1. Do think about what he does rather than just what he looks like

OK, so having a strong jaw and twinkly blue eyes goes a long way, but what makes us fall in love with a romantic hero is how he behaves: what’s he like in a crisis? Can he make the heroine laugh? Does he have an endearingly geeky hobby? Is he practical, imaginative, honourable? What’s he really, really good at? Doesn’t have to be international hedgefunding; part-time pianists and reliable builders are also very sexy.

2. Don’t make him too perfect

I don’t know about you, but when a hero is a handsome aid-worker who speaks nine languages and bakes his own bread, I keep waiting for the revelation that he’s actually a serial killer. A few flaws are good. Just not massive ones, like a taxidermy hobby or a mankini. Nelson, in the Little Lady Agency series, is a teeny bit of an annoying know-it-all, although to his credit he never says I told you so.

3. Do create credible tension with the heroine

A slow burn as two people gradually realise they’re perfect for each other is delicious; it makes you fall in love with him too, if you have to share in those discoveries about each other. But make it believable, and their conflicts realistic ones the reader can sympathise with. A hero and heroine who fancy each other rotten yet are kept apart by their squabbly inability to agree on who was the best James Bond are just irritating. Amy and Leo in The Runaway Princess fall in love pretty much at first sight but their determined struggle to make their two opposite worlds mesh together is the real romance.

4. Be inspired by your favourite actor to get started

Actors are good sources of inspiration because they’re generally a blank canvas in personality terms, as they change ‘characters’ a lot with every movie they’re in. Plus, if you choose a cute one (Jake Gyllenhaal, um, let’s say) it’s no great hardship to stare at photos of him on Pinterest for hours to hone your description. As your character takes shape in your head, and his personality emerges, he’ll become Raleigh Huntingdon, as played by Jake Gyllenhaal in the eventual movie of your book. Not Jake himself. They just happen to look alike.

5. Do not, ever, base him on your boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, or the guy in the postroom at work

Unless you want to spend the next ten years assuring your boyfriend, your ex or everyone at work that Raleigh Huntingdon is definitely not Simon Parkin. Also, your hero will only ever do exactly what the real life ‘inspiration’ would do, whereas there really is no limit to what Jake Gyllenhaal will do in your imagination. Ahem.

6. Don’t use references to other hot heroes instead of putting in the descriptive spadework yourself

While borrowing an actor for inspiration is a handy way of fixing your hero in your own head, don’t fall into the trap of describing him in lazy phrases like, ‘Jemima thought Raleigh looked just like Jake in that film with the cowboys’. Not everyone will have seen that film, not everyone will fancy Jake (amazing, I know), some people will get to the end of the book confused as to why the hero has dark hair and suddenly realise they were thinking of Heath Ledger. Plus it’ll date your book.

7. Do fall in love with him yourself

Creating your ideal man and then hanging out with him for hours at a time is one of the great perks of writing a novel. Give him and your heroine the smart repartee you’d love to share, let rip with the dates you’d love to go on, dress him in whatever outfit makes your heart beat faster. And put him and the heroine through all manner of romantic turmoil safe in the knowledge that you’ll be giving them both a proper happy ever after in the end…

Hester Browne is the author of titles including The Little Lady Agency in the Big Apple, The Finishing Touches and The Runaway Princess.

www.hesterbrowne.com

1. The book that got you hooked on reading
The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. It was so magical. My brother and I were addicted to the entire series and I think I went on to read everything Enid Blyton ever wrote after that. Loved The Famous Five, too, and also that series about the boy who joins the circus, but I can’t remember what it’s called.

2. The book that makes you laugh
No one does heartbreak and hilarity as well as Marian Keyes, but I’m mentioning her later so for this I’ll choose The Little White Car by Danuta De Rhodes. The author’s real name is Dan Rhodes but he was taking the mickey a bit by choosing a female pseudonym. I don’t want to spoil it for you by giving anything away, because it has a brilliant twist.

3. The book that makes you cry
The last book to make me sob like a baby was First Last Kiss by Ali Harris. It’s about a girl who is no longer with the love of her life, but you don’t know why until later in the book. There’s a chapter towards the end which makes me want to cry now, just thinking about it. Beautiful.

4. The book that surprised you
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I was living in America at the time and saw it reviewed in a magazine so I decided to check it out. It ended up becoming one of my favourite books, although I was absolutely gutted when it turned out not to be the true story that I had believed it was. Gullible!

