Chicklit author
Paige Toon!
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Meet Paige Toon:
Jellybeans or chocolate?
Chocolate, but I do like sweeties…
Hair down or up?
Half and half – I often pin the sides up.
Pencil or ballpoint?
Ballpoint. Can’t be doing with that sharpening business.
Green or Yellow?
Green has always been my favourite colour.
Koala or Monkey?
Koala every time – I’m Australian!!
Town or village?
Both have their bonuses but I’m currently in a village so I’ll go for that!
Book or magazine?
Book – there’s nothing quite like getting stuck into a good one.
Joe or Ben?
ARGH! Don’t make me choose! I love them both!
Motorboot or Stiletto?
What’s a motorboot?! It would have to be anything over stilettos though – I only do wedges if we’re talking about heels.
Bike or car?
Car, I’m afraid. I wish I rode a bike more. I used to ride a scooter to work!
Snow or rain?
Urgh, really? A little of either can be lovely, but right now all I want is SUN!
Q&A
What is it like to be a fulltime author? Don’t you miss your other work?
Between being a writer and a mother of two small children, I don’t have a whole lot of time to miss any other work! But I do sometimes feel nostalgic for my pre-kiddie job at celebrity magazine Heat. That was a lot of fun and it was nice working in an office with a bunch of friendly people.
Some characters from your book come back in your other books. Why do you do that? Is it hard to let them go when you’ve finished a book?
Paige: It IS hard to let them go. I remember reading Watermelon by Marian Keyes years ago and then reading Rachel’s Holiday and getting such a thrill when the characters from Watermelon were mentioned. When I was starting to write Johnny Be Good, I wanted readers to have a little update about Lucy from Lucy in the Sky. Then I realised that I could make Meg (a small character from Lucy in the Sky) the lead in Johnny Be Good. I’ve done this sort of thing ever since and the readers love it – as do I. It’s nice to think of my characters living in a parallel universe which I can drop in on occasionally. Laura from The Longest Holiday is actually Will’s childhood sweetheart from Chasing Daisy, so you’ll hear a little more about Daisy in my new book.
Your new book is being released this month. What can we expect from you in the future?
I have so much coming up! I have just announced that I am writing a Young Adult spin-off of Johnny Be Good. It is about the teenage daughter he never knew he had. She didn’t know he was her dad, either, until her mum died, and now she finds herself being transported from an ordinary life into the whirlwind chaos that comes when your dad is a famous rock star. I can’t wait to write about being back in Meg and Johnny’s world again. And on that note, I’m going to write a short story ebook for release later this year which will be a sequel to Baby Be Mine and which will tie the YA series in for my current readers… I will also continue to have a chick lit book out every year, so there will be at least two books from me each year from 2014 – it’s going to be busy…
What is your big dream in writing? Would you rather be as famous as JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer, or do you think it’s great the way it is?
I wouldn’t like to be as big as either of these writers as I cherish my privacy too much, but it would nice to be a little more successful than I already am.
What is the coolest / sweetest / weirdest thing a fan has ever done?
I just have to say that I have the most lovely readers I could ever dream of! One gorgeous girl sent me (along with a wonderful letter about why she loves my books) a notepad which had the artwork from all of my covers on the front. Another group of readers call themselves the Toonies, and they put together a birthday video featuring all of them holding up cards and messages for me, set to the music of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I was unbelievably touched!
What’s your favorite character in your books? Girl and boy. And which character from your books could easily be your best friend (or boyfriend!) in real life?
I find this question so difficult. I read Pictures of Lily before Christmas and was convinced it was my favourite book, but now I’ve just re-read Johnny Be Good and Baby Be Mine in preparation for my YA series and I love those characters too! Reading my books always brings back memories of how much I enjoyed writing them. I didn’t think I could ever beat Joe from One Perfect Summer when I was writing about him, but now I’ve just created Leo from The Longest Holiday and I totally have the hots for him! If you’re going to really push me, I might have to go for Nathan from Lucy in the Sky. He’s an ordinary guy but very sexy. Lucy may well be my favourite heroine, too, but oh, I don’t know! I love hearing my readers’ favourites – it’s amazing to me that everyone has different choices and I always hear about the characters from all of my books. I’m so pleased to have created characters for everyone!
Paige Toon was born in 1975 and her dad’s career as a racing driver meant that she grew up between Australia, England and America. Paige worked at heat magazine for eight years as Reviews Editor, but left to have a baby. Now she is a full-time author and journalist. In the summer of 2011, Paige moved from London to Cambridgeand she lives there with her husband Greg, son Indy and daughter Idha. Her seventh novel, The Longest Holiday, will be in store April 25th 2013. www.paigetoon.com Previous novels: Lucy in the Sky, Johnny be Good, Chasing Daisy,Pictures of Lily, Baby be Mine, One Perfect Summer, One Perfect Christmas (Ebook only).
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You can read my thoughts on Paige Toon’s books One Perfect Summer and Pictures of Lily on the blog. I hope read her other books soon, but I haven’t found a store to order them from yet (not all online stores have all her books). Thanks again to Paige Toon for being this Friday’s guest on GotToReadThoseBooks!
I really like these guest authorposts you’re doing. I’m happy for you, Rebecca :D.
[…] I have to say, it reminded me of Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster a bit. The story is about Laura, a woman in her twenties who’s married to a man named Matthew. She just found out he has cheated on her weeks before they got married. He didn’t tell her, she found out when she saw a message on Matthews Facebook page. And that’s how she also found out that woman is pregnant from him. She’s angry, disappointed and sad. She want’s to get away from it all and that’s why she agrees to go to Key West with her friend (and a friend’s friend). And there she meets this freakin hot diving instructor named Leo. I have to say, I totally get why Paige Toon said he’s her new favourite character in the q&a we did on guest post friday! He’s awesome! I wish I could meet Leo (or a guy like him ) some day! But about the story, Laura is very confused. She has a crush on Leo, but doesn’t really know what she has to do, while she is married and all. And Leo doesn’t really seem to believe in love. But it would be a bad chicklit novel if they wouldn’t end up together, so I can tell you they eventually do. But it isn’t easy. And then Laura decides to stay in Key West when her friends go back home and her mum and husband come to visit her, trying to talk some sense into her. She want’s to stay, but will she? You’ll have to read the novel to find out It’s an awesome story, but I didn’t like the ending. It was a sudden end, and the epilogue didn’t really satisfy me. But I hope that means Paige Toon will write a sequel. Even if I didn’t like the end, I’ll still give it 4,5 stars. It’s just awesome. You can read my thoughts on Paige Toon’s One perfect summer and Pictures of Lily on the blog. You can find the guest post by Paige Toon here. […]