Blog Tour: Author and Character Interview with Steven Scaffardi and Dan Hilles
Today I am taking part in the Lad Lit Blog Tour, and I am delighted to be joined by lad lit author Steven Scaffardi, and the star of his two books in the Sex, Love and Dating Disasters series, Dan Hilles.
Gentleman, welcome to Novel Kicks. Steven, if we could start with you. What were the main challenges of returning to an already established character or did it make writing the second novel slightly easier?
Hi Laura, thanks for having us! When I wrote The Drought, I never set out to write a series but I guess I fell in love with the characters, especially Dan and his three best friends, Rob, Jack and Ollie. At the end of the book, I started thinking what would the boys do next? It set the wheels in motion for a series of ideas that became The Flood.
In a lot of ways, already knowing the characters so well did make it easier as I knew how they would react in certain situations, but at the same time you also have an audience who already knows these characters so you have to remain true to who they are, so from that point of view you can’t suddenly change course completely like you might with a new book and a new set of characters.
Dan, you make a drunken bet in The Flood that complicates your life somewhat when you accept the challenge from your friends to date four women in eight weeks. What were your main motivations for taking the bet?
As you mentioned Laura, alcohol played a big part in me making that stupid bet. Basically, after going through the sexual drought in the first book, the boys were on my case and giving me a lot of stick about not being very good with the opposite sex, especially Jack who once he gets started, simply can’t stop taking the micky!
Anyway, after one drink too many I made the bet. I’m not proud of it, and you could say that I got bit on the backside by karma as I ended up dating a stalker, my crazy ex-
girlfriend, the office ice queen, and the one who got away before. To be honest, I wish I could go back and change it all. It was a nightmare, especially trying to keep them all apart.
Steven, do you cast your characters and if so, who do you have in mind for Dan, Rob, Ollie and Jack?
The four original boys in The Drought (Dan, Rob, Jack and Ollie) were based on people I knew. Dan is loosely based on me I guess, but most of the personalities and the things the boys get up to are based on fact, and then exaggerated for comedy effect.
Some of the best stories I pick up come from friends when we are standing around in the pub reminiscing about old dating stories. That is a big reason why I wrote The Drought in the first place. Some of the things guys think or get up are to are pretty hilarious, so I tried to build a story around dating disasters. I wanted to tell a story from a man’s point of view about relationships. Most of the time, it’s not as perfect as chick lit makes it out to be, so I wanted to bring some balance to the world!
by 
Latest Book Releases
Wow, I can’t believe that we are already into June. With a new month comes a bunch of new books. Here are some of the new releases available this week. Which one do you want to read?
Always With Love by Giovanna Fletcher (Penguin, 2nd June 2016.)
How excited am I to be able to revisit Rosemont Hill? Lots, that’s what. I can’t wait to catch up with Billy and Sophie in the sequel to Billy & Me. A gorgeous cover too.
Sophie’s got used to being the girlfriend of Billy Buskin, the biggest movie star in the world. Sort of.
But when she and Billy take a trip to visit his family in Los Angeles, she quickly discovers she’s totally unprepared for the chaos of Hollywood, the paparazzi and Billy’s controlling mother.
And when Billy extends his stay in LA, leaving Sophie to fly home to Rosefont Hill alone, it seems there’s more than just miles between them.
Now Sophie must decide if they can overcome their differences for good. Because not every love story lasts the distance . . .
The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison (Thomas & Mercer, 1st June 2016.)
This cover is lovely and the plot to this novel is very intriguing.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.
When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.
As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding…
Cross Kill by James Patterson (Bookshots, June 2016.)
This is a book in the Alex Cross thriller series and has been released in paperback today.
ALEX CROSS, I’m coming for you – even from the grave if I have to.
Along Came a Spider killer Gary Soneji has been dead for over ten years. Alex Cross watched him die. But today, Cross saw him gun down his partner. Is Soneji alive? A ghost? Or something even more sinister?
Nothing will prepare you for the wicked truth.
by June’s Book Club: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Collins Classics, April 2016.
Welcome to the Novel Kicks online book club.
