Kathryn's Inbox

Today I thought I would pay tribute to another of my favourite characters from Schulz's brilliant Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty. As crazy as it sounds, Peppermint Patty was actually my hero for a little while, when I was about eight or nine years old. (In fact, once at school my teacher, that darned Mrs Pettingill asked us to each draw our self-portrait. I remember all the other boys and girls in the class drawing these beautiful portraits of themselves. I drew a picture of myself looking somewhat like Peppermint Patty. Loyal followers of this blog will not be surprised to learn that this led to a showdown between me and Mrs Pettingill who, as usual, failed to understand my artistic sensibilities. Then again, what did I expect from a primary school teacher who point blank refused to admit salt is sourced from seawater?)  Looking back, I think what I loved about Peppermint Patty was that she was not a stereotyped little girl. Peppermint Patty was a tomboy, she made m

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The release of a new VC Andrews novel is an exciting time. For diehard fans like me, there is always that tiny spark of hope that finally, this will be the novel that lives up to the legacy created by the original author, despite the number of disappointing releases that have flooded our shelves for the past few years. Capturing Angels, Into the Darkness, Cloudburst, Daughter of Darkness, the two novel Heavenstone series ...  Fortunately, Forbidden Sister  is not another disappointment. Set in New York, Forbidden Sister tells the story of Emmie, a fifteen-year-old from a strict family. Emmie has an older sister, Roxy, who she is forbidden to speak about since her father cast her out of their home. When Emmie learns that Roxy is living nearby and working as a high class call girl she cannot resist learning more about her older sister. While by no means perfect, I found Forbidden Sister to be one of the most enjoyable V.C. Andrews novels I have read since Into the Garden  w

Exciting news. This month, I am relaunching my novella Best Forgotten with an awesome new cover. The reason for the relaunch and new cover is pretty simple--when I was searching for photographs to include on the front cover of my upcoming novel Behind the Scenes  I stumbled across the photograph of this gorgeous blonde standing beside a mirror and instantly thought of Best Forgotten. I knew the photograph was perfect for the novel, so I thought, why not? Anyway, there's a new blurb to go with the updated cover, which reads: An intriguing tale of murder, amnesia and the lies we tell ourselves.  A young woman wakes in hospital, unable to recall the past eighteen months. Once an awkward, introverted teenager battling Anorexia Nervosa, Kellie-Sue discovers that she has blossomed into a beautiful woman with a loving husband. But what secrets are lurking beneath the surface? Why is Kellie-Sue haunted with memories of the bruised and bloody of her abusive ex-boyfriend

I'm not a fan of the whole "obsessive love" genre that was sparked by Twilight a few years ago and soon moved into the realm of erotica with the likes of Fifty Shades of Grey, so I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard a month or so ago. While the book still contained many of the same elements that bothered me about both aforementioned novels--a naive young woman meets an emotionally damaged and brutish man who proves his love by showering her with gifts and controlling her every move-- Gabriel's Inferno at least had an interesting and well researched back story, good writing and characters that I actually cared about. And with this in mind, I happy picked up and paid for a copy of the sequel. And what did I get? Well .... It isn't that Gabriel's Inferno is by any stretch a bad book--I found it decently written--but the story itself a little soap opera-like and unbelievable. Inferno  basically tells the s

Wow, just wow. I cannot believe how much is going on in my little corner of the web at the moment. I was thrilled to be chosen as a feature blog for Feature and Follow Friday and have been completely overwhelmed by the number of new followers (and hopefully friends) that I have made. I haven't had a chance to return the favour and visit everyones FF yet, but I hope to do so in the next few days. In other news, congratulations to Ruty, the winner of the Being Abigail giveaway, who has already been contacted via email. Thanks to everyone who entered. I received a proof copy of Behind the Scenes on Saturday. It looks good so far, so hopefully the official launch can go ahead in April. Keep your eyes peeled for a possible giveaway ... In review related news, I received a copy of Forbidden Sister by V.C. Andrews in the mail today, which I am looking forward to reviewing. Word is, this one is better than some of the recent V.C. Andrews novels, so fingers crossed I'll be abl

Good grief! It's 8am, I've just jumped on the bus, checked my emails and discovered that I'm one of this week's Feature and Follow Friday feature bloggers! So, welcome everyone, and thanks heaps to Parajunkee and Alison Can Read ! This week's question is:  Confess your blogger sins! Is there anything as a newbie blogger that you've done, that as you've gained more experience you were like -- oops? For me, probably being a bit too hard and critical in my reviews than what the author deserved. I used to think that I was failing as a reviewer if I didn't point out at least one thing that was wrong with the book. As I've grown more experienced, I've realised that sometimes that said more about my skills as a reviewer/critic than it did about the authors work.