Broken – Betsy Reavley
Today I am pleased to be able to
participate in the blog tour for Broken
by Betsy Reavley. My thanks go to Bloodhound Books for my spot on this
tour.
About the Book
Annabel,
a troubled young woman trying to put her life back together, decides to take a
trip to the Suffolk coast to clear her head and get away from her mother. But when
she arrives in the little seaside town, she discovers a series of grisly
murders have taken place and police are searching for a twisted killer.
After
a fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger, Jude, the course of her life
changes and soon she finds peace in a world away from the misery she has known.
But
when Jude comes under suspicion from the police, and her idyllic world is
threatened, Annabel’s happy existence starts to become a nightmare.
Can
Annabel escape her painful past or is her fate sealed? And why is she haunted
by horrific visions when she seems on the verge of finding happiness?
This
astonishing novel will take you on a shattering journey through Annabel’s fight
for survival and will ask if the greatest threat we pose is to ourselves.
Suitable for over 18’s only. It contains graphic scenes some
readers may find disturbing.
(Please note this is a change in title having previously been published
under the title Beneath the Watery Moon)
Betsy Reavley has made me fall in love with this story and ripped
my guts out at the same time. The
most beautiful and poetic story takes a leap in to the dark side leaving you
wondering. Not for the faint
hearted. Compelling work from a highly
talented author. – Alexina Golding reader review
Extract
Due to other issues, I have not
been able to read this in advance of the review, but could not let the publication
of this book go by without me participating in the blog tour. I am seriously looking forward to this book
landing on my kindle and will add to my ever growing TBR pile and read shortly.
To celebrate the publication
ofthis book I am pleased to be able to share an extract with you and hopefully
you will be also eagerly going off to buy this book and looking forward to
curling up with a nice drink of your choice (hot chocolate), some chocolate itself
and a nice comfty chair to read in.
I still couldn’t speak, so I shrugged, looking into the bottom of
my empty glass.
‘I’ll be back in a mo.’ Jude stood and pushed his chair
away as he spoke, and left the table. He returned a moment later with
a pint of water.
‘I hope you don’t mind, but I thought you could do with
this.’
He pushed the glass to me, with a kind but sad
expression.
‘Jesus, am I that bad?’ I asked. I took a sip of water. He seemed
satisfied by this and sat back to watch the musician, who was by now
half-cut himself. We sat together, not speaking, for a few songs.
‘Why are you here?’ he asked.
Taken aback by the question, I felt compelled to be honest. I
opened up to this stranger about my life and the spell I’d spent in the
psychiatric hospital. It poured out of me with frightening ease. I unburdened
everything that had been swimming around my troubled head since my
release, and with each confession the weight on my shoulders felt
lighter. Jude listened, his eyes fixed on mine, nodding with
understanding, not interrupting.
Instead of feeling judged, I felt like a Catholic in the
confessional. The more I spoke, the less I cared whether he understood or
not: the release was what I needed. I’d been so lonely and trapped
within my own head, it was a blast of freedom and enlightenment to talk to
someone else.
After my monologue I felt like a new person. I looked around the
bar to find it was nearly empty, and the man with the guitar had given up
and gone home. Sally was behind the bar, polishing glasses and chatting merrily
to a gentleman who was clearly trying to get away.
Jude looked down at his hands; I could tell he
was deciding what to say.
‘You needn’t say anything,’ I told him, ‘I’m not after pity
or advice. I just wanted to get it all out. Don’t worry, I’m not dangerous or
anything.’ The statement sounded eccentric.
‘I was a lost soul, once,’ he said, pulling his chair closer,
‘but I’ve since found happiness. It’s late now, but I’d like to talk to
you about it sometime, if you’d let me?’ His words slid over me like butter.
‘Sure.’
‘Tomorrow,’ he said, getting up. ‘Meet me tomorrow at
eleven, in the bar, and I’ll tell you all about my journey.’
‘OK,’ I agreed, also standing, and feeling more
sober than I deserved. ‘My name is Annabel, by the way. Guess I’ll see you
then.’
With that, the mysterious Jude left the bar and walked out
into the night. I stood, stunned, wondering what on earth had just
happened; Sally broke my reverie.
‘Seems you have an admirer, my love. Word of advice though, he
ain’t exactly normal.’
‘Neither am I,’ I said, smiling as I stepped out to
light a cigarette. I set off walking and followed the winding
tarmac from the pub towards the shore, as the lights from a
truck came creeping up behind me.
Wow can someone please come and
take over my hecticness that is stopping me from reading all day and let me
read this book now!!
About
the Author
Author of The Quiet Ones, The Optician's Wife,
Frailty, Carrion, Beneath the Watery Moon and the poetry
collection The
Worm in the Bottle. Betsy was born in Hammersmith, London.
As a child she moved around frequently with her
family, spending time in London, Provence, Tuscany, Gloucestershire and
Cambridgeshire.
She showed a flair for literature and writing from a
young age and had a particular interest in poetry, of which she was a prolific
consumer and producer.
In her early twenties she moved to Oxford, where she
would eventually meet her husband. During her time in Oxford her interests
turned from poetry to novels and she began to develop her own unique style of
psychological thriller.
Betsy says "I believe people are at their most fascinating
when they are faced by the dark side of life. This is what I like to write
about."
Betsy Reavley
currently lives in London, with her husband, 2 children, dog, cat and chickens.
Social Media Links
Website: http://www.bloodhoundbooks.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BetsyReavley
Check out the rest of the blog
tour with these fabulous blogs:
My thanks to Betsy Reavley for providing this excerpt and the publishers Bloodhound Books for my
spot on the blog tour.
