What would you do if you woke up with super powers?

For Bella Brown, life hasn’t gone according to plan. She’s almost thirty, still living in her uneventful hometown, and her dreams of becoming an investigative reporter have fallen by the wayside.

That is, until she wakes up one morning to find she’s been gifted with some amazing new abilities. What’s a girl to do with heightened senses, super speed and the ability to lift a truck one-handed? Bella quickly discovers that her new powers can easily help her land front-page leads at local newspaper The Hartleybourne Gazette.

Soon Bella’s out every night chasing down local criminals for stories, while keeping her powers a secret from everyone besides flatmate Chloe. But when a burglary-gone-wrong accidentally turns her into the mysterious Hartleybourne Heroine, Bella finds herself on the front page for the wrong reasons. Her secret becomes harder to keep as she tries to track down the source of her powers, and especially when crime reporter Matt Gilmore is intent on unmasking the town’s new vigilante…

Suddenly, having an extraordinary life is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.

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EXCERPT

She’s Bad News follows Bella Brown, an aspiring journalist in a small town who thinks that luck is against her – that is, until she wakes up with super powers.

In this extract, Bella, an admin at the Hartleybourne Gazette, feels ready to face the pub after being humiliated at work. But first, she decides to take one of the diet pills she’s being forced to review, just to prove to her boss that they don’t work.

 At least, not in the way she’d expect…

 Once inside, I rushed towards the bathroom, peeling off my sweat-encrusted clothing on the way. I opened my bedroom door, kicked off my trainers and hurled my dirty clothes into the growing pile of laundry in the corner of the room. Working on the BodiBurn story had taken up most of my spare time for an entire week, and I hadn’t got round to chores.

The warm water felt good against my aching body. Invigorating. By the time I stepped out ten minutes later and padded out to my room, smelling more like a tropical paradise than sweaty feet, I was in a more positive mood. The workout had been a blast. My muscles were aching, but it was a good kind of pain. With a towel draped around me, I put my glasses back on, quickly tamed my frizzy hair back into its usual ponytail, and dabbed on some lip balm.

I was only going for one solitary drink, but I knew how quickly one drink descended into two, and before you knew it, you were four ciders down and putting the world to rights. So I knew that driving Delilah might not be the best of ideas. The pub wasn’t far, and there was a bus stop just round the corner, so I reached for my bag to check for some change. As I rummaged around, my fingers brushed against the familiar envelope lying dutifully in the confines of my satchel.

I pulled it out.

‘NARCIS diet supplements – now YOU can join in with this brand new weight loss phenomenon! Research has proven that NARCIS UltraBoost is one of the most effective slimming techniques on the market today, guaranteed to help you shed the pounds in just seven days.’

Seven days? Bullshit, I thought. This was absolute nonsense, nothing more than a fad aimed at the insecure. The little tub might as well have had a different message emblazoned across it. You don’t like your body, do you? Of course you don’t. It’s awful. How about something to help with that?

I turned to grab my clothes, and came face to face with my reflection in the full-length mirror that leaned against the wall. Michelle had left it behind. There I was, beneath my warm bedroom light, my normal, everyday self.

I dropped my towel. Now I was completely nude. Nude besides my glasses and the pills I was holding in one hand. I looked at the pills, of the little blissful jumping woman on the front, and then back at my reflection. I saw what I always saw, but then I looked again.

I stepped forward and looked. Really studied myself. Giving myself a detailed once-over, looking for the bits I didn’t really notice the first time. The way my short legs led to curvy hips, which were dappled with cellulite at the top. The roll of belly that would usually peek out from over my jeans, concealed by my favourite flouncy tops, was out in full force now, and I watched myself as I grabbed the soft skin between my hands. My shoulders, dusted with light freckles, were rounded and pale. Not thin. Not muscular, like Chloe’s. But that was okay, wasn’t it? That was just the way I was. The way I looked didn’t affect anything. Staring in the mirror, I was already second-guessing, and that fact alone made me want to take those NARCIS pills and flush them all straight down the toilet.

But then I remembered I had to review the stupid things. What was I meant to say? Save your money – terrible for your body, worse for your soul? Layla wouldn’t let that slide. Not at all.

I could already feel my mood start to dwindle towards irritation. “No,” I told my naked self in the mirror. “Not going to happen!” I wasn’t in the office – Layla was not going to get to me. Not tonight. Not anymore. I’m not sure if it was to do with all those newly-released endorphins, but I was feeling pretty damn determined.

If Layla wanted a review, then she would get a review. If these things were as useless as I expected, then I wasn’t going to lie to my readers. Okay, so my readership mainly consisted of Chloe, a few old ladies and my mother, but still. It was a matter of principle.

I cracked the tub open, shaking out a little white pill into my hand before checking the directions.             ‘Cruelty-free!’ Well, that was a good start. At least I wasn’t going to be ingesting the fruits of bunny-murder. ‘Take no more than one capsule per day, preferably with food…’

I’d eaten a cheese sandwich before the self-defence class. That’d do. Carefully I took the tablet between my fingers, and swallowed it in one gulp.

There. “Done,” I said, with a hint of smugness.

 

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Author Bio

Elle Spellman is a writer and comic book geek living in Bristol, UK. She’s been writing since a very young age, spending her childhood afternoons penning stories about fictional adventures, and illustrating them too.

Now, Elle tends to write contemporary fiction with kick-ass heroines and a little bit of magic. She’s Bad News is her debut novel, and she’s just finished working on her second. Her other interests include running, wine, red lipstick, the paranormal, and all things Batman.

 

 

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