GUEST BLOG: Please Retweet by Emily Benet

Emily Benet, author of The Temp, is back with her new novel Please Retweet, about a celebrity social media manager. Today - the publication date of Please Retweet! - Emily joins Uncovered to share her thoughts on how social media can often take over our lives, and especially that of heroine May...

Check it, check it - a novel for all us social media addicts

Do you ever randomly open your front door to check if someone's there? Even though no one's rung the door bell, do you think: let's just have a quick look
And after you've opened it and found no one there, do you go back and open it again a minute later, just on the off chance there's someone there now. Two minutes later, do you open it again?
No. You don't. You only open the door when someone knocks.
SO WHY ARE WE ALWAYS CHECKING OUR PHONES WHEN WE HAVEN'T EVEN RECEIVED A NOTIFICATION?!!!
As soon we wake up: We check our phone.
At the bus stop: We check our phone.
When we have to do something difficult to do at work: We check our phone.
At lunch: We check our phone.
When we go to the loo.... Ahem. Some people check their phones.
What are we hoping for? Well, I reckon we're hoping for a little high. 'Likes' on our Facebook post gives us a little high, a 'retweet' on Twitter gives us a little high, an email reply from someone gives us a little high, a comment on our blog gives us a little high...
How long does the little high last?
Approximately 1 minute.
Which is why we keep checking our phones! We need the the next high!
The main character in my new book, #PleaseRetweet, is always checking her phone because it's her job. May Sparks is paid to manage the online profiles of several C-list celebrities. They're a bunch of loose cannons who would offend half the planet if they were left to run their own Twitter and Facebook accounts by themselves. May has to be careful to get their voices right and not mix up accounts. As her client number grows it gets increasingly challenging.
Posting as several people means May is always getting notifications on her phone. She's experiencing so many highs and lows in her day it's like being on an electric seesaw that won't stop...
Imagine if your phone was going off every second of the day. And every notification required a clever reply.
Welcome to May's world. Coming out this August.

#PleaseRetweet is out in ebook from today, and paperback on 5th November  

UNCOVERED PICKS: Five August Releases

August is here, and with it comes new books from women's fiction authors such as Rosie Millard and Jessica Thompson. There's also a sequel from Shari Shattuck, a social media-themed novel from Emily Benet and a new title from Choc Lit...

The Square by Rosie Millard
Jane has the ideal life: loving husband, beautiful house and delightful son. Her fashionable dinner parties are perfect - and so are her secret assignations with her neighbour's husband, Jay.

From Tracey and her New Money lottery winnings to eccentric artist Philip and his pornographic portraits, the residents of North London's most privileged enclave The Square are a very satisfied bunch. 

To raise money for communal fencing, the Residents' Association decides to hold a Talent Show, produced by Jane and hosted by TV celebrity Alan Makin. But when the show lurches into public disarray, reputations are shattered and everyone has to learn to live with a far less glossy reality than before.

Search for the Truth by Kathryn Freeman
Sometimes the truth hurts … 

When journalist Tess Johnson takes a job at Helix pharmaceuticals, she has a very specific motive. Tess has reason to believe the company are knowingly producing a potentially harmful drug and, if her suspicions are confirmed, she will stop at nothing to make sure the truth comes out. 

Jim Knight is the president of research and development at Helix and is a force to be reckoned with. After a disastrous office affair he’s determined that nothing else will distract him from his vision for the company. Failure is simply not an option. 

As Tess and Jim start working together, both have their reasons for wanting to ignore the sexual chemistry that fires between them. But chemistry, like most things in the world of science, isn’t always easy to control. 

Please Retweet by Emily Benet
Social media whizz kid May Sparks has landed her dream job. Well, not quite, but the salary is great and all May has to do is handle the online profiles of C-list celebrities who have the tendency to say inappropriate things. Easy, right? #wrong 

May's clients include an ex-Big Brother star (who she's definitely not going to sleep with #neversaynever), a disgraced TV presenter (who wants May to sort out his marriage as well as his Twitter account), and a woman who once flashed her boobs on X-Factor. They're all relying on her to turn them into stars. But they're not going to make her job easy. As May is sucked further and further into her job she begins to lose her grip on real life. Her friends don't 'like' her Facebook posts anymore and even her gorgeous neighbour, who once seemed to be on the same wavelength, criticises her career choice. Worse, May's clients start getting trolled by an annoying tweep, who May happens to agree with. 

Then May's secret online identity is leaked, causing her to start trending on Twitter. It looks like the status update is over. Unless May can leave the superficial social media word behind and find her own voice again...

Becoming Ellen by Shari Shattuck
Ellen Homes is done being invisible. Well, sort of. 

Living with her closest friends, Temerity and Justice, has helped her step out of the shell of invisibility she once hid away in. She still seeks refuge in solitary time and observing from afar, but she has pushed herself to open up to others in ways that bring her unexpected happiness.

But when a terrible bus crash upends her normal routine, Ellen finds herself on a whirlwind crusade for the unseen and downtrodden. Only this time, helping others—including two young children with no one else to turn to—will mean facing a pain from her past that she’s long tucked away.

Picking up where Invisible Ellen left off, Becoming Ellen returns us to the touching, poignant, and compassionate world of Ellen Homes as she learns how to navigate the world she has decided to become a part of. 

