Novelicious.com | The Women's Fiction Blog for Readers and Writers

Feasting on Romantic Comedy – Vanilla Custard Slice from The Naughty Girls Book Club by Sophie Hart

On the cover of The Naughty Girls Book Club by Sophie Hart it says: 'passions will be awakened at...the naughty girls book club'. They certainly are. Not just for the erotica they're reading as part of their book group – but also for the rather retro custard slice. 

Estelle has her own cafe, the perfectly named Cafe Crumb, in Bristol. The cakes are an absolute dream, baked by Estelle herself, but the customers just aren't coming in. So Estelle hits on the idea of a book group. Discuss a worthy novel and the readers buy cake and coffee. Perfect. Except, when the four members arrive for the first evening, the conversation is a little dry. The first book chosen is Tess of the D'Urbervilles, but for Reggie, Sue, Rebecca and Grace it doesn't get the conversation going at all. The next book is going to be Crime & Punishment and Estelle panics! Rummaging through her handbag she can't stop a copy of Ten Sweet Lessons (just like Fifty Shades of Grey) falling out...and thus begins the book group's exploration of erotic literature.

Novelicious Chats To...Claire Garber

Claire Garber is the author of Love is a Thief, which is out now.

Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

It really depends where I’m up to with a book and also where I am living. When I lived in London my day would start at 6am. I’d go to the gym for a very (very) gentle workout then write in a coffee shop before work. Now I live in France, novel writing is my full time occupation and I am much lazier in the mornings! I still get up early but give myself an hour to do ‘stuff’ (emails, coffee drinking, time wasting on the internet) before actually sitting down to write. In an ideal world I will have made a to do list the night before, of areas I want to focus on. I work in 30-minute blocks, switching between different scenes or activities. In the early stages of novel writing I free write until I have hit a certain word count. The latter stages are more focused – I’ll know exactly what needs to be edited each day and how long it will take. There are days when I circle my laptop like an angry Hyena never managing to sit down, procrastinating behind piles of laundry and fictitious ‘chores’ before bursting into tears at 7pm. Those aren’t good days and normally end with me stuffing my face full of chocolate, but they become less frequent the further I progress with the work. I have also found that not spending the whole day in pyjamas is good for my sanity so now I make a point of ‘getting ready’ in the morning (this is a new thing - I was in PJ’s every day until last week…)

When you are writing, do you use any famous people or people you know as inspiration?

I think I probably do, at least in the early stages. Male characters tend to start out as someone I have a crush on, the object of unrequited love, a handsome ex I can’t stop thinking about. But as the work progresses characters take on a life of their own and I can honestly say that by the end of a novel every character is a distinct person in their own right.

What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?

I actually read through the other authors’ responses to this question and I feel like the girl who didn’t do her homework when I say Bridget Jones, but there are good reasons. If I picked up the book today I’d still enjoy reading it. The book and larger franchise has made millions of people laugh. Helen Fielding is brilliantly talented and is friends with Richard Curtis. And lastly, Bridget Jones has the level of commercial success I dream of. So for me Bridget Jones is number one. Although I’d do almost anything to be able to construct sentences like Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). I am in total awe of her.

Review – Country Loving by Cathy Woodman

Reviewed by Susan Lobban

It is book 6 of Cathy Woodman’s Talyton St George series and Stevie Dunsford is the newest arrival to town. Having grown up on the family farm in Talyton she has now carved out a new life in London as an accountant. However, just as she is about to accept her boyfriend’s marriage proposal she receives a phone call out of the blue, urging her to return to the farm.

Once back on familiar soil Stevie recognizes that it will take more than a weekend to bring order to her father’s rundown farm. The only answer is to give up her job and boyfriend and stay permanently. She throws herself back into farm life and loves every minute of it, especially working alongside the local vet Leo. Unfortunately, when a life changing complication arises Stevie soon realizes that country life is not always simple!

