Interview with the ANONYMOUS author of WAGS' WORLD + GIVEAWAY!

Some of you may remember that I've recently & enjoyed a series called WAGS' WORLD, which features the infamous Wives and Girlfriends of footballers? Perfect reads for the World Cup season! You can read my review here and here in case you missed them.
Anyway, this fantastic series was written by an anonymous author and I got a chance to interview her - yay, how exciting!
Unfortunately, she still refuses to get personal, but at least she provides some other interesting information - so read on! :)
Oh and if you like the sound of these books, then there's a giveaway in store for you - just scroll down!
Enjooooooy! :)

- You've decided to remain anonymous as an author, but can you please tell us something about yourself?
OK, let's see... I live in the UK (not necessarily in London, though I've read that about myself in some author bios. Let me tell you that those bios are unauthorised! I have never actually said that I live in London... Or that I don't...)
I'm married and I have young children. I like football, swimming and dancing. And I love writing.

- Are you a WAG too? Did you base your books on your own experience?

The WAGs' World series is fiction. That's all I'm saying. :)

- Why do you think so many girls today aspire to be WAGs? Would you encourage that?

I think the coverage we see in papers and mags make being in a relationship with a footballer look like instant glamour: a ticket out of ordinary life, a rags-to-riches fairytale existence. In reality, of course, so-called WAGs are women who happen to date/marry footballers, and are as diverse as women who happen to date/marry men in any other profession. OK, footballing can be a very highly paid profession, but only at a certain level, and even then there's a downside - it's not all about money and glamour, as Amy soon learns in the WAGs' World books. I don't think I'd discourage anyone's hopes and dreams, but I'd like to think that women could pursue their own interests and develop their skills and talents to reach the kind of recognition and satisfaction they dream of in their own right.

- Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

I do a lot of research, make a rough plan of what my characters need to go through, and then I set about putting the necessary action into writing. I often change direction as I write and sometimes surprise myself by uncovering unplanned juicy facts about characters and their motivation. Rosay and Trina have both surprised me in the past, for example, and I'm never completely sure what our Asha's going to come out with next.

- Can we expect more books in the series?

As far as I know, there are no plans for more WAGs' World books. I hope people continue to enjoy reading them, though! I certainly enjoyed every minute of writing them.

- The covers are gorgeous - would you happen to have any inside scoop on how they were designed?

I'm glad you like them! I don't really know much about their design, but I do have some idea of the cover model's top-secret identity.

- Who do you predict will win the World Cup this year?

Well, at the time of writing this, the world is gearing up for the final and all my previous predictions are out of the window! Maybe I vaguely expected things to unfold in a similar way to the World Cup tournament I made up! World Cup WAGs would be a very different book as things currently stand - can you imagine how exciting it would be to be in Spain right now? And could Johann and Kylie's big day have reached a whole new height of celebration?!

- Lastly, who's your favourite real life WAG and why?
I don't really have a favourite, but I must say that it's hard not to admire Ellie Darby, who normally stays out of the limelight, for her recent appearance on the BBC Three series WAGs, Kids and World Cup Dreams. You can see her talk about what she thinks of the WAG stereotype here.

Thank you very much for interviewing me, Bookalicious Ramblings!
- Not at all, thank YOU for agreeing to do this, Anonymous! :)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Also, in case you missed it the first time around, I'm also hosting a giveaway for TWO sets of the whole series (i.e. three books) ! The giveaway ends very soon so here are the rules if you'd like to enter:

• the contest is open INTERNATIONALLY
• it ends on July 10th at midnight
  
• all you have to do is fill out this form

In the form, I also ask you some questions regarding your favourite WAGs and World Cup finalists. I've gotten some interesting replies so far so stay tuned as I post them in my winners announcement post - should be fun! :)

Review: WORLD CUP WAGS by Anonymous **** + GIVEAWAY!

Sun, sand and (Luis Vuitton) suitcase of scandal ...

