Beach Dreamsby Trish Perry
Tiffany LeBoeuf seriously needs to get away. She has just lost her mother to cancer, and she returns home to find herself fired for devoting the past three months to her mother's care. Grieving and stressed, Tiffany seeks rest for her body and soul at a cozy beach house in San Diego.
A scheduling mix-up causes a double booking, and Tiffany ends up sharing the house with a woman named Eve. When Eve's boyfriend, Jeremy Beckett, arrives to surprise Eve, he surprises Tiffany as well. Jeremy and Tiffany share a brief history, and it's not a pretty one. They also share a mutual attraction, and it's not a comfortable one.
Jeremy settles in at the beach house next door, intent on making his love life right. What happens after that surprises them all.
Our interview with Trish is unusual.
Not your normal questions, and lots of fun answers.
If you went to a restaurant with your main character what restaurant would it be? Trish: Tiffany would take me with her to one of her favorite French bistros in Northwest Washington. She grew up diabetic and has consequently learned to eat (and cook) fresh, healthy food. Café La Ruche on 31st Street has been around since the seventies. We’d go there. Mmm, can’t wait until the dessert course.
Are you a nibbler or a sipper while you write? What food or drink is beside your computer?
Trish: What, doesn’t everyone keep a fifth of Jack Daniels and a hand-rolled Cuban cigar right next to the computer? Actually, I have a glass of ice water constantly at the ready, and I always know when 3:00 strikes, because my body craves its afternoon cup of coffee. I don’t tend to nibble while I write, but that’s not as disciplined as it sounds. I get up and do something other than writing when I want to nibble. Bad Trish.
Which atmosphere would you like best to write in? 
a) At your office desk?
b) In a comfy sofa?
c) Out in the garden?
d) In a very dark cave?
Trish: Definitely at my office desk. When I’m crunched under a crazy deadline, I’ll write anywhere (well, maybe not in a cave, dark or otherwise), but I won’t necessarily enjoy it. I think much better through my fingers (typing) than through a pen or my mouth (dictating). And I like the familiarity of my office chair and cluttered desk. Anything else is distracting. I’m not lofty enough to have a muse, but if I did, he or she wouldn’t get out much.
You’ve been given a week in a secluded mountain cabin, what books would you take with you?
Trish: Besides Fodor’s Guide to Mountain-Delivery Restaurants, I’d bring something to make me laugh (James Hamilton-Paterson or Sophie Kinsella), something to inspire me (Francine Rivers or C.S. Lewis), and something to move me (Markus Zusak or Charles Frazier). But I’m a slow reader, so I’d probably only get through one of them and rue the day I packed so many books, just to have to cart them all back down the mountain.
A fan sees you in the grocery store and begins to faun over you. How would you react?
Trish: I’d try to help them figure out whom they had mistaken me for. If they truly knew me as me, not someone actually famous, I’d commend them for their impressive research skills and perhaps back away slowly while rooting in my purse for my can of mace.
You’re on a hike up a mountain. The pathways are right next to many various sizes of cliffs. When you are close to the top you look down and see a man holding onto a ledge calling for help. What would you do?
a) Pull out your camera and take a picture?
b) Grab your note pad and ask him questions as to how he
feels and what he’s thinking about? Hey, it’s good
planning for a character in a book!
c) Scream and call the police? This man is stalking me!
d) Valiantly grab a ‘conveniently’ placed vine and lower
it to the man who is ‘conveniently’ within reach, and
you ‘conveniently’ have enough strength to pull him
up.
e) Say good day and continue your stroll.
Trish: How come you keep making me go to the mountains, Donita?
First off, I would make sure this wasn’t the person who accosted me in the grocery store. Then I would pull out my Fodor’s Guide to Mountain-Delivery Restaurants. I’d determine the closest Swiss restaurant and ask them to send two of their burliest, mountain-savvy delivery boys forthwith, armed with a stealth assault ladder and a thermos of their finest coffee (I’m assuming it’s about 3:00 in the afternoon—it’s time).
What would you do if you saw the spitting image of your villain in real life?
a) Walk up to him and shake his hand, not introducing
yourself, because you know all about his dealings.
b) Scream and point, “It’s him! Run for your lives!”
c) Hold your hand in front of your face and walk away from, him, hoping he doesn’t recognize you.
d) Drool at the sight of your well-crafted bad guy.
Trish: My bad guys/gals are usually verbally or psychologically bad. They’re mean. But they don’t kill people or blow up buildings. So I’d probably skulk away, because I can’t match wits with people like that unless I have time to sit here and think of really good comebacks.
You’re going on vacation and all your characters want to come along. But you only have room in the car the three of them. Which three would you choose to accompany you?
Trish: No question -Aunt Addie is coming (she’s from The Guy I’m Not Dating—an elderly little spitfire). And Jeremy Beckett (from all three books) gets to come, too, because he’s a total sweetie pie and looks like Jude Law. And the third person would have to be Ren Young (from all three books). She was my first romantic comedy heroine, she has a sense of humor similar to mine, and she holds a special place in my heart.
But if this so-called vacation has anything to do with the mountains, honey, it’s me, Addie, and those burly Swiss delivery boys.
You can visit Trish Perry's website at http://www.trishperrybooks.com/index.html
1 comment:
Donita, I just wanted to stop by and thank you for participating in the Beach Dreams blog tour. Your interview was one of my favorites. And I appreciate the exposure you've given my book.
Many blessings,
Trish
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