Welcome to another Friday Reads blog. My featured book this week is the novella Secret Santa by Holly Green. Doesn't the cover look festive? Grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let's get chatting to Holly. 😊
The Devil Wears Prada meets A Christmas Carol (a novella)
Charlie Kenzie doesn't give a mince pie about Christmas.
If she had her way, she'd have everyone in the office working on the next edition of Charm magazine. Instead, she'll be spending another Christmas Day alone. Which she's totally fine with.
That is until she's caught up in an accident on Christmas Eve with an unusual taxi driver dressed as the Ghost of Christmas Past, which springs this Manolo wearing Scrooge into a trip she'll never forget.
A story about love, life, and being given a second chance
Described as 'beautiful', 'heartwarming' and 'truly festive' by reviewers, why not curl up with a good book, and a hot chocolate, and get into the festive mood?
Available as an ebook, paperback and on Kindle Unlimited via Amazon, https://amzn.eu/d/162kMZT.
Welcome to my blog, Holly. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes. When I was a child and we played make-believe I was always a character called Paige, and I was a journalist! I continued that to become one and worked as a reporter for local papers. I've always written creatively too.
Has any author inspired you?
So many. I love Marianne Keyes, Sophie Kinsella and Taylor Jenkins-Reid to start. They're all authors I return to.
What do you like writing most?
I cause my agent many problems because I write across a lot of genres. This latest is a rom-com, and I'm continuing with a light rom-com series. But in March I have a dark women's fiction novel out, and I love writing historical fiction based on incredible women! I think what ties all my writing together are strong women, women as they age and what it is to be human.
Do you have a special place for writing?
I have a desk where I'm surrounded by books which inspire, and a dog under it who keeps my feet warm. There's also way too many half used notebooks, because I have an obsession with them.
Is your writing ever inspired by your family or real life incidents?
Often it's something which happens and I wonder 'what if'. So yes, definitely inspired by people around me and things that happen, but I transpose them to different places or mix them into one person.
What are you writing at the moment?
Just putting the finishing touches to Secret Valentine, the second in the Secret Series which is out late January. I'm also editing a thriller that sort of came out of nowhere, so I have lovely warm things to write in the morning and evil dark ones in the afternoon…
What inspired you to write this book?
It was Christmas and I'd been to see a production of A Christmas Carol, and later I watched The Devil Wears Prada, it occurred to me it would be funny if we had a modern day take on A Christmas Carol, but twist things in it. I liked the idea too of writing a novella, as the original is.
What advice would you give to other writers?
Write! Read! If you want to write a book, you need to put words down. I know that sounds patronising but there's no shortcut to writing. You have an idea, you have to write it down…and don't get distracted by newer ones which ask to be written. And read. Read everything. Even if it's in a genre you're not comfortable with, it's good to see how others do it. I learn all the time from other authors.
I totally agree, Holly, I think that for an author reading and writing go hand in hand. Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today. Wishing you lots of luck with your writing.
Meet Holly
Holly Green is the pen name of Lisa Brace, an award-winning British writer, who combines writing novels with running her own business in the beautiful surroundings of West Sussex.
She has worked as a journalist and copywriter for over twenty years and enjoys contributing features on a range of topics. Secret Santa is her first novella written under her pen name, as part of the Secret Series. Her debut novel, Star Survivor is out in March 2024 under her real name, Lisa Brace.
Contact links
http://www.lisabrace.co.uk,
Facebook.com/LisaBraceAuthor,
Twitter - @LBrace1
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