Wednesday 29 January 2014

The Classic Makeover Story

Today, I'm welcoming a good friend, wonderful writer and fellow Novelicious team member, Jennifer Joyce, to the shed to tell us about her hilarious book, A Beginner's Guide to Salad.
 

There are loads of makeover films and books out there. You know the type: geeky/plain/overweight girl is madly in love with the hero. He isn’t interested. He’s probably got a stick-thin, beautiful girlfriend anyway.

Cue the makeover!

Our heroine loses her glasses/weight and plasters on a load of make-up. Look at her! She’s stunning! Who knew? Certainly not our hero, but he knows it now. He suddenly notices her, his jaw drops as he begins to fall in love with our gorgeous swan. His elbow juts out to despatch with the stick-thin, beautiful girlfriend. She was probably a cow, anyway. He takes our heroine in his arms and kisses her before they walk off into the sunset to live happily ever after.

How sweet.

But wait a minute. What was wrong with our heroine before? She was smart and funny and our hero would be damn lucky to be with her. What happened to beauty being skin deep? Does that only count after the makeover?

When I wrote A Beginner’s Guide To Salad, I wanted to throw away the old formula. I wanted our heroine (Ruth, in this case) to be loved for who she is, fat or thin. Because Ruth is a fantastic woman who deserves the hero, who deserves to be accepted for who she is. Because who she is, in my opinion, is pretty fab. With or without a makeover.

Jennifer Joyce is a writer of romantic comedies who lives in Manchester with her husband and their two daughters. A Beginner’s Guide To Salad is her first novel.

You can find out more about Jennifer and her books at



or follow her on twitter: @Writer_Jenn

13 comments:

Teresa Ashby said...

This is such a brilliant idea and Ruth sounds like such a great heroine. I'm rooting for her already! Great post, Debs and Jennifer x

Jean Bull said...

It sounds like a great story. Too many people are not happy with themselves, they just need to look inside and see how beautiful they are. (Not all the blood and gore though!!!)

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Definitely like the angle you've taken, Jennifer - all the best with your novel!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Teresa - thank you, Ruth is a great heroine and the book is wonderful.

jean - thanks, it is a great story. Haha, I agree with you about us all looking inside and seeing how beautiful we actually are.

Rosemary - thank you for your lovely wishes for Jennifer.

Talli Roland said...

Congrats to Jennifer on what looks like a fab read. It's on my list!

Unknown said...

Thanks for all your lovely comments everyone! Also huge thanks to Debs for letting me waffle on her blog.

Rena George said...

Sounds like a great book, Jennifer, I'm already rooting for Ruth and look forward to reading about her exploits. rx

Pauline Barclay said...

Sounds like a great read, I will add to my list now! Good luck and congratulations Jennifer.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Talli, Rena and Pauline, thanks for your lovely comments! x

Flowerpot said...

Sounds great - definitely on my TBR list!

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Great post, Debs and Jennifer. x

Deborah Carr said...

flowerpot - you won't be disappointed, I really enjoyed this book!

Deborah Carr said...

Suzanne - thanks very much, I enjoyed Jennifer's post too. xx