I’m delighted to be supporting Emma Mitchell PR in introducing Sue Shepherd, author of Love Them and Leave Them, so that we can find out more about the woman behind the writing. Today, Sue gives an insight into five areas of her life.

Love Them and Leave Them is available for purchase in e-book here. I’m also sharing a link to a giveaway to win one of two e-copies of Love Them and Leave Them.

Love Them and Leave Them

Sometimes you have to leave the one you love … sometimes you’re the one who’s left behind. The new heart-warming and heart-breaking romantic comedy from the No.1 bestselling author of Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret?

On his way home, Ed makes a split-second decision that changes the lives of all those who love him.

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.

But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.

Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.

Sue Shepherd Author Spotlight

• Years Ago – I recently had a big birthday, and I mean BIG! Turning 50 feels very odd. I can’t possibly be a middle-aged woman, can I? Of course, being this age means that I have many memories. If you say the words ‘years ago’ to me, I’m transported back to somewhere around the 1980s. The music was excellent. I was young, I was slim and I had absolutely no confidence in myself. What a waste! If I had that time again, I’d wear whatever I damn well pleased and I’d be bloody proud of my fit and healthy body (frizzy perm aside). ‘Years ago’ also brings to mind my childhood, a very happy one. Spent with my sister and my wonderful parents. Although neither my mum nor my dad are with us now, I only need to close my eyes to be transported back to our house in Harrow. My childhood was a standard pre-smartphone one. We rode bikes, we played in the street, we went to the park and we were always home by the time it got dark.
• Family – I have a wonderful husband and two teenage sons. All three are immensely proud of my achievements. I’m grateful to my husband for supporting me in the leaner months. Our relationship is the classic – can’t live with him, wouldn’t want to live without him. I love him to bits, but he drives me crazy. You get the idea. I adore my children and do far too much for them, which will mean their future partners will no doubt hate me. Both my boys have vowed never to read any of my books because they contain occasional sex scenes – this decision suits me just fine!
• Work – I’m amazingly lucky that at the moment my job title is full time author. To be able to do the thing you love all day, every day is awesome. However, this is a recent career move, and I had many jobs prior to it. Until 2015, I was a Teaching Assistant in a Primary School, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Before that, I did many years of customer service work on the telephone, which was … let’s say, less enjoyable, but fitted well around my children. If you go back far enough, you’ll find me dressed all in pink, and going by the name of ‘Stinky Pinky’ as a Children’s Party Entertainer in the 90s.
• Hobbies – Until I gave up working at the school, I would always list creative writing as my main hobby. But now it’s my job, so I suppose I need to put something else. Umm … the truth is I’m always writing. I write almost every day and if too much time goes past without me getting to my laptop, I feel deprived. However, I’m not supposed to be talking about writing … so, let’s not forget that I live on a small island, which has glorious beaches and beautiful countryside, therefore I would also list walking our dog, Forrest (named after Mr Gump) as a hobby. Now our sons are older, my husband and I are starting to find that more and more often when we go out for walks on the weekend, it’s just us, so Forrest is very much our constant companion and in many ways, our third child.
• Future – There is one thing that I really hope will happen in my future and I don’t think anyone who knows me in real life will fail to guess it. My husband and I bought a small detached bungalow a couple of years ago, and our plan has always been to knock it down and re-build on the land. It’s an ongoing project which mostly involves watching endless episodes of Grand Designs and The £100K House. My greatest wish is that we can accomplish the build soon and stop living in ‘The Old Lady Bungalow’.

Giveaway

Click here for your chance to win one of two e-copies of Love Them and Leave Them.

About Sue Shepherd

Sue Shepherd writes contemporary romance and enjoys creating novels with heart, laughs and naughtiness. She doesn’t pull any punches when choosing her subjects, but manages to handle her characters’ challenging situations with sensitivity and humour. Her debut novel, Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret? was published by Corazon Books in March 2015. It reached the top 10 UK Kindle chart, and also topped the romantic comedy, contemporary romance and humour charts. It became available in paperback on Amazon in November 2015.

Sue’s second novel, Love Them and Leave Them, was published in September 2016.

Sue lives on the picturesque Isle of Wight with her husband, two sons and a standard poodle. Her passions in life are: her family, writing, the sea-side and all the beautiful purple things her sons have bought her over the years. Ask Sue to plan too far in advance and you’ll give her the heebie-jeebies and she’d prefer you not to mention Christmas until at least November!

You can follow Sue on Twitter and visit her website. You’ll find Sue on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers too: