Review with Q&A: Perfect Girl by Michele Gorman #ChickLit

Cinderella meets Falling Down in this wickedly funny tale about having it all

Carol is perfect… at least that’s what everyone thinks. In reality she’s sinking fast – her family treats her like their personal assistant and her boyfriend is so busy with work that he’s got her single-handedly running their relationship. Not that her job is any easier. As the only woman on the bank’s trading floor she spends twelve-hour days trying not to get sworn at or felt up by colleagues who put the “W” in banker*.

How long can she go on pleasing everyone else before she snaps and loses it all?

With humor and empathy, Perfect Girl lays bare the balancing act that working women face in a man’s world

*wanker (noun, British slang): an unpleasant or contemptible person

I am such a fan of Gorman!!!  She is such a hoot to read.  I loved Carol, who by all means is quite the mess, but so darn lovable and funny.  She takes you with her throughout her crazy life..her career, family life, and love life!!!  I also love the settings of all Gorman's books.  It always seems so real with the undertone of romance, where everything seems to work out in the end, even it is usually a long road.  Goman, also writes characters that you can relate to....between the things that happen, the family they have, the mishaps that takes place...they are real and heartfelt.  

Love her and Perfect Girl...5 stars!

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Almost everything I see/hear/do is fair game! Whenever I need to start thinking about a new book, the idea does seem to pop into my head, so hopefully that’ll continue!

I can give you an example. Over the summer, as I was walking to our local shops, I was thinking about the phone call my husband and I had just had with our friend (who was telling us all about the baby she just had). This friend used to go out with my husband (before we met, obviously!) but though they were good friends, they weren’t right for each other as partners, so they broke up. Then I met him and she met her partner and the very same people who weren’t right for each other were perfect for others. Just as I thought this, I passed a bank of recycling bins, and the idea for Boyfriends Recycled (“One woman’s famine is another’s feast”) was born.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being an writer?

A. I can spend my days in my bathrobe if I want and still get paid. There’s only one other profession that I can think of that does that and my hours are more regular.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being an writer?

A. Having time for writing and marketing. I’ve heard that in the old days authors handed over their books to their publisher and then climbed back into their garret to pen their next novel, but today we spend a lot of time engaging with our readers, in Q&As like this, on twitter and Facebook. It’s really fun and so great to get to talk directly to readers, but it takes time away from writing. It is an excellent way, though, to justify procrastination as “marketing”.

Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you do/be?

A. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was young, until I found out that some of the animals died. So I can probably discount anything healthcare-related. Maybe a muse. That would be nice.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. Flying By The Seat of Her Pants

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. Ooh that’s tough. Just one? I’d have to go with John Irving’s The World According to Garp.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. Well I’d like to be Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but I’m definitely too clumsy to pull that off.

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. Stacy from Single in the City. As much as I’d love to be a devil-may-care girl about town, deep down I’m very level-headed.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. Oh, that’s easy – any of Belinda Jones’ books because they’re all set in such fun, glamorous places. 

 Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Autumn. I’m not a warm weather person. Or a cold weather person, come to think of it. 70F and sunny is about right for me. Plus, I’m a geek who always loved school, so autumn reminds me of new classes, which means new notebooks. Like is said: geek.

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A.Well I don’t have any control over my covers when the book is under contract with a publisher, but for those that I publish independently I try very hard to make the cover reflect the tone of the book. And being in the UK where most romantic comedy covers are illustrated, it’s hard to move to a photographic cover. I’m inching there slowly!

 Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. Last year I had to be made up in full 1950s style for a photo shoot to promote Sunlounger, a women’s fiction anthology that I contributed to. I felt like an idiot and am very glad I don’t live in the 1950s! Here are some of the pictures: http://www.va-va-vacation.com/sunlounger-retro-shoot

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. I’ve got to deliver Boyfriends Recycled to Avon/HarperCollins by next May so I’m writing that (slowly!). It’s about three friends who upcycle their exes through their local Boyfriend Recycling Centre, but haven’t bargained on the consequences of the exchanges they make.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Just to say thanks so much for reading women’s fiction and that if you’re on twitter or facebook, please do get in touch! @MicheleGormanUK on twitter and Michele Gorman Books on Facebook. Thanks, Emily, for having me on the blog today!