Guest Post from Elle Amberley

Today's post is from fellow Chick- Litter Elle Amberley. Her new book Lost In Your Time was released last month.

A Parisian like no others

"To be Parisian is not to have been born there, but to be reborn there."

So says Sacha Guitry. I agree with him. Paris provided a life-changing experience to me and provides the background to LOST IN YOUR TIME.

When Natasha goes through hell a chance discovery sees her heading to Paris. She might refuse to meet the French rock star she's been writing to on the internet but he's not about to let go. The French have a saying, "Impossible is not French" and Matthieu is determined to prove it to Natasha.

Will Natasha regain her "joie de vivre"? Or will the sparks fizzle out?

It was on the cards, a novel based in Paris, inspired by a life-changing experience and a long love story with France. France and I go back a long way. My parents moved a lot when I was a child and it was one of the many countries we lived in. Even when we didn’t, no summer went by without a long spell somewhere in France.

I speak fluent French, even after many years without uttering a single word of it. I blame all the classic and not so classics I read from an early age. I was at liberty to raid the local libraries and no one batted an eyelid when I borrowed novels which perhaps were not entirely suitable to my young years. But this was France, much more laid back. It never did me any harm.

Life has a habit of throwing you little miracles, you think you’ve survived and seen the worst and then, you know, tragedy strikes. Well, it did to me anyway, at a time when I almost lost my will to live. This is the inspiration behind this book, how a coincidence, a reminder from a past long buried, brought back my “joie de vivre.”

Of course, I was already fighting back, thanks to two little blonde heads but it was a long and painful process. Until I was reminded of who I was by getting in touch with the inner child in me.

What about Natasha? Is she a fighter, or is this one battle too many? Can she keep saying no the handsome French rock star? She tells him it’s impossible. “Impossible is not a French word,” he counters back. Ah, she’d forgotten this old saying.

LOST IN YOUR TIME BLURB  

Ah, the dangers of the internet! We’ve all been warned, but do we take notice?

When Natasha clicks on a link, her whole life is turned upside down. A flash from the past, a chance meeting with a gorgeous French rock star...

A chance to start over and forget the pain and misery from the last two years.

But can Natasha let go? Will she accept this new twist in her life?

Will she regain her "joie de vivre"? Or will the sparks fizzle out?

A prolific author, Elle Amberley writes Women’s Fiction, Literary, poetry, short stories and features. Elle’s particular strength is writing positive stories with a strong theme of being lost and finding yourself again. Although she broaches difficult subjects in her novels, the characters turn out to be fighters, not victims. Every emotion is conveyed and her style has been described as “lyrical” and appeals to a wide age group, which is a rarity.

Having overcome many obstacles in her life, including a very difficult childhood, she chose to reconstruct her life. Rather than writing a memoir like many abuse victims she prefers to marry fiction with some of her own experiences. You can touch base with Elle at any of the links below

Elle Amberley Author  

Elle Amberley Facebook

Elle Amberley Twitter

Why I'm a Chick Lit Author

Photo taken from Facebook Fan Page of the same.

As you know, this month is International Chick Lit Month ~ Yippee ~ and what better time for a writer of Chick Lit like me to stand proudly amongst the crowd and proclaim my love of the genre.

For me, Chick Lit is like the Pop music of the book world.  It’s fun, it’s frothy and it makes you feel good. It gets stuck in your head and makes you want to read over and over, even though you know the end. It’s like the trashy reality TV I’m addicted to watching. You know it’s not real but for an hour on Tuesday nights (Real Housewives night) you get to switch off the world and live someone else’s life. You get to see characters/stars in their knickers worrying about what to wear out for a lunch with their friends. It’s escapism at its best.

I love being a Chick Lit author because it means I’m able to turn very ordinary every day situations into page turning scenes. Some are designed to make you laugh ~ I hope they do ~ and others might give you a little tear or two because Chick Lit isn’t always light hearted banter, a gay best friend and handbags.  It’s real girls in real situations who just happen to deal with things in a rather over the top way. 

