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Thursday, September 7, 2023

Alexandra Potter has some fun confessions...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Rhian Ap Gruffydd
We are so excited to have Alexandra Potter at CLC today! Her latest novel, Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up, was adapted into the new hit sitcom Not Dead Yet, which is such a fun and satisfying show. Thanks to HarperCollins, we have three copies to give away!

Yorkshire born and raised, Alexandra Potter currently lives in South-West London with her California husband and their Bosnian rescue dog. When she’s not spending time writing or travelling, Alexandra is getting out into nature, trying not to look at her phone and navigating this thing called mid-life. 

Visit Alexandra online:


Synopsis:
Meet Nell. Her life is a mess.

When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell's happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she’s been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, a sky-high real estate market forces her to rent a room in a stranger’s house, and everyone has seemingly perfect Instagram-ready lives. Starting from scratch she feels like a f**k up . . . a forty-something f**k up.     

Landing a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an 80-something widow with challenges of her own. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and joy. With Cricket’s help, Nell is determined to turn her life around. First, though, she has a confession . . .

Laugh-out-loud funny and painfully relatable, Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up is a celebration of friendship and a reminder that while life doesn’t always go according to plan, it doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"Nell’s journey to mid-life happiness is hilarious, moving and filled with cleareyed wisdom about what it means to be a woman of any age, proving that the best happy ever afters come when you fall in love with life." 
~ Lucy Dillon, author, A Hundred Pieces of Me

"I loved this book so much. It’s very funny and painfully true. Confessions of a Forty-Something F*ck Up is perfect comfort reading for anyone who thinks life isn’t working out as they want it too, whether they’re forty, fourteen or eighty-four."  
~ Chrissie Manby, author, Getting Over Mr. Right

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
The best compliments are the ones that come from my readers. I receive so many wonderful messages from readers via my socials telling me how much they relate to Nell. When someone says that my novel has made them realise they’re not alone in how they feel and that my novel has helped them feel so much better about life, is the greatest compliment of all. 
 
What would you tell the debut novelist version of yourself?

That writing is a marathon not a sprint. There ere are going to be some highs and lows  - some books will fly off the shelves and some won’t - but to stick with it because the best is yet to come! 

When Confessions was made into Not Dead Yet, was the casting what you had envisioned?
As an author, I dream up my characters in my imagination and I never really ’see’ them, I just hear them and feel them. So I was absolutely overjoyed when the casting was announced for the TV show. I absolutely adore Gina Rodriguez who plays Nell and Angela Gibbs who plays Cricket. They bring such warmth, humour and authenticity to their characters. And the rest of the cast is amazing!  I can’t wait for season two!   

What is the last movie you saw that you would recommend?
Barbie! I loved, loved, LOVED it! The character played by America Ferrera gives a speech about how impossible it is to be a woman with all the pressures society places upon you, and it reminded me a lot of how Nell feels, so it really resonated with me - and lots of women. 
 
If your life were a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 

Gosh what a great question! Sally Phillips, the wonderfully talented actor who plays Shazza, in the Bridget Jones’ films, narrates the audible version of Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up and she’s so amazing, I’d be thrilled if she would narrate my life too. 

What was the last embarrassing moment you had?

I think it probably has to be this summer on vacation in Spain and walking out of the ladies’ bathroom with my dress tucked into my underwear - my sister had to tell me - but only after I’d walked through the entire restaurant to reach our table… sounds like something Nell would do :)  

Thanks to Alexandra for chatting with us and HarperCollins 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

Giveaway ends September 12th at midnight EST.

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Listen to this book on Speechify!

16 comments:

  1. Oh, I've f**ked up a lot! One time that sticks out to me is when I broke my ankle. It was totally my own fault. I was fooling around with my sister and I picked her up not once, not twice, but three times, and on that third time we fell over and my ankle snapped. Ugh. What a dumb thing to do! I fu**ked up!

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  2. Oh man...how do I narrow it down, lol. Let's see...my most recent f**k up is when I served undercooked (aka crunchy) baked potatoes for dinner. *face palm*

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  3. I f**ked up a recipe and the dinner was not good.

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  4. I pretty much f*ck up every day lol This morning I spilled my entire HOT cup of coffee all over my desk, and then I went to pick up the mug under my desk and slammed my head underneath so hard I knocked the glass of water on my desk over too. I think I need to start using sip cups.

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  5. I thought it would be fun to surprise the family with homemade cupcakes. When they came out the oven they didn't good at all. Then I realized I forgot the flour...LOL. I look forward to reading this book. Thank you for the giveaway.

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  6. I've F*cked up so much it's hard to single out just one.

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  7. It's hard to single out just one time.

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  8. It was not intentional. My friend told me her sister was pregnant. I saw the pregnant sister's brother-in-law at work and told him congratulations. He hadn't known. My friend didn't tell me it was a secret.

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  9. I entered data incorrectly into a work database then realised I couldn't edit it as the system doesn't allow you to make changes to data that's already been saved. Now my mistakes are on the system for all to see and they will probably be there for a long time to come.

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  10. My latest would have to be a small tub of yoghurt all over my computer keyboard.

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  11. It is part of life that one "messes" up. We had to get a new computer one time because I "f" up. There are other things that I am sure I have done but that is one that comes to mind.

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  12. Spilling a cup of tea on my computer keyboard.

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  13. So many f*ck ups. Guess marrying my first husband was the biggest. Though the marriage ended decades ago, because of the physical abuse I am living with fibromyalgia. I blame it on him.

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  14. I got on the wrong boxcar on a train.

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