Today it is my stop on the Blog Tour for One Last Summer at Hideaway Bay by Zoe Cook. I have an amazing Q&A with Zoe for you to read, but first let me share with you how gorgeous the cover is and what the book is about.
Lucy, hi. It’s Tom.
How are you? It’s been a while. I’ve been meaning to get in touch but it’s hard to know how to after so much time. I hear you’re doing really well up there. I knew you would be.
You should come here, you know, back to Hideaway bay. Come and see everyone, see how little it’s all changed. Feel the sand between your toes, the Cornish sea breeze on your face. When the sun hits the surf in that way it does, it’s as magical as ever.
That’s why I’m writing to you, actually. I want to get the gang back together again, one last time before…well…just one last time. You should come too. The four of us, a summer on the beach, like old times. We all want you here for it. I want you here for it. It’s been so long since I saw you.
I still think about you.
Tom
Awwww, doesn't that sound really beautiful? And intriguing! Sounds like it could have the potential to be a bit of a weepy, so i'm going to make sure I have the tissues to hand - just in case.
Right, well, I can't contain my excitement any longer, so let's go and meet up with Zoe and have a chat!
What inspired you
to write this book?
Work as a TV producer on Richard & Judy’s Book Club on Channel
4 involved selecting the books for their lists, and each year we had
to choose eight summer reads. These were the books that we thought
people should take away on holiday, or could at least read on the
tube and imagine they were away on holiday – and I fell in love
with these sunny, fun, fast-paced stories. I had an idea for a love
story set in Cornwall for a long time before I managed to actually
start writing anything, and the final push for me to get typing was
actually meeting the legendary and much missed Jackie Collins for an
interview for The TV Book Club in Beverly Hills. Her enthusiasm,
passion for writing, her inimitable writing style, and her absolutely
fabulous presence when we met really inspired me to finally start
writing my own book.
Who did you write
One Last Summer at Hideaway Bay for?
I think I wrote this
book for a younger me. I grew up on a (probably rather unhealthy)
diet of Dawson’s Creek, The OC and Disney films – it’s really
no wonder my ideas about romance were so out of kilter with reality.
I’ve always loved escapist, aspirational stories. I love delving
into new places with characters you grow to love. Most of all, I’m
really interested in those formative years in your twenties when
you’re chucked out into the world after education and finally have
to figure out who you want to be, and how to do it. I wanted to write
a book that brought together an amazing location, Cornwall, with a
coming of age drama, all set across one, unforgettable, summer.
What do you hope
readers will take from One Last Summer at Hideaway Bay?
All I really want is
for readers to enjoy the story. If they happen to want to book a
holiday to Cornwall at the end of the book then I’ll consider that
a job well done. I grew up in Cornwall and it’s one of my favourite
places in the world. I wanted to set a book there partly so I could
imagine myself there for hours at a time while writing, so I really
hope I’ve captured even just a little of it’s very special beauty
in the book. I also hope that readers get a little swept away in the
romance of the book, it’s the kind of love story I grew up wishing
would happen to me!
Do you almost
view Cornwall as a character in the book?
As well as being a
beautiful place, for me Cornwall in the book represents the ‘home’
we all have to leave behind – whether physically or metaphorically,
at some point in life when we are forced to grow up. For Lucy at the
start of the book, home has become somewhere to forget, and to move
on from. But as the story progresses and she’s drawn back there she
realises that you can’t ever really escape who you truly are, and
part of that is built on where you come from. In that sense, I hope
Cornwall adds a bit more than just sand and waves to the book, for me
it is definitely a defining part of the story.
The book begins
in London, in a very different world to Cornwall, did you enjoy being
able to write about a city too?
I’ve lived and
worked in London since leaving university and I love it. I also think
the contrast between Lucy’s two worlds in the book help us to see
how torn and tormented she is. A bit like Lucy, I think while
there’ll always be a part of my heart that belongs to Cornwall,
London has claimed its own piece now too, so it was great to be able
to write a bit of London into the story at the beginning.
Do you see more
stories set in Hideaway bay?
I’d definitely
like to return to Hideaway Bay, and there’s plenty more drama
waiting there I think!
Thank you so much Zoe for stopping by and having a chat with us all here at A Page of Fictional Love, I am so thrilled to have hosted for you. I wish you all the success with your book, and I can't wait to see what dramas unfold in the future! xxx
Ok, so, i'll let you catch your breath there whilst I share with you the rest of the stops on the tour, take some time and head over to the blogs and see what's lined up there. And be sure to come back soon, for more reviews and exclusives!
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