I'm delighted to welcome writer, Louise Wise to my blog today. Here she tells us about herself.
Married, with four children, Louise Wise lives in England. She is a pharmacist technician by day and a writer by night. She was educated in an ordinary state school and left without achieving much in the way of qualifications; you could say she was the result of a crap school. Hungry for knowledge she enrolled in an Adult Education centre and studied English, maths and creative writing. Whereas other young girls asked for makeup and clothes for their birthdays, she asked for encyclopaedias!
Louise Wise used her general love of romantic fiction and interest in astronomy to write her first book. The book received many rejections stating the novel was too original for the current market, until finally, an agent took the book on but subsequently failed to find a publisher for it. Instead of becoming despondent, it made Louise realise that becoming a published writer WAS possible. She turned her back on traditionally publishing, threw herself into the indie world and went on to publish her first chick lit book, A Proper Charlie and then Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!
As for the ‘too original’ Eden it has been such a hit that Louise has now followed it up with the sequel, Hunted. So far, they are both selling well.
Ellen Semple from 'Oh No, I've Fallen In Love' has given us a Character interview:
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in love! has been likened to a modern day
Cinderella. It comes with the main characters Valerie (Cinderella)
and Lex (Prince Charming), Ellen Semple (fairy godmother) and Boots the cat
(glass slipper), but the ugly sisters are Valerie’s emotions (fear and
loneliness). It’s 2014 after all.
Fairy
godmother, AKA Ellen Semple, is here to talk about her role in the story. Ellen,
hello and welcome—
ES: Good
morning! What beautiful weather we’re having lately. Are you having nice
weather in your corner or the world? Jersey, isn’t it? Near Guernsey. Ha!
Delightful little islands. Now, dear, what questions did you want to ask me?
GT: Can you
describe your relationship with—
ES: So how
long have you lived in Jersey, dear?
GT: Er, most
of my life—
ES: That’s
nice. My relationship with Valerie? Well, she was such a prickly little thing
at first, told me to ‘shut the (mouths a very rude word!) up’. Of course she
was joking. Anyway we became friends in the end. I don’t see her as often as
I’d like. She’s very busy, and our calls are always cut off. I’ve told her she
needs a new phone, but you know what youngsters are like, they don’t listen.
Well, you should know! You’re a youngster yourself! Are you married? Have children?
GT: I, er,
we’re here to talk about Valerie, not myself.
ES: Yes, of
course, lovey. Maybe you’re one of those, you know, (lowers voice) lesbians.
GT: Ellen!
Can we stay focused on the questions in hand? You met Valerie at the cemetery
while you both were visiting relatives’ graves. Whose grave was Valerie tending?
ES: Her
parents and her brother. Her brother, bless his little soul, died when he was
only a baby when Valerie was small, and her mother and father within a week
together when she was sixteen. It made her develop a tough skin from a young
age.
GT: It is
true you set out to meet her and got a job at her brokerage because you felt
she needed your help like the fictional fairy godmother?
ES: She was
crying out for help. It was written all over her face—the way she tried to walk
away from me, the way she changed the dates when she visited the graves and the
way she told me I wasn’t suitable for the book-keeping role at her brokerage.
GT: That
tells me she didn’t want your help!
ES: Well,
maybe you haven’t the insight that I have. I can feel people’s inner pain
(clutches chest), it’s like they have an aura around them that only I can
detect.
GT: I heard
that Paul, an elderly staff member, inadvertently
gave you the job and Valerie was angry with him? I also heard that you’re a
little, er, bossy.
ES: (Angry
glare). Then you heard wrong! I am NOT bossy. Goodness, I was helping Valerie
by befriending her. If it wasn’t for me she’d never have met Lex.
GT: Ah, Lex
Kendal, he’s your grand-nephew, isn’t he?
ES: That’s
right. I was worried about him, always chasing women and splashing his money
around as if it grew on trees. I must admit, I was frightened that Valerie
would fall for him like the others and end up heartbroken. I never, for one
minute, guessed he’d do the falling in love! That Valerie can be such a bitch
at times. My poor Lex.
GT: (Hiding a
smile). But when they got together didn’t you try to split them up?
ES: I did no
such thing!
GT: Didn’t
Lex have to pretend to meet you somewhere so he could meet up with Valerie
without you on the scene?
