❤author: Sarah Tucker Interview and Giveaway!

It’s my pleasure to introduce author, Sarah Tucker to the blog today. Sarah is the author of multiple an award-winning travel journalist, novelist, producer and broadcaster. Currently, she has multiple bestselling romance novels published, as well as two books on traveling with children. Sarah is a single mother and lives in South West London with her son and two tortoises. Please help me welcome her Sarah Tucker.

Hello Sarah! When and why did you begin writing?

It wasn't on my wish list to become an author. I know many have lists of things they must do before they are forty, but I never had that list or that deadline in mind. What happened is that I had a passion for travel and wanted to travel the sort of way I couldn't afford to. Not luxury travel but adventure travel. I started to write about my travels with my son as a baby, encouraging other mothers to travel with their children as much as possible. It helps with bonding and postnatal depression because it stimulates both you and child from a young age.   

What inspired you to write your first book?

I wrote Have Baby Will Travel, then Have Toddler will Travel; everything you would want to know about where and where not to travel with preschool children, and then was quite happy working as a travel journalist when my now ex told me he'd met someone else. Actually he didn't tell me he'd met someone else, he'd told me that he needed space, and that could I leave the house with our son (then two years old) and find myself a nice little flat, not too close by, just close enough so he could see his son now and again, and by the way could I get myself a proper job as a secretary to prove that I could earn a proper income and not just play at being a journalist. For any of those who have hubbies who work in the city, if they ever suggest this to you or that they need space, a) stay in the house b) go see a lawyer c) cling to the kids. For the next six months, my ex tried to emotionally wear me down, telling me he had married below his class and other things that are meant to chip away at self esteem. But a very strange thing happened. During those dark times, I started to write. Not about what I was experiencing, but what I had experienced many years ago when I was more the person I wanted to be than the one I had become married to this man. I wrote because I couldn't sleep. Because I had to. Because I had a story to tell about why just because you meet Mr. Right on paper, doesn't mean he's Mr. Right for you, or anyone for that matter.

That's a really eye-opening story and experience. How did you first get published?

I met a lady at a party and she told me to send in a synopsis and the first three chapters of the story, which was called The Last Year of Being Single. It is my first book; very visceral and will strike a cord with any girl marrying Mr. Right but not Mr. Right for you.  And there are many out there who every year do exactly that...

Do you have a specific writing style?

 

No, but I usually choose narrative first person. It's more immediate.

I totally agree. What books have most influenced your life most?

All Jane Austen. Keats. I am a hopeful romantic. James Herriot Vet books: he is a wonderful storyteller. The Bible: it has wonderful stories even if you don't believe in any of it. They are wonderful stories.

What books are on your nightstand right now?

 

The World According to Garp and The Incredible Lightness of Being.

 

Describe your writing in three words.

 

Visceral, honest, funny.

 

Certainly. Readers, check out my review of The Younger Man here. It's one of my favorites to date, and I recommend all of you to check it out :) Super secret giveaway (to those who actually read the interview): Everyone who comments on the review will be entered to win a book from my booklist. Back to Sarah. What’s the most challenging aspect of writing?

 

To stop writing.

And the easiest?

To start writing.

 

Well said! Is there a genre that you’d like to write? Is there a genre you’ll probably stay away from and why?

 

I'd like to write crime fiction but stay away from bonk busters. I was asked to write it but when I read some of the 'best' I thought 'where's the story?' and 'I didn't know that was possible.'

 

LOL. For those of you from the US who have no idea what a bonk buster is, it's basically smut :) Which, can I tell you, is the raunchier version of erotica? I like spicy stories, but when "bonking" is all that goes on, it definitely gets old. Sarah, what’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?

 

'Bridget Jones but with real problems.'

Nice! What's next for you?

 

A children's book and my next novel about travel but it's fictional.

 

Where can you be found on the web?

Websites:

www.sarahtucker.info 

www.branchedolive.co.uk

Blogs: 

http://sarahtuckerauthor.blogspot.com/
http://sarahtuckerstravels.blogspot.com/

Before we conclude this interview, is there anything you’d like to ask our readers? 

For those who think they have a book inside them - why haven't you written it yet? For those who don't think they have a book inside them - why not?

