Liz's Reading Life: Blog Tour & Author Interview ~ High Hopes by Sue Lilley

18 August 2017

Blog Tour & Author Interview ~ High Hopes by Sue Lilley

High Hopes

Series: Standalone

Author: Sue Lilley

Publisher: Sue Lilley

Cover Artist: Humble Nations

Release Date: April 19, 2016

Romance Genre(s): Contemporary

Words: 60,000

View on Goodreads

Blurb

“It was one stolen night. He was my soulmate and I’d never felt more alive. I couldn’t tell him I got pregnant. It would’ve ruined everything. But now his daughter wants to meet him and I need to make things right.” Another tear escaped down her cheek. “Everybody’s going to hate me.”

Three friends are rocked when a 20-year secret blows their world apart. Steamy, passionate, and unpredictable. If you like sizzling love triangles you won’t want to miss it.

Grace has kept her heart-breaking secret for twenty years – a love child she gave up for adoption. She was a penniless student - how could she raise a baby alone? Then she receives a letter out of the blue. Her long-lost daughter is searching for answers.

Her two best friends are married and don’t know one of them is the girl’s father. If Grace confesses now, the marriage will be destroyed and it will surely be the end of their lifelong friendship. But what choice does Grace have?

Set in the wilds of Poldark-country – the stormy cliffs and windswept beaches of picturesque Cornwall – an engrossing saga filled with suspense, simmering jealousy and heartbreak. Can a future be built on the quicksand of secrets and lies? Surely there can be no second chances when three friends discover they don’t know each other at all.

Amazon US | UK | CA | AU

Author Interview

Welcome to the blog, Sue. Will you tell us a little about High Hopes?

High Hopes is my second novel. I’ve long had a fascination for secrets, how people go to great lengths to hide things and what happens when the truth comes out. In High Hopes, three old friends are confronted with a secret from twenty years ago. An adopted child traces her birth mother. The father knows nothing about her and when the truth is revealed, it rocks them to the core. They think they know everything about each other but are shocked to uncover jealousy and hurt simmering beneath the surface. High Hopes is the name of a place in the book and also represents the theme of having “high hopes” for the future.

Which authors most inspire you?

If I was ever stranded on a desert island, I’d want Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Scruples by Judith Krantz and something to get my teeth into, like any of the big and fabulous dramas from Penny Vincenci. My all-time favourite novel is The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. I had it in hardback and read it so many times over the years, it fell to bits and I had to buy another copy. Obviously before the days of the Kindle. I love everything about it – the wonderful characters, the sense of family history, the vivid setting. I suspect her writing inspired my lasting love of Cornwall, which features in both of my own novels.

Do you work to an outline, or do you prefer to see where an idea takes you?

I like a brief outline so I know where I’m going. But other than that, the fun is in making it up as I go along. As I have a full-time job, I write mainly at weekends. During the week, I mull over the next bit of the plot so I’m ready to go as soon as I sit down at my computer. I walk around with a notebook and a purple pen, working out my next scene. I have become that mad woman talking to herself on the bus.

What is your favourite motivational phrase?

Well done is better than well said (Benjamin Franklin)

If you could have been the author of any book, which would it be and why?

I’d have to say Harry Potter. It hooked a whole generation of children into reading and made JK Rowling a fortune.

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

I’d love to be invisible. I’m such a people-watcher and eavesdropper, it would be great to get in closer without being noticed.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

It’s important to put in the effort to learn the craft of novel writing. Although I decided to go down the self-published route, I’m confident my books are well written and entertaining reads. I’ve always believed a writer is what you are, not what you become. So I’d say never give up on the publishing dream. Also, write what you love. If you don’t love your work, why will anyone else?

Thank you Sue for stopping by and congrats on your release of High Hopes!

About Sue Lilley

Described as an exciting new voice in Women’s Fiction, Sue Lilley lives in the north east of England, when she isn’t escaping somewhere else in her imagination. She is often found eavesdropping for inspiration. Her first two novels were well received. Another Summer is “an alluring example of its genre”. High Hopes is “a story that holds immense appeal for readers who like plots containing sizzling love triangles.” She is hard at work on her third novel.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Tour Stops

June 26

Author Interview with Amy’s Bookish Life

June 29

Book Review by Booklove

July 3

Author Interview with Drops of Ink

July 5

Exclusive Excerpt at Obsessed by Books

July 11

Exclusive Excerpt at The Bookworm Lodge