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Happy International Women’s Day♀

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Which woman inspires you?

In the spirit of International Women’s Day, who inspires you? Please comment your answers below!

For me, it’s my wife. She’ll hate me for writing about her like this, but she deserves a huge, huge shout out.

So, why’s my wife my inspiration?

She paid me good money to write about her (I’m joking!). In all honesty, she’s been putting up with me for a good 8 years now. We’ve been through a lot of challenges with what life has thrown at us over the years, but we’ve always stayed strong and supported each other through whatever issue there was.

On top of this, she’s pregnant and I am absolutely amazed with how she’s managing with the experience. It’s quite a surreal moment for me, so I can’t imagine how it’s making her feel.

By going through the journey of pregnancy it just shows how amazing and strong the female body is. It’s extraordinary!

I imagine I’d be a real wimp if I was the one carrying our baby!

In the spirit of inspiring women…

My novel Familiar was driven by a powerful, strong and confident woman in the lead character, Arabella. She’s a badass and has to deal with ‘friends’ constantly reaching out to her. I absolutely loved writing as Arabella, she was amazing! The book wouldn’t be as good if she wasn’t the lead.

If you’re looking for a new book to read and inspiring female protagonists are your bag, then I highly recommend Familiar to you.

It’s currently free to read on Smashwords for Ebook Week ’21

It’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited too (as always!) – preview below

Number 2 on the Amazon Best Sellers in Psychological Fiction

#2 on Amazon’s Best Sellers in Psychological Fiction 🤘

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DECEPTION: A Love of Lies has been free to download on Amazon Kindle to help all those turning to books during the UK’s next Covid lockdown. Anyone across the world can download DECEPTION for free too 🙂

It was my gift to all of you out there, but actually, you guys have given me an amazing gift. Something I really didn’t expect to happen, wowee!!

Check this out!

DECEPTION at number 2 in the best sellers charts!

Thank you to all of you who have downloaded DECEPTION so far, and I hope you all enjoy reading it!

If you haven’t downloaded it to your Kindle just yet, you can do so HERE.

Want a free lockdown psychological thriller read?

T. J. Blake1 Comment

After the latest Coronavirus announcement here in the UK (we’re in lockdown!), it took me back to last year’s lockdown where a lot of people decided to spend more of their free time reading books.

That’s why I’ve decided to make my novel, DECEPTION: A Love of Lies FREE to download on eBook/Kindle from January 8th until January 12th 23:59.

Put the date in your diary and bookmark DECEPTION on Amazon. Here’s the link: http://getbook.at/DeceptionTJBlake – it’s a universal link and will take you to your Amazon country page.

DECEPTION: A Love of Lies preview & synopsis

“Through the stark and leafless trees, I see her.

I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes; they remind me of a blue sky right before the sun descends. Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.

She usually completes the lower woodland walk in six minutes and forty-two seconds; she misses the deeper woodlands and goes home, I believe.

I walk down the road at the same speed as her. She reaches the crossroads at the bottom of the road, looks both ways, and then jogs across into the garden of a house. I stop walking and concentrate on which house is hers.

I can’t stare too long but I am intrigued already, I will come back.”

Read DECEPTION

The Undoing Alternate Ending - Written by T. J. Blake

The Undoing Alternate Ending

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The Undoing, starring Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman, had us all gripped. A classic whodunnit. We all had theories, most of them COMPLETELY off the mark.

If you’re behind or are yet to watch The Undoing, stop reading and come back once you have watched it – I’m going to reveal what my theory was.

… SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT! …

It was on that drive between Jonathan (Hugh Grant) and his son Henry that the nation collectively gasped once the flashbacks started rolling.

“No! It can’t be, it was Hugh all along!?”

It sure was. The signs were there in plain sight, but none of us wanted to believe it. It was too obvious to be Jonathan, he was the prime suspect after all, it’s never the first person that’s accused. Until The Undoing came along.

This nicely leads me onto what my theory was… and to be fair, I thought that my alternate ending would have been pretty awesome too!

My alternate ending/theory for The Undoing

My theory came to me when Jonathan mentioned to his lawyer Haley Fitzgerald about another woman he cheated on Grace with before Elena Alves (the victim). He referred to this woman as a “one-off years ago”. This other woman who Jonathan mentioned didn’t have a name, and I thought this was the writers giving us a teeny hint.

