Chick Lit Plus by Samantha March

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Interview with Irene Zutell
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Irene Zutell

Q: Why did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
A: I couldn’t think of anything else I was competent at!

Q: Where do you find the inspiration for your novels?
A: Usually, there’s a bit of real life mixed in with the fiction. I’m from New York, but I find a lot of my inspiration in my new hometown-Los Angeles. There’s so much to write about here. I really is crazy here. For instance, we live on a cul de sac in the valley, and right on the hill above us is a house that was used in porn movies. So, we’d be sitting outside listening to moaning. It was very surreal.

Q: I just started reading Pieces of Happily Ever After. Where did the idea for that story come from?
A: This woman–Vera Moder–who lived a few blocks from us was dumped by her husband for another woman–Julia Roberts. She was all over the tabloids. Her husband, Danny, eventually married Julia . I wanted Vera to do a nonfiction book with me. But when she wouldn’t, I decided to fictionalize it. Imagine going through a break-up and having it very public? And imagine having to read about your partner’s romance in the tabloids? I thouht it was a great jumping off point for a novel about a lot of other stuff–mothers and daughters, aging, love, romance, etc.

Q: Is there a typical day for you?
A: I wish I had a typical day. I wish I could say I get up at 5 a.m. and write until noon. But I don’t. I write when I can. I write when my kids are at school, or at night, or right now as they play outside. I usually don’t move until I have to because I know that at any moment, someone’s going to cry or fight or be hungry.

Q: What is your favorite part about writing?
When it just flows and I’m in that zone where I’m totally lost in the story.

Q: You have been a correspondent for PEOPLE and US Weekly. What did you take away from those experiences?
A: When I first started working for People, I thought it would be a joke–just something easy to do for a whle. Was I wrong. It was the hardest job. Being a reporter for People, I learned to pay attention to detail and to think fast. I learned that you really can never have enough details for a story and you’ve got to constantly be coming up with creative ways to draw a subject out.

What were some of the favorite stories you worked on?

A: Even though I covered mostly the celebrity beat, my favorite stories were always the human interest type–like the girl who awakened from a coma after months and months, or the veternarian who spent weekends on Seattle’s Skid Row taking care of the homeless’ pets.

Q: If you hadn’t been a writer, what do you think would be your career?
A: I have no idea.

Q: Are you currently working on any future novels?
Sure. I have some things in the works, but right now I’m ghostwriting a book.

Q: What would be your advice to aspiring writers?
Never give up. Listen to the voice in your head instead of what other tell you.

Q: What is or do you think would be your favorite place to travel?
I used to be a travel writer, so I love traveling. Anywhere. I love European cities like Paris, St. Petersburg, Dubrovnik, Prague, Florence, Rome. But I also loved a trip I took a while back throughout Alaska. I went to Tahiti on my honeymoon, which was just incredible. And I love road trips through northern California.

February 16, 2010
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Chick Lit Author: Adele Parks
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author: Adele Parks

Adele Parks was born and raised in northeast England and attended Leicester University to study English Language and Literature. After moving to Italy and teaching English, Parks moved back to the UK and began a career in advertising. After living life on the fast track (and moving to Botswana for a few years in between) Parks went on to write her first novel- Playing Away- which became the debut best seller of the millennium.
Since being published, Parks has gone on to publish eight more novels- all of which have become best sellers. Her titles are: Playing Away, Game Over, Larger Than Life, The Other Woman’s Shoes, Still Thinking Of You and Husbands, Young Wives’ Tales, Tell Me Something and Love Lies. Adele Parks currently lives in Guildford with her husband and son.

February 16, 2010
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Kevin Smith Too Fat to Fly
Chick Lit Plus

Kevin Smith Too Fat to Fly

Kevin Smith is too fat to fly. At least, according to Southwest airlines. The actor/director was asked to leave a flight on Saturday that was traveling from Oakland to Burbank, California, according to People.com. Smith, 39, usually purchases two seat tickets when he travels to accommodate his size, but was on standby for this particular flight and there was only one seat left. After he had been seated, airline officials decided he needed to leave for the “safety and comfort of all customers.” Southwest released this statement on the incident, “”If a customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.”

