BITTER LIKE AN ORANGE PEEL Set for Release Today

Jessica Bell, a 30-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, award-winning poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist doesn't write fairy tales - she writes books that explore the beauty within the beast. Bitter Like Orange Peel (Vine Leaves Press) is a raw and engrossing family drama that would shock your average princess.

Six women. One man. Seven secrets. And one could ruin them all. Kit is a twenty-five-year-old archaeology undergrad who doesn't like to get her hands dirty. Life seems purposeless. But if she could track down Roger, her missing father, maybe her perspective would change. Kit's attempt to discover the truth will seduce the reader with more panache than Christian Grey.

A blend of dry comedy and raw heartbreak, Bitter Like Orange Peel explores relative values of circumstantial evidence, selective memory, and the understandable prejudgments we're all so capable of in the passionate protection of those we love. Family relationships are flawed. All we can do is paper over the cracks.

As the daughter of a semi-famous rock 'n' roll duo from Melbourne, author Jessica Bell has the ability to take a seemingly ordinary three-chord story and turn it into a main stage event. After years writing and recording her own songs, Bell discovered a hidden passion for the written word. Combined with her knack for poetry, she's a triple talent threat guaranteed to inspire, entertain and amaze your audience.

In addition to her first two novels, poetry collections (including Fabric, which was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2012), and her three-book writing craft series, Bell has published a variety of works in online and print literary journals and anthologies. She is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and the director of the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca.

Please see the Bitter Like Orange Peel book trailer at http://bit.ly/14ublvr. And get a sense of Bell's haunting stage presence from her latest music video: http://bit.ly/19opLNd.

Bitter Like Orange Peel
November 1, 2013
Vine Leaves Press
Available at all major book retailers in both paperback and eBook.
Go to http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/books.html
$4.99
ISBN-13: 9780987593115

REVIEWS FOR JESSICA BELL

Dawn Dalton, co-author of Killer's Instinct: "A novelist of immense talent and a cast of remarkable characters that seep under your skin like poison....an extraordinary novel of love, loss - and delicious lies."

Leigh Talbert Moore, bestselling author of The Truth About Faking: "Colorful, well-developed characters in a world vividly imagined. Bitter Like Orange Peel is equal parts gorgeous writing and gritty reality as four women come to terms with the past. A must-read for Jessica Bell fans."

Talli Roland, bestselling author: "A tightly plotted read with fascinating characters, Bitter Like Orange Peel compels readers to unravel the layers of intertwining stories until the shocking core is revealed."

Lily Mulholland, author: "While the title of this book alludes to the fresh citrus, there's nothing sweet about this tale. At the story's heart is a rotten mix of lies, mistrust and lives half-lived. It's a very modern drama that reveals itself like a segmented orange, leaving behind the aftertaste of its zesty but bitter peel."

Goodreads Reviews:

"Jessica Bell's writing is as beautiful as ever, though this time she writes about characters who, for the most part, are pretty well flawed and often unlikeable as well....that is what makes Jessica Bell such a great writer. Well, there's the beauty of her style, of course, but her characters are always very real....this book... kept me gasping..."

"Multi-talented author Jessica Bell has provided the discerning reader a wonderful novel.... rapid-fire story-telling through the eyes and mouths of multiple intersecting lives... rough-edged dialogue and internal monologue... soothed with narrative as smooth as poetry... filled with perfect metaphors, uniquely-fitted and thought-provoking...a novel of lies and lies about lies abound. It is ... complicated by those internal and external truths we all conceal from family, and ourselves....Jessica Bell's Bitter Like Orange Peel will not disappoint."

"These people take dysfunctional to a whole new level. ...[and the author] leaves it up to the reader how to interpret these revelations.... an excellent job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.... It was hard to put this book down."

"... a fresh take on family drama. The narrative explores how secrets and withholding shape the life of an extended family through the eyes of three half-sisters....Jessica Bell's prose is interesting and engaging. Each of the sisters are uniquely flawed in ways that make the characters jump off the page and take up residence in the reader's head. "