And that’s me to a tee. Recently, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The first thing I thought of was making the journey into a book.  People I didn’t know thought I was going to write some serious memoir type thing ~ something strong, uplifting and inspirational.  A memoir? Me? God no. My book, based on my experience will definitely not be some sad sack thing to make other Cancer sufferers cry.  I want to tell them all through my character ~ Sophie ~ that yes, I have Cancer but that doesn’t mean my life sucks. Sure, bad and scary things have happened to me but if I can see the funny side then you can too. Through my writing I can put a humorous spin on my adventures and hopefully others might see their own experiences in a new light. It’s still strong, uplifting and inspirational, just in a different way. Chick Lit can do that like no other genre can.  It isn’t about sitting around mourning or feeling sorry.  Its about laughing at yourself and getting on with it.

And that’s why I’m proud to be a Chick Lit Author.

So who are your favourite Chick Lit Authors? I'd love to know :)

The Bastard Takes A Wife

After receiving a few messages on FB and Twitter lately regarding when the second book in the Bastard series would be coming out - The Bastard Takes a Wife - I decided to bite the bullet and finish the thing.  Admittedly, I have been somewhat distracted of late (see other blog - Well, That Sucks) and have been finding it hard to even remember what day it is but excuse time is over. Okay, so I have spent the last week thinking Friday was Saturday and Sunday was Monday but that shouldn't deter me from writing, should it? 

In order to whet your book reading appetite here's the current synopsis and cover. But yes, it is me.  They will both probably change by the time the beta readers get to them :)

Sam has popped the question and Millie has agreed.... well, in theory. All she wants is a sunset ceremony in Kings Park overlooking the city with a tasteful reception afterwards. Yet, everyone else seems to have other ideas.  The wedding planner has the bridesmaids on a diet, Adele has ordered a performance by the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra and Sam's mother has decreed she won't be stepping foot on any red carpet unless it leads into a cathedral. Millie is stressed to the tip of her glitter sandals and no one seems to care.  Especially Sam.  He's up to his old bastardy tricks, it seems.

Then, just when Millie thinks she can't take another minute, old flame Josh returns from a three year working holiday in London, throwing her emotions into further turmoil. Always a good listener, Josh is everything that Sam isn't - sensible, dependable, available. In fact, she's not even sure she even loves Sam any more.

I need tough love... or a really mean personal trainer!

I've come the the conclusion that I've spent way too much time doing stuff I don't need to do lately and I really can't figure out why. Maybe be it's the Breast Cancer telling me to slow down and smell the sheep poo or maybe it's because I'm in a rut where I want to be fat and lazy and sit on the couch like a sloth.  I mean, I want to write, I do. People keep asking me for stories and I want to satisfy them before Mr Amazon forgets I exist but something keeps stopping me ~ and its not my addiction to Internet shopping or Twitter and Facebook.

Yesterday, to recover from a week long visit by my mother ~ she lives on the other side of Australia ~ Princess and I had a marathon on the couch. I could have been working on the new scene for the book but instead I ate every piece of crap in sight while watching episodes Supernanny and T and T, followed by Strictly Ballroom and Titanic.  It may have been in rebelllion against my mother, who has a habit of bossing everyone around ~ something I do not take kindly to no matter how well intentioned it is ~ but more than likely it was because I was just feeling plain lazy (still). I could also justify it by saying Princess and I get to spend very little quality time together and what better way is there to bond than over Easter eggs and Leonardo Di Caprio?  I could say that.

On Monday, when I could have been writing, had I had the motivation to do so, I spent two hours doing a mock up for a new cover for Aidan & Eloise. God help me, the book isn't even finished but it has a pretty cover. Don't you think? Then we watched multiple episodes of Geordie Shore.  Why?  I asked myself the same question and decided that it was out of amusement. Every time there was sex on the screen my mother looked as if her face would implode because we all know people don't have sex. Let alone on TV. Princess and I got a lot of fun from it, especially while my mother was watching my father for his reaction ~ expecting the same degree of appalled-ness no doubt ~ only to find he was engrossed with the accents and was actually trying to figure out what they were saying.

Sunday, too, was another wasted day - chocolate, food, wine.  You get the idea.  I did go for a walk with my dad and sweep up two thousand black worm things from inside the house.  Oh, and I wrote a post for my other blog, so I guess it wasn't a total waste but I'm really feeling like I need that Tabitha woman to come and make over my salon.... I mean life or maybe Jillian Michaels.  I need a good swift kick.  Luckily, Big G will be home from work tonight so I'm sure the tough love will be out in abundance ;) If nothing else, I may lose a few pounds and get my term planner done.

*mwah*