5. The book that you would take with you to a desert island
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. How I love this series! And I think a little Edward/Jacob action could cheer me up in any situation.

6. The book that you would put in a time capsule for future generations
The Age Of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Whoa, this book took my breath away. It’s told from the perspective of a young woman recounting events from when she was eleven years old and the world started to slow down. The knock-on effect on humanity is pretty jaw-dropping. I think it’s a good reminder to everyone not to take our beautiful planet – and everything on it – for granted.

7. The book that you wish you’d written
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I love a bit of YA sci-fi and this series is absolutely incredible. My husband and I saw the movie, then I went on to read the first book and he the second, Catching Fire. Only I’m a faster reader than him and I was chomping at the bit to such an extent that he tore the book in half and gave me the first half! It felt so wrong but oh so right.

8. The book that is your guilty pleasure
It’s got to be Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. Am I right, or what? Yes, you can pick holes in it, and there are some disturbing things about it, but I don’t think I have ever been so glued to the pages of a book before.

9. The book that you want to read next
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Like I said, I like a bit of YA sci-fi! I tried to catch the movie, but missed it when it came out at the cinema.

10. The book to look out for in 2013
It’s already been out in America for a while and it’s just come out in the UK, but I absolutely loved Slammed by Colleen Hoover. It’s such a beautiful love story and it made me cry my eyes out. Her second, Point of Retreat, the sequel, is also out.

11. The book that got you hooked on chick lit
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding. What can I say? Absolutely genius. Loved it!

12. The book that all chick lit fans should read
Watermelon by Marian Keyes. In fact, anything by Marian Keyes. She’s the queen of chick-lit in my opinion. The Other Side of The Story was possibly my favourite until The Brightest Star in the Sky. Always funny, always touching, I think she’s the best in the genre.

13. The book you’ve written that is the most special to you
It would probably have to be Lucy in the Sky because it is my first and I will never forget how happy I was to know that my childhood dreams of being an author were finally going to be realised. My fourth, Pictures of Lily, is also very close to my heart because it was set in the Adelaide Hills in Australia, where I grew up.

14. The book that you’re writing next
I’m writing two books this year, but my first deadline is for my new Young Adult series – a spin-off from my second and fifth books, Johnny Be Good and Baby Be Mine. In those two books, a girl called Meg becomes a PA to a bad boy rock star and ends up falling head over heels and making huge mistakes – like falling pregnant and not knowing who the father is… The baby turns out to be rock star Johnny’s, and Meg worries he might have more illegitimate children out there. It turns out that her fears are not unfounded, and my YA series is about the 15-year-old daughter he never knew he had. I can’t wait to be back in Meg and Johnny’s world again. After that, I’ll be writing my next chick-lit book, about a wedding photographer who falls in love with a groom…

15. The book that defines your life
I think to some extent all of my books define my life. Lucy in the Sky is about a girl caught between two countries (and two men – this bit’s fantasy!) and I grew up between Australia and England. Johnny Be Good is about a bad boy rock star and partly inspired by the celebs I used to write about when I worked for heat magazine, Chasing Daisy is about a girl who works for a Formula One team – my dad is a racing driver… You get the picture!

Paige Toon was born in 1975 and grew up between England, Australia and America. A philosophy graduate, she worked at teen, film and women’s magazines, before ending up at Heat magazine as Reviews Editor. Paige is married, has two small children and lives in Cambridge. The Longest Holiday is her seventh book.
www.paigetoon.com

Well, you are 22 years old, living in Kent and working all the hours God sends to follow your dream in journalism. You want to take the step up to make it to the nationals, and it’s almost all you can think about. You spout your ambitions to long-suffering friends whenever you see them; you exhaust your family and even the dog with your longing to write for The Guardian or The Times.

You’ve always been a writer. You don’t know it at this point, but deep down you have. It’s been there ever since you were very little and wrote bizarre poems about squirrels (which weirdly, still feature heavily in your work as an adult…)

Deep down it’s always been there but you don’t quite have the confidence, or the time, to write your first full novel. In fact, you don’t even know at this point that creative writing is your calling. You think it’s news.

You’ve started a few books. You’ve written dozens of poems and short stories. You even tried to encapsulate your youth in a 100-page manuscript that by the age of 22 is so embarrassing to you; it remains to this day in the bottom of a drawer on a floppy disc.

