# 24 !!!

Forgive the exclamation marks, but for little old me The Woman on the Beach climbing to number 24 in the main Amazon Kindle chart and hanging around in the top 50 for over a week was a big deal! (does that warrant another exclamation mark, I wonder?) Seriously though, I really have been blown away by the response to my latest book. Today I was going to write about the perfect symmetry of The Woman on the Beach achieving 300 ratings/reviews, My Mother’s Secret 500 and Why She Died 200, but things are moving at such a pace that is no longer accurate.

As I write, she is on 316 ratings/reviews and holding on to Top 20 positions in all three sub-categories, not to mention still in the top 4 of Hot New Releases in Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Literary Fiction. And just look whose new book has knocked me off the top spot! Honestly, I can’t thank you enough if you’ve bought and reviewed this book. I have a few ‘things’ going on in my personal life at the moment, and this is not only the perfect tonic for me, but also a great distraction.

Talking of great distractions, it was lovely to take my mind off things by attending the Bookouture authors’ gathering last Thursday. Believe it or not, as I spend my working life on QVC in the public eye, I’m actually very shy and not that fond of parties. Some people can ‘work’ a room, but I find approaching people I don’t know and starting a conversation really tricky until I get into my stride (then I’m difficult to shut up!)

Fortunately, I’ve met a few of the authors before and I know Bookouture’s Head of Publicity, Kim Nash pictured with me above, pretty well, so she was my safety net.

Chris, my husband virtually had to force me to go – in fact he drove me up to the venue on the banks of the River Thames and waited for me – I’m so lucky to have him. It was also lovely to be congratulated on my chart position and my orange Best Seller banner by the Bookouture MD – was she photobombing me in this picture do you think?

Weatherwise, it was quite a pleasant day, but not as warm as two days previously when Chris and I decided to have an afternoon at the beach. One of closest beaches is West Wittering, near Chichester, but we hadn’t been since our children, now aged 33 and 34, were pre-school age. To be honest, it hasn’t really changed a lot and it was lovely to feel the sun on our faces, breath in the fresh sea air and take a few ‘beachy’ photos of The Woman on the Beach.

I’ve had other people send me photos of either the paperback or the ebook on my social media. Currently, she’s in mainland Greece, Santorini and Ibiza, is just back from France and Jamaica, and is about to embark on a cruise. Leave me a comment below to let me know where you have taken or are taking her.

So, it’s about time I announced the winner of the competition on my last blog. Author, Beth Miller who featured in Between the Lines, kindly offered a signed copy of her latest book, Starstruck as the prize. I asked you for the name of the drummer in The Muppet Show and you all answered correctly that it was Animal. The randomly selected winner is… Jax Blunt. Congratulations, Jax – we will email you for details of where to send your book. Watch this space for more competition giveaways and a new author on Between the Lines in a fortnight’s time.

Well, I’m going to have to close for now as we are off to collect a new car, and not a moment too soon. As you can see from the photos, Chris’s car is literally held together with gaffer tape, although to be fair she has been very reliable over the ten years that he’s had her.

We were going to go plug-in electric, but opted for a hybrid for a couple of years until the infrastructure is more established – every little helps.

Once again, thank you if you’ve read and reviewed The Woman on the Beach – it looks like being my most popular and successful book to date.

Much love

Julia xx