Guest Post: Maria Geraci

I want to say a big thank you to author Maria Geraci for stopping by Books Etc. today. She's got a fabulous guest post and I hope you all have fun reading it. I sure did!

NOVEL BLOOPERS

First off, thank you to Kaley and Books, etc, for inviting me to blog here today. I’m excited to talk about my new release, A Girl Like You. In the opening to my story, my main character, Emma, overhears herself referred to as “the ugly friend.” Yikes! That’s a lot for a girl to take in. On the outside, Emma remains cool and collected. But overhearing that one careless remark sets her on a journey that changes her life forever. I loved writing this book and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Like any novel, A Girl Like You went through numerous rough drafts before I finally got the story “right.” And by getting the story right, I mean finding the correct ending. I always knew the story would end happily (as all my books do) but I wasn’t sure exactly how I was going to give Emma the ending that not only felt right for her, but was right for the other characters in the book as well. It wasn’t until I was almost three fourths through my first draft that I knew how my book would end, which means I then had to go back and make sure the ending I came up with seemed logical from the first page. Which meant more rewrites.

Every time you rewrite a scene or update a draft of your novel, it leads to potential bloopers. Those little details that don’t get added in, or those little things that no longer make sense because your rewrite doesn’t need them.

I thought it would be fun to share a blooper from A Girl Like You.

Set up: My main character, Emma, goes to a bar to meet her friends.

Page 2, original sentence:

I signal the bartender. He ignores me and moves to another customer.

What’s so bad about that, you ask? Well, on the very next page, this happens:

“We invited your sexy boss to go out with us tonight,” says Torie. “He should be here any minute.”

This seemingly benign statement causes my beer to go down the wrong way.

See the problem?

How can Emma be drinking a beer when the bartender never took her order?

Of course, a reader could assume that somehow Emma was given a drink, but I hate details like this that don’t make sense. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch this blooper until the final galley stage when it is nearly impossible (and expensive) to make corrections. Luckily, I was able to add in a few words to the original sentence to allow it all to make sense:

I signal the bartender. He ignores me and moves to another customer before finally taking my order.

Whew! Scene saved.

Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, will be released August, 2012 by Berkley, Penguin USA. For more information, please visit her website at www.mariageraci.com

Just Finished: A Girl Like You

I loved reading A Girl Like You by Maria Geraci. The novel was sweet, fun, and heart-warming.

Here's the synopsis:

Every ugly ducking is a swan in waiting... 

Emma Frazier is smart, hardworking, and loves her job as a journalist for a Florida lifestyle magazine. Emma knows she’s no great beauty, but she’s pretty certain she has a shot with her handsome new boss, Ben Gallagher—until Emma overhears a mutual acquaintance refer to her as the “ugly friend.” In an effort to reclaim her battered self-esteem, Emma decides to impress Ben at work by promising an exclusive interview with NASCAR legend, Trip Monroe. 

Emma and Trip went to high school together and although it’s been fourteen years since they’ve spoken, Emma is certain she can score an interview with the elusive super star. But connecting with Trip turns out to be harder than Emma imagined. Her quest for the interview leads her back to her tiny hometown of Catfish Cove, where old secrets and a new romantic interest shake up Emma’s views on life and teach her that maybe the key to finding true love is as simple as accepting yourself for the person you were always meant to be.

I really liked Emma. She was a flawed protagonist without being completely broken or beat down. She didn't have a huge personal issue to overcome but she still had a realization by the end. Sometimes main characters are so troubled that it can be hard to follow and it can result in a plot that's just too heavy. With this novel, it was nice to read about someone who was pretty normal and who could easily be one of my friends!

It seems like I tend to favour books that have main characters who are writers - whether it's a journalist for a newspaper or magazine, a blogger, or a travel writer. Not sure what that says about me but the main point is that I seem to enjoy their stories more. Emma's job had quite a bit to do with this book. She's in love with her boss and is trying to impress him with getting a great story. It was interesting to see how everything turned out.

I like that this book had a little taste of everything. It wasn't strictly a career focused plot as Emma also had to come to terms with being called the "ugly friend." She had that personal issue and she had some excellent friends to help her through. She also had a strong family support system with her two moms. As in most chick lit, there was a romance - but with which guy? I loved that Geraci kept me guessing on that front. And the book was funny! Emma was clever and got herself in a lot of entertaining situations.

Overall, I really enjoyed A Girl Like You and think many other readers would as well. I didn't want to put it down! I've had another of Maria Geraci's novels, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, on my shelf for awhile and it will be moved up on my to-be-read list because I enjoyed this one so much!

Thanks to BookSparksPR for the copy to review!

daily book pic - week one recap

I'm sure most of you have read of the photoaday things that people are doing these days - taking a particular photo (self portrait, sunset, pet, etc.) every day for a month. Cassandra Neace from Book Riot has decided to put a bookish spin on things and there are a ton of book worms (including myself) who have jumped at the chance to participate. If you want to get involved or just want to see the full list of photo prompts check out the original article here.

It's now the end of week one so I thought I'd share my pics from the week. I'm having a bit of photo envy as it seems many other people have artistic photos and mine now seem lacking. Perhaps I'll be a bit more creative as the month goes on :)

Day One - Favourite Reading Spot

I was already a few days behind when I decided to start this project and when I got around to taking the first two pictures it was approaching darkness. Why does this matter? It means that I wasn't able to get a good picture of me reading outside which is my favourite place to read in the summer. Reading on the couch (which you see here) comes in at a comfy second.

Though...now that I'm writing this I realize that my all time favourite spot was here:

This was on a cruise to the Bahamas in February. Not bad, eh? Sigh. Can I go back there?

Day Two - Current Read

I'm not one to normally read more than one book at once but because All Roads Lead to Austen (amazing, by the way) is a non-fiction, and I take much longer to read non-fiction books, I decided to start a fiction book as well, The Wedding Beat (also very good). I've since finished them both and recommend them! 

Day Three - Book Browsing

I've just recently made it to my new local library. I've been living in this city for just about four months and it wasn't until last week that I got around to getting a library card - shocking, I know! This photo was taken on my second visit. They have a fantastic seven day borrowing section full of new books so I knew to make a beeline for it as soon as I got there the other day. I ended up picking up Point, Click, Love (the one on the top shelf on the far right) and am excited to read it!

Day Four - Bookshelf

This picture shows the top two shelves on my bookshelf at my house here. I say that because I have another bookshelf back at my mom's house that is still full of books that I've already read. Yes, you are interpreting that correctly - I haven't read any of the books in the photo. And in the interest of full disclosure, those shelves are now a bit fuller (as well as the two shelves below it...) as I had other books to add. I know, I know...I have a problem :)

Day Five - Bookmark

As soon as I saw this prompt I knew exactly which bookmark I planned on taking a photo of. The one shown here is from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. My best friend was down there last summer and picked one up for me. Why is this such an interesting thing? Because Flyleaf Books is Sarah Dessen's favourite local indie bookstore. I repeat, why is this such an interesting thing? Because Sarah Dessen is our favourite author. My friend thought I'd get a kick out of the bookmark and I did. Little did we know that that September we would get the chance to meet Dessen when she came to Toronto! I had her sign some of my books and this bookmark, which led to a discussion between her and my friend about when she was at the store. It turns out that the owner saw Dessen in another store shortly after my friend was there and the woman told Dessen that there had been a family from Canada who visited the store and the daughter was a huge fan of hers. And she remembered that! We thought it was the greatest thing. (And yes, that's a snitch pin. Got it when I went to Universal in February.)

Day Six - Book and Beverage

It has been an incredibly hot summer so far and, while I'm a new beer drinking, I equate hot weather with drinking beer. Therefore, day six led me to a Coors Light Iced Tea and looking at my next read (The Singles) and a book that arrived in the mail that day A Girl Like You). It was a good, but HOT, evening!

Day Seven - Book and Breakfast

This is what I normally have for breakfast. The Shreddies, not the book, of course. Juice and cereal at home and tea taken in a travel mug to work. Since I had actually gone out for breakfast the morning of day seven, I couldn't take a true breakfast photo. Well...I suppose I could have brought a book with me to the restaurant but I never would have heard the end of it from my boyfriend's ball team who we went out with. :) PS Have you heard of Seen Reading? I recommend you check out the website!

So, there you have it. Week one is complete! Stay tuned on (hopefully) Saturday when I will be recapping week two. Think about joining in - it's been a lot of fun!