Q and A with Lisa Dickenson to celebrate the paperback release of The Twelve Dates of Christmas

 

 

Back in December 2013 when I was still finding my blogging feet, I was asked to review The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Lisa Dickenson.  It sounded like a fun read so I jumped at the chance, and you can read my glowing review (plus a short guest post from Lisa) here.

 

Fast forward to the present day and The Twelve Dates of Christmas has had a revamp being released in a stunningly gorgeous paperback and Lisa has kindly taken the time to answer some questions...

 

 



·         The dates in the book are hilarious- are they entirely fictional, or are they based on your own experiences?  I’m happy to say that for the most part they are entirely fictional – I’ve been to the locations, drunk the mulled wine, watched The Nutcracker and smooched at a winter wedding (my husband, at my own), but touch-wood I’ve never had some of the experiences poor Claudia goes through.  I do envy the yummy ones though…

·         What are you most looking forward to about Christmas 2015?  My pre-Christmas holiday!  I’m going to New York (which I haven’t been to since my honeymoon) and Vermont (which I’ve never been to) so I’m looking forward to nurturing that festive feeling nose-deep in thick snow and dazzling Christmas lights.

·         How does it feel now The Twelve Dates of Christmas is finally out in paperback?   How do you think the readership will differ from those who read it in ebook first time around?  It feels AMAZING; so exciting and a little bit emotional (and a huge dollop of scary, as well!).  This time people might stumble across it in shops, and if I’m lucky they’ll pick this as the Christmas book for them, whereas most of my readership currently is very reliant on lovely bloggers spreading the word to their visitors, or the kindness of other authors and the Little Book Café crew helping me break through.  

·         When did you first see your gorgeous new cover, and did you have any input into the design?  I first saw a batch of about twelve cover options in the spring, and I passed back my thoughts on my favourite elements of all of them.  So yes, Sphere are always great at asking for my input and taking into account my thoughts as much as possible.  Ultimately they know best about what’s the most appealing to readers.  I saw the final version of the cover a couple of months ago and I love it – especially the title font!

·         What's next for Lisa Dickenson?  A lovely, snow-dusted fairytale of New York – a Christmas book set in the fabulous NYC (hence the research trip later in the year).

·         And finally, (besides your own) do you have a favourite Christmas read?  100% A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  There are many, many great Christmas tales out there and all of them help evoke that warm, festive feeling, but Scrooge is my go-to fireside read on the night before Christmas.

 

The Twelve Dates of Christmas is out now, published by Sphere.

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The Twelve Dates of Christmas series- Lisa Dickenson *Blog Tour post including author guest post*

The Twelve Dates of Christmas series is a wonderfully entertaining, festive romp.  There are six 'episodes', each comprising two dates. 

We are introduced to Claudia as she separates from her unreliable, inattentive boyfriend Seth and throws herself back into the world of dating.  Each of the dates are perfect bitesized chunks of humour, romance and drama and the overall story gains momentum as the series progresses.  Can Claudia put herself back 'out there' and find someone who appreciates her?

Claudia and her ballerina friend Penny will be easy characters for many readers to relate to.  They are young women trying to find out what they want from life- learning about relationships, making decisions about their career and weighing up whether they want children of their own.

I also really loved the London setting.  Top sights such as St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the Shard feature heavily, and as a huge fan of everything London I revelled in reading about places I have visited.

Lisa Dickenson has written a perfect festive read-heart-warming, laugh out loud funny (honestly, date four will stay with me for a LONG time to come!  I snorted!) and absolutely, totally, utterly Christmassy.  I feel ready to crack out the eggnog and mince pieces now!

Dates 1-10 are available to read now, with the final episode, dates 11-12 released on December 16th.

9/10

With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

 

Lisa very kindly agreed to write an exclusive piece about her best ever Christmas present for Books with Bunny.  Here it is...

 

The best present I ever had…

The best Christmas present I have ever had was my engagement ring.  She came twinkling out of a little black box on a cold December night of 2010, one week before Christmas.  We met each other on a rooftop terrace bar in New York City, surrounding by heaters and fairy lights.  While everyone else was keeping warm inside, my future husband I wanted to be out there, with a view of the Empire State Building and with the yellow taxis whooshing past below. 

                It turned out my ring had been by my side for the past three months, ever since my partner and I jetted to the US to finish the final leg of our year round the world.  She’d been chosen in Tiffany’s and been safely snuggled in his bag, enjoying the sunshine of LA, the canyons of Arizona, the coffee of Seattle, the snow and waterfalls of Canada, the monuments of Washington D.C – but always desperate to get to the Big Apple. 

                Then there we were, looking at each other, on the last night of the trip.  And behind my lovely ring was my lovely Phil, smiling, nervous, apologizing in case she didn’t fit, a bit glassy-eyed from the cocktail he’d practically gulped moments before.  She did fit, just perfectly.

                And now we’re two years on, and she’s here with me spangling away among the smudgy red taillights of winter commuter traffic.  So I love my engagement ring.  She was my favourite present.   But not just because of the diamonds, but because of the memories she reflects back at me.

Merry Christmas, all xxx