Unforgettable by R.E. Loten - Book Tour + Giveaway

Unforgettable

There are first loves and there are last loves. But what happens when they overlap?

Tom Blythe falls in love quickly. He fell for Olivia the first time they met. The same thing happens when he meets Grace. The problem is: Tom is still in love with Olivia.

Pulled in two different directions, Tom has a choice to make. He knows he’s unhappy, but is that enough for him to forget the vows he made? Both women have difficult pasts and Tom is desperate to help them, but at what cost?

Can he let Olivia go and commit his future to Grace? Or will the pull of the past prove too strong?

Purchase Link - mybook.to/LotenUnforgettable

Author Q&A
1.     What would you consider to be your Kryptonite as an author?
Time. Without a doubt, this is the biggest problem I have. I have two children and a teacher husband, so evenings, weekends and school holidays are always taken up with family stuff and I have little to no time to write. I’m trying to carve out some time these days, but in the past I’ve not been able to do anything when they’re all at home.

2.    If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
To make time to keep writing. In my twenties I wrote very little because there seemed to be very little time for it, but it’s something that’s so important to my mental health.

3.    What book do you feel is under-appreciated? How about overrated?
It’s hard to pick out individual books, but my reading challenge last year was to complete the listchallenge BBC 100 book list. Some of them were excellent, but a few books on there felt as though they were only on the list because they were challenging reads. In terms of being under-appreciated, I think that anything that is dismissed simply because of its genre or because it’s been independently published, is underrated. Some of my favourite reads recently have been in genres usually dismissed as ‘light and frivolous’ or by authors who have chosen to shun traditional publishing.

4.    Favorite childhood memory involving books?
My mum, sister and grandma taking me to see a performance of Wind In The Willows in Lancaster’s Williamson Park. Each scene took place in a different part of the park and the audience moved around with the action. It made me want to read the book and it remains one of my favourites today.

5.    If you could dine with any literary character, who would it be and why?
Anne Shirley from ‘Anne of Green Gables’ because I love her attitude to life.

6.    What fantastical fictional world would you want to live in (if any) given the chance?
It’s a tough choice. I’d have to go with either Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or Jasper Fforde’s ‘Thursday Next’ world. Both are gloriously off beat. I’d love to meet the characters from the Discworld, but I also love the idea of being able to go into any book and meet the characters within.

7.    Did you want to be an author when you grew up?
Not consciously, but I think the desire was always there subconsciously. For my writer’s badge in Brownies I wrote 25 sides of A4 (and bless the tester, she sat and read every word!) and in my teens I wrote an ongoing romantic saga that kept my friends entertained on the bus on the way home. I just don’t think it ever occurred to me that it was something I could actually do for a job – it was always just a hobby.

8.    If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Short. Feisty. Imaginative.

9.    What is your most unusual writing quirk?
I’m not sure it’s unusual, but I like to throw in references to other books/characters in my writing. Most of the time I don’t think anyone else would pick up on it, but knowing they’re in there makes me smile.

10.                    What’s one movie you like recommending to others?
High Spirits. It’s not especially good, but it has a very young Liam Neeson in it and it’s one of my favourites!

11.  If you could own any animal as a pet, what would it be?
I already have dogs, so it would have to be a pig. Totally impractical, but I love them!

12. Have you ever met anyone famous?
I go to the Robin of Sherwood conventions so have met some of the stars from that – Jason Connery, Clive Mantle, Mark Ryan. They’re all incredibly down to earth and are lovely people. I also met Paul Daniels (the magician) when I was about six and taught him how to do a waltz!

 

1.     What is the first book that made you cry?
‘Rilla of Ingleside’. It’s the last in the ‘Anne of Green Gables’ series and made me howl. It still makes me cry even as an adult. It affected me so much as a child that I promised myself that when I was older I would go over to Courcelette and lay a poppy for one character. I did it a few years ago, much to the bemusement of my family.

2.    How long, on average, does it take you to write a book?
It varies wildly. The longest has been two years, which was ‘Unforgettable’. I started it when I started my MA in Creative Writing and I finished it at the same time as I finished the MA. Obviously, I wasn’t writing it the whole time because the MA took priority, but I was dabbling with it throughout. At the opposite end of the spectrum, it took me only six weeks to write the first draft of the next novel. I’d started it and abandoned it years ago and then one day something just clicked and I planned the whole thing out in meticulous detail. Six weeks later I wrote ‘The End’.

3.    How do you select the names of your characters?
As I said earlier, sometimes they’re amalgamations of character names I’ve read elsewhere. Sometimes I choose names because of what they mean. For example, Grace in ‘Unforgettable’ came about because of the role I wanted her to play in the novel. The rest of the time, it’s just a name that ‘fits’. I quite often use holding names until I get to know the characters and only then do I decide what they’re called.

4.    What creature do you consider your "spirit animal" to be?
A cat. By nature I’m quite solitary, but occasionally I like to be with people, but it always has to be on my terms!

 

5. What fictional character would you want to be friends with in real life?
Elizabeth Bennett. I like her courage, but admire her loyalty to her family.

8. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Just keep at it. Even when you doubt yourself, keep writing. Most of all, remind yourself that you ARE a writer, even when you don’t feel like one.

11. If you could live in any time period, what would it be and why?
In terms of creature comforts, I’m not sure I’d cope in any other time period, but I’d love to visit the 1920s, the 1940s and the Edwardian years – that period just before World War One where there was such a sense of optimism.

13. What is your favorite genre to read?
1920s female detective fiction – things like Phryne Fisher, Daisy Dalrymple, Kitty Underhay, Maisie Dobbs and Lady Eleanor Swift. I love the fashion and style of the period and even though they’re crime novels, it’s real comfort reading for me.
 

1.     When did you write your first book?
I think I was about eight or nine when I watched the film of ‘Emil and The Detectives’ and decided I was going to write my own version of the story.

2.    What sparks your creativity/how do you get your ideas?
If I’m struggling, I go out for a walk – preferably somewhere a bit wild and rugged like the Cornish coastline, or in woods. In terms of ideas, they come all the time – often it’s when I go somewhere new and I get an image of a scene in my head. It goes in my ideas notebook and then over time, one or two of those ideas germinate and grow until I decide which one is the basis of the next book.

3.    What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
We’ve just bought a flat in Cornwall, so typically I’ll be out walking and exploring as much of the county as I can. Otherwise, I’m usually found under a blanket with a cup of tea and a book.

4.    What’s a typical writing day like for you?
I get home from the school run, make myself a cup of coffee and head for the study. I get all the admin out of the way first – blog posts, admin for ‘Makarelle’, the magazine I’m co-owner and editor of, emails etc – and then I settle down to write. I work through until it’s time to go and collect my son from school. Breakfast, snacks and lunch are eaten at my desk so I maximise my writing time.

5.    Do you listen to music when writing?
When I’m editing, I have Classic FM on. If I’m writing a first draft I tend to work in silence, unless I’m trying to create a particular mood. When I was writing ‘Unforgettable’ and describing the scene in the campus nightclub I played music from the 90s and then when I was writing the end of Tom and Olivia’s half of the story, I had Nat ‘King’ Cole on in the background to keep me in the right mindset because it was incredibly tough to write.

6.    If you could have a dinner party with 3 other authors, who would they be?
Kate Mosse, Susan Cooper and Kerry Greenwood. Kate Mosse and Susan Cooper have been hugely influential on the way I write and the kinds of books I write. During the MA, I wrote an essay on their use of landscape and the books I’m currently working on owe much to their work. Kerry Greenwood is an extraordinary writer and every book of hers I’ve read, I’ve had to pick up a dictionary and learnt a new word. Her Phryne Fisher books are incredible and have sown the seed of an idea for a cosy crime series of my own.

 7.    If you had to pick a celebrity to cast for your main character, who would it be?I’d have Tom Holland as ‘Tom’ because he does the whole slightly geeky, awkward teenager thing so well. Older Tom would be Tom Hiddleston, partly because I think he’s a phenomenal actor and partly because I think he’d retain that slightly awkward nervous style, while simultaneously reflecting Tom’s character growth.

8.    If you could travel anywhere in the world to write, where would you go?
If I wanted to go somewhere to research, it would have to be Vienna, Cornwall or the Loire Valley. However, if I was going somewhere purely to write, it would have to be either Greenway or Northmoor House near Dulverton. There’s something magical about both places that makes me more creative.

9.    Would you ever write under a pseudonym?
I do! I have a picture book and a book for 8-12 year olds coming out later this year under the name ‘Henrietta Edwards’ and I have author names lined up for my rom-com and cosy crime ideas. Writing under different names makes it easier for me to get into the right mindset for the genre I’m working on.

10.                    Do you have a favorite food/snack/drink when writing (or anytime)?
Coffee and lots of it! Babybels are also handy for when you need something to eat but don’t want to stop to have something proper.

11.  How do you choose your book covers?
For ‘Unforgettable’ I used a freelancer from Fiverr. I researched covers in the genre until I found a selection I liked the style of and then Sam worked his magic to create the cover. We then just made a few tweaks to get it exactly as I wanted it.

12. What’s one thing you’d like to say to your readers?
I really hope they enjoy ‘Unforgettable’. When you write a book, you fall in love with the characters you create and they become almost real people to you. When they go out into the world, it’s like setting your children free and desperately hoping that people like them as much as you do. I cried with them and celebrated with them when I was writing it and I hope that my readers have those reactions too!

 

Author Bio – A former teacher, Ruth’s first writing memory is for her writer’s badge in Brownies but her MA in Creative Writing probably trumps that. One of the founders and editors of the digital literary and visual arts magazine, Makarelle, she has been published in various anthologies and is usually found in her study, mainlining coffee and frantically pinning editorial notes onto a noticeboard. In November 2019, Ruth was appointed Writer In Residence at Brightlingsea Lido. Although she has written a number of books for children and teenagers, this is Ruth’s debut novel for adults.

Social Media Links – www.reloten.com

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Giveaway to Win a signed paperback copy or a kindle version of Unforgettable (UK Only)

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