When she was
just sixteen, Chrissy Anderson made a life list…
…The outcome is
a dream husband, a career to envy, and the kind of best friends every girl
wants. Then out of nowhere…an affair. What
would you do if you realized the life you created wasn’t right for you? You
think you know the answer? Think again.
Follow Chrissy as she lies and cheats and ultimately learns to tell the truth
to herself and those that she loves.
At twenty-eight,
Chrissy has been steadily checking off the boxes on her life list as she mocks
the style and life choices of everyone around her. She’s got it all—or so
everyone thinks. Her life begins to fall apart when she unexpectedly meets a
much younger man, Leo, who makes her question just how perfect her “perfect
life” really is. With the help of her no-nonsense therapist, Dr. Maria, Chrissy
learns more about herself than she anticipates.
But it isn’t until she stares an untimely death in the face that Chrissy
is catapulted into an overdue reality check.
Only then does she scramble to correct the mistakes of her past…trying
to figure out if it’s her husband Kurt, her lover Leo, or both that she has to
leave behind to make everything right.
Women of all
kinds will be able to relate to the pressure of constructing the ideal life,
only to fall short. Not everyone will agree with Chrissy Anderson’s decisions,
but all will pause as they follow along on her journey to ask, “What would I do
if I were her?”
The Life List,
book ONE of The List Trilogy, will take you on a rollercoaster of emotional
highs and lows as Chrissy makes mistakes on her bumpy road to happiness. Come along for the ride and you’ll be left
breathless and ready to find out what she does next in book TWO, The Unexpected
List.
EXCERPT:
I
just made it official. I’m a twenty-eight year old married woman with a
twenty-two year old boyfriend who lives twenty minutes from a husband who he
doesn’t know exists. That God I started believing in a few minutes ago is
sending me straight to Hell.
INTERVIEW:
Where did you get the idea for the novel? The moment I left a bar with a guy six years younger than me...when I was
a seemingly happy married woman, I knew I had a big story to tell. Well, the story became HUGE when that chance
encounter led to massive amounts of lies, desperate and gross manipulation, and
shockingly, the kind of love I never knew existed.
I was a good girl—a girl who created a
detailed life list at the age of sixteen and I diligently stuck to it. I worked my ass off to achieve all of the
things I thought I wanted in life and by twenty-eight…I almost had it all. But then that chance encounter at the bar
made me question the life list and all that I had accomplished. In one night my entire world was turned
upside down.
My story is based on my life and it examines the
sanity of blindly following the bucket list we make when we are young and the
impact of changing our minds after we
have checked most things off the list.
It’s a dilemma that millions of married women face every day. There are so many women who are torn between
choosing love and obligation. I know
their struggle…I know their heartache.
Your title.
Who came up with it? Did you ever change your title? I came
up with it. The Life List,
which is the first book in The List Trilogy, was originally titled, When She Died, but focus groups didn’t
think it matched the content. There’s a
lot of humor in my trilogy and something about the word ‘died’ in the title
sucked the fun out of the whole thing!
Why did you
pick this genre? What do you like about it? I
didn’t pick it, it picked me.
Since
becoming a writer, what’s the most exciting thing to ever happen to you? I was
one of the writers lucky enough to get chosen by BookBub for a promotion. It was estimated that I would receive
somewhere between 8,000 and 22,000 downloads in a two day period…I got over
44,000. More than double the expected amount!
It’s been great for sales. I can
see the roll over effect the promo is having on the second book in the trilogy,
The Unexpected List.
I think the most exciting thing to
happen to me keeps happening. I get
several emails every week from fans who say they found out about my trilogy
from an article they read in their local newspaper, a mention at a book club
event, or they checked it out at a library.
It continues to blow me away when people find out about my work via
marketing events/promotions I never even knew about. It means the word is spreading!
What book
are you currently reading or what was the last book you read? I read
boring non-fiction stuff! If I told you
what’s on my nightstand I’d bore you to tears and you’d lose all interest in
me. I’ll give you a hint though…it’s
about politics. See? How boring!
What is
your writing process? My house has to be clean
(i.e. beds made, laundry done, dishes in dishwasher, dinner planned out) before
I can focus on my writing. Once that’s all done, I light a candle and sit at my
desk with hard copies of The Life List
and The Unexpected List in front of
me. I also have the music I reference in
the books playing in the background. I’m
musically inspired! No music = No fun!
At a book
signing, do you just sign your name or do you write a note? How do you come up
with stuff to say? I get very personal
at my signings. I spend a lot of time
with each fan and really try to get to know them. I want to know how they came across my work
and why they like it. Signings are an
excellent opportunity to do marketing research and a great way to meet
interesting new people. I always write a
note inside the book! After spending a few minutes with the reader it’s not
hard at all to come with stuff to say.
What is
something people would be surprised to know about you? That I’m happily married, and that I’m a fantastic wife,
mother and friend. Trust me; this will
come as a shock to you when you start reading the trilogy! Aside from that, I’d have to say people are
shocked to find out I’m a homebody. I
love to cook new recipes and work in my garden and I never get tired of doing
either. Life is good for me—I’d say
people would be very surprised to hear me say that!
How do you
react to a bad review? Honestly? Not
well. So it’s a good thing I don’t get
many of them! I wrote a shockingly
personal story. I mean, I really put it ALL out there. Most readers applaud my raw approach to
things, some…not so much. My books
aren’t for typical romance readers who want a girl meets boy happily ever after
kind of story. I talk about real life
problems that real life women struggle with.
My trilogy isn’t an escape from reality, it’s validating reality. And I swear a lot in the process!
How did you
celebrate the sale of your first book?
By figuring out how to sell the
second one…with a martini in my hand of course!!!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
CHRISSY ANDERSON spends her life doing exactly what she always
wanted: doting on those she loves. A former fashion executive, she is a writer,
wife, and mother whose own life events inspired The Life List. She lives in
Portland, Oregon, with the love of her life and her beautiful daughter.
GIVEAWAY:
Chrissy will be awarding a $50 Victoria’s
Secret Gift Card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The
tour dates can be found here:
Thanks for hosting!
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