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off in the comments box below. A good thing about our book club is that everyone is welcome to take part. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
The best part… it’s all from the comfort of your armchair/sofa/bed/comfy place.
For June, we’re reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
This is one classic I’ve actually never got around to reading so I am looking forward to visiting Alice in Wonderland.
‘Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”’
by Book Review: Is This Love? by Sue Moorcroft
How many ways can one woman love?
When Tamara Rix’s sister Lyddie is involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves her in need of constant care, Tamara resolves to remain in the village she grew up in. Tamara would do anything for her sister, even sacrifice a long-term relationship.
But when Lyddie’s teenage sweetheart Jed Cassius returns to Middledip, he brings news that shakes the Rix family to their core. Jed’s life is shrouded in mystery, particularly his job, but despite his strange background, Tamara can’t help being intrigued by him.
Can Tamara find a balance between her love for Lyddie and growing feelings for Jed, or will she discover that some kinds of love just don’t mix?
Where to start? Are there enough superlatives to describe this story? No. there you go, one of the shortest book reviews you’ll ever see.
Seriously? Yes, seriously, I finished this book about half an hour ago and have since being thinking, cogitating and generally mulling over how to put into words my thoughts on this story. I’ll do my best, though for those other fans of hers, I doubt if anything I’m going to say will come as a surprise.
Ms Moorcroft doesn’t pick easy subject matter, that much you already know if you’ve read any of her other books, for this, she should be congratulated. No picking the tried, tested, or easy route for her and perhaps other writers in the Contemporary Romance genre would do well to take a leaf from her book.
There are three central characters in ‘Is This Love?’ Two conventional, Tamara and Jed, around whom the conventional love story is centred and then there’s Tamara’s elder sister Lyddie. Lyddie is the glue that binds Tamara’s family together; Lyddie is a kind, generous thirty-something woman; Lyddie is a kind, generous, thirty-something brain-damaged woman. That got your notice.
by Blog Tour: Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro
Photo credit: Gregg Liberi USE
I am so happy to be welcoming Kathleen Tessaro to Novel Kicks today and her blog tour for her new novel, Rare Objects which is due to be released by Harper on Thursday.
Mae Fanning seizes on a job at a tiny, exclusive Boston antiques shop as the fresh start she desperately needs. It opens a window to new world, one peopled with rare and rich characters. But the day that enigmatic socialite Diana van der Laar walks in, Mae’s hidden past returns.
As a moth to a flame, Mae is unable to resist Diana’s heady, seductive glamour and glittering life. Yet, like the rare objects in the shop, very little is what it appears – Diana included.
Moving from Jazz-Age New York to Boston in the grip of the Great Depression, Rare Objects is a rich and gripping story of what it means to reach for a braver, bolder life.
Hello Kathleen. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me a little about your typical writing day?
Thank you for inviting me!
My normal day involves getting up at 6am, walking the dog, and getting my son off to school. Then I drink lots of strong coffee, research, write, walk the dog again, spend far too much time looking up useless information and then give up entirely around 2:30. The nice thing about historical fiction is that when you get stuck in your writing, there’s always interesting reading or research to indulge in.
How do you normally approach the process – do you edit as you go? Plan? Write in silence or with noise and where do you like to write?
I normally write at home, in relative quiet, and often in bed (though it must be made and I must be dressed – otherwise one is simply asking for trouble). I like to get the first 50 or so pages out before I go back over anything, just because one can get stuck quite easily in re-working the first three paragraphs over and over and never move forward. (Chances are the first three paragraphs never make it to the final cut anyway.) I do plan and sometimes even outline but have never managed to stick to it.
Congratulations on the release of your new novel, Rare Objects which is due to be released this week. Can you tell me a little about it and where the idea originated?
Thank you! The idea came from my fascination with found objects and the stories behind them. I’ve always wanted to write about an antiquities shop so that I would have a constant influx of characters and stories coming in and out. And the reason why different people collect certain things intrigues me. Add into that mix two young women from very different social classes with a shared secret, the glamour and despair of the Prohibition period and a mythical object that acts like an omen to everyone who comes across it and before you know it, an entire world is up and running!
by Book Club
