Author Interview: Jenny Oliver

Today it's my pleasure to be chatting to Jenny Oliver on the latest leg of her blog tour for her new book The Summer House by the Sea which was published on Thursday.

Hi Jenny and welcome back to the blog.  It's been 9 months since you last visited as part of Food & Drink month so can you give readers a quick recap/intro to yourself.
Yes of course! I write funny, emotional books that have the aim of providing total escapism but also the hope that you can find something of yourself in the pages. 

If you had to give an elevator pitch for The Summer House by the Sea, what would it be? 
When Ava is hit by a bus, she realizes that the life she’s been living isn’t the life she wanted it to be! So when her Spanish grandmother dies she goes to live in her house by the sea for the summer. When her bullish, workaholic older brother turns up too, they discover secrets about their late mother, find what they have been missing in their own lives and learn how to be a family, on their own terms.

Where did the inspiration come from to set The Summer House by the Sea in a sleepy Spanish town?   
The inspiration came from an amazing holiday on the Costa Brava. We stayed in the tiny village of Sa Tuna and spent most of our days on the Aiguablava beach or exploring the winding hillside roads to arrive at beautiful towns like Cadaques. There was lots of tapas and sherry and sticky morning pastries. I loved it and knew it would be a great setting for a book. If you’re planning a summer holiday abroad I can highly recommend it! 

Food & Drink Month Review: The Sunshine and Biscotti Club by Jenny Oliver

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

The ovens are pre-heating, the Prosecco is chilling…and The Sunshine and Biscotti Club is nearly ready to open its doors. But the guests have other things on their minds…

Libby: The Blogger
Life is Instagram-perfect for food blogger Libby…until she catches her husband cheating just weeks before her Italian cooking club’s grand opening.

Evie: The Mum
Eve’s marriage isn’t working, but she’s not dared admit it until now. A trip to Italy to help Libby open The Sunshine and Biscotti Club might be the perfect escape…

Jessica: In Love with her Best Friend
Jessica has thrown herself into her work to shut out the memory of the man who never loved her back. The same man who’s just turned up in Tuscany…

Welcome to Tuscany’s newest baking school – where your biscotti is served with a side of love, laughter and ice-cold limoncello!

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback 

Food & Drink Month: Q&A with Jenny Oliver

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Jenny Oliver back to the blog to talk about her latest book The Sunshine and Biscotti Club, which Emma will be reviewing later, as part of this Food and Drink feature month.  Welcome Jenny. 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey? 
I’ve been everything from a personal trainer, an elf in the Disney store, a local journalist, an editor and now a writer. Each job has been great but this is definitely my favourite. My first book, The Parisian Christmas Bake Off, was written while on a very rainy summer holiday in France. We ended up watching The Great British Bake Off on the laptop because there was nothing else to do in the torrential downpour – I started to think about how amazing all the patisseries had been on our holiday and how fabulous they must be at Christmas and the whole idea came together in an instant. I haven’t stopped writing since.  

Where did the inspiration for The Sunshine and Biscotti Club come from? 
It was during an Italian holiday with my family. I was trying to come up with an idea for my next book and knew I wanted to write about a group of friends who had reunited after some time apart and explore how their lives and friendships had changed over time. On our drives around the area I looked out the window at amazing landscape – the vineyards, the blue sky, the mountains – then in the mornings had my breakfast in the garden of our B&B under a lemon tree and ate lunch in lakeside cafés, and The Sunshine and Biscotti Club all started to come together. 

We meet food blogger Libby and a group of her friends who come to help her open her Italian cooking club, which character did you have the most fun creating?   
I really like them all! But Dex holds a special place because he grew and grew as the book developed. And Eve because she kept making me laugh and became an unexpected favourite. 

If you had to describe The Sunshine and Biscotti Club in one sentence, what would it be?
Set in Tuscany, with a stunning lake lapping nearby and the scent of the next-door lemon grove drifting in the air, it’s the story of a group of friends, once really close, reuniting to help their struggling pal, Libby, renovate her faded-glory hotel while at the same time each working out what they truly want in life.

