You might remember back in December, I posted that Nick Osborne was holding a Q&A via his twitter for his first book “Refuge” and that any questions should be sent to us.  If you need a reminder just click here.

I’m happy to say that Nick’s going to select from your questions and respond on 21 January 2013.  For t hose who have read Part 1 and would like to be kept up to date on how the second novel is going you can follow Nick on twitter – @nickosborne101 or bookmark his “Refuge” website.

Please send your questions to us at robertpattinsonau@hotmail.com by Sunday 20 January 2012and we will forward them on to Nick.  As a bonus, Nick has agreed to select two (2) of his favourite questions and send those two lucky readers a personally signed copy of his book.  I know a lot of us have bought the eBook so to own a personalised hardcopy is a booklover’s dream.

I know we are always 100% Rob, but occasionally we take time out of our normal programming to promote Nick Osborne’s first novel “Refuge”.  The book (which I loved) is gaining some amazing praise.  For those who are diehard Rob fans, they will know that Nick was one of the producers for Remember Me.  He helped bring us one of Rob’s most amazing performances – I hope we can help bring Nick the success he deserves with this amazing story.

If you have read the book and would love to be involved in a Twitter Q&A, then please send your questions to us at robertpattinsonau@hotmail.com and we will forward them to Nick.  Nick will then select questions and respond to them via @nickosborne101.   We will let you know when that is happening in the next day or so & will update this post with the date.

If you haven’t purchased your copy yet – then you are in luck.   Amazon.com has Refuge’s kindle version “FREE” today for one day – so get clicking.

For those who have read, you should also ensure you have “LIKED” Nick’s FB page “RefugeNovel” for any updates and some background or follow Nick’s website.  Don’t forget this book is part of  a trilogy – we anticipate Book 2 being released in 2013 and book 3 in 2014.  I for one cannot wait or the next instalment.

And if you don’t want to just take my word on it – then read the London Daily Express review here – they give it 5/5!

I’m not sure what you’ve all done to deserve this but big thank you to Maria for asking me to share my review of Nick Osborne’s new book, “Refuge”.  As Maria mentioned in her own review, (click here) if you are a fan of Remember Me you will know Nick was the producer of Remember Me. 🙂

Before I go further, just a reminder that if you are a member of a bookclub Nick is willing to call in to do a Q&A with your group afterwards – an opportunity not to be missed surely? 🙂

So onto my review!  According to the blurb on amazon “Osborne spent twelve months as a volunteer for Project Trust working in a school and the Afghan refugee camps of Peshawar, Pakistan. This experience was the inspiration for this novel.” I just wanted to highlight that because it really does shine through in this book. In my sheltered little world it was a small window into another culture; a fascinating glimpse which at times was shocking and heart-breaking and others uplifting or funny. There is enough in the descriptions to fire the imagination which is how all the best books are, right?

Refuge is a touching love story which packs a real punch and keeps you guessing right to the end and beyond.  The central characters are Noor and Charlie; Noor is an independent minded, determined, beautiful young Afghani woman teaching girls at a local school; Charlie is a young Gulf war veteran, disillusioned with the army and now an aid worker de-mining for a local agency.  Both call Peshawar home for the time being, both have dreams of something better.   There are of course many other characters involved in this story; Noor’s father, a former professor and refreshingly open in his outlook for his daughters’ future; Tariq, her brother and now involved with Mujahideen led by a Saudi Prince, both intent on power, and many more intriguing characters throughout. I think Charlie’s friend and deputy, Wali, needs a comment all to himself because he is truly wonderful. I would pay good money to read so much more from both of them! They are such fun and when things get tough you care all the more for them.

The story itself begins with Noor and her family fleeing Afghanistan in 1981 before ending up in the refugee camp, practically scratching out their existence. Noor has her heart set on obtaining a scholarship from a Western University which she sees as her only opportunity to escape from the daily struggles and provide a chance at a real future. Needless to say when Charlie literally bumps into her on her way home one day and follows her she eyes him with contempt and suspicion.  However, when Tariq callously betrays her, Noor and her family seek refuge in Charlie’s house and what follows is an incredible rollercoaster of a novel and one I whole-heartedly recommend. The main characters are strong, compelling and sympathetic; it is impossible not to get swept along with them on this journey. If I have one complaint it would just be that I didn’t want it to end; I couldn’t get enough of Charlie or Noor.  If there’s any justice the next book in the series will follow shortly.  Refuge truly is an epic story in every sense.

Do yourself a favour, read this book and if the above hasn’t convinced you I’ll leave the final words with Noor’s father, because they are perfect: “You woke up her soul, Charlie. How could a father not be gladdened by that?”

You can find Refuge at the following: Amazon and iTunes (search “osborne – refuge”).

