Guest Post and Giveaway: Wellesley Wives by Suzy Duffy

 

Today we are very excited to welcome the lovely Suzy Duffy to Swept Away By Romance. Suzy is our guest today and she wrote a fantastic post about choosing the right title for your book and how Wellesley Wives came to be. Check out that gorgeous cover, have a look at the blurb, Elizabeth’s review and Suzy Duffy’s author bio. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway to win an ebook copy of Wellesley Wives. The giveaway rules are posted down below. Without further ado, we present to you: Suzy Duffy!

Guest Post

Choosing your book title?

You’d think it’s the easy bit. Having produced around one hundred forty thousand words for the story, surely two or three more words for the title should be child’s play? No! It’s has hard as picking the name for your first-born.  At least with a baby, there might be history – an old family name you like, a traditional name or one you just love - but books aren’t that simple. 

My suggestion is, get yourself a working title because names often evolve as the book progresses. I’ve been often asked why I chose to call my book; Wellesley Wives. The truth is, it started life with the name It’s only lunch. I was writing well and the story was pretty much under way. My characters were living their lives; working and going to lunch – but of course it’s never only lunch, is it?  In the book, something always happened. Maybe a lead character heard something or a big event occurred at the lunch and the reader realized pretty soon that no – it’s never only lunch.... BORING!  The story was good, the characters, well developed but the whole lunch thing was so heavy handed. If you read the book now, you’ll see I’ve pulled almost all the references to lunch but I left a few in for fun!

The point is there are thousands of books being produced every day now and if you’re going to make the effort to write a good story, you need to give it a title that’s memorable. If you know the town of Wellesley, you won’t forget the name Wellesley Wives any time soon. I also had a bit of a thing about the word wives. I hate the way it’s been hi-jacked by these reality TV shows, The wives of LA, The wives of Orange County. I think these shows make women out to be anorexic, spoilt, dysfunctional, selfish B****s. I’m a wife. Most of my friends are too and none of us are like that. Almost all of us are the exact opposite! If I as much as look at food, I gain weight. My wife-friends are very giving people, high functioning – multi tasking, selfless ladies! 

The media instantly assumed that Wellesley Wives was another of those exposé books when it fact, it’s the opposite. It’s a funny, life affirming book where real women experience catastrophic events, but pull through because they have true friends and a sense of humor.  BUT that media attention did get a lot of publicity for the book in its early days.  So that’s a twin edged sword.  I got the publicity (great) for all the wrong reasons (not so great). On balance though I’d have to say if you want your book to be a success you have to go for publicity. Without it, your book is going nowhere.

If you think you have a good title, here’s a helpful hint. Google the name and stick it into Amazon books too. That way you’ll see if anybody has already used it. That said, as far as I know there’s no copyright on book titles so it doesn’t really matter if it’s been used before.

So here’s my advice. Write the book first, the title might just come to you naturally. Get a memorable name for your readers and choose one that will grab the media’s attention too.  Then, when you’re really happy that you have the perfect title for your book, give yourself a pat on the back. Good job! 

Now take a deep breath and start again because you need to get thinking about the sequel...

Wellesley Wives, by Suzy Duffy was released Sept 2012 and Newton Neighbors will be published Sept 2013.   

Want to know more about Suzy Duffy?

Suzy Duffy is an international and #1 bestselling author.

She’s Irish but moved with her five kids, one dog and husband to Boston, USA in 2009 because of the downturn in the Irish economy.  Since arriving in the States, the U.S. economy has nosedived too. She’s now considering a time share in Fiji…

Her debut US Novel, Wellesley Wives is an Amazon Bestseller and will be translated into Norwegian later this year.  Greek rights are also under negotiation.  10% of Suzy’s royalties goes to www.fobh.org because she believes in romantic comedy with a cause. Now she’s working on Newton Neighbors.

Other than this, Suzy was a national radio DJ and television presenter in Ireland before she started writing. She’s also been an interpreter in the United Nations, a water ski instructor in Greece and a corn cutter in the south of France (but she was fired for cutting the wrong corn!)

Her dream is to get to No.1 in the New York Times Bestsellers list. Please help.

Find Suzy on

facebook     goodreads     twitter    website

Wellesley Wives is available on

Amazon    TWCS    B&N


 


Blurb

Popsy Power is pretty, popular, and insanely rich. Her husband adores her, and her two daughters are busy producing babies and romping up the corporate ladder—like good little Wellesley Wives. However, what Popsy doesn’t know is that her husband and worldly wealth will soon be gone, and as for her daughters... Well, Lily’s romping is not restricted to the boardroom, and Rosie finds her pilot-husband flying more than his jet.

Sandra is Popsy’s best friend. She has the perfect body, bank balance, and palatial penthouse. As a second wife herself, she should know how husbands wander, but even she is shocked when she discovers where Jack has found his fun . . . When Lily’s nasty, little secrets suddenly go public and Rosie finds her husband flying a little too high, it’s time to escape.

Popsy and Sandra flee to beautiful, peaceful Ireland. Rosie heads to Mexico, and Lily seeks refuge in the arms of her man. The adventure continues for Popsy and Sandra. Within days, they’re almost arrested and killed before finding themselves in a boathouse in Banagher—with jobs! Meanwhile Rosie is diving off the back of a catamaran into the azure-blue of the Caribbean, but she’s not sure what’s worse—the sharks in the sea or the ones on the beach. Back in Boston, Lily discovers that getting what she wanted was not what she wanted, but unlike her scuba diving sister, surely she’s in too deep...

From Banagher to Boston and down to the Caribbean Sea, these four ladies are on a rollercoaster ride through life. Rich, poor, happy, sad, in or out of love—only one thing is certain. Things are is never dull when you’re with the Wellesley Wives.

 Review

3.5 stars

Wellesley Wives by Suzy Duffy is a roller-coaster ride of a romantic comedy!

Popsy Power is a wealthy, Boston socialite with a charming, important husband and a best friend named Sandra who is a near replica of herself. Popsy and Sandra live lives that are the envy of working-class women everywhere. They also have equally wealthy and incredible daughters.  What else can be said? They have it all...until they don't.

 Suzy Duffy has crafted an adventurous tale of highs and lows with Wellesley Wives. It's a peek inside a lifestyle and social sphere that, for 99% of this country, is nowhere near their everyday reality.  For me, regrettably, I found myself unable to connect as fully with this aspect of the story as I had hoped.  There is something of a balance here, though, as the women come to experience the kind of life they've likely only discussed in hushed whispers, if at all.  

The technical aspects of the author's writing are well done, and the storytelling does have some rather engaging moments. The characters themselves are well-formed and seemed to be a great deal of fun, personally, for the author to explore. It speaks well of a story when a reader can tell that the author enjoyed the creative process.

In the end, Wellesley Wives is a story with a fairly broad appeal and I have no doubt whatsoever that there is a large and eager audience for this book!

Elizabeth

Giveaway

Want to win an ebook copy of Wellesley Wives? Leave a comment or question for Suzy along with your email address and you will be entered in the giveaway. This Giveaway is International and ends on Wednesday, February 20^th. Good Luck!