ES: I admit
to that, and I’ve cut him out of my will.
GT: He’s the
one with the money, though, isn’t he?
ES: Don’t be
impertinent, dear. Anyway, as I was saying before you interrupted, Lex fell for
Valerie but I didn’t believe his intentions towards her were decent at first. I
thought she was just a challenge to him because she refused his advances, but
he had fallen hook, line and thingy for her. She came with baggage though and I
think that made him grow up pretty sharply.
GT: The
baggage being her fear of falling in love?
ES: She
developed this idea that once she loved someone they’d be taken away from her,
perfectly understandable considering her past, but what nobody knew was that she
was having these bizarre dreams at night. I think it was her subconscious was
trying to tell her something. She didn’t want to remember and so took every
caffeine pill imaginable, silly girl. And then Boots went missing…
GT: The cat?
ES: Yes, she
vanished and that sort of cemented Valerie’s belief that everyone she falls for
dies or leaves her. She loved the cat and it left her. Simple.
GT: It sounds
tragic.
ES: Her
emotions, or state of mind, which ever you’d like to call it were controlling
her. She needed to break free.
GT: And has
she?
ES: Let’s
just say she has the courage to fight them. And she isn’t alone. We’ve seen to
that.
GT: You and
Lex. I don’t know whether she’s lucky or disadvantaged…
ES: What’s
that?
GT: Nothing.
So where’s the Cinderella story in all this?
ES: Valerie’s
emotions are holding her back, controlling her, just like the ugly sisters were
to Cinderella. Lex is the handsome Prince Charming, and I’m the helpful fairy
godmother (beams).
GT: So
helpful that Valerie doesn’t answer your calls?
ES: She’s
busy.
GT: And so am
I. Ellen, nice meeting you but I really need to rearrange my sock drawer!
Links:
Blurb
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in Love!
On the surface, Valerie Anthrope was happy with her life.
She had her own brokerage with Sunny Oak Insurance and was financially solvent.
But once asleep, she was plunged into a world of nightmares that reminded her
she was cursed.
And that meant she couldn’t fall in love. Ever.
Lex Kendal was a multi-millionaire. Women flocked to him,
preened and flaunted for his attention. But one woman, Valerie, knocked him
back. Hard. It dented his pride and Lex set out to convince himself he still
‘had it’ by pursuing her.
Only he found himself being needed in a way he never, ever,
expected and, for once in his life, money wasn’t the answer.
Excerpt
As soon as I entered, the music, balloons and smiley waitresses
wearing festive hats, and the entire Christmassy atmosphere made me realise I’d
made a mistake. I should have faked a
migraine.
Paul spotted me first and stood up. ‘Yoo-hoo!
Over here, Miss Anthrope.’
Paul, his wife Milly and Tim sat around a table
where above floated coloured balloons, their strings attached to a weight in
the centre of an equally bright tablecloth.
I made my way over and immediately spotted a
stranger – and a scam. Ellen guided me over and insisted I sit next to the
stranger while she sat the other side of me. The man had a ready smile, and
beautiful eyes. They were the brightest blue, and totally wasted on a male. I
was immediately interested despite the set-up.
‘This is Jon. Jon, Valerie,’ Ellen introduced us.
I nodded, removed my coat, which a passing
waitress took. I sat down and smiled at Milly. ‘Nice to see you again,’ I said.
‘Ooh, can I have your red straw?’ Milly said to
Ellen. ‘I’ll swap you my black one.’
There was little doubt this was Paul’s wife.
Ellen swapped straws, and winked across at me. ‘Jon’s an accountant,’ she said.
‘And you’re
a financial broker,’ Jon said, tapping me on the nose with his finger on the
word “you’re”.
My interest vanished in a puff of
oh-my-God-he’s-a-jerk smoke and I sent multitudinous angry thoughts to Ellen,
but straight-faced she looked back at me and said, ‘Well, we’ll leave you two
love birds alone while we eat on the next table. Come along, you others. Let’s
leave the youngsters to it.’
Then they all got up and left me with Jon the
accountant. Gobsmacked wasn’t a word I often used.
Fucked, was better.
The night was going to be extremely long.
Oh no, I’ve Fallen in love purchase
links
Apple
iStore
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