Sadly, no matter how hard you try, the journalism stuff isn’t working out for you. You’ve applied for so many jobs, you’ve worked late into the night, you have effectively exhausted yourself but you just keep hitting walls. You are starting to feel quite down, well, very down. When you were growing up people said to you that you could achieve anything if you tried hard enough, but this wasn’t coming into fruition no matter how many hours you put in. Real life was kicking in.
But, unpublished Jess, just hang in there, things are happening for you.

All the hard work will amount to something so different to what you imagined. For one day very soon, in about a year, a publisher will get in touch out of the blue while you are putting an edition of the local paper you work for to bed. You will, initially, wonder if it’s a joke by a particularly wicked-humoured friend, and then it will become clear that it isn’t. You’ll submit some work and then meet a wonderful agent. You will be so nervous on the day of the meeting that you can’t even think straight.

But things will work out, somehow, and three years on you still won’t believe it. You will still be as thankful as the day you were spotted.
Keep trying and don’t lose faith. If you work hard in life, good things come, even if they arrive in unexpected packages.

Some of the happiest years of your life are to come. Enjoy them.
Accept that it won’t be easy and that your ambitions will continually be replaced with bigger ones. That is always a good thing.
But most of all, just relax.

Jessica Thompson is the author of Three Little Words and This is a Love Story.
jessicathompsonbooks.com

Introduction by Melissa Amster

If you ever are looking for a “I Don’t Know How She Does It” example, Sarah Jio is your woman. This mother of three young boys has published FOUR incredible novels since the spring of 2011 (not long after her third child was born) and has a fifth novel coming out later this year. From the time I picked up The Violets of March, I instantly became a fan, telling everyone I knew about her amazing writing talent. She has a way of bringing together the past and present in her intricate and engaging novels. I recently finished The Last Camellia and all I can say is that you’ll need to hide away from all distractions so you can read it straight through. And thanks to her post today, you’re guaranteed to have a movie going through your mind as you read it. (I can say with certainty that I completely agree with one of her choices, but will leave you to do the guessing as to which one.)

Sarah Jio is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of four novels with Penguin: The Violets of March (a Library Journal Best Book of 2011), Blackberry Winter, The Bungalow and The Last Camellia (coming May 28th). Her fifth novel, Morning Glory, will be published by Penguin (Plume) in November and is already available for pre-ordering. Sarah is a frequent magazine contributor who has written for O, The Oprah Magazine, Glamour, Real Simple and many other publications. Her novels have been sold for translation in 20 countries. She lives with her husband and three young sons in Seattle. To learn more about Sarah, visit her at her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Movie Cast for THE LAST CAMELLIA

Addison: Rachel McAdams would be an excellent Addison, who is the modern-day heroine of my story. She is driven by her curiosity and love for nature, and yet she is burdened by the pain of her past.

Rex: Addison’s British husband is loving and refined, and Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey) would play the part perfectly.

Flora: Michelle Williams would be an excellent choice for Flora, my heroine from the 1940′s storyline who is a young American who takes a job as a nanny at the Livingston Manor. Flora is a troubled soul with a love of the beauty of nature, and I can picture Michelle Williams, as Flora, wandering through the camellia orchard.

Desmond: Hugh Jackman would play a great Desmond, the love interest for Flora. He has a certain debonair charm about him, and yet he is funny and off-the-cuff, too (and he can sing: a plus!).

Mrs. Dilloway: The housekeeper at the Livingston Manor, Mrs. Dilloway plays a part in the past and present story line. In the 1940s, she was the young housekeeper who oversaw the bustling household, and kept its secrets, too. In present day, she’s haunted by those secrets. Maggie Smith (who also plays the Dowager in Downton Abbey) would be my choice for Mrs. Dilloway in the present day.

Thanks to Sarah for visiting with us and sharing her movie cast for The Last Camellia. Thanks to Plume, we have TWO sets of Sarah’s novels for some lucky readers in the US and/or Canada.

How to win:
Tell us your favorite movie that takes place in a different time period from the past.

One entry per person.

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends May 27th at midnight EST.

