q&A with Heather Burnside - Slur - from November 1st
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Janet , Moderator
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Oct 08, 2015 08:52AM
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Already have it on my Kindle, and should manage to read it by then.
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What an offer from Heather, thanks.
Janet wrote: "Our popular member, Heather Burnside, has agreed to do our November Read Along and Q&A for the month of November. Her debut thriller, Slur, is on a promotional offer right now and I believe it wil..."Thanks Janet. Sorry to be pernickety but due to Amazon rules and regulations, it won't be free again until after 18th November. However, it's currently free until Sunday. :)
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If you want this book for FREE, GET IT NOW.... IS THE MESSAGE! ON OFFER UNTIL SUNDAY 11TH OCTOBER
Janet wrote: "No worries, you've said it and that's fine! :)If you want this book for FREE, GET IT NOW.... IS THE MESSAGE! ON OFFER UNTIL SUNDAY 11TH OCTOBER"
Cheers Janet. :)
Thank you I got it. Though I'm not sure if I'll be able to manage with the book seems preaty intense. If not now I'll read it than later :-)
Downloaded it. Looks pretty fun so I'm excited :)
Kerry wrote: "Downloaded it. Looks pretty fun so I'm excited :)"Thanks Kerry (and everybody else who has downloaded it). I'm looking forward to the group readalong. :)
I can actually do the group read I have the book on my kindle.
Hello Chris and Chris. I'm looking forward to chatting with you all about the book. Big thanks too to Sean and Janet for giving me this opportunity. :)
Been waiting to read this book & delighted to be able to share. Which means finish Eden this week to get the deck cleared.
I read it earlier - and the new one - you really must go on to read A Gangster's Grip when you've finished.
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The book will be on offer again for a few days at the beginning of next month, I believe. I'm sure Heather herself will be along in the next couple of days to say.
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That's come quick !
So excited to see this! I read this recently so won't be participating in the read along but will definitely pop in for the discussion and q&a! Look forward to seeing what everyone thinks :)
Thanks everyone. It's lovely to see your positive responses and I'm looking forward to discussing 'Slur' with you. Apologies to those of you who missed the free promotion of Slur. Unfortunately, under Amazon guidelines I cannot make it available free again until after 19th November but I will be running another free promotion for three days on 20th, 21st and 22nd November.
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Janet wrote: "Thanks for the info, Heather. :)"You're welcome Janet. Thank you for your help and support. :)
Heather wrote: "Thanks everyone. It's lovely to see your positive responses and I'm looking forward to discussing 'Slur' with you. Apologies to those of you who missed the free promotion of Slur. Unfortunately, un..."Yeah Amazon is often a pain in the neck - especially for the authors. I was helping some authors to get their free books free at the German paige as they have to prove from other sources these are supposes to be free and that kind of stuff - I'm less and less found of Amazon and try to get my books as much as possible from other shops :-)
Agnieszka wrote: "Heather wrote: "Thanks everyone. It's lovely to see your positive responses and I'm looking forward to discussing 'Slur' with you. Apologies to those of you who missed the free promotion of Slur. U..."Oh yes, I think that's probably permafree. Amazon don't let you price your books as free for more than 5 days a quarter through their Select programme, but if they see a book offered free elsewhere they will automatically price match it. I am only with Amazon. I've found that they offer a lot of advantages for authors although they also wield a lot of power.
Hi Heather, joined the group specially for this, looking forward to reading it with you! Soph
Starting Slur. My elliptical trainer read.
I read the introduction a little bit ago. Hoping to dive in tonight or tomorrow.
Hi Soph, Bill and Chris. I'm looking forward to chatting about 'Slur' with you and am happy to answer any questions you may have. :)
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Sean wrote: "Hoping to start in the next two days, just finishing a book."Great, I'm looking forward to it Sean. :)
Heather, I'm 34% into Slur. I'm finding that I'm getting really upset with DI Bowden! He seems to rely only on his opinion and already has his mind made up. I feel such a sense of injustice and unfairness.And I just want to shake Rita! Smarten up, girl!
Are these the reactions you expected to these two characters?
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I'm 25% in and really enjoying it. Was a little surprised Julie's mom would encourage her to go out again after what just happened though. I sympathize with her father, but then I'm a father of 3 girls so that's how it is :)
Brenda wrote: "Heather, I'm 34% into Slur. I'm finding that I'm getting really upset with DI Bowden! He seems to rely only on his opinion and already has his mind made up. I feel such a sense of injustice and unf..."Hi Brenda, thanks for your feedback.
