Pernille Hughes is having a great year!

We're pleased to welcome Pernille Hughes to CLC today. Her latest rom com, Ten Years, releases at the end of this month. It sounds like a great story and Sara currently has it in her TBR, so be on the lookout for a review in the near future. Pernille is here to tell us more about Ten Years and share some other fun facts, including a very easy recipe.

Before she moved to writing full-time, Pernille Hughes studied Film & Literature at university. After she graduated, she went on to market Natural History films before working in Children’s television, which meant living in actual Teletubbyland for a while. From 2011–2015, she was a regular contributor for The Sunday Times column ‘Confessions of a Tourist’.  Pernille lives in Buckinghamshire and while the kids are at school she scoffs cake and writes stories in order to maintain a shred of sanity. 

Visit Pernille online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
They’re perfect for each other
They just don’t know it yet
 
Becca and Charlie have known each other for years – ever since they met at university.

And for every one of those years, they’ve bickered, argued, offended, mocked and generally rubbed each other up the wrong way.

Until now. Until Ally’s bucket list. The death of their loved one should mean Becca and Charlie can go their separate ways and not look back. But completing the list is something neither Charlie nor Becca can walk away from.

And sometimes, those who bring out the worst in you, also bring out the very best…

Over the course of ten years, Becca and Charlie’s paths collide as they deal with grief, love and life after Ally. Not since Emma and Dex in One Day and Will and Lou in Me Before You will you root for a couple as much. (Courtesy of Pernille's website.)

"I laughed, I cried, I swooned – I was utterly swept away from the very first page. Ten Years is a wonderful emotional roller coaster that is sure to pull at the heartstrings of every reader." 

~Kate Bromley, Talk Bookish To Me

"I absolutely loved this gorgeous, funny, touching book – it’s utterly romantic, with gloriously real characters you’ll fall in love with."

~Rachael Lucas

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
I’m a typical Brit when it comes to compliments, so any received are bashfully brushed off and put down to the complimenter simply being kind. Therefore, really, the best compliment has been my publisher offering me a contract*. (On the flip side – the smallest of critiques is always taken as Gospel truth and will play in my head for years :) )

*My inner critic will still insist that she’s just being kind too…

On my evil side, any reader saying my writing made them cry just THRILLS me. As penance, any review that says my writing isn’t funny slays me. Every time.
 
What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing Ten Years? 

Finishing!!! On both counts.
 

Ten Years was predominantly written during Lock-down, so research opportunities were limited. For example, I had been up Mount Snowdon, but I hadn’t walked up it like Becca and Charlie do. Youtube and the internet were life-savers. The Cannes scenes were based on my work trips there in my earlier life, at the MIPTV shows. As is so often the case, necessity forces you to revise and adapt, drawing on the amenities you already have.

I’m easily distracted, so having family at home during the pandemic was tricky. But we got there in the end, and I’m very proud of it now. Obviously, given the title, it is a slow burn, but hopefully readers will feel it’s a real burn, and that Charlie and Becca’s characters and relationship, while messy, ring true. 
 
If Ten Years were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
I try not to be too descriptive with what my characters look like when I write them, as I like the reader to fill in the visual gaps to meet their own desires. But in my head, Becca would look like Eleanor Tomlinson, Ally would be Antonia Thomas and Charlie would be a young David Giuntoli (pre-beard). 

What is the last movie you saw that you would recommend?

I don’t go to the movies very often to be honest, not unless it’s to the latest Bond or Bourne with my husband. (Which is mad, given I have a degree in Film & Literature, but having lots of kids in a short space of time kids and not living near a cinema broke my habit.) Can I recommend a TV series instead? The Split is a BBC series (three seasons in all and available on US streaming sites), with Nicola Walker (who I think is amazing) It’s about family and marriages and it is both exquisitely written and perfectly acted. Totally binge-worthy. I’ve also come late to This Is Us and oh man, SO good…
 
If we were to visit you right now, where are some places you would take us?
At the point of receiving this questionnaire, I’m in Denmark, at the most northern tip of the country, Skagen. I would take you, on our bicycles (of course), through the little streets of yellow-walled, red-roofed houses, out to see where the North Sea and Baltic Sea meet and get you to stand with a foot in each. Then we’d cycle out to the buried church, where only the tower remains, and then onto Raabjerg Mile, a migrating dune, like a mini-desert, and enjoy the views from the top. We’d end at Skagen’s Bryghus for a home-made beer and then watch the sun set into the sea in the old town.
 
What is your go-to summertime dessert? 
Really simple (it’s too hot to faff with anything complicated, right?)

 
Mix a punnet of each of the following; strawberries, raspberries and blueberries in a serving bowl. 
Melt white chocolate and cream together and bring to the boil. Make sure it’s all melted, then cool. (If you like a thicker cream go mad with the chocolate, or less if you like more of a pour.)
Serve together. That’s it. Simple, but lovely. (Like me)

Thanks to Pernille for chatting with us today!

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