When I decided to make Dominic Christy suffer from a rare sleep disorder, narcolepsy, in Dream a Little Dream, I wanted him to have had a career that would hit a brick wall, a job that involved shiftwork and high concentration.
Which is how I decided to make Dominic an air traffic controller. I chose Stansted, a London airport, for its location in relation to the book. We take those in ‘the tower’ for granted, without thinking of the thousands of lives they hold in their hands every day or the emergencies they cope with. A high-pressure environment, the training is intense.
I have a friend who was in fighter control in the Royal Air Force and had done some route planning for private aviation at Stansted, so I began with an interview with him. (We met for lunch and I let him go at about seven in the evening …) He gave me fabulous background on the kind of man Dominic would be – decisive, incisive, fact based, information hungry, strong, active, and loads of other good ‘hero’ qualities. That he’s what you might term a ‘damaged hero’ means he has to be even stronger, of course, to cope with his health challenge.
I asked Dave if he could get me into Stansted tower more in hope than expectation but he said, ‘I’ll give it a go.’ The next week I found myself copied into e-mails with Stansted’s public relations department and Paul, the general manager of NATS, Stansted. And, within a few days … we were there. In the tower.
It was AMAZING.
In the offices at the foot of the tower I had the opportunity to ask Paul about the life of an Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO), about what would work in my story, and, crucially, how human resources would have handled Dominic’s narcolepsy. Then we were escorted to an elevator that seemed to go up forever. And we stepped out on the top of the world.

OK, it wasn’t quite, but it felt like it – a glass room with all-round views, the aprons, taxiways, runways, stands and aircraft laid out like toys that a giant child had forgotten to put away. Airliners hung in the sky as they approached the runway and speed and distance information blipped up on computer screens. It was a sunny day and the view was beautiful. I was allowed to sit with the guy who was moving the aircraft from the stands to the runways then passing them on to another controller to get them up in the air. He was passing those that had landed, in return, to ‘my’ controller. Through earphones I could hear the conversation with the pilots and the computer readouts were explained, and how the ‘strips’ that represent each aircraft move back and forth across them. I was impressed that the controller had the mental capacity to explain what he was doing whilst he did it!
The time in the tower passed in a blink and I was reluctantly prised from my controller’s side for a quick chat with the watch manager before being escorted back down to the bottom of the tower and, pleasantly, shown the door.
It’s a day that’ll stick in my memory – the day I discovered who Dominic Christy was before Dream a Little Dream begins. And realised that the training is aviation specific so doesn’t transfer easily to other jobs, causing Dominic problems for me to iron out for him. Eventually. And, of course, I had to make a woman, Liza Reece, one of the most significant problems of all.
How did I do that? I gave Dominic a new dream. And I gave Liza one, too.
But if Dominic realises his dream then Liza can’t realise hers and if Liza gets hers then Dominic can’t get his. That’s quite a reality to wake up to.

Sue Moorcroft writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes. Love & Freedom won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 at the Festival of Romance and Dream a Little Dream was nominated for the same award in 2012 as well as a RoNA in the Contemporary Romantic Fiction category. Sue is a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner. She’ll take up the position of vice chair of the RNA in May 2013. Combining writing success with her experience as a creative writing tutor she’s written a ‘how to’ book, Love Writing – How to Make Money From Writing Romantic and Erotic Fiction.

www.suemoorcroft.com

The other day, I became the mother of six chicks. My children named five of them. My husband got to name one. They are: Goober, Chickenpox, Pertolotte, Rosalina, Peepsqueak, and Fairy. Can you guess which one my husband named?

We all find them completely irresistible. The day they arrived, my daughter rolled on the floor in an ecstasy over their adorableness. They are, in fact, breathtakingly cute. They peep and cheep a lovely sound, a delicate, gentle, melodic song. When they fall asleep, they simply drop to the ground, overcome with sleep. One fell asleep in my daughter’s hand today.

Now that I am the proud mother of chicks, my identity as a chick lit writer requires some investigation. I did not try to become the writer of chick lit and I am not quite certain, even after two books, about the exact definition of chick lit. At a recent book talk and signing a woman came up to me and said, “Your books are not chick lit. They are really deep.” That raises a few questions, doesn’t it?

Here is what I have tried to do in my novels: have a “happy” ending, not kill any mothers, not kill/abduct or abuse any children, be funny, write about the lives of ordinary women.

The assumption of the content of chick lit is that, like an actual chick, the stuff is “fluffy”. Is the implication also that the books are immature — or youthful? Certainly, as that one reader expressed in her comment to me at the book signing, there’s a general agreement that chick lit lacks depth or substance.

I can assure you that my chicks are as interesting, curious, expressive and real as anything I know. I believe also that stories that run after love and happiness, that use humor instead of tragedy, that seek to share the rich ordinary life of women, do not lack substance or import. A reviewer who read my second novel, I’ll Take What She Has, wrote about the light, humorous quality of the book and then said: “Something strange happened. It made me stop and think.”

