Happy Publication Day to a great supporter of The Romaniacs and fabulous author Nicky Wells. Today she is celebrating the official launch of her novel, Sophie’s Turn, and she wants to sing it from the rooftops!
A Natural Born Singer. Not.
I’m an enthusiastic singer. I sing all the time. I love music, and it’s really no surprise that I am writing books that feature music. Well, ok, they feature a rock star featuring music. But still.
Today, it’s my launch day for Sophie’s Turn, brought to you by my publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing, and the lovely Romaniacs have very kindly agreed to let me make a song and a dance about it right here on their blog.
So I’d love to sing for you. In fact, if you can keep a secret, I am singing as I write. “We are the Champions” is my current tune, mixed in with a bit of “Walking on Sunshine” and “The Only Way Is Up”. You get the idea, I am truly celebrating. There’s only one problem. I’m not very good.
How can that be, you ask. I’m sure I read somewhere you met your husband in a choir? I certainly did, you are absolutely right. I did sing in a choir for several years, performing classical choral pieces. I’m an alto, as I discovered when I joined. And I also discovered that singing in a choir works for me. I can somehow do that. But singing on my own? Rock songs? Nah. Not so good.
In fact, many, many years ago, the mother of a then boyfriend (who happened to be an opera singer; the mother, not the boyfriend) told me quite explicitly and not a little rudely to Shut Up because my singing was so awful, apparently. I was crushed, and I duly shut up.
For all of… five minutes. Because, lack of ability or not, singing is in me. I just do it. Half the time, I’m not even aware of it, as I’m sure the inhabitants of this enchanted but small village that I now call home are quickly discovering.
Having had a little bit of training through singing in that choir, I do know that I risk going off-key quite a bit whilst belting out a favourite rock tune. I have learnt to hear when that happens, and to stop and right myself, sort of. I have also learnt that, had I but a score to read, I would probably do a lot better. But in the absence of scores, I shall remain wobbly, to say the least. I recognise that… but it still doesn’t stop me.
In fact, my continual singing and near-word-perfect knowledge of all things lyrics was one of the first things my now husband noticed about me. During a long, fateful car journey in a very beaten up Golf (the windows were held shut by lashings of silicone sealant, I seem to recall) all the way from sunny Brighton to sunny Tooting-in-London. Enough said. And it didn’t put him off, now, did it? On the contrary.
About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!
Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door. She recently signed her work with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing. Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.
Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.
Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook. Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing and, of course, Goodreads.
About Sophie’s Turn
Slapper. Slut. Adulteress. These are hardly words that Sophie Penhalligan would normally use to describe herself. Yet this is exactly how she is behaving, all things considered, even if she isn’t quite married to Tim yet. And it’s all happening because her past is coming to tempt her! Nine years ago, she met her teenage idol and rock star extraordinaire, Dan, up close and personal. Well, almost. Now Dan has crash-landed back in her life. How could Tim ever stand a chance against the charming, handsome singer? How could she?
Sophie, now twenty-eight and a budding newspaper journalist, is happily embroiled in a relationship with Tim, her boyfriend of two years. Until recently, she was confident that Tim would eventually propose—probably as soon as he could get his act together. But just as Tim’s persistent inaction is beginning to cast a cloud over their relationship, Dan’s sudden reappearance turns Sophie’s world upside down. Thus unfolds a roller-coaster of events including an ill-fated trip to Paris with Tim, a night of unfulfilled romance with Dan, Sophie and Tim’s engagement party gate-crashed by Dan, and Sophie’s professional secondment to accompany Dan’s band on their revival tour—at Dan’s special request and very much against her will.
And then, one fine day in Paris, Sophie suddenly finds herself engaged to Dan while her erstwhile fiancé Tim is… well, doing whatever it is Tim does back in London. What is she to do now? Who wouldn’t give anything to meet their favorite star, let alone marry him?
Find out how Sophie gets into this impossible situation, and how she turns it around, in Sophie’s Turn, the honest, funny and sometimes bittersweet story of one woman’s entanglement with a rock star.
So while I ain’t no rock star, I shall live vicariously through my hero, Dan, and my heroine, Sophie and belt out happy tune after happy tune, on this, my launch day. Please join me in a song and a glass of virtual bubbly here at the Romaniacs, or over at my own blog. And please raise a glass in thanks to the amazing Romaniacs who so kindly let me take to their stage to sing out loud about my launch!
Lovely to have you here Nicky – now we really must go and get ourselves ready for your party today – see you at your place!
LINKS FOR SOPHIE’S TURN
Sophie’s Turn is available in Kindle edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and many other Amazon sites. The paperback edition is also available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. In addition, you can obtain Sophie’s Turn from Barnes & Noble.
