Fantastic Freebies!

In a very special event, all of my digital books are free on Amazon on the 13th, 14th and 15th of November! 

Happy Dog is very Happy about this

If you don't have a kindle, Amazon do free kindle apps for apple products, android devices and PC's, so you don't have to miss out.

All  my books are rated 4 stars or above on Amazon UK. The easiest way is to go to my author page on Amazon, which links to all my books.

Click here for my Amazon UK author page, or here for my Amazon US  author page. If you aren't in the US or UK, they should be free on all Amazon sites, just search for Catherine Winchester in Kindle Books. 

So what's on offer?

Historical Novels

Hope for Tomorrow  (Amazon rating 4.8/5)
When housemaid Martha began an affair with her Master's son, Lucien, the future Earl of Marchwood, it was always destined to end badly.
Single, pregnant and unemployed, Martha struggles to forge a new life for herself and her daughter, only for Lucien to inadvertently destroy it.
She and her daughter are homeless and starving when they come to the aid of a man who proves to be their salvation.
Lucien is still obsessed with his lost love, the only woman who has ever rejected him.
A chance meeting seven years later could spell disaster but can they put their pain and pride behind them and seize this opportunity, or will old ghosts ruin their last chance at happiness?


Northern Light (Amazon rating 4.3/5)
Sometimes described as the female Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel, North and South, dealt with issues of class, feminism, social reform and the plight of the working classes, entwining those themes seamlessly with a timeless romance between Margaret Hale and John Thornton. Northern Light is a continuation of that novel which sees John and Margaret embarking on their lives together whilst working to improve the lives of their work force.
With the threat of another strike, a series of bad mill accidents, a lethal fire and failed speculation, life in Milton is not easy for anyone and it won't be long before the mill masters and their workers clash once more, with devastating consequences.
Getting married and starting a family is difficult enough at the best of times but for John and Margaret, married life will present unique challenges and despite the reforms they are making, even they will not escape Milton's troubles unscathed.
 (No knowledge of North and South is necessary to read this book)


What You Wish For (Amazon rating 4/5)

Carrie Preston is desperately trying to stand up to her pushy family and failing badly. When her favourite aunt dies she retreats into her favourite book, Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, only to find herself suddenly stuck in that story and seriously messing with her favourite romance of all time!
When Carrie's kooky aunt bequeaths her a pair of amethyst earrings in her will and says that they will grant her her hearts desire, she has no idea that she will end up in the middle of the 19th century, slap bang in the middle of her favourite book. With nothing but the clothes on her back and her rucksack, she is taken in by the Hale family and soon finds herself living in the dirty, smoky industrial town of Milton.
The only bright spot on the horizon is that she gets to meet the romantic hero of the story, John Thornton but it's not long before he starts setting his sights on her rather than Margaret Hale! Far from living her dream, she is appalled to realise that she is about to destroy the greatest romance since Elizabeth Bennett met Mr Darcy!

A Merry Little Christmas (Amazon rating 4.3/5)
(Short Story - companion story to Northern Light)
The story of John Thornton and Margaret Hale's first Christmas together as a married couple.
Starved of time on their own, when Hannah Thornton announces that she is spending Christmas with John's sister, Fanny, John and Margaret decide to make the most of what little time they have together.

Urban Fantasy/Speculative Fiction

How to Train Your Zombie  (Amazon rating 4.5/5)
The zombie apocalypse, which has devastated the world, is in its final throes when Meg's husband is bitten. She has lost so much already that she simply can't face losing him too, so when it becomes apparent that he is about to join the ranks of the walking dead, she decides to employ her skills as a dog trainer and takes it upon herself to train him.
Not only must she face the dangers inherent in close contact with a zombie, she must also protect him from outside forces that mean him harm. Can she convince the handsome yet stern Colonel MacDonald that he deserves a chance? Can she stop him being used for vivisection? What about those who want to use him as bait for other zombies?
Join Meg during the final few months of the Zombie war, as she shares her, at times, gruesome, sad and darkly humorous story.

