I’m so excited to welcome Cat Lavoie, one of my favorite “new-school” chick lit authors, to the Celebration of Chick Lit Tour. I say “new-school” because there are so many emerging authors on the chick lit scene who I wish got more attention and Cat, my fellow readers, is one of them. She’s fabulous. Please do yourself a favor and pick up one (or three) of her books. Without further ado:

 

Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Meredith! I’m so excited to be here to celebrate the release of Novelista Girl and talk about one of my favorite things in the world—chick lit.

 

I remember the moment I fell in love with chick lit. The exact details are a bit fuzzy—it’s been almost *cough* fifteen years since my University days—but I recall being surrounded by stacks of books I was supposed to be reading and stressing out over essays I had to write. (Knowing me, they were probably due the next day.) Even though I enjoyed my classes and eagerly read the books that were assigned to me, I couldn’t wait to get away from the mandatory reading list so I could escape and continue reading the new book I’d just bought—Confessions of a Shopaholic by an author I’d never heard of before called Sophie Kinsella. I’ll always remember discovering that particular book because—in addition to being hilarious—it helped me put a name to the stories I’d been writing for years. In addition to introducing me to a whole new genre, Sophie Kinsella helped me realize I was a chick lit writer.

 

Fast forward a few years later when I started sending out queries for my debut chick lit novel, Breaking the Rules. After a few rejections, I began having doubts about the strength of my query. I worried there was something wrong with it, so I reached out to fellow writers who were part of an online writing group I had recently joined and asked them for feedback.

 

The first comment arrived almost immediately. You made a mistake. My heart dropped. GASP! Had a dreaded typo made its way into my query—the same query I’d already sent to countless agents? The grammar nerd in me was on the verge of having a full-blown panic attack. And then I read the rest of the comment. It’s not chick lit anymore. I believe it’s called women’s fiction now.

 

Nobody had told me that chick lit was dead but, from that moment on, I couldn’t get away from announcements of its demise. Apparently, chick lit had been dead for ages. So why are we still talking about it all these years later? Because, obviously, it’s not dead. There are way too many talented authors and bloggers keeping it alive and making it thrive. I interact on a daily basis with amazing writers who create books I devour and who are, as we speak, most likely staring at a computer screen drinking coffee (or wine!) while penning their next story. You can’t get more alive than that.

 

Why do I love chick lit so much? Because a good chick lit book is full of humor and heart. It can make you laugh on one page and tear up on the next. The main character could be your sister, or your best friend—or even you. (In fact, there was a time in my twenties when I could have out-shopped my fictional BFF, Becky Bloomwood. But that’s a whole other blog post.)

 

I am so proud to be a chick lit writer and, as a reader and a fan, I’m very excited (and not at all worried) about its future.

 

Bio

 

Cat Lavoie lives in Montreal, Canada with her tempestuous cat, Abbie.

She is the author of BREAKING THE RULES, ZOEY & THE MOMENT OF ZEN, and PERI IN PROGRESS.

If Cat isn’t reading or writing, she’s most likely watching too much TV or daydreaming about her next trip to London.

 

Links

 

Website: http://www.catlavoie.com/

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CatLavoieAuthor

 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Catenabi

 

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/catlavoie4

 

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/catenabi

 

Amazon Author Page: Author.to/CatLavoie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOVELISTA GIRL – January 6, 2016:

Readers first met sassy Kimberly Long in Blogger Girl, and now the feisty New Yorker is back in a sequel packed with quick wit, friendship, heartache, and, of course, romance.

Kim runs the most popular chick lit book blog on the web, loves playing house with her sexy lawyer boyfriend, Nicholas, and is finally pursuing her lifelong dream to become a published author. At first glance, her life is five-pink-champagne-flutes worthy. 

 But is there more to the story than meets the eye?

 After hearing the phrase “chick lit is dead” more times than she’s read Bridget Jones’s Diary, Kim is driven to desperate measures, seeking advice from up-and-coming chick lit author, Hannah Marshak, her high school nemesis and resident “mean girl.” As if Kim doesn’t have enough on her plate balancing her secretarial duties with her blog Pastel Is the New Black, shrugging off the growing pile of agent rejections, and keeping her best friend from turning green over Kim’s budding friendship with Hannah, Nicholas is so blinded by his career ambitions, he doesn’t see that their home sweet home could use more than a dash of sugar. 

 This is the year when all of Kim’s dreams—professional and romantic—are supposed to come true, but will the story have a happily ever after, or will Kim end up unpublished and all alone?

 This novel can be read as a sequel or as a standalone and is best accompanied by a cocktail, preferably a pink one.