Tag: Falling (Fall or Break #1) by Barbara Elsborg

In the Spotlight: Falling (Fall or Break #1) by Barbara Elsborg (author interview and contest)

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Falling (Fall or Break #1) by Barbara Elsborg
Samhain Publishing

Falling cover

Author Barbara Elsborg is here today to talk about her book, Falling, and the Fall or Break series.  Check out our interview below and the book details  that follow.

Contest: Enter to win a eBook from Barbara Elsborg’s library.  Leave a comment below, along with an email address where you can be contacted.  And also click on the Rafflecopter link below as well.  Contest ends midnight, April 21st (2 weeks from today):
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An Interview with Barbara Elsborg on “Falling”….

1. What prompted you to write Falling?

I hate the idea of someone being put in prison for something they didn’t do. I hate the idea of someone being accused of something they didn’t do! It made me think how awful it must be to be in prison and be constantly encouraged to admit your guilt and how hard it must be to stand against that pressure. It used to be the case that if you didn’t admit your guilt you spent more of your sentence behind bars. That’s not really true now BUT since a parole board has to agree to your early release, if you haven’t accepted your guilt it can be a reason to deny you the chance of life outside on license. I had to do a lot of research to check I had my facts right!

2. Where do you draw your inspiration?

Everywhere. Things I’m told, things I read or see. An addiction to Google! Another inspiration for Falling was when a friend told me of a young man she knew who was a teacher in Scotland – accused of abuse by a pupil. He was innocent. The accusation was withdrawn but the damage was done and he left teaching. I think in these days of political correctness, you have to be so careful what you say and do and in a way, it’s a shame. We need a better balance.

3. Falling is the first in the Fall or Break series. Will you continue with the couple in Falling or will each subsequent book feature a different set of MCs?

The next book Breaking – features Conrad – a minor character out of Falling. It’s a stand alone book but it does help to know who Conrad used to be with. Malachi and Harper have a little part in Breaking – out in July. I prefer writing books that tell the story of one couple, and end it rather than let it run to several books.

4. Or will the series chart the progression of the relationship?

So no – LOL – the series will be about different MCs!

5. Were you a prolific reader as a child?

Huge reader. I used to be trouble with the local library because I took books back to change them for new ones before they’d filed the cards for the ones I’d taken out. (that dates me!) I read very fast. 80 pages in 30 minutes of a paperback – often even quicker. I also read up to 3 books at the same time – not actually at the same time but I have 3 by the side of the bed now, all part read, plus the one on my Kindle. I read according to mood! I’m not always in the mood for romance. I like suspense and thrillers.

6. If so, what book or author made a impact on you as a child reader?

That’s really hard. I think I might pick the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. I loved the idea of another land up a tree!I was scared of heights though so I never climbed trees.

7. And has that impact continued into adulthood, as a reader and writer?

No. Enid Blyton was of her time. Some stories like the Magic Faraway Tree can be read now, but the others are dated. I didn’t have a favourite author. I just read anything. Once I was in my teens I was addicted to James Bond books. Then I branched out to the classics. There aren’t many genres I won’t try. The one I have the most difficulties with is hard core sci fi. It’s too technical for me.

8. Who do you consider your influences as an author today?

Impossible to say. I’ve read so much and loved so much- Adele Parks, Jennifer Crusie, Fiona Walker, Freya North – but I love thriller and suspense writers like Mark Billingham, Tom Wood, Karin Slaughter, Harlan Coben, Mo Hayder – so many. I also love regency romances – Eloisa James, Mary Balogh, Julia Quinn… too many to mention. I think any good author that you read has to have some influence if only to encourage you to write better.

9. What drives you to write? And have you always written?

What drives me? The love of telling a story, the need for a happy ending, a belief in love, an interest in what makes people tick. I have always written. I started with fan fiction as a teenager for TV shows and wrote my first novel in my early twenties. I found writing was a way to escape a not very happy time at school. I could dive into my own world, make myself the heroine and give myself a HEA.

10. What’s next for Barbara Elsborg?
I have an MM called The Demon You Know out in April. An MMF called Talking Trouble out in May. Breaking out in July and I’ve just finished writing an MM tentatively called Give Yourself Away. It’s going to be a year of many releases!! But on a personal note, I’m going to be at RT in Dallas if anyone would like to meet me!

STRW Author BookSynopsis

About Falling…

Falling is easy. Landing without breaking your heart? Impossible.

Harper is no longer behind bars, but it doesn’t feel like it. Ten years serving time for a crime he didn’t commit have left him shut down, numb, and a frozen wreck over the simplest of choices.

He’s acutely aware of the dark-haired young man checking him out in the supermarket, but he’s too deep in panic mode to even meet the guy’s gaze. Afraid the slightest move will trigger a fall that will never stop.

