Set Me Free
London Setterby
Publication date: July 8th 2016
Genres: Gothic, New Adult, Romance
Miranda Lewis is desperate to get away from her controlling ex–so desperate she leaves him in the middle of the night. She ends up on a remote island off the Maine coast, where she befriends a bubbly shopkeeper, Claire, and becomes fascinated with Claire’s son, big, brooding Owen Larsen, a woodworker who keeps to himself. Even the friendliest locals here are secretive–and Owen is at the center of their secrets.
Still, Miranda loves the salt air, the craggy coastline, and, most of all, the work of the island’s beloved local painter, Suzanna White. Miranda wants to stay–to claim a life of her own, to paint again. But the longer she stays, the more her fascination with Owen increases. Why is there a painting of his stern, handsome face in the art gallery by the beach? And why is everyone so afraid of him?
Guest Post
If a genie grants you 3 wishes to use towards your writing career. What are they and why?
Technically, Set Me Free is my debut novel. But lots of people have already read it, because it’s spent over a year on the free story-sharing site, Wattpad. In fact, Set Me Free has quite a long history: I started it in 2010, took a long break after a serious accident, and finished it in 2014. I queried agents for a while after that, only to realize, after much agonizing, that traditional publishing just isn’t for me. I thought about quitting writing altogether for a while, thanks in part to some underlying mental health problems, and ended up putting Set Me Free on Wattpad because my therapist suggested it—it was literally part of my daily therapy regimen. I didn’t expect Wattpad to help at all. Nothing was helping me back then. But it did, even before Set Me Free ended up on Wattpad’s featured reads list and hit a million views on Christmas day, much to my amazement. It turns out sharing my work with readers is the most wonderful thing in the world. And the lovely folks on Wattpad seemed to really get the book. The dark domestic violence subplot that agents had raised their eyebrows at really resonated with my fellow Wattpadders (perhaps sadly), and I thought, well, maybe some of the other, equally weird stuff I write will resonate, too.
It takes courage—that’s the problem. Sharing my weird, not-quite-genre, frequently f*cked up stuff. My readers are the sweetest, but I still struggle with finding enough courage, sometimes every day, to write and/or to share what I wrote. So if I’m ever lucky enough to come across a genie, I’d ask him for a dose of courage first.
Writing also takes a certain quantity of stubbornness, too, or perhaps, to put it a little more nicely, steadfastness: the will to stick to the plan you’ve created, even when you feel insecure or you are distracted by a new, shiny thing. And it requires patience—with yourself, with others, with the world. I still haven’t figured out how to have utter tenacity and zen patience all at the same time —and courage, always courage—but maybe my genie can give me some tips. :-)
Thanks, EskieMama, for having me here, and thanks for the great question!
Author Bio:
Hello! I’m London, a writer, lawyer, and life-long New Englander. I write all flavors of romance, from surreal fantasy romances to raw gritty contemporaries. I also write across the gender and sexuality spectrums. Everything I write is a little bit funny, a little bit sad, and probably kind of strange.
You might know me from Wattpad–my Wattpad Featured Read, Set Me Free, a Gothic romance, will be released as an ebook and in print in summer 2016.
My gritty erotic romance, Breathe, is currently being serialized on Radish, a free app. It will be released in ebook/print as well sometime after Set Me Free.
Thanks for hosting today, Melissa! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the cover :)
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