June is always an exciting time for me, generally because it is my birthday month and a few other people I know! This June has been a fun one so far as last Sunday saw the lunch of my book Blind Trust and I got to follow that up with a fun day at the tennis.
When I was trying to come up with just what I was supposed to do to launch a book, I had visions of ships and maybe the Queen breaking a bottle. I decided against it because then my books would be wet and stink of champagne.
I did know that I wanted it to be fun and as interactive as possible. I knew I’d be talking for a fair amount of time, I also was going to read out too but I was trying to think of how I could make that fun for those who came to eat cake. So, I made them sing.
They were all in fine voice too. A sing-song and cake, check. I answered questions about the series then and fed them all wine. It was uplifting to see how many people made the trip out and their happy energy saw me through the evening. To all who were there, thank you very much.
Then I was whisked away to another love of mine, tennis. If you’ve been following the blog then you’ll know that a lot of my characters are named after tennis players. I’m fascinated by the psychology of the game and the intensity and hard work that the players put in. Edgebaston was a perfect place to see them in their day-to-day work environment. I drew a lot of inspiration from them and the staff that make the event possible.
It was also Ferbie’s nine month birthday! Our little guy is growing fast. He’s passed his foundation good companion award and did something so special in the week that showed he had an amazing intuition. He’s an awesome guy. (I say this while he’s hiccoughing in my ear…)
La Vie en Bleu is also in the maintenance bay awaiting the special BInk Dazzle that will bring out Pippa’s best qualities. It feels right that she’ll see you through the summer too.
So I thought I would talk to you a little bit about her and how she came to life. Pippa Saunders is your pilot for La Vie en Bleu and tends to live life in her busy mind. She’s from Gloucester (because it’s posh to us Welsh folk,)but lives in London. You’ll notice from the moment that you open the first page that she is not a lot like Aeron. Whereas Aeron is laidback and gentle, assured and well… cool, (at least to me.) Pippa is cool in her own way but she embodies a lot of the moments everyday that most of us experience when attempting to navigate society. Like in Miss Congeniality when she’s been dolled up and ready to rock the catwalk and proceeds to face-plant into the tarmac. I don’t know about you but I connected with that.
And Pippa needed someone to embarrass herself in front of…
One of the things that always makes me smile about romance is the brooding tall dark handsome. Good old Mr. Darcy type. I decided that I wanted to play with that a little bit, Berne isn’t your brooding kind, nope but she can be a little on the quiet side. She’s also French and so there is a fun cultural and language difference between them. I wanted to show how the French appear to this scatty Englishwoman and then take you in deeper to see beyond that tall dark facade. I love Berne personally, I think she’s super cool, I hope that will translate to you.
Then there’s the best friend… because all heroines need their BFF beside them, right? Right! Well, Rebecca and Pippa started off in a thriller so they were already a team. Rebecca and Pippa couldn’t be any more different from each other if they tried but they bounce off each other when I write them in an odd, shambolic harmony. They don’t get each other but they do. They poke fun at each other but adore each other which to me is fun to write and so I hope it’s fun to read.
Of course Berne needs her own cavalry. She’s got the incredible Babs. She sort of defies words. I’m not going to say much because I can’t wait for you to meet her for yourselves.
Fun-filled heroine – Check
Tall, dark… and French – Check
BFFs – Check
That’s all from me today. I hope you have a great weekend. I had great fun cheering on one of my favourite footballers who scored her first senior World Cup goal yesterday. Now there’s lots of tennis and football to enjoy…
Big smiles!
