Guest Author Therese

As promised, Lisa from Sparkpoint Studio, is stopping by today with another author to introduce us to.  So without further ado, Thérèse !!

THÉRÈSE

My mother was Irish but for reasons best known to herself, gave me a French name; Marie-Thérèse, note the grave, acute and hyphen. Very posh. I’ve tried to be French all my life but it was hard in Liverpool, where I grew up and difficult in California where I now live. I have a son as well as a daughter and a lovely husband, who for future blogging purposes will be known as ‘husband.’
You can visit Thérèse at her website and on Twitter.

GUEST POST

Thank you for inviting me to CMash. After reading a few of your guest posts I’m seriously tempted to spend the rest of the summer reading rather than writing, there are so many great books out there.

Until we immigrated to Los Angeles, I lived Stratford on Avon, a small town in middle England, famous as the birthplace of William Shakespeare. If you’ve ever lived in a town that is themed you will understand that after a while the theme gets old and you have to either move or get over it. We moved.

We brought our teenage kids with us (they heard were leaving.) Our two cats were flown out in advance and stayed at The Best Little Cat House, a facility offering cat concierges, rooms with views, web cameras, complimentary manicures, pedicures, daily massages and a choice of menu. Okay I admit this sounds a little over the top, but they were emigrating too.

In the following months life became surreal; my new assistant thought she was a reincarnated angel. Our son was coming home from sleepovers with tales of meeting Jack Nicholson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our daughter was sporting an American accent and doing a round of Bat Mitzvahs that would make Lady Gaga’s stage set look bland.

And then our own social life kicked in with a vengeance. We were invited to garden parties, fundraisers, dinners and receptions. Hostesses frequently insisting their event would be  ‘very casual.’ I’ll admit it took me quite a while to get the hang of that. In rural England casual means flat shoes, Capri pants and a long (preferably navy) sweater. It is not a good feeling turning up to something looking like you’re through to the final episode of Survivor and finding yourself on what appears to be the set of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  In these situations alcoholic beverages are important.

Exactly how casual are uniformed maids, waiters, hired bands and enough ice sculptures to deplete Alaska? I wondered. How casual a Cartier watch, eight -carat diamond and a Shih Tzus in a personalized Gucci tote? This was giving whole new meaning to the words ‘culture shock.’

After a year of furious scribbling, I was awash with material and wrote a book titled How to Stay Upwardly Mobile When You’re Spinning Out of Control.  Little Brown rejected it because I didn’t have a platform; I wasn’t a columnist and didn’t have a blog at the time. They suggested I might consider using the material for a novel. They loved the observations.

And so I took their advice and India was born. I lived vicariously through her. At one point she had her own Facebook page and more ‘friends’ than I did. I would post pictures of her in Malibu riding horses, or jet-skiing with Adam Brooks her drop dead gorgeous boyfriend. Her life became way more exciting than mine has ever been and yet I do believe that her story is not improbable. I think she is grounded and real and from what I hear, people fall in love with her. I hope you do too.

Thank you Thérèse for spending time with us.  I am sure many will enjoy reading your book, India’s Summer.  I know I am looking forward to reading it.

ABOUT THE BOOK

THANKS TO LISA AT SPARKPOINT, I HAVE ONE (1) COPY
OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY.

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I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,
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