Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
Today, I am happily am to spotlight a #newtomeauthor whilst participating in the final tours for Brook Cottage Books – as I believe I might have mentioned on another tour recently, the woman behind the touring company is going to start focusing on her writerly career! I wish her tons of success & happy moments on this exciting transition – however, I shall miss hosting for her, as she has always had a wicked sweet knack for bringing loads of lovely UK authors to my readerly eye! I’ve enjoyed hosting for her and if she returns to blog tours, I will delight in the journey of unexpected discoveries resuming from whence I left off!
The reason this particular book series was of keen interest is the mere fact it is a Rom Com & I was talking about these recently during @SatBookChat to where, I realised, I am not just ‘under-read’ in this niche of Romance *but!* I have the propensity for opting for Historical Roms & Rom Dramas in lieu of the lighter faire of these lovelies! I need to seriously amend *that!* and by hosting this author today, I can delight in finding out bits & bobbles about the Westfield Village story whilst drawing your own eye to this series – which merges the idiosyncrasies of small towne life & the delights of a dear Rom Com where your spirit should feel a bit ‘lighter’ for your stay within its folds!
We all could use dashes of *humour!* in our lives and this is a firm step towards Jorie starting to seek out *something other than* her usual ‘stand-by’ options in Romantic Lit! I look forward to reading your reactions & your book recs if you take a moment to leave me a note afterwards! Maybe this will become a new author for you as well – blessedly, as I’m spotlighting a Digital First release, I was overjoyed the print is following suit so soon afterwards!! Hooray for #randomjoy!
Be sure to brew a cuppa of your favourite tea whilst your reading this convo!
The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street
Subtitle: Maria is ready to say 'Yes, to the dress!'
Maria is ready to say 'yes' to the dress!
As owner of Happy Ever After, Maria Mallory is Westfield's resident wedding planner, spending her days making dreams come true for future brides.
Maria even has her own perfect day planned out too, she just needs to find the right man. So when she falls in love with local celeb Darcy Burgess she can't believe her luck – it was finally her turn for her Happy Ever After. Or so she thought.
Jilted at the altar, Maria can't believe that her fairytale ending hasn't come true. She's ready to give up on love once and for all. But little does she know that once you stop looking for it, love has a way of surprising you…
A laugh-out-loud romance, perfect for fans of Holly Martin and Tilly Tennant.
Places to find the book:
on 10th August, 2018
Published by: HQ Digital (@HQDigitalUK)
Formats Available: Ebook
+ Paperback → *this is a Digital First release! print to follow November, 2018!
Westfield Village series
The Chic Boutique on Baker Street (Book One) | Synopsis
The Flower Shop on Foxley Street (Book Two) | Synopsis
The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street (Book Three)
Converse via: #ContemporaryRomance & #RomCom
What was your inspiration behind writing a story anchored through the romantic life of an ordinary woman trying to make a go in the wedding business who falls in love with a recognisable name? What did you want to approach differently than prior stories using a similar set-up?
Dove responds: This book for me was about legacy, and fighting to keep what you have worked for. Maria loved her mother and father, and being alone, she is fiercely protective over her business. She believes in the happy ever after, and when Darcy shakes that, his status thrusts her into the limelight and she has to deal with the aftermath. With every book I write, I want a strong female character to overcome the odds, so for this book I thought – what if a dreamy wedding planner had a failed wedding herself, and had events happen that weren’t all roses around the door? Would she cope? She draws on her inner strength – and her friends – to cope, and the spectre of lost family is very central to the theme.
I love how you dedicated your writerly life to characters who are strong in mind and have a fortitude within them to get through life’s adversities whilst keeping adaptive to how unsuspecting life can derail right in front of them! It’s a wicked way to approach a Romantic Comedy series as despite the joys of having comedic moments erupt in our lives, we still have to deal with the dramas of living, too! You had me with saying this is about ‘legacy’ – as it is quite true – sometimes you have to dig deep and push through to tomorrow!! I also loved how you re-approached this thematic from the opposite end – how even a wedding planner can have her life upturnt at a moment in her life where she should be full of blissitude and happier ever afters!!
What surprised you whilst formulating the back-story for Maria as a wedding planner?
