This has truly been a delight of mine to feature author after author from Bookouture – whose inspiring responses to my questions pertaining to their latest releases has truly warmed my heart! It is such a great pleasure on my behalf to feature their conversations because they gave me so much to work with as far as knitting a conversation together for my readers, I am forever grateful my path crossed with this UK Publisher. I have a propensity to seek out UK authors and UK publishers – as I love Modern British writing styles and I’m an Anglophile to book with a British Irish Scot background to boot! Having a keen eye developed on stories originating out of the UK was such a natural progression – it began as a young girl caught up inside the lovely Cosies of Dame Agatha Christie and forthwith forward has come to have such a hearty rounding of selections across genres and literary dimensions to tickle my readerly bliss!

Being a writer myself – it’s a pleasure to showcase fellow writers, who are in their Publishing Season – as it’s such a close-knit community here in the book blogosphere and the twitterverse! It’s a lovely exchange of thoughts, bookish inclinations and the joy of simply being captured by a writer’s story – such an epic age to be a blogger whose appreciative of the opportunities to reach out to her peers and draw a well of insight into how they are approaching their writerly careers, their methodology for writing and little snippets of insights into the central heart of their stories.

Stories are such powerful vessels of thought and imagination – they can truly allow us to step outside ourselves, hugging close to a character who is as real as any 3-Dimensional composite to lend us the impression of how they internalise their life inasmuch as how much they choose to grow as their path develops in and out of the story at hand. Reading for me is a way to time travel through the historic past and to deepen my empathy for people living lives so very different from my own. Even being graced by the pleasure of reading a story set in a land not so very far-off from here, is a gift because it gives us all the chance to see how ‘life is lived’ just across the Pond!

And, what could be more brilliant than that!?

So you see – I’ve had the greatest joy during these conversations – I’ve had the happy delight in rooting out the key points of each author’s individual story whilst getting to know them on a personal level as well as I draw out their personalities and writerly spirits!

Today I am featuring an author whose story had me at ‘hallo’ a bit because of the premise being so ingenious – how to change your stars on the fly when an unexpected right turn impedes your progress – you can choose your attitude how to go through a conflict and you can elect to take a path which is still being defined by your choices – what a lovely depth of centreing for a character! Join me whilst I’m conversing about a woman struck by a ‘lift shift’ moment of opportunity!

To gain a bit of a back-story on how I came to host Bookouture authors,

please visit my first conversation I featured with this publisher with Teresa Driscoll!

Sun, croissants and fine wine. Nothing can spoil the perfect holiday. Or can it?

When Emmy Jamieson arrives at La Cour des Roses, a beautiful guesthouse in the French countryside, she can’t wait to spend two weeks relaxing with boyfriend Nathan. Their relationship needs a little TLC and Emmy is certain this holiday will do the trick. But they’ve barely unpacked before he scarpers with Gloria, the guesthouse owner’s cougar wife. 

Rupert, the ailing guesthouse owner, is shell-shocked. Feeling somewhat responsible, and rather generous after a bottle (or so) of wine, heartbroken Emmy offers to help. Changing sheets in the gîtes will help keep her mind off her misery. 

Thrust into the heart of the local community, Emmy suddenly finds herself surrounded by new friends. And with sizzling hot gardener Ryan and the infuriating (if gorgeous) accountant Alain providing welcome distractions, Nathan is fast becoming a distant memory. 

Fresh coffee and croissants for breakfast, feeding the hens in the warm evening light; Emmy starts to feel quite at home. But it would be madness to walk away from her friends, family, and everything she’s ever worked for, to take a chance on a place she fell for on holiday – wouldn’t it? 

Your mantra of stating “Feel Good Contemporary Romance with Humour and Heart” strikes a certain fancy for stories you can curl up inside which will not only tickle out a laugh but give you a happy read. How did you find this best applies to the stories you’re attempting to tell?

Pollard responds: I struggled long and hard with that line! My previous two books, as ‘sweet’ romances, were probably more heart than humour, but even so, I made sure I wove a little humour through – romance shouldn’t be too serious, after all!

In my latest book, The Little French Guesthouse, I’ve had the scope to let humour play a much bigger part, which was fun – but I didn’t want that to be at the cost of the “heart”. I can only write characters I really care about, so I hope that comes across to the reader. And there will always be the element of romance in what I write. Read More