Welcome Charlie Cochrane and the "Second Helpings" Blog Tour and Giveaway

I’m thrilled skinny to be dropping in here as part of the Second Helpings blog tour. A million thanks to The Novel Approach for having me as a guest.

What were you reading while working on your Second Helpings?

I’m embarrassed to answer this question, as the answer is so predictable. Doubly so. It was a book called The Final Whistle, about fifteen of the guys who played for Rosslyn Park rugby club who died in the First World War. If that’s not a book that says, “Charlie” all over it, I’m not sure what does.

Which one of your characters would you date?

Now, there’s a thing. Given that my leading men are all gay, it would be a fat lot of use to me dating any of them! However, if I wanted an amusing evening with a handsome, intelligent man, it would have to be Jonty from the Cambridge Fellows books. Although, if I wanted to have an evening being bitchy about school governors and headteachers, it would be Adam from Best Corpse for the Job.

Which period of your life do you find yourself writing about the most?

I never write about my life in fiction. Although I have to admit that there’s a character in my Cambridge Fellows books that is based on me. When I blog, if it’s on a relevant topic, I tend to talk about the present day – am too senile to remember much of the past and not quite senile enough to remember childhood vividly!

About Second Helpings:

Stuart Collins’s life might as well have ended a year ago when his partner died in a car crash. Even Stuart’s widowed father has found new love with an old friend, Isabel Franklin, so why can’t Stuart be bothered to try?

Then he gets a phone call from Isabel’s son, Paul, who wants to check out whether or not Mr. Collins is good enough for his mother. During dinner together, though, they end up checking out each other. Trouble is, Paul’s got a boyfriend—or maybe he doesn’t, since the boyfriend’s supposedly giving Paul the push by ignoring him. Or maybe Paul just wants to have his cake and eat it too.

Honesty with each other is the only way to move forward. But maybe honesty with themselves is what they really need.

About the Author: As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes. Her favourite genre is gay fiction, predominantly historical romances/mysteries.

Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series, set in Edwardian England, was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, and International Thriller Writers Inc., with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes Books, MLR, and Riptide.

To sign up for her newsletter, email her at cochrane.charlie2@googlemail.com, or catch her at:

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The Giveaway: There’s two ways to win today! Comment below for a chance to win an ebook from my backlist (excluding Second Helpings), and a mix of summer seaside goodies! AND you can also…

Enter the Rafflecopter!

Entries close at midnight, Eastern Time, on July 29th, and winners will be announced on July 30th. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.