Nicola Doherty's Blog, page 7

Girls on Tour – first 4 covers revealed

Here they are: covers of the first 4 of my 5 Girls on Tour e-novellas. I can’t tell you how much I love these.  I *may* have screamed when I saw them all together.  I love the colours and the fonts and the girls and the whole nine yards.

Authors don’t decide who creates the covers - it’s very much in the publisher’s hands so I feel even luckier that these are just divine. Many thanks to the brilliant Adrian Valencia for creating them. I can’t wait to see the cover for the final, book number 5 – The Girls Take Manhattan – which I’ve just finished writing. It features all 4 girls having an adventure together and it just might be my favourite.  After Lily. And Maggie. Oh, and Rachel and Poppy!

Poppy Does Paris is out now and available to buy. Lily is coming in September!

Poppy Does Paris Does Publication Day!!

Poppy Does Paris is out today !!!

You can download it for a mere £1.49 on Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes and wherever eBooks are sold. It’s the first in a series of 5 so you can follow the girls’ adventures around the globe. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it too …

Happy Bastille Day! Here’s an easy way to celebrate …

Today is a bit of a celebration day chez Doherty. I have a great friend who lives abroad coming over for lunch. As it’s her birthday tomorrow AND Bastille Day today – oh, and the week that Poppy Does Paris launches – I’m going to celebrate by making Kir Royales.

Kir is a drink that I got into when I lived in Paris for a year when I was twenty. (You’re going to be hearing a lot about this year in Paris over the next week or two, so brace yourselves). I used to hear people ordering it and had no clue what it was, but it sounded awfully sophisticated – PLUS, it’s also very easy to say, so extra good if you’re not feeling very Francophone.

It just as easy to make. You make a Kir by pouring an inch of crème de cassis

into a wine glass, then topping up with white wine. And you make a Kir Royale by using champagne instead of wine. C’est tout. If you want to get extra-fancy the wine should be Chablis or similar dry wine, also it’s more of an aperitif that something to drink with food. But, you know, bof.

So what are you waiting for? Get pouring! It’s the perfect, easy way to celebrate Bastille Day (the other being, n’oubliez pas, pre-ordering Poppy Does Paris in time for publication day this Thursday!

Ten days until Poppy Does Paris!!

 

My new e-book novella Poppy Does Paris is out on 17 July!!

Have you pre-ordered your copy yet? You can get it on Amazon (UK and US!), iTunes, and wherever else ebooks are sold.

This is the, ahem, season premiere of a series of 5 interlinked stories about a group of girls who have different adventures in different locations (Paris, Los Angeles, the French Alps, Rome and New York). So get in early; you don’t want to be playing catch-up or hearing spoilers all over the press and social media like you did for that first series of Game of Thrones (though, I can reveal nobody gets beheaded in this series).

(Game of Thrones = a bit like Girls on Tour, in terms of initials anyway).

Q&A with Julie Cohen

Today I’m thrilled to be doing a Q&A with the lovely Julie Cohen, whose latest book Dear Thing is now a Richard and Judy Summer Pick (in fact I warned Julie that I would be referring to her throughout this interview as Richard and Judy Author Julie Cohen or RAJAJC for short). Before my first book was published I read Julie’s blog for advice on writing and always found it to be sage and wonderful. I commented on her blog and she commented on mine and gave me terrific advice. And then I did get published, and Julie and I ended up doing an event together and celebrated over gin and tonics which was great in a universe-aligning way. Below I’ve asked her some questions – including what she would do if she could turn back time (tissues at the ready for this one).

Dear Thing is a book about a couple trying for a baby in a very unorthodox way. It’s poignant and funny and heartbreaking and brilliant. It’s out in paperback now from Black Swan  - I’ve linked to Waterstones above but you can get it in your local bookshop, on Amazon, or borrow it from your local library. And follow Julie at @julie_cohen for all the latest on Benedict Cumberbatch-watching and Not Even Our Cat.

There’s plenty of advice for unpublished writers but not so much for published ones. What’s the one piece of advice you would share with a newly published author?

I fully believe that authors should celebrate every single success. They’re few and far between in this profession. You should drink champagne when you finish your book; you should drink LOTS of champagne when it’s accepted for publication; you should have an enormous party when it’s published.

But let it end there, with the champagne. Celebrate, and move on. You should try to avoid reading reviews; you should try to avoid tweeting and talking nonstop about your new book (a little bit is okay, it’s part of the celebration!); you should try to avoid obsessing about how well your book is selling and whether it’s selling any better than any other book, or if any other author is doing better than you are, or whether it’s going to be chosen for this promotion or that award, and why the entire world hasn’t changed overnight because your book is out!!!!

You should drink champagne, celebrate, enjoy yourself like mad and revel in how clever you have been—and then get on with writing the next book.

Your latest novel, Dear Thing, marks a change in direction from ‘pure’ romance to a more multi-stranded story… how easy/exciting/difficult was this transition for you as a writer?

As I’ve grown older, I’ve wanted to tackle more difficult subjects than romance. It was very exciting for me to write a more complex story with more complicated emotions, with several viewpoints. I had a bit of fear before I began, but fortunately my publisher was very encouraging and had great confidence in me. I really enjoyed the challenge, though I won’t pretend I didn’t swear a lot whilst writing the difficult parts.

You’ve lived in Britain for several years but are originally from the US (Maine, home of Whoopie Pies!) Would you ever want to write a book set in the US again, or do you feel more familiar with a British setting now?