That’s a very long sentence! Maybe just: Perfect for your holiday reading! ;-)

Giveaway: Win a copy of The Sunshine and Biscotti Club by Jenny Oliver

Apologies for the radio silence on the blog over the last few months, life has been a bit up-and-down for me recently which has left me feeling out of sorts and has had a knock-on effect with my reading and my plans for catching up on reviews.  Fortunately, Wonder Woman Emma, that's my new nickname for her, has been holding the fort reviews-wise so at least there's been a few reviews during April and May plus some previously scheduled author features. 

This week I also have a few author interviews scheduled later in the week so keep an eye out for them but in the meantime how about a little giveaway for this copy of The Sunshine and Biscotti Club to kick start the week ;-) 

Tanya's Review: Four Weddings and a White Christmas by Jenny Oliver

Reviewed by Tanya Phillips

Hannah’s holidays are normally spent nibbling chocolate coins with her daughter and praying she’s not too old for a stocking on Christmas morning. But this year, she’s been offered the dressmaker’s job of a lifetime: creating a one-of-a-kind a gown for her friend Annie’s Christmas wedding on the picture-perfect Cherry Pie Island.

Many mince pies and one hot-pink organza dress later, Hannah is set to snuggle back into her old routine…until she discovers that there are three more weddings to come – and not a dress in sight!

Four themes, four brides and four parties spent avoiding chef Harry Fontaine, whose cynicism is as much a wedding day guarantee as confetti and cake. Hannah has her work cut out for her! Yet, with a sprinkling of snowflakes and Christmas magic, it could be that this is the year when miracles really do happen…if Hannah will let them.

Amazon link: Kindle

Books Read & Giveaway: Jenny Oliver - The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Cafe

There’s nowhere more deliciously welcoming... 

When Annie White steps back onto Cherry Pie Island, it’s safe to say her newly inherited Dandelion Café has seen better days! And while her childhood home on the Thames-side island idyll is exactly the same retreat from the urban bustle of London she remembers, Annie’s not convinced that Owner of The Dandelion Cafe is a title she’ll be keeping for long. Not that she can bear the idea of letting her dedicated, if endearingly disorganized staff lose their jobs. Plus café life does also have the added bonus of working a stone’s throw away from millionaire Matt and his disarmingly charming smile! 

One (shoestring budget) café makeover, a few delightful additions to the somewhat retro menu and a lot of cherry pie tastings later, The Dandelion Café is ready for its grand reopening! But once she’s brought the dilapidated old café back to life, Annie finds herself wishing her stay on the island was just a bit longer. She always intended to go back to the big city…but could island living finally have lured her back home for good?

Amazon link: Kindle

Guest Post: Christmas in Cornwall by Jenny Oliver

Today it's my stop on Jenny Oliver's The Little Christmas Kitchen blog tour with a guest piece by Jenny about spending Christmas in Cornwall.

Last year my parents bought a little cottage by the sea in Cornwall. It’s picturesque pretty - ivy climbs over stone walls, robins perch on the white picket fence, and gnarled oak trees surround the garden behind which the cows in the neighbouring field moo happily. It was the perfect place for a Christmas. 

We arrived late in the pitch dark, the frost already icing windscreens. The sea crashed in the distance, whipped up by the winter storms and the wind cracked through the branches.  Our tiny car was piled high with stuff, so as we ran through the lashing rain we were carrying armfuls of presents, panettones and all the other paraphernalia that accompanies a week away. 

Dripping wet, tired, high on Haribo and Costa coffee, fraught from arguments about directions we stood forlorn on the doorstep, not really speaking, but then the stable-style door opened and it was like stepping into a fairytale. 

In the corner of the main room was a huge great tree sparkling with silver tinsel and weighed down with all our ramshackle childhood baubles. Next to that was a roaring fire that crackled and spat and scented the air with rich woodsmoke and pine. Garlands draped the staircase (my mum can turn a bunch of holly and ivy into the most lavish of decorations) and Whisky Macs sat waiting on the big table (the Christmas tablecloth already laid out and red candles flickering). 

Christmas Giveaway: Win a copy of The Parisian Christmas Bake Off by Jenny Oliver

I was recently sent a paperback copy of The Parisian Christmas Bake Off as a thank you from the lovely peeps at Carina UK but as I've already read and reviewed the eBook last year I have decided to share the love and offer it as another Christmas giveaway prize.

Welcome to the most celebrated patisserie competition in Paris – ready, steady, bake!

