Yes, that really is me in the photo with the world famous Sophie Kinsella, Joanne Harris, Nicholas Parsons and the other fabulous authors at my publisher’s 60th birthday party. Is the lovely Ms Kinsella not rocking her 8-month bump in the leopard skin dress? Go girl!
Now, I’ve had lots of email about the reading order of the books. First of all, don’t panic! The books are written so you can pick any one of them up, dive in and get to know the characters without missing anything vital.
But, if you’d like to read them in order, the Annie Valentine series goes: The Personal Shopper, Late Night Shopping, How Not To Shop and Celebrity Shopper (so far!)
Secrets at St Jude’s reading order is: New Girl, Jealous Girl, Drama Girl. Book four, Rebel Girl comes out in June.
My first four books are ‘stand alone’ titles, so no special order required.
I’ve done some fantastic visits and events during March. I’ve been talking about books, reading and writing in schools in and around London. I was talking at Waterstone’s in Guildford, then Stockton-upon-Tees library, I did a books festival and a Unicef event in Glasgow. Oh and a lovely primary school in Glasgow too. It’s been fantastic to meet so many readers and hopefully inspire lots of future writers.
This is some of the feedback from the lovely ladies I met in Stockton:
‘Carmen was an enlightenment – inspirational’
‘Really enjoyed listening to Carmen read extracts from her books. I’ve wondered how an author wants her books to ‘sound’ when read – now I know’
‘Carmen was such an interesting and charming person’
‘I really enjoyed the evening, Carmen was inspirational and funny’
Awwwww! Thank you so much, incredibly kind.
This is a picture of me and the lovely Jill Mansell (author of more than 20 bestselling books – wow!). As you can see, we are ‘relaxing’ in the bar after our Girls Night Out event.
