We’re going all festive on the Friday Reads blog this week, with the uplifting and funny inclusive romance, The Christmas Season by Ally Sinclair. So grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get talking to Ally.
Blurb
You are cordially invited to your Happy Ever After…
Emma Love is a matchmaker who believes in old fashioned courtship, over swiping left or right. She’s inspired by Jane Austen, Bridgerton, and a thousand and one perfect romance stories, where matches were made at elegant soirees and not by sliding into your intended’s DMs.
This year, Emma is inviting you to a very special social season, where a hopeful singleton might find their own Mr Darcy waiting under the mistletoe. At a series of glamorous, festive, and, most importantly, romantic events, Emma is making it her mission to find love for everyone this Christmas Season.
How will she fare trying to find perfect matches for the Price twins, both too busy trying to outdo the other to ever look for love? Can she encourage the sexy Season rake, Theo, to change his ways? And what of Hope Lucas, who Emma has failed to match before, but who still has faith that Mr Right is out there?
And with Emma so focused on finding everybody else’s happy ever after, is she at risk of letting her own perfect match slip away?
Welcome to the Christmas Season.
An uplifting, original and romantic read that fans of Lex Croucher and Lindsey Kelk will love.
Buy links
Welcome to my blog, Ally. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Honestly no. Generally I have a new ambition about every 20 minutes, so I only want to be a writer about half the time even when I’m doing it. I do mostly love it though. I love being creative. I love being my own boss and I love stories, so maybe – despite the frequent changes of mind – I was always destined to end up doing this.
Has any author inspired you?
So many. The book I always come back to when I think of being inspired to write initially is Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes which is an absolutely perfect novel, and it’s also a novel about normal people who mess things up and fall apart and start again. It was one of the first books I read that made me realise that romance stories can be about anyone, and I carry that belief with me in everything I write.
What do you like writing most?
Comedy. But I absolutely believe that pretty much anything can be funny. I’ve just got back from the Edinburgh Fringe where I binged on comedy in so many different forms, and the stand out show, for me, was Ed Byrne’s Tragedy Plus Time, which is a stand-up show about his brother’s death. And it’s hysterically funny but also raw and true and emotional. Funny isn’t the opposite of serious and humans find humour in both the lightest and darkest moments of life, and that’s what I love to do when I write.
Are you a pantser or a plotter?
By instinct I’m a pantser. I usually start writing with just an idea and a positive attitude but over the years my process has developed so now I generally start and then ditch that opening and then start again, and often ditch that opening as well, and by the time I’ve done that a couple of times I have a very clear idea of what the book is and where the story needs to go. So, in a sense, I guess I make a plan by writing without a plan!
What inspired you to write this book?
This book is an mash-up of three of my favourite things. I love a romcom – film, tv, novel, I don’t care. I love them all. I also love a Regency romance. Like most of the rest of the world I binged Bridgerton as soon as it came on TV, and the idea for writing about a Season came from watching the first season of Bridgerton and thinking ‘What would a 21st century social season look like?’ And finally, I love Christmas. I always have. It’s cheesy of course but it’s also warm and hopeful and about family, found family, friends and community. So I’ve put all of those things together in what I hope is a wonderful warm hug of a novel.
It sounds a wonderful read, Ally. Thanks so much for dropping by to talk to us today. Wishing you lots of writing success.
Meet Ally
About Ally
Ally grew up on the North Yorkshire coast and now lives with her husband in Worcestershire, at least until she can persuade him to give into her yearning to live somewhere nearer the sea. No kids, no pets. She sometimes manages to keep a pot plant alive. Briefly.
She has been writing professionally since 2013, and is also published as Alison May and, in collaboration, as Juliet Bell. Ally writes joyful, inclusive stories with love and romance at the heart.
Ally loves to hear from readers. You can find her on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter as @MsAllySinclair, on here YouTube channel @AlAllyAlison All Ally’s links are here: https://linktr.ee/allysinclair
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-King/e/B0034P6W7I
Website: https://karenkingauthor.com/
Karen King: Author 