Sophie Sullivan is friendship goals...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Brenda Mallory

We're pleased to have Sophie Sullivan back at CLC today. We're celebrating the publication of her latest novel, A Guide to Being Just Friends. We enjoyed chatting with her about it and the story sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have one copy to give away!

Sophie Sullivan is a Canadian author as well as a cookie-eating, Diet Pepsi-drinking, Disney enthusiast who loves reading and writing romance in almost equal measure. She writes around her day job as a teacher and spends her spare time with her sweet family watching reruns of Friends. She's also had plenty of practice writing happily ever after as her alter ego, Jody Holford. 

Visit Sophie online: 
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram 

Synopsis:

Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.

Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.

When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike up a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.

What could possibly go wrong? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"A joyful, swoony romance full of heart and humor!" 

—Sarah Adams, author of The Cheat Sheet

"Sophie Sullivan’s writing feels like a warm hug.” 

—Rachel Lynn Solomon, bestselling author of The Ex Talk

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?

That’s a nice question. I was really, truly happy when people connected so strongly with the representation of anxiety in Ten Rules for Faking It, book one in this series. Knowing that people felt that it was well portrayed and handled was a big compliment. When people tell me they laughed out loud, it’s also really nice. 

What was something you learned from writing your previous novels that you applied to A Guide to Being Just Friends?

I think every book written makes the next book stronger because you get better at the craft. But for this book in particular, I think writing the other books and helped me create a stronger version of Wes because I wanted him to stand out. They’ve all grown up together but they’re unique and I wanted to show that on the page. Clearly defining who Chris and Noah were in books one and two made that easier. 

If A Guide were made into a movie, what songs would be on the soundtrack?

Wow. I love this question. 

"Friends Don’t," Maddie & Tae

"Catch," Brett Young

"Hard to Forget," Sam Hunt

"I Know She Ain’t Ready," Luke Combs

"Marry Me," Thomas Rhett

"Can We Pretend," Pink

"Broken and Beautiful," Kelly Clarkson

"I Don’t Remember Me Before You," Brothers Osborne 

"Some People Do," Old Dominion

"Beautiful People," Ed Sheeran 

"Just the Way You Are," Bruno Mars

"Last Time I Say Sorry," Kane Brown/John Legend

"I Should Probably Go to Bed," Dan & Shay 

Which TV series are you currently binge watching?

We’re currently doing our third re-watch of The Big Bang Theory. It’s one of those comfort shows that you know will always make you laugh. 

If we were to visit you right now, what are some must-see places you would show us?

In the smallish town where I live, the downtown core has been renovated so I’d probably head there for lunch and a little shopping. But, I’m only an hour and a bit outside of Vancouver so there’s a ton of stuff to see like the Seawall, Robson Street, Science World, and Canada Place. 

Tell us about a memorable platonic friendship you have/had.

My best friend and I have known each other since we were thirteen. We met in grade eight drama class where we played a game called "Will You Marry Me." Everyone had to sit in a circle with one person in the middle. The middle person had to propose to each person, trying to make them laugh. If you laughed while declining the proposal, you had to go in the middle. I was the go to for every person because I laugh at everything and could never get through a refusal without laughing. So, we met when I asked her to marry me and she said no. We are still best friends to this day. She lives around the corner from me, calms me down when I freak out (almost a full time job), makes me smile and laugh, thinks I’m cool and makes my life better every single day. 

Thanks to Sophie for visiting with us and to St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway ends January 22nd at midnight EST.

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