Hello and a very Happy New Year!
I'm beginning 2025 with a nasty dose of the flu, but taking to my sick bed has given me the chance to look back at 2024 and reflect on all the fun stuff that happened last year.
I had three books out in 2024 with my publisher, Bookouture: The Baby in April, The Photo in July and Everyone Has Secrets in October.
Of the three, The Baby in particular surpassed my expectations, making the top 20 in the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the top 100 in the US. It was a real pinch-me moment.
The audiobooks of all three have been consistently in Audible’s top 100 domestic thrillers charts since their release, too, which is just amazing.
Rights for The Baby have been sold in Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal, and the book is also due to be published in Germany later this year.
Crazy, huh?!
October also saw the release of my short story, The Anniversary Trip, which you can read for free here if you subscribe to my Bookouture early readers' club.
It's a twisty little tale set on the White Cliffs of Dover and was great fun to write.
My next book is in the final stages of edits and will be out on April 1. In the meantime I’m busy working up more ideas to pitch to the Bookouture team. Wish me luck!
Outside books, 2024 was pretty jam-packed. I gave my 25th blood donation and saw the Irish band The Mary Wallopers in London. I went wine-tasting at Chapel Down vineyard near Tenterden and had a fantastic night bopping around at Abba Voyage.
I was part of the crew at the Self Publishing Show Live in London and interviewed author Gill Hornby at Maidstone LitFest.
I went viral when the ‘Why you should have a cat’ people over on X/Twitter nicked a picture of me and the cats and posted it on their channel.
I walked the 33-mile Midhurst Way with one of my oldest friends and had a proud mum moment at our eldest son Oliver’s graduation.
We had a two-week family holiday to Scotland and Adrian and I finished the year with a weekend in London to see the London International Horse Show.
That’s not to say there haven’t been tough times this year, because there really have. My father-in-law, John, sadly passed away at the end of May and is very much missed. There have been family illnesses and emergency trips to the vet, demanding work schedules and general slumps.
But, all in all, there is so much to be grateful for.
Most of all, I am grateful to you for picking up my books, whether for the first time or if you’ve been diving into them since When She Finds You came out five-and-a-half years ago.
None of this would be possible without you. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Time to sign off now. I’ll be dropping by in the next few days to reveal the title and cover of my new release, so be sure to check your inbox.
In the meantime, Happy New Year! I can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for us all. And here are some of my best bits from 2024.
Much love,
Amanda x
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