Interview with Rebecca Reid, Author of The Coop

Rebecca Reid was withdrawn from school due to illness at fourteen. Being limited in the things she was able to do, she wrote all the time − poetry, stories, feelings, thoughts. At 16 she had her own page in the local weekly newspaper, the Bangor Spectator, in which she covered anything and everything: fashion, beauty, film, teen issues etc. At 17 she became a model, doing catwalk, photographic work, and TV. In 2008 she graduated in English from Queens University, Belfast, and she was awarded an Arts Council writing grant in 2009. Married in 2007, she lives in N. Ireland with her husband and their three daughters. The Coop is her first novel, and part of the Thickets Wood Trilogy.

Follow Rebecca on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/thicketswood

Visit Rebecca Reid on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccareid.thicketswood

Pick up your copy of The Coop at Amazon!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am just shy of thirty, happily married with three children and embarking on the scariest, most exciting venture of my life.

Where did you grow up?

By the sea in Northern Ireland.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

I was lucky enough to have teachers for parents, lucky in the sense that they had prolonged holidays, so as a family we spent our summers traveling around Europe. We would set off for months, staying with my grandfather who lived in the south of France for a few weeks before moving on. I adored my summers. They were magical.

When did you begin writing?

I fell ill at just fourteen years old, forcing me to be withdrawn from school. At such a young age, I needed a vent for all the thoughts in my head. Writing was it. I created a life for myself on paper and never looked back. It showed me that something good could come from the hardship in your life.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

As I have three children I have to be very strict about my writing time. With Granny day care and school, I work three mornings a week, 9am-1pm. At that rate it takes me around six months to complete a manuscript.

What is this book about?

The Coop is a darkly compelling piece of psychological fiction in which I manipulate the unsuspecting reader through both the conscious and subconscious mind. The convoluted intricacies of this story build from its gentle beginnings to enthrall the reader through menacing happenings and strange, disturbing characters. The Coop is not what it seems − things are never that simple.

It follows two very different storylines; that of a girl, apparently imprisoned in a room, which is the thread of mystery running parallel to the tale of Thatchbury village. There, Howard and Lilly take you on a journey through Thatchbury where Mathew, the child from the coop, shoots Jodie Tiding, and so unravels the history of his loveless raising, her innocence and the dramatic events leading them to disaster.

What inspired you to write it?

I had a fleeting thought about how life would feel if it was hopeless. It was nothing more than a flicker. As time grew that notion began to nag in the back of my mind. It irritated me. I knew nothing more than that one thought but this constant drone told me I had to write, that there was something more. That eventually became The Coop.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

It is available to download on Amazon worldwide.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

If a thought comes to you, capture it before it is gone forever.

What is up next for you?

Books 2 and 3 of the ‘Thickets Wood Trilogy’ are already written, awaiting their final edit. Once I have done that I intend to begin on what will then be my fourth novel. As yet I have no idea what it will become but the nag is there, it has been for a while now.

Is there anything you would like to add?

If you are reading The Coop, I hope you like it.

~ ~ ~ NEW KINDLE FIRE HD GIVEAWAY ~ ~ ~

Pump Up Your Book and Rebecca Reid are teaming up to give you a chance to win a new Kindle Fire HD!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Use the Rafflecopter form above to enter or visit the Pump Up Your Book website for an entry form at  http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2012/09/29/pump-up-your-book-presents-the-coop-virtual-book-publicity-tour-kindle-fire-hd-giveaway/

First Chapter Review: The Coop by Rebecca Reid

I received this first chapter through Pump Up Your Book for Rebecca Reid's The Coop virtual book tour.

BLURB: A psychological thriller about the destruction of innocence.
Enter The Coop, a dark and mysteriously misleading psychological thriller.

A girl, apparently imprisoned in a room, is the thread of mystery running parallel to the tale of Thatchbury village.

Meet Howard and Lilly. They take you on a journey through Thatchbury where Mathew, the child from the coop, shoots Jodie Tiding, and so unravels the history of his loveless raising, her innocence and the dramatic events leading them to disaster.

The Coop is a darkly compelling vision of the layers of consciousness. Although conceived as the first novel in a trilogy, The Coop stands alone as a brilliant individual work of fiction.


COVER: Dark, Disturbing. Perfect for the genre.

FIRST CHAPTER: The chapter opens with the mysterious she. You don't know who she is or why she is there. You don't even know her name. But you know her circumstances are bad.

The story swiftly moves to Howard and Lilly. You witness a day of their life in the village and catch a glimpse of their quirks.

KEEP READING: I would need to proceed to the second chapter to be certain. Like some psychological thrillers, the style of the writing here lends itself to confusion. You're not quite sure what's going on and how--or if--any of the pieces you just read connect. If you hadn't read the synopsis of the novel before starting the book, the mysterious she in the beginning would seem totally out of place.

Reid paints great pictures for her reader with the details she includes. You feel the cold, the dampness, you get a chance to walk in the garden with Lilly, and you take a dip with Howard and Lilly in the river. The one challenge, and the reason I need to read further before making a decision on if I would read to the end, comes from the feeling that I couldn't connect with any of the characters. The girl remaining nameless means I can't fully sympathize with her. I'm frightened for her, but I don't care enough about her yet to be sympathetic. The majority of the first chapter is about Howard and Lilly. We meet them at the beginning of the day, with Lilly crawling out of bed and joining Howard, who is cooking breakfast. This portion is heavy on narrative, light on dialogue, and there is a fair amount of backstory. This works for the genre, as you really need to see where characters have come from to understand how they got where they are. For a character-driven reader such as myself, however, I was searching for something to latch onto that made me want to care about them, and didn't find it.

All that said, I would read the next chapter to hopefully find that connection I am seeking and to begin putting those pieces together that will help unravel the mystery, because the synopsis has intrigued me.

~ ~ ~ NEW KINDLE FIRE HD GIVEAWAY ~ ~ ~

Pump Up Your Book and Rebecca Reid are teaming up to give you a chance to win a new Kindle Fire HD!

You can enter for your chance to win by using the Rafflecopter form or by visiting http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2012/09/29/pump-up-your-book-presents-the-coop-virtual-book-publicity-tour-kindle-fire-hd-giveaway/

a Rafflecopter giveaway


I received the first chapter of this book from the author's representative. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.