Janey Fraser - Author Guest Post

Today I'm pleased to feature a guest post by author JANEY FRASER, whose latest novel is called AFTER THE HONEYMOON. Plus, see the end of Janey's post for the chance to win some goodies!

Vanessa Calls! by Janey Fraser

The email popped up unexpectedly in my Inbox. It was from my PR at Random House. Would I do an interview for Vanessa Feltz on her radio show. Would I? Just try to stop me!

As a journalist (before becoming a novelist), I’d interviewed Vanessa on a couple of occasions for various women’s magazines. I’d always found her to be warm, bubbly and generous. At the time, I was freelancing from home with three small children and she was very understanding when I had to pause the telephone interview for a few minutes while I sorted out yet another squabble.

However, there was only one catch with this radio interview. It was on a Bank Holiday Monday.  I moved to Devon some years ago so it’s not always easy to get into London on high days and holidays. I also had to be there for 9.30am. I’m not a motorway driver (for some reason, it brings me out in a cold sweat to approach the Entry lane) so I took the sleeper. So exciting! In fact, it would make a story all of its own but I want to tell you about Vanessa.

The BBC is a sprawling mass of buildings nowadays. I was heading for the bit behind Top Shop (an important landmark for my daughter) but even my taxi driver wasn’t sure of the exact spot. Eventually, I made my way to the right building where – wow! – there was actually a uniformed BBC man at the door.

‘Are you a guest?’ he asked.

To be honest, I almost felt like an intruder. At this time of the morning, I am normally running my dog along the beach and thinking of the next plot.  Still, my name was on the list so they must have been expecting me.

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of security at the Beeb. I wasn’t exactly frisked but you have to sign things and get a badge. After that, because I was so early (thanks to the sleeper), I had to wait a bit on the ‘state of the art’ sofa in the lobby in front of a giant TV. It was so comfortable that I almost forgot why I was there!

Suddenly, Vanessa’s lovely assistant breezed in and whisked me off for a coffee. Honestly, I could get used to this. Yet at the back of my mind was the thought that in a few minutes, I was going to be chatting on air. From previous experience, I know that the strange thing about live radio is that you are lulled into a false sense of security. It feels as though you are talking to a mate because the presenter is normally friendly (unless you’re on some horrible political programme which I would never be on because I’m  hopeless at that sort of thing). So it’s very easy to say something you don’t mean or stumble over words – and then you can’t take it back.

Vanessa wanted to talk to me about honeymoons because that’s what my new novel is about. So I’d made a few notes. But when I found myself being ushered into a smallish room with THE Vanessa on the other side of the desk, all my ideas went out of my head. Vanessa in the flesh is just like the kind of woman you’d want to have a chat with. She looked very glamorous with that lovely hair of hers but don’t be fooled. She was also very professional.

We kicked off with the fact that – according to a recent survey by the travel firm Kuoni – 12 per cent of brides would like to ring their mums when on honeymoon. ‘Don’t most girls want to do that?’ asked Vanessa who has two grown up daughters.

I agreed. When I got married the first time, I queued up for hours in Greece to ring my mum/ ‘No mobile phones then,’ said Vanessa chattily.

Too true. Then we had a good old natter about some of the brides I’d interviewed – including a couple whose damp confetti fell out of their clothes on their wedding  night. It stained the marble floor and they spent hours trying to get the marks out of the floor so they didn’t get billed. It rather put paid to any newly-wed intimacy if you get what I mean...

In between chats, Vanessa played tracks but to be honest, I couldn’t have told you what they were. We were too busy having little chats ourselves. ‘Look at this,’ said Vanessa, proudly holding up a shopping bag which had a picture of her first grandchild on it.   It was really heartening to see a normal proud granny behind a public face.

Another interesting bit were the number of emails which came in from listeners who wanted to describe their own honeymoon experiences.. They were handed to Vanessa swiftly over the desk by another assistant and she read them out on air. It just goes to show that it IS worth getting in touch!

I was on for nearly half an hour but it felt much shorter. In fact, I was sad to go. ‘Would you like to come to my launch party?’ I asked Vanessa boldly as I left.

‘Send me the invitation,’ she replied chummily.

I don’t know if she’ll turn up – but I’ll let you know......

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Please send me (Janey) your honeymoon stories – and you could win a bag of books or a Champneys goodies parcel. Email them to me at janeyfraser@gmail.com

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About the novel...

