Laura Greaves won't put baby in a corner

If Morello from Orange is the New Black were to go to Laura Greaves' "About" page on her website, the first thing she saw would make her very jealous as Laura talks about her honeymoon to Bora Bora (there is no third Bora in there though).

Laura Greaves is a  multi award-winning journalist with nearly 20 years' experience on newspapers and magazines in several countries. She's the former editor of a national women's magazine and regularly writes for leading Australian and international magazines including Marie Claire, Woman's Day, Grazia, Women's Fitness, Dogs Life, WellBeing, and many more. Her writing specialties are in the fields of health, lifestyle, and well-being. Let's add fiction to that list, as she's here to talk about her debut novel, Be My Baby, published yesterday by Destiny Romance. You can follow her on Twitter.

Synopsis of Be My Baby:
Ambitious Australian Anna Harding seems to have it all: a glamorous job as a gossip columnist, and a beautiful home in London that she shares with her gorgeous boyfriend, Finn Cassidy. Her only problem is her regular run-ins with their neighbor Luke, who is furious about Anna's internet shopping constantly being delivered to his place by mistake.

When her flighty best friend Helena winds up pregnant, Anna agrees to be godmother – despite her aversion to children. But then Finn announces he's moving to Belfast for a great job in television and Helena takes off to Scotland – leaving baby Ivy behind. Suddenly Anna's perfect life is in pieces as she tries to juggle the baby, her job and a long-distance relationship.

Will Finn wake up to himself and return home or will he be swayed by the charms of his seductive producer? Will the irresponsible Helena finally sort herself out with the help of her eccentric great aunt? And will Anna's life ever be the same, especially after Luke's unexpected response to the chaos unleashed next door? 

Nothing is certain in this entertaining and moving tale about the relationships that matter most. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

What was your inspiration behind Be My Baby?
They say ‘write what you know’ and that certainly rang true for me when I started writing Be My Baby. Like the book’s heroine, Anna Harding, I was living in London and working as an entertainment journalist when, back home in Australia, a good friend fell pregnant and asked me to be her baby’s godmother. (But unlike Be My Baby’s struggling mum, Helena, my friend never needed me to look after her little one – which is definitely a good thing as, like Anna, I was pretty clueless about anything to do with babies back then!)

I also really wanted to tell the story of a woman who isn’t sure whether or not she wants to have children of her own. This is a something that huge number of women wrestle with, and I hadn’t seen it addressed before in chick lit. It’s such a massive decision, and there still seems to me to be a lot of harsh and unfair judgement aimed at women who decide kids aren’t in their future.

In one sentence, what is some advice you'd give aspiring novelists?
Make the most of ‘dead time’ to write – I wrote most of Be My Baby while commuting to and from work on the ferry.

If Be My Baby were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Funny you should ask; whenever I start a new book I use pictures of celebs to create a sort of ‘mood board’ of the cast of characters I have in my mind. Being able to visualise the main players really helps bring them to life for me. Be My Baby’s main characters, Anna and Helena, would be played by Rachel Bilson and Scarlett Johansson respectively (but only if they could both manage convincing Aussie accents!). Anna’s boyfriend, Finn, is Charlie Hunnam and her next-door nemesis, Luke, is a young Gerard Butler. Meanwhile Helena’s crush, Oliver, is a Trainspotting era Ewan McGregor.

What is the funniest thing you've ever seen a baby do?
I love it when babies laugh hysterically at unexpected things. My own little one, for example, finds my dogs hilarious, especially when I feed them little tidbits from the table (sssh, don’t tell my husband!). She giggles like crazy and it cracks me up every single time.

What chick flick can you watch over and over?
When Harry Met Sally is my all-time favourite movie, and in my opinion the greatest chick flick ever made (although dudes could learn a lot from it, too!) I must have watched it at least a hundred times and can literally recite the entire film from beginning to end. ‘Is one of us supposed to be a dog in this scenario?’ Genius!

What is the last book you read that you would recommend to our readers?
I’d heartily recommend everything by my fellow Destiny Romance author Elise K. Ackers, especially her rom-com The Man Plan and romantic thriller Small Town Storm. You know when you’re so engrossed in a book that you ration the last few pages because you don’t want it to end? I do that every time I read one of Elise’s books.


Thanks to Laura for chatting with us and Destiny Romance for coordinating the interview.

~Interview by Melissa Amster