28 Apr 2015

Book Club by Jaime Boust

Celebrity Kidnappings, the Kama Sutra, Russian Mobsters, Congolese Shimmer Frogs...
Book Club is a time to drink wine, to live vicariously through erotic fiction, and pay lip service to one’s life goals. The club's founder wants to be a writer but can’t find her story. Billie is the virgin mailwoman who doesn’t know if she’s gay or straight. Ashleigh is the beautiful housewife who can’t get pregnant by her philandering husband, and Marissa is the high-powered executive who has sacrificed her own family for a stressful job that makes her miserable.
They meet once a month, updating their dream boards guided by the self-help book du jour, but nothing ever changes. Until Marissa’s mysterious sister arrives and shakes the women into action.
What will it take to make their dreams a reality? The disappearance of People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive, mass abandonment of smart phones, Korean nacho dogs, and some good old fashioned sex.
Book Club is smart, sexy, and endlessly entertaining. A delicious, thought-provoking romp from start to finish. Make it your top book club pick for 2015!
Amazon

Hi Jaime! Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
Book Club is about five women paying lip service to their dreams but doing nothing to achieve them. That is, until a new member joins the club and changes everything. It’s a fun, sexy romp about getting out there and making things happen for yourself, though the way these women go about it might not be advisable.

What inspired you to write it?
I’m one year shy of forty, and I’ve noticed a lot of people my age giving up on their dreams. I wanted to write something that expressed my own yearnings for success and accomplishment, while giving others a fun little kick in the pants. Go out there and do it. You’ll never regret trying.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover?
Metamorphosis is a big theme of Book Club. I wanted to use the image of the butterfly, but use female figures to compose the wing markings. If you look closely, all five characters are in there, growing and changing.

If it was made into a movie, who would you like to play the main characters?

Everyone who reads Book Club tells me that Melissa McCarthy should play Billie, which is great because Melissa was my inspiration for the character. Beyond that, I’ll leave it to the casting director!

Is it part of a series or is it a stand-alone novel?
Book Club is a stand-alone novella, but it excerpts my serial, Conquest by Steam Bijou, which is about a woman crossing items off her sexual bucket list before she settles down. If you like a little sexy in your women’s lit, check it out.

Where is the novel set and why did you choose to set it there?
Book Club is set in whatever town the reader lives in. I didn’t name a town because it could happen anywhere, and the characters could be your next-door neighbor or the woman behind you in the grocery line.

What is it about this genre that appeals to you so much?
I love writing about women’s issues that echo my own experience and observations. Adulthood is ripe and primed for picking.

What made you want to become an author?
I loved writing when I was little and it never stopped. Words are magical in their infinite possible combinations.

How do you come up with character names?
Once I have a character shaped in my mind, they pretty much name themselves. The sound of the name typically reflects the character’s personality.

Name one of your all-time favourite books?
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.

Who, or what, inspires you?
The myriad complexities of adulthood inspire my stories, and creative people everywhere inspire my life.

Where is your favourite place to write?
In my backyard on a warm sunny day. I read my work aloud a lot in a dramatic fashion, so my neighbors probably think I’m nuts.

What is your favourite movie that was based on a book?
The Shining is one of my all-time favorite movies, although I know Stephen King wasn’t happy about it. I just saw Gone Girl, which was a thrilling adaptation. Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay, so I’m assuming she’s pretty happy with how it turned out.

Name two of your favourite authors.
Lorrie Moore and Brett Easton Ellis.

Tell us a random fact about yourself.
I just might be the world’s most accomplished player of hide and seek. I’m unfindable.

Who would play you in the movie about your life?
I’d like a crack at it. I might not be any good, but I’d look a lot like me.

Tell us an interesting fact about where you live.
I just moved to Pasadena, California, where there’s a startling wild parrot population. The story goes that a local pet store caught fire in the fifties, and they opened all the cages to save the birds. The sky is green at times, and I swear if you listen closely you’ll hear them speaking English.

What are your (writing) plans for the future?
I’m going to keep on writing my heart out. I’ve got a serial called Night Life coming out soon, and a thriller in the works.

Tell us one thing that's on your bucket list.
To live in Italy.

Favourite myth / fairytale?
I have a thing for the mythological Three Fates.

Who/What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A writer, silly.

Jaime Boust is a writer whose work ranges from literotica to anonymously submitted business plans to her favorite failing local retailers. Her fiction includes Book Club, Conquest by her alter ego Steam Bijou, and the forthcoming serial Night Life--a series about a thirty-something mother who, disillusioned by the monotony of motherhoods, starts a high-end prostitution ring. The similarities between Ms. Boust and her anti-heroine are startling, minus the prostitution.
Jaime received her formal education at the University of California at San Diego and her informal education on the streets of London, the hills of San Francisco, the sewers of Paris, and the suburban wilds of Oakland. These days you'll find her dodging traffic in Los Angeles with her husband and two kids. Many things have been said of her: idea machine, portmanteau enthusiast, cutthroat croquet player, national champion cheerleader, world's spiciest cook. Believe them all.
Website
Steam Biju
Amazon
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