Today I’m delighted to be joining the blog tour for Finding Ruby. I’m sharing a guest post by JA Higgins with thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for writing her guest post!

Blurb:

On Halloween night, thirteen-year-old Ruby disappears in the company of a masked figure. She is never seen again. The only witness is Nell Montague who is just seven years old.

Twenty-three years later, Nell is trapped in an abusive relationship and still suffering from vivid nightmares of what she saw. When tragedy strikes she escapes and attempts to put her past behind her. Then, thirteen-year-old Emily disappears.

Haunted by increasingly disturbing visions and helped by a reluctant psychic, Nell must unravel the mystery of what really happened that night, because to save Emily she must first find Ruby. But to do so she will question everything she thought she knew about her own childhood and soon discovers that nightmares don’t always end when you wake up.

Guest Post:

JA Higgins tells us why she doesn’t write romance.

Why don’t I write romance?
A question I am often asked. With so many excellent and successful romance authors out in the world I will instead explain why I choose to write mystery thrillers with a paranormal theme. The world is not perfect and much of what makes people discontent comes from the belief that they are lacking in some way. Social media, magazines, television, and film, show
the world as it could be. So many people suffer from the belief that they are not enough; that everyone else is doing better than they are, having a better relationship, career, or social life. Even the casual photos on a night out are very often adjusted, filtered, or changed. But the world is not perfect, so I write stories about normal people facing tough
times yet still managing to find peace, find happiness, perhaps even find themselves. In FINDING RUBY I have put my protagonist Nell through the worst of possible times. But we see her resilience shining through. She has hope; and so finds the courage and fight needed
to escape.
Why the paranormal? Like many children I loved ghost stories when I was little and when visiting castles or stately homes would always ask if there had been any sightings. And there always had. Do I believe in ghosts? Perhaps. I have certainly experienced a few things that
cannot be explained away by possible drafts or cooling pipes. But for me this is what makes the paranormal so exciting. It is something that can’t always be explained so we must accept it on face value, and for me it is a direct link from the past to the present. I have been on two professionally organised paranormal investigations and was pleasantly surprised at how scientific they were. And great fun.
I am a firm believer of never giving up. Because you never know how close you are to breaking through. Anyone who has ever started anything new knows this feeling. Sharing something that comes from your heart is like showing a piece of your soul to the world. And it is very scary. Creatives talk about imposter syndrome, of how it can creep up on you at the most vulnerable stage of the creative process and totally floor you. We all ask the same question; is this good enough or will people see through me? But since becoming an author and pushing myself continuously out of my comfort zone I have learned my own lesson; that
anything worth doing is going to scare us but if we have hope and a little belief in ourselves we can do it. Whether it is writing a book, painting a picture, attending an audition, or even turning up to a job interview.
So why don’t I write romance? Because in paranormal mystery thrillers I have found a life affirming truth; the world can be a truly frightening place but we can always end one chapter and start a happier one. All we need is hope and a little belief in ourselves.

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Finding Ruby is available from Amazon.

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