My collection of poetry for the 2013 Atty Awards. Made it to the "Showcase" awards of top 50 collections.

THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE OF THE BOOK. THE COMPLETED BOOK, ALONG WITH BOOK 2, IS BEING PUBLISHED BY HACHETTE IN SEPTEMBER 16 AND THE SEQUEL SHORTLY AFTER. The new, publishing version is fully revised and with brand new content. I'm so so excited for you to all read the new and improved version! Thank you SO Much to everyone that read the original completed first draft here on Wattpad and helped me shape it into the revised, extended and edited version that will be published and in STORES NEAR YOU this year. :D xx Jamie Cole has had a hard life and has just been let out of jail for murder. Before he went to jail Jamie ran with the local gang, upon his release he's determined to go straight but will the leader let him? One more job is what he's promised but this one job seems to be leading to two, then three and he's not sure he'll ever escape his old life. He meets Ellie one night at a club, she's just broke up with her long term boyfriend and isn't looking for anything serious which suits them both. Jamie finds himself drawn to her and now he has another reason to change, she knows nothing about his past and he wants to keep it that way.

***** THIS IS JUST A SAMPLE OF THE STORY. IT IS BEING PUBLISHED ON 5TH NOVEMBER 2013 SO I HAVE HAD TO REMOVE MOST OF IT FROM WATTPAD. Please don't ask me to put the story back up here on Wattpad, I am not allowed due to the terms and conditions of publishing!!***** Annabelle Spencer’s life is every girl’s dream. She has wonderful parents, great friends, and of course the perfect boyfriend, Jack Roberts. That all changes on her sixteenth birthday when her life comes crashing down around her. Her dream night turns into a nightmare when Jack is murdered right in front of her, and she’s kidnapped by his murderer, Carter Thomas, a big time drug and arms dealer. After ten months of being with Carter, she’s found, but the experience has totally changed her. She’s no longer the happy-go-lucky girl that everyone used to know and love; she’s now cold, hard and suffers from night terrors. It appears that Carter broke not only her body, but her spirit too. A shadow of her former self, her slogan for life is now: ‘If you don’t care about anything, then you have nothing to lose’. Carter is currently serving time for the murder of Jack, a conviction that Anna helped secure. But his retrial is coming up because some key evidence appears to have been tampered with. Unbeknown to Anna, death threats are being received by her father, the Senator. It appears that Carter is still interested in Anna and will stop at nothing to get her back. Ashton Taylor is brought in to protect her. He’s a newly qualified SWAT agent, a bright spark, the agency’s new golden boy. He is assigned undercover, posing as her boyfriend. His job is to help her through college and keep her safe until the end of the trial in eight months’ time.

Life's A Beach for John Pilate. On the mend from a near-death experience in the snowy Midwest, Pilate is taking it easy on the sun-soaked beaches of Key West. Umbrella drink in hand, Pilate is writing a book and getting some much-needed therapy to deal with his imaginary friend Simon. He's also pondering the future with his new love, Kate. Life is looking up for John Pilate--until he is drawn into a world of murder, pirates, conch fritters and smart aleck remarks from invisible men. He has blood on his hands, a mysterious poker chip in his pocket, shadows over his shoulder and a sexy cop in his bed. John Pilate is in trouble again--and the only way out is to find the key...Pilate's Key. ***"Pilate's Key" is a semi-finalist for Best Mystery/Thriller in the 2012 Kindle Book Review Awards.***

Mara Lynn is the most beautiful girl in the world. James Parker is the ordinary boy who discovers her power. Set on the beaches of Michigan in 1994, the book depicts the joys and consequences of young love as Mara and James meet, shoot a movie, fend off bullies, and explore the potential of infinite beauty. "The Accidental Siren" is a dark, contemporary fairytale available on paperback and ebook at the end of June! To learn more, check out my website at www.JakeVanderArk.com!

Fifteen year-old Maggie arrives in London on the run from her humdrum suburban life, determined to make it big in show business. For more than thirty years she is exploited by both men and the media. She struggles against endless set-backs and disappointments, always remaining optimistic, always believing that this time her big break has come. Then, when most of us would have given up all hope, the celebrity circus rockets her to bizarre and unexpected pinnacles of fame. Starting in 1970 Maggie de Beer’s journey mirrors the rise of celebrity culture and the growth of the media which ruthlessly created it, exploiting and destroying the lives of girls like Maggie who willingly offered themselves up, happy to make any amount of personal sacrifices in exchange for a chance to live the dream. She is determined to make herself “interesting” and only when she finally achieves her goal, at enormous personal cost, does she finally discover, under the full glare of the media spotlight, that the family she was running away from was never as humdrum as she had believed. This is the story of a woman who just wanted to be recognised and loved by the public. www.MaggiedeBeer.com