• Blog

    Guest post from my fellow Have Chick Lit, Will Travel author Jennifer Gilby Roberts on the Inspiration Behind After Wimbledon (included in the Box Set)

    7/28/2014

    Have Chick Lit Will Travel CoverToday’s guest blogger is Jennifer Gilby Roberts whose novel After Wimbledon features in the Have Chick Lit, Will Travel. Read about what inspired her and then read the book.

    ***

    The Inspiration Behind After Wimbledon

    Naturally, for a novel by an English writer about the Wimbledon tennis tournament, After Wimbledon was born in Australia. For the tennis fans: it is the Laura Robson of chick lit novels.

    I was taking some time out after finishing my degree. Having fried my brain by studying physics, a light-hearted romance was all I was good for. I arrived in Melbourne halfway through the Australian Open and spent most of the next week hanging out in Fed Square watching the action on their big screen. That was fabulous because it was right in the middle of the city and anyone could just wander down. I even sat in the Rod Laver Arena (the equivalent of Centre Court) for one day. Since I was travelling alone, I managed to grab an odd seat right in the front row. I heard Roger Federer swear, that’s how close I was.

    At the same time, I was struggling with a decision. I’d been dating someone for a couple of years before I went away and had left him back home. In a twist on the classic tale, he was sure we were for keeps and I was uncertain. I was only 23 when we started dating and wasn’t expecting to get serious. Marriage was something for my thirties, if it happened at all. One morning, in a shower stall at the hostel, I broke it off over the phone. It was Australia Day, but the fireworks seemed rather out-of-place.

    A few weeks later, I decided it was time to write another novel. My first, The Dr Pepper Prophecies, had been completed five years earlier. Suddenly, I had something to write about again: tennis and major life confusion. And out of those things After Wimbledon was born. The first draft contained much angst. I reckon I cut out about 30,000 words to get to the final version. I’m just counting that bit as therapy. It’s a much better read without it!

    And the boyfriend I mentioned? Reader, I married him. Only happy endings here…

    ~~~~

    After 12 years on the pro. tennis tour and four years with her sort-of boyfriend, Lucy Bennett has had enough. She wants real life… and real love.

    Her life, her decision. Right? Well, no one else seems to think so. With opinions on all sides, Lucy’s head is spinning. And she’s stumbling right into the arms of long-term crush and fellow player Sam. Shame her boyfriend – his arch-rival – would sooner smash a racquet over their heads than agree to a simple change of partners.

    As the Wimbledon Championships play out, Lucy fights for her life on and off the courts. The question is: what will she be left with after Wimbledon?

    After Wimbledon is available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, other Amazon sites, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks and most other ebook stores.

    Jennifer Gilby RobertsWhere to find Jennifer

    Find Jennifer Gilby Roberts on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, LibraryThing and Wattpad.

    Comment

    Geralyn Corcillo
    7/28/2014 06:42:57 pm

    I loved After Wimbledon – and I am NOT tennis fan. But the story just gallops along, pulling you into tLucy’s world. And Sam…sigh. And the tennis matches -even though I know nothing about tennis or its scoring- the competitions are so well written that I was on the edge of my seat, my heart pumping with the momentum of each match. Or is it game? Or set? See? I have no idea, but I still LOVED this book:) So pleased to be boxed in with this book and Monique’s Mr. Right and Other Mongrels!

  • Blog

    Musical Monday – with my fellow Have Chick Lit, Will Travel author Geralyn Corcillo.

    7/27/2014

    Have Chick Lit Will Travel Box Set ImageToday Musical Monday is being taken over by Geralyn Corcillo whose novel She Likes it Tough is on of the novels in the Have Chick Lit Will Travel Romantic Comedy Box Set, that I am also included in and which just released on Friday.

    ***

    What a whirlwind weekend I have just had! The Romantic Comedy Box Set Have Chick Lit, Will Travel that I am a part of along with Monique and Jennifer Gilby Roberts is burning up the Amazon charts!

    Can you guess what song has been going through my head all weekend? It is by – not to be biased against Monique and Jennifer – The American Authors! “The Best Day of My Life.”

    And how could these past few days be anything but the best days? At one point on its meteoric blast through the charts, Have Chick Lit, Will Travel was nestled between Sophie Kinsella’s I’ve Got Your Number (which includes the Best First Kiss Scene ever!) and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. Sigh…what a beautiful, divinely comfy place to be.

