Comments on: Temptation

By: Christine Stovell

Christine Stovell — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:22:15 +0000

Thanks for your response, Meike. It’s a wide ocean with plenty of room for many vessels, but Choc Lit’s success must be encouraging for all indies. Let’s all keep carrying the fire of storytelling in our own way.

By: Sue Moorcroft

Sue Moorcroft — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:44:16 +0000

This conversation has made me want chocolate. And I’m not meant to be having any owing to recent overindulgence on holiday. Sigh.

By: Meike

Meike — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:36:56 +0000

Thank you, Christine and Sue, for your comments. Please rest assured that my blog was meant as an expression of my huge admiration for the commercial success of Choc Lit. They are doing a brilliant job in marketing your novels. Although I have not read your books, I have enjoyed others which sound similar to yours. Also, I like to think that the Peirene books are indeed a good, exciting and stimulating read.

By: Sue Moorcroft

Sue Moorcroft — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:22:11 +0000

It takes all types - including in literature - to make a world and I am quite comfortable that the books I write fall into the ‘entertainment’ category. People read my books and smile some of the time.

I admit it! You’ve got me! I like my books to be a good read.

But sugar-sweet heroines? Erm, you’ve been reading someone else’s novels. Tess, from ‘Starting Over’ tries to solve her problems by walking away from them; ‘All That Mullarkey’s’ Cleo is, as one of my reviewers has told me, is ‘a very naughty girl’. And Diane, from upcoming ‘Want to Know a Secret?’ is known to scorch the landscape when her temper goes. I think they’re pretty real.

Yes, my heroes are hunky. Yum yum. I’m a chocaholic and the parallel with chocolate suits me fine. But hunky chunky men have real conflicts, real emotions and are the subject for compelling stories, too. It’s unrealistic to dismiss them or their stories. Particularly if you haven’t actually read any of the books.

Choc Lit are doing brilliantly. My books are in WHS, both Travel and High Street.

I’m happy. :-)

By: Christine Stovell

Christine Stovell — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:51:10 +0000

Sugar-sweet heroines and chocolate hunks? Lovely if it floats your boat, but it doesn’t describe any Choc Lit heroine or hero I’ve encountered; just take a look at Tess in Sue Moorcroft’s ‘Starting Over’ or Cleo in ‘All That Mullarkey’ for credible, complicated characters. My debut novel, ‘Turning the Tide’ is certainly not a simple story of boy meets girl; it’s also an examination of the tensions in a small, depressed seaside town when a property ‘makeover’ threatens to wipe away all that is unique about the community. I felt that Choc Lit was a good fit for me because I particularly enjoy writing from my male protagonist’s point of view, but just because it’s fun for me doesn’t mean that my male characters are shallow!

Those booksellers didn’t get seduced by chocolate heart, but by quality fiction and that’s the reason Choc Lit are doing so well.