Author Spotlight: Milly Johnson

My love of all things Milly!

In honor of the giveaway coming up on THIS very blog, I thought it would be a great idea to do a post all About Milly!

It seems unlikely that its' been such a short period of time since I first opened up my very first Milly Johnson book.  In the early days of being on Twitter, when I still had absolutely no clue what purpose it was used for, I had been reading a ton of Jill Mansell and Katie Fforde books.  I struck up a friendship with a fellow book lover and she suggested that I find a copy of Milly Johnson's books.  It honestly took about a year before I finally risked the purchase.

Since they aren't readily available in the United States, YET, I didn't know if I wanted to shell out the bucks and wait for forever and NOT like it.  However, that fear was soon squashed when I finally opened the pages to my first Milly Johnson book!

THE BOOKS

A Winter Flame ( My First Milly Johnson Book!)

Eve is surprised by an unexpected windfall / inheritance.  When her aunt passes, she's shocked by a huge secret her Aunt had been holding!  Somewhat of a Scrooge, Eve, is not particularly thrilled with the idea of Christmas in general, much less an inheritance that seems to be ALL about Christmas.  A theme park.  A theme park all about Christmas.  Even more troublesome for Eve, is the discovery that she's not the sole owner of the theme park, and therefore has to share in the decision making process.


A Spring Affair

Lou, 35 yet lives the life of a much older person, is about to have a Spring Clean.  Her husband Lou, a VERY overly jerkish kind of husband, has had Lou right where he wants her. Dependent upon him and without a life of her own.  However, things are soon going to change.  Lou finds herself getting rid of the clutter in her life (in more ways than one) and in the process finds her passion and starts to create a whole new life for herself!


The Yorkshire Pudding Club (Milly Johnson's debut novel!)

Three friends take a trip of a lifetime to visit an ancient fertility symbol.  Helen, who has been hoping to become pregnant for ages, so it was a must-see destination for her!  However, her two friends Janey and Elizabeth are a little shocked when they discover their destination.
Then fate or perhaps an ancient fertility symbol throws them all a curve ball.  Each return from their respective trips and soon after find they've brought more than your average souvenir.  Each take the news in their own way.  This is a story that shows how we all handle situations in different ways.  A very fun read!


White Wedding

This was a super fun story!  Three women who meet while admiring dresses in a local wedding shop, form a fast and easy friendship.
Max a very independent woman finds herself being more in love with the concept of a wedding and starts going overboard, despite thinking of the perspective groom's desire.
Bel is in the middle of planning her perfect wedding when disaster strikes.  Although, she seems to be holding it together, Bel has other things on her mind.  She's determined to create the "Perfect" wedding....  Then we have Violet.  Violet, who owns her own ice cream parlor (we also meet her in 'Winter Flame') is  engaged to be married to Glyn.  Glyn, who is seemingly a loyal and devoted fiance, is not all he's cracked up to be.  Violet finds herself somewhat of a slave to Glyn and his disabled mother.  Hopefully, Violet will open her eyes before it's too late.

This was one of my favorite of all the books.  It was a beautiful story of three very different women, each with their own stories, forming a beautiful and lasting friendsip.  Friendship seems to be a key element in all of Milly Johnson's books.  She sincerely knows how to develop such likable and real characters, perfectly flawed!  You find yourself so immersed in her world, that you finish the book before you even realize it and hunger for more.


The Birds and the Bees

Author Stevie is shocked when her fiance runs off with her new friend, Jo McClean.  However, she is headstrong and has her mind focused on winning back her man.  She soon finds an unlikely ally in Steve, Jo's man who was left behind as well.  Together they form a plot.  Make their ex's mad with envy!  But, sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.  These two working together is one of the most comical and fun storylines I've ever read!  I was rooting for them the whole time, despite their crazy obsesssions.

All About Milly
Information here was taken from Milly Johnson's site.

Born in Barnsely, Milly Johnson has had a string of careers added to her resume in her very short life.  Some of the careers Ms. Johnson has under her belt:  Receptionist, barmaid, sales, teaching, trainee accountancy.

In her spare time, she was writing oems and jokes, and working on a novel all about the places she'd never been to and things she'd never done.  She says "It was doomed for failure".

THANKFULLY she never gave up.  Despite receiving rejection letters, she plowed on.  Despite receiving rejection letters, she was receiving encouragement to keep at it.  Too much encouragement to give up full-stop.

Not long after her 40th birthday she began to write a very different story than the one she had first begun.  This time, she leaned on her own experiences and her "decluttering", clutter clearing story (I'm to assume this would be A Spring Affair??).  She sent it off to an agent, who soon rang her asking for more chapters.  She began plugging away chapter by chapter and when she went in those final chapters, she also included the first 3 chapters to ANOTHER story she had begun working on during her pregnancy.

Though they liked both, they felt it was this other story (the one with only the first 3 chapters), that should be her debut novel.  So, the agent decided to sign her.

After a major edit, they began to shop around.    Finally on a Friday night, came the call, Simon & Schuster were giving her a two book deal!  I'm excited just reading and writing it.  I couldn't begin to imagine the feeling that she must have felt when she received that call.  She says that she jumped around like a teenager!  LOL

She still writes freelance part-time for the greeting card industry.

Thank Goodness for persistence.  I'm so thankful that Milly Johnson never gave up.  I've many times escaped my own life through the crazy lives of her characters.  Please keep writing these fabulous novels that not only are great romance, but great stories of friendship!

Friday, I will have the rafflectopter for the Milly Johnson giveaway up and running!  Please be certain to vote on which book you would like to see offered as a prize.

Super thankful for the generosity of Milly Johnson and that she's offering to send the winner of my giveaway one of her superb books!

**  The Milly Johnson giveaway will be open only to the US residents..
I apologize to my international friends.  It's my desire to want to introduce the awesomeness that is Milly Johnson to more US readers that is prompting me to only open it to US.  Please, please understand.  

Thanks for your support!!  Please still share this post, as well as the giveaway!