It Had To BE You Blog Tour

 

Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

James Parson has a problem. His military dad is going to yank him out of his expensive boarding school if James doesn’t prove he’s no longer hooking up, pulling pranks, and charming his way out of consequences. What better way to show he’s now responsible than becoming the committed boyfriend of a U.S. diplomat’s daughter?

 Level-headed, book-smart Edelweiss may have traveled the world thanks to her dad’s job, but when it comes to friends and boys, she knows exactly nothing. Newly enrolled in boarding school, Edel is now on a mission to learn it all. James says he’ll help her experience the ultimate high school life—if she’ll be his fake girlfriend. And fake is perfect, because he’s exactly the kind of player she’d never date.

 Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains red-hot romance, all the feels, and a soul-mate bad boy.

 

I am so excited to have Lizzy Charles author of It Had To Be You on my blog today! SO without futher ado…

Liv, thank you so much for having me on your blog today. I’m so excited to be on a UK blog and sort of wish we were chatting this post out in person. I’d love to hang out in London with you and share an afternoon tea. (I’m not even kidding, I love tea!)

Today I thought I’d talk about the reason I write, the inspiration behind my new novel, It had to be You, and my favourite places to write.

We all have different reasons we write, but for me I write because since I was in first grade I’ve known it’s what I was meant to do. Now, just because I knew I wanted to be an author in first grade doesn’t mean I went off and pursued a degree in English (though that would have been very helpful) and started sending off manuscripts to publishers. The truth was I was scared of the intense desire I’d always had towards writing a book, so naturally I ran off and got a Bachelors if Science degree and became a Registered Nurse.

It wasn’t until my first child was born that the weight of not writing became too heavy to shoulder. I mean, how could I raise up a daughter who I wanted to learn to believe in herself and be who she is created to be, if I don’t even try to be the number one thing I was called to do? I couldn’t live in that hypocrisy.

Yeah, it’s a bit of a sappy reason, but it’s stuck with me. For almost seven years I’ve pursued this career and I’m thrilled to be releasing my fourth book!

My initial inspiration for It had to be You came from a place and a television show. I’m a die hard Gilmore Girls’ fan (Team Logan pre Netflix special and now I’m simply Team Rory) and Rory’s elite high school, Chilton, always fascinated me. Pairing that with a nearby gorgeous college, nestled in rolling hills, and Brockmore Academy, America’s most elite (and fictional) boarding school was born. Once I could visualize the school, I knew I had to write a boarding school romance.

Of course, a novel needs characters so the idea simmered in my head while I figured my main characters out. I’m a big fan of Donald Glover (also known as Childish Gambino) and once I fell in love with his work on Community I knew he was my James. Edelweiss is a blond version of Rey from The Force Awakens Brave, bold, kind, and good to her core.

This novel took me two years exactly from my first paragraph to the day the book was published, which I find so bizarre! With three kids and also juggling my nursing career, this novel wasn’t written anywhere fancy. Most of it was written wherever I could possibly word-vomit out a story as quickly as I could. And, due to that word vomit, I ended up rewriting it at least twelve times, maybe even more! I used to hang out in coffee shops but the smell saturated my clothing so much that I couldn’t even get it out in the wash. So I switched the library, and my productivity shot through the roof. My local library has these huge windows and study rooms where I can literally lock out the world. For me, this is where my best craft came through.