Having never read any of this particular series I was intrigued to see what romance in the country had to offer. Luckily enough, unlike a lot of series I was able to get into the flow of the book without having read any of the others.  Stevie has to decide whether to give up her city life in favour of a permanent return to her family’s farm. One aspect of her old life she seems able to discard easier than the rest is her boyfriend Nick. I liked Nick and as such felt sorry for him, especially as due to an unexpected turn of events the poor man wasn’t even able to make a clean break from his ex.

Novelicious Books signs its first two authors!

 

BIG NEWS, BOOKNERDS!

We are over the moon to announce that three months after our launch we have signed two fantastically talented authors to our Novelicious Books imprint: previously self published Kindle bestseller Poppy Dolan and debut author Rosie Blake.

 

There’s More to Life Than Cupcakes by Poppy Dolan is a clever and insightful romantic comedy about newly married Ellie Redford, an amateur baker who is both broody and also completely terrified of having a baby. With friends and family poking their noses into her every decision, Ellie turns to the blogosphere for advice about what to do.

Novelicious Books will also be repackaging and republishing Poppy’s debut novelThe Bad Boyfriends Bootcamp as part of a two book deal with the author.

There’s More to Life Than Cupcakes will be published by Novelicious Books in October 2013.

 

How to Get a (Love) Life by Rosie Blake is the laugh-out-loud tale of Nicola Brown, an uptight and introverted young woman who has never had a date on Valentine’s Day. Following a bet with a work colleague, Nicola has to put aside her hang ups to go on as many dates as she possibly can in order to find the perfect man in time for February 14th.

How to Get a (Love) Life will be published by Novelicious Books in January 2014.

 

Both Poppy and Rosie have the kind of fresh, stand out voices we just know you are going to love. We absolutely cannot wait to share their stories with you.

Details on our new authors can be found over on the Novelicious Books website!

Poppy Dolan's Author Page

Rosie Blake's Author Page

My Writing Room by Rebecca Farnworth

For now (i.e. the next few weeks) my writing room is the study at the back of our Edwardian terraced house in Brighton. A friend with a considerably bigger house tactfully commented that we had made, ‘Very good use of our space.’ I think what she actually meant was ‘Blimey, how do you all fit in?’  With a teenage son and twin girls, let’s just say it’s cosy.

Claire Garber's Top Five Writing Tips

1. Decide what kind of writer you want to be. I knew I wanted to be commercially successful. I gave my agent a list of ideas and asked her ‘which one can you sell?’

2. Show up to the page, everyday. Just show up and write. Even if its nonsense it might take you where you were supposed to be.

3. Make sure you are passionate about your subject matter. You’ll be spending the next few years together.

4. Switch off your phone and Wi-Fi. I have lost years of potential writing time due to various Apple products.

5. Get a personal trainer. Bottoms get much larger when one sits on them for 12 hours a day eating Butterkist toffee popcorn.

You can read our review of Claire Garber's new book, Love is a Thief, here.

Ask the Editor – Do books get turned down by agents more often because of poor writing or because the timing is not right?

Caroline Hogg has worked in publishing for almost ten years, at Little, Brown Book Group and more recently at Avon, HarperCollins. She's currently at Pan Macmillan as Senior Commissioning Editor for Commercial Women's Fiction. She knows her stuff!

Today's question comes from a Novelicious reader who asks:

Caroline, do you think books get turned down by agents more often because of poor writing or because the timing is not right?

Caroline says: That’s tricky for me to answer, as I’m not an agent. But my best guess is that for something to be taken on by an agent it has to be brilliantly written AND timely in terms of what’s happening in the bestseller charts or where gaps in the market are. That’s not to say every book written should jump on a bandwagon, far from it. If you’re writing something that would fit into a genre that’s doing very well (like erotica or psychological suspense) then your book has to be a cut above to stand out amongst so many established authors. And if you’re writing something in an emerging genre, your writing has to be just as brilliant to convince people to try something new.

