The Woodshed Stairs

The cats like to stand guard out here.

Lot of chippies and mice try to get into the house through the holes in this old brick chimney. It runs from the original summer kitchen fireplace right up through our bedroom wall. They used to make jams, jellies and preserved vegetables here in the hot weather.

We're having a heat wave now, but today is a little better.

I'm still not cooking, though!

Been on my laptop every spare moment for days, reading and reviewing books on Authonomy.com, where my not-yet-published romantic mystery thriller SECRETS WE KEEP is number 20 and rising!

The top 5 books at the end of every month are read by the Harper Collins editors and considered for publication. The more people who read my book on the website and "back" it, the higher it will rise in the ranks. The complete novel is posted online, so I'm getting a lot of new readers this week and they are very complimentary. I'm very "chuffed!" Here's a sample:

"There is so much tension...that the story demands to be read."

"Gripping, mysterious, REAL, smokin' hot."

"An engaging, fun, drama filled story."

"The chapter lengths, POV switches and the mystery all work together to keep up the pace."

"By far the best novel I have read on Authonomy.com - 6 stars"

"Here are some of the lines i liked best.

Alzheimer's - 'a living death that sneaked up and stole him away.'

'her heart was crazed with little cracks where it had shattered and been carefully glued back together.'

'his white teeth flashing like a wolf about to rip into a rabbit'

On unexpected death - 'it's like, the movie is just getting really good, and the power suddenly goes off, and you never get to see the rest, you always wonder, what was going to happen?'

'...all the pieces lifting up into a foggy swirl and raining down around them in random order.'

'Some secrets are meant to share. We pull them into the sunshine and air them out, bravely showing them to the world. We're relieved to find that their power to terrify has faded.'"