Chantelle Atkins

'I remember my Nana once saying everyone should have at least one good summer in their lives, one summer that they never forget. I think, this is not a bad way to start my sixteenth year. This is not a bad way to start our summer. And I give Joe a slow smile.' Sixteen year old Lou wants to be thinner. Joe is her best friend and last night they found something they shouldn't have in his older brothers' wardrobe. Leon and Travis are shady figures, living shadier lives, and one summer, Lou and Joe find themselves mixed up in the drama, the confusion and the violence. Will Lou's weight loss obsession spiral out of control? Is Marianne, her self-harming friend, really her friend, or an enemy in disguise? And will Lou and Joe ever be more than just best friends? Reluctant drug running, extreme dieting, kissing the wrong boys, family drama and first love. Lou Carling is about to have one messy summer.

The Mess of Me

Having moved towns to escape his mothers ex-boyfriend/stalker, Danny is consumed with anger, and he just wants to fight. It’s what he does best. He soon makes friends with the local misfits and troublemakers and finds himself embarking on a thrilling musical journey. We follow his exploits with school bullies, the girl from the nice end of town, and his attempts to scare boyfriends away from his beautiful single mother. However things become darker when she is swept off her feet by powerful local nightclub owner, Lee Howard. Danny finds he has met his match; Howard is a dangerous psychopath, who seems to be addicted to violence, and there are very few adults who will believe a word Danny says. The story is told from both points of view, Danny's and Howard's. Who is he, and what does he ultimately want from Danny? With his own personal soundtrack in his head, Danny explores the power of music, how it gives him hope, and becomes an obsession; "I was standing on the edge of a great swelling discovery; music. I felt like I was turning the pages of a good book faster and faster, but that I would never get to the end, I would never discover all of the music." A story about music, dreams, first love, the friends who would do anything to save you, and the choice between escaping, or fighting back…

Part 1 The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Tensions are building on the notorious Holds End estate. The local community centre is fighting for survival and the murder of 15-year-old Lewis Matthews remains unsolved... Wannabe teenage singer, Bill Robinson, just got out of hospital after surviving a vicious attack. He thinks he knows who attacked him...and why. When a violent feud escalates between him and local thug Charlie McDonnal, Bill vows to find the killer and help save the community centre by taking part in the local singing contest. Can music bring a shattered community together? And can Bill keep his own demons at bay long enough to win the singing contest and find out who killed Lewis Matthews?

Book One In The Holds End Series

A Song For Bill Robinson

Aged 17, Danny was sent to prison for committing a brutal and violent crime. Seven years later he is released, determined to put his disturbing past behind him.He wants to lead a normal, decent life with the friends who stuck by him and his teenage sweetheart Lucy.Danny knew life would be complicated on the outside, and he soon realises the past has not finished with him. His loved ones have all been damaged in different ways by his crime, a nosy reporter is desperate to hear the whole sordid story, and someone else does not think he has been punished enough. As a sinister hate campaign starts to target him and his loved ones, Danny is forced to face the reality of the choice he made seven years ago. When he finally discovers who is out to get him, he must decide how to make amends and whether to give them what they want, risking everything he holds dear in the process.The dramatic story continues in The Boy With The Thorn In His Side Part Five...

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side Part Four

"Nevermind is playing on my Walkman, in my ears, in my head. I am lost inside the music of yesterday. I have placed the knives around my clothes just like I did before. I have drunk some wine and listened to some music. I am ready."Howard has pushed Danny to the brink, and now he has only murder on his mind. Anthony, however, disrupts his plans and offers an alternative. If Danny accepts Howard's job offer, he can work undercover, and finally get Howard convicted and out of their lives. Desperate to please Anthony, Danny agrees to become what Howard wants. His employee, his son and his protégé. But his new life as a drug dealer is fraught with danger and the temptation of narcotics is too hard to resist. To play his part, Danny must distance himself from his friends, and as his drug use escalates, his grip on reality begins to slip. When a devastating truth is revealed, both Howard and Danny hurtle towards a final brutal climax, where revelations, betrayals and the thin line between love and hate will determine who survives.The dramatic story continues in The Boy With The Thorn In His Side Part Four...

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side - Part Three

Having moved towns to escape his mothers ex-boyfriend/stalker, Danny is consumed with anger, and he just wants to fight. It's what he does best. He soon makes friends with the local misfits and troublemakers and finds himself embarking on a thrilling musical journey. We follow his exploits with school bullies, the girl from the nice end of town, and his attempts to scare boyfriends away from his beautiful single mother. However things become darker when she is swept off her feet by powerful local nightclub owner, Lee Howard. Danny finds he has met his match; Howard is a dangerous psychopath, who seems to be addicted to violence, and there are very few adults who will believe a word Danny says. The story is told from both points of view, Danny's and Howard's. Who is he, and what does he ultimately want from Danny? With his own personal soundtrack in his head, Danny explores the power of music, how it gives him hope, and becomes an obsession. A story about music, dreams, first love, the friends who would do anything to save you, and the choice between escaping, or fighting back... Set on a council estate in the south of England, in the early 1990s, Danny's story is about one boys fight to survive an increasingly brutal home life, and the hope and inspiration he finds from his friends, the girl he loves, and from his obsession with music. From grunge to Britpop, Danny is on a journey of musical discovery...continues in Part Two

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side - Part One

Danny's story continues...His mother has married Lee Howard, psychotic nightclub owner and violent control freak, while Danny has been befriended by his creepy sidekick ex-copper Jack Freeman. Keeping his friends at bay for their own safety, Danny spends his days in a drug induced haze, relying only on music and his job in The Record Shop to keep him going. When Anthony is released from prison, he vows to help Danny escape, and with a bit of help from drug dealer Jaime, he soon uncovers the vile truth behind both men. Will Anthony and Michael be able to help Danny, without putting their own lives at risk? Will Lucy and Danny ever get together? Will Danny's mother finally learn the truth about her successful and charming husband? Danny's musical journey continues, the soundtrack to his troubled life both uplifting and heartbreaking; "I'd hear a song, and it would cause this utterly jolting and physical reaction inside of me. It would take me over, and it would take me somewhere else. Set all kinds of things off inside of me. Some songs, they drag you down with them, they take your hand very gently and ease you out of the sunshine. They want you to feel their pain, and they want the shivers to run through you as all your hairs stand on end. And then there are the songs that set your heart on fire, and I mean, they fill you up with indescribably joyous energy, the kind that makes you believe you will live forever." Told from Howard's point of view as well as Danny's; what is it Howard really wants from him, and will Danny ever be able to give it to him? A gritty, uncompromising story comes to its brutal and violent climax when Danny and his friends make a bid for a new life...Howard is not about to let them go that easily...

Chantelle Atkins

About

Books

Join the club