Bemused  (Amazon rating 4.5/5)
When self-made property developer, Niall, is attacked by vampires on his way home, his neat and ordered life soon begins to fall apart. His rescuer, the effervescent Mel, declares herself to be his Muse - better known in modern times as a Guardian Angel - and offers him a business proposition; she wants them to go into business as supernatural detectives.
Slightly sceptical to say the least, Niall eventually agrees to work one case with her - helped in no small part by his rather strong attraction to Mel.
Mrs Hart's house has been plagued by a series of deadly and inexplicable events, culminating in the death of a local boy. As they look into possible causes, Niall finds himself growing even more fond of Mel, although she seems determined to keep him at arm's length.
He discovers why she she is so reticent but that is soon overshadowed by the cause of Mrs Hart's problems; a foe so powerful that even the immortal Mel seems terrified!


The Past series

Past Due - Book One  (Amazon rating 5/5)
Francis 'Frankie' Wright thought she was an old hat at dealing with the supernatural, until she was reassigned to Edinburgh, the most haunted city in the world.
Her latest case soon takes a deadly turn. Young women are being slain in satanic rituals and it's up to Frankie to find the murderer before he kills again.
Frankie must juggle vampires, shapeshifters, witches and zombies, all the while trying to keep the truth from her sceptical ex-boyfriend, Will Campbell, who just happens to be heading up the police investigation.
The clock is ticking and she soon finds herself forced to team up with the vampires and shapeshifters in order to stop the killer before he can literally unleash hell on earth.

Half Past - Book Two  (Amazon rating 4.3/5)
Simon Hamm was a run of the mill con man, lying, cheating and stealing his way through life until met Marilyn, a vampire. Enthralled by her power, he courted her and made her fall in love with him, whereupon Hamm was reborn as a child of the night and Marilyn was dead by his hand.
Unwilling to play by the rules, Hamm turned rogue and cut a bloody trail across Britain in his quest to build himself a private army of vampires, courting the wrath of the vampire council in the process.
Employed by MI5 to police the supernatural community, Frankie Wright's life is far from normal but when Joshua asks for her help in tracking Hamm down, her life quickly begins to spiral out of control.
Forced to stay away from her boyfriend, Frankie begins to realise just how important Alex is to her but deceived and betrayed, she soon finds herself fighting not only to bring down Hamm but for the right to even exist.


Past Life - Book Three  (Amazon rating 5/5)
For once, Frankie Wright's life is relatively calm. She's settled into her new role, working for the Vampire Council, she's getting used to being single again and she's reaffirmed her friendship with Will Campbell.
She should have known that it was too good to last.
First Will learns about the existence of vampires, then her parents turn up unannounced, expecting to stay with her. Frankie must juggle her friend and her family, all the while hunting for the psycho who is murdering young women and killing family pets.
To top it all off, Dante is kidnapped and Frankie must race to find him before he becomes the next victim...


Please download, enjoy and if you like it/them, tell your friends. If you dont like them, lets never speak of this again, m'kay?

What You Wish For

“North & South was like chocolate to her; her comfort food in literary form, a safe haven she could dip into whenever she needed a respite from her troubles or even just a distraction for a while.”

Carrie Preston is desperately trying to stand up to her pushy family and failing badly. When her favourite aunt dies she retreats into her favourite book, Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, only to find herself suddenly stuck in that story and seriously messing with her favourite romance of all time!

When Carrie's kooky aunt bequeaths her a pair of amethyst earrings in her will and says that they will grant her her hearts desire, she has no idea that she will end up in the middle of the 19th century, slap bang in the middle of her favourite book. With nothing but the clothes on her back and her rucksack, she is taken in by the Hale family and soon finds herself living in the dirty, smoky industrial town of Milton.

The only bright spot on the horizon is that she gets to meet the romantic hero of the story, John Thornton but it's not long before he starts setting his sights on her rather than Margaret Hale! Far from living her dream, she is appalled to realise that she is about to destroy the greatest romance since Elizabeth Bennett met Mr Darcy!