Basically, you can’t get far unless your book is absolutely up to scratch. So if it came to rushing something out to agents because it feels timely over spending time rewriting and editing it, I would always go with the latter.

Have a writing or publishing related question for Caroline? Just email a question to kirsty@novelicious.com, ask on our Facebook or Twitter or just leave a comment below!

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell – The Small Print

I have to admit that before I got my book deal I didn’t give the components of it that much thought. I wanted to be traditionally published, I got offered a book deal that would see that happen, but I have to admit I was totally naive as to what a publishing contract really entailed.

First up was the World rights vs World English rights. World rights means that the publisher would have the right to publish the book in the countries/territories that they published in, and then they could sell it to other countries and territories. For each foreign deal that they negotiate, you as the author get a percentage and the publisher gets the other part of that percentage. Don’t forget if you have an agent then they will also get part of your percentage too.

Ten books...Whodunit?

I love crime. Well, not in real life, that's not right. But I love to read about it and I love a good mystery. I love the thrill of finding a gruesome murder, and wading through people's messed-up lives, like a voyeur, trying to guess whodunit. Crime fiction has moved on a lot since Agatha Christie, and it's nothing like guessing in the library, with the dagger by Miss Scarlet. Detectives come in all shapes and sizes. Old women, young women, mums, professionals, amateurs, Belgian men with funny moustaches, fiesty female cops. And even one of the Walsh sisters.

Now the breadth of thrillers / crime / detective / psychological novels out there is huge. There is no way I could list them all. But here are ten books that I've enjoyed or have been recommended to me.

1. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith – I admit it – I was one of those who ordered this crime thriller after it was discovered Galbraith was a pseudonym for JK Rowling. I thoroughly enjoyed Rowling's Harry Potter books. From a writer's point of view I love how she has plotted and thought about every last detail. And as I enjoy crime fiction it goes without saying I'd buy this, her foray into crime. In The Cuckoo's Calling a famous model is found dead outside her apartment. The verdict is suicide, she jumped off her penthouse balcony. But private detective Cormoron Strike is brought in to prove it was murder.

2. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly – Lisa Kallisto is a working mum of three. She's very busy trying to juggle everything and is a little overwhelmed. Then her best friend's daughter disappears. And it's all Lisa's fault.

3. The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes – The final Walsh sister, Helen Walsh, gets a book of her own. She's a Private Investigator and was doing quite well. But the work is drying up and her flat is repossessed. And the dreadul demon, depression, is pushing its way, quite ferociously, into her mind. Then her ex-boyfriend turns up, he's got a missing persons case for her. So now she's on the hunt for Wayne from the boyband Laddz.

4. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen – The first book by Tess that features fiesty homicide detective, Jane Rizzoli. (Rizzoli & Isles is now a TV series on the Alibi channel). A serial killer is on the loose in Boston. The way in which the victims are killed demonstrates medical knowledge and he has been nicknamed The Surgeon by the media.

5. Taunting the Dead by Mel Sherratt – Mel Sherratt is a wonderful example of how self-publishing can lead to a traditional book deal (just like Novelicious Founding Editor Kirsty and columnist Anna). Her self published book, Taunting the Dead, is about the murder of Steph Ryder and Detective Sergeant Allie Shenton's quest to find out who was responsible. It will be published in the traditional way in December.

The Book That Changed My Life: Celia Anderson chooses Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson

Celia Anderson's novel Sweet Proposal is out on 1st of August. In the latest in our series, she tells us why Miss Buncle's Book inspired her to become an author. 

