27 Oct Someone New Blog Tour + Guest Post from Zoë Miller

New day, new blog tour! Today I’m taking part in Zoë Miller’s blog tour for her new release, SOMEONE NEW. It was published as kindle in April this year, but now you can buy it in print too! I’m a huge fan of Zoë and am really looking forward to starting her new book. Stay tuned for my review, in the mean time I have Zoë on the blog with a wonderful guest piece which I hope you’ll enjoy. Massive thanks to Zoë and Joanna from Hachette Ireland for the chance to be part of the blog tour.

Someone New by Zoë Miller
Published by Hachette Ireland
Published on 6.10.2016
Genres: women’s fiction
Pages: 528
Format: paperback

In her heart, Grace knows the perfect, reliable, good-looking Gavin isn’t right for her. Then she meets Danny. Unpredictable and spontaneous, he turns her world upside down. All of a sudden, Grace is seeing life differently and doing things she never thought she’d do.

But tragedy strikes when Danny dies in a motorbike accident, shattering Grace’s world. As she struggles to come to terms with her loss, she becomes more and more convinced that she’s being followed – sighting a motorbike exactly like Danny’s everywhere she goes. And she starts to wonder if Danny’s death was really an accident.

When she finally voices her suspicions to her family and the police, though, no one seems willing to believe her.

Meanwhile Grace feels ever more under threat as sinister things begin happening to her. What was Danny hiding from her? And what kind of danger is she in now?

SOMEONE NEW :Blog Tour Day 4. – Guest Post by Zoë Miller

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Ana for featuring Day 4 of the Someone New blog tour as a guest post on her blog, This Chick Reads. Today it’s all about the theme of living in someone else’s shadow.

Very early on in Someone New, we learn that Grace Bailey, the main character in the book, is living a life vastly different to that of her older sister Lucia. She tells her new boyfriend Danny that she’ll be spending Christmas Day in Lucia’s house – Lucia,who is determined to make Christmas ultra-perfect, and who has been, Grace understands, to Christmas-themed cookery and table arranging classes. Unlike Lucia and her more-than-perfect preparations, Grace will be the one turning up with the shop-bought dessert, trying to pass it off as her own. Naturally, Lucia’s house isa fitting backdrop to her fabulous career and lifestyle, and with the success of her high powered job, Grace thinks Lucia doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody, unlike far-less-brilliant Grace. Even Lucia’s beautiful clothes sit perfectly on her neat frame, clothes that would never suit Grace, let alone fit.

A standard recipe for sibling rivalry, you would think.

But does it have to be like that? Surely it’s a positive thing to look up to your sister? We all need role models in life, people we can emulate, who empower and inspire us to bring out the best in ourselves. We need people around us to encourage us tobecome enthused by their successes, motivate us to explore our full potential, learn from their mistakes,so that we can become successful in our own right.How many of us have read a biography or even a novel and been encouraged to make changes by the examples of courage and dedication?  And who better to offer support thana close family member such as an older sister, who comes from the same family background, who has seen us at our worst moments, who knows everything about us, who blazes a trail ahead for us to follow. In Someone New,Lucia is a confident, determined, and highly focussed woman,she has good qualities that would influence Grace’s life no matter which path in life she might choose.

The problems arise if we start to compare ourselves unfavourably with our sibling, and although in Someone New, the two sisters care for each other and look out for one another, we see instances right through the story where Grace feels she is living in the shadow of Lucia, and doesn’t see herself as a worthy person in her own right. In fact, without giving away any spoilers, Grace’s whole aim in life has been to try and measure up to her clever and brilliant sister, at the expense of suppressingimportant and authentic parts of herself. She feels she has to conform to someone else’s idea of existence instead of allowing herself to live life to the fullest, on her own terms.

It takes Danny, coming into her world like a gulp of sparkling fresh air, to show Grace the kind of amazing person she truly is, and how to be true to herself, without having any regrets. As for sibling rivalry? Although it’s not one of the main themes in Someone New, you might be surprised at who is a little envious of her sibling, deep down inside.

Thank you Ana, for having me on your blog!

Zoë xx

About Zoë Miller

Zoë Miller writes contemporary novels laced with suspense and intrigue. She was born on the south side of Dublin, where she still lives with her husband. She has two daughters and a son. As a child, Zoë was always the one with her head stuck in a book and she enjoyed reading so much that it compelled her to write. ‘Someone New’ is Zoë’s eighth book to be published by Hachette Books Ireland, and Zoë fits in her writing between family time and the day job.