I’m excited to be on the blog tour for The Log House by Baylea Hart today and to have a great guest post from the author aboya the inspiration behind his books to share with you.

The Log House is available to buy now in ebook and paperback.  The ebook is currently only £1.99.  You can purchase a copy of both here.

Before I share my guest post with you, here is a little about the book.

Book Synopsis:

The forest is a deadly place. Nobody knows this better than Penny. She has spent her whole life hiding in the darkness, shielding herself from the terrors that watch and wait within the trees. When Penny is abandoned and left for dead in the forest, she is forced to navigate this terrifying labyrinth in order to return home to her son and take revenge on the woman who tried to kill her. But the murderous creatures with the false smiles aren’t the only monsters to lurk in the forest, and some demons may be closer than she thinks.

Guest Post: Inspiration behind the book.

What inspired me to write my novel?

There are so many things that can inspire a story. I’ve written characters based on people I see on commutes, or short stories based on a single line of a song I’ve found particularly interesting. Even the weather can inspire me sometimes. Usually though, my writing begins with a single image I see flash in my mind. With The Log House, this image was of a woman waking in a stairlift, miles above a forest canopy. I remember vividly waking up one morning with this image in my head, perhaps something left over from a dream.

In the end, this image didn’t make it into the novel, but it was enough to spark it into life. I wanted to know who the woman was, and how she would make it out. Character is always most important to me – I have playlists by the dozen of music dedicated to particular characters, but nothing I thought of seemed to fit this time. I could see the place she had been sent from, I could even get a taste of why she had been sent away, but the woman herself was hazy and out of reach, and remained that way until I asked myself another question.

Does the woman in the stairlift deserve to be there?

I have always loved morally grey characters, characters you never know if you can trust. The protagonist is the driving force of the novel, you are following events through their eyes. Though it would have been fun, and perhaps more conventional to go the route of the “wronged woman”, I decided I wanted to play with the other side of the coin. What if the woman DID deserve to be sent away? What kind of thing could she have done to deserve that?

Eventually, I decided I wanted readers to go through the novel both rooting for and disliking my main character. I wanted there to be points where she seemed to make a completely rational decision, only for a later event to show the spite and malice behind it. In the end, this push for a true “grey” character even shaped the layout of my novel. Instead of one long narrative, I found myself adding extra chapters, scenes from the past that would alter or add meaning to what was currently happening.

After a year or so, I finished with a story completely different to the one I had started with. Instead of a woman, scared and alone, hanging precariously over the trees, I had Penny; a bitter, vengeful woman who would take down monsters to get what she wanted. And boy, am I glad for it.

About The Author:

If you liked the sound of this book from my review please follow the blog tour and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying.

Book Synopsis:

She took a mouthful of the sweet liquid and started to feel a pounding in her head. Arms went around her waist and she was half lifted and half pulled. The last thing she was aware of was her head hitting a step…

Sixteen-year-old Emily had everything to live for. A bright, beautiful teenager with a promising future ahead of her. But in one night her life is cut short. The police say it’s an accident. But her parents think she was murdered.

When Detective Rachel Prince is called in to investigate the shocking death at the height of the Edinburgh festival, her instincts tell her that things are not as they first appear. Something is very wrong.

As the case takes an unexpected turn, Rachel discovers a chilling link with the suspicious death of another international student, who stayed in the same house as Emily two years before.

Just as Rachel finds herself on the hunt for a serial killer, a painful relationship from her own past catches up with her. And Rachel must decide what is more important – catching the killer or keeping her own secrets?

A breath-taking, tense roller-coaster crime thriller featuring unforgettable series detective Rachel Prince. Now She’s Gone is perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Karin Slaughter.

Now She’s Gone is out now in ebook and paperback.  The ebook is currently only £1.99! You can purchase a copy of both here.

My Review:

I heard a lot about Alison James so I was very excited to read her new book Now She’s Gone.

The author has a great way of gradually increasing the tension and intrigue in the book so before I knew what was happening I was hooked.  What starts out as a fairly simple looking investigation, soon becomes very murky as it becomes obvious that things aren’t as they seem.

The two main characters were absolutely brilliant and a duo I hope the author includes in another of her books.  Their easy relationship and the banter between them was great to read about.  It helped to break up the tension and lead to some very funny moments.  The fact they brought a dog around on their investigations was hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things that happened as a result.

I loved the vivid descriptions of Edinburgh and the festival, especially as I’d really like to go visit one day. It was fascinating to learn a little more about what the festival is like and what type of things you can do there.

The author highlights the interesting differences between the English and Scottish justice systems.  It’s interesting to know that the buck stops at only one person regarding determining how they died and if anything further needs to be investigated. It makes me wonder if any real life crimes were similarly dismissed as an accident when they weren’t.

This is the second book in the series but the first ive read.  I think it works well as a standalone as anything you need to know about the characters past is explained.

Thanks to Noelle Horton, Bookouture and Netgalley for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog blitz.

About The Author:

Born in the Cotswolds, Alison spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after her two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, Alison worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.

Follow The Blog Blitz:

If you liked the sound of this book from my review please follow the blog blitz and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying.