Mistletoe
and the Mouse
Can a magical Christmas melt a frozen heart?
Join Belle and James as they visit Mickey
Mouse for a sparkling holiday season at Disneyland Paris.
Belle has been numb since her mother died, and
she can’t face Christmas at home without her. Instead she books a surprise
holiday to her “happy place” – the Magic Kingdom. But her boyfriend James has
problems of his own. He doesn’t “do Disney” and what will his mother
think of him missing their family Christmas to go to Disneyland with Belle?
A festive romance with a sprinkling of Pixie
Dust.
Purchase Links
https://amzn.to/31o1Cu3 (Amazon)
Theme Park Press
website: http://themeparkpress.com/
Author Q&A
1.
What would you consider to be your Kryptonite as
an author?
I take walks around my neighbourhood or out
into the fields, and often find that by the time I get back from a nice long
walk the answer has magically occurred to me!
2.
If you could tell your younger writing self
anything, what would it be?
I’d tell myself to get used to negative
feedback – it isn’t the end of everything. As a younger writer, I used to think
that if one person didn’t like what I had written, that was it, the end of the
world, everything was over, I had failed and I should bin the work. Now I look
at the feedback, decide whether I agree with it, and if I do I change what I’m writing,
if I don’t, I carry on regardless. I wish I had learnt that earlier, there
would be fewer books in my rubbish bin!
3.
What book do you feel is under-appreciated? How
about overrated?
There are so many under-appreciated
books out there! Usually ones written by authors who aren’t very good at putting
themselves forward and shouting about their own work. So much of writing novels
is about publicity, and so many authors are not good at that. I could make you
a list as long as my arm! It’s difficult to think of an overrated books – I
honestly think that if a lot of people enjoy a book and I don’t like it, it’s
probably me, not them!
4.
Favorite childhood memory involving books?
5.
If you could dine with any literary character,
who would it be and why?
Anne of Green Gables, without question.
She’d be a great hostess, there’d be plenty of home-grown, home-cooked treats and
Anne could tell lots of funny stories at the dinner table. I’d quite fancy a
taste of Marilla’s legendary currant wine too!
6.
What fantastical fictional world would you want
to live in (if any) given the chance?
I’d want to have a room in the
Beast’s Castle from Beauty and the Beast. I have serious library envy
whenever I watch that film, and I’d love to have dinner with Belle and the
Beast – I’ve heard the grey stuff is delicious.
I’m sure Belle could employ me as castle librarian!
7.
Did you want to be an author when you grew up?
I still do want to be an author when I grow
up! However I’m not sure when the growing up is going to happen …
8.
If you had to describe yourself in three words,
what would they be?
Never completely satisfied.
9.
What is your most unusual writing quirk?
I don’t think I have any
interesting ones. I drink a lot of cups of tea …
10.
What’s one movie you like recommending to
others?
11.
If you could own any animal as a pet, what would
it be?
12.
Have you ever met anyone famous?
Not that I know of. But I’m not good with
faces out of context, so even if I bumped into Prince William in the street, I
probably wouldn’t realise who he was!
13.
What is the first book that made you cry?
My Dad had a book he loved, called The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico,
which we read when I was probably too young to understand it properly. It was
set during the “little ships” rescue from Dunkirk, it’s a tragic story and I
was inconsolable by the end. I think it might have been my first encounter with
a book that did not have a happy ending. I still can’t read it without my eyes
filling with tears!
14.
How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?
So far, anything between about three months and three years! Mistletoe
and the Mouse, because it’s only a novella, was the quickest ever. I
started it last November, and I was submitting to a publisher before the end of
January.
15.
How do you select the names of your characters?
I cheat! I often use a website that suggests character names. It’s called
https://www.name-generator.org.uk/character/
and I often end up with names that I’d never otherwise have thought of – it’s
particularly good for surnames, as forenames are the easy part. Belle, for
example, could never have been called anything else.
16.
What creature do you consider your "spirit animal" to be?
[I don’t think I’ve got one!]
17.
What are your top 5 favorite movies?
Only 5? Oh goodness! You’d expect them all to be Disney, wouldn’t you, but
they’re not … My first favourite is The Wizard of Oz. I remember
watching it every year on Christmas Eve, a real special treat. For me, it
transcends everything else made before or since, a shining piece of film
genius. Snow White has a similar mythical status in my life – my
mother’s first memory of going to the cinema was being terrified by the Queen
in Snow White, and I watched it over and over again with my own children
(slightly more recently!) so for me that is the film that unites the
generations of my family, and it’s as good now as when it was made. Beauty
and the Beast is probably my own favourite Disney film – I think because
Belle was the first Disney princess who seemed, to me at least, like a real
person. She liked reading more than she liked being princessy and singing to magical
animals, after all! I do love musicals, and although it’s not technically a
film, my favourite find of the last year has been Hamilton on Disney+
which was unlike anything I have seen before, and I would really strongly
recommend it – awesome story telling. But my all-time most-watched film ever is
Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, because it combines being a great
adventure film and a great romance, it’s got a gloriously sweeping score and on
top of all that, it’s got Alan Rickman in it!
18. If you were the last person on Earth, what
would you do?
I’m
not entirely sure, but I’d be eating chocolate while I did it!
19. What fictional character would you want to be
friends with in real life?
[This would be more or less the same answer as
the dinner party one]
20. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
[This would be more or less the same answer as
what advice I’d give my younger self]
21. What book do you wish you had written?
The one I’m working on at the moment which I had
aimed to finish last month!! It’s the final part of my Disney trilogy, set in
Walt Disney World and my heroine keeps making unexpected decisions and
upsetting all my plans for her.
22. Tell us 10 fun facts about yourself!
[I don’t think I have even three fun facts about
myself!]
23. If you could live in any time period, what
would it be and why?
I’ve often thought about this one (is that a bit
sad?) I think, if I was rich enough to be comfortable and literate, I’d like to
have been around in the 1840s. It would have been exciting to see the early
years of the reign of Queen Victoria, and to be among the first to read some of
the great works of Dickens and the Bronte sisters. I like the women’s fashions
of that period too – cosy shawls and big skirts. However, the downside of
disease and famine in the 1840s might have been overwhelming.
24.
What is your favorite genre to read?
I don’t think you’ll be surprised to find out that I’m a big
fan of romantic fiction.
Author Bio
–
Elsa
Simonetti was born in the same year as Walt Disney World, but many miles away
in the north of England. Her earliest Disney memory is crying during Bambi at
the Saturday morning cinema club! It wasn’t until her own children were small
that her husband introduced her to the magic of Disneyland Paris, and since
then she has become obsessed, proving Walt Disney’s own belief that “Laughter
is timeless, imagination has no age and dreams are forever”. That was the seed
of this story – that Disneyland is not just for children, but for anyone who is
young at heart.
Elsa also writes romantic women’s fiction
under the name of Liz Taylorson
Social
Media Links –
Twitter: @Elsasimonetti
@taylorson_liz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElsaSimonettiAuthor
https://www.facebook.com/TaylorsonLiz
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