Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Two British Settings by Luisa Plaja

I adore Luisa Plaja. Her books are very funny and romantic and they make me utterly happy. What's more, she's taken inspiration from British places to set her books. Below is a bit about two very British settings and how they played a role in her books. Thank you so much Luisa for being here today and for being so awesome!

Luisa Plaja is a linguist, and author of several funny, romantic YA novels (Split By A Kiss, Extreme Kissing, Swapped By A Kiss, Diary of A Mall Girl and soon to be published Kiss, Date, Love, Hate), and she also runs the ever-wonderful YA book site, Chicklish. Find out more about Luisa and her books on the following websites:





I set my first book, Split by a Kiss, in Boston, Massachusetts, but nearly all of the books I’ve written since have been set in my home country of Great Britain, and I’ve had specific locations in mind even when I haven’t named them. Here are two of the British settings of my books:



Dartmoor - Swapped by a Kiss

I wanted the music festival in Swapped by a Kiss to be a lesser-known one, and what better place to set it than a remote moor, where phone reception is patchy and civilization can seem pretty far away.

The mystical ruins in this book are completely invented, of course, but if they existed anywhere, it would be here, where clusters of ancient rock abound.

And as for the weather… well, Dartmoor suited this book down to the swampy ground. (photo credit)




London - Extreme Kissing -

I mapped out a route for Carlota and Bethany’s wild and random adventure, which started at Euston Station and took them to the British Library, Baker Street, Piccadilly Circus, the South Bank, the King’s Road… and beyond. Pictured is the London Eye, which features in an important scene in the book.

I grew up in London and despite having lived away for many years now, I still consider myself a Londoner. The girls’ extreme adventure is based on my own random Saturdays with my friends, where we’d sometimes grab our travelcards and go… nowhere half as exciting as Carlota and Bethany do! (photo credit)


I have a copy of Extreme Kissing, my London-based book, to give away internationally. See below for details. And thank you for including me in your British Month, Fluttering Butterflies!

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Thank you so much Luisa! Please leave Luisa comments of your favourite British settings that you'd like Luisa to write about next. Who knows, she might just use your suggestions! :)

And for your chance to win a copy of Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja, please do fill in the form below and I will be notifying the winner on the 30th of November. One entry per person, please. The giveaway is open internationally! And as always, you don't need to be a follower of this blog to enter, but it is always appreciated. Good luck to you all!


6 comments:

  1. Great post. For places in UK I am going to have to choose Liverpool and York, purely because they are where I live or like my second home :D

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  2. Brilliant post, I'd love to see your humour cross the border into my adopted homeland of Wales Luisa!

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  3. I love they idea of just hopping on a train and ending up where ever! I think this is a fabulous post. I loved Split By a Kiss and must read Swapped by a Kiss soon.

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  4. Brill post. I live in the UK but have only been the London three times but I LOVE it there! Thank you so much for the giveaway, I am dying to read Extreme Kissing :-D

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  5. Luisa, thank you SO MUCH for this guest post :) I hope you're taking notes on these suggestions...

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  6. Thank you very much for having me here, Clover! Yes, I'm taking careful notes... Thank you to everyone for all the great comments and suggestions! I've lived in the Northeast and the Northwest but never in Wales. I think I'll need some research visits. :)

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HI! Thank you for leaving a comment, you've just become my new best friend :)