Follow the tour HERE
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Author Bio:
Cat Lavoie was born in the small town of Jonquière
in Québec, Canada. At the age of nineteen, she packed up her things (mostly
books) and moved to the big city of Montreal where she currently lives with her
tempestuous cat Abbie—who is both adorable and quite possibly evil.
An incurable Anglophile since her university days where she studied English Literature, she can often be found daydreaming about her next trip to London. Since she’s an expert at the art of procrastination, Cat is easily distracted by cooking and home improvement shows—even though she’s not particularly good at either.
Cat grew up watching soap operas and legal dramas and—had she not decided to be a claims analyst by day and write chick lit by night—she would have probably become a designer suit-wearing lawyer. Or a character on All My Children (which is what she really wanted to be when she was twelve).
Cat is not sure whether she’s a geek or a nerd—and is afraid she might be both. Breaking the Rules is her first novel.
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Q&A
Q.
What inspires your writing?
I'm inspired by daily
life. I love watching how people interact with each other in everyday
situations. A lot of my day is spent commuting to and from work so that's also
a big source of inspiration. I've been known to 'accidently' overhear a
conversation or two on the bus and/or subway and draw from that.
Q.
What is your favorite thing about being an author?
Using my imagination.
I love creating characters, shaping the world around them and discovering their
backstory. I also love researching where these characters live and the jobs
that they go to every day.
Q.
What is the toughest part of being an author?
Having to deal with
rejection is definitely tough. When I started querying Breaking the Rules, I
knew that I had to have a thick skin and that it wasn't going to be easy. But
it was a lot harder than I expected and I struggled to stay positive when all I
kept hearing was no.
Q.
If you could not be an author, what would you do/be?
I've always been
fascinated with lawyers. I watched a lot of legal dramas growing up so I'd like
to think that I'd be a lawyer (a really tough one with crisp designer suits and
an icy stare) if I wasn't a writer.
Q.
What would the story of your life be entitled?
Something fun like…
Cat-titude!
Q.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Pride and Prejudice.
I'm a bit ashamed of the fact that I was in my twenties when I first read it
but I fell in love with it instantly.
Q.
Which part of your book(s) was the easiest to write?
I really enjoy writing
dialogue, especially the banter between friends.
Q.
Which part of your book was the hardest to write?
The interaction
between my protagonist, Roxy, and her sisters. I don't have sisters and Roxy
has two of them. Despite this, I hope that I was able to capture the dynamics
of their complicated relationship.
Q.
Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind your book cover?
From the very
beginning I knew I wanted my design to have a yellow taxi to symbolize New York
City, a red phone booth for London and a cupcake for the main character's
passion for baking. And pink, lots of pink! Since I can't draw to save my life,
a friend sketched out my idea and I sent it over to my cover designer. We went
back and forth a few times (the cupcake had blue icing at one point) until I
felt it was the perfect cover for my novel.
Q.
Which character from any book are you most like?
Becky Bloomwood from
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. We're both shopaholics (I
cannot be trusted with a credit card and a computer) but I think we also share
a bubbly personality, vivid imagination and a positive outlook even when things
are a bit crazy.
Q.
What is your favorite season?
Definitely autumn. I'm
not a huge fan of summer so I love when the days start getting a bit chilly and
you can wrap yourself up in a warm sweater. Also, the hockey season starts in
autumn so that's always an exciting time.
Q.
Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting
your book.
This is my first blog
tour so I've never written a guest blog post before. I've written countless
posts for my own blog but when I was asked to write for someone else's blog, I
had the worse case of writer's block. It was like writer's block combined with
writer's sheer panic. I felt like I'd never be able to write another word ever
again. But one day (in the middle of the work day when I should have been
focusing on something else entirely) I wrote my first post. The panic faded a
little bit when I realized that I hadn't been cursed with eternal writer's
block.
Q.
Are you working on something new?
Yes. I'm currently
working on my second chick lit novel. It's called Zoey & the Moment of Zen.
The story revolves around a woman who gets sent to an island resort to get over
an ex-boyfriend.
Q.
Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just
stopping by?
Thank you for taking
the time to read this and I hope you enjoy Breaking the Rules.
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Read an excerpt:
I've never been good
at keeping secrets from Oliver Frost. It might be because I'm a terrible liar
but, most likely, it's because he's known me all my life and can read my face
like an open book. Every eyebrow twitch, every blink, every fake smile. And, right
now, I feel like I'm strapped to a lie detector. At any second the needles
might go haywire like they do in the movies when the devious main character is
lying through her teeth.
Calm.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Cough.
