Wendy Lou Jones - Author
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Hotel Intervention - part 1

31/8/2015

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A couple of weeks ago I took my mother down to visit my dad’s grave. It’s been a few years now, so it wasn’t a difficult trip, unless you count the 4-5 hours of driving each way. Family sorted and hotel booked, we set off.
   We arrived at our hotel in the evening, after a quick pit-stop at the church to see the grave, and checked in. It was not the place I remembered! Well, it was the place, but…
   The pipe box behind reception was unpainted, pipes were fixed to the outside of it. There were wires hanging out of the walls and the counter top was a peeling sticker printed to look like wood.
    I had my wedding reception there!
   My mum told the gentleman behind the counter that apparently I was their first ever wedding, 19 years ago. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen it today. The man said we should be getting this stay for free… We didn’t.
   As we trundled along the corridor to our rooms, I decided the chic had most definitely fallen into shabby status. I suppose 19 years is a long time.
   At my mum’s room, we set our bags down and I noticed the curtains didn’t match. One side had red at the top and gold at the bottom and the other side was the reverse. Within a few minutes it was driving me mad. Mum’s view was a brick wall about 3m away, so the curtains were important. The beige carpet was stained and the bathroom  smelled damp.
   Worn out from the journey, I left to walk along to my room and found an almost identical room for myself. Better carpet and the bathroom didn’t smell, I had a view which stretched more than 3m, but the curtains...? Exactly the same! And then I had a thought… What if I were to unhook one curtain and swap it with my mum’s? Then we would both have a pair of matching curtains. Brilliant!
   So I pulled over the chair and unhooked my red topped curtain and peering out of my room, ran down the corridor and frantically knocked on my mum’s door to be let in. I burst in with my curtain under my arm  and explained my self and mum just giggled and left me to it.
   Unhooking her gold topped curtain, I attached my red topped one and she had a matching pair.
    Aaaah! Much better. 
   Then it was a quick dash back along the corridor, my mum giggling and my husband ringing half way out of her door, trying to gather what was going on.
   I heard footsteps and so legged it back to my room, her gold topped curtain in hand and bundled myself into my room with a fit of the giggles and a matching curtain to reattach.
   Hubby thought it was hysterical, Mum immediately rang her neighbour to tell her what madness was going on but I had a pair of matching curtains!
   If only I could do something about the missing bit of skirting board…

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The birth of a novel...

17/8/2015

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By My Side wasn’t the way it ended up when it first started out. The revision suggestions I received from my editor made me rethink the whole middle section of the book. The ‘how the crisis happened between them’ and ‘how it was resolved’ parts. It’s not unrecognisable now,  by any means. The characters and the outcome are unchanged, but the plot altered quite distinctly.
    It was during this significant rewrite that I became intrigued by Dr Peter Florin. I knew roughly what his problem was – the tension between him and Adam was obvious, but not fully understood. And that was the spark that got me thinking about his journey and what would become of him.

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  It was also new to me to fall for a blonde hero. I’m a tall dark and brooding girl really, but because he had been cast in the previous book, I had to roll with it, and found I could fall in love with those too. Not so shallow after all! 
    This new story is about Peter’s past and his journey to get beyond it. Let me introduce you.
    Here’s Peter: Blonde, troubled and powerful. He has been brought up to fight but has to learn how to feel. 
   

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It’s also the story of Jenny, Kate’s friend, where she has come from, what her dreams are and everything that she has to go through to be there for him, and here's Jenny: Independent, caring, stubborn. She tries to ignore what hurts her, so she doesn’t have to deal with it, but she has to learn to face up to things in order to move on.
    
I hope you like it, and I hope you fall in love with them as much as I did. They need you.


Out in e-book later this week and in paperback, November 5th.
Go on, buy it, you know you want to!

Multi-store buy link:
http://www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/the-summer-we-loved

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In Love with London.

