- Barbara Copperthwaite
What’s Their Secret? C.J SKUSE @cjskuse confesses! #HerLastSecret
To celebrate #HerLastSecret going on sale, I’ve asked authors to share their secrets with me… Today it’s Sweet Pea author C.J. SKUSE.
C.J. SKUSE is the author of the Young Adult novels PRETTY BAD THINGS, ROCKOHOLIC and DEAD ROMANTIC (Chicken House) and MONSTER and THE DEVIANTS (Mira Ink). She has recently written the adult crime novels SWEETPEA and its sequel for HQ/HarperCollins. C.J. was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England and has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, lectures in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University.
C.J. loves Masterchef, Gummy Bears and graveyards. She hates hard-boiled eggs, going to the dentist and coughing. The movies Titanic, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Ruby Sparks were all probably based on her ideas – she just didn’t get to write them down in time. Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and have Tom Hardy present her with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
TIME TO SPILL THE BEANS, C.J! WHAT’S YOUR…
Secret writing ritual…
Tying my hair back before I begin, ala Violet Baudelaire. I absolutely can’t write with my hair touching my neck or face.
Secret writing snack…
Chewing gum. Helps me think. Alex Ferguson was right.
Secret celebration when you finish a WIP…
Music up loud, dance around the house for about 10 minutes, then give myself a few weeks off. That’s a real treat.
‘Guilty secret’ read…
The Bible or the dictionary. I love stories and I love words. I could happily live without all other books. For a while.
‘Guilty secret’ tv programme…
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.
Shared secret (tell us something your readers don’t know about you)
For the first 19 years of my life I lived above a pub. Imagine eating out every night of the year – it was awesome. I’d ask my mum what what’s for tea and she’d say ‘You know what’s on the menu.’ And for a long time after we moved out I couldn’t get to sleep without downstairs noise. Strange but true.
Secret peek into your new WIP…
The sequel to Sweetpea. In this one, you’ll meet medieval instruments of torture, old wombats, big puddings and find out who was knocking at the door.
Secret Santa… (If you could give a happy ending to any character who would it be, and what would you do?)
Finnick from The Hunger Games trilogy. He didn’t deserve to go out like that.
THANKS FOR THOSE GREAT CONFESSIONS, C.J!
HER LAST SECRET is out on Friday 13th October. Lucky for you – unlucky for the Thomas family…
To pre-order or find our more, use the links below.
UK
US
There are some secrets you can never tell.
The last thing to go through Dominique Thomas’s head was the image of her teenage daughter’s face and her heart lifted. Then the shot rang out.
They were the perfect family. Successful businessman Ben Thomas and his wife Dominique live an enviable life, along with their beautiful children; teenager Ruby and quirky younger daughter, Mouse.
But on Christmas Day the police are called to their London home, only to discover a horrific scene; the entire family lying lifeless, victims of an unknown assailant.
But when Ruby’s diary is discovered, revealing her rage at the world around her, police are forced to look closer to home for the key to this tragedy.
Each family member harboured their own dark truths – but has keeping their secrets pushed Ruby to the edge of sanity? Or are there darker forces at work?
This dark, gripping psychological thriller will have you holding your breath until the very last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Sometimes I Lie, and The Girl on the Train will be captivated.
See what readers are saying about Barbara Copperthwaite:
‘My heart and guts were gripped and squeezed so tight I had trouble reading!…This broke my heart into so many pieces…I was left speechless by the flawless narration and the harrowing emotions that rushed through me until the very end.’ Chocolate and Waffles
‘A darkly addictive and creepy page turner that had me on the edge of my seat…the last few chapters were breathtakingly shocking with developments I hadn’t been expecting and the final pages were absolutely brilliant, leaving me with goosebumps!’ My Chestnut Reading Tree
‘Compelling, claustrophobic and horribly believable – a great read!’ B.A. Paris, author of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown
‘It grips you by the throat and doesn’t let go. A tense, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting ride’Robert Bryndza, author of The Girl in the Ice and Last Breath
‘Vividly written and absolutely gripping. I couldn’t put it down!’ The Genre Reader
‘There are plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing, leading all the way to a jaw-dropping ending that left me spinning.’ Novel Deelights
‘Gripping and shocking. Had me completely enthralled in the action…a story that got under my skin.’ Rachel’s Random Reads
‘A dark, compelling and unforgettable read that had me hooked. The final paragraph haunted me, long after I had finished reading.’ Brew and Books Review
‘Addictive, Thrilling, Captivating! I could not put this book down, it captures your interest from the very first page until the very last.’ Book Reviews by Nicole
‘It really did make for some very emotional reading…There was a twist which totally rocked me.’ By The Letter Book Reviews
‘Plenty of red herrings and twists…If you like psychological thrillers, you’ll love it.’ Consumer reviewer