Crossing the Line - Book Tour and Giveaway

Running away, young & frightened.
There's no going back.

Crossing the Line
by Chris Cloake
Genre: Women’s Fiction
​

​Rebecca is running away from violation and loss. Young, frightened and homeless, but articulate, imaginative and determined, she dreams of a new life, a new self. There’s no going back.

Follow her path into desperate isolation during a freezing winter as she struggles to survive. When stealing offers a way out, fate plunges her into the criminal realm of drugs where the stakes and the hits are high, and deadly, and her existence relies on trust. But who is using who? Is she falling into the same traps again?

Crossing The Line by Chris Cloake leads you through the moral minefield of addiction and throws open the debate over control and consent, with outcomes that will stir deep emotions. If you’re a fan of challenging story lines then this you must read.

Get Crossing The Line now to discover the inescapable truths Rebecca faces as a vulnerable girl in a world driven by greed. Marvel at how her courage and an unexpected ally bring about an earth shattering conclusion.
 

Amazon * Apple * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads

​

​
I check my watch.  Nearly nine o’clock.  I’ve slept for two hours.  I think of home, or what I was made to consider home.  They won’t have even noticed I’ve gone yet.  My uncle would have headed to work and my aunt never emerges much before lunch.  Then she will sit out in the conservatory, have a fag and the first drink of many.
I’m banking on this.  She will wonder where I might be, if she even remembers I’m off school this week and haven’t appeared to raid the fridge.  A slight worry, nothing more.  She leaves everything to him.  When he’s back, he’ll check my whereabouts, expect me to cook dinner and have done his ironing.  And if the mood took him later, come to my room, he has the key, and have his way with his little slut again. 
Not this time.  Just for once I’ll have gotten the upper hand.  He will be fuming.  He’ll blame my aunt, breathe noisily through that ugly nose, blame her again, and then he’ll contact the police.  I smile at the image of him, so rarely flustered, unable to control the situation.  Then I rub my ribcage as I remember the time when I defied him before, staying over at Carlos’s and denying him his usual gratification.  Imagine if he’d known it was a male friend I’d been out with.  The beating would have been harder.
So no one was going to be searching for me until at least tomorrow, if not beyond. I reckon I’ll secure a permanent hideout before my face starts appearing on news bulletins. I even harbour the hope that he might want to avoid the inquest over why I have run away in case he ended up exposed for what he is.  I tell myself not indulge such a fantasy.  He has ‘decency’ in society, a working man who took in a girl with nowhere else to go.  And he won’t want to be without the thrill of his easy gratification.  I must stay focused.
​

​Chris Cloake was born in 1964 and began telling stories a couple of years later. He grew up in Kent, England. He is motivated to write by a deep interest in life, particularly the cruel, deeply flawed nature of people contrasted with their incredible creativity and inspiration. The power of the natural world is a common theme in his work as a writer and professional photographer. He lives happily with his wife, two children and a large collection of music, books and board games.
 

Website * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bluesky * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

​

​STUFF ABOUT THE BOOK
​
Crossing the Line is a first person narrative of a girl, Rebecca, escaping from abuse under the care of her uncle after the death of her parents. 
I wanted to tell a story that had a great personal impact during dramatic and terrifying change.  The world she flees into is lonely, dark and threatening.  Deliberately choosing a remote and forgotten corner brings her into contact with the harder end of society.  
She has a free spirit and a great imagination that grows stifled.  She is also a keen dancer.  I read a poem by Yeats where a girl is dancing, unaware of observers, and this became the seed of the idea of this happening to Rebecca. 
The man is question is a drug dealer, Howard.  He becomes fascinated by her.  She reminds him of the daughter he has lost contact with, being the same age as she would be.
The central theme of the story is their relationship, running the gauntlet of crime, both keeping a low profile for different reasons.  The attachment they form brings into question the wide age gap between them and the suggestion that Rebecca might be the victim all over again.
The book offer challenges, tests a reader’s loyalties and moral standpoint.  It’s the kind of theme that I love to examine.

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

Jan 20
kickoff at Silver Dagger Book Tours
Bedazzled By Books
 
Jan 21
Book Review Virginia Lee Blog
M.C.V. EGAN ❧Defining Ways❧
Twisted Book Ramblings
 
Jan 22
Wine Cellar Library – GUEST POST
Book Bites....with a side of coffee
C.A.Milson
 
Jan 23
Webs and Blogs For Writers
Country Mamas With Kids
Girl with Pen
 
Jan 24
Introvert Booklover
Celticlady's Reviews
 
Jan 25
Craving Lovely Books
 
Jan 27
☼  A Place In The  Spotlight ☼  with M.C.V. EGAN
Inside the Insanity - GUEST POST
Painting With Words
 
Jan 28
Books all things paranormal and romance
Midnight Book Reader
Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin'
 
Jan 29
Insane Books
My beauty my books
 
Jan 30
Jody's Bookish Haven
Scrupulous Dreams
Trixie Reports Books
 
Jan 31
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree
Sylv.net
Royally Insane Books
 
Feb 1
The Book Dragon
 
Feb 2
The Bookshelf Fairy
 
Feb 3
Ellwyn's Blog
J.M. Northrup
ⒾⓃⓉⓇⓄⓈⓅⒺⒸⓉⒾⓋⒺ ⓅⓇⒺⓈⓈ ASTROLOGY
  

a Rafflecopter giveaway