Haunting Violet Competition Winner!

Using Random.org I've picked a winner from the comments and the winner is …….

Bella

I'll be contacting you shortly by email to sort out where to send your copy of Haunting Violet to.

Congratulations!

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey Review and Giveaway

Synopsis

Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts, especially since her mother has worked as a fraudulent medium for a decade. Violet has taken part in enough of her mother’s tricks to feel more than a little jaded about anyhting supernatural.

The ghosts, however, believe in Violet and she’s been seeing them everywhere. One ghost in particular needs Violet to use her emerging gift to solve her murder . . . and prevent the ghost’s twin sister from suffering the same fate.

I was lucky enough to meet Alyxandra Harvey last month and get an early copy of Haunting Violet which I started on the way home and devoured over the next couple of days. I'm a massive fan of Victoriana coupled with the paranormal so was super-excited to read it. Violet has had a difficult start in life - daughter of a single parent who turns to mediumship as a way to make ends meet. Gradually, Celeste Willoughby becomes more respected and her clients more famous. Her daughter Violet is not only dragged along to all of the seances but also has to take part rigging up all the gadgets which trick the desperate into believing that their loved ones really have returned from the grave.

Violet dreams of a life outside of the seances but can't see a way out. Her only friend is Colin, a boy who works for Celeste, and Elizabeth - daughter of Lord Jasper who was a keen member of the Spiritualist church. Violet, Celeste and Colin find themselves at Lord Jasper's country estate in Wiltshire to perform a seance for the best of society. It is here that the bulk of the action takes place. Violet is an interesting combination of the worldy-wise and the innocent. She would rather walk around in Whitechapel than the fields of Wiltshire but is shy around boys and unsure of her appeal. I really felt for her as she tried to remember the many rules that bound her when in society - she is only able to be herself around Colin. While Celeste is a terrible fraud using the sort of tricks that were common at this time Violet is completely unprepared when ghosts start to appear to her unbidden. At first she hopes that she is merely tired but one in particular keeps on appearing and it is clear that she needs Violet to help her.

Part ghost story and part murder mystery, Haunting Violet fair skips along. I am totally in love with all the Victorian detail that Alyxandra has included, from what a lady should and shouldn't do, wear or say to the books of the day. I was cheering for her when she finally works out how she can solve all her problems and sympathised alongside her as she dealt with her awful mother. At the moment I don't know if there will be a sequel to Haunting Violet but I really hope there will be. Violet is a fascinating character who I'd love to see more of.

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the release of this fabulous book we have one copy of Haunting Violet to give away. This competition is open to UK people only and one lucky winner will be taken from the comments. We'll pick a winner using random.org so please include an email address in your comment so we can contact you to let you know you've won and find out where to send your prize. The closing date for the competition is Tuesday 28th June.

Good luck!

Haunting Violet Book Launch

I was so excited to be invited by the lovely people at Bloomsbury to the Alyxandra Harvey meet and greet yesterday held at the Bloomsbury offices. I arrived, a bit overheated but right on time (I got a bit waylaid on Oxford Street and found myself having to rush!) to find a fabulous group of bloggers already there. I met the lovely Carly from Writing From the Tub Karen from Teenage Fiction For All Ages and Sammee from I Want To Read That. We were whisked upstairs to meet Alyxandra who is, quite frankly, one of the most inspirational young adult writers I've met.

Here we all are with a copy of her latest book, Haunting Violet.

From left to right: Sammee, Karen, Alyxandra, Carly and me. Massive thanks to Carly for this photo.

I knew Haunting Violet would be right up my street and I'm already a quarter of the way through having started it on the train home last night. Alyxandra said yesterday that she loves research so much that she sometimes gets carried away and could forget to write the actual book. This is so apparent in Haunting Violet and she gets the Victorian tone so right. One of my favourite authors is Sarah Waters and I'm getting exactly the same feel of authentic setting alongside a strong thread of the supernatural in this book. Anyway, I'll save this for the review and giveaway at the end of June!

We were lucky enough to have Alyxandra all to ourselves and asked a whole load of questions about her writing, the books she has planned and the upcoming next book in the Drake Chronicles. I was struck by just how hard Alyxandra has worked for her success. She began writing at fourteen and had written a massive twenty-six books before she landed an agent. Ironically it is Haunting Violet that got her her agent but the Drake Chronicles were published first (Bleeding Hearts, the fourth in the series is out in October in the UK by the way).

I was struck by just how passionate Alyxandra is about her fans. She obviously thoroughly enjoys interacting with them and discussing their ideas and thoughts. We all chatted for a while about her books, writing habits (an average size novel normally takes her around three months to complete) and interests (historical fiction from Egyptian to Regency and beyond and the paranormal genre). I think we could have happily talked to her for hours. To celebrate the upcoming Haunting Violet release there was an amazing cake which we all admired before devouring.

Haunting Violet is released on 4th July in the UK and, as I mentioned, MFB will be doing a giveaway at the end of June to celebrate. Alyxandra is currently doing a tour of the UK, details of which can be found here.

Alyxandra Harvey is coming to the UK

Fans of Alyxandra Harvey, author of the fantastic Drake Chronicles, watch out - she's coming to the UK! She's here to promote her new stand-alone novel Haunting Violet which I must say sounds brilliant. Check out the gorgeous cover and synopsis.

Violet Willoughby doesn’t believe in ghosts, especially since her mother has worked as a fraudulent medium for a decade. Violet has taken part in enough of her mother’s fake séances to feel more than a little jaded about anything supernatural. That is until she and her mother pay a visit to Rosefield House.

Suddenly Violet is seeing the dead all around her. She is haunted day and night, and one spirit in particular refuses to leave her alone. The ghost of a drowned girl needs Violet’s help to solve her murder. Violet must learn to use her new-found skills before the killer strikes again!

I'm incredibly excited as it's also set in Victorian England so I've got high hopes it'll be my cup of tea.

Here's where you can see her: -

7pm Tuesday 24th May
Alyxandra will be talking about Haunting Violet in the Simpson Room at Waterstone's, 203 / 206 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HD
Tickets priced £2 redeemable against a copy of Haunting Violet on the night
Tel: +44 (0)20 7851 2400

4:30pm Wednesday 25th May
Alyxandra will be signing copies of the Drake Chronicles and Haunting Violet at Waterstone's, 4 / 5 Milsom Street, Bath BA1 1DA
Tel: +44 (0)1225 448 515

11:30am Saturday 28th May
Alyxandra will be appearing at the world famous Hay Festival with Marcus Sedgwick, author of Revolver and White Crow
Tickets priced £4

I'm looking forward to this one and will be reviewing Haunting Violet later in the year.