A special thank you to the author, Olivia Spring, for inviting me to participate in the blog tour and for generously providing me with and ARC in exchange for an honest review.
If you are a fan of Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk, than this book is for you!
Roxy has finally got her groove back after a messy divorce. Her ex was controlling and manipulative, and along the way she lost herself.
A hot, younger man unexpectedly pops up and the timing seems perfect—after all, Roxy is single—but she’s been warned that he’s off-limits. So much so, that if she were to get involved with him, she would be putting her career and everything she’s worked so hard for at risk. Roxy repeated refuses his advances, but he is too charming for her own good… Will she put everything on the line for a forbidden fling?
Olivia Spring, you’ve done it again. This modern girl’s rom-com is about self-love, self-discovery, and to always be true to who you are. I devoured it!
I adore British authors. There are so many brilliant offerings—whether it’s chick lit or thrillers—and this book is no exception. With strong, relatable characters, Spring layers her stories with humour and heat (warning: some may be offended at the language and sex scenes). Roxy is a modern heroine that’s a breath of fresh air. Readers will be rooting for her as she navigates her way from being a consummate people-pleaser into an accomplished and admired middle-aged woman. There really needs to be more books written with these types of leading ladies and I applaud Spring for writing strong women.
Losing My Inhibitions can function as a standalone novel, or can be the prequel to
The Middle-Aged Virgin and
Only When It’s Love.
OLIVIA SPRING is a PR professional from London. She loves cake and has always wanted to be a writer. Because she still works in public relations, she adopted a pen name to spare the embarrassment of any clients that may read anything racy.
Q & A with Olivia Spring
GWR: How did you know that you had a book in you?
OS: I always knew I wanted to be an author because I just loved writing so much! Even from as young as four, you would find me in my bedroom creating stories and then running downstairs to read them to my parents and whoever would listen. In fact, I recently came across an old English schoolbook from when I was eleven. As part of my homework, I had to say what I wanted to do as a career and I’d said I wanted to be a writer. It’s really great to look back on that now and know that I am!
In terms of knowing that I had a book in me, as I got older, even though the desire to write a novel still remained, I just didn't have that big idea, so I kept pushing it to the back of my mind. It wasn’t until January 2016 when a close friend suddenly passed away that I was driven to take the leap. I realised that life was too short not to start pursuing my dream. I woke up at 3 a.m. one morning soon afterwards and the ideas just flowed out of me! I sat in bed for hours just writing notes about the plot and the characters, then spent the next two and a half years writing and editing what then became my debut novel:
The Middle-Aged Virgin.
The truth is, although I had accumulated a lot of writing experience in other forms through various PR and copywriting roles I’d had over the years, you never really know if you have a book in you, until you try. So in the end, I just had to believe in myself and take the plunge.
GWR: Tell me about your writing process. Do you plan things out, or are you more of a pantser (fly by the seat of your pants)?
OS: Definitely a planner. I have to have an outline before I start writing and know what’s going to happen in every chapter. That’s not to say that the finished novel follows the original plan exactly. When I’m writing, I always come up with new ideas to include. Then when the manuscript goes through the editing process, my editor will make suggestions on how to enhance the story, which always involves amending or deleting things and sometimes adding more chapters.
GWR: How long does it take you to write a book?
OS: Ooh — the million-dollar question! That really depends on the book and also the length. My first novel took around two and a half years to write, redraft, edit etc. That’s because it was my first book and I was also working full-time, so after finishing my day job, I'd start writing around 9 p.m. until sometimes two in the morning, then sleep and go to work and repeat the process. I’d write at weekends too. It also took a long time because it’s my largest novel.
Only When It's Love took around four or five months. My latest novel,
Losing My Inhibitions just poured out of me. I couldn’t stop writing! I dedicated every spare second I had to it. In bed, on the train, in between seminars at the London Book Fair... I finished the first draft for that in about four weeks. But that was only a very small part of the process. You then have to go through draft number two, three, four, five million (only joking!), send it off to be edited, then make amends, then send it back to the editor, make more amends, get it proofread etc. So from concept to publication, that has taken about four months.
GWR: There are a lot of misconceptions about the Romance genre in that it is often perceived as being “fluff”. What attracted you to write Romance?
OS: I write the kind of books I like to read and I’ve always enjoyed funny, sexy romance and chick lit novels. I think sometimes people can get a little bit snooty about books, but personally, I believe that everyone should be able to read whatever they enjoy.
As well as writing books which offer the fun, entertaining elements of a chick lit novel, I also aim to highlight real-life issues that women can identify with in my books and include positive, uplifting messages too. For example, in my latest novel
Losing My Inhibitions, the protagonist, Roxy, is recovering from a toxic marriage and we see her finding her feet again after divorcing her controlling ex. So in addition to the romance and the humour side of things that she experiences as she embarks on a new adventure, the story is about self-love, new beginnings, forging your own path in life and being true to yourself.
GWR: Have you ever written out a character from one book only to have them surface in another?
OS: Absolutely! Roxy, the protagonist in
Losing My Inhibitions also appears in
The Middle-Aged Virgin and
Only When It’s Love. As she was really popular with readers of my first two novels, I decided to create a dedicated book so that they could learn more about her story and find out how she became such a feisty character. Roxy has a heart of gold, but she speaks her mind and has zero filter, which is so fun to write and I hope, also to read! This novel acts as a prequel to my previous books, but can also be read as a standalone novel.
Losing My Inhibitions also includes appearances from Sophia (from
The Middle-Aged Virgin) and Alex (the protagonist in
Only When It’s Love).
GWR: How do you select the names of your characters?
OS: Good question! I use a number of different methods. Number one is probably Google – looking up popular names which fit the age and country that particular character is from. I also make a note when I come across a name that I like. So for example, when I’m at the supermarket or in the park and I hear someone’s name being called. Or sometimes, I choose a name because it’s one that I’ve liked for years. Sophia is one of my favourites, so that’s why it was used for my first novel.
The name also has to fit the character’s personality. I think that when we hear a name, rightly or wrongly, we have often have a preconceived idea of how we believe they will look, talk and act, so I try to take that into account too.
GWR: What book has gotten you through a challenging time in your life?
OS: I don’t recall having a book that got me through a challenging time personally. However, I do believe that books – both fiction and non-fiction definitely have the power to inspire and uplift us. For example, I’ve heard great things about
Becoming, by Michelle Obama, so I’m looking forward to reading that at some point.
GWR: What are you working on next?
OS: I’m finishing off a novel with all-new characters. I started working on it last year, but got side-tracked writing
Only When It’s Love. Then not long after that was published, I couldn’t get the idea for
Losing My Inhibitions out of my head, so switched to write that instead. I really can’t wait to get back to working on this novel though, as I adore the characters. Particularly the love interest who is definitely one of my favourite book boyfriends…Swoon!
The ebook version of
Losing My Inhibitions will be available
FREE to Olivia's VIP Club members
from Wednesday 26th June 2019. Sign up at
www.oliviaspring.com.
The paperback is available to buy from Amazon from Wednesday 26th June:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07T9X66G5.
Follow Olivia on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @ospringauthor #LosingMyInhibitions Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18210898.Olivia_Spring.
