‘Crystal’
by Heather Burnside
Blog Tour
Guest Post

Thanks as always to the lovely Vicky, representing Aria Fiction and the great team at NetGalley, without whom these Blog Tour downloads just wouldn’t run as smoothly!

With Fiction Books stop on this comprehensive Blog Tour, being quite close to the final date, I’m sure that there will have been lots of extracts, author guest posts and interviews already shared, with plenty more still to come, so why not visit a few of the other tour participants and see what goodies are on offer … A full schedule of Blog Tour spots, is shown below!

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CRYSTAL (The Working Girls – Book #3)

THE PIMP.

When Crystal’s pimp, protector and former lover, Gilly, dies of a drugs overdose Crystal is bereft. She refuses the paid protection of a rival pimp, determined to go it alone. But a vicious beating from a client leaves her feeling vulnerable and angry.

THE JUDGE.

Meanwhile, Crystal’s daughter, Candice, is asking difficult questions about her job. Crystal decides it’s time to make some changes, and, when a high-profile judge offers her payment to keep schtum about his nefarious activities, it gives her an idea. Perhaps other clients will also pay for her silence…

THE REVENGE.

Crystal engages on a revenge mission to rob, blackmail and expose her most depraved clients. But some of these men are highly dangerous and, if Crystal wants to exact her plan of revenge, she must accept the risks that go with it.

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HEATHER BURNSIDE

Heather grew up in Gorton, a working-class area of Manchester, moving to Longsight, where she spent her teenage years on one of the toughest estates in Manchester.

During the 1990s the estate became the headquarters for one of Manchester’s predominant gangs. It regularly featured in the local press due to shootings and drug-related problems. Heather draws heavily on this background as the setting for many of her novels.

After taking a career break to raise two children Heather enrolled on a creative writing course. During that time she had many articles published in well-known magazines and went on to run a writing services business before focusing on her novels.

Heather now works full-time on her novels from her home in Manchester which she shares with her two grown-up children.

Heather has a lovely website where you can keep up with all her news

You can follow Heather on Twitter

You can also check in with Heather on Facebook

“I did a lot of research for the series, delving into the world of prostitution by reading books about the life of a prostitute and watching online videos. It struck me that there were various reasons why the girls had chosen the life of prostitution and some of them were quite sad. I thought to myself, each of these girls has their own story to tell, and I therefore decided to base each of the books in the series on one girl in particular.”

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BLOG TOUR / AUTHOR GUEST POST

CRYSTAL FIGHTS BACK

Crystal has featured throughout ‘The Working Girls’ series. In the first book, The Mark, she was the girlfriend of Gilly, the ruthless pimp, and in book two, Ruby, we see her as Ruby’s best friend. In each of these books she is seen as weak-willed, and very much under the control of Gilly. So, in a book that focuses primarily on the character of Crystal I wanted to give her a chance to fight back….

This fightback is prompted by various events that take place in her life. Firstly, we see the death of her pimp, protector and former lover, Gilly. She finds it hard to deal with at first and sinks into a pit of despair, drinking excessively, taking too many drugs and neglecting herself, her home and, most importantly, her daughter.

It is Ruby’s staunch encouragement that eventually sets her on the right track and, despite her brief neglect of her daughter, Crystal actually cares very much for her and usually puts her first in everything.

But then a vicious assault by a client threatens to pull Crystal back down. Surprisingly, however, she takes a very different path and finds her inner strength. The assault has acted like a trigger within her, making her take a different view of everything. That, combined with another couple of events prompts her to seek revenge on clients who have wronged her and to blackmail some of them.

Following the assault she makes a chance discovery that some people are willing to pay for her silence, when she appears before a judge who she recognises as one of her clients. The judge pulls her to one side and offers her money as long as she doesn’t reveal their former dealings to anyone. This cements the idea of revenge in her mind.

Crystal also feels under increasing pressure to build a future in which her daughter, Candice, can be proud of her. It is becoming more and more difficult to hide her lifestyle and when Candice starts asking difficult questions about what she does for a living, Crystal knows that something has got to change.

Her plan is to use the money gained from blackmail to start her own business. She has seen Ruby succeed in running her own brothel and making a nice home. Crystal sees her as her role-model, friend and supporter and through Ruby she knows what can be achieved.

As the novel progresses we see Crystal starting to realise that she didn’t need Gilly and is finally free of his shackles. In fact, his control kept her down and prevented her from making something of her life. Without him holding her back she can realise her dreams.

Some of the actions she takes are extreme but she justifies them because she is acting against some of her most depraved and evil clients and, as far as Crystal is concerned, they deserve everything that is coming to them. She also validates her actions because the money she makes will secure her future and make her daughter proud of her.

Unfortunately for Crystal, some of these clients are even more evil and ruthless than she imagined, and her actions leave her in grave danger. Is she doing the right thing and will she finally succeed in turning her life around?

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