Author Interview : Mandy Baggot

Today, I'd love to welcome Mandy Baggot to Eve's Chick Lit Reviews!

Photo courtesy of author

About Mandy Baggot

Mandy Baggot brings to you award-winning fiction! In 2012, she won the coveted Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK's Festival of Romance. Her novel Strings Attached was also short listed for Best Author Published Read!

Mandy writes strong contemporary romance and characters you'll fall in love with. Previously self-published, she was signed by US publishing house Sapphire Star Publishing in January 2012. Shortly afterwards she became a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Mandy is a self-confessed Twitter addict who also likes to show off her singing talents on You Tube - check out Lady Gaga! She's auditioned for X Factor, appeared on ITV1's Who Dares Sing and longs to duet with Bryan Adams. She also has a fondness for white wine, mashed potatoes, country music and World's Strongest Man.

Mandy lives near Salisbury in Wiltshire, UK with her husband, two daughters and two cats called Kravitz and Springsteen.

You can find out more on Mandy's website - http://mandybaggot.com or check out her author page at Sapphire Star Publishing http://sapphirestarpublishing.com/mandybaggot

 Published by Sapphire Star Publishing

Autumn Raine is a pop vocalist at the very top of her game. She's a style icon, the paparazzi's darling and everyone wants to be her friend. But when her safety is threatened, her whole life starts to unravel.

Enter Nathan Regan, an ex-elite soldier who is assigned to protect her. He's a good man doing bad things but what drives him? Passion? Madness? Or grief? Demons from the past are threarening to consume him. Can he win the fight alone or will he have to admit he needs help?

As threat deepens, Autumn starts to find out who she really needs in her life. Is there still room for personal assistant Janey or rapper boyfriend Rockweiler? When everyone around her is feeding her lies, how does she work out the truth? Does her record producer know more than he's letting on? What is her mother , the British Foreign Secretary's involvement in the situation? And can Autumn put her faith in a forty-something Jamaican woman who handles an automatic weapon as expertly as she cooks?

Eluding kidnap and trying to stay alive, can Autumn find the strength to the person she longs to be? And can two people, poles apart, forge something strong enough to survive anything?

Hi, Mandy! Thanks for spending time with me today!

Security seems to be different from your previous books. What was the inspiration behind it?

Although I always write romance novels they are all very different. The story for Security came from my love of watching action / suspense on TV. I love shows like 24 and Spooks. Once I had my characters there was always going to be more to the plot than just their relationship. I also went to an Andy McNab book signing at my local Waterstones. I'm completely intrigued by the work these soldiers do and just what situations they must have been in. We had a short chat and he is a really lovely guy but I couldn't help focusing on those hands...the guns he'd had in them, whose throat they might have been around at some point etc.

You have written 7 novels so far. Do you have a favourite character and why?

A favourite character?! Eek! How can I choose one?! I loved Robyn from Taking Charge. She is the girl who never grew up - one of the boys - who gets away with saying exactly what's on her mind.

Normally, books come from inspirations. Do you have a favourite place to go to for inspirations?

I do get inspired from places I visit. I obviously wrote my first novel, Excess All Areas, after I'd fallen in love with the Greek island of Corfu. Visiting my dad's home town in America inspired, Taking Charge. I would say I pick up ideas whenever I step out of the door!

Is there a reason or reasons why you chose to be self published?

In the beginning, I didn't choose to be self-published. I wrote to almost every agent in the UK and some in America with absolutely no luck with my first three novels. I got close on a couple of occasions but ultimately it was always a no. Once I'd received all those no letters I self-published through Feed A Read in paperback format and then Amazon invented Kindle Direct Publishing.

After bringing out Strings Attached and having so much success with it I really wasn't up for sending loads of query letters out so I just sent five emails to five small press publishers. Three came back wanting to sign Taking Charge and I was in a really special position. I chose the wonderful Sapphire Star Publishing and it was the right decision. That isn't to say I've forgotten my indie roots. There are some fantastic indie authors out there who are doing brilliantly without the backing of a traditional publisher and in this day and age it really is a case of finding what works best for you!

Do you have a favourite book or maybe, a favourite author?

I really don't have a favourite book or a favourite author. There are far too many fantastic books and writers out there I couldn't choose one. I'm really enjoying the variety.

A piece of advice for my lovely readers who are thinking of becoming writers?

Enjoy your writing. Decide what you want - indie or traditional - and get your work out there. Write from your heart not based on trend.

Lastly, what are you working on now? Tell us more about it?

I'm really, really close to finishing my next novel, Do You Remember? which I am scheduling for an October 2013 release. Here's the draft blurb to give you a taste : -

Do you remember your first love? Emma Barron does.

2005 was the most tragic year of Emma's life. It was the year her mother died and it was the year she met Guy Duval. Eight years on, school teacher Emma has a doting boyfriend and a young son, Dominic. Life's been hard but now it's comfortable. She's settled and content, so why would she risk it all for another chance with the man that broke her heart?

Guy's an international renowned footballer newly signed to a top UK team. Together with his long-term girlfriend Madeleine, he's determined to drown the horrors from his childhood with fame, success and money. hiding his pain beneath a public facade he's still struggling to get over events from his teenage years. No one knows the truth and it must stay that way.

Unable to confide in her best friend, Ally, Emma tries to hold her life together as her heart is pulled into pieces. Dominic is her priority and always has been, but did she turn her back on love too soon?

Nobody knows what really happened on 5 September 2005 and as events are slowly revealed can anyone cope with the truth?

Thanks for your visit Mandy!