10/8/2015

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Today I am celebrating a massive achievement for one year with the lovely Nikki Moore. After 5, yes I said 5 novellas earlier this year, her series is culminating in a novel-sized final story: Picnics in Hyde Park. Releasing on 13th August 2015, this is the 6th and final book in the #LoveLondon Series. Wow, Nikki, you must be exhausted!

Well, thankfully they're not all full-length books; the first five #LoveLondon stories are novellas of between 15,000 to 20,000 words but that does mean I've written somewhere in the region of 180,000 words in the last year - so yes, I am pretty knackered! However, I've had a blast and have been amazed and delighted by the response the series has had from readers, reviewers and bloggers so have no regrets :)
The last story in the fun & flirty series is billed as 'The perfect novel for reading in the sunshine... and falling in love with London.' Are we more likely to fall in love with London, or a hunky new guy, Nikki? And if so, which guy would you choose?

Oh, that's a tough one! I can't choose between our fair capital and hot guys!      
    Hopefully readers will fall in love with London, but will also love Matt (the hero in Picnics) too. Of course, it's important that people warm to Zoe, as it's her story along with Matt's, so she has to be likeable and I really hope people understand (and root) for her.
    Matt is a nod to the various crushes I've had on bad boys over the years; mostly TV and film actors. He's not a bad boy at heart but definitely looks like one with his broken nose, a scar that runs down into his top lip, black hair, green eyes and stubble (plus he is tall, broad shouldered and built). The inspiration for Matt was a range of actors including Richard Armitage (as Lucas in Spooks),  Dermot Mulroney, Josh Holloway (Sawyer in Lost) and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones (hey, I'm going retro!)
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All those rolled into one? Where's my couch? I need to swoon.

In terms of my current bad boy crush (it's okay, my lovely boyfriend knows!) it has to be Chris Pratt in his Jurassic World role.

 
I approve.


And after so many stories around London, are we going to see more of that from you, or is your imagination about to travel somewhere new?

I love London and am sure I'll set other stories there at some point but I'm going to write a book set in Dorset next, which is my home county. It's a vibrant, diverse place and I love that you can walk along a beautiful beach and then drive half an hour and be in rolling hills and woods. It's really pretty and I know I'm very lucky to live here.

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So here is the blurb for the 6th and final #LoveLondon romance...

Super nanny, Zoe Harper is mad!
   It was bad enough discovering her ex-fiancé Greg cheating on her just weeks before their wedding. But now she’s returned home to London to find her younger sister Melody has been left jobless, homeless, broke and dumped.
   Zoe is determined to get revenge on the infamous Reilly brothers for her sister’s heartbreak. So when an unexpected opportunity gives Zoe a way in to uncaring—and dizzyingly gorgeous!—successful music producer Matt Reilly’s world, she jumps at the chance to make him pay.
   But living with Matt as nanny to his two adorable, but complicated children, Zoe soon begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems… Matt insists on pushing everyone away including his children, but why? And if his delicious summer kisses are anything to go by, he can’t be that bad surely?
   Can Zoe convince Matt to open up a little and help fix this family before she leaves…or worse, before Matt learns who she really is?
   Hot summer romance…or cold revenge?

Out on 13th August as an ebook, paperback to follow. Get it from only £2.99!
Amazon UK http://amzn.to/1PJBlfi
Kobo at https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/picnics-in-hyde-park-love-london-series
Nook at http://www.nook.com/gb/ebooks/picnics-in-hyde-park-love-london-series-by-nikki-moore/9780007583249.

Thanks for having me on your blog, Wendy - it's been fun :)
All the best, Nikki. I think you deserve a rest!


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Recovered!

3/8/2015

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Today, my friends, I have skipped off across to a lovely lady's blog to announce the new cover for my book, By My Side. The darling has put it up for a giveaway too with a gorgeous necklace, so why don't you pop along and take a look? Just click here:

http://www.librarianlavender.com/2015/08/cover-reveal-and-giveaway-by-my-side-by.html

See you there. :-)
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    Wife, mother, lapsed doctor. Hopelessly in love with every hero I've ever written.

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