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Meet the Author in April 2021 @Goodreads New Authors

This sounds like an intriguing story. I'm wondering what the author's motivation/inspiration has been?

Hi GR

The inspiration for the story came years ago when there was talk of building a new ring road around the south of Bristol where I live. I spent many hours on the hills south of the city and it was thought that the road may cut through them (fortunately the plan was changed).

What if the road cut through the secluded area where you lived and what if you had killed someone and buried their body? That body would be discovered and you'd have to escape justice - if you could!

From those musings Carol's story emerged.

Thanks for sharing that Elizabeth

Killing The Girl
by Elizabeth Hill (Goodreads Author)
4.12 · Rating details · 146 ratings · 82 reviews
A perfect life, a perfect love - and a perfect murder.For over forty years Carol Cage has been living as a recluse in her mansion, Oaktree House. Fear is her constant companion. She's been keeping a secret - and it's about to be unearthed.
When she receives a compulsory purchase order for her home, she knows that everyone is going to find out what she did to survive her darkest weeks in 1970. She writes her confession so that we can understand what happened because she wasn't the only one living a lie. The events that turned her fairy-tale life into a living hell were not all they seemed.
She's determined not to pay for the mistakes of others; if she has to suffer, then they will too.
Carol Cage has a terrible secret ... and she's about to exact retribution on everyone who'd let her suffer.

Hello readers!

I hope that you are all safe and well and have a great book to read. If you would like the chance to download a FREE copy of my Ebook, Killing The Girl, then please watch this thread for an update on when it will be available on Amazon.

Happy reading everyone!

Hello readers!

The opening page of any book has to do it's job to grab a reader's attention. Please let me know about your favourite story opening, the one that you return to time and again.

Here's the opening of Killing The Girl.

Perry Cutler and I buried Frankie Dewberry in the orchard. He lies close to the garden wall, under the shade of the apple trees. Over the last forty-odd years, I’ve spent many hours sitting on the wooden bench we placed next to his grave. It’s a peaceful spot near the boundary wall running to the south-west of my estate. Sitting near him comforts me. I tell Frankie how restricted my life has been since his death. I tell him how sorry I am that our daughter, Francine, died so young. Although I loved him, I never tell him I’m sorry he’s dead.
Outside my study window, the trees and bushes sway stiffly in the winter breeze; their shifting branches stripped bare in the cold air. January is my least favourite month, with its grey, joyless days and cruelty towards my garden.
On my desk, my notebook lies waiting for my reluctant attention. The sick feeling I’ve had this last month stirs as I touch it. It lists the many tasks I have to complete; inventories to write and documents to sign. Chilly air surrounds me as Frankie’s spirit enters the room. Shivering in his ghostly presence, I reread the newspaper article. My house is to be demolished to make way for a ring road. They will find Frankie’s resting place when they cut into the soil protecting my lover, my darling man. Police will ask questions. Strangers, who know nothing about me or my pain, will look at me in disgust.
After they have finished with his skeleton, we can arrange his funeral so they can lay him to rest in consecrated ground. We will say prayers and sanction his long-awaited trip to heaven, although when I killed him, I was sure that he went straight to hell.

I hope that opening makes you want to read on :)

Have a great day!

Thanks for the free book Elizabeth

Hello readers and happy Saturday.

Let's get the weekend off to a great start by giving someone living in the UK the chance to receive a signed paperback copy of my novel. All you have to do to be in with a chance is answer these questions (answers found in the 'look inside' portion of the novel on Amazon).

1. What is the name of Carol's best friend?
2. Where is the orchard?
3. Who is Lily?

https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/embed?as...

The opening was lovely! Totally unexpected twist. Definitely marking to read.

Happy Easter everyone!

Let me know what book you're reading today.

Have a great time - and save some chocolate for tomorrow!