I think the real trouble writers of chick lit run into comes when others don’t take their work seriously. But I can assure you that I take my chicks more seriously than I would a group of hens. Their little bodies could so easily be harmed. Their survival is more uncertain. They require a special heat lamp and getting wet and cold could kill them. They are special because they are fluffy. And so it is with chick lit.

There is something precious, life-affirming and joy-inducing about my little flock of six. That’s the meaning behind chick in chick lit for me: vital, life-affirming, happy-ending devoted, joyful reading-inducing narrative — that’s worth protecting! And, of course, there’s nothing wrong with a cute book either, especially when it’s cute and deep. Isn’t that what we all want for ourselves, anyway, to be interesting and adorable?

Samantha Wilde is the author of the recently released I’ll Take What She Has as well as This Little Mommy Stayed Home. She is the at-home mother to three small children, an ordained minister, a yoga teacher, and the daughter of novelist Nancy Thayer. You can learn more at samanthawilde.com.

Marriage Matters, my new novel from Penguin-Berkley, is about a mother, daughter and grandmother who all get engaged at the same time and decide to share a wedding. The relationships between the three women and their antics are pretty hilarious, but I have to admit that there is a stand out in the crowd: June, the grandmother.

As much as I try to avoid playing favorites with my characters, I can’t help it with June. She’s a hoot! At 72 years old, she rocks a pair of stilettos and knows exactly what she wants out of life … and isn’t going to let anything stand in her way.

Apparently, June is a favorite with readers as well. Lately, I’ve had more and more women sharing stories with me about their grandmothers, which I love! Just the other day, I had a girl come up and tell me how much her grandmother has changed since becoming a widower.

“She doesn’t bake cookies anymore,” the girl told me, wide-eyed. “She drives a Mustang convertible, shops at Victoria’s Secret and whistles at construction workers. And they whistle back!”

These stories make me so happy. Maybe it was because I was raised watching the Golden Girls, but the idea of an expiration date for women just seems so blah to me. I love the idea that at 60, 70, or even 80, a whole new chapter in our lives can begin.

In Marriage Matters, 72-year-old June is just starting one of these chapters. A widower, she plans to stay single for the rest of her life … at least, until the silver fox Charley Montgomery moves in next door and disrupts her perfectly planned out world.

I hope you enjoy reading all about it!

Here’s a brief excerpt, starring June, of course.

Chloe, the granddaughter, has not heard from June in three days. Concerned that June has had a heart attack or fallen, Chloe enlists the assistance of her fiance, Geoff, to search her grandmother’s house.

Geoff searched the entire house from top to bottom. Nothing. In the kitchen, he walked over to the counter and eyed an apple on the cutting board. “This seems…” A note of hope crept into his voice. “Decently fresh.” He held it up. The apple was cut in half and only slightly brown at the edges.
Chloe’s heart pounded with relief. There might still be time to save her.
Geoff’s eyes darted to the window. “I think I just saw something move outside.”
Of course! June would have been working in her garden. Maybe she’d fallen out there. Chloe rushed for the back door. It was dark outside and she couldn’t see a thing, but she could hear the faintest muffle of laughter. “Grandma?” she called.
Abruptly, the laughter stopped. There was the sound of shuffling and nervous whispers. Chloe squinted. Through the dark night, she could swear she saw Charley Montgomery dart across the lawn. But he wasn’t wearing a shirt. And his hands were crossed in front of his …
Chloe froze. Her eyes fell on the wrought-iron table where her grandmother typically ate her breakfast. A checkered gardening shirt was neatly draped across it like a napkin. A few feet away, something white was suspended over a rosebush. Chloe put her hands over her mouth.
It was a brassiere.
She gasped in horror. No. This couldn’t be …
Geoff rushed into the yard, the beam of a flashlight bobbing in front of him. “Did you find her?”
With one hand, Chloe shielded her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. “But something terrible is happening. Please turn off the …”
“Chloe?” June called, her voice high pitched and nervous. “Is that you?”
Geoff shined the light in the general direction. June was peeking out from behind a tree, a branch pulled over her form. Even though the tree was covering her, it was perfectly obvious that she was naked.
Chloe dove for the flashlight, turning it off. “Oh, no.” She clutched it in her fist, maintaining eye contact with Geoff, afraid of what else she’d see if she dared to look away. “Oh, no.”
“Chloe?” June called again. The leaves on the tree rustled.
“Don’t,” Chloe shrieked. “You stay right there!”
Geoff’s eyes widened as he, too, finally figured out what was happening. “Oh, no.”
Chloe closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Apparently,” she said, “my grandmother is not dead. Not even close.”
There was silence. Out in the garden, both June and Charley chuckled.
“Sorry,” June sang. “Didn’t mean to scare you. We just … um …”
“Got attacked by fire ants,” Charley said. “Had to wash the clothes out. But I think everyone’s okay now.”
“Yup.” June’s voice was cheerful. “Doing just fine.”
A small smirk settled at the corner of Geoff’s mouth. Raising his eyebrows, he said, “Fire ants. Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Cynthia Ellingsen is an author and screenwriter, who lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband. Marriage Matters is her second novel.
www.cynthiaellingsen.com