Watching snowflakes settle on the Eiffel Tower, Rachel Smithson’s cosy English village feels very far way – as, thankfully, does her commitment-phobic ex, probably already kissing someone else under the mistletoe. But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard. 

Blogiversary Giveaway #17: Win a couple of Jenny Oliver Christmas books

Today it's a bumper day of Christmas giveaway prizes thanks to the generosity of Sara at Carina UK.

The first prize bundle you could win are for two Jenny Oliver books, a paperback copy of The Parisian Christmas Bake Off as well as a copy of her latest eBook The Little Christmas Kitchen.

Welcome to the most celebrated patisserie competition in Paris – ready, steady, bake!

Watching snowflakes settle on the Eiffel Tower, Rachel Smithson’s cosy English village feels very far way – as, thankfully, does her commitment-phobic ex, probably already kissing someone else under the mistletoe. But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard. 

Because the search for Paris’s next patisserie apprentice is about to begin! And super-chef judge Henri Salernes is an infamously tough cookie. But Rachel isn’t about to let her confidence (or pastry) crumble. She’s got one week, mounds of melt-in-the-mouth macaroons and towers of perfect profiteroles to prove that she really is a star baker. 

Books Read: Jenny Oliver - The Vintage Summer Wedding

A Vera Wang dress, the reception at a sophisticated London venue, and a guest list that reads like a society gossip column are all the ingredients of Anna Whitehall’s perfect wedding that never was…

Spending the summer uncovering hidden treasures in a vintage shop, Anna can still vividly remember both her childhood dreams; the first was that she’d become a Prima Ballerina, and dance on stage resplendent in a jewel-encrusted tutu. The second was that at her wedding she would walk down the aisle wearing a collective-gasp-from-the-congregation dress.

Years ago Anna pirouetted out of her cosy hometown village in a whirl of ambition…but when both of those fairy-tale dreams came crashing down around her ballet shoes, she and fiancée Seb find themselves back in Nettleton, their wedding and careers postponed indefinitely…

Don’t they say that you can never go home again? Sometimes they don’t get it right… This one summer is showing Anna that your dreams have to grow up with you. And sometimes what you think you wanted is just the opposite of what makes you happy…

Amazon links: Kindle

Guest Post & Giveaway: What inspired The Vintage Summer Wedding by Jenny Oliver

Today it's my turn to host Jenny Oliver as part of her The Vintage Summer Wedding blog tour.

Spending the summer uncovering hidden treasures in a vintage shop, Anna can still vividly remember both her childhood dreams; the first was that she’d become a Prima Ballerina, and dance on stage resplendent in a jewel-encrusted tutu. The second was that at her wedding she would walk down the aisle wearing a collective-gasp-from-the-congregation dress.

Years ago Anna pirouetted out of her cosy hometown village in a whirl of ambition…but when both of those fairy-tale dreams came crashing down around her ballet shoes, she and fiancée Seb find themselves back in Nettleton, their wedding and careers postponed indefinitely…

Don’t they say that you can never go home again? Sometimes they don’t get it right… This one summer is showing Anna that your dreams have to grow up with you. And sometimes what you think you wanted is just the opposite of what makes you happy…

A question I’ve been asked quite a lot since The Vintage Summer Wedding came out is 
What inspired me to write about a vintage wedding rather than the usual big white
(optional meringue) fairytale? Well….

Christmas Reading Challenge: Jenny Oliver - The Parisian Christmas Bake Off

Welcome to the most celebrated patisserie competition in Paris – ready, steady, bake!

Watching snowflakes settle on the Eiffel Tower, Rachel Smithson’s cosy English village feels very far way – as, thankfully, does her commitment-phobic ex, probably already kissing someone else under the mistletoe. But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard. 

Because the search for Paris’s next patisserie apprentice is about to begin! And super-chef judge Henri Salernes is an infamously tough cookie. But Rachel isn’t about to let her confidence (or pastry) crumble. She’s got one week, mounds of melt-in-the-mouth macaroons and towers of perfect profiteroles to prove that she really is a star baker.

As well as clouds of flour, and wafts of chocolate and cinnamon, there’s definitely a touch of Christmas magic in the air… Rachel hasn’t come to Paris looking for a fairy-tale romance, but the city of love might gift-wrap her one anyway…

Amazon link: Kindle