 

I know we say we are 100% Rob all the time, but I’m taking this one opportunity to promote a fantastic read and you know we don’t stray from Rob so this must be good.   Most of us know Nick Osborne as the producer of Remember Me, but what some of you might not know is that for the past 5 years Nick has been writing a  novel.  And what a novel it is.  I was lucky enough earlier this year to have read an advanced copy and have been dying to share this incredible story with all of you.  Nick emailed me this morning that the eBook is now available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble and iTunes (search “osborne – refuge”).  For the next two weeks it’s just $0.99, so be quick to purchase your kindle version for this amazing price.  Honestly you will NOT be disappointed.  Here’s my review in case I haven’t intrigued you enough:

“What can be more compelling than forbidden love?  Refuge introduces us to two unlikely lovers, Charlie a US aid worker and Noor, a headstrong Afghani refugee now living in Peshawar.

From the opening chapters, where we are introduced to Noor’s family as they flee Afghanistan and Charlie, a 25 year old Gulf War veteran who wants to make a difference in the world, to the compelling final chapter, I could not put this book down.

Not only are we introduced to the two main characters, but we are captivated by the myriad of characters involved along the way. Aamir, Noor’s father, a former English professor, and definitely not your stereotypical Muslim father, only wants what’s best for his daughters. Noor’s brother, Tariq, however, has joined forces with a radical mujahideen group and has different plans for Noor. Add to this Elma Kuyt, an ambitious Dutch aid worker, Ivor Gardener, a CIA agent, a Saudi Prince and numerous desperate Pakistani’s and what N Osborne has done is magically weave an intriguing and captivating story.

Will Charlie and Noor find love? Will Noor’s ambition lead her elsewhere? What will happen with the Saudi Prince? If you enjoy angst/romance, then this is definitely a novel you need to add to your Kindle – you won’t be disappointed. I know I wasn’t. I hope Nick Osborne continues Charlie & Noor’s story because this tale has the makings of a saga that I would be more than happy to follow.”

 Quick – go buy the eBook now!

This video is a mix of interviews by Digital Spy with Rob, Emilie & also producer of the film – the lovely Nick Osborne at the UK Remember Me Premiere.  I agree with you completely Nick, Rob’s performance in Remember Me is amazing & we too are so so very proud of him.  Enjoyed hearing you talk about Rob & the film so much.  Also great to hear Emilie interviewed about the film.  Love her, she is just so sweet.   The interview segments with Rob are ones that are similar to a previous interview we posted yesterday, but as if we are ever going to complain.  Just love listening to you talk Rob & absolutely cannot wait for your ‘tonne of movies’  *big smile*  The video doesn’t allow embedding so to watch, all you need to do is click on the pic above.  I know you will enjoy just as much as I did.

I saw this yesterday and just didn’t get around to posting.  I have a lot of respect for Nick Osborne, whenever I have contacted him  he has been so lovely that I felt compelled to post this interview by 24 Frames in the LA Times

 “Remember Me,” Robert Pattinson’s attempt to branch out from his trademark lovelorn-vampire role (to a lovelorn regular-guy role), was only a modest performer at the box office this weekend, earning $8.3 million. But the film offers several notable attributes; in addition to Pattinson’s first turn as a  leading man in a mainstream release not titled “Twilight,” it’s a mid-budget drama in a time when such films are an endangered breed. And it came from Summit, a company that has flirted with a number of genres, but never this one. 

Just before the film opened this weekend, we caught up with producer Nick Osborne of Underground Management, who with partner Trevor Engelson produced the film, on the challenges of making this type of movie, the acting virtues of one Mr. Pattinson and the perils of shooting in a big city when you’ve got one of the most famous faces in the world on your set.

24 Frames: A lot of people look at this film and say “Rob Pattinson, Summit, of course it got made.” But you toiled for a long time to get it off the ground.

Nick Osborne: It’s not an easy movie to get going — it’s a dark love story set in New York, and we kept trying to get it set up at studios and no one was interested. Eventually it got to Allen [Coulter, the director], and he had interest, but we still had trouble finding an actor. There are simply very few actors in that age range who could pull a role like this off. And I was on IMDB Pro one day and put in “male stars 18-27,” and he literally came up as No. 2. And we called Summit and they said, “Actually, we really like the kid, we’re doing a movie with him.”

So this was before the ‘Twilight’ phenomenon took hold?

NO: It was right around the time of Comic-Con, when they started to realize how big a movie they had on their hands. But we needed to get Rob interested too. He had read a lot of scripts. He was at the Oakwood Apartments and he would drive to the In-N-Out Burger every day and read scripts in the back of his car. And he eventually read ours and said he wanted to do it. Then we had to put together a budget that made sense [about $16 million] before we could get going.