The thing I love most about books, is that I can travel anywhere, be plonked in any situation, I may not share the same language or culture, BUT as soon as I meet a woman who loves books, I am connected to her.

I feel a kinship to readers who share my passion, who understand the panic fluttering in my chest if I don’t have a book lined up to read next! Books, particularly books for and about women create a sisterhood that transcends all barriers; we become connected because we have travelled the same stories together.

Like all readaholics, whenever I finished a book, I would think, I can do better! Or I wish I’d written that! Five years ago, I decided to put my pen where my mouth was, so to speak. I had no idea how I would develop as an author, but knew I needed to set some ground rules. Firstly and quite simply, I decided to write the kind of books I liked to read, whose central characters hooked me, women in who I recognised my imperfect self. Secondly, to create stories that swept you away so you are no longer on the sofa or in the bath, but are taking every step with the heroine. Books that stop you turning off the lamp, no matter how early your alarm is set because you HAVE to know what happens next.

I am forty five, with two kids and married to a soldier. My house is averagely clean and not that tidy. I want to prepare healthy meals for my family, but more often than not end up shoving chicken nuggets in the oven because I’ve run out of time and they are STARVING! When I go to bed, I wish I wasn’t so fat and I wake in the morning wishing I wasn’t so tired. Sound familiar? The point I make, is that I am like any other woman you pass in the supermarket or outside school, waiting for the kids. I may be average, but like you, I am INCREDIBLE!

All families, mine included, experience death, illness, divorce, hardship, births, marriages, success and failure. Life is a journey full of twists and turns, as one of my characters says, ‘it’s a bloody hard slog with the odd pocket of joy…’

I write about ordinary women and how they cope when extraordinary things happen. We’ve all glimpsed the woman sitting opposite us on the bus or train and thought, ‘I wonder what her story is?’ I am fascinated by the image women portray and what goes on behind closed doors. Does every woman like me, flick her hair and smile even though her confidence is through the floor? Does she start a diet, breaking it two hours later then spend the rest of the day feeling guilty? Does she use her last ten pounds to buy everyone coffee, because being generous is more important than being in credit?

I believe love is the fuel that drives these women. Love is the reason we go further, fight harder and cry longer. The heroines in the ‘No Greater Love’ series are women that love without condition and fight with conviction when that love is threatened.

What Have I Done? is Kathryn’s story, she is the kind of woman we would go for coffee with, ‘a nice lady’. Which makes it all the more shocking when in the first paragraph we learn that she has murdered her husband. As her story unfolds, we learn of the double life she has lead, turning our shock into empathy and ultimately support as we will her to succeed in the life that she carves.

Someone asked me why Kathryn was so weak as to put up with her husband’s control for all those years? My answer was simple, she wasn’t. Facing the world with a smile, doing all in her power to create the illusion of a happy family for her kids, took strength, courage and devotion. It is these traits that enable her to keep going when her life has fallen apart, trying to re-connect with her children, without whom, her life is not worth living.

I write stories for women about women. I write about Poppy, Kate, Dot, Susie and others… some of them have secrets, some face great adversity, some pull through, some don’t, but each and every one of them, could be the woman you sit opposite on your journey. A woman who loves books, a woman just like you…

Amanda Prowse is the author of the ‘No Greater Love’ series of books, including Poppy Day. What Have I Done? is out now, published by Head of Zeus. Amanda divides her time between working in London and home in the West Country.

www.amandaprowse.org

1. Your favourite chick lit novel of all time?

There are so many, I really can’t choose just one, but if I have to whittle it down, then it would be Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann.

