Today I am so pleased to welcome Emma Jane to Joyfully Jay. Emma has come as part of our Beach Read Bonanza to talk to us about her release, Shuttered. And we have giveaways! Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Thank you to Jay for hosting me today. I love beaches and so I knew I had to take part in the Beach Read Bonanza.
My novel Shuttered is partly set in a little seaside town in Dorset, England, called Lyme Regis. Lyme is one of my favourite places, with lovely little shops and cafes, great scenery (it’s part of the Jurassic Coast – England’s first natural World Heritage Site, where you can find stunning cliffs which yield fossilised evidence of life on Earth millions of years ago) and both sandy and pebbled beaches. Not to mention the famous Cobb!
The Cobb, Lyme’s harbour with its fabulous curved wall heading out to sea, features in Shuttered and Rowan, the main character’s love interest, is particularly taken with it – although standing on top of the high wall gives him vertigo. I’ve walked along there a few times, but I find it quite scary – especially when the sea’s rough and the waves are crashing over the wall! I’ve not dared walk up there with my dog in case we both get swept out to sea. The Cobb features in Jane Austen’s Persuasion and her character Louisa Musgrove falls from the wall and gets concussion. It’s also featured in the film The French Lieutenant’s Woman which stars Meryl Streep.
There are a couple of beaches at Lyme where you can take your dog all year round and my dog, Beau, absolutely loves it there. He’s not happy until he’s had a run along the seafront, chased some pebbles, and dug in the sand. Then we can go and have some tea and Dorset apple cake at the Bell Cliff cafe.
The main character in Shuttered is a photographer called Daniel, and he and his dog Sasha have a very special bond. I figured that, like me, he’d also enjoy taking his dog to Lyme. I have kept the setting in the novel as true to life as possible, but I did resurrect an old hotel (called The Three Cups in real life, which is currently empty and has an uncertain future) because I love the history of the place. In fact, J.R.R. Tolkien stayed there!
So, Lyme is very dear to me. I want to hear about your favourite beaches and seaside towns. Just leave a comment and one winner, chosen at random, will win an e-copy of Shuttered.
You can buy Shuttered from Dreamspinner Press or Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any good bookstore.
You can follow me on Twitter @emizzy, or at my blog http://emmy-j.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you for joining me.
Excerpt
Rowan sat on a bench in the gardens overlooking the sea. The sky had darkened, and the sun was disappearing over the horizon, though its light reflected brightly off the ocean. He licked his ice cream, feeling dejected enough to not even move when a kid sauntered past with a wallet sticking out of his back pocket. Kid probably didn’t have much cash on him anyway.
The wind blew an empty chip packet across the path in front of him and then lifted it up and caught it on one of the ammonite street lamps, where it stuck for just a moment before it blew away again. Rowan bit into the cone, and the ice cream chilled his teeth. Damn thing was making him cold, and he didn’t know why he was eating it anyway. He wedged the cone between the bench slats and crossed his arms across his chest, watching the waves.
He wished Daniel were by his side.
He’ll come back.
Of course he would. The man was besotted with him. He could see it in his eyes. He wouldn’t just leave him.
“Idiot, Rowan,” he muttered. That was the last time he was ever going to answer anybody else’s phone. He ruffled his hands in his hair, shook out his arms, and then sat with his palms facing upward on his knees and his feet firmly planted on the ground.
He breathed in through his nose and let it out slowly from his mouth. He gazed at the sea, letting his eyes unfocus, and imagined his chakras opening and light spinning from his body.
Spirits, speak to me.
He swore he could hear the sea clearer, and he concentrated on the sound of the waves, imagining the water rushing over the pebbles.
Speak to me.
Seagulls called to one another, and wind whistled past his ears.
Speak to me, you miserable bastards.
Blurb
When wildlife and landscape photographer Daniel Hopson gets a reading from clairvoyant Rowan Foster at a local craft fair, he quickly realizes it’s a con. But he sees the charm behind the chancer’s façade, and so rather than expose him, he starts to date him—only to discover that some of Rowan’s other cons are far more serious.
The so-called psychic owes ten thousand pounds to two men after deceitfully claiming to be able to find the body of their murdered mother. Daniel must help Rowan recover the genuine gift he possessed in childhood and contact the spirits before the men catch up to them—and the key to doing so might be Daniel’s telepathic connection with his dog Sasha.
Bio
Emma Jane was born in Somerset, England, in the 80s. She grew up in a little village and now lives in a small town in the countryside. She has been writing stories since primary school, some of which still survive in notebooks in her dad’s attic, and wanted to be an author as soon as she realised it was a possible career choice and “Pony” or “Ninja” weren’t viable options.
Official website: ejtett.weebly.com
Giveaway
Emma has brought a copy of Shuttered to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Thursday, June 11 at 11:59 pm EST.
Also, this post is part of our Beach Read Bonanza! Enter at any or all of the 12 stops for your chance to win a beach bag full of goodies for the beach, including a Kindle! Check out our Beach Read Bonanza post for more details and contest rules, and leave a comment below to enter.
- By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
- If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
- All book prizes are in electronic format unless otherwise specified.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Readers may only enter once for each contest. Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
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Thank you for sharing what your favourite beach is. Mine is called As Catedrais (the Cathedrals), it is in Ribadeo, Galicia (Spain) and its names comes from the fact that when the tide is low the rocks of the cliff surrounding it form incredible structures, archs and domes… It is a beautiful but wild beach, not really fit for bathing because of the dangerous and really fast tides.
Shuttered sounds like a really great book. Thank you for the giveaway.
It’s not possible to choose a favorite beach. I like them all. Thanks for the giveaway.
Fave beaches!
At home – Port Erin, sheltered and sandy
Visited – Lacanau Ocean, France – miles of sand!
