#SilentSunday by the beach @IlunionHotels Fuengirola #Costadelsol

#CarrotRanch #FlashFiction ‘Red Ink’

Red Ink

The poet always wrote with red ink.

A constant reminder that his blood, the blood that pulsed through the fingers that held his pen, was red, not blue like the rippling sea, or black, like a moonless night…

His blood was red, a bold, vibrant scarlet, ablaze with love or hate, sometimes sizzling with lust, others fierce with rage, but never tepid.

His blood was red like a crimson dawn, or a ruby sunset.

Black or blue was the choice of those who embraced the vulgarity of conformity.   

He lifted his pen, growled at the blank page and bled.

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T. S. Eliot’s well known quote, in which he compares writing to spilling out one’s soul, using ink instead of blood, prompted me to write this flash.

I’m sure he didn’t use red ink, or blood to write, but he wrote with fierce honesty, strength and beauty.    

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This post was written in response to Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch’s weekly #99 word Flash Fiction Challenge. This week’s prompt is ‘Ink’. Check out other entries or take part yourself!

#WordlessWednesday ‘Ancient Splendour’ #Pompeii #Haiku

Ancient pillars stand,

Hands on walls feel the grandeur,

Yesterday still breathes.

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I hope you enjoyed this brief visit to the ancient city of Pompeii!

 

 

 

#TuesdayBookBlog ‘Parallel Lies’ by @GeorgiaRoseBook #BookReview

‘Parallel lies” is the fourth novel I’ve read by author Georgia Rose. I enjoyed The Grayson Trilogy and was looking forward to her latest standalone novel.

Read my review of A Single Step 

Read my Author Spotlight on Georgia Rose

Blurb Parallel Lies

My name is Madeleine, Madeleine Ross. It is a name chosen with thought and because it is classy, and that is what is needed here…’

Madeleine Ross has life exactly as she planned it.
Cosy cottage, friendly village, satisfying job.
Company… when she wants it.

It’s an enviable existence for an independent young woman, and one she’s keen to protect.

Enter Daniel – strong, dependable and a danger to everything she’s built. He’s not something she was looking for, but hearts can’t be controlled and maybe, just maybe he might be worth letting into hers.

But, all is not what it seems. Because Madeleine is hiding a lifetime of secrets. Deep secrets.

And they never stay buried for ever.

Her darkest secret returns, like the proverbial bad penny. He is her first love, shadowy, dangerous, the baddest of bad boys. No matter how far she runs, or how well she hides, she can never escape him.

Or her past.

Here he is, on her doorstep, with a proposition she is powerless to resist but which could devastate the future she hoped to have.

Can Madeleine satisfy the old love while keeping the new?

You can’t always get what you want but, desperate to preserve the life she has worked so hard for, Madeleine is willing to risk everything to prove that she can.

My Review of Parallel Lies

Parallel Lies is a contemporary romantic thriller set in the UK. It’s written in the present tense mostly by the main character, Madeleine Ross.

Madeleine, who has recently moved from London, is trying to live a quiet life, keeping a low profile, in the idyllic English village of Crowbridge, although it’s soon clear that she has plenty of secrets she’s not prepared to share even with the reader! Her hidden agenda is very gradually and suspensefully disclosed.  She has many personal issues to deal with throughout the novel, including her promiscuous attitude to sex, which she uses to make up for her insecurities, rooted in her childhood.

She interacts with a variety of local characters in the village. I liked the way her supportive relationship with a young girl, who also has to deal with a complex, dysfunctional family, brings out the best in Madeleine, reminding her of her own traumas.

Madeleine also has an unusual, unorthodox and secret job with an insurance company. Matters are further complicated by her personal, professional and romantic relationship with her boss’s nephew, Daniel, whom she doesn’t trust, and the reappearance of her former, unscrupulous boyfriend, threatening to wreck her life.

Parallel Lies was a pleasure to read. I enjoyed the way Madelaine’s character gradually unfolded and developed throughout the novel, and there were many twists and turns to keep me interested right to the end.

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UK Buy Link

US Buy Link

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Happy reading and Happy Christmas!

Have you written a Christmas or Wintry themed novel you’d like me to feature? Drop me a line or let me know in the comments.

#SilentSunday #Christmas Lights #Haiku

 

Lights, red, gold and glass.

Bustle, shopping, noise and laughs.

Christmas photographs.

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Christmas lights seen this weekend in Cordoba and Malaga, Spain.