It's over a year since 17-year-old Amy Thornton's footballer boyfriend Damien was signedto a Premiership team and her life is more exciting than ever.
Ahead of the World Cup in Spain, she's off to film her new fitness DVD on the beach. But a last-minute injury in the England squad means Damien could be joining her.
As the other girls arrive in a whirlwind of rumours and gossip, the paparazzi seem set to blow the final whistle on the WAGs' World Cup.

Let the hottest games this summer begin ...

I've recently read and reviewed the first two books in the WAGs' World series and I really quite enjoyed them so I was very keen to read the third installment too. It's actually a perfect read for the current times what with all the World Cup fever going on and since I've recently been educated on how the World Cup works, I could actually make some sense of the football talk in the book, although you don't have to be a football expert to enjoy this book - I'm certainly not (au contraire!), but I found myself really enjoying this fab series!

As I said, I loved the first two books and the third one certainly doesn't disappoint either. Our girl Amy is now the nation's sweetheart and she's filming her fitness DVD Absolutely Amy on a beach in Spain together with her BFFs Asha & Susi and their trainer Josh (yes, THE Josh).
The World Cup is also starting in Spain and the paps keep asking Amy how she feels now that her boyfriend Damien hasn't been chosen to play and she's really fed up - until her Damien does get a chance to play and they are soon reunited in Spain.
The lovely couple couldn't be happier, but their relationship is soon put to the test - yes, again, but this time it's the most serious ... Damien is training all the time and it seems that someone hates Amy since pretty much her every move is sabotaged and the whole country turns against her as the media makes everyone think that Amy is a traitor to her national team - and then everything just goes downhill from there ... Meanwhile Amy's friends are also dealing with (mostly love) problems of their own and there's just so much going on for everyone that you're not too sure whether all of them will get their happy ending in this 'WAG-eat-WAG' world ...

Like in the previous two books, the characters are great. I've called Amy a bit boring before and she really is quite the Miss Goody Two Shoes, but I can't help admiring her for how grounded she remained despite all the chaos surrounding her crazy life. She got slightly carried away at first, but she remained true to herself and didn't forget her real friends, and she didn't turn into someone who's just famous for being a WAG and spending her boyfriend's money - she far better than that and thus a great girl to read about.

I've said before that these books are perfect for anyone, from tweens to OAPs, and they nicely show how it's not all glitz and glamour in the world of WAGs ...

The blurb at the back of the book calls the series 'wildly addictive' and that's certainly no lie! The books are just so easy & fun to read and yet so well written that you'll just find yourself racing through them! I read this one in one afternoon and now I'm sad that it's all over (especially since the ending was a little bit abrupt - I want more!) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more books in this series!

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 4/5
_____________________________________________

GIVEAWAY TIME!

The lovely anonymous author of the series has kindly donated two sets of all three books so yes, that indeed means that two lucky people will win the whole WAGS' WORLD series, which consists of Playing the Game, Knowing the Score and World Cup WAGs!
Here are the rules:

• the contest is open INTERNATIONALLY
• it ends on July 10th
• all you have to do is fill out this form

Good luck! :)

Double Review: PLAYING THE GAME & KNOWING THE SCORE

PLAYING THE GAME
(WAGs' World #1)

An ordinary girl thrown into an extraordinary life . . . Amy, sixteen, has moved to London for the summer to be near her eighteen-year-old boyfriend, Damien. He's just been signed to a top premiership football club and is getting a taste of the no-limits lifestyle – and he wants Amy to come along for the ride. She soon learns that the other wives and girlfriends are playing games too, but theirs are strictly off the pitch . . . Will a normal girl ever be able to cope in this fast and furious WAGS' world?

KNOWING THE SCORE
(WAGs' World #2)

An ordinary girl thrown into an extraordinary life . . . Amy Thornton is sixteen and planning a perfect summer in London with her lush footballer boyfriend, Damien. But things turn nasty when a fellow WAG threatens to blackmail Amy. Scared of ruining things with Damien, Amy accepts the demands and gets caught up in a whirlwind of celebrities and scandal. As Amy starts meddling in other people’s lives while hiding her own secrets, she realizes that dealing with gossip is about more than scoring points . . .

