Book Spotlight! The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry ~ Interview and Excerpt! #TheEssenceOfBliss

A heartwarming, magical novel, which follows Isabel Bliss, a primary school teacher with an invisible power over emotional energy, as she discovers, explores and comes to terms with her ability and her potential.

The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry
Publisher: Blossom Spring Publishing
Genre: Speculative Fiction/Romance
Format: Paperback, Kindle

Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher. She experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged, by her mum, to hide it from others. She often feels lost and alone.

When a child in her class experiences chronic distress that only she can perceive, Isabel uses her ability to relieve his suffering, but his situation continues to worsen. Eventually she is forced to take matters into her own hands, escorting him home where she finds horrific signs of abuse. She saves his mum’s life and his father is arrested for the brutal torture he has inflicted upon his family.

A wealthy family moves to town and Isabel meets the two sons. She recoils from Daniel, who is hateful, rude and emotionally deficient but is inexorably drawn to Scott, who awakens something magical, deep inside her. They are like her. They are fluencers and have the ability to sense, read and willfully manipulate emotional energies. Isabel confronts her mum and uncovers hurtful lies and deceit within her own family.

She falls deeply in love and ultimately discovers the untold potential of her gift and the passion and power that dwells within.

Read a sample here.

The Essence of Bliss is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Book Excerpt

The next few moments occurred in painful slow motion. As I tugged my arm sharply out of Donna’s grasp, I was jostled by a stranger on the other side. I felt myself falling off balance and reached out to grab onto something, anything, to keep me upright. The something that I grabbed onto was a jacket slung over an arm and the owner of the jacket pulled back on it hard, tipping me further off balance and sending me sprawling to the floor on my knees. I let out a pained cry as my still bruised knee struck the hard floor.

I ended up on my knees in front of a strong, long set of masculine legs in blue denim. I didn’t know for certain to whom the legs belonged, but I could make an educated guess from the pitch of the gasp and giggle from Donna and the murmuring of the onlookers. I really didn’t want to look up, but I knew that it was inevitable. I couldn’t stay on the floor forever. My knee was painful, and I wasn’t even certain that I could get up by myself. Slowly, grudgingly, I raised my eyes to find Daniel Callahan looking down at me with distasteful recognition and an unpleasant, disdainful smile. I looked him in the eye with as much dignity as I could muster. He continued to stare rudely. He didn’t utter a word.

“Sorry,” I muttered, and my hand flew to my mouth in instant regret. Had I seriously just apologised to him, again, for falling over, again? I was a total idiot, and I was more embarrassed than ever. What was it about this man that made me fall at his feet and behave like a stuttering moron with an apology tic?

“It seems like you’re making a habit of falling on your knees in front of my brother. Here, let me help you.” 

In an instant, everything changed. My whole life turned upside down. Something inside me roared to life and I suddenly felt different, stronger, more alive. It came from the source of the humming, that place deep inside of me. Those simple words, that simple offer of a hand to my feet, the smooth, velvety voice. It was the sort of voice that could make a person weak at the knees with its deep resonance and gentle tone, but it was so much more than that. I didn’t just like the sound of his voice. Something about the owner of that voice had just changed something fundamental about me, and somehow I knew, in that fraction of a second, that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

I wasn’t sure if I could move or if I wanted to look into the face that belonged to those words, that voice. I was frightened about what I might find and what it might do to me, what I might become. However, I was still on the floor on my knees, so I put my hand out, took his and let him pull me to my feet. 

Our eyes met, and without warning, a multitude of sensations overwhelmed me. I saw him, I felt him, I sensed him. I experienced things that I couldn’t understand or explain, but it was like a fire had been lit in my soul, like fireworks exploding in the deepest recess of my mind. I couldn’t just feel his emotions in the way that I normally do. This experience went further, deeper. It felt like in that single second, he was actually inside my mind, or I was inside his. I wasn’t sure whether it was one or the other or if it were both. I couldn’t process what was happening to me. It was happening too fast and exercising too many of my senses. 

He looked at me with bewitching eyes that reached into my very core. Eyes a deep, rich brown, like swirling chocolate, shimmering with a layer of warmth. They glistened with a flame that matched the fire that had ignited inside me, as if his eyes understood and reflected the very essence of me. We saw each other in a way that I had never known before, a way that I had never even dreamed of, and as we looked into each other’s eyes, the flames in his eyes grew larger, hotter. I took everything in, every minute detail. The dark hair swept back from his face, the healthy tan to his skin, the perfect line of his nose leading to full, rich lips surrounded by laughter lines, indicating a happy man: a joyful, confident, beautiful, magical creature.

The intensity of the moment wasn’t limited to the visual. The way that he looked wasn’t what captivated and thrilled my senses. When I sensed a person through their emotions, I usually felt that they were happy or sad, angry or hurt, but this was something new. This was a cacophony of feelings so loud that I felt as if my head might burst with the joy of it. Emotions that lifted me into the sky, swirling around me and through me — through my mind, through my heart, through my body — until I felt dizzy with the power of it. All that I could see were those eyes, those lips. All that I could hear was that voice, and yet I could feel and see and hear everything all at once, like I was awake for the first time in my life, like I had found the answer to a question that I hadn’t known I’d been asking.

