Böcker av Stevie Turner

A ghost holds the key to a stolen fortune... Tina is fourteen years old. She is argumentative, surly, disobedient, and hails from a dysfunctional family. She has had various unsuccessful stays in foster care, as her behaviour always remains challenging. When she is moved to Sunrise Court, a children's home, she is soon in trouble for breaking the rules, and is horrified to discover she has to barricade herself into her bedroom every night to evade the wandering hands of a certain member of staff. Devoid of hope for the future, she starts a diary at the beginning of January 1997 as she approaches her fifteenth birthday. Will the New Year will bring an improvement in her situation? 'Tina's Diary: 1997' reached the finals of the 2023 Page Turner Writing Award. Review by D.G Kaye, author of Conflicted HeartsTina is a fifteen year old girl living in an orphanage home. She is an angry and rebellious girl, but very resourceful. She drops out of school but is quite clever and streetwise, and carries a lot of resentment toward her parents for her predicament. Tina's mother was a drug addict and alcoholic who over-dosed when Tina was ten and her philandering father had long gone, and remarried. Tina has an estranged and resentful relationship with her cheating, alcoholic father who typically visits her once a year at Christmas, and occasionally on her birthday, to leave her money and whatever stolen goods he may have acquired that she may be able to use.Tina doesn't like rules and uses her bedroom window to escape out at nights for dates with all the wrong kinds of shady characters. She's also quite clever and learns how to make some spending money on the side, because it's a 'short stint for a decent payoff'.This story begins as a diary of Tina's life in the home, and then all the little plot twists that come along in her life, keep us turning the pages. The author did a marvelous job of writing Tina's story in this epistolary style of writing, and writing from the mind of a lonely, angry, and confused young teenager facing situations and decisions at an age with adult-sized problems. Tina's shenanigans with a twist of paranormal make for an interesting read.

Kickback have a problem; their manager Richard has booked a string of sold-out concert venues, but ageing has taken its toll on the band and now they're not sure whether they can manage a long tour anymore. Seth will need steroid injections in order to sing, Rob has prostate trouble, Ethan has RSI and tennis elbow and cannot make his beloved Flying V guitar cry or sing, and years of being hunched over a drum kit has given Mick an arthritic back. Ethan suggests calling his friend Baz to help play any guitar solos. Baz is willing to help, but has already checked himself into rehab. Baz meets a fellow alcoholic, Steve, in rehab, whom he discovers has more than a passable voice. He suggests bringing Steve along to the rehearsal sessions as a backing singer when both of them have dried out, and the rest of the band agree. However, once Baz and Steve arrive at Seth's mansion in deepest Wales, a tragic event occurs that none of the band could have ever foreseen and which threatens the commencement of what will now be the band's farewell tour.

When Karen and Mick Curtis attend a demonstration of clairvoyance for the first time, Karen is singled out by the medium, Rae Cordelle. Rae has a message from Karen's son David, who passed over to the spirit world many years before. The message shocks Karen and sends her on a journey of discovery, rocking her previously happy relationship with second husband Mick, David's stepfather. 

This darkly humorous fiction book focuses on a couple's mid-life crisis.  Lyn Fuller is experiencing menopausal symptoms, and finds that she no longer wants sex. This is unfortunate, as her husband Neil still does. When Neil discards her after 35 years of marriage like an old worn out shoe, Lyn moves to Cornwall to start a new life. However, new friends are hard to find, and she feels lonely. On the spur of the moment she decides to join an online dating site, ‘MatchULike’, just for companionship. Amongst the peculiar people she meets is Peter; shy, and conscious that his ‘gentleman’s’ operation has rendered him an unattractive prospect in the marriage stakes. Lyn makes a friend of Peter, but when Neil gets to hear about the friendship he realises too late that there is more to a relationship than just sex ...

Frances Andrews is sick of her husband Martin's addiction to pornography, and has lost her trust in him. Martin views porn as a harmless pastime, but when Frances threatens to leave, he is distraught and begs her to go with him for marriage guidance therapy. Counselor Rhona suggests they take a holiday in the first instance, and start talking to one another again. Frances just wants out of the marriage, but finally agrees to go on a cruise…as long as they have separate cabins. Told from both Frances and Martin's perspectives, Mind Games shines a light on the effect that an addiction to pornography can have on a previously happy marriage.

The Daughter-in-law Syndrome investigates the complicated relationship causing much friction between Grandmother Edna Deane and her daughter-in-law Arla. In addition it focuses on the sometimes tumultuous partnership between Arla and her husband Ric. Arla Deane sometimes likens her marriage to undergoing daily psychological warfare. Husband Ric will never voice an opinion, and puts his mother Edna up high on a pedestal. Arla is sick of always feeling that she comes in at only second best to her mother-in-law, who much to Arla's fury is never told anything by Ric or his sisters that she would not want to hear. This novel explores the husband/wife, mother/son, and mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationships. After twenty eight years of marriage, Arla, the daughter-in-law, is at the end of her tether and persuades a reluctant Ric to accompany her for marriage guidance. As they look back over their lives with Counsellor Toni Beecher, Arla slowly comes to realise her own failings, and eventually discovers the long-hidden reason why Ric will never utter a cross word to his mother. Also, adding to Arla's stress is the fact that her son Stuart will soon be marrying Ria, a girl whom Arla feels is just looking for a free ride. Arla is convinced that Ria will be no asset to Stuart at all; her new daughter-in-law just wants to be a mother and has no intention of ever working again once the babies start to arrive. After visiting Stuart and Ria for Sunday lunch, Arla is convinced that her son is making the biggest mistake of his life…..

Erin Mason, divorced and with two teenage sons, finds her world begins to fall apart when she undergoes what is termed a "life event", and is diagnosed with cancer. Not too far away somebody else, Alan Beaumont, is also suffering a similar fate. Their paths slowly come together in this inspiring and sometimes humorous tale which is partly based on actual events, and shows how love can flourish in the most unlikely of circumstances.