The 5-Minute Interview: Suzanne Jefferies

Book Title: The Joy of Comfort Eating

Genre:  Romance

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

Ever had somebody pull back your ribs, rip out your heart, use it as a battering ram, then hand it back to you? Sure you have. Every time you get on the dating merry-go-round.

In those moments after my last break-up, when my thoroughly mangled heart had retreated to somewhere in Numbtown, I was nudged by a half-written novel I’d scrawled at least ten years previously. It was about a well-rounded character who gets herself fired from her job as a teacher at an exclusive girls’ high school, while simultaneously falling for the headmaster. It so didn’t work. I’d re-written the story some time back and swopped out the headmaster for a former lover. Still didn’t work. But what if there was something there that was salvageable? In both the manuscript, and in the relationship? I was still licking my wounds from the break-up, with insane Thornton’s fuelled thoughts such as ‘What if he and I had another chance?’ Un-bloody-likely. But what if Charlie had another chance with the love of her life? I started writing.

Why will the reader fall in love with your main character?

I’ve got a soft spot for my heroine Charlie Everson. Here’s why.

1). She’d love to be the good time girl.Charlie’s exactly the type of person you want on a girls’ night out. You know she’ll be the one to crack open the champagne before you’ve even left the office. Sadly, she’s also the one most likely to be caught.

2). She knows what it’s like to have dream or two go up in flames. Totally unsuited to the political shenanigans of the corporate communications’ Queenswood office, Charlie’s any of us who looks back on her life and wonders ‘how the hell did I get here?’. And instead of setting off on a goal-setting workshop, she decides to swim into the delights of fried food, cake and chocolate. Let me pause there. In fact, I’m going to go do just that. Okay, I’m back (with my Cinnabon), she’s lost her first love, hasn’t had much luck with her second or third, and any attempt at a career in art has gone splat.

3). She doesn’t think cake can save the world, but it doesn’t hurt to try .

 

What is your favourite part of this book?

Favourite bit? Why the HEA of course!

 

If you could give the antagonist in your book one advice, what would that be and why?

One piece of advice? Only one? I’d give then man plenty. Like how to not walk away from arguments. How to say what you’re thinking instead of engaging in verbal gymnastics. Okay, I’ll stop there for now.

 

If you went on a date with the love interest in your book, where would you go?

A date with Brian? Hmmm. A nightlcub in the dodgiest part of town for a little swing dancing and some vodkas and lime. Perfect.

 

Give us the blurb about The Joys of Comfort Eating

It’s the worst day of Charlie Everson’s life. Not only can she no longer fit into her clothes (disaster for any public relations director), but also her first love, the sexy super-successful Brian Tendai, is her new CEO – the last person she ever expected to run into. Seeing him again tumbles Charlie back into her past. Still so many unanswered questions: he’s convinced she left him, she’s convinced he left her. Charlie minimises the ‘ex-factor’. Tell that to her emotions that are running wild.

But Brian’s not there to rekindle their romance. He’s overseeing Queenswood Communication’s recent merger after a hostile takeover. Guess whose name is at the top of the list?

They agree to one night together, just the one, then it’s back to business as normal. Or is it?

The Joy of Comfort Eating is a contemporary romance novel set in cosmopolitan Johannesburg.

How can the reader buy your book?

Currently online, Amazon

How can readers connect with you?

Twitter:  @suzannejefferies

Website:  www.suzannejefferies.com

Facebook:  suzanne.jefferies7