– Excerpted from The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry, Blossom Spring Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am a 42 year old mum of 5, keeper of a menagerie of rescued pets and I live with my family in a 250 year old cottage in rural Norfolk, England. My life is incredibly busy. When I’m not writing, trying to keep our house from falling down and looking after my brood, I love spending time with my chaotic family, being outside in the garden, hosting friends for dinner and playing board games. When we get away we usually head to the mountains. We walk up them in the summer, ski down them in the winter and pitch a tent and sleep under canvas wherever and whenever possible.

I have a degree in English Literature and had planned to spend my adulthood teaching and writing. However, my life took a different turn and I have now been an RSPCA Inspector for 20 years. I investigate complaints of animal cruelty and neglect. I am very passionate and proud of the work that I do and the difference that I can make in the lives of suffering animals. I see a lot of traumatic and appalling things and meet some of the worst examples of humanity but I also get to meet and work with incredible people and protect animals from future suffering. My career already has and most definitely will provide inspiration for my writing.

Can you tell us about your latest book, The Essence of Bliss?

The Essence of Bliss tells the story of Isabel Bliss, an ordinary woman with extraordinary power. Isabel is a reception class teacher who has a remarkable relationship with emotional energy. She can feel and experience other people’s emotions as if they were her own, sometimes to an unsettling or even debilitating degree. She also has the power to manipulate the emotions of others but has never understood or learned to harness her gift. Isabel’s abilities are put to the test when a little boy in her class experiences unspeakable suffering, and only she can sense his torment and help to end his agony.

During the book, Isabel encounters a kindred spirit and an adversary within the same family and she is propelled into a tangled web of love, passion and power, underpinned by secrets, deceit and betrayal. She is set on an emotional journey of self discovery, challenging the very concepts of chance, choice and destiny.

The Essence of Bliss is an emotional rollercoaster, with paranormal romantic escapism at its heart. I hope to have crafted a deeply empathetic heroine and a magical journey for readers, who may find themselves pondering the profound themes of emotions and the power of human connections.

Is The Essence of Bliss your only book?

The Essence of Bliss is my debut novel but I am well on the way to completing the sequel, The Essence of Insanity. I have many ideas and inspiration floating around in my head and hope that I get the opportunity to expand this series as well as working on some other new, exciting projects.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters in The Essence of Bliss?

Isabel Bliss is the protagonist, a reception class teacher in her late twenties. She begins the story in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart, Jack, parents, Beth and Max, and a younger sister, Stephanie. She also has a best friend called Donna. Isabel’s family are very close. Beth is eccentric and complicated but Isabel has always felt loved.

As the story progresses, a new family moves to town. The Callahans take up residency in the grand house at the top of the hill and the family consists of Nicholas, an extremely successful barrister with an incredible record, his beautiful wife Georgina and their two sons, Scott and Daniel. On first meeting, Isabel has a profound reaction to the sons, recoiling from one and being inexorably drawn to the other.

Do you see a little bit of yourself in your main character?

Isabel is not based on me but parts of her life and her relationships with her family are reminiscent of my own. Some of the interactions in the Bliss family, especially during the Christmas scenes and between Isabel and Stephanie are quite nostalgic for me and writing them gave me great pleasure for that reason.

Where is this book set and why did you choose that location?

Ramsey Bridge is a fictional town, which exists only in my imagination and within the pages of The Essence of Bliss. I was deliberately vague about its location so that readers are free to use their own imagination. However, I couldn’t help picturing my local area when I was writing and the beach scenes are based very closely on one of my favourite local beaches, Burnham Overy Staithe on the North Norfolk Coast, which I believe is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

I would encourage anyone who wants to write, to get on and do it and stop waiting for the perfect time. Everyone’s lives are busy and it’s so easy to think that you’ll get around to it when the kids are a bit older or when you have more time but you will find that the perfect time never arrives. I had to snatch writing moments between work and family, ferrying various children to various clubs and parties and looking after my family, my animals and my home. It took me a long time but I made the time and it is the best thing that I have ever done. I wish that I had begun years ago, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Thank you so much for this interview, Emily. What’s next for you?

I am currently working on The Essence of Insanity, sequel to The Essence of Bliss. It is another intense, emotional ride but with a darker edge. I can’t wait to get it out there. I have ideas for a prequel as well as other stories in the same series and other exciting and very different projects that I desperately want to try, if only there were more hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the year…

About the Author

Emily Astillberry is an author and RSPCA Inspector from Norfolk, England. She has a degree in English Literature and Linguistics from York University and has been investigating animal cruelty and neglect and rescuing sick and injured animals for 20 years. In her day job, Emily deals with very difficult and often emotional situations and meets all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Her career provides some of the inspiration for themes and characters that can be found in her fictional work.

At home, in a very old cottage in the country, Emily has a husband, 5 children, a dog, a cat, an axolotl, 2 giant African land snails and a varying number of rescue hens, so finding time to write can be a challenge. She is happiest outdoors, growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, walking the dog and family holidays usually involve walking up mountains in summer, skiing down them in winter and sleeping in a tent whenever possible.

Emily loves spending time with her large, noisy, chaotic family, cooking meals for friends and playing board games. She always has at least one book on the go and has always dreamed of writing her own novel. She now dreams of writing more. 

Visit her website at https://emilyastillberry.com. 

You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

The Essence of Bliss is her latest book.

 

Sponsored By:

*********************

Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!