LucyD

I finished reading this last night and really enjoyed it! Am I the only one?! I thought it was great, a real page-turner. I did guess a few of the twists, admittedly and could have done without quite so much about Margaret's twin but overall, I thought it was fab. Beautifully written and really original. I didn't mind not knowing exactly when it was set - I felt it was a timeless sort of book which didn't need pinning to a specific year. Margaret did feel slightly old-fashioned, I thought, so wouldn't have pegged her as 21st century, and there was no mention of anything remotely 'modern' like mobile phones etc, but I was happy to go along not knowing the date.

I really like Jonathan Coe's books - What A Carve-Up is my favourite by him. I went to a reading he did of The Rain Before It Falls when it came out and got my copy signed...I was so in awe of him, I couldn't actually speak!

Hi Inver and Supergran! Thanks for your questions. Inver - re characters' names/jobs etc, I find names come to me quite easily but if I'm ever stuck, I flick through my trusty 'Baby Names' book for inspiration. I really enjoy the process of fleshing out a character, thinking about their appearance, habits etc, and the name is a really important part of that, I think. Often their job will arise from a particular aspect of their personality - ie in the novel I've just finished, I've got a very organised, methodical character who is just a perfect maths teacher, and there's also a very quick-witted, rather bitchy character who is really well suited as a gossip columnist in a tabloid. For some reason, I find the jobs of my male characters harder to decide. I really dithered about the job of one particular character in the novel I've just finished writing. It had to be something which had taken him abroad for a while, and I wanted him to have quite creative and interesting career but nothing too showbizzy... I decided to make him a photographer in the end, and I think that's just right for him. Took a while to get there, though! Hello Supergran - thanks for the tips on Birmingham! I went there last Christmas - we went to see Peter Pan at the theatre as a Christmas treat for the kids (and me!) and I loved seeing the German market there, and the helter-skelter and ice rink... Must put all that in somehow. And I'd forgotten how many lovely old buildings there are in Birmingham too. You're right about the canals - definitely a great area to set a scene or two. And I will be sure to check out Symphony Hall too next time I'm there. (I'll probably have to put in a Villa Park reference as well, just to keep my dad happy...)

Hello Inver - good questions! I do love the idea of taking myself off somewhere really remote and quiet to write...but because I have three young children, that is never going to happen, sadly! Mind you, I read in a magazeine not so long ago about a couple of authors who always check in to a spa for a few days when they need to iron out plot problems... which sounds a pretty brilliant idea to me. I might see if I can get away with that one when I start my fourth novel! I do actually have a very nice office here in our house. Our house is old and tall, and my office is in what would have been the coal cellar back in Victorian times - although it's got French doors in now which open onto the garden so the room is beautifully light. The walls are painted a very pale apple green and lined with all my books, and there are two comfy chairs for me to sit and think in. I could live in here actually! As far as settings for novels go, I've set all my books in or around cities so far, as I am a city girl myself at heart. I'm planning to set my fourth novel in Birmingham - I've got a soft spot for Birmingham as my mum's a Brummie and my family are all Villa fans so we went there a lot throughout my childhood. So I will definitely have to go up there for a weekend of shopping - I mean, research - before I start writing...

Hi both of you, Lovesreading, my favourite book (written by me)... hmmm, I think I would have to say the one I've just finished, partly because I still feel very attached to the characters at the moment! It's about three women, their hen nights and their failed marriages, and written from their three different points of view, rather than being from one single p.o.v. This made it much harder to write - trying to weave the storylines together concurrently was quite a challenge, after my other two novels where the plot progressed in a more linear style. But it's like being asked to choose your favourite child - I love them all for different reasons, and find it very difficult to pick out one in particular! Janet! I'm gutted I missed my chance to lure you in to my signing in Bath! It would have been lovely to meet you...although now I'm imagining Gene Hunt striding in to my signing which would have been deeply weird! Re your question - I always have a book on the go (or two) and tend to veer towards contemporary fiction (usually about or by women) and some of the literary stuff too. I'm reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield at the moment, which I'm loving - I am hooked! Other books I've enjoyed this year have been When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson, Mothernight by Sarah Stovell, Breath by Tim Winton and The Road Home by Rose Tremain. Favourite authors include Julie Myerson and Kate Atkinson - I can't wait to read her new one, although like many others on this forum, I have a TBR pile a mile high so am resisting buying it just yet...