AFTER THE HONEYMOON by Janey Fraser. 

One honeymoon destination. Three couples. Six secrets.

Emma never wanted to marry Tom, let alone go away without the children. But then the girls at work give her a honeymoon voucher. Enter Yannis, the local lothario...

Winston is the nation’s Keep Fit bachelor darling. Newspapers are agog when he marries Melissa, newly-divorced mother of two. But when her teenagers disrupt their honeymoon, his past is revealed....

Rosie was homeless and pregnant when she arrived at the Villa Rosa, sixteen years ago, but now she’s the owner. Winston might not remember her, but she’s never forgotten him…

By the end of the week, none of their lives are the same.  But what happens after the honeymoon?

Published by Arrow (Random House) on May 22.

Amazon UK link

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About the author... (in her own words)

Janey Fraser is the pen name for journalist Jane Bidder who also writes as Sophie King. You might have read some of my previous novels such as THE SCHOOL RUN and THE WEDDING PARTY which was short listed for Love Story of the Year 2010.

For many years, I was a journalist on women’s magazines and until recently, edited the family page of Woman. Now I write ‘ MUM LIT’ novels about the ups and downs of family life.

I have plenty of experience with my own three – remind me to tell you, one day, about the time that my youngest gave his friend a pudding-basin haircut while my back was turned for three minutes or when my eldest bashed me on the head with an empty lemonade bottle while driving because of an over-heated car game.

Sophie King - Second Time Lucky - Guest post & Writing competition

Today I am pleased to share an author guest blog post by writer Sophie King, plus news of a romantic fiction short story writing competition!

Guest blog post by Sophie King

AM I THE ONLY ONE to have secrets from my children? I do hope not.....

The other day, my newish husband (who knew me as a friend for thirty years before we married), let slip that I had smoked during my university days.

The effect on my three children was electrifying.

'But you've always told us not to,' spluttered my youngest.

'You said you'd be furious if we tried it,' said the middle one, her eyes narrowing with suspicion at me.

'Why didn't you tell us?' demanded the eldest.

All three nodded vigorously. 'Why didn't you tell us?', they chorused with crestfallen faces.

In vain, did I try to explain that I only smoked for six months and that I haven't had so much of a whiff since (apart from sniffing my eldest son's jacket when he's been out for the evening).

No. It was the fact that I had omitted to tell them that I had done something which I've spent years advising them not to.

Their faith in me had been dented and I felt gutted...

Then I got thinking. How much should we tell our children about our previous lives? Isn't it, after all, our own affair? Not long after the smoking bust-up, I read a problem page letter (don't you just love them?) in which the writer, a grandmother, was deeply distressed because her ten year old grandson had found some revealing pictures of her from her teenage years, hidden in an old shoebox at the back of her wardrobe.

'He'll never see me in the same light again,' she'd wailed. I could almost hear her pain through the page. 'What should I do?'

It was one of those problem pages where readers are invited to write in with their solutions for the next issue so I don't know what was suggested. But I nearly wrote in myself to point out that actually it wasn't the grandson's business. If his gran had had a bit of a wild life in the past, good on her. In fact, if she hadn't, maybe the grandson wouldn't be there now...

Personally, I think we're entitled to some secrets, no matter how old we are. I wouldn't dream of checking anyone's text messages in our family. That, in my book, is as bad as reading your daughter's diary - something that my own mother did when I was 17. As a result, she insisted that I broke up with my then boyfriend. I was made to feel shameful, even though I was, by today's standards, extremely conventional.

Still, it's all good material for my novels. In fact, secrets play a big part in SECOND TIME LUCKY. And no - I can't reveal what they are or they wouldn't be secrets!

What's the biggest secret you've hidden from your children and why? Write to me at sophie@sophieking.info and you could win a prize. Look forward to hearing from you!

Look out for more AM I THE ONLY ONE posts on my blog at http://blog.sophieking.info

About the novel

Second Time Lucky by Sophie King

Second Time Lucky: Another engaging tale of love and life from Sophie King, the bestselling author of The School Run. Meet the residents of Bridgewater House, once a grand stately home, but now converted into apartments which house a host of colourful characters, each with their own desires and secrets.

Louise thought she had everything, then suddenly finds herself as a single mum with an uncertain future. Can she build a new life for her and her children? And has real happiness been right under her nose all along?