With DI Bowden, yes definitely. He's very old fashioned and has old fashioned values. He doesn't like the sort of girls who go out to nightclubs getting drunk and up to all sorts of mischief so he takes an instant dislike to the girls. Plus, the area they come from is a rough area and certain sectors of society would pre-judge them based on that.
Rita is a complex character. She's brash, feisty and flirtatious to the point of embarrassment. She has had a tough upbringing and this affects how she deals with life. I wanted to show the contrast between the two girls and how they react to the accusations. Although Julie lives near to Rita, she comes from a much more respectable family and has therefore had a different upbringing. Rita has some redeeming qualities although this doesn't become evident until much later in the book.
Janet wrote: "I'll be getting stuck into this after my current read. :)"Thanks Janet, I'm looking forward to 'chatting' with you. :)
Chris wrote: "I'm 25% in and really enjoying it. Was a little surprised Julie's mom would encourage her to go out again after what just happened though. I sympathize with her father, but then I'm a father of 3 g..."Thanks for your feedback Chris. I'm glad you're enjoying the book. I understand what you are saying about Betty but she's going through a range of conflicting emotions and doesn't know what to do for the best. Her daughter is in a state, and Betty is finding it difficult seeing her like that when there isn't much she can do to help. Also, she isn't used to seeing her husband react in such a way. The atmosphere between Julie and Bill is very unpleasant and Betty is stuck in the middle of it all. :)
I'm fascinated by how behaviour which is not onluy inconsiderate but downright cruel & very dangerous such as deliberately getting a friend so drunk she'll make a fool of herself is characterised as 'having a laugh' & wonder if the characters actually believe it. Seems to me a good picture of 'ladette' culture but somewhat depressing. Personally I detest 'humour' derived from humiliating others & suspect it shows that the perpetrators really hate themselves.
It says "not available for download on your device". What's wrong?
Bill wrote: "I'm fascinated by how behaviour which is not onluy inconsiderate but downright cruel & very dangerous such as deliberately getting a friend so drunk she'll make a fool of herself is characterised a..."Yes, I agree Bill. I wasn't excusing the girls' behaviour but explaining why Rita is the person she is. I know this sort of thing happens although I've never witnessed it myself. However, I got the idea from a couple of incidents that I saw in pubs and clubs during my younger days. One of them happened when I was with a group of friends and we found a young girl in a pub toilets. She was so drunk that she could hardly stand up, and her friends had left her and gone on to a nightclub. We looked after her and made sure she got home safely.
Ishita wrote: "It says "not available for download on your device". What's wrong?"I'm not sure what the problem is Ishita although it is only available on the Kindle from Amazon. Is your device a Kindle or an alternative device?
DI Bowden tells his sergeant that the evidence is there, they just have to find it, because he is sure he already knows who is guilty. As a former academic, I realised the police are not the only ones to make that mistake.
I am only 22% into the book and I feel sorry for these girls. The lead detective is an ass. He wants to prove something to someone. I wouldn't put it pass him to plant things to arrest these girls. He is what you would call a bad cop.
Not as far in as I'd like to be right now but I'm enjoying the reconstruction of the girls night out which feels totally believable. I'm enjoying all of the regional dialogue; as I have family in the Midlands a lot of it is very similar to their way of speaking, which I like! How did you manage to create such realistic dialogue?
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Heather wrote: "Bill wrote: "I'm fascinated by how behaviour which is not onluy inconsiderate but downright cruel & very dangerous such as deliberately getting a friend so drunk she'll make a fool of herself is ch..."That's terrible. I can't imagine doing that to someone even as a prank. It's one thing to spike a friends drink unawares. I remember doing it at least once in my early 20s. But never could I imagine myself (back then, now never) or any of our friends doing that sort of thing to the point where they were unable to take care of themselves and then even think about leaving them to fend for themselves. Incredible. Time to get some new friends.
I'm at 38%. It's moving right along.
Good morning everyone. It's great to see that some of you are getting into the book. Yes, the inspector isn't a very nice man and is definitely a bad cop.Regarding your question about dialogue Sophia, I guess I am a bit of a people watcher. I have a fascination for how people interact with each other and I tend to play conversations over in my head before writing them down. :)
I'm a couple of chapters in, and enjoying it so far.Some writers use coloqualism to the extreme, and render the dialogue unreadable; good to see you avoided that. The occasional word is all that is needed to give a flavour of the local dialect, and i think you pull it off well.
David wrote: "I'm a couple of chapters in, and enjoying it so far.Some writers use coloqualism to the extreme, and render the dialogue unreadable; good to see you avoided that. The occasional word is all that ..."
Thank you David. I really appreciate that. :)
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