    Back to Musical Monday. Did you ever see the Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner movie Maverick? In it, Foster’s character unearths a secret about the other two. When they ask her how she figured it out, she explains, “You both sing the same wrong words to Amazing Grace.” And that little oddity gave it all away.

    See? Using music in stories can be fun and so much more than background noise.

    In my contribution to the Box Set, She Likes It Tough, my first-person narrator heroine Lisa Flyte constantly relates her life to aspects of pop culture – books, movies, TV shows, and songs she has had trolling through her life. And the hero Jack Hawkins picks up on this through the course of the story and their topsy-turvy relationship. So much so, that when everything between them gets good and truly fracked up, and Jack is trying to work his way back to her, he tries to do it through songs:

    I open the email. No text. It’s an MP3. A heartfelt apology from Jack? A snippet about us from some radio show? I can’t imagine.

    I get up and close the door to my office. Then I make sure the volume on my computer is low enough that only I’ll be able to hear it. I open the attachment.

    With the first riff of guitar strings, I catch my breath. “Joey,” by Concrete Blonde.

    The heart-wrenching lyrics rip into me with their desperate struggle to salvage messed-up love.

    But we got lucky once before

    And I don’t wanna close the door

    I can scarcely breathe. Is Jack asking me to come back? Is he trying to confess something? Explain something? Or did he just send me a song he thought I’d like? And if so, why? Why why why why why?

    The song ends, making it easier to hear my heart pounding.

    The silence of the computer makes my skin prickle. Jack sent me a song.

    Wait. Jack sent me a song? Are we in middle school?

    Or should he get points for choosing THE BEST SONG EVER?

    I don’t know. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know.

    The wooing through songs continues, but how does it end up – and what does it mean to the outcome of the story? Does Lisa fight back with songs of her own? Does she ever figure out what Jack wants or is trying to say?

    From Lisa’s cell phone ring to how something about The Ramones gives away one of her secrets, music chirps and trills its way throughout this story. Because after all, like sex and free food, doesn’t music just make things better?

    How do you use music in your life, your work, your art? And if one song from a spurned lover could win you back or at least make you think twice or even pull your hair out trying to decide what to do – what would it be?

     

    Geralyn CorcilloBiography

    Geralyn Corcillo has work published under the names GVR Corcillo and Geralyn Ruane, as well. Identity crisis? Sure…but she’s got it pretty much figured out now.

    Once upon a time, Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo taught high school in Watts and South Central Los Angeles. But deciding she needed an even tougher job, she chose to write.

    Corcillo won a few contests, hit the New York Times Bestseller List with her first short story “Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants,” and got a B-movie screenplay produced by Roger Corman. She Likes It Tough is her debut novel, and winner of Best Humor Book 2013 and Best Indie Book 2013 from the Rebecca’s Reads Choice Awards. She Likes It Tough was also a Quarter Finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards 2014.

    Corcillo lives in North Hollywood with her husband Ron, a guy who’s even cooler than Kip Dynamite.

    ***

    Pop back tomorrow for a post by the third author in Have Chick Lit, Will Travel Jennifer Roberts

     

    Comments

    Geralyn Corcillo
    7/27/2014 03:29:48 pm

    Wow, Monique, you really make my post look fantastic! Thanks 🙂 I applaud the energy and finesse you put into this incredibly fun blog! Being a part of The Box Set with you and Jennifer is truly wonderful, and being on your blog is just more scrumptious icing on the cake 🙂

    Geralyn Corcillo
    7/27/2014 03:43:34 pm

    Have Chick Lit, Will Travel – #57 on Amazon’s Humorous Women’s Fiction Bestseller List! It has been movin’ on up all day 🙂
    Reply
    Monique
    7/27/2014 05:26:11 pm

    Very exciting about the ranking. Great post!!
    Reply
    Geralyn Corcillo
    7/27/2014 06:45:24 pm

    Thanks, Monique. Looking forwards to Jennifer’s post tomorrow!

  • Blog

    Have Chick Lit, Will Travel Launch Day!

    7/24/2014

    Have Chick Lit Will Travel CoverI am very excited to be part of this lovely box set with authors Jennifer Gilby Roberts and Geralyn Coracillo.

    I’ll be featuring both ladies on the blog over the next few days so you can learn more about the women behind the stories.

