Hi Everyone!
I am excited to be here today to bring you a guest post from Kate Armitage. Please help me by giving her a warm welcome!
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I was told that I learned to read at the
age of three. I can always remember being a bookworm and I still am to this
day. English was my best subject in school and writing has always come easy to
me. It’s in my blood. I want to tell you that I’ve written thousands of novels,
but the fact is I’ve only actually finished two. Why? Life simply got in the
way. My teenage years were turbulent, and even worse when I was kicked out of
home at seventeen. I was a mother by nineteen (although in a loving
relationship to my now-husband). Suffice to say, I was busy. Life passed me by
and I found myself twenty-five-years old and in a bottom-rung job. I was
replaceable, and my boss liked to let me know it. The company would hire more
people than necessary and then make us fight for a contract. There was a
dog-eat-dog mentality. And it made the twelve-hour shifts more unbearable than
they already were.
Then one day, seven hours in to a
twelve-hour shift, I was called in to the office. ‘Kathy,’ they called me,
which isn’t my name, ‘I’m afraid you’re not a good fit and we’re going to have
to let you go.’
And that was that. I was twenty-five and
unemployed, with no prospects and no idea what to do next. I had messed up and
it was surely too late to start over. Too old for an apprenticeship, and
college was out of the question as I didn’t have three years to twiddle my
thumbs. I needed a job. Although, until I found one, I did have some time to
twiddle my thumbs. So, what did I do?
I began to write. A few short stories here
and there, and then a Young Adult novel. It was only 50k, and reading back,
it’s very amateur. But the sense of achievement I felt afterwards was
incredible and it spurred me on. I spent the summer writing bits here and
there, reading books, researching writing tips and articles on how to become
published. I had developed a hunger for writing. Suddenly, I had direction.
But I kept this to myself, so to anyone
else; I was just an unemployed twenty-five-year-old. It made me insecure. In an
age where the world is online and our lives are played out on social media for
all to see, it’s hard not to compare yourself to everyone else. Those school
peers and ex-colleagues you would have never kept in touch with are clogging up
your social media feeds with their new cars and fancy holidays. It can be
overwhelming. How did they manage it? How did they attain perfect lives?
But the more I observed and spoke to
people, the more I realised that no one is living the perfect life they portray
on social media. We all have flaws and shortcomings and we all feel insecure
sometimes. The truth is, it’s not uncommon to be twenty-five and not have
everything figured out. It’s not uncommon to be any age and not have everything
figured out.
In The Wrong Side of Twenty-Five, Kylie is
the epitome of not-having-everything-figured-out. She feels insecure, and
frantic to measure up to an imaginary standard that has been accumulated from a
mixture of her overbearing mother, tv shows and social media.
Alexa has a good job, a best friend and a
housemate that cooks. She’s plodding on nicely until life throws her
opportunities that she feels she must take. But instead of this being a cause
for celebration, it becomes a cause for concern; how will Kylie take it? Alexa
feels responsible for Kylie’s happiness and knows this will drive a wedge
between them. So instead, she starts to live a double life. And that’s where
the problems begin.
The Wrong Side of Twenty-Five is told
through alternating first-person accounts of Alexa and Kylie. Unlikely best
friends who are best friends for the sake of it. They met at University by
chance after bumping in to each other when both late for their first class.
They supported each other that day and each day after that. They don’t have
much in common except dependence on one another and are very much in a
co-dependent relationship.
I like character-driven novels and novels
about relationships but from the beginning that I knew didn’t want to write a
romance. Perhaps it’s because I married young and romance isn’t a novelty to
me. I’ve never been particularly unlucky in love, but damn I’ve had some toxic
friendships. Especially with close female friends. If I were to write a book
about a certain ex-friendship, it would be reviewed negatively as too
contrived. But romance is everywhere, so it cannot be written out like it
doesn’t exist and doesn’t shape people. As a compromise, I tried to put a spin
on the various romances and romantic relationships in the book.
So, as well as writing about things that I
know well such as peer-insecurity and job-instability, I also wrote about
things that I didn’t know quite as much about such as close-female-friendship
and one-night-stands. But even without being able to relate to those aspects of
the book, I can still relate to the consequential emotions that those scenes
brought up. I hope that everyone can find a bit of relatability in The Wrong
Side of Twenty-Five. Whether married or single, twenty-five or fifty-five.
I do worry that people will take the title
to heart and think that if you aren’t either twenty-five or around that age,
you can’t enjoy it and you won’t be able to relate to it. The emotions and feelings
in The Wrong Side of Twenty-Five are timeless. Sure, there are some modern
references, but the underlining message is universal: you are doing fine. And
if you still don’t believe me, Kylie and Alexa will be there for you, just like
they were for me.
The Wrong Side of Twenty-Five is out
December 28th 2017.
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Thanks Kate for being here today!!!
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Title: The
Wrong Side of Twenty-Five
Author: Kate Armitage
Genre: women's fiction
Release Date: December
28th, 2017
Blurb: With newsfeeds full of perfect pouts, hot-dog legs and the
self-proclaimed hashtag-blessed, it’s hard not to feel inadequate. How has
everyone figured out how to live their best life except you?
That’s what Kylie wants to know. She
thought she would spend her twenty-fifth birthday having
a mini-break not a mini-breakdown. After an evening of
finger-food and snide remarks, Kylie decides that things must change.
Naturally, Alexa disagrees. She doesn’t think anything needs to change and is
quite happy plodding on with her best friend by her side. So, when everything
changes for the better for Alexa, while it’s going from bad to worse for Kylie;
will it tear them apart?
Buy the Book:
About the Author:
Author: Kate
Armitage
Author Bio: Kate Armitage is a
writer from England who has three cats, two children and one husband. She lives an alarmingly
conventional life which surprises everyone who speaks to her for more than five
minutes. She spends her days knee-deep in play-doh and spends her nights elbow deep in manuscripts.
Sometimes she lets the children also use the play-doh but only if they promise
not to mix the colours.
Happy Reading!
