Spotlight on Guest Author Christine Stovell

This week I’m joined by fellow Choc Lit author Christine Stovell as she launches her latest book Moonbeams in a Jar. I asked her some questions:-

Where did the ideas for Moonbeams in a Jar come from?

The characters for Moonbeams in a Jar first appeared in a Choc Lit Treat, a complete short story readers can receive completely free by signing up for news and offers from my publisher, Choc Lit.

I’m a very visual writer in the sense that ideas often come to me like still pictures from a film and this a story I’ve wanted to write since I ‘saw’ my heroine Chloe sitting at the end of a wooden pontoon with Wilma, her dachshund, beside her. 

My Choc Lit Treat had its own happy ending with the promise of a holiday romance… but the characters wouldn’t leave me alone. How, I wondered, could I make Chloe and the handsome bearded man heading towards her with his dog, Fred, see not only that they were right for each other but that they could build a future together?

How did you choose the title for the book?

We all get earworms, don’t we? Those tunes that bubble up from nowhere and play on repeat in our heads? Well, this is the title of a song – goodness knows where it came from – that kept coming into my head as I started to think about Chloe’s real and very personal predicament of whether to choose thrills and excitement over a supposedly safe and secure future.

Chloe really does feel that falling in love with Ryan is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. I use Pinterest boards and Spotify playlists to help me build the background of my stories so you can listen to the song there, although I should warn you that Jane Siberry’s ‘Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog’ is another potential earworm!

Have you lived in Hong Kong?

Almost. (See next question!) However, it was the place I said most wanted to visit when my husband Tom idly asked, one summer evening, where I would choose to go if I could hop on a plane the next day. I never expected him to surprise me by actually booking my dream holiday so I’m afraid my first reaction was one of shock and some concern about how we would be able to afford it.

Happily it turned out to be one of the most fabulous experiences of my life… hang on a minute, does worrying about whether to choose thrills and excitement over safe and secure make me sound a little bit like Chloe? Not that I’m thinking about the next question, noooo …

Was you own romance as complicated as your characters’ ?

Hmm, let’s just say there are a couple of well-heeled solicitors out there, however, moving on, I found my very own guiding star and filled my jar with moonbeams when I met Tom.

Thank you for answering my questions, Christine. I look forward to reading your book.

About Moonbeams in a Jar

When Chloe Potter wishes on a star that she’ll find a man who’ll accept her and her noisy dachshund Wilma, she doesn’t think that she’ll bump into one quite so soon …

So when she meets larger than life, ruggedly handsome Ryan Green and his beloved boisterous basset hound, Fred, it ought to be a match made in heaven.

But Chloe soon finds that trying to tie a man like Ryan down is like trying to catch moonbeams in a jar. Ryan’s job as a photographer means that when he’s not in the middle of a war zone, he’s trying to catch just the right light at the top of Mount Snowdon.

Chloe wants stability and when it becomes clear that Ryan will always put his job first, she knows she has to move on. But then a once-in-a-lifetime trip unexpectedly brings them together once again …

Buying Links:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Kobo  

About the author – Christine Stovell

Winning a tin of chocolate in a national essay competition at primary school inspired to Christine Stovell to become a writer. After graduating from UEA, she took various jobs in the public sector writing research papers by day and nascent novels by night. Losing her dad to cancer spurred her on to achieve her dream of becoming a published novelist.

Setting off, with her husband, from a sleepy seaside resort on the east coast in a vintage wooden boat to sail halfway round Britain provided the inspiration for her ‘Little Spitmarsh’ series of novels, but never cured her seasickness although she continues to sail.

As well as writing long and short contemporary romantic fiction and poetry, Christine has written features for various magazines and is a regular contributor to The English Home magazine.

Christine lives on the beautiful west Wales coast where long-distance running helps her plan her plots. Half marathons, she thinks, especially when the going gets tough, are like novels; both begin with small steps.

To contact Christine please use the following links:-

Links:

Website: http://christinestovell.com

Blog: https://homethoughtsweekly.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @chrisstovell

Facebook: www.facebook.com/christinestovellauthor

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/christinestovell/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chrisstovell/

Spotify Playlist for Moonbeams in a Jar: https://open.spotify.com/user/chrisstovell/playlist/6GyIPb6PLPTBlpV7H9aPJm?si=Yjr6L8onQFij06IE4OY6Hg (What an intriguing idea!)

Thank you for visiting my blog Christine and good luck with Moonbeams in a Jar.

 

Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms – Amazon, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.

The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon, Kobo, iBooks