_______________

Right, well that's the blurb out of the way.

What You Wish For (from here on out known as WYWF to save my poor joints from early onset arthritis) began life as a little bit of wish fulfilment that I thought would never see the light of day. You see I loved North and South so much that I wanted to know what it would be like to live in that world, with those characters.

This isn't a new phenomenon of course, every time I read or watch Pride and Prejudice, see Downton Abbey or any one of a hundred period drama's I love, I wonder what living in those times would be like.

This time was different though, this time the idea continued to plague me until I was forced to start thinking up scenarios and eventually I just bit the bullet and began writing it.

Still, my only intention in writing it was to enjoy myself, it was never intended to be a 'proper novel' as such. I began releasing it online and to my immense surprise, I'd obviously hit a nerve in other people because the story was literally inundated with hits and I began to think, 'maybe there is a proper book in this'.

I finished posting it and it's success continued, at one point ending up in the top 5 of the historical fiction category, and that's when I realised that this story needed to be told.

No, it won't change your life, but it is clearly something that strikes a chord with lovers of historical fiction. I even had readers who had never heard of North and South before tell me how much they enjoyed it.

And so 3 months of edits and rewrites later, this is the finished product.

Is Carrie a Mary-Sue? Possibly in the strictest sense that she is an author insert, a manifestation of my desire to see what life would be like back then, but she actually bears very little resemblance to me. I soon realised that were I to end up in the 1800s, I'd probably throw a hissy fit and end up in a mental asylum. I simply don't have what it takes to live in such a backwards time. I would constantly be fighting, arguing, losing my temper, acting out and getting locked up for being most unladylike (and while that would certainly be an interesting story, it was far from the romantic ending I wanted for WYWF).

Unlike me, Carrie is used to towing the line and so, although she chaffes against the restrictions placed upon her, she doesn't cross the line as I surely would. She needed to be used to doing her duty, sucking it up and getting on with things.

She also needed to be upper class (where as I am strictly upper middle class) and have a way of getting some money in those times. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice to say that I own nothing even close to the same value that Carrie does.

She does share a some of my childhood hobbies and those that aren't mine could be found among my school friends. Maybe it's not 'normal' to be proficient at the piano, horse riding and marital arts but in my class at school, it was common to have some mixture of those kinds of hobbies and others. In my class of just 16 girls we had 3 pass their grade 8 music exam! (not to mention many others who were musical but hadn't got that far). There were annual skiing holidays and lessons arranged by the school as well as other foreign holidays. Various pupils from the school were mentioned probably a three or four times per term in local papers (we knew because the school would always make a fuss about it) and there was even one girl in my class who was accepted into the Rambert ballet school! She was also one of the three who passed her grade 8 singing exam and she did ride horses until it made her thigh muscles to big and she had to choose between Ballet and riding.

Talk about a bunch of over achievers!

Yes, you've guessed it; I'm afraid my dyslexia meant that at age 7 I got shipped off to private school since I was failing so badly in state school. Most girls there had an assortment of extra curricular activities that would make your wallet bleed, or at the very least give your bank manager serious heart palpitations! It's a different world and what passes for normal there would be considered privileged by most people (and for the record, my school wasn't even one of the top ones, it wasn't even among the best in my town!)

Some might think that being so accomplished means that Carrie is a Mary Sue but despite her advantages I have tried to give her faults and deficits, just we all have. She is stubborn, defensive, shy and known to put her foot in it. She has a temper and she is prone at times to wallow rather than be proactive.

So basically, she's human, which is what I want all my heroines to be. She doesn't have Frankie's drinking problem or Mel's fortress around her heart, but while hopefully likeable and relatable, she is not perfect, far from it.

So, for those of you still awake after that, and possibly interested in sharing Carrie's adventure, here's where to buy WYWF.

Kindle UK

Kindle US

Other Ebook Formats

(print version coming soon, there have been some problems with the artwork that have delayed it)