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ABOUT THE BOOK

Spanning the course of several weeks, Santa; details the physical and emotional deterioration of June, a victim of severe bullying after she survives an attack by her classmates. With no one and nothing to trust but faith, she struggles with the idea that the human spirit may not exist.

* Ten percent of the sales of this book will be donated to Project Semicolon, an organization providing love and support to those who are struggling with depression, self-injury, and suicide. Visit them online at www.projectsemicolon.org.

Book Trailer: http://bit.ly/santabooktrailer

 GUEST POST BY THE AUTHOR

Many people have asked me why I decided to write a novel about bullying. It’s a fair question. Bullying is a tough subject. It’s hard to read about, and I can assure you, it was just as hard to write. I never thought I would write about such a difficult subject, until about two years ago. I was flipping through the TV channels when I landed on the Dr. Phil show. His guest was a mother talking about the suicide of her daughter. Her daughter had been bullied in school and cyber bullied online so much that she felt like her only option was to commit suicide. Ashamed and embarrassed, she blamed herself.

My heart ached for this family. How awful, I thought, before immediately going online to research the statistics on teenage bullying. And the information I found was shocking. Every year, approximately 2 million adolescents attempt suicide. According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people between the ages of 10 and 24, resulting in approximately 4,600 deaths annually. There’s also a very strong link between bullying and suicide, with victims of bullying accounting for as much as half of suicide deaths.

I had absolutely no idea just how many kids were attempting suicide, or even thinking about it. I wanted to do something, and being a writer, the most powerful thing I could think of was to write a book about this epidemic in order to create awareness. Victims need to know that they are not alone. By talking about this subject, we empower each other. There’s hope for change when we refuse to allow these behaviors to continue. It’s hard enough for parents to lose children in accidents, but when children are committing suicide, it is even harder to deal with because it could have been prevented.

I think almost everyone can relate to being bullied; we have all dealt with it in some form or another. In my book, Santa;, you will get inside the head of June, a teenage girl who is assaulted and then bullied and cyber bullied to the point where she feels so isolated and alone and is convinced that she has no one on her side. It’s not an easy read, and it may make you very emotional, but considering the statistics I explained above, something needs to be done to create empathy for the victims of bullying. We are not doing enough for them, and we can certainly help much more.

AUTHOR BIO

Nicola Mar is an author and poet who grew up on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where she wrote her first short story at age seven. At eighteen, Nicola moved to the U.S. to continue her education, graduating from Rollins College with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a specialty in creative writing. After spending many years in the fashion industry, Nicola chose to pursue her writing full-time. Her first novel, A Red Tale, was published in March 2014. In 2015, she published her second novel, Santa;. She currently lives in New York City with her two dogs. Learn more about Nicola at www.nicolamar.com

AUTHOR MESSAGE

I was severely bullied as young as four years old. I don’t have a lot of memories from those years, but I remember the bullying like it was yesterday. I decided to write this book to raise awareness to the physical and psychological damage endured by adolescents who suffer from the effects of bullying. This epidemic is real, and something needs to be done to protect victims from feeling isolated.

HOW TO PURCHASE

Link to Purchase: http://bit.ly/santathenovel