Sophie's Run Book Tour

Title : Sophie's Run

Author : Nicky Wells

Publication Date : 7 February 2013

Publlisher : Sapphire Star Publishing

Source : Sent by Nicky (Thank you!)

Overall : Beyond 5/5

Her famous star remains her rock while life takes her on a little detour...

Who says that the road toward true love is straight and even? Sophie is certainly discovering that it is anything but.

So she's finally found the man of her dreams. Well...she knows who he is, even though she hasn't actually quite met him yet. When she misses her opportunity, her life goes crazy. Rock star and ex-fiancé, Dan, keeps getting in the way of her new romance — even if he is just trying to be helpful. A fire, an impromptu mini-trip with Dan, and a dreaded wedding later, Sophie is still struggling to meet the love of her life. Just as she's getting it together with her perfect man, best friend Rachel commits an act of unspeakable betrayal. And to top it all, her new boyfriend leaves her lying in the mud.

Sophie has had enough. Confused and distraught, she decides that it is time for radical change. Surprising herself and shocking her friends, she embarks on a secret journey that eventually gets her life back on track.

CHECK OUT MY REVIEW HERE.

I NEED MY FIX OF SILVER AND BLUE

*Nicky sings* Oh I do love to be beside the seaside... Oh I do love to be beside the sea-ea-ea... I'm as happy as can be... *and then she runs out of words*

But there you have it. I love the seaside. I think I was meant to be a coastal dweller, and the fact that I'm not is still one of life's little mishaps that I will have to correct, with time. It is no accident that my leading lady, Sophie, is a Cornish pisky. At least one of the men in her life is also a seaside baby. And over the course of the Rock Star romance Trilogy, significant time will be spent in coastal climes by one or several characters.

Why?

Because I attribute the same love, need, craving of the seaside to my characters as I experience myself.

Craving, you say. Of course you'd pick up on the most unusual word here. Yes, craving. I absolutely must have my fix of silver and blue in regular intervals. Having spent a mostly rainy week in Wales during last year's 'summer' holiday, and then having been treated to one of nature's most spectacular mood-swings, brought it all out in sharp relief again. Nicky needs the sea.

Imagine the scene. After several grey, damp, dull and dreary days spent wishing...well, wishing frankly that I were at home rather than there, in this miserable little holiday dump, on a Thursday morning I rose to brilliant sunshine. My mood lifted immediately, and I packed the family in the car to undertake a little drive to the nearest fantastic beach.

And it was a classic Nicky-mood-lift-restore-mental-equilibrium moment. No sooner had we turned into the coastal road to find a parking space, there it was, the brilliant blue of the Atlantic twinkling between the green and yellow hills. The walk down to the vast expanse of sandy white beach was of movie-style calibre. Wooden boardwalk, green palm trees thoughtfully provided by the local tourist board to set the right kind of mood (tropical? In Wales? Never mind, it worked). Majestic headlands rising either side of the bay. The obligatory promontory half-island sticking for out to sea, providing a dramatic backdrop to the ebb and flow of the tide (and ample opportunity for rock pooling).

On this particular day, I splurged and rented a lounger and a parasol because yes, we were there to stay for the day. So with the kids happily dispatched splashing in the sea under the not-so-close supervision of my husband, I sat back and drank.

Drank it all in. The blue and silver sparkles rising from the eternal sea. The deep breathing of the surf. The desolate, eternal calls of the seagulls whirling ahead. How do seagulls manage to sound desolate even on a sunny, busy day?

There must have been hundreds of people on the beach that day, and it wasn't therefore an ideal environment for sea-appreciation. Yet the palliative powers of the coast were not to be deterred. I could feel my whole body relax, and my mind slip into 'easy going' mode as the sheer timelessness of it all worked its magic on me. And that's what I need, every now in then, to be me, to be whole, to be same. That little reminder of the never-ending battle between water and rock, the feeling of eternity and continual change. This fascinating juxtaposition of ever-same-ness and ever-change of the appearance and the sound and feel of the coast. Somehow, it puts things into perspective and it restarts my mind. I have never, ever walked away from a day, or even just an hour, by the seaside feeling sad, or unsure, or unhappy.

And that's why I need my fix of silver-and-blue. One day, I'll buy a disused lighthouse and establish a residence in there. I'll write in the old lighting chamber with a 360-degree panorama of the sea. Then, life will be perfect. And Sophie? Well, she's one hundred percent behind me. 

Take a look at the opening chapter of Sophie's Run :

The ferry bumped gently against the pier, and I took a deep breath to steady my jangling nerves. I was here.

I arrived on this tiny, car-free island in the remote German North Sea, and I was all alone. It was strangely thrilling to think that no one knew where I was. No one was expecting me. I had made no arrangements for my stay. In fact, I didn't even know where I would sleep, but that was fine. It suited my mood. I wanted a clean break, a fresh start. No links to the past, no connections to the mess that I have left behind.

Just briefly, I wondered whether Steve would notice that I was gone. Steve, who I thought was definitely the one. would he even care, after everything that had happened? And what about my best-friend-in-the-whole-world, Rachel? Or Dan, for that matter, my other best friend, singer and rock star extraordinaire, who also doubled as my ex-fiancé – well, one of my ex-fiancés, actually. Would he notice I had run away?

While I waited for the ferry to finish docking, I drank in every detail of my chosen exile. The calm sea with little white-crested waves lapping gently against the quay. The green and white of the sandy dunes standing stark and fresh against the wide-open, deep-blue sky. The tiny harbor with only a handful of buildings and a few fishing boats bobbing on the incoming tide. Seagulls wheeling overhead, their mournful cries carrying on the gentle breeze, augmenting my sense of emptiness, newness. Fresh, clean, salty air. I took another deep breath, feeling calmer already.

Yes, I had done the right thing. I had come to the right place. Here, I would find the space and the peace to think things through. I would figure it all out, everything that had happened, and a few things that hadn't. And I would put my life back together.

See? Me and Sophie, need our fix of silver and blue! If you're intrigued, you can get your copy of Sophie's Run right here :

Sophie's Run is now available in Kindle edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, and in Paperback edition from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk You can also get the paperback at Barnes & Noble, or download Sophie's Run onto your Nook (coming soon).

Now, to celebrate the launch of Sophie's Run, don't miss out on this fabulous give-away :

STANDARD GIVEAWAY : 

Nicky Wells is giving away one delicious chocolate gift to a lucky winner in the UK or North America!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


BONUS GIVEAWAY :

Nicky Wells offers a giveaway of one Amazon gift voucher worth $20/£15 for one lucky winner. To enter, simply share your thoughts on Sophie's Run with Nicky. Email your comment to nickywells@sapphirestarpublishing.com and your name will be entered into the draw. Competition closes 1 May 2013.

GOOD LUCK AND ROCK ON! And a huge Thank You to the fabulous Eve for hosting me here today. You're a star!!

About the fantabulous Nicky Wells : Romance that Rocks Your World 

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance fiction featuring a rock star and the girl next door. A signed author with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing, Nicky is in the throes of publishing her Rock Star Romance Trilogy. Nicky loves music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When she's not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update of her work progress. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook. Nicky is a featured on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists' Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing, Amazon and, of course, Goodreads.