Fabulous Book Fiend: Blog Tour: Guest Post from One Last Greek Summer Author Mandy Baggot

Monday, 24 June 2019

Blog Tour: Guest Post from One Last Greek Summer Author Mandy Baggot

I am very excited to be part of the blog tour today for One Last Greek Summer by Mandy Baggot. Mandy has written a guest post for the blog today which I have shared below. If you like the sound of that, you can click here to order One Last Greek Summer now. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the blog tour for more exclusive content and reviews! Here's what it's all about...

Beth Martin is 31, newly divorced and wondering just what life holds for her…

Best-friend, Heidi, is adamant that all the answers lie in Corfu – the island where the girls’ partied away their youth.

So cue a trip to a sun-drenched Greek island, ouzo cocktails, a trip down memory lane…and Alex Hallas, the man Beth has never quite forgotten.

As they dance under the stars, the sand beneath their toes, old feelings begin to resurface and Beth might just have a chance to take back her life. If they can learn to love the people they’ve become…

And now its over to Mandy...

On location! Know your setting inside out? Or You Tube it?

It is absolutely impossible for a writer to travel the world researching area after area in order to write a book. Most of us don’t have the budget, or the time, as nice as it might be to luxuriate in every corner of the globe. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t do our research.

I’m lucky enough to write summer books set in Corfu, Greece and there is a reason for this. Corfu is a Greek island very close to my heart as I have a holiday home there. I fell in love with the island back in 2003 and this love affair is forever! I combine holidays with my family with research for books and it’s an absolute delight every single time. And, saying that you don’t need to research in situ every time, doesn’t mean that when you do physically go to a place that that personal experience doesn’t shine through over and above any internet searching. Being in locations, seeing the sights, eating the food, drinking the ouzo, definitely adds something uniquely special to my Greek books. I get so many compliments from readers telling me how authentic my stories are, how you can tell I have spent a lot of time in Greece etc. What can I say? It’s an absolute joy to write about my favourite island...

But don’t be put off writing about a location even if you’ve never been there. For my first book set in New York, I had never visited, so had to rely on You Tube for street sounds and ambiance, the internet for images and websites to tell me more about tourist attractions and the rest was imagination. The same was true of my book set in Paris, although I had visited many, many years ago, I had to update my knowledge using the worldwide web.

So, the most important thing is do do your research, be it physical or in the comfort of your own home. Because the details matter!

About the author

Mandy Baggot is an international bestselling and award-winning romance writer. The winner of the Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK's Festival of Romance, her romantic comedy novel, One Wish in Manhattan, was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award in 2016. Mandy's books have so far been translated into German, Italian, Czech and Hungarian. Mandy loves the Greek island of Corfu, white wine, country music and handbags. Also a singer, she has taken part in ITV1's Who Dares Sings and The X-Factor. Mandy is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Society of Authors and lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK with her husband and two daughters.