I started reading this book last night - am hooked after only a few chapters. So atmospheric and intriguing!

I loved reading this book - I thought it was fantastic. Very funny, beautifully written, and a real page-turner with lots of juicy family secrets. Fabulous!

Cheers! Surely there's got to be SOME sunshine this August?? I will be wearing wellies to my own wedding at this rate!

Ooh...two questions, excellent! Re promoting Over You, I actually did a book signing today at the Waterstones in Bath... I must confess I was dreading it, especially as the forecast was so terrible and I was convinced everyone would stay at home, but I did meet some lovely people and sold quite a few copies, so all in all, it was a good experience. I've also run a few competitions on my blog to promote the book but don't have anything else specifically lined up. Partly because I'm getting married in three weeks, and my head is full of wedding stuff! Lovesreading - I so hope I get to do a signing at Glasgow one day... I had the best weekend there a few years ago! Maybe when my third novel comes out next year, I will be better organised and sort out a few more signings.

Hello Inver! It's nice to be here. 'Any Way You Want Me' was originally called 'Wishful Thinking' but I had feedback that that was too nothing-y a title. I came up with 'Any Way You Want Me' instead because the main character isn't sure who or what she wants to be in life, and it seemed to fit with her attitude during the novel. I had much more trouble with the title of my second novel. It started off as 'If You Don't Know Me By Now' but that was thought to be too long. Then there were about five other suggested titles before my editor thought of 'Over You' - she wanted it to feel upbeat rather than mournful. I don't get a lot of say over the covers, to be honest - the editors and sales and marketing team work with the designers on them, and I just get to see the end result. It's quite nerve-racking seeing your cover for the first time, I have to say! The cover for my third novel has just been briefed and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with for that one. It's all about three women, their hen nights and their disastrous marriages, so I'm intrigued as to which angle they'll go for!

lol! No... well, some of it is, I suppose - Sadie's feelings about how her life has changed, and how she's coming to terms with that - that all came from how I was feeling, going from working full-time at the BBC, wearing nice clothes, having a fab social life... to being a stay-at-home mum and feeling as if I was losing my marbles! So those bits were all based on my real life. But as for her outrageous lies and behaviour... those bits are all very much from my imagination. Although it was shocking just how many of the 'playground mums' at my kids' school raised their eyebrows at me when the book was first published - even worse, were the ones who asked my long-suffering partner if the book was autobiographical! Hope you enjoy the rest of the book anyway.