February 15, 2010
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In My Mailbox- Week of February 14
Updates

In My Mailbox- Week of February 14

I have seen the “In My Mailbox” feature from quite a few other book sites, so I decided to try it out for myself! Each week, I will list what books I have either bought, got from the library, borrowed from friends, received from authors, etc. Enjoy!

Title: Second Time Around
Author: Beth Kendrick
Received: From Beth Kendrick for Review
Synopsis:
Thanks to an unexpected inheritance, four college friends get an opportunity to start over and pursue their dream jobs. But the road not taken has a few speed bumps…

Every summer, a group of former English majors hold a mini-reunion. They laugh, reminisce, and commiserate about their soul-sucking jobs. Maybe they should have listened to everyone who warned them to study something “practical.”

Then an unexpected windfall arrives—one million dollars, to be exact—with the stipulation that they use it to jump-start their new careers. Almost overnight, a professor, a bartender, a copywriter, and an administrative assistant reinvent themselves as a bed-and-breakfast owner, a pastry chef, a novelist, and an event planner. But the changes in their professional roles create unexpected turbulence in their personal lives, and soon the secrets and scandals from their past resurface.

For anyone who has ever wondered
“What if?”, this engaging novel provides a sweet, funny look at friendship, romance, and second chances.

Title: Pieces of Happily Ever After
Author: Irene Zutell
Received: From SheKnows.com for Review
Synopsis:
What happens after “happily ever after”? Alice Hirsh is about to find out…
Alice, a former New Yorker who thought she’d never feel at home in the bizarre world of the San Fernando Valley, was adapting, raising her 5-year-old daughter while trying to keep her job and make her new house a home. When her attorney husband lands a trophy client – box-office queen Rose Maris – things begin to look up. Then Alex starts working late – a lot. He crunches his paunch into a six-pack and trades his Gap ensembles for Armani everything.
Soon, Rose and Alex’s affair blazes in the tabloids and Alice is plunged into trash-gossip hell. Her life crumbles around her as she navigates her newly single self through suburban LA –a place rife with porn stars, psycho soccer moms and nutty neighbors.
Is there a chance to wrest Alex from the Sexiest Woman Alive? And if so… would Alice want him back? And what about George–her college sweatheart? Or Johnny, a walking charm-bomb paparazzo? As Alice inventories the rubble of her life, she desperately searches for her bearings and is forced to ask herself what she really wants from life, love and herself.

Title: Bergdorf Blondes
Author: Plum Sykes
Received: Public Library
Synopsis: Plum Sykes’s beguiling debut welcomes readers to the glamorous world of Park Avenue Princesses, the girls who careen through Manhattan in search of the perfect Fake Bake (tan acquired from Portofino Tanning Salon), a ride on a PJ (private jet) with the ATM (rich boyfriend), and the ever-elusive fiancé.
With invitations to high-profile baby showers and benefits, more Marc Jacobs clothes than is decent, and a department store heiress for a best friend, our heroine known only as Moi is living at the peak of New York society. But what is Moi to do when her engagement falls apart? Can she ever find happiness in a city filled with the distractions of Front Row Girls, dermatologists, premieres, and eyebrow waxes? Is it possible to find love in a town where her friends think that the secret to happiness is getting invited to the Van Cleef and Arpels über-private sample sale? And how is she going to deal with the endless phone calls from her mother in England demanding that she get married to the Earl next door?
With enormous wit and an insider’s eye, Sykes captures the nuances of the rich and spoiled in a heartwarming social satire, featuring a loveable “champagne bubble of a girl” who’s just looking for love (and maybe the perfect pair of Chloé jeans).