I’d quite like to set a book, or part of a book, in the USA—particularly in Maine, at a lake cottage like the one where I’ve spent every summer of my life. I haven’t come across the right story yet. My next book, WHERE LOVE LIES, does have a chapter or two set in New York City, but I don’t suppose that counts. Maybe I can at least get a Whoopie Pie into the novel I’m writing now; that will be a challenge!

What’s been the most exciting moment of your writing career to date?

When I was 16, I worked in my local library in Rumford, Maine. It was a beautiful building, built by Andrew Carnegie in the 1930s. I loved working there, surrounded by books—not least because I had a crush on the librarian. I used to put books back on the shelves and I used to dream that one day, I would be an author and that my book would be right there, on the shelf of my local library.

Many years later, I brought my first book to the Rumford Public Library, gave it to the librarian (it was a different one by now, not the one I used to have a crush on), and he put it there, on the shelf. I do this every single year, with every new book. It’s always the best feeling ever—like reaching back through time to my 16-year-old self and saying, ‘We did it!’

 And lastly Julie, what would you do if you could turn back time?

I would make myself a rewind button so that I could go back whenever I wanted and revisit the moment when my newborn son was first put into my arms.

I have something in my eye now. Thanks Julie!

Dear Thing is out now in paperback or ebook and is a Richard and Judy Summer Pick – go get your copy!

 

La Belle France

I’m just back from a week in the South of France. And it was every bit as nice as it sounds. We got the Eurostar to Avignon where we were blown sideways by the Mistral, then drove to Arles and the Camargue where we saw Van Gogh paintings and flamingoes and wild horses. Then we drove to Gordes where we had a fabulous four-course meal in a medieval bastide converted into a luxury hotel (easily one of the nicest places I have ever stayed and will ever stay) overlooking a valley with swallows swooping around over the olive trees … and then we went to Marseilles and stayed in the Hotel Le Corbusier and had a fabulous meal there overlooking the Mediterranean … Then we went to Cassis and Hyeres on the coast, via a famous coastal route that is very scenic and so winding and steep that I almost hyperventilated and had to stop driving and tun the car around to drive back onto the normal road. Oh, and I petted a pig.  He was called Nicolas and I have a horrible feeling he won’t be a pet forever.

I wish it could be holidays every day.

 

In the last picture, I am trying to take a selfie with a cat. The cat wasn’t so into it.

 

Competition time!

In IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME Zoe works in Marley’s which is very loosely inspired (in location is all, really) by the fabulous, iconic department store Liberty’s. I have a real soft spot Liberty’s: during my first job I spent many a lunch break browsing there and trying on perfumes … Probably quite annoying for them now I come to think of it. It’s still the most beautiful, aspirational department store in London in my opinion, totally unique. Now Headline, my publishers, have swung an amazing competition; you can win a £100 Gift Coin to spend at Liberty’s. So much nicer than a floppy, losable gift voucher, don’t you agree? Plus: free spree! Amazing.

You can enter the competition below (UK only!)

http://nicoladohertybooks.com/competition/

Announcing Girls on Tour

 

Together with my lovely publishers Headline, I’m very excited to be announcing GIRLS ON TOUR: a series of 5 e-book shorts featuring a group of friends, glamorous locations, fun adventures, hot men and romance!

Each story features a different girl having an adventure abroad – Poppy on a work trip in Paris, Lily at a wedding in LA, Maggie on a skiing trip in Meribel, and Rachel on a girls’ weekend in Rome (with Maggie and Lily!). In the final book they all join forces for a weekend in New York. Power Rangers Assemble!

The girls all know each other, so you’ll meet the same characters again and find out what happens to them over the series. You’ll also meet characters from my previous two books. Poppy is Alice’s best friend in The Out of Office Girl. Rachel, Oliver and David from If I Could Turn Back Time all feature in Maggie Does Meribel and Rachel has her own story in Rachel Does Rome. (NB: There are full blurbs and a sneak peek of Poppy Does Paris at the back  of If I Could Turn Back Time …)

Poppy Does Paris is out on 17 July 2014, priced £1.49, followed by Lily Does LA on 25 September, Maggie does Meribel on 4 December, Rachel Does Rome in February 2015 and The Girls Take Manhattan in April 2015. You can pre-order Poppy now on iTunes  or on Amazon! Go on. You know you want to …

 

 

 

The state of the Rom Com

Nicola Doherty:

A ‘vintage’ post from a while ago, about the State of the Rom Com.

Originally posted on :

I came across a really interesting article on

Anna Faris

, via the lovely

Gemma Burgess

‘s blog (do check it, and her books out if you haven’t before). And, as Carrie Bradshaw would say, I got to thinking about the state of romantic comedies today – the film versions at least.

I love romantic comedies. Rom coms, chick flicks, call them what you will: love them. But it’s increasingly hard to find a good one. Often when I watch a rom com today I find the agendas and the stereotypes quite chilling. I’ll take two recent examples: The Proposal and What Happened in Vegas. In both of these we have a protagonist who’s an alpha female – you know this because she’s clutching a cappuccino (see above) – who’s basically just way too in charge of her own life for her own good. She then encounters a low-earning beta…

View original 283 more words

My Top 5 Time-Travelling Rom-Coms

Today I’m over at The Book Corner talking about my top 5 Time Travelling Rom Coms – scroll down to the bottom of the post (after Sam’s lovely review) to find them!