Fresh off a long-term relationship with a controlling man, Malachi is stuck living with relatives who think he’s a waste of oxygen. The tall guy in the long, gray coat is the first bright spot he’s glimpsed in a long time…though the man’s unblinking stare at a bottle of shower gel is a touch alarming.

Hard experience tells both of them to turn away before lust turns to hopeless attraction, and inevitably to disaster. But once their sparks connect, the arc of electricity is too strong to deny. Even if the cost is too much to bear.

Warning: Contains an ex-con with disaster written all over him, a boy toy who’s trouble with a capital T, a damp old British house, compulsive meddling, and enough hot sex to cure the severe case of nervous babbling.  Read an excerpt here at Samhain.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing           Amazon       Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 282 pages
Published March 24th 2015 by Samhain Publishing
original titleFalling,ASINB00Q33IKYG
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.barbaraelsborg.com/book/falling/
seriesFall or Break #1

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

About Barbara Elsborg:

Barbara Elsborg lives in West Yorkshire in the north of England. She always wanted to be a spy, but having confessed to everyone without them even resorting to torture, she decided it was not for her. Vulcanology scorched her feet. A morbid fear of sharks put paid to marine biology. So instead, she spent several years successfully selling cyanide.

After dragging up two rotten, ungrateful children and frustrating her sexy, devoted, wonderful husband (who can now stop twisting her arm) she finally has time to conduct an affair with an electrifying plugged-in male, her laptop.

Her books feature quirky heroines and bad boys, and she hopes they are as much fun to read as they are to write.

Contact/follow Barbara at her blog/website:  http://www.barbaraelsborg.com/

A Sammy Review: Falling (Fall or Break #1) by Barbara Elsborg

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

“I’m well aware I should just accept the things I can’t change. I know the mantra—live one day at a time, enjoy one moment at a time, accept hardships as the way to peace, accept the world for what it is. But I don’t believe in God.”

“You don’t need to believe in God, you need to believe in yourself. There’s another line in the Serenity Prayer about having the courage to change things that you can. It’s not just about acceptance.” Malachi inched his fingers closer. “Start the rest of your life right now.”

Falling coverNeither Malachi nor Harper have necessarily had it easy. Life, for each of them, is a series of missteps and stumbles. Ten years ago, Harper managed to not only stumble, but crash. Convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and serving time that wasn’t his to serve, the world outside looks to be a jaded place, not an easy release from the literal and figurative bars he’d been living behind for years.

Malachi, on the other hand, has escaped a prison of his own. Out of a long-term relationship defined by control, he’s lost his job and is left with no money. He has a roof over his head, but even that is suffocating.

One happenstance meeting doesn’t bring them together, but a second one does. Their connection is instant and strong, but is it strong enough to withstand a world so stacked against them and a guilty conviction that is burned within Harper’s skin?

He’d spent so many years swamped by waves of bleakness that he’d grown to accept them as part of him. He’d been in a prison of his own making as a boy, and barely escaped it as a man before he’d lost his freedom again. The only thing imprisoning him now was the past. It was up to him to put it behind him and let the man in his arms be his future.

I’m a picky reader at times, but I can honestly say that from the very start, this book had me and it never let me go, not once. I had to take a long break in reading, and when I came back, it hadn’t let up at all. I was captivated and enticed and I loved every second of it.

The novel itself isn’t a light, fun story. It has a lot of heavy subject matter that doesn’t quite sit right in the pit of your stomach, and that’s part of what I liked so much about it. The author put the characters in places others would be too afraid to. She made both characters wrecked but able to stand. They weren’t weak, they were damaged and beautiful.

It’s funny, though, because this is one of the first books I’ve read, at least in a long time, where there was laughter during sex, and I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed that until here. It was as if their intimate connection and the release that came with it was truly an escape from the shadows surrounding them. I truly enjoyed it. Not to mention each scene was steamy and lovely and though there were plenty, I never got bored of them.

The mystery element of this was also pretty good. Typically I figure it out within the first fifty percent, and then I spend the rest of the book just waiting for the characters to open their eyes. In this one, I found out about the same time the characters did. I had an inkling, but I had many of those, so it was nice to still be waiting toward the end, as opposed to having a “well now you get it” moment.

I also have to say that it takes a special author to take a character, build them to be disliked, and then make you feel for them, to the point where you want them to have their own story. This is how I am with Conrad. I want to read his story, I want to learn to feel with him.

This story has many good points, and it has left me ready to seek out more by this author.

I enjoy the cover art by Kanaxa. I think the dark shade of it fits the mood of the story and I appreciate the use of texture. What I’m not so sure of is the choice of fonts. For the title, I get that the L’s are meant to simulate the act of falling, but instead all I can think of is the symbols for the world trade centers. Whoops.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing      Amazon   Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 335 pages
Expected publication: March 24th 2015 by Samhain Publishing
original titleFalling, available for preorder prior to 3/24
ASINB00Q33IKYG
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.barbaraelsborg.com/book/falling/
seriesFall or Break #1