Welcome to my Reading
Comfortable? Wonderful.
Now let’s get started.
Tell us about your latest release or upcoming release. What
inspired it?
An A to Z of Love is set
at the Welsh seaside, in the sort of town I spent my childhood holidays – a
little rundown, without too much to do except make your own fun. Mia, the
heroine, is the town outcast, still paying for her absent father’s mistakes,
and trying to find her place in the community. I’m not entirely sure where she
came from, actually! She was one of those characters you just wake up knowing
one day. But Charlie, the seafood chef hero, was definitely inspired by my
Dad’s lifelong obsession with getting me to like fish and other things that
live in the sea. He’s getting there slowly – he even got me to eat a raw oyster
while I was writing the book.
If you
could throw a party with any five people (living or dead) who would you pick
and why?
Only five? That’s tricky. Because every truly great party
I’ve been to has been one of my family gatherings, and there are a lot more
than five people there… Well. I’d invite my mother’s parents, who were a huge
influence on me growing up, and who died when I was in my twenties. I’d want my
daughter there, so that she could meet them. Then, outside the family… I’d
invite the author M M Kaye, who wrote some of the books I love most, and who
lived the most fascinating life, and a really old friend from primary school, Caroline,
who I lost touch with when I moved to Wales as a child.
What
are at least five things you have on your bucket list and have you done any of
them?
One thing I always wanted to do was travel. I wanted to
visit the place I was born – Abu Dhabi, in the UAE – and make it to Australia.
I managed both of these after university, along with a lot of other places I
never expected to go, when I was working in the conference industry. But I’ve
never made it to India, where my father and grandmother were born, so that’s
still on the list.
Writing and publishing a book was another big list item
for me, and I got a huge thrill from ticking that off in my head earlier this
year!
Ever since I was a child, I’ve wanted to live in a
cottage on the Welsh coast. Maybe when my husband retires…
Taking afternoon tea at the Ritz – I actually did this
with clients when I was working in conferences, but I’d love to take my
daughter one day.
Oh, and one day, I’d really like to take the sort of
beach holiday where you just lie around in the sun and read books, only
stopping to eat delicious meals. But knowing my husband and daughter, the only
way I’ll manage this one is if I go alone!
Do you work on one project at a time? Or
do you multi-task?
I multi
task. A lot. I’m terrible for keeping focus on one project, and even when I
manage it, something urgent on another project always seems to appear! Still, I
find that taking time away to work on something else when I’m stuck means that,
by the time I come back to the first project, some of the problems have melted
away, and I have great ideas of how to fix the ones that remain.
What song would best describe your life?
Joni
Mitchell’s Circle Game. Life always
seems too slow when it’s happening, but far too fast when I look back…
Do you
listen to music when writing? Do you feel like some stories write themselves a
soundtrack with specific music? If so, what book and what kind of music
influenced it?
Sometimes. It depends on what I’m working on, and often I
find that, once I’m lost in the story, the music can end and I don’t even
notice.
Are
any of your characters just like you or have personality quirks/traits of you
or someone you know?
Carrie, the heroine in Room for Love, is a
wedding planner, which did draw on my conference organising experience. And my
aunt said that the thing she liked most about the character was that she
reminded her of me!
Who are some of your other favorite authors and genres to read?
I love
Jenny Crusie’s novels, and Victoria Dahl’s. Ooh, and India
When you looked in the mirror this morning, what was the first
thing you thought?
It’s a
really good job I work from home. But I do feel a bit sorry for the postman…
What is one thing scientists should invent?
Teleportation.
If I could just teleport the daughter to pre-school, I wouldn’t lose all that
writing time to driving. And I could teleport off to a beach to work for the
morning!
Anything else you want to mention?
Just,
thank you so much for having me! And any time you feel like indulging in
pictures of cakes and castles, or stories about the daughter causing havoc in
my writing life, do stop by www.SophiePembroke.com.
I’d love to see you there!
Everyone’s talking about Mia Page. Again.
Mia Page has been the subject of gossip in Aberarian for
half her life, ever since her father ran off with his secretary–and the
contents of the local museum safe–when she was fourteen.
Still, Mia loves her hometown, loves working at the A to Z
shop, eating seafood with her best friend Charlie at his restaurant, catching
the classic midnight movie at the
crumbling Coliseum cinema. And if she ever wonders if things might be even
better if Charlie were more than just a friend, well, it’s only an idle thought
in a lonely moment. After all, friendship always trumps romance, doesn’t it?
And she’s never been one to rock the boat.
But everything she loves is suddenly under threat from
Charlie’s ex- girlfriend, Becky, and her plans to turn Mia’s beloved Coliseum
into a casino, transforming the sleepy seaside town forever. As Mia tries to
pull the people of Aberarian together to save the town they adore, she starts
to find her own place in the community, a family of sorts, and maybe even love.
Until her father suddenly reappears, and people start asking what he wants to
take from them this time…
WARNING: Some sexual scenes. Also contains seafood.
Currently, she makes her home in Hertfordshire, with her husband and daughter. She writes love stories in her little spare room office, while drinking too much tea and eating homemade cakes. Or, when things are looking very bad for her heroes and heroines, white wine and dark chocolate.
Sophie keeps a blog at www.SophiePembroke.com, which should be about romance and writing, but is usually about cake and castles instead.
LINKS:
Web & Blog: www.SophiePembroke.com
Twitter: @Sophie_Pembroke - https://twitter.com/#!/Sophie_Pembroke
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100003136928151
An A to Z of Love: http://sophiepembroke.com/love-from-wales-series/an-a-to-z-of-love/
Love from Wales Series: http://sophiepembroke.com/love-from-wales-series/
2 comments:
Awesome interview, ladies and fun too! :) The book sounds delightful and the beautiful cover really caught my eye. Just lovely!
Thanks Mae Clair! I am thrilled beyond reason with my covers. I'm trying to persuade the husband that they'd look great framed on the wall of our new study...
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