Keep in touch for the FREE EBOOK offer coming up soon. Get in touch for your copy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Very gripping introduction, to be sure. I like the care-free, almost loving references that she makes to her husband. It sets the tone for a great psychological mystery. Now it makes we wonder: who is Perry Cutler? And why is the title of the book: Killing the Girl when the intro is about killing her husband? Very good opening.

G.R. wrote: "Very gripping introduction, to be sure. I like the care-free, almost loving references that she makes to her husband. It sets the tone for a great psychological mystery. Now it makes we wonder: who..."

Thanks GR. Yes she loved him but ... Of course you have to read it lol! and there is quite a large part on Amazon on the 'look inside' feature to give more information. I will be making the Ebook free for one day this month so watch this space!

A couple of songs influenced the writing of Killing The Girl. Firstly Lara Fabian's 'Adagio', a song that reflects Carols longing for Frankie, convinced me to change Frankie's Uni major to music, from English. The words to Fleetwood Mac's 'Silver Springs' tuned with Carol's determination not to let another woman have Frankie.

Playing songs while not writing can sometimes hit a note and then be incorporated into your prose.

Creatives feel the emotion from other creatives don't you think?

Hello readers

Well Easter is over and I hope that you had a lovely time - and lots of chocolate!

It's difficult to assess if you'd like a book and some reviews help. This latest 5 star review tells you that Killing The Girl is difficult to define.

I am finding this a difficult book to review. Not because I didn't love reading it, I did. Normally the words pour out. Exciting, page turner, kept guessing until the end and all those things are true but there is so much more to this book. I am even finding it difficult to decide which genre it's in. Murder, mystery, thriller, romance, tragedy. All of these things are there and so much more. Elizabeth Hill calls upon a range of emotions. Mental health, suicide, domestic abuse, coercion are all touched upon, along with the mystery of what really happened on that fateful day? Who was responsible?
Naïve and stupid are words that come to mind when describing the young Carol, but also feisty and courageous. Which is why the way her life turns out is such a tragedy. How many of us have been so blinded by love that we will believe anything, particularly at 16 years old. Hill describes that first, all encompassing teenage love affair so brilliantly that even once we realise that Carol is being played we're still willing it to end well for her sake. She deserves so much better.
So this really is the book for lovers of romance, for readers who enjoy a good murder mystery, for readers who like a more in depth knowledge of the characters innermost thoughts, emotions and dark secrets. Personally I found it hard to put down.

Find it here on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Don't forget that Killing The Girl will be FREE one day this month so keep watching this thread!

Elizabeth

Hello readers

Do you place value on free books? Do you read free books after you download them?

These are two of the many questions writers ask themselves about potential readers before offering their books for free.

So readers, tell me your thoughts :)

Hello readers

A little about me because I'm not a natural writer - surprise! I love writing but I don't feel the urge like many other writers do. I'm a lazy writer and writing is more of a hobby.

When I set out to write Killing The Girl I didn't have a faintest idea of how to do it. I studied every book about writing I could and worked on 18 versions of my novel. At one stage I had 140k words! Then I didn't like part two so I deleted 50-60k words and started again. I'm a hard taskmaster so deleted A LOT!

When I'd written version 11 I sent it to a professional story structure editor for feedback. The feedback was promising and encouraging so I carried on adopting many of the suggestions into the book. At last by version 15, I was happy with it and sent it to an editor for proof-reading / line editing.

After many agent queries with negative response I received my edited novel back and was told it was 'excellent'. This spurred me on to self-publish and on 7 April 2019 the Ebook went live on Amazon.

I'd love to hear about your writing journeys so get in touch - and don't forget your chance to get a copy FREE, date to be announced here.

Elizabeth

Love this interactive folder Elizabeth!

Group members please avail the fabulous book offers put up by the author. Please don't hesitate to share these group details with your friends and fans. You can use the invite friends button or share the link on your social media pages. Remember the more readers and reviewers in our group, the more exposure for our books.