     

    ***

     

    Have Chick Lit, Will Travel

    A new box set of three great summer reads from up and coming chick lit authors.

    Fancy getting away from it all this summer? The chick lit tour bus is about to depart!

    Calling at:

    * Los Angeles, USA, to stumble into some outdoor adventures in She Likes It Tough;

    * Sydney, Australia for a harbour tour and a trip to the beach in Mr. Right and Other Mongrels; and

    * London, England to enjoy Pimms, strawberries and, of course, tennis in After Wimbledon.

    But it’s not all about the scenery. There’s plenty of time for falling in love, tackling big challenges and finding the courage to go after what you want. Our three tour guides are pretty tough women – even if they don’t know it – so come enjoy the ride while they deal with men, media and mothers in this international chick lit boxed set.

    These three novels have a total list price of $8.97, but for a limited time the collection is on sale for only 99c!

    The set includes:

    SHE LIKES IT TOUGH by Geralyn Corcillo

    “Hilarious story that is well paced and very original. You don’t want to miss this sassy crazy romance!”

    Lost in Chick Lit

    When a freak fast-food accident almost kills scaredy-cat Lisa, she decides it’s time to get a backbone and really start living. But how is she supposed to get tough after a lifetime of watching from the couch?

    Jack Hawkins, that’s how. When Lisa finds out that the outdoor extremist needs a clueless urbanite to test his top-secret line of beginners’ adventure gear, she makes the most outlandish deal of her life: she will be his test dummy if he helps her become brave.

    But are there enough wild adventures in the world to help Lisa find the grit to pursue a career she really wants or the nerve to stand up to her bullying family? And what about going after the man who’s not afraid of anything… except falling for Lisa?

    Winner of Best Indie Book and Best Humor Book at the Rebecca’s Reads Choice Awards 2013.

    MR RIGHT AND OTHER MONGRELS by Monique McDonell

    “Truly loved every minute that I was reading this book!”
    Smitten With Reading, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer

    Quietly and independently wealthy, Ally Johnson runs a charming second-hand bookshop in beachside Manly and is blissfully happy doing it. Heck, sometimes she even goes downstairs from her flat to run the shop in her Chinese silk pyjamas. It sounds perfect. But when dog-phobic Ally is rescued from an exuberant canine by Teddy Green, Australia’s hottest TV celebrity, her life begins to change dramatically!

    Despite her best efforts to resist his charm, Ally finds herself falling for him. Supported by her eccentric family and her fabulous gay friend Justin, Allegra embarks on an on-again, off-again romance with Teddy, complicated by his jealous ex-girlfriend, fashionista Louisa, and her own narcissistic hippy mother Moonbeam.

    Will Ally be able to overcome her insecurities and find happiness with Teddy, or will his celebrity lifestyle prove to be too much?

    AFTER WIMBLEDON by Jennifer Gilby Roberts

    “A sumptuous summer read that will delight everyone, even those who aren’t into their tennis.”
    Best Chick Lit

    After 12 years on the pro tennis tour and four years with her sort-of boyfriend, Lucy Bennett has had enough. She wants real life… and real love.

    Her life, her decision. Right? Well, no one else seems to think so. With opinions on all sides, Lucy’s head is spinning. And she’s stumbling right into the arms of long-term crush and fellow player Sam. Shame her boyfriend – his arch-rival – would sooner smash a racquet over their heads than agree to a simple change of partners.

    As the Wimbledon Championships play out, Lucy fights for her life on and off the courts. But what will she be left with after Wimbledon?

    ~~~~

    Each book is written using the language conventions of the author’s home country.

    One click this great romantic comedy box set now before the price goes up!

    Amazon: http://mybook.to/HCLWT

    Have Chick Lit Will Travel Box Set Image

    Comments

    Geralyn Corcillo
    7/24/2014 06:05:40 pm

    What a trip it has been putting together this box set with these two fantastic authors and their highly entertaining books!

    Jessica
    7/25/2014 12:29:52 pm

    ThNks so much for letting me be a part of your special day! Bought the book and can’t wait to sink my teeth in!! Wishing U guys much success!

    Jessica
    7/26/2014 04:57:17 pm

    Thanks so much! I can’t wait to read your book!! I have to admit, I purchased before skimming the blurb… I had already purchased and read Wimbeldon, so I figured any books paired alongside it should be up my alley! Now having read the blurb, can’t wait to dig in!! 😍. Congrats on your collaboration!