In celebration of the wonderful HarperImpulse Fortnight I’m really excited to be able to share an interview with another of HI’s fabulous authors…The lovely Wendy Lou Jones. Here Wendy gives us the low-down on her novels and tells us which Harper Impulse authors are her favourites..
Hi Wendy, a big, warm welcome to Bookaholic Confessions! Thank you so much for participating in this interview to celebrate Harper Impulse Fortnight. Would you like to start by introducing yourself…?
Hello! Thank you so much for allowing me on here. This is very exciting. I’m a stay at home mum of 2 grubby boys, who tries to juggle writing with running a home. I had a career pre-kids, but concentrated on them through the early years and have been writing for about… Ooh, 7 years now, I think it must be?
Can you tell us a bit more about your two fabulous Harper Impulse novels, The Songbird and the Soldier and By My Side?
The Songbird and the Soldier is a story about a girl who falls for a soldier, who is then posted to Afghanistan. It highlights the trials of long distance relationships and the stresses of war and dealing with situations you’re not familiar with. Many Afghan conflict documentaries were watched in the making of this book!
By My Side stems from a showdown I had with a consultant surgeon many moons ago. (NOT romantic!) It is the story of a nurse and a widowed surgeon, told to a sad girl at a funeral. It’s a little darker than Songbird, but with distinct rays of light.
Both novels have received some fantastic 5* reviews. How does it feel when you hear from readers how much they’ve enjoyed your books?
Oh, it’s just the best. As an author, you have to love your work, like a child, really. You spend so much time with it, watching it grow up and become everything it can be. It’s like when someone comes up to you and tells you what lovely children you have. You just grin and say, THANK YOU!!!!!!! 🙂
Are the characters in your novels completely fictional or are they ever based on anyone in real life?
No, my characters are all fictitious. I use events for triggers in stories and places are usually a mishmash of where I’ve been and houses I’ve visited, but the people are straight out of my head.
As we’re celebrating the awesomeness that is Harper Impulse, what do you love most about being a Harper Impulse author?
Definitely the people. All the other authors are so supportive and friendly to one another and our editor is lovely. I get extremely stressed out when my edits come in and she now knows this and sends me a guinea-pig picture with them, to cheer me up. 🙂
Do you have a favourite Harper Impulse novel?
Oh, no! Um. Can I pick a few? I absolutely loved Teresa F Morgan’s Plus One is a Lucky Number, Caroline Storer’s The Roman, AJNuest’s Rowena’s Key and Jane Lark’s The Illicit Love of a Courtesan, but I have read so many good ones. These are just my top four.
What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Getting to fall in love over and over again. What better way to spend your life? And as long as I don’t mention one hero in front of another, they seem to take that pretty well!
Who are your favourite authors and what kind of books do you enjoy reading?
I don’t usually read more than a few of any one author’s books, as I like trying new ones all the time, but I have read loads of Lisa Kleypas. I love a good historical. Plenty of hidden yearnings; heroic, noble, misunderstood gentlemen; and lots of life or death drama. *sigh*
And finally – can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the moment?
I’m currently about to release the sequel to By My Side – in June, I hope. And I’m working on a series of rural village romances for the future. Sort of a contemporary Lark Rise to Candleford.
A big, bookish thank you to Wendy for participating in this interview! ♥
Wendy Lou Jones was born in West Sussex in 1970. She qualified as a doctor in 1994 and went on to work in various departments of health care until she started a family several years later. She is currently living in Herefordshire with her husband and two boys and has discovered a passion for writing, which started, quite simply, with a dream.
Bookaholic Confessions 
Ah, thanks, Wendy, for the mention about Plus One is a Lucky Number x I loved your novel, too… The Songbird and The Soldier. 😀
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