Literary Fiction

Here’s What People Are Saying About The Devil Within

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The Devil Within Cover

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Sometimes the best books are the worst books. We wish this sort of thing didn’t happen in the world but it does. This book follows the life of young William who loses his mom and siblings in a car wreck. He is left to be raised by his father who you could say is God fearing to the extreme. In his attempts to shape up William he actually breaks God’s laws himself. The writing is strong, emotional and brilliant. I wanted to reach into the book and cuddle that boy, bitch slap his dad and steal him away and feed him pancakes and love. I can’t recommend this book enough, it is gripping from beginning to end.
 — Susan J.
An excellent book! I’m looking forward to reading more by Lauren Greene!
The Devil Within was a heart wrenching page turner. Written through the eyes of a young boy dealing with a loss that no child should endure; the story takes the reader through his journey of self realization, acceptance and love. I read the book in one night! I didn’t mean to but I just couldn’t put it down.
— Shanna
Couldn’t put it down
I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book. I was impressed with the subject matter and how well it was written. My heart ached for William and all that he went through. By the end I was in tears. Great book and very well written.
–Katrina
Hurry, if you sign up for my newsletter, The Greene Pen, before July 31st you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a free signed copy of The Devil Within: http://eepurl.com/bo4ILP
You can find The Devil Within in paperbook or ebook at the following websites (click the word for link):
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iTunes (Search The Devil Within by Lauren Greene in the iTunes Store)

Where Have I Been?

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Excuse the cellphone quality photo. I haven’t quite downloaded the camera photos yet. When you come back from Paradise, where you lived for six days without children, it’s hard to get back into the swing of things. We stayed at Paradisus Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and my hubby and I had some much needed alone time. Rekindling, if you will? We also met some great people who seemed more like characters in a book, but as we all know “Characters are only works of fiction, any resemblance to someone in real life is purely coincidental.”

Originally, when we planned this trip I thought The Devil Within would already be out. I anticipated having it published in April or May, but we all know how seldom things go as planned. That’s the fun of life. I was pleasantly surprised to know the paperback came out the day before we left, and guess what? Now the kindle edition is out. For some reason they’re two different links and the Kindle link is hard to find. I’m hoping Amazon gets that sorted out. I’m sure they will.

Click the book below for the link to the Kindle edition:

The Devil Within Cover

So let me tell you, the absolute best way to make a book a raging success is to fly to the Dominican Republic for a week the day it comes out. No, I’m kidding. I really wanted to bomb the market with this book. I wanted it to have a fantastic first day out, because I feel like this book is special. And I don’t know if thousands of authors say that. Oh, look at me, I wrote a book. But I didn’t think I would ever publish this book. I wrote it more for myself, the inspiration plucked from the sky somewhere. Writing it took me on an emotional journey through the doorways of youth, religion, hate and love. In this book, William experiences suffering that no small child should feel, but the truth is every day in the “real world” children are coping with the harsh realities of what William’s fictional life: being hurt by the person who is supposed to care for them the most.

When you are young, the world seems so big. Sometimes it seems magical. And other times it’s terrifying. As I wrote The Devil Within I felt horrified for William. My heart tugged for him, and I longed to help him escape. I longed to give him a chance. And so, this book is personal to me because it tells a tale of survival and that’s what we’re all trying to do in this amazing unrelenting world of ours.

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Go to Church or The Devil Will Get You

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A few years ago, I had an idea about this sign:

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Photography by Amanda Willis

In case you all aren’t familiar with this sign, it sits off the interstate between Montgomery, Alabama and Birmingham, Alabama.  And the story behind the sign is innocuous and not at all like what I wrote in “The Devil Within.”

When I first thought of this book idea, I didn’t want to write it. The suffering seemed intense in the story that swam in my head. Similar to Nabokov when he wrote Lolita, after I wrote “The Devil Within” I thought no one would want to read it.  The story is, well, tragic. Luckily, I have this amazing person in my life named Sheri Williams (she’s a writer too!). Sheri encouraged me to submit “The Devil Within” to Booktrope, and I decided to listen to her advice. Imagine that, me listening to someone else’s advice! What a roller coaster it has been since. The book was accepted and since then I’ve learned the following things:

  • Having your book edited is hard.
  • I’m a major procrastinator, and when something is hard for me to cope with I procrastinate more.
  • I’m whiny and like to complain a lot when I’m just scared of the next step.
  • I still have a bad habit of putting two spaces behind the period (And I still think it looks better, even though the purpose behind that was because of typewriters).
  • I have to have goals and schedules and someone waiting on me to get things done.
  • Sheri Williams is really good at being supportive and also really good at telling me to stop sitting on my butt!

Okay–I’ve learned way more than that too.  Anyway, over the next month or so before the book comes out (Think mid to end of June), I’ll be posting about the process of writing this book, a few teasers, about the South and Alabama, and eventually I’ll be doing a Rafflecopter giveaway for a free copy of the book too.

You can check it out right here or you can follow me on:

Facebook – Lauren Greene Writer

Twitter — @laurenegreene

Now for a cup of coffee and then time to get to work! Feel free to ask me any questions you have regarding the book, my process with Booktrope, or anything else you want in the comments!