


WIP Snippet #7: A Valentine’s Day Surprise
WIP Snippet #7: A Valentine’s Day Surprise
Of Blood & Oil
In honour of St Valentine, comes this snippet from book three of Not the Same River. This is not so much a work in progress as a done deal. Of Blood & Oil is going through its final copy edits, ready for publication on April 28th this year.
For those of you who celebrate, Happy Valentine’s Day!

WIP Progress
Of Blood & Oil: draft complete, 132,460 words
Series: Not the Same River (#3)
Stage: edited, ready for publication
Publishing date: April 28th 2023


Of Blood & Oil is available to preorder now from a number of online retailers. More will be added soon.
On Valentine’s Day, an unexpected box arrives for Seth—unexpected because there’s no way he’d open it at the kitchen island otherwise. He pulls a dark blue scarf from the package and pinches his face into a pouty frown. “I didn’t order this.”
I check the packaging while he runs his fingers over the silky stitches, but there are no clues on the printed label.
I rub the scarf between my fingers. “So soft. And it matches your eyes.”
“Very funny.” Seth stares at the small card in his other hand, his expression blank. “That’s what the note says.”
I laugh. “Somebody has a secret admirer.”
“Shut up.” He pulls the scarf over his head. “I don’t have anyone.”
“Looks perfect,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s all stitched, so I don’t have to knot it myself, but…”
“What?”
“Well, obviously someone’s been watching me,” he says. “This is exactly how I wear my scarf.”
“That thing you wear is not a scarf. It’s a bunch of holes sewn together with stubbornness and nostalgia.”
“Two words,” he says, one eyebrow arched high. “Your. Coat.”
“I’m getting rid of it. Tomorrow.”
He’s still rubbing the soft scarf around his neck. “Don’t you think it’s creepy though? They must know I need a replacement, and I reiterate, because they’ve been watching me.”
“Yeah, and they printed the label, so you wouldn’t recognise their handwriting.”
He frowns. “The note’s handwritten.”
“Let me see.”
He hands it over and says, “I don’t recognise the writing.”
It looks vaguely familiar, but all I can see behind my eyes are the many and varied handwritten pages of [SPOILER], and they never settled on a handwriting style in their whole life. It’s also unlikely they sent Seth a valentine scarf from beyond the grave.
He’s rubbing the thing on his cheek now, but he stops to sniff the air. “Are you baking?”
He says baking like it should be criminalised.
“Just a baguette,” I tell him.
“I shouldn’t wear it,” he says, but his eyes are already in love with his new scarf. “I don’t want to encourage… Oh god, what if it’s a woman?”
“You really don’t know who sent it? Like, no clue at all?”
He shakes his head, then gets a faraway look in his eyes like he’s mulling over possibilities.
Archer comes in while I’m assembling my valentine treat to myself. I try not to think of [SPOILER] or the new batch of tea I found stuffed in the pocket of that ridiculous coat. I didn’t even feel them put it there.
“What the hell are you doing to that baguette?” Archer demands.
“Getting it ready for a romantic night out,” I say.
He leans over my shoulder. “What are you making?”
I nudge him away. “Hash brown baguette.”
“You want fries with that?”
“Shut up, funny boy.”
“No, really. I’m not sure there’s enough carbs in it.”
I laugh. “Just find me some hot sauce.”
“Not even sriracha can save that abomination,” he says, slamming the red bottle onto the worktop. “Where did that come from?”
I turn around to figure out what Archer is talking about, but he’s looking at Seth.
“There’s no label,” Seth says. “Must be handmade.”
“Seth has an admirer,” I say, then sink my teeth into my abomination baguette.
“Probably the postman,” Archer says.
We both turn to stare at him. “What?”
“Yeah, the postman is totally into you.”

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A Storm of Paper Starlings is Live!
A Storm of Paper Starlings
is Live
From a scrappy page of notes in my twelve-year-old handwriting, to accidentally signing up to Camp NaNoWriMo in July 2014, to its final formatting in 2022, Violet’s story has gone through so many changes. But it’s finally here, the story of my heart.
Available Now
A Storm of Paper Starlings is available to buy now at all major retailers and to order from your local library.
468 pages
What if the ordinary family you crave isn’t ordinary at all?
When an accident lands Violet in hospital, her mundane life in a London children’s home is disrupted by relatives she’s never heard of—the Penhaligons—and a mysterious visitor who disappears into the night after claiming he’s the father of the twin sister she never knew she had.
With her long-lost sister, Amethyst, to find, Violet turns to her new family for help. But the Penhaligons are far from ordinary.
Power and magic lurk at the priory, Violet’s new home in the Oxfordshire countryside, and she learns fast that nothing is ordinary here, least of all the hostile new neighbours—a coven of vampires, vaewolves, and demons.
As Violet grapples with family secrets, four powerful new brothers, and latent abilities of her own, Amethyst and the man who raised her find themselves in mortal danger—a danger that draws Violet and her family into a battle to save them.
Finally embracing the meaning of family, two questions burn at the back of Violet’s mind.
If vampires and demons exist, what are the Penhaligons?
And what is she?
A Storm of Paper Starlings is the first of six already written books. The Not the Same River series follows Violet as she goes from lost, gobby orphan to treasured—okay, she’s still gobby—warrior, finding the clan she would die for along the way.
If sibling banter, precious friendships, bitey neighbours, and terrible goats are your jam, settle in to meet your new ride or die crew today.
Due to adult language and dark themes, this book is recommended for readers aged 15+ and is ideal for upper YA/crossover readers who enjoy diverse stories. The series should be read in order.

WIP Snippet #3
WIP Snippet #3
Puddles in the Pavement
Last week, I gave you a snippet from DeMobbed featuring Gabriel (you know, the one from the nativity). This snippet is from Puddles in the Pavement, the second book in the Tales from the Noctuary series, which is set in the late Victorian era.

WIP Progress
Puddles in the Pavement: draft complete, 30, o46 words
Series: Tales from the Noctuary (#2)
Stage: edited, ready for publication
Projected publishing date: summer 2023
Rosemont steepled his fingers together over his desk, eyeing his visitors with the sharpest of blue eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure, gentlemen?”
Uriel and Bel shared a worried look.
Rosemont glanced at the man hovering by the door. “You may leave, Jelly.”
He bowed his way out. “Your grace.”
When the door was firmly closed and Rosemont was certain the man had gone back to his own desk, he said, “If you’ve come to turn my life upside down, you’re too late.”
The two men sighed as if they’d both been holding their breath.
Uriel quirked an eyebrow. “A bit bold for the workplace, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jelly?”
“Good grief, Uriel, it’s the man’s name. Do you think I routinely gift my employees with ridiculous terms of endearment?”
“Perhaps not routinely,” Uriel admitted. “His name is really Jelly?”
Rosemont massaged his temples. Oh, to have had just one week without a visit from this meddlesome pair.
“We’re here about Lord Farringdon,” said Bel.
Rosemont sighed. “I heard you two had been poking your noses in.”
“The man confessed,” said Bel.
“It’s a pity he cannot be tried twice,” said Rosemont. “We can have him up for perjury, of course, but—”
“The God-Wolf didn’t take him for the murders of five women,” Uriel said.
“He took him for the murders of eight,” Bel added.