I was convinced that it was this other woman that had murdered Elena Alves in a jealous rage.

For this unnamed woman, the brutal murder of Elena wasn’t enough. She wanted to make Jonathan pay, so she went to Jonathan and Grace’s family lake house, where she and Jonathan used to meet, and planted the murder weapon in the fireplace.

A cruel act of revenge!

So, who is the ‘one-off years ago’ woman I’m talking about?

Sylvia Steineitz

Sylvia Steineitz!

Hear me out. The unnamed ‘one-off’ woman, why doesn’t he name her? Even when the lawyer pushes, Jonathan still doesn’t name her. She’s simply the “one-off years ago”.

Sylvia worked with Jonathan secretly without Grace knowing. Sylvia admitted secretly helping Jonathan after he was fired from his job at the hospital. More lies.

Jonathan ended it, Sylvia was jealous and saw Jonathan leaving Elena’s place the night she murdered him. Rage, jealousy, bitterness took over and boom. The hammer was there.

Sylvia brutally murdered Elena and framed Jonathan!

Or that’s what I thought.

It all came tumbling to me, I was absolutely convinced I had it all figured out.

I didn’t have it figured out at all.

What was your theory on The Undoing?

Let me know!

Posted in TV
T. J. Blake's Familiar paperback

I was interviewed by fellow author, Nina Soden

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We talked about my personal life and what I’m up to when I’m not writing my fiction novels (including the mention of my new cashless tipping app, TipSpend).

Here are some of the best bits of the interview:

(Speaking about my day job as a Content Marketing Specialist)

“Although my content writing is different to my fiction stories, there are a lot of similarities – there is still storytelling in everything I do. There’s a lot of psychology involved in what I do too, which is an element I really enjoy.”

“What is your favorite film based on a book?

There’s too many to choose from; The Harry Potter films, Lord of The Rings, The Avengers (I think that counts!), any adapted Stephen King novel!”

What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 20 or fewer words, what would you say?

“Familiar” is my new paranormal mystery thriller book.

To describe it in 20 words: a murder mystery with a paranormal twist. The Conjuring meets True Detective.

Do you have a book trailer? If so, where can we watch it?

Does your character have any weaknesses?

There’s a big weakness to Arabella… but I can’t tell you! You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Arabella has a habit for getting too close with her ‘friends’, but she must distance herself. All ‘friends’ want one thing, to feel alive again.

You’ll have to read to find out more!

Check out the full interview with Nina here.

Read Familiar for Halloween

Want to be creeped out this Halloween? 🎃

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“Familiar” gave me chills writing it (and some interesting nights 😱).

It has put readers on edge, but they’ve loved the thrill; the multiple 5⭐ reviews prove that 🙌.

“Arabella has a unique gift that she uses to help lost souls find peace and distraught survivors find comfort. While that sounds nice, every encounter gave me chills.”

Jules, Goodreads ★★★★★

“You know that feeling you get after reading a really good spooky story? Where you feel there is some presence in the room just in the corner of your eye? The after-effects of the tale messing with your mind? Familiar did that for me!”

Rajiv, Amazon ★★★★★

“Creepy thriller with a strong female lead”

Amazon ★★★★★

Please check out Familiar this Halloween. Most of us love a little bit of a scare, and Familiar will most certainly creep you out this Halloween.

You can read Familiar on:

  • Amazon – free to read with Kindle Unlimited, also available on paperback
  • Smashwords

Here’s a preview of Familiar!

Familiar book tour ratings

High ratings for “Familiar” in the Book Tour

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Familiar book tour ratings

What a collection of 5 stars to receive for “Familiar“.

It’s these ratings and reviews that us authors aim for whenever we release a book – I’m delighted! Thank you to each and every one of you who read Familiar and took the time to review it.

The reviews that came in for my book “Familiar” were so amazing and encouraging I could have cried 😢

It’s exhausting writing a book and whenever I release one I’m always nervous about what readers will think – these reviews have squashed any nerves!

I took a lot of risks with this story, one of which was the personality needed to carry the plot. Arabella (the lead character) was so important to get right in the story otherwise it wouldn’t have worked, so it’s great to see a couple of reviews commenting on her being a strong female lead 🙌

Please check out the reviews and please read my book, it’s available on Amazon on Kindle (FREE to read on Kindle Unlimited) and paperback.

Familiar paperback