THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING

I'll have more to say about my friend Fiona Robyn's new novel, "The Most Beautiful Thing," when I've had the chance to finish it.  Suffice it to say, at the moment, that I'm hooked by the both the story and the characters she creates.  Channeling an awkward thirteen-year-old boy in the throes of a difficult period of early adolescence, as she does in the part I have just now finished reading, is no easy feat and she manages it beautifully.  I'm charmed by his curiosity and his natural smarts as well as by his social anxieties he begins to explore who he is in his relationship to himself and those around him.  I'm looking forward to the second part...


In the meantime, this very Tuesday is "The Most Beautiful Thing" day worldwide.  Today and tomorrow, Fiona is offering free copies on Kindle in the hope of attracting new readers. Consider this my recommendation to readers of The Buddha Diaries to take her up on her offer.  You won't get a better one all year!  


I'll let you know when my own response to it appears on my site at The Hufffington Post and Goodreads.  Meantime, here's Fiona's offer and some early reviews.  We all know how hard it is, in today's competitive world of publishing, to attract that readership.  I hope that you'll join hers:

"This book really is a beautiful thing. Definitely the best book I've read this year." ~Jackie Stewart

 Hello friends, (writes Fiona)

Today (Tuesday 24th) and tomorrow, my new novel 'The Most Beautiful Thing' is free on the Kindle (which also means you can read it for free on your computer or phone). 

Please help yourself here in the UK or here in the US. If you're elsewhere you should be able to find it on your own Amazon. 

Do offer your friends something lovely by forwarding this email to them (and if it was forwarded to you, pass it on!) There's no catch although I'm not just giving it away because I'm nice - it's helpful for me to reach out to new readers, and I trust that some of you will recommend the book to others or write a review on Amazon. Do tweet or share it on Facebook (sample tweet: The Most Beautiful Thing - meet Joe in a five-star-reviewed novel. Free on Kindle today: http://bit.ly/GGzkMe).
If you like real proper books, you can treat yourself here: Amazon UK / Amazon US. 
If you want to find out more about me or our mindful writing offerings here we are: Writing Our Way Home. And here are some more reviews of the novel to help you decide. 

Have lovely days all!  Fiona x 

 "Wow! Just finished your wonderful novel "The Most Beautful Thing!" Full of rich and quirky characters, intense family drama, multicultural influences, and the exploration of a deep and very important subject matter. I highly recommend this fabulous book!" ~slonurse on Amazon.com
  
 "This story kept me awake into the wee small hours, I simply couldn't put it down. I have recommended this book to all my friends and have already given two as gifts." ~Mary McC on Amazon.co.uk   


"I loved this book. I will read it many more times." ~Bikerchick on Amazon.co.uk   


"Fiona Robyn captures beautifully the outsider in gently affectionate prose. Joe is an outsider, an insecure, bookish, distant teenager. In two slices of Joe's life the author manages to capture the complexity that so many teenage boys and young men grapple with. Sexual frustration, the retreat into books, facts, figures, anything to repel the difficulties presented by a world filled with the puzzle of other people. From the perspective of middle age I can identify with so much experienced by Joe, both as a teenager and a young adult, and am amazed at the perspicacity of Fiona Robyn in capturing it so well." ~Anthony Foley via Amazon.com   


"Lovely, vivid, capturing. I didn't want to stop reading this once I started. What a wonderful job of capturing the beauty and agony of family!" ~Brandi Trevisan via Goodreads   


"Beautifully observed, tender, thoughtful and insightful, this book twists and turns in the way that life does...revealing beauty and dysfunction. This is a memorable book; a truly beautiful thing; a story that stays with you long after you read it. Definitely the best book I've read this year." ~Jackie Stewart


"The hero has a number of psychological traits often associated with Asperger's syndrome, such as social awkwardness, obsession with specific fields of knowledge, and picky eating habits, but these are not pathologized or even diagnosed in the course of the novel. Instead, they simply form part of who he is. They contribute to some -- but not all -- of his weaknesses, and also to his strengths, such as the good job he gets in the British weather service and even more so to the way he never judges others on whether they fit into social norms. I was impressed by the way a woman writer could portray a character so different from herself so well." ~KrisHL on Amazon.com