Hello readers and happy Friday!

When I started writing Killing The Girl, the basic premise was that a young woman kills her boyfriend and buries him in the orchard. I knew that years later he would be found, but not what would happen then.

Drafting the novel I explored what would push a woman to kill. After all, Carol was an ordainary woman, not a sociopath, or pschopath, so killing would not be in her nature. To work out her motive I had to examine her hopes and dreams, and work out what would push her 'over the edge' and set her on her murderous path. I threw many negative aspects of the realities of life at her, to make her confront them and realise that life is not so easy.

Aged fifteen / sixteen, Carol struggled to cope but her belief that if Frankie loved her, married her, and they lived in the lovely Oaktree House, all her dreams would come true. She didn't entertain that other people have their own agenda's and want their own dreams to come true. She held an innocent, simplistic, view of life and happiness. The romance was doomed because Frankie had different motives for entrapping her!

Was that her only motive for killing him? You have to find out by reading the book - and it's FREE soon!

Watch this thread for details and come and say hello.

Elizabeth

Hello readers

It's getting closer to the day when Killing The Girl will be free on Amazon.

If you would like a copy then please let me know so that I can tell you the date :)

Killing The Girl won a Chill With A Book Premier Readers Award and was Book Of The Month for October 2020!

Happy Monday everyone!

Do reviews help you decide to read a novel? Or do you 'look inside' to check that you like the voice of the protagonist? You can read the beginning of Killing The Girl here. Hope you like it and let me know if you would like to know when it's FREE![
https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/embed?as...

Reviews absolutely help me decide whether to read a novel or not, although it has become much more difficult to filter out what are genuine reviews and what aren't. I tend to ignore very short 5 star reviews as well as extremely glowing reviews. I usually find the most insightful information from 3 and 4 star reviews. And, yes, I also always use Amazon's Look Inside feature. Not to see if I connect with the protagonist (I have no issue reading a story with a protagonist that I dislike) but to verify that I like the author's writing style. If I spot a number of spelling or grammatical errors on the first few pages, there's no way I'll be able to finish the book.

G.R. wrote: "Reviews absolutely help me decide whether to read a novel or not, although it has become much more difficult to filter out what are genuine reviews and what aren't. I tend to ignore very short 5 st..."

Thanks G.R. I'm guilty of writing short reviews even for 5 star books. It is difficult to believe the glowing reviews so I search for phrases and insights that are repeated by several reviewers to give me more of feel for the general consensus. But the 'look inside' confirms to me whether I should read the book or not. Writing style is important and, if the novel is written in the first person, too many 'I's' in the prose is off-putting for me no matter what the reviews say.

Not long until my novel Killing The Girl is FREE!

Follow me if you want to know the date and get your copy!

Happy Sunday readers!

Hope that your weekend is going well and you have lots of books to read :)

Not long now until KILLING THE GIRL EBOOK IS FREE!



Don't forget to follow me for the announcement so that you can grab your copy. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Elizabeth

Thanks for posting regularly Elizabeth. If there was an award for most interactive author folder, yours would get it! 👍

Well April is nearly over! Two years ago I published Killing The Girl and was so proud of my achievement. I gave the Ebook away for free at the beginning but then decided not to do that anymore - until today. For the last time it's free today on Amazon. If you download it please let me know your thoughts 👌😊

Have a great day and happy reading Killing The Girl!

ElizabethElizabeth Hill

Thank you to everyone who downloaded their free copy of Killing The Girl. I hope that you enjoy it and don't forget to let me know your thoughts. 👍😊

Well, my author month is drawing to a close so I'll say goodbye for now. ✨

Thanks to GrasshopperBot and the Goodreads team for this opportunity.

Happy reading!

Elizabeth Hill

Thanks Elizabeth. It was. a pleasure having you among us

Grasshopper wrote: "Thanks Elizabeth. It was. a pleasure having you among us"

😀💐