2. Do you believe in love at first sight? Has it ever happened to you?

Yes, and it has happened to me – when I first saw a picture of my husband. I don’t know if it was love at first sight as I didn’t know him, but it was definitely somehting very similar as I just knew he was the one for me.

3. Your favourite movie character?

Melissa McCarthy as Megan in Bridesmaids, because she’s proper funny.

4. What’s on your bedside table right at this moment?

A lamp, a tube of Cath Kidston rose hand cream, my mini iPad, a signed copy of The Drowning of Arthur Braxton by Caroline Smailes and The Trap by Kimberley Chambers – both books are magnificent page turners that kept me up very late in to the night.

5. If you can invite three fictional characters for dinner who they would be?

Georgie Hart from my Carrington’s series. Having spent so much time with her now, she feels real. I’d love to actually sit at a table and have dinner with her – I imagine there would be lots of laughter and gossiping going on. The next guest would be Forrest Bondurant from the film, Lawless, such a flawed, complex charcter played by Tom Hardy, who is of course, incredibly gorgeous. My last guest would be Megan from Bridesmaids for the reason already mentioned, plus I’d love to meet Melissa McCarthy, she has such an incredible talent.

6. Facebook or Twitter?

Both. I’m addicted to social media.

7. Three things you always have with you in your handbag?

iPhone, notebook and a selection of pens.

Alexandra Brown lives in Brighton, on the South Coast of England, with her husband, daughter and two very shiny black Labradors. She is the author of the funny, romantic Carrington’s series, set in a department store in a pretty seaside town. Cupcakes At Carrington’s was published in January 2013 and spent three consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Heatseekers Chart, and was selected as debut of the month by Sarah Broadhurst for The Bookseller. Christmas At Carrington’s will be published in November 2013.
www.alexandrabrown.co.uk

She has written four novels, three of which are international bestsellers (and let’s be honest…it’s only a matter of time before the upcoming novel achieves that status). They have been translated into several languages, including French, German, Czech and Polish.  Oh, and in her spare time? She’s a lawyer. She also happens to be Canadian like me (yay, eh?), as well as one of my favourite authors.

Catherine McKenzie’s novels are so much fun to read, and always hit the right chord. I know I’ve recommended her books to quite a number of people, and no one has come away disappointed yet. She’s also super-accessible, which is absolutely amazing. She’s on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as at her own website. Oh, and she’s a regular contributor to Huffington Post, through which she started a reading club on Goodreads this year: a challenge to read books on the NYT bestsellers list.  I kind of suspect she’s perfected time travel too, and somehow has created 35-hour days for herself in which to do all these things.

The best thing about her, besides her amazing writing talent, is that she is so supportive of other authors…especially newbies. She had a mission a while back to make books into bestsellers. Recently, she has been championing The Banks of Certain Rivers by Jon Harrison and is hosting a $50 Amazon gift card giveaway to bring even more attention to this new favorite novel of hers. (Giveaway ends May 19th, so head over there ASAP!)

Today, she’s here to cast Forgotten, in case it goes to the big screen and directors need some ideas.

Canadian cover

My most recent novel is Forgotten, about a women who goes missing in Africa for six months. When she returns, she learns that everyone believed she was dead and her whole life has moved on without her.

Movie Cast:

1. Emma — Emma is the main character in the novel. I could see Reese Witherspoon playing her. Emma is smart and vulnerable at the same time, characteristics that Reese has displayed in many roles, but best in Walk the Line.

2. Dominic — The man living in Emma’s apartment when she got home, I imagined him as and named him after Dominic West, the lead actor from The Wire. Also acceptable would be Clive Owen, because, um, he’s Clive Owen.

3. Sunshine — Emma’s mother’s best friend, she’s a little off beat. Melissa McCarthy could play this role; she’s Sookie from The Gilmore Girls.

4. Craig – Emma’s boyfriend before she left on her trip. His heart is in the right place, but he doesn’t know what he wants. I could see Ryan Reynolds in this role. Would be nice to see him play the guy who doesn’t get the girl … or does he?

5. Sophie — Emma’s office nemesis. It would be fun to see Anne Hathaway play against type and be mean for once.

US cover

Thanks to Catherine for sharing her casting choices with us! We look forward to reading her next novel, Hidden, as soon as it becomes available! (Another benefit of living in the same country as Catherine is that Canadians get to read this a lot sooner than US residents.)