Want to visit – Ireland’s west coast beaches – miles of empty sand!
What a lovely view – in your description as well as in the photo! Most shores around here are very shallow, as in you have to walk several hundreds of meters before it gets deep enough to soak your body in. But if you drive an hour or so south, you get something similar to your description, and much farther north in my country we have a high coastline indeed. And thank you for the short excerpts, it got me interested enough to want to find out how things will work out for the man.
When I was young we spent every holiday at my Aunt’s who lived a couple of miles from Skegness we always spent summers on the beach but because we knew alot of out of the way beaches we always had a great time and it never got too crowded. Now we’ve moved to live just outside of Skegness to and I must admit I haven’t been down to the beach for years. The one great thing about living near the beach is the wonderful on shore breeze you get on hot days.
What a fun post and excerpt.
Some beaches I’ve enjoyed are along the Oregon coast; many are generally unpeopled. They make great places to walk; you and your dog would probably enjoy them, even if there is no Dorset apple cake to be had!
Thanks for this post and sharing an excerpt, i really like it. As for your question i I do enjoy to walk along the beach when it’s not to hot 🙂 But i don’t care for just lying on the beach. Thanks for the giveaway chance.
Grew up in So Cal, tons of favs there. Been to Hawaii, a ton there too. Been to Florida, tons there as well. Who can choose?
I don’t think I can pick one, but here are some favs either for the beach or the town:
1. Key West, FL
2. Hanalei, HI
3. Hanakapiai Beach, HI
4. Monterey/Carmel, CA
5. Mission Bay (San Diego), CA
6. Bodega Bay, CA
Thanks for the interesting post and contest!
I have been to beaches all up and down the west cost. from Cali to Washington. That was over 20 years ago I loved all of them. I did not gt in the water though in Oregon and Washington. Their water was just to cold for me but very beautiful.
I’ve really only been to a “beach” twice. Padre Island when I was 15 and northern California coast for a few hours (very cold) when I was 35. I like the idea of having enough free time to visit a beach, but it just never happens. I haven’t even been to a lake in years.
My favorite beach was a beach on Oahu that my friend who grew up there took us to. I don’t know the name, we just walked on a pathway between two houses. It was beautiful and not covered with us tourists!
Not a big beach person but I do love the black sand beaches in Hawaii. Thanks for the giveaway!
North Carolina has beautiful beaches. We like Emerald Isle in particular.
I have a couple of favorite beaches and they are all in Hawaii. So beautiful there. Thanks for the giveaway chance.
Santa Cruz and Pacific Grove in northern California, and Santa Barbara in southern California….
Thank you for sharing your favorite beach with us. I don’t have a favorite beach but I do like walking around on the boardwalk when I’m there.
Anguilla has one of my favorite beaches!
I would love a copy of this. My favourite beach is tiny, marking the end of a peat – brown river in Donegal, up in the wilds of the Inishowen Peninsula. Huge rocks are scattered on the golden sand. Shoals of baby eels swim and dogfish lurk in the shadows. Basking sharks and dolphins are frequent visitors.
I took my children sailing there from when they were bumps in my tum and they learned to swim at slack water in the river. The dogs love that beach, digging huge holes and chasing seagulls.
Such happy memories associated with the beach at Bunagee.
I have very fond memories of visits to my great aunt and uncle’s house in a tiny town in Florida and swimming in the ocean.
I love the beaches in Carmel, CA! Thanks for the giveaway!
Sarasota FL was my favorite beach ever. The seafood was great as well. 😉
Sounds very interesting, thank you!
Favorite beaches include Phuket, Thailand and Negril Jamaica. Thanks for the chnace at the giveaway.
I am from South Jersey & there is a small island in Wildwood, NJ called Champagne Island and I have spent many, many days there on the beach 🙂
The beaches in England look so different from the ones near me. I live on Long Island and every year we travel out to the end for a long weekend on the beach in Montauk.
I am very fond of the Jurassic Coast, but I do not get to there as much as would love to. As a keen beach-comber I am planning to go to Southwold, Suffolk, which is a more traditional British seaside town with a pier, to see if I can find some pieces of amber and perhaps later to Whitby, Yorkshire coast, to see if I can find some pieces of Jet.
I would love to go to England and see the coast. It’s interesting that beaches across the world are so different.
One of my favorite beaches is one that we used to go a lot when my dad was stationed in Hawaii. It’s call Hanauma Bay State Park. We used to go & take frozen peas to feed to the fish, who would swim right up to you, & the water was so clear that you could see the ocean floor.
Sadly, I heard that they’ve changed & tightened a lot of the rules that they had when I went as a child.
I wish I could say that I had visited a beach. I’m deprived. If I had a bucket list, visiting one would be up towards the top. I do, on the other hand, love to photograph anything and everything. I’d love a chance to pick up this book. Thanks.
I love the beaches of Hawaii. Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park is probably the most interesting beach I’ve ever been to.
Grew up in San Diego, love all of the beaches there. And been to Hawaii, love those too. In Baja Mexico, San Felipe was a great little sleepy fishing village before it got over run.
Thankyou for chance!! Sounds amazing
I love beach at Tofino BC, couple hrs away and then beach at Portobello, by Edinburgh UK!!
OH my this sound interesting and I know I am to late for the book but keep me on for the beach read bonanza
So many beach reads! This sounds like an interesting plot, though, and I love the cover.
definitely on my tbr list
My favorite beaches are on the islands in the carribean! Just so clean and the water is literally crystal clear! Plus you can visit them year round!!!!
I love stories set in English sea side towns. So much more romantic, than a beach on the Great Lakes. This is another one to add to my DS wishlist.
I’ve only been to one beach and I don’t think I’m a beach person, sadly.