"I really don't like the sound of that," Ollie says, sitting on the
edge of my bed, shaking his head. "Are you sure you don't want me to go to
the drugstore and get you some cough syrup or something? Or I could make you
soup. Or tea with honey."
Under normal circumstances, I'd appreciate all this attention.
But I've been trying to get Ollie out of the apartment for the last twenty
minutes so the last thing I need is him hovering over me. Maybe relying on my
lackluster acting skills wasn't the best idea. Faking an illness was all I
could come up with to convince Ollie that I need to stay home without making
him suspicious. My original plan was to accidentally 'twist' my ankle while
walking up the stairs but, in the end, I decided to keep it simple and go for
the common cold. There's less limping involved.
I don't think Ollie has any idea that I've been planning a surprise farewell
party for him—which is a miracle since I've been sneaking around every night
this week and coming home from the grocery store with enough food to feed a
small army. The party is tonight and I have a million things to do. And I can't
do them with him here.
I touch my supposedly feverish forehead and erupt into another coughing fit.
"You should go," I say in a raspy voice, grabbing a handful of
tissues. "I wouldn't want you to catch my germs and get sick before
leaving for London."
"Right," Ollie says, turning away from me. "I
can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow."
I can't believe it either. I want to say something but I'm
afraid we'll start talking and get really sentimental and I can't deal with
that right now. I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't have to
deal with it at all. But I know that sooner or later I'm going to have to face
the fact that my best friend and roommate is flying halfway across the world to
help supervise the construction of a new earth-friendly building in London. I
choose later.
"You should really go or you'll be late. I'll call you if there's anything
I need, okay?"
He nods and plants a quick kiss on my forehead. I close my eyes and hope he
can't hear my heart beating out of my chest. I'm so close to pulling this off.
"Promise me you'll rest and take it easy today?" Ollie says, picking
up his messenger bag off the floor. "And if Greta calls, please don't
answer. Better yet, hang up on her." He slings the bag over his shoulder
and looks back at me. I wave and watch as he walks out of my room. A few seconds
later I hear the front door close with a bang and start breathing again.
Time to get to work. I pull at the comforter and sit up, letting my legs dangle
over the edge of the bed. As soon as my feet touch the floor, the day is officially
going to begin and I'm not sure that's what I want. Letting myself fall back
into bed, I stare at the ceiling. If today were just any other ordinary day,
Ollie would be screaming at me from the kitchen, telling me to get my butt out
of bed. And by the time I stumbled to the coffeemaker in my bathrobe, he'd
already be dressed and ready to go to work. It's very hard to pretend like I'm
not jealous of Ollie. He loves his job so much that he's getting a fancy
promotion. He’s living his dream. Ollie's wanted to be an architect ever since
he was a kid sneaking off to read Architectural Digest while the other boys
were flipping through girlie magazines. When we were twelve years old, Ollie
and I made a pact; he would become a famous architect and I would be a celebrity
chef and open my own restaurant, which Ollie would have designed. Then I'd let
him eat there for free, of course.
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Book Description
When twenty-seven year old Roxy Rule’s best friend and roommate accepts a glamorous new job overseas, she expects their relationship to continue as it’s always been—carefree and easy—until they share a heart-stopping kiss moments before his departure. Overcome with mixed emotions, she fights the urge to over analyze the situation and resumes back to her normal life in New York City, working for an intolerable boss at a dead end job, creeping further and further away from her own dreams of becoming a professional chef.
While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.
Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?
While things become more complicated between her and Ollie, Roxy is sure that nothing can come between two lifelong best friends—not even mild jealousy over a thriving career or a silly little kiss that meant nothing. In fact, it was such a meaningless and forgettable kiss that she convinces herself that it’s not even worth mentioning to her fiancé, although it is all she can think about.
Roxy’s already topsy-turvy life only gets more complicated when her sisters Steffi and Izzie suddenly become her roommates. Steffi is six months into a pregnancy she refuses to discuss and Izzie is in the throes of a premature midlife crisis. Roxy tries to take control of her career, her love life and her sisters – but can she really handle it all? And can the Rule family keep it together – or break under the pressure?
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Connect with Cat!
Cat blogs about the writing life and posts adorable pictures of Abbie over at the Catenabi Chronicles. Come say hello at: www.CatLavoie.com and follow @Catenabi on Twitter.
Website
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Cat blogs about the writing life and posts adorable pictures of Abbie over at the Catenabi Chronicles. Come say hello at: www.CatLavoie.com and follow @Catenabi on Twitter.
Website
Buy the Book!
Thanks so much for having me, Emily! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for featuring Cat - loved this book!
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