Just Like in the Movies by MB Feeney

I am very proud to feature Author MB Feeney on my blog today. Please check out her new offering included in the Beach Reads Volume 1- Summer Heat anthology.

Blurb:

Ava Jones has settled for a life that she’s not sure she wants anymore, but won’t admit it. Her best friend, Erica Davidson talks her into taking a break on the Isle of Wight. Her days on the island are spent thinking things through, and arguing with Morgan whom she hates on principal. Is it so wrong for her to want a life that follows the script of a honest to God romance film?

Excerpt:

I’d met Marcus Tripp not long after joining Wilson Insurance. Although I’d never really fancied him, he was persistent. Our friendship had grown, and we’d fallen into a routine that suited both of us. I was happy with the attention, and the sex . . . yeah, it was okay. As time passed, the earth rarely moved when we were intimate; more often than not, it was pretty much over before it began. Still, we stayed together, more out of habit and familiarity than anything else. We did love each other. I just wasn’t sure that it was enough.

In the evenings I spent alone, I would daydream about living the life of a lead in a Hollywood chick flick, but then reality would slap some sense into me. My life was as good as it was going to get. I wasn’t about to be swept off my feet any time soon. Marcus and I were comfortable, and that was enough — for me, at least. I was too scared to ask Marcus what he felt.

We tried for a couple of years to have children, but it never happened. After many serious discussions, we decided to give up on the idea altogether. That was when we bought our first fur baby: a beautiful Collie cross called Rhea. She was our little girl, and we both doted on her. We assuaged our guilt over our mutual neglect by caring for Rhea, devoting our attention to another living being rather than to each other. The puppies, Remus and Romulus, soon joined her, and our “family” was complete.

For as long as I’d known him, Marcus had played Sunday League football, which was followed by an afternoon with his teammates at the very pub I was now approaching. Coupled with training one evening a week, his evenings out gave me more than enough time to spend with Erica or at home with the dogs.

“Have you thought any more about that holiday I mentioned?” Erica asked while we claimed our usual table. Our customary bottle of red wine was already ready and waiting for us.

“I have . . .” My words drifted away when I thought back to her idea of a girlie getaway on the Isle of Wight. Just as its name suggested, the top-class Lakeside Hotel with attached spa was located right next to a beautiful lake. Bliss.

“And?Why the hesitation?” Erica pushed like she always did, her blue eyes flashing once more as she looked into my brown ones.

The idea of a real getaway made the blonde hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but I tried to rein in my excitement. “I don’t know. It sounds amazing, and Lord knows I could do with some time away.”

“Do it, then.”

I knew I had enough holiday time available at work. Screw it.

“Let’s do it.”

Here’s a short interview with the author

1. How did you come up with the title?

Just Like in the Movies was born when I had watched the film Letters to Juliet and I wondered what it would be like to live a life that was like a romance film.

2. Tell us a little bit about the protagonist?

Ava is someone who has settled in life. She knows she wants/needs more, but is too scared to change things until she realizes that she has too. I realize that makes her sound a bit weak, but I don’t think she is, it just takes her time to find her inner strength and when she does, nothing can hold her back. She’s also a little feisty and sarcastic.

3. Please tell us about your story.

I like to think it’s a romance with a hint of humour and sarcasm about making changes to life. It’s not quite autobiographical as I am pretty happy with my lot, but I think many readers could identify with Ava and how she is living.

4. What inspired you to write it?

Again, watching rom coms and ‘chick flicks’ made me think about how it would be to have life packaged up in a bow. Life isn’t easy all the time, yet movies make it seem that it is.

5. Did you have a playlist that you used while writing this particular story?

Not a particular playlist no, I just listen to music in general and of all genres while I write anyway.

6. What do you do when the dreaded ‘writers block’ hits? Do you write through it, or just pick up another project?

I suffer from block quite a lot. Sometimes I can work through it, but sometimes I have to step away from writing altogether. When this happens, I read, a lot.

7. Do you have another project you are currently working on?

At the moment, I am concentrating on finishing things that I have started yet never went back to. I’m trying to take the pressure of myself by thinking about publishing as an end goal as this is quite often what causes my block, by just concentrating on the actual writing process.

It’s so nice to find out more about MB Feeney and her story. Please don’t forget to visit her links.

Author Bio:

M. B. Feeney is an army brat who finally settled down in Birmingham, UK with her other half, two kids and a dog. She’s also a student teacher, a doodler and a chocoholic. Writing has been her one true love ever since she could spell, and publishing is the culmination of her hard work and ambition.

Signing up with Renaissance Romance Publishing to publish her first novella as part of a compilation in December 2012 was the first step in her writing career that she hopes will span many more works and years.