The Waiting Game by Jessica Thompson
Nessa Bruce waits for her husband to come through the double doors. She'd waited for him to return home from Afghanistan for what felt like forever, and now the moment was finally here. But Jake isn't... Jake Bruce hasn't come home, and it looks like he never will. 

Nessa's life - and that of her daughter Poppy - is turned upside down in an instant. What has happened to the elusive man at the centre of their world? They hold onto the hope that he is still out there somewhere, alive... but as time passes by, Nessa is forced to look at her life, at the decisions she has made and the secrets she has kept. For maybe somewhere within it all lies the answer to the question she's desperate to answer - where is the man she loves?

BOOK NEWS: Please Retweet by Emily Benet

Emily Benet, author of hilarious and wonderful romantic novel The Temp, is back next month with a brand new book, titled Please Retweet.  Focusing on the world of social media, the novel follows May, whose real life is about to change after she lands a job managing online celebrity profiles.

Social media whizz kid, May Sparks has landed her dream job.  Well, not quite, but the salary is great and all May has to do is handle the online profiles of Z C – list celebrities who have the tendency to say inappropriate things.  Easy, right?  #wrong

May’s clients include an ex big brother star (she's definitely not going to sleep with #neversaynever), a disgraced TV presenter (who wants May to sort out his marriage as well as his Twitter account), and a woman who once flashed her boobs on X-factor. They're all relying on her to turn them into stars. But they're not going to make her job easy. 

As May is sucked further into her job she begins to lose her grip on real life.  Her friends don’t ‘like’ her Facebook posts any more and her gorgeous neighbour, who once was on the same wavelength, criticises her career choice. Worse, May’s clients start getting trolled by an annoying tweep, who May happens to agree with. 

Then May’s secret online identity is leaked, causing her to start trending on Twitter.  It looks like the status update is over.  Unless May can leave the superficial social media word behind and find her own voice again…

UNCOVERED INTERVIEWS: Emily Benet

Emily Benet's new novel The Temp was released in paperback yesterday. Emily, who gained a book deal with HarperCollins after The Temp became highly successful on Wattpad with over a million hits. Emily is also the author of Shop Girl Diaries and Short Stories for Busy Adults, and after hearing about The Temp being published, we couldn't wait to find out more!

Tell us about your latest novel in 15 words or less.
A broke temp finds a sack of bananas and decides to become a conceptual artist.

What inspired you to write The Temp?
Like my main character, Amber, I've visited art shows where I've been baffled by how seriously some of the pieces have been taken. Some artists just to need to hang a dirty sock from the ceiling to attract a crowd. I think we live in a society where you can be famous for just about anything if you make enough noise about it. I thought, why can't a bored, broke temp take the world by storm with a sack of bananas, some spray paint and some friends to egg her on?

Where do you do most of your writing?
I write in my bedroom. I've had the same £19 Ikea desk for about 10 years and it's the perfect shape, round-edged and wide! I don't know how people afford to write in coffee shops in London!

What is your favourite book?
That's an impossible question! It depends on my mood. I am very fond of Starter for Ten, as it really made me laugh.

Which part of The Temp did you enjoy writing the most?
I had a giggle most of the way through. I did get a little stuck in the middle, but then I had an idea involving body paint... I won't say anymore.

Who is your favourite literary heroine?
It has to be Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. 

Do you have any tips for readers who are looking to become published writers?
Get your work out there. Start a blog. Test your work out on Wattpad. Don't be precious. Don't get stuck on one thing either. I've written full drafts of three books that I had to accept weren't going to work. Nothing is wasted. The more you write, the better you get!

Are you working on anything else at the moment and if so, can you tell us?
I'm working on a new novel called #PleaseRetweet. It's about a young woman who runs the Twitter accounts belonging to celebrities who can't control themselves online. She tweets as if she were them. It gets messy as real life and virtual reality clash!

Thanks, Emily!

You can find out more about Emily Benet by visiting her website, Facebook page, or by following her on Twitter.

The Temp by Emily Benet
Twenty-something Amber is fresh out of university with a degree she has no clue what to do with… so she temps in order to earn enough money to cover the cost of living the good life in London.

While scrounging free wine from a wacky modern art gallery (her favourite life-hack) she looks at the ‘art’ and thinks ‘if they can do it, why not me?’. Enter a drop-dead gorgeous gallery promoter and a bunch of unlikely friends, including her housemate Egg (short for Egbert), to help – and hinder – her crazy idea to unleash spray painted bananas across the capital.

Laugh out loud with this fun romantic comedy and follow Amber as she literally spray paints the town red – and blue – and yellow – and pink… 

BOOK NEWS: The Temp by Emily Benet

The Temp is the newly-released novel from Wattpad sensation Emily Benet. After becoming well-loved on Wattpad, the serialised novel was picked up by HarperCollins. The paperback is available on December 18th, and is all about new graduate Amber who takes to temping before apparently finding her calling in the art world...

Twenty-something Amber is fresh out of university with a degree she has no clue what to do with...so she temps in order to earn enough money to cover the cost of living the good life in London. While scrounging free wine from a wacky modern art gallery (her favourite life-hack) she looks at the 'art' and thinks 'if they can do it, why not me?'. Enter a drop-dead gorgeous gallery promoter and a bunch of unlikely friends, including her housemate Egg (short for Egbert), to help - and hinder - her crazy idea to unleash spray painted bananas across the capital. Laugh out loud with this fun romantic comedy and follow Amber as she literally spray paints the town red - and blue - and yellow - and pink...