Interview & Giveaway with Authors of Sister Pact, Ali Ahearn & Ros Baxter

I read SISTER PACT earlier this year and totally enjoyed the escape, I loved Joni and Frankie and adored Des the ferret. I'm thrilled to have Ali and Ros on my blog and hope  everyone enjoys the interview as much as I did ... this has been one of my favourites. Thanks girls for taking the time to answer my questions and I look forward to reading more about Joni & Frankie :)

1. Can you give readers a description of Sister Pact?

Two very different sisters, estranged for seven years, forced to play nice on a Survivor-style reality TV show to inherit an obscene amount of money from their grandmother’s will. There’s jungle. There are humiliating challenges. There’s a ferret called Des.

And a little bit of romance along the way.

Sister Pact is IN HER SHOES meets DEAD FAMOUS.  It will appeal to all women who love to laugh and cry in the same book, and who realise that only those who know you well can hurt you like you never imagined.  And to everyone who likes a really happy ending.

2. Why did Aussie sisters choose to write about British sisters in an Australian setting?

We knew we wanted our characters to be tried and tested by the challenges which would be thrown at them.  We had both lived and worked in the UK, and felt we had some understanding of life for young British women. Mostly, we liked the inherent comedic value in throwing some Brit chicks onto a jungle island at the other end of the earth, and also liked the possibility of broadening the appeal of the story beyond an Australian audience.

3. I loved the characters, Joni’s irreverent sense of humour and potty mouth and uptight Frankie’s determination. Any similarities to your own personalities?

Again, we knew we wanted our characters to be different; to have unique perspectives and quirks.  In many ways, this was easy for us because in many ways we are different.  As our joint bio says:

Ali and Ros are sisters who are as close as they are different. Ali married the first boy she ever loved. Ros tried to remember the name of hers the other day and gave up and had a chocolate bar instead. Ali thinks everything will work out. Ros thinks everything will get found out. But for all their differences, they are fiercely close and desperately proud of each other. Nothing feels real until it has been spoken aloud to the other. They both love to talk, laugh and write preferably over a bottle of bubbly and something coated in chocolate.

But it’s definitely not as simple as “Ros is Joni and Ali is Frances”.  Joni has green hair, a suspect love life and disastrous career prospects, while Ros has a PhD in law and is about to give birth to her fourth child with her gorgeous husband.  Similarly, Frances shares with Ali that they both married their childhood sweethearts, but it didn’t take a swim across a shark-infested ocean to teach Ali to swear!

For all that we are different, we also share so much in common.  Our mother, who passed away recently, was a very strong influence in both of our lives.  She instilled in us the same sense of humour, family and justice.    She was so passionate and loved books, reading and writing.  She was also a real citizen of the world, and cared about so many causes.  So much of who we are and what we believe in is a legacy of this remarkable woman.

hugs to you both

4. Any sisterly bickering while writing? How did you decide who does what? Any challenges?

The writing process consisted of joint plotting and planning (over some very nice bubbly as I recall) and then each individually writing alternating point-of-view chapters.  We came together to calibrate from time to time; had lots of tune-up discussions and edited jointly and thoroughly at the end.

Our beloved mother was so worried we would end up at loggerheads, but in reality the whole process was very smooth.  We thoroughly enjoyed reading each other’s chapters as they would whizz into our in-boxes.  It was like Forrest Gump’s “box of chocolates” - even though we knew the plot you truly never knew what you were going to get!  And we both loved how (just like women’s conversations) the plot took some great and unexpected tangents, which turned out to be some of the best bits of the story.

5. What’s next on the table for Ali? Ros?

Ali – We’ve just completed the second Frances and Joni story where Frances is kidnapped by a cult and Joni comes to the rescue. I’m working on my next Medical and RIVA/Presents for Harlequin and I’m also very excited to be diversifying some more and working on a romance for Entangled Publishing which is scheduled for an August release.

Ros – Maternity leave from my day job – baby number four.  And working on some revisions on a single title manuscript that I’ve had some great feedback on from our publisher.

sounds great, do you have a release date for Frankie and Joni's next installment? 

6. What are you reading now?

Ali – oh dear, how I so wish I had time to read more!

Hmm, let me see…the last big book I read was Carol Marinelli’s Putting Alice back Together – loved it, loved it! I also snuck in the latest Kelly Hunter the other day when I should have been writing because I made the fatal area of reading the first page and that girl always sucks me in at the first line! I have Sarah Mayberry’s self pubbed book on my iPad waiting [im] patiently for me to get to and I really want to read Rachael Johns, Jilted which also sits on my iPad!

Ros – I am a literary omnivore – read and love almost anything.  Currently reading Deadlocked, the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris.  I love this woman, for pure indulgent escapism and making me break my rule about vampire books/films! AND

The Slap, which I have been meaning to get to for ages, and am really enjoying, albeit in a less escapist, indulgent kind of way.

Ali – read The Slap at the beginning of the year. Amazing book!

7. If you could be dropped into any book as a character, who would you be and why?

Ali –  any of Jennifer Crusie’s books because I always feel like her community of characters could easily be my friends and because she gives good hero.

Ros – Definitely Sookie, because as shallow as it is, she has gotten to make out with three of the hottest men (ok, vampires and werewolves) I’ve ever read.  Hey… I’ve got (almost) four kids.  I need to get my thrills somewhere.

great taste girls! and congrats Ros on (almost) number four :)

8. 3 must have items if you were stranded on a tropical island

Ali – iPad. Supply of toilet paper and feminine hygiene products. My sister.

Ros – A Kindle with wi-fi access. Frances’ man Nick who can shear a sheep, slay a dragon and (most importantly) erect a shelter. My sister.

9. Describe yourself in 3 words

Ali – Pragmatic.  Kind. A plodder.

Ros – Insane (gotta be a little to have four kids), Dogged (don’t mess with me), Blessed.

10. Which 5 people would you invite to a dinner party and why?

Ali -

My mother - so I could see her one last time and she just dazzled in any crowd

Michelle Obama - amazingly high achiever, a true powerhouse in her own right

Margaret Whitlam - the stories she could tell

Nancy Wake - a true heroine, inspiring, courageous

Prince Harry - do I need to explain why?

Ros -

My mother – so she could get her copy of the book (she would have been so cross about missing out) and so I could smell her and ask her all the things I forgot to

Nelson Mandela – because I want to know how to get me some of that Zen (27 years on Robben Island and he still came out seeking peace – I hold grudges about parking tickets!)

The Super Nanny – so I could ask her if she ever pinched a really naughty kid when no-one was looking

Clive Owen – because I’d like to see if I could make his voice go all deep and crazy male

Germaine Greer – so I could call her up and say I’m revoking the invite after she made that crack about Julia Gillard’s arse. 

Sister Pact in the wild ~ Dymocks Brisbane

Check out the awesome SISTER LIT. website ~ So not the Bronte sisters 

Add SISTER PACT to Goodreads

Find SISTER PACT @ Amazon

GIVEAWAY:
I'm excited to offer readers the chance to win a signed copy of SISTER PACT and it's International!!!

Just leave a comment for Ali and Ros and don't forget your email address.

You MUST leave a comment on my review of SISTER PACT to be entered in the giveaway.


EXTRA ENTRIES:
+2 tweet giveaway and leave a link

Giveaway ends 18th June and the winner will be announced on my blog. Good luck everyone :)