Dove responds: What surprised me was how much the mother-in-law affected the story. They say that sometimes characters take over, and she certainly did. I realised that she had a massive impact on the whole story, and she was a delight to write. She reminded me of Mr Darcy’s aunt a lot actually, Catherine De Burgh!
Ooh I love how a mother-in-law can insert herself so intrinsically that she becomes a full-on character all of her own – this is one reason I was drawn into ‘Monster-In-Law’ (the film) as I wanted to see how they handled that situation!! I was expecting a Rom Com and ended up seeing a Dramedy as there was a lot more ‘heart’ behind the mother-in-law’s chronic infliction of drama into her daughter-in-law’s life than meets the eye! I was happily surprised the layers of depth they gave that character, to be honest! This is one reason I want to start sourcing these kinds of stories in fiction – as I never gave myself a chance to ‘love’ this niche in Lit til now.
lol I must admit, finding another Catherine de Burgh has its own sweet appeal!! Pride FTW! Having this disclosed during #AustenINAugust was quite lovely, too!! Esp as Pride is still the original canon I champion the most – even though, this month I desire to read my second & third Austen selections!! *there is still time, I keep telling myself!
As this is a third in a series in-progress what can you tell new readers to your stories about Westfield Village? What would be most important to know either about the village itself or any particular character(s) therein who populates the series?
Dove responds: My series is all set in Westfield, a Yorkshire village where people look out for each other, and really care about each other’s lives. Each book is a standalone, and they can be read in any order, but characters do pop up in different books so you can see how they are getting on. Each book has a theme running through it, and each shop is unique and quirky! I am currently writing book 4 in this series, and it is wildly different again!
Ooh, if only there were more villages and small townes like this IRL! I love reading small towne fiction (one-offs are harder, serials are my preferred favourite!) – as you get to knit into the heart of what appeals to us IRL by reading the stories in fiction which bring this concept to life! So good for you for developing this series!! Hmm.. perhaps, but it’s my contention series ought to be read in order whenever possible as I seriously love taking the journey with the writer! There are a few exceptions to that rule but I have the propensity of sticking with ‘by order of’ rather than skipping round!
I love how you approached this through ‘shoppes’! I only wish when the series is mentioned online (ie. on book shoppes or Fantastic Fiction) it is ‘routed as’ a series rather than individual releases! I hope I linked them properly – as I had to go by Pub Dates!!
What did you love most about exchanging points of view and allowing different characters to both have their say and to tip the reader’s perspective towards a new understanding of the circumstances? Who did you feel was the most delight to ‘shift’ into after Maria?
Dove responds: James. I loved James, he’s such a sweetheart. I loved writing him. I wanted to tuck him into my heart strings and keep him safe. Switching points of view for me is important as even a love rat has reasons for why they behave like they do, and I do hate it when a character rocks up and does something random in a book. I always think ‘why did they do that’? Where did it come from?
Do they!? Hmm… I never truly latch-on to ratty men or the ‘bad boy’ characters, but I keep telling myself there have to be a few out there who might fit that bill! One I found did actually which happily surprised me was found in the Little Spitmarsh series by Christine Stovell!!
Isn’t that the truth!? Characters who ‘act against themselves’ is a pet peeve of mine – I like to know the ‘back-history’ of what causes that kind of behaviour about-face and if it isn’t declared in such a way to warrant the switch-up, I feel like I’ve been properly short-changed! #sotrue!!!
What is the hardest part in finding balance between the comedic moments and the dramatic ones whilst writing a Rom Com such as ‘The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street’?
Dove responds: Sometimes it’s being too dark, and not being able to rein that back in. Not everything in life is funny – in my books we have death, cheating – all part of life but not necessarily funny. The darkest moments of my life are always remembered in my head with fixed points – someone cracking a funny joke, the absurdity of the situation. How many of us crack jokes at wakes, or remember the person departed for doing something daft in life? We as humans cling to these moments, as well as the mundane parts that see us through the day. I try to capture these in my novels, so that the reader laughs and cries. That’s the kind of stories I love, and I hope that this comes across in my work. I am currently finishing books 7 and 8, and I am still very much learning my craft. I love the comedy aspect, and I still mourn the lack of rom com films nowadays. I wrote this book to be just like one of those – funny, sad, and a little bit crazy!
This is definitely true and authentically realistic to ‘real life’ – a keen blessing you’ve approached this series with this kind of dedication! I concur with you whole-heartedly!! With the bitter there is the sweet – we have to balance and filter those moments whilst living ‘forward’. I can attach those moments in my heart / mind as well – even during my father’s stroke which left me winded for spending 8 days at the hospital there were random moments of joy peppered into the angst of finding yourself barely treading water through a serious medical crisis!! You have to remember to seek those moments out though – otherwise, the heaviness of your emotional reaction(s) will pull you under like a rip tide!!
I love how you’ve fused the emotional and psychological aspects of our human condition into the backbone of your characters’ lives!! You get props from me for making those inclusive and important as it is such a true portrait of real life and real emotional conflicts!! Life is muddled but that doesn’t mean we can’t own the good with the bad and the emotionally anguished!
I mourn their loss as well! I started to see the Rom Coms I loved nose dive after film directors started to pass-on who wrote the sophisticated ones I loved the most — the Ephron era and the era of Garry Marshall are lost forever it would appear. I wish others would step up and fill in that gap! Although – did you see the rather quirky art house-esque release starring Diane Lane? It was called “Paris Can Wait”!? Give it a whirl – I hope you love this ‘old school’ Rom Com which is wickedly sophisticated in how it was produced and directed!!
If my local libraries aren’t stocking your novels and their not avail via ILL’ing (inter-library loaning) I’m going to start requesting they add them IMMEDIATELY! I look forward to updating you about my readings… eek. So thrilled I crossed your path! Bless you for blessing me with this lovely ‘introduction’ to the Westfield Village series!!
I have been wanting to find some ‘lighter’ faire in Romance & Women’s Fiction as I realise I have the keen tendency of seeking out dramatic story-lines! I *love!* Drama and Dramedies – *however!* a dash of ‘comedy!’ is good for the [bookish] soul, which is why I’ve been striving to find a bit more *humour & satire* to populate my reading life as sometimes I think I favour the ‘other side’ a bit too much? lol There are some delightful Rom Com authors out there and this blog tour happily introduced me to one who I think has combined my love of *small towne fiction!* with the lightness of a Romantic Comedy! I mean, I love watching sophisticated Rom Coms in film – so why not start a new trend in my bookish life with #amreading them as well!?
Towards that end – which authors / stories would you rec for me to seek out!?
Need a break from #amreading dramas in your #Romance #readinglife? Check out this lovely convo between a #bookblogger & the writer #amwriting the Rom Com stories Jorie's seeking most to find!! Click To Tweet
This author interview is courtesy of: Brook Cottage Book Tours
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Wedding Shop on Wexley Street”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Rachel Dove and the tour badge were all provided by Brook Cottage Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2018.
Comments via Twitter:
Jorie is wicked THRILLED to feat. this #interview!
Ever wonder if you need a dire insertion of #RomCom in your #readinglife?
Jorie definitely does!?Get wrapped up in this #bookblogger / #writer convo!✍️https://t.co/wkxxWbCJVM#mustread | #blogging4books | @BrookCottageBks pic.twitter.com/GKrh8mRfvK
— Jorie, the Joyful Tweeter ?? (@joriestory) August 16, 2018
Aaaah! I love reading author interviews and this book seems super duper cute! I’m not really a big reader in the humour (rom-com) genre either, but it is nice to read something light and funny every now and then!!
Hallo, Hallo Lara!
I was overjoyed finding someone else feels like I do – where a wicked good ‘light and fluffy’ Rom Com is a wicked good choice to be #amreading! (big smiles) You’ll have fun browsing through my blog as I get to host authors for guest features quite regularly – across genre(s) and literary interests. The best way right now to source them is either to put ‘interview’ or ‘guest post’ in the search box and/or use the top menu [my Bookish Calendar] and use the top choice [Bookish Events] all years are fully updated through [2018]. I’m working on a Guest Feature Archive – where I mention the topics for the Guest Post Essays and which authors I’ve interviewed either in full-length conversations and/or short Q&A’s. For now, knowing you *loved!* this showcase brought me a lot of JOY! Thanks for leaving your kind note!!
Which light Rom Coms or Roms have you found to your liking!?