The Cornish Retribution by Amanda James blog blitz
Book Description:
After a tragic car accident, Samantha is left widowed and bereft. Her husband Adam was everything to her. But at least the home they shared together in Cornwall provides her with some security. Or does it?
Upon returning from a school reunion in Sheffield, where Sam met her old friend, Penny, and an old flame from her school days, Dan, she discovers that Adam had invested money unwisely and she is now penniless.
When Penny and Dan, who are now married, arrive in Cornwall to visit Sam, Dan comes up with a way in which Sam can keep the house. He suggests she turns it into a writing retreat. And he is willing to invest.
Despite his wife’s reservations, Dan gets his way but at what price?
Why is Dan so keen to help? Has Sam put herself in harm’s way?
Some relationships are built to last. Others are deadly.
Amanda has written since she was a child, but never imagined that her words would be published, given that she left school with no real qualifications of note apart from an A* in how to be a nuisance in class. Nevertheless, she returned to education when her daughter was five and eventually became a history teacher. Then in 2010, after many twists and turns, the dream of becoming a writer came true when her first short story was published. Amanda has written many short stories and has six novels currently published.
Amanda grew up in Sheffield but now has realised her lifelong dream of living in Cornwall and her writing is inspired every day by the dramatic coastline near her home. She has sketched out many stories in her head while walking the cliff paths. Four of her mystery/suspense novels are set there, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Summer in Tintagel, Behind the Lie and Rip Current. The Cornish Retribution is also set in Cornwall and will be published by Bloodhound Books in October 2018.
Amanda, known to many as Mandy, spends far more time than is good for her on social media and has turned procrastination to a fine art. She can also usually be found playing on the beach with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.
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Ideas and Inspiration
As a writer I pick up ideas for new stories almost daily, but of course most of them are snippets, and ‘what ifs’. By this I mean I might overhear part of a conversation in a café or supermarket and make up a little scenario about the people having that conversation. For example, I might hear two women talking and one says – ‘But don’t tell him, I want it to be a surprise.’ Then my mind goes into overdrive. What if she’s just organised a special night in a hotel or something to re-kindle her marriage? Or she’s pregnant? Nice yeah? BUT what if the husband is having an affair with the second woman? That would put a whole new slant on proceedings!
Other times I might see something on the news or read something online which sparks a story in my head. When I wrote A Stitch in Time, which is a time travel novel, it all came from the title. I was trying to think of a catchy title and the whole story just unfolded from that. I was really excited by it and got the whole thing down in about six weeks. I was a history teacher at the time and was thrilled that I could incorporate many favourite historical periods into the book too.
Sometimes I have no idea where my ideas come from. I’m just glad they keep coming! The Cornish Retribution came to me in part one day while I was watching the waves on Mawgan Porth Beach. It was a winter’s day like it is at the start of the story and I was looking at the houses dotting the cliffs and wishing I could live in one! Then I imagined what it would be like to live there and who lived in the houses. The seeds of a story planted themselves in my brain and started to sprout. I’d already got an idea about a reunion as I’d seen someone talking about theirs on Facebook. As I continued to watch the waves, other bits of the story popped into my mind. When I got home I jotted the title down and the bare bones of The Cornish retribution. It’s set in Cornwall obviously, as are many of my more recent books as we moved her about five-years ago. I adore Cornwall and am inspired by the rugged north coast around where I live. We are only about twenty-minutes away from at least six beaches and I feel at my happiest when I’m walking next to the Atlantic. Something about the salt air and sound of the waves calms my spirit but sends many story ideas to my head too.
Back to The Cornish Retribution. It’s about Samantha Lane, a recent widow living in a big house overlooking the beach at Mawgan Porth. She’s a writer and had two books published, and until her husband was killed, she thought she’d make a proper go of it. She’d quit her library job to write full time. After her husband’s death everything changed, and her comfortable financial bubble is popped by something her husband did. Samantha returns from a school reunion in Sheffield where she grew up to be faced with this new financial situation and has to come up with some ideas to make ends meet. One of her old boyfriends and his wife, with whom she’s now reacquainted, come to visit, and Dan, the boyfriend proposes a business investment. Sam is extremely reluctant to accept, as he cheated on her many years ago, but in the end sees no way out. The fallout from her decision has severe consequences for everyone concerned, as we follow Sam in her struggle to keep her head above water and out of danger.
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When Samantha is widowed, after the tragic death of her husband, Adam, in a car accident, she is left bereft. But at least the home they shared together in Cornwall provides her with some security. Or does it?
Upon her return from a school reunion in Sheffield, where Sam met her old friend, Penny, and an old flame from her school days, Dan, she discovers that Adam had invested money unwisely and she is now penniless.
When Penny and Dan, who are now married, arrive in Cornwall to visit Sam, Dan comes up with a way in which Sam can keep the house. He suggests she turns it into a writing retreat. And he is willing to invest.
Despite his wife’s reservations, Dan gets his way but at what price?
Why is Dan so keen to help? Has Sam put herself in harm’s way?
Some relationships are built to last. Others are deadly.
I hope you enjoy the journey with Sam as much as I did. I often think about her and hope she’s still writing and enjoying life. I’d like to catch up with her again one day. Who knows, I might just do that.
My Sweet Friend by H.A. Leuschel