I've decided to do a double review of the first two books in the WAGS' World series (both written by an ANONYMOUS author, ooh la la) - I wasn't planning to, but as soon as I finished the first one, I *had* to start reading the second one and I thought I might as well review them together! Oh and if you're wondering what the hell WAGS means, it should be clarified that it's a synonym for Wives And Girlfriends (of sportmen, namely footballers). It's a HUGE thing in the UK, where this series is also set.

I'll admit that this isn't quite something I'd normally pick up as I've never been too keen neither on football nor WAGs, but I was offered to review these books and I thought I might as well give them a chance ... Well, guess what happened? Yep, I totally ended up loving the series, ha!

These books tell a story of Amy Thornton, a normal 16-year-old girl who's boyfriend Damien has just been signed to a top football club (Premiership League or something like that, big stuff and all). He's moved to London and after she's done with school, she decides to join him for the summer - which turns out to be nothing like what she's imagined ... She doesn't fit in with the rest of the super glam WAGs (Rosay, Paigle, Claudette, Kylie etc), the paparazzi are following her every move and she barely sees Damien as he's always either training or partying.

So then we follow Amy as she goes from the girl next door to a WAG in a matter of days, hehe. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems and that she cannot trust anyone. She finds out why some of the other WAGs fell apart and of all the scandals that had happened before her time. Her relationship with Damien hits rock bottom as she suspects he's cheating on her - with another WAG. She's spending money she shouldn't be spending and she's seeing people she should be avoiding, especially in public - which is why is ends up being a victiom of blackmail. On the bright side, she seems to have become somewhat of a style icon and at least her best friends, Susi and Asha are there to support her - well, sort of ... Then she gets her GCSE result, uh-oh ... How will Amy get out of this mess that she's gotten herself into? Luckily, she's managed to dig up some dirt about her blackmailer and she's not scared to use it to her advantage ...

Well, that was a bit rambly there, but I just wanted to very quickly sum up some of the key events of the first two books, hehe! As you can see, there were just so many things going on that I couldn't help being completely sucked into the story and I cannot wait for Book 3 to see how it all ends!

What I liked about this series is that it's quite scandalous while at the same time it's still very innocent - meaning that there is scandal and gossip and betrayal and dark secrets, but it's nothing obscene; no drugs, no drinks, no sex etc., which may sound hella boring, but it's actually far from it! Yes, I'm aware that these books don't paint a terribly realistic picture of WAGs and I imagine that the real world of WAGs is far, far worse, but I actually liked how these books managed to remain sort of innocent, but still very interesting!

Furthermore, the books were really well written and the story (with all the twists & turns) flew really nicely - as I said, I was completely hooked myself! The book has its fluffy moments (unavoidble - this is the WAGs we're talking about), but there are also some quite serious topics thrown in for got measure, and I have to say I quite liked this.

The dialogue was fantastic and so were the characters. OK, I admit Amy and Damien were possibly slightly too perfect and thus a wee bit boooooring, but luckily the rest of the characters were a much more lively and hilarous bunch! I love Asha & Susi and Kylie (hey, it's a good thing she can keep a secret, wink wink :p) and Rosay (like the wine!) and Barbie and Paige and oh, the list goes on. I wasn't too keen on people like Claudette or Lauren, but I suppose that was the point, heh.

I'm not saying this is the best series ever, but the books are a fantastic read and I was really pleasantly suprised with them. As I said, it's possibly not the most realistic portrayal of the mad world of the WAGs and footballers, but maybe that's a good thing and besides, the books were just so much fun to read! No masterpiece or anything, but certainly a fabulous quick read!

Definitely recommended whether you're a tween or a granny, you're bound to get into sucked into this cute story, especially with all the World Cup fever going on! Speaking of which, I cannot wait to read the third and sadly the last part of the series (World Cup WAGs) to see how it all ends! Stay tuned for the review and possibly even a giveaway and an interview with the mysterious anonymous author, ooh! ;)

overall rating:
plot: 4/5 | writing: 4/5 | characters: 4/5 | cover: 4/5