Roddy was once the heir to Bridgewater House, but now he's a drunken lord who's fallen on hard times. Can he prove to his ex-wife that he has cleaned up his act, or is he about to risk everything in a desperate scheme to show how much he loves his kids?

Molly is a famous actress, coming to terms with retirement and the recent death of her actor husband Gideon. But dare she tell anyone that Gideon still comes to visit her? And how will she react to some unexpected messages from beyond the grave?

American Marcie always fantasised about marrying an English gentleman, just like one of her Jane Austen heroines. But will two resentful stepchildren, and failed attempts to have a baby of her own, get in the way of her dream happy ending? And what would her husband David make of her secret shame from the past?

As each of these neighbours faces their own challenges, their lives are about to become entwined in ways they never could have expected.

Second Time Lucky – doesn't everyone deserve a second chance? 

Romantic fiction short story competition! 

The Sophie King Prize

This romantic fiction short story competition aims to discover a great new romance short story. The winning story will be chosen by best-selling novelist and short story writer Sophie King.

The competition is free to enter, and is open to both published and unpublished writers worldwide. The winning story will be recorded by a professional actor, and broadcast from a dedicated online audio player. The winner will also receive a pair of Silver-Plated Life Long Champagne Chalices and £50 (approx $79) gift voucher courtesy of www.handpickedcollection.com. One runner up will receive a £25 (approx $39) gift Handpicked Collection voucher.

The Sophie King Prize is now open for entries. Entrants must submit a short story of between 1,500 to 2,500 words with a romantic theme. The submissions deadline is January 10th 2014 and the winner will be announced on February 14th 2014. To enter, go to: www.thesophiekingprize.com

The Au pair by Janey Fraser

'If only she could pick out the good bits from each au pair (and their families) and roll them into one!'

Jilly is becoming increasingly worried about money, and after listening to her friend Paula's problems with her current au pair, Jilly discovers that, apparently, anyone can start up and run an au pair agency, so this is what she herself decides to do. It seems an attractive proposition, a job she can do at home, thereby allowing her to look after her own children, and to help out other mothers in the area who need additional childcare.

What follows are her attempts to successfully match au pairs to families, and to keep the au pairs and the families happy when differences and problems arise, and boy, do they arise! Also the story delves deeper into the background of some of the families, in particular Matthew, a widower who is battling to do his best for his young daughter Lottie, a sweet little girl who seems nevertheless determined to see off any au pair who comes her way! Similarly, the story also looks into the lives of the au pairs, most closely that of Marie-France, a young French woman who has come to the UK determined to find out the truth about her father, and following in the footsteps of her mother, who was an au pair twenty years ago in the same area. 

Poor Jilly made me feel quite sorry for her and also quite stressed as her situation got a bit out of hand, trying to look after her own three children and dog, and run her new business, without an au pair of her own, and with little support or encouragement from her husband David. 

The au pairs themselves are a mixed bunch, with their own motivations and reasons for coming to the UK to work. Some of the families leave a bit to be desired in their treatment of the au pairs too. The author has incorporated little passages with interesting asides regarding au pairs, language, duties and so on, at the start of each chapter, and I enjoyed these and found them a fun addition to the book. One of the major contradictions, or difficulties, in this relationship, is summed up by one of these passages, an extract from 'Jilly's Au Pair Agency: Guidelines for Families - An au pair should be treated as a member of the family. However it is not always wise to let her get too close.' Evidently some of the families and some of the au pairs could do well to heed this advice.

I liked Matthew, and the exploration of the challenges facing a single male parent who is trying to maintain his career and care for his young daughter after losing his wife rang true. 

The Au pair is an entertaining, light and emotional read scattered with amusing moments as various mishaps occur. The plot moves along at a good pace and there is always something happening to keep you reading on. Janey Fraser has the knack of presenting an interesting bunch of characters and fleshing them out, keeping several branches of the storyline running alongside each other successfully, and providing situations that keep the reader interested as the story develops. 

I don't know if I've ever met anyone who has employed an au pair, and I'm not sure how widespread the employment of au pairs is these days, so I can't comment on the accuracy or realism of any of the circumstances, although as someone who has lived in another country, it is certainly interesting to observe the humour and curiosity regarding cultural differences. I would definitely look to this author again if I were in the mood for a well written, amusing and satisfying read about aspects of modern life and it’s ups and downs.

Published by Arrow Books

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel to read and review, and also to the author for asking me to review it.

You can find out more on the author's website here. Janey Fraser also writes as Sophie King.