COMP CLOSED | Book Giveaway | Just Keep Going

Just Keep Going is a story of blended families, new friendships, marine pollution, a magical stone, a persistent dolphin, and a young girl with a strong will to succeed, adapting to life in a new country – for children 11 to 14 years.

Becky always loved visiting her dad in New Zealand until she returns during the pandemic. Now he’s got a baby with her new step mum and everything has changed. Worse still, her windsurfer hasn’t arrived yet, so there’s nothing for her to do but wait for Mum who is stuck overseas because she can’t get a spot in MIQ.

Then Becky finds a strange stone at Whale Bay and her luck changes. She makes new friends, joins an environmental group, and has several close encounters with a bottlenose dolphin who simply won’t leave her alone. What is it trying to tell her? Is the dolphin sick? And who are the people poaching fish from the marine reserve?

This is book three in the Just series. Note that all books are standalone reads.

Author Note:

‘The Just series was inspired by a stone I found at Whale Bay. It was a cobble, a rounded whole piece, measuring approximately 8 x 5 cm. This indicated it wasn’t from Tuhua Island but rather came from a localised volcanic eruption. Only certain conditions/temperatures create obsidian, and it is quite rare in cobble form.

Then I read about Moa Hunters, who would carry obsidian cobbles on their person and make blades as required. The stone I found is truly amazing, and I could see where slices of stone had been chipped off. I decided my stone belonged to an ancient Moa Hunter. She was a young girl, the keeper of the stone. Then of course it followed that a young girl found the same stone, hundreds of years later, at Whale Bay.

The Tutukaka coast is the setting for all three books and anyone who has visited will have experienced the pure wonder of this coastline. The rocky coves, the sandy bays, deep- reaching estuaries with golden sand bars and boats tugging on their moorings as the tide does its thing, the surf, the lullaby of the sea rocking you to sleep every night.’

About the Author:

Donna Blaber was born in Takapuna and grew up in Whangaparaoa. Donna has worked as a magazine journalist, freelance feature writer, copywriter, proofreader, travel editor, lifestyle editor, and as the managing editor on three different magazines with a team of staff. Donna holds a Graduate Diploma in Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing, graduating with First Class Honours. Currently she writes both fiction and non-fiction for children and adults.

She now lives on a 3ha block northeast of Whangarei and is passionate about planting native trees on her property. Travel is another passion, she has travelled throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, living semi- permanently in many places. Aside from New Zealand, her favourite places in the world are Tibet and Vietnam.

Some unusual facts about Donna: she always falls over if there’s an earthquake. She has ridden a camel across the Grand Erg Oriental, the most eastern reach of the Sahara in her twenties. At an ice cream festival in Las Vegas she was crowned the ice cream queen for eating the most ice cream out of everyone there. Her camel riding days are long gone; these days she walks her dog.

Terms and conditions

1. 1. You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
   2. Competition closes on the 26th July 2022, winners will be notified via email by 28th July 2022.
   3. As a competition winner, you must confirm you have received our email notifying you of the win within three days. If we have not heard from you in three days the prize will be redrawn, and your prize will be forfeit.
   4. Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
   5. GrownUps employees and family are not eligible to enter.
   6. By entering the giveaway, you approve for GrownUps to use your name on social media as winner of the competition.
   7. One entry per person.
   8. Prize is non transferrable.
   9. You must reside in New Zealand – the prize will only be posted within New Zealand.
   10. You must be over 50 years of age to enter, check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.