The Sham by Ellen Allen || Release date; Sept. 2014
When love leads to death, be careful who you trust…
Eighteen-year-old Emily Heath would love to leave her dead-end town, known locally as "The Sham", with her boyfriend, Jack, but he's very, very sick; his body is failing and his brain is shutting down. He's also in hiding, under suspicion of murder. Six months' ago, strange signs were painted across town in a dialect no one has spoken for decades and one of Emily's classmates washed up in the local floods.
Emily has never trusted her instincts and now they're pulling her towards Jack, who the police think is a sham himself, someone else entirely. As the town wakes to discover new signs plastered across its walls, Emily must decide who and what she trusts, and fast: local vigilantes are hunting Jack; the floods, the police, and her parents are blocking her path; and the town doesn’t need another dead body.
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Thanks to Ellen Allen I have TEN eBooks of The Sham to give away to TEN lucky winners!
The Sham is a YA Thriller with (see above) some scenes that are not suitable for younger readers --I hear the beginning of the book is particularly brutal - and it's been getting some great feedback on Goodreads: Take a look!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Please read the Competition Rules
*Please Note:Winners emails will be forwarded to the author -- eBooks will be sent directly from the author.
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Ellen Allen on her inspiration for The Sham
*******
Listen to the playlist for The Sham
As I was
writing the book, I had these songs in my mind
at key
scenes in the plot; they make a great album:
Emily is
forced to watch as four of her classmates bully
a small boy
in the local playground. She meets Jack and,
together,
they are able to save him. Everyone is
traumatized
but Jack helps her to feel better: “I’m
coming up, I’m too young to worry bout burning out”.
This is a
very moody and atmospheric song for when
Emily finds
out that her classmate – one of the
playground
bullies – is dead.
After
tourists claim Jack is their long lost nephew,
someone
called Matthew, Jack disappears and Emily
convinces herself that she really is “better
off without
you”. It
has a great vibe and it’s very upbeat, even
though it’s sad.
This is the music playing for Emily and Jack’s first kiss;
“Take me
into your loving arms. Place your head on my
beating heart.” Aaaah.
Jack doesn’t give away his emotions easily and this song
perfectly
encapsulates what Emily thinks Jack is feeling
–
that he doesn’t want to commit – and how he
should
“dig a little deeper”.
The police
manage to convince Emily that Jack is
actually Matthew. She’s angry, hurt, upset and feels
betrayed:
“You killed the love that was once so strong.
With no
regret to what you did wrong”.
This song
is playing over the speakers of the
supermarket
café when Emily finally finds everything
out – about
who Jack really is and who killed the girls. It
manages to
perfectly encapsulate the complexity of
Jack and Emily’s relationship and the situation
she has
to deal
with at the end of the book; “we could be the
greatest,
we could be the worst of all”.
This song
conveys the end of the book brilliantly and
leaves us
on a really upbeat tone. It’s a tip top tune!
Follow on Twitter: @EllenWritesAll
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