Guest Post and Giveaway: Misdemeanor by CF White

We’re so pleased to have author CF White dropping in for a visit today on the blog tour for her new book, Misdemeanor, Book One in the Responsible Adult series. CF talks a bit about her inspiration for the serial, and there’s also a giveaway so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter details below.

Welcome, CF!

Hi and thanks for having me here at The Novel Approach. My first ever blog tour so do excuse the squealing nerves.

I’m here to talk a little about the first book, Misdemeanor, in my Responsible Adult serial published by Pride Publishing, and a little about what drove me to write it. A real personal book, this one.

Responsible Adult started life online. I’m a wattpad writer and had a burning desire to tell this story so I started tapping away not really knowing where it was going, but just knowing I had to write it. A few months later, it was completed, won a couple of awards from the community readers on Wattpad and I plucked up the courage to send it off to a publisher. And now here we are with the big release of a book that is so dear to my heart I’m actually afraid of it.

So, why is it so dear to me? Mainly because of the sub-character. Flynn. An eight-year-old little boy who has a rare disorder called Williams Syndrome. He was the main reason I had to write this book. My son has the condition and I guess this was my way of raising awareness for the relatively unknown disability but also a way of coping and dealing with my daily struggle.

Obviously, though, this is an m/m novel. And it’s a real down to earth, raw and I have been told it’s a bit gritty. Based in a small town in south east England, it’s true to its routes with the lingo being a tad, well, British. Brit slang, urban backdrop, steeped in authenticity. I hope. But alongside this I’ve tried to keep a bit of humour in it. Because laughter is important. Especially when it feels like the world is crumbling around us. And this is evident in Micky O’Neill’s life. Until he meets Dan, that is. But I won’t give too much away about that. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

So to offer a little background about the condition that Flynn lives with that will help not only raise awareness per se, but also give a little insight into his character and how he is such an important factor in the relationship weaving between our two MC’s, here are the facts: Williams Syndrome affects around 1 in 20,000 people. It’s a genetic condition, occurring randomly, with deletions on part of chromosome 7. Much like Downs Syndrome with their extra chromosomes, WS people have a multitude of medical and learning disabilities. But perhaps the most striking part of the condition overall is their affinity for music and their overly-social, friendly, nature. WS children and adults love people. All people. Everyone. They wave and offer a cheery hello to every single person they pass in the street. And, if they are allowed close enough, will hand out free hugs and kisses a plenty. In the words of Micky O’Neill in Misdemeanor:

“He’s an eternal child. Sees the world like it should be in a fairy tale, minus the evil characters. Everything is bright and beautiful and everyone is his friend.” Micky hesitated. “It’s a real shame that life isn’t like that. Because a world full of Flynns would be the one I wanna live in.”

Such a wonderful aspect to the otherwise harrowing condition that Flynn, and my son, lives with but it’s also one of the biggest fears and threats to WS people leading a typically independent life. They are vulnerable to the very core. Easily taken advantage of because they will never know or understand how some people in this world just aren’t particularly very nice.

All of these elements are touched upon in the book, or over the three books that make up the Responsible Adult serial. But mostly, it’s a book about having to grow up. Having to make sacrifices and having to make tough choices. Micky is nineteen and wasn’t ready, nor equipped, to be sole carer to a disabled child. Which, although I am a fair bit older than he and I at least made the choice to have a child, I still feel exactly like he does. Juggling through life, making decisions and choices I feel completely unqualified to make. But that’s my lot as a mother. And that is Micky’s lot as a big brother.

I hope you’ll give this book a chance. I promise you that once you’ve met Flynn you’re world will also, too, be a little bit brighter. :)

About the Book

Buy Links:  Pride Publishing (Early Download) Amazon US | Amazon UK (Out July 4)
Length: 77,579 words
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Blurb: After his mother tragically dies and his deadbeat father goes off the rails, nineteen-year-old Micky is left to care for his disabled little brother, Flynn.

Juggling college, a dead end job and Flynn’s special needs means Micky has to put his bad boy past behind him and be the responsible adult to keep his brother out of care. He doesn’t have time for anything else in his life.

Until he meets Dan.

“Amazingly gritty and raw. This slice of life is so realistic it flays you.” – Pride Publishing

About the Author

Brought up in a relatively small town in Hertfordshire, C F White managed to do what most other residents try to do and fail—leave.

Studying at a West London university, she realised there was a whole city out there waiting to be discovered, so, much like Dick Whittington before her, she never made it back home and still endlessly searches for the streets paved with gold, slowly coming to the realisation they’re mostly paved with chewing gum. And the odd bit of graffiti. And those little circles of yellow spray paint where the council point out the pot holes to someone who is supposedly meant to fix them instead of staring at them vacantly whilst holding a polystyrene cup of watered-down coffee.

She eventually moved West to East along that vast District Line and settled for pie and mash, cockles and winkles and a bit of Knees Up Mother Brown to live in the East End of London; securing a job and creating a life, a home and a family.

Having worked in Higher Education for most of her career, a life-altering experience brought pen back to paper after she’d written stories as a child but never had the confidence to show them to the world. Having embarked on this writing malarkey, C F White cannot stop. So strap in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride…

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The Giveaway

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