GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY: Author Wendy Holden

Today on My Overstuffed Bookshelf I have author Wendy Holden here to share her story with you! She is the author of Beautiful People. Let's all welcome her to the blog!

The brilliant thing about being a writer is that you can put anyone you’re mad at into a book. Your grievances get aired in prints runs of hundreds of thousands and people on the other side of the world from the person who annoyed you read about them and think ‘No-one could possibly be as stupid/devious/rude as that. She’s making it up!” Having said that, I adore beautiful people and like to fill my novels with them at every opportunity – hence the title of my latest book! Glamour cheers us all up, I think, sometimes just because it’s pretty and sometimes for reasons of schadenfreude. The lives of rich people and celebrities are so fascinating and often unintentionally hilarious too (Brad’s new beard, anyone? Mrs. Colin Firth’s ethically-sourced Oscars diamonds?). And the famous make extraordinary liaisons and mistakes – a certain Mr. T. Woods comes to mind – in the full glare of publicity. What’s not to like, if you’re a writer of contemporary romantic comedies, like me?

I like to research my novels as much as possible and pay particular attention to the settings. The devil is always in the detail and some wealthy people’s homes are just so funny. Not far from where I live in England is a very wealthy town full of rich footballers; the high street abounds with showrooms selling hundred-thousand dollar cars, interiors emporia selling diamante-studded curtain poles; menswear shops selling grey shiny suits with purple stitching around the buttonholes; womenswear shops ablaze with very tight shimmery dresses. But it’s in the charity shops where you get truth about this (literally) glittering lifestyle; below the almost-new celebrity biographies that people have thrown out are the other books they have been reading as well; Should I Stay or Go – Ways To Leave Your Husband; How To Lose A Stone In Seven Days; Hot Date – Be One, Get One; What Not To Wear.

It seems there’s a little pressure on, and that’s before you see the expensive women’s gymwear store and the physiotherapist practices all over town. You walk around a place like this for an hour and it’s almost impossible not to write a novel – the character; her clothes; her house; her cheating, flashily-dressed husband about to trade her in for the slinky Estonian au pair; her own affair with the sexy Spanish cyclist in head-to-foot Lycra that she met in the coffee shop are all walking about in front of you and it’s difficult not to sit down on the pavement and start Chapter One.

It was something like this that brought about Beautiful People – my fascination with what is behind the façade as much as the façade itself. Hope you enjoy it, anyway, and if you ever in the future come across a diamond-studded curtain pole in one of my novels, you’ll know where it came from!

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE by WENDY HOLDEN—IN STORES APRIL 2010!

A witty, utterly addictive novel from bestselling author Wendy Holden, Beautiful People is a tale wicked in its observations yet buoyant at its heart: an irresistible confection you’ll want to devour immediately.

Darcy—a struggling English rose actress when The Call comes from L.A. An Oscar-tastic director. A movie to make her famous. The hunkiest costar in Hollywood. So why doesn’t she want to go?

Belle—a size-zero film star but she’s in big, fat trouble. Hotter than the earth’s core a year ago, she’s now Tinseltown toast after her last film bombed. Can she get back to the big time?

Emma—a down-to-earth, down-on-her-luck nanny trying to weather London’s cutthroat childcare scene and celebrity mom whirlwinds. What will it take for her to get back in control of her own life?

Jet to London, Hollywood, and Italy; toss in a passionate star chef, a kindhearted paparazzo, and a reluctant male supermodel; and find Wendy Holden at her best—a smash international hit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wendy Holden (U.K.)  was a journalist on The Sunday Times, Tatler and The Mail on Sunday before becoming a full time author. She has now published nine novels, all top 10 bestsellers in the UK, and is married with two young children. Her novels include Farm Fatale (in US Stores from Sourcebooks Landmark in July 2010), Bad Heir Day (also coming to US stores from Sourcebooks Landmark in September 2010), Simply Divine, Gossip Hound, the Wives of Bath, The School for Husbands, Azur Like it, and Filthy Rich. For more information, please visit http://wendyholden.net/.

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks, I have two copies of Beautiful People to giveaway!

Contest will run until 5/1/2010.

RULES:

1. You must live in USA or Canada.  No P.O. Boxes.

2.  You must be a follower!

3.  Just leave a comment below on this post, with an email address for me to contact you in case you win!

GOOD LUCK!