Title: The Debutante Divorcee
Author: Plum Sykes
Received: Public Library
Synopsis: A major national media event when published in hardcover, this delicious follow-up to Bergdorf Blondes was an immediate New York Times bestseller and confirmed Plum Sykes’ status as a literary superstar.
Sylvie Mortimer has just married and is blissfully happy with The Divine New Husband, Hunter. Sylvie’s new friend, Lauren Blount, is very rich, very young, very thin, very pretty — and very, very divorced. The most reckless and glamorous of Manhattan’s Debutante Divorcée set, Lauren captivates Sylvie, the group’s token newlywed. But while Lauren sets out on a morality-lite, orgasm-heavy “Make Out Challenge,” Sylvie discovers her marriage isn’t exactly an Eternity ad — especially when the city’s most notorious Husband Huntress zeros in on her spouse.

February 14, 2010
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Interview with Brenda Janowitz
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Brenda Janowitz

Q: Why did you decide to write chick lit books?
Q: What gave you the ideas for your two novels?

I’ve always been a writer. In fact, that’s the reason why I became a lawyer in the first place—trying to find a career where I could write full time. But I’ve always had a real love for fiction, and I’d find myself practicing law and thinking about these fictional stories that I wanted to write. When I was invited to my ex-boyfriend’s wedding, my life slowly but surely began to resemble some of my favorite chick lit novels, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve just gotta start writing this stuff down…

When I finished SCOT ON THE ROCKS, I just knew that Brooke’s story had to continue! Since both she and Jack are lawyers, I thought it would be so much fun to pit them against each other in the courtroom… all while planning their fairy-tale wedding. Thus the idea for JACK WITH A TWIST was born!

Q: What was the hardest part about the writing process?

The hardest part for me is always the end. (Isn’t it for every writer?) You’ve taken the reader on a journey, and it’s so important to deliver on everything you’ve built up, and to give them something memorable and satisfying.

Q: Do you have a third chick lit novel in the works?

Right now, I’m working on a commercial women’s fiction novel, and I’ve also got a Young Adult proposal brewing. I always have lots of ideas going at the same time! We’ll have to see which one shapes up to become novel # 3.

I’d love to continue Brooke’s story, but for now, these other stories just keep calling out to me. BUT, I recently had my first child and there’s lots of funny things that have been happening along the way. Readers always ask me if Brooke will have a baby next, so you never know….

Q: What is your favorite part about living in New York?

Do I have to narrow it to just one thing?! New York is the greatest place on earth. It has always inspired me and exhilarated me.

My husband and I recently moved out to the suburbs, but we are just a short car ride from the city. Whenever we get back into the city, you just feel that energy hit you, and it’s such a rush.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Free time? Um, what’s that? Like I said, I recently had a baby, so most of my days I’m lucky if I get to take a shower!

As a writer, I suppose that my favorite thing to do is read. And as a chick lit writer, needless to say, my other favorite thing to do is shop!

Q: Did you set any New Year’s Resolutions this year?

Nope. I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Each day when I wake up, I just try to do the best that I can for that day.

But, yes, now that you’ve mentioned it, I would like to also lose some weight, too….

Q: You teach a creative writing class. How much do you enjoy the teaching process?

I love teaching. It’s always amazing to me how we all have stories inside of us. It’s great to see the brave few trying to make their dreams come true and get their stories onto paper.

Mediabistro gets such a talented group of people together for me to teach each time—it’s always humbling to me to see how wonderful my students are. I’m now at the stage where my students are getting agents and are on their way to book deals, so that is an incredible thing to see.

Q: What would be your advice to aspiring writers?

Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.

Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.

Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!

Q: What is or do you think would be your favorite place to travel?

Since I honeymooned in Hawaii, I’d have to say Hawaii. It’s such a beautiful and quiet place. There’s a rich history there, which is so much fun to explore.

And, of course, there’s just something for me about the beach—feeling the sand under my toes, listening to the crashing waves—that relaxes me to the core and allows my creative juices to flow. What could be more inspiring than a place like Hawaii?! (Does this mean that I get to go there again now?)

February 14, 2010
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Stuck in Downward Dog by Chantel Simmons
Chick Lit Review

Stuck in Downward Dog by Chantel Simmons

Mara Brennan needs to get her life together. She has been dumped by her live in boyfriend, who moved out of their tiny basement apartment and took everything with him, including her bed and her self-confidence. She is working at a dead-end job as a receptionist at a cosmetic clinic, and her overbearing sister has taken up residence with her to try to cheer her up after the break-up. Meanwhile, her best friends, Olivia and Mitz, are living the perfect lives with their boyfriends and husbands and dazzling careers. Mara can’t help but feel she is missing out on being able to host her own dinner parties, get a fabulous career, and perfecting her yoga poses.
Mara makes her OM List (Olivia and Mitz List) to try to become a better person and more like her friends. While trying to check off the items such as hosting the best dinner party and becoming a fabulous chef, Mara realizes a few important details. She has a tiny apartment not suitable for hosting parties, and she hates cooking. She also realizes that Olivia and Mitz’s lives may not be so fabulous after all, once cracks begin to show between the three friends. Through it all, she finds a supportive a family that thinks incredibly highly of her, and figures out how she can help her perfect sister through a personal crisis.
Stuck in Downward Dog, the debut novel from Chantel Simmons was an excellent story of trying to find oneself. The challenges that Mara was facing are completely relatable, and the humorous journey of her identity makeover made me laugh throughout. I do have say the beginning started off a bit slow; the plot didn’t start to excite me until about half way in, but once it hit that point I couldn’t put it down! One aspect I really enjoyed about the novel is that it didn’t end with the heroine finding herself by getting a boyfriend. I thought that was really inspiring and even more motivating to readers, sending a message that women can be powerful with their careers and selves without being married. A favorite book of mine and a define recommendation to all.

February 12, 2010
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Lauren Conrad Hits Bestseller List
Chick Lit Plus

Lauren Conrad Hits Bestseller List

Lauren Conrad has done it again. The reality star, 24, has topped the New York Times bestseller list once more with her second novel, Sweet Little Lies. Conrad told People.com, “It’s so gratifying for my second book to be so successful and it was so fun to write! The characters were already developed so I really enjoyed the process so much more this time around. All the characters have become like my friends now.” Former star of The Hills also reached the bestseller list with her first novel, L.A. Candy, with her novels following Jane Roberts, a young girl who reaches reality TV fame in L.A. A third novel will be released in the series.

February 12, 2010
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Underlying Notes by Eva Pasco
Chick Lit Review

Underlying Notes by Eva Pasco

Underlying Notes, the debut album from Eva Pasco follows Carla Matteo as she tries to cope with all life has handed her. Carla is now middle-aged and struggling to find her path in life, whether that be following her ambitions on becoming a teacher, or giving up her career to work alongside her husband Joe at his waste management company. She is also dealing with troubles from her past- her father’s mysterious death and her never ending fantasies about another man- who happens to be her fiercely faithful husband’s friend. With all her troubles, a new neighbor added to the mix only adds more drama, after she realizes her husband is having an affair and plots her revenge. One of the only things to keep Carla calm are her perfumes- spending hours online rating and reviewing different scents with other perfume lovers.
I unfortunately cannot say that I thoroughly enjoyed Underlying Notes. There was too much jumping around in the plot for me to be able to keep up, and the style of writing was bit too poetic prose for my liking. I didn’t get a real sense of understanding with the supporting characters and how they all fit into the story, though I can say that I understood the heroine and why she was dealing with the difficulties in her life. Another aspect that I didn’t like was that the title, Underlying Notes, was worked into every chapter seemingly multiple times, which seemed slightly overbearing. All of that made me want to stop reading more than once throughout the novel, but I am glad I pushed on and kept reading, because there was a nice ending to it all. I’m not exactly sure who I would recommend this book too, but if you are looking for a different style of writing, I would say check it out and see what you think!

February 12, 2010
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British Fashion Designer Dead at 40
Chick Lit Plus

British Fashion Designer Dead at 40

British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead at his London home on Thursday morning, People.com has reported. Police confirmed that the deceased was indeed the 40 year old designer. His family released this statement surrounding the unexpected death, “Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand has been found dead at his home. At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family. Lee’s family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”
One of McQueen’s contemporary lines, McQ, was scheduled to be shown at New York Fashion Week on Thursday afternoon

February 11, 2010
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