Interview with Anita Hughes, Author of Island in the Sea

ANITA HUGHES is the author of, Island in the Sea, Rome in Love, French Coast, Lake Como, Monarch Beach and Market Street. She attended UC Berkeley's Masters in Creative Writing Program, and has taught Creative Writing at The Branson School in Ross, California. Hughes lives with her family in Dana Point, California, where she is at work on her next novel.

Website: www.anitahughesbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnitaHughesBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hughesanita

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Sydney, Australia.

When did you begin writing?

I won a writing contest in THE AUSTRALIAN, Australia’s only national newspaper when I was eight years old. The headline read “Australia’s Next Great Writers.” I still have the newspaper clipping. I even won twenty-five dollars – which I immediately spent on a pair of shoes.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

I write all day until six o’clock. Then I treat myself to a cup of coffee and a few pages from whatever book I’m reading. I often revise at night.

What is this book about?

Island in the Sea is about a young female music executive who is sent to Majorca, Spain to make a middle-aged, tortured songwriter fulfill his contract.

What inspired you to write it?

I have always loved Majorca. It is a gorgeous island off the coast of Spain full of beautiful scenery and delicious foods. And I am fascinated by the way music affects our lives. We all can think of songs that have changed us in some ways.

Who is your favorite character from the book?

I admit I have a bit of a crush on Lionel, the failing songwriter. He is quite troubled but has a very dry wit.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

It was fairly smooth. I put writing aside for years to raise my family, but once I sat down to write a novel, I really enjoyed it. I was lucky enough to get an agent fairly quickly and for her to sell my first two books.

If you knew then, what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?

I wouldn’t have done anything differently. I always think the most important thing is to be in love with what you are writing. Then hopefully, readers will be too!

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Island in the Sea is available at all bookstores and online sites.

What is the best investment you have made in promoting your book?

The best investment I have made is with my time, going to events. I love connecting with bookstores and readers and I think it pays off.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Read as much as you can and write what inspires you.

What is up next for you?

My next novel, SANTORINI SUNSETS, will be released on August 2^nd and my first holiday novel, CHRISTMAS IN PARIS, comes out on October 4^th!

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thank you for having me on your wonderful site!

Book Spotlight: Médicis Daughter by Sophie Perinot

Winter, 1564. Beautiful young Princess Margot is summoned to the court of France, where nothing is what it seems and a wrong word can lead to ruin. Known across Europe as Madame la Serpente, Margot's intimidating mother, Queen Catherine de Médicis, is a powerful force in a country devastated by religious war. Among the crafty nobility of the royal court, Margot learns the intriguing and unspoken rules she must live by to please her poisonous family.

Eager to be an obedient daughter, Margot accepts her role as a marriage pawn, even as she is charmed by the powerful, charismatic Duc de Guise. Though Margot's heart belongs to Guise, her hand will be offered to Henri of Navarre, a Huguenot leader and a notorious heretic looking to seal a tenuous truce. But the promised peace is a mirage: her mother's schemes are endless, and her brothers plot vengeance in the streets of Paris. When Margot's wedding devolves into the bloodshed of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, she will be forced to choose between her family and her soul.

Médicis Daughter is historical fiction at its finest, weaving a unique coming-of-age story and a forbidden love with one of the most dramatic and violent events in French history.

Read an excerpt here!

PURCHASE AT:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
BooksAMillion




SOPHIE PERINOT is the author of The Sister Queens. She is a re-invented attorney. With a BA in History and a passion for reading, writing historical fiction seemed a natural second career. An active member of the Historical Novel Society, Sophie has attended all the group's North American Conferences, and served as a speaker on multiple panels. Other speaking engagements include being a presenting author at Baltimore Book Festival. When Sophie is not visiting corners of the past, she lives in Great Falls, Virginia, with her three children, three cats, one dog and one husband. Visit her online at www.sophieperinot.com

First Chapter Review: That Night by Chevy Stevens

A NetGalley copy of That Night by Chevy Stevens was sent to me by the publisher.

BLURB:  As a teenager, Toni Murphy had a life full of typical adolescent complications: a boyfriend she adored, a younger sister she couldn’t relate to, a strained relationship with her parents, and classmates who seemed hell-bent on making her life miserable. Things weren’t easy, but Toni could never have predicted how horrific they would become until her younger sister was brutally murdered one summer night.

