Debut of the Month - All About The Ruining + Giveaway

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Book Profile

Name - The Ruining (Goodreads)
Author - Anna Collomore
Genre -  Psychological Thriller
Release Date - February 7th 2013

Annie Phillips is thrilled to leave her past behind and begin a shiny new life on Belvedere Island, as a nanny for the picture-perfect Cohen family. In no time at all, she falls in love with the Cohens, especially with Libby, the beautiful young matriarch of the family. Life is better than she ever imagined. She even finds romance with the boy next door.

All too soon cracks appear in Annie's seemingly perfect world. She's blamed for mistakes she doesn't remember making. Her bedroom door comes unhinged, and she feels like she's always being watched. Libby, who once felt like a big sister, is suddenly cold and unforgiving. As she struggles to keep up with the demands of her new life, Annie's fear gives way to frightening hallucinations. Is she tumbling into madness, or is something sinister at play? 

Available - The Book Depository | Indiebound | Bookish | Barnes and Noble

The Insider's Scoop

1.) I am a part-time nanny, just like Annie, my protagonist. However, I wrote The Ruining several months before my friends here in Paris contacted me to offer me the job. It's 100% coincidental that I wrote a book about a nanny...then took a job as a nanny.

2.) I wrote three different endings for The Ruining. They were all drastically different, and sometimes I go back and wish I could swap out the one I went with for a previous (more sinister) one!

3.) Bits and pieces of Owen, Annie's love interest, were drawn from real life. My boyfriend at the time I was writing the novel had a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Zizzy (Owen's dog is Izzy), was known to eat sardines from a can, and liked to play Words with Friends. Another previous boyfriend was a volunteer EMT. And like Owen, one of my brothers competed in the National Spelling Bee. (There really was a crying room.)

4.) I had a marathon writing session with one of my good friends (Jess Rothenberg, author of The Catastrophic History of You and Me), just before my first draft was due. I wrote 40+ pages over the course of two days, fueled by sparkling wine and an array of gourmet snack items. It was one of my favorite friend-writing-sessions ever.

5.) I wrote The Ruining during lunch breaks, nights and weekends (while working full-time) over the course of 2 1/2 months...and my mental state (as a result of stress and a lack of sleep) was really weird. It's probably why I was able to portray Annie's slipping sanity in a somewhat convincing way.

"Gripping, unputdownable stuff."--Booklist

"This story unwinds as a corker of a read...gripping stuff." --Kirkus, Starred Review

~Giveaway~

Anna is giving away (1) Hardcover Copy of The Ruining 

Rule of Entry -

- US ONLY

- Ends 18th of March

- Must be 12 or older

- Optional Entries :

   * Leaving comment on either of Anna's posts +1 each

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