Authorpreneur Dashboard – Julie Frayn

Julie  Frayn

Suicide City, A Love Story

Literature & Fiction

Sixteen-year-old August Bailey yearns for more than pig slop and cow shit. She fantasizes about an apartment in the city, not a tiny house on an Iowa farm. She dreams of new clothes and falling in love with a worthy boy. Not hand-me-downs from the second hand store in Hubble Falls, population two-and-a-half, or having her jock boyfriend grope her and push her for sex. During another fight about makeup and boys, August’s controlling mother slaps her. And August hops the next bus out of town. She arrives in Charlesworth to discover that reality and fantasy don’t mix. After a night of gunfire and propositions from old, disgusting men, she is determined to find the ‘real city,’ the ‘real people’ of her dreams. To prove to her mother, and herself, that she is the adult she claims to be. When her money runs out, she is ‘saved’ by seventeen-year-old Reese, a kind boy with electric eyes and a gentleman’s heart. Reese lives on the streets. Though clean for months, he battles heroin addiction and the compulsion to cut himself. Each day is a struggle to make the right choice. August falls in love with Reese, and knows her love can save him. She breaks down his emotional walls and he tells her his secrets – of abuse and the truth about his mother’s death. As Reese’s feelings for August grow, so does the realization that keeping her could ruin her life too.

Book Bubbles from Suicide City, A Love Story

Enter the boy

In the original version of this book, Reese didn't have a voice. Everything he had gone through, all of his feelings, were told second hand through August. Adding his point of view changed the story in an amazing way.

An innocent beginning

August is a typical American teen, in a naive, controlled-by-mother kind of way. This excerpt shows her day-to-day life, and her growing frustration with it, one mucked stall at a time.

It Isn't Cheating if He's Dead

Literature & Fiction

Jemima Stone has waited four long years for Gerald, her missing fiancé to come home. When he is found dead halfway across the country, the news is devastating. Detective Finn Wight has been working Gerald’s case. He keeps Jemima apprised of all his findings, no matter how painful. Defending ‘innocent’ clients fills Jemima’s days. Finn’s muscular frame and easy smile fills her fantasies. But nothing relieves the guilt. Guilt that she couldn’t prevent Gerald’s devolution from genius scientist, to absent-minded professor, to bat-shit crazy at the hands of paranoid schizophrenia. Guilt that, not long after his death, she was finding solace, and happiness, in the arms of another man. Feeding homeless in a local park helps ease Jemima’s pain. A new ‘resident’ refuses to speak, but something in his eyes tells Jemima that he doesn’t belong there — that someone is looking for him. Jemima and Finn join forces to discover the man’s identity. They uncover the secret that sent him running from home, but there is so much that even he doesn’t know. Will the truth send him over the edge for good? Or can Jemima bring him back to reality? Bring him home? Before it is too late.

Book Bubbles from It Isn't Cheating if He's Dead

Grief and Guilt and Love and Sex

There comes a point in every relationship where things just boil over. Professional detachment turns to attraction. Friendship becomes love. And sometimes guilt and grief turn into passion just when you need it most.

Mazie Baby

Literature & Fiction

Mazie Reynolds has moxie from the top of her bruised face to the tip of her broken wrist. She married a man she adored, and who adored her in return. But over fourteen years, her happy marriage soured with each new beating. When his attentions shift to their twelve-year-old daughter, Mazie knows it’s time to get the hell out. She hatches a plan to escape. But can she outwit the man she vowed to obey until death do they part?

Book Bubbles from Mazie Baby

Can't you do anything right?

Mazie seems to live on auto-pilot - a pawn in her husband's abusive game. There are gleams of rebellion, wisps of hope. But emancipation takes time. One step forward, two steps back.

Creak, thud, gasp

There is a lot of brutal honesty in this book. And with that comes brutality. The physical kind. The emotional kind. The controlling, manipulating, insidious kind the works to steal away a person's self-worth. Until they decide they've had enough.

Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish

We use cookies so you get the best experience on our website. By using our site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy. ACCEPT COOKIES