Toni and her boyfriend, Ryan, were convicted of the murder and sent to prison.

Now thirty-four, Toni, is out on parole and back in her hometown, struggling to adjust to a new life on the outside. Prison changed her, hardened her, and she’s doing everything in her power to avoid violating her parole and going back. This means having absolutely no contact with Ryan, avoiding fellow parolees looking to pick fights, and steering clear of trouble in all its forms. But nothing is making that easy—not Ryan, who is convinced he can figure out the truth; not her mother, who doubts Toni's innocence; and certainly not the group of women who made Toni's life hell in high school and may have darker secrets than anyone realizes. No matter how hard she tries, ignoring her old life to start a new one is impossible. Before Toni can truly move on, she must risk everything to find out what really happened that night.

But in That Night by Chevy Stevens, the truth might be the most terrifying thing of all.

COVER: The colors in this one make it a beautiful and appealing cover. Not sure what the design has to do with the book yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out the farther into it I get.

FIRST CHAPTER: Toni Murphy is released from prison to start a new life.

KEEP READING: Absolutely. Stevens draws you in immediately as you follow Toni through her release day signing for her belongings and meeting with the volunteer who will bring her to the halfway house. The details included offer readers a quick glimpse into how Toni has been changed by her many years in prison, just as much as they hint at what landed her there in the first place. A fabulous and intriguing cliffhanger ends the chapter and begs you to continue reading.

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (June 17, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250034604
ISBN-13: 978-1250034601


This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Interview with Helen Wan, Author of The Partner Track (Releases Today!)

HELEN WAN is Associate General Counsel at the Time Inc. division of Time Warner Inc. Before that, she practiced corporate law and media law at law firms in New York. Born in California and raised near Washington, D.C., Wan is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Her essays and reviews of fiction have been published in The Washington Post and elsewhere. She lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with her husband and son.

Visit Helen online at www.helenwan.com.

What’s your novel about?

THE PARTNER TRACK is the story of Ingrid Yung, an ambitious young Chinese-American woman who’s being groomed to become the first minority female partner at one of the country’s most prestigious law firms. Though she often feels like an outsider, Ingrid has perfected the art of blending in. Then an incident at the firm’s summer outing threatens to change everything, forcing her to square off against her colleagues in a workplace war of race, gender, and sexual politics.

What was your biggest challenge in the actual writing of this book?

Plot. Plot, plot, plot. So many first-time authors – and I am no exception – know exactly what themes they want to write about. I wanted to write about the experience of a minority woman trying to succeed in a white-shoe work environment, to tell the story of what it’s like to be an outsider in a work context where it’s very, very important to be on the inside. But ask that same author, well, what’s the story, precisely? What happens? That was the hardest part to figure out.

This novel went through so many iterations, so many drafts, over the course of a decade. Finally, one day, about four years after I’d first started writing it, my biologist husband was reading over a scene when he pointed at a line of dialogue. “Right here. This is what the book’s really about,” he said. I looked at the page and realized he was right. I completely revamped the plot from there. Just jettisoned about half my draft, which was painful. (It is painful to kill your darlings!) But now I had my plot. The story had been lurking there all along; what I’d needed was to locate that single loose thread. And then I just pulled.

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever been given?

That’s easy: write the book you’d most like to read. I was not seeing any books being written about Asian American women that did not involve: (a) a soul-searching trip to China; (b) a flock of quaint-as-hell relatives; or (c) an arranged marriage. I’m am not denigrating novels that happen to include these plot points; in fact I myself enjoy them. I’m just saying I wanted to be able to read a contemporary novel about a minority woman whose perspective and experience were closer to my own. Finding none, I decided to write one.

What are you working on now?

I’m at work on my second novel. It’s a lot of fun to get to know a whole new set of characters. It feels kind of like starting a new school year. I’m still at the “themes” stage – I know what I want to write about, but am still figuring out the story. And I also gave birth a few months ago to a beautiful baby boy. In my wildest dreams I never would have thought that a first book and a first baby would arrive the same year. But if you want to make God laugh, just tell her your plans.