Thanks so much for being here today, Sarah! Readers, Sarah is providing autographed copy of The Younger Man (❤❤read my 9 Heart Review!!❤❤) to one lucky commenter! To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is follow this blog. You must be a public follower through Google Friend Connect (or Twitter or Yahoo). Then, comment on this post with an answer to Sarah's question or a new question that hasn't already been asked for her to answer. Make it real; comments containing only "hi, please enter me" will be disqualified!

There are additional entries. Woohoo! If you want a higher chance of winning, do any or all of the following: Follow Sarah's author blog at http://sarahtuckerauthor.blogspot.com/ (+2). Additionally, you can follow me on Twitter @lovestephaniexx (+2).

The more entries, the bigger your chance of winning (you can earn up to 4 extra entries!!)! Just make sure you let me know in your comment (no need to comment multiple times).

The winner will be chosen at random on April 5th, 2011 at 11.59 EST. Winner has three days to claim the prize. After three days, consolation winners will be chosen.

Good luck!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: The Younger Man by Sarah Tucker

The English really do do it better. I discovered the delightful Sarah Tucker when I first picked up her novel, The Last Year of Being Single. It didn't seem like my type of story, but after reading the first page, I was eager to find out what would happen by the last. When I finished it, I felt sort of changed. I felt like I had to do something; I felt like it wouldn't be quite right for me to just close the book and put it place it on my bookshelf and forget about it forever. So I went online and bought two of her other books. When I was through with them, I contacted her, telling her what a fan I was, and how much I enjoyed her stories. I also asked if she would mind "autographing" the books for me. She doesn't live in the country, so bookplates seemed to be a good idea. She enthusiastically agreed to send me a few, thanking me for being a reader on the way. Two weeks later, I received something in my mailbox, but it wasn't an envelope of bookplates. Sarah had sent me two of her books, two I didn't have, and they were SIGNED! That very same day, I started and finished The Younger Man, and I am thrilled to be able to share my review. It makes me so happy how generous and loving to readers that authors can be these days. This one is for Sarah Tucker:

The Younger Man
Sarah Tucker

Page Count: 272
Release Date: 1 January, 2006
Publisher: Red Dress Ink (Harlequin)
Source: Gifted by author (thank you, darling!!!) in no way expecting a review, let alone a positive one

Does life really begin at forty?

Successful, divorced lawyer Hazel Chamberlayne is sexy, independent and about to hit forty. Hazel also has a group of friends she loves and trusts, who love and trust her... and she doesn't need a man.

Not, that is, until the intelligent, engaging and ten years younger Joe Ryan becomes a new partner in the law firm. It's one thing to spice things up with the occasional passionate indulgence, but in a job where the path of true love runs straight into the divorce courts, Hazel isn't sure she can believe in her own happy ever after.

Though, just like a bikini wax, isn't love supposed to be less painful the second time around?

 

The first idea you get when you read the blurb is "cougartown". It's an idea that seems to be overrated these days, called hot by tabloids like E!News and People magazine. I personally find it annoying because of how "cool" it's made out to be. Why should age differences in relationships be cool? After reading The Younger Man however, I could tell why.

Hazel Chamberlayne is me. I'm not Hazel Chamberlayne, but she's me, she's you, she's every girl who has ever gotten her heart broken. Her love life has been through hell and high water, so at forty, she knows what she wants in life, and it's definitely not a new husband. She's got a beautiful daughter going off to college soon, a tight-knit circle of friends that you and I would both die to have, and is a successful, confident woman with a fantastic high-salary job. She already has a happily-ever-after life, one that began when her marriage ended, so who the hell is Joe Ryan, showing up at her firm like nobody's business? Who the hell is he to make her forget all of that, and to make her want to start over again?

Well, for starters, he's eye candy. Major eye candy. Jaw-dropping, eye-popping, saliva-inducing eye candy. And you know what? This bastard is nice too! And dare I say it—funny! (collective gasp!!).

Before she can tell herself not to fall for this guy, she finds herself falling for him anyway. It's bad enough that's he's so darned perfect; why must he be ten years younger?

I winced, I smiled, I teared up, and I damn near fell out of my set laughing, while reading The Younger Man. Tucker's charming, goofy British style is sure to make you as well. I have to warn you though, there was some pretty funny English lingo that I didn't quite understand, but it wasn't awful; I could figure out most of it by context. I love Sarah/Hazel's voice, though. British people are so suave and cynically hilarious. I enjoyed this one a lot. I also now love them Brits!

Radical Rating: 9 hearts: Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