Hello everyone, First of all, I feel very honoured to be a Featured Author on the Book Club Forum - thank you for having me! I have written two novels as Lucy Diamond so far (that's my glamorous pen name!) - Any Way You Want Me, which came out last year, and Over You which is published today. I wrote Any Way You Want Me when I was having quite a tough time as a full-time mum to my one-year-old daughter and baby son. I felt as if my 'old life' had vanished before me, replaced by one of continual clothes-washing, baby-feeding, toddler tantrums and no sleep. I took an evening class in Novel-Writing so as to carve out one hour a week where I felt like a normal person again - and loved it. I had always written in the past (I've had a lot of children's books published under my real name, Sue Mongredien, as well as several other pseudonyms) but this time I wanted to write something for me, about the conflicting feelings I was experiencing - the love, frustration and exhaustion that seems to make up motherhood. The novel just seemed to pour out of me... it's about a woman, Sadie, who is up to her elbows in domestic chores and motherhood (hmmm, sounds familiar) although she deals with the situation by spicing up her humdrum life with all sorts of outrageous lies (this bit isn't autobiographical, honestly!) and ultimately gets into quite a bit of trouble where she has to decide what she actually wants out of life... My second novel, Over You, is about three friends who were all very close in their twenties - sharing various flats in London, supporting each other through relationship crises, job-hunts etc - but now have gone their separate ways. Josie is a stay-at-home mum in the suburbs, free-spirited Nell has travelled the world and Lisa has shot up the career ladder, still in London. The novel is told from Josie's point of view - she finds an old photo of the three of them and organises a weekend reunion... but things aren't quite what they seem and while she's with them, Josie discovers something that turns her world upside-down. It's about friendship, betrayal and love... with a few juicy secrets for good measure! As for a favourite... it's hard to say, but my favourite novel always seems to be the one I've just written, to be honest - so I'd have to say my current favourite is my third novel about three women and their hen nights, which is currently awaiting its first edit right now. Must just say we're going camping this weekend (I have written this while my three children have traipsed in and out showing me what they have packed so please excuse any disjointed sentences/mistakes!) so I'll be back on Sunday evening to answer questions then. I hope that's all right!

I thought this was a fantastic book - so elegantly written and almost painful to read at times. Brilliant first novel - really vivid characters and I thought the tension held up all the way through. I was desperate for there to be a happy ending for Lewis and Kit!

Yes, some authors go straight to paperback (like me). The big authors tend to have their own 'slot' in their publisher's year - ie Sophie Kinsella is January, I think, and I guess her new hardback and paperback will come out at the same time. (I could be wrong, though!) I think how quickly the paperback comes out depends partly on how many hardback copies a publisher thinks they can sell - so the bigger the author, the longer the gap between h/b and p/b. Hope that makes sense. Have only had half a cup of tea so far this morning...

I'm currently reading The Outcast...oooh, it is just so good. Really elegantly written prose, with great emotional depth. I'm finding it quite harrowing actually - can't bear any book that features physical or mental cruelty towards a child, so parts of it are hard to read as I feel so sad for the characters. The only criticism I would make is that there is a LOT of plot told on the back cover. I wish the blurb could have been more opaque, instead of giving so much away, would have made for better surprises. but hey...

I vividly remember reading Lord of the Flies in school and being gripped. I don't think I've read it since but can remember a lot of it so clearly, far more so than most books. Cider With Rosie we read too... Bleak House... Macbeth... Obviously I was far more interested in Just Seventeen, Smash Hits and Stephen King books at the time to appreciate them!

I've just finished The Road Home by Rose Tremain and really didn't want it to end... Brilliant book, so well-written that I am still thinking about the characters.

That might be one of those big 'trade paperbacks' Bronwen but no, the mass-market one isn't out yet. I'm waiting for that too!

I'm going to read this one, too. Gorgeous cover as much as anything else! (I am so shallow...)

I'm shocked too! I always liked his newspaper articles and I enjoyed Toast. Is there any chance it could be tongue-in-cheek within the context?? Just a hope...

I've read some corking reviews of The Outcast but even so, I'm going to wait for the paperback edition! Overall, a good list, I reckon. I will definitely be buying a few...

I hate to abandon a book but life is just too short to plough on through rubbish sometimes, isn't it? Especially when you have some goodies lined up on the TBR pile! And the relief you feel when you actually decide, You know what? I can't be bothered to finish this one - and close the book...ahhh, it's liberating, somehow!

It was exciting, wasn't it? And wasn't Sawyer a hero? *sigh* loved that bit of him diving from the chopper. HOW are they going to keep spinning it out though? Another two series? It's already got completely ridiculous. Still love it though!

I like Claire too - I think she or Alex will win...

Ahh...now, if you'd have watched Doctor Who on Saturday you'd have seen that it was all due to a giant wasp!