This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
It's not often that you get invited to have Champagne Afternoon Tea at Claridges, so when the lovely Kirsty from Novelicious asked me to review the Melissa Hill event for her site I said yes right away.
Melissa Hill is a best-selling author whose latest title, Something From Tiffany's has taken the Chicklit world by storm. She is hailed as the Queen of the big plot twist and her books contain a lot of warmth and humour with plots that keep you on the edge of your seat. Melissa's first book was written in 2003 and since then she has amassed nine books. She is based in Dublin and as an author she is right up there with her fellow compatriots, Cathy Kelly and Marian Keyes.
I arrived at Claridges in good time and was warmly greeted by Emma Knight, Hodder's publicity 
director for Hodder & Stoughton. The table consisted of the Hodder team; Isobel Akenhead, Harriet Bourton, editorial assistant and Isabel Coburn, sales manager. On the press and blogger side there was Anna Bell from the Chicklit Club, Alice O'Keefe from The Bookseller, Laura Barnett from The Guardian and Sam Pitney from Heat World. The guest of honour was of course Melissa Hill who I had the pleasure of sitting next to.
Everything was beautifully presented, from Melissa's new book which was covered in Tiffany like wrapping to the elegant china crockery that we used. Melissa filled me in on her book; she like most people loves New York and, in particular ,Tiffany's and got the idea of the book when she was shopping in the store and watching people buying presents for their loved ones. The Big Apple around Xmas time is synonymous with romance and Tiffany's tends to be at the centre of it all.
First we started off with champagne of course and then we tucked into cute finger sandwiches. After that we were served tea – English Breakfast or Earl Grey and then we went onto some lovely desert. Fruit cup, chocolate mouse, and scones served with clotted cream were on offer which tasted amazing. It was great meeting the other bookie types especially Anna from Chicklit Club who I realised pens the The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author column on Novelicious. In between lining our stomachswith glorious cake and tea we all chatted away about our favourite topics – books. Topics ranged from our favourite chick lit authors, the snobbery aimed at the genre and whether e-readers were better than actual books. Of course we were given a copy of Something From Tiffany's to take home which I have started reading and I can confirm it is ace.
Ronke lives in Kent and when she is not immersed in Chicklit books she is writing her blog, The Musings of Ondo Lady. Oh yes, and she manages to hold down a full time job as a Marketing Executive in central London. Let's say she likes to keep busy. Her favourite authors are Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk, Jane Green, Lisa Jewell and Matt Dunn. Her TBR pile is growing by the day but she still can't stop herself from buying new titles from amazon.