D. E Stevenson’s story, first published in 1959, changed my life because she made me yearn to be an author. In this well-crafted book, Barbara Buncle chooses that role for herself when, having naively lived on her ‘dividends’ for years, she suddenly finds herself penniless. She and her faithful servant Dorcas (well, OK, it does seem a little dated now) decide that there is nothing else for it – Barbara must either write a book or keep chickens. And so, Barbara sets to and gets on with her novel. In long hand, on pages and pages of unruly foolscap, shut in a box room. For days on end, Dorcas anxiously brings trays of food and leaves them outside the locked door, wishing fervently that her mistress had chosen the chicken option.

Write Your Novel – Handling Transitions

Transitions are the parts of your novel in which you jump from one scene to another. This usually means moving time, place, or POV, and they can be jarring or confusing if not handled well.

Working out how to create effective and concise transitions is essential for maintaining the pace and flow of your book.

For example, if a scene ends with a character in their home and the next important event begins in a bar the following evening, you don't need to write several pointless paragraphs (or scenes!) detailing the intervening action: character goes to bed, character has a funny dream, character gets up, showers, takes phone call from friend in which nothing happens, eats breakfast, has lunch, gets ready, drives to bar...

If you've already mentioned that your character is going to the bar the next evening, you could simply open the scene with: 'Joe's Bar and Grill was packed and Mark waited twenty minutes to get a lukewarm beer.'

Review – He’s The One by Katie Price

Reviewed by Victoria Sutton

I must confess that the book snob in me was quite horrified to receive a copy of He’s The One by Katie Price to review. It’s not that I have anything against Katie Price in particular but I do find it frustrating to see people get published apparently because of who they are rather than what they write. However, I do know that Katie Price is a very successful Number 1 best-selling author and I was secretly pleased to actually read one of her books at last and find out what all the fuss was about…

Liberty Evans is an aspiring actress/model who is a single mother to her three-year old daughter Brooke. She works as a waitress to support them but is fiercely ambitious and determined to make a better life for her daughter. In the summer of 1999 she meets and falls in love with young rich American Cory and for a while their love affair seems perfect until reality gets in the way…

Fast-forward to 2013 when Liberty is a successful actress in LA, married to her producer Zac and living in a sprawling LA mansion with her beautiful, slightly spoilt, daughter Brooke who is now approaching eighteen. Apparently she is living the dream but Liberty is not happy and she decides to return to the UK, much to Brooke’s dismay! Liberty has never forgotten about Cory and still feels as strongly for him as she did all those years ago. But could it be possible that he might still feel the same way for her after the way he thinks that she betrayed him?

Friday Book Giveaway! Three Copies of Love is a Thief by Claire Garber

You could win one of three copies of Love is a Thief by Claire Garber in this week's competition.

Join the quest to take back what love stole!
Kate Winters is an ordinary girl, with a not-so-ordinary mission: take back what love stole!
Kate Winters might just be that girl. You know the one. The girl who, for no particular reason, doesn't get the guy, doesn't have children, doesn't get the romantic happy ever after. So she needs a plan.
What does she like doing?
What didn't she get to do because she fell in love?
What would she be happy spending the rest of her life doing if love never showed up again?
This is one girl's journey to take back what love stole and maybe find love again along the way.
Feel-good, witty and addictive; Love is a Thief is the book everyone's talking about.

Review – Glaciers by Alexis M Smith

Reviewed by Cressida McLaughlin

Glaciers follows one day of Isabel’s life as she goes to work, buys a dress for a party, and is forced to confront the way she feels about co-worker Spoke. But Glaciers is so much more than just it’s plot. Everything about it is beautiful, from the pocket size of the book itself, to the simple, tactile cover and, most importantly, the words inside.

Isabel’s actions are interspersed with thoughts and memories, as if the reader is spending one day inside Isabel’s head, observing her world, both inside and out. The language is sparse, the words carefully chosen, almost like a poem. Each chapter is a snapshot, each scene or memory simply, exquisitely described, so you can close your eyes and put yourself there, imagining the textures of the dress or Isabel’s pulsing heart as she talks to Spoke. It’s like an understated, compelling stream of consciousness, and it’s also a love story.