Avon UK have SPOILED us by releasing 10 gorgeous short story’s for Valentines Day!
I’m thrilled to welcome Claudia Carroll onto the blog today. Claudia is one of Avon’s fabulous romance authors, who wrote ‘The Feel-Good One’ for the Love…Maybe collection, Single, Forty & Fabulous!
- What’s your dream date?
Ooh, good question! I know a lot of people say it’s a posh dinner followed by champagne sipped in his private jet on your way to Rio…but for me it’s something a lot more humdrum. I love a date where it’s just something very casual like coffee or a quick drink after work, but then you just end up having so much in common and so much to say to each other that next thing it’s 2a.m. and it feels like you’ve only been there for about ten minutes. - What’s the worst/most embarrassing date you’ve ever been on?
Oh God, it happened years ago and I’m still cringing. It was a blind date and he was so mind-boggingly boring and so up himself that I ran to the loo, then came back and pretended that I’d just had a phone call saying I was needed back home urgently. He drove me home and of course no sooner had I got rid of him then I scooted down to our local to meet up my pals. And bumped into him there, doing exactly the same thing… - What’s your favourite Valentine’s gift you’ve ever received?
Well, here I’ve a confession to make here. Thing is, February 14th is my birthday, so whatever about the love/romance element to the whole day, I can always count on getting an iTunes voucher from my Dad and an anti-ageing cream from my mother. A subtle hint, methinks. - What’s your favourite thing about love?
Well I’ve been single for so long that it’s hard to remember, but hauling myself through the fug of time, I’d say; laughter. After all if you can’t have a laugh with a potential partner, then there’s no hope, is there? - Can you describe what love means to you in three words?
Companionship. Giggles. And long lazy dinners where you chat and talk late into the night, taking the whole world apart and putting it all back to together again. Sorry, I think I exceeded the 3 word limit… - What is your favourite memory of your wedding day OR what would be a detail of your dream wedding?
Well, I’m not married, but I know exactly where my dream wedding would be. On a beach. In the Caribbean. At sunset. With both of us in our bare feet and only close family and pals with us. No Bridezilla carry on; in fact I think I’d wear just a little sundress from Topshop to really emphasize the point. - What is your favourite romance novel?
Without a doubt, Pride and Prejudice. And to think that Jane Austen wrote it at twenty-one? Astonishing. - Who is your favourite romance author?
Oh, I’ve so many! Jane leads the pack though, I think, she’s the mother of all women’s commercial fiction, if you ask me. but I also love and adore Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, Phillippa Gregory and Trisha Scanlan too. - What is your favourite romantic film?
Casablanca. It’s got everything. It’s a heartrending love story, a thriller, a musical and a war movie all rolled into one. When they made it, they had no idea who’d win the war, which I think it makes it not just the most romantic movie ever, but also one of the bravest. - What inspires you to write romantic fiction?
Anything and everything really. seeing a couple kiss passionately on a bridge in the lashing rain in the middle of January and wondering what their story is. Or seeing a couple clinging to each other with one of them in floods of tears at the airport departure gates. Because we all have love stories to tell, don’t we?
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Claudia’s Bio
Claudia was born in Dublin and is a graduate of UCD, the College of Music and of the Gaiety School of Acting. Since then she has worked extensively as an actress on the Irish stage, but is probably best known for her role as TV’s Nicola Prendergast in the long running Dublin soap opera, ‘Fair City.’
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