The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridge by Julie Stock
People often ask me
how I come up with the ideas for my stories, and I think it’s
something that many authors will have been asked at one point or
another. To anyone who isn’t a writer, it perhaps seems incredible
that we manage to come up with one idea after another for our books.
However, when I
deliver my talks about my self-publishing journey, I always say that
one of the reasons it took me so long to get started on writing a
book was because I couldn’t come up with an idea that I thought I’d
be able to sustain over 80 – 90 thousand words. So I can totally
understand why people are amazed by the way writers just seem to have
an endless supply of ideas for stories.
Then one day it all
changed for me when I had an idea for my first contemporary romance,
From Here to Nashville. The initial spark of an idea was inspired by
watching the TV show ‘Nashville’ and the country music I heard in
that programme, and also the setting of Nashville itself. Once I had
that first thought, the ideas just kept coming for that story. So off
I went and I haven’t really looked back. I find inspiration
everywhere, from TV programmes, articles I read, people I meet and
also from my own personal experience.
With my second
novel, The Vineyard in Alsace, inspiration came from my love of
France and all things French, and also a few years spent working in
the wine trade. This time I was writing what I knew to some extent
which made things a bit easier.
My latest novel, The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridge, is also partly
based on my life experience. Many years ago, my husband and I dreamed
of running our own restaurant, and then we saw that a restaurant we
loved was up for sale. It was a fish and seafood place in the
Scottish Highlands, and we seriously considered buying it. We hadn’t
started our family yet so we were free to do it, but our lives were
in Bedfordshire in the UK, and there was also the fact that we had
absolutely no experience of running a restaurant! And much as we
loved cooking and eating food, it’s one thing to be a good home
cook, and quite another to run a restaurant… So we never did fulfil
that dream.
Fast forward twenty
odd years and I was browsing on Right Move one day, looking at
restaurants for sale, as you do, when I spotted a typical French
restaurant for sale in a seaside town in Devon. It had a burgundy
façade, with half height curtains in the window, and checked
tablecloths. And I fell in love with it. And then the idea for my
story came. What if you had a chef with a failing restaurant and he
gets bought out by a soulless chain? The owner of the chain insists
the chef stays on to support the new manager – his daughter – who
has never run a restaurant before…
So while I never got
to run my own restaurant, I’ve managed to experience the feeling by
writing a book about one instead. We don’t regret never going ahead
and buying that little place up in Scotland because we know just how
hard a job it is to both run a restaurant and to make a success of
it, as Olivia and Finn, my characters in The Bistro by Watersmeet
Bridge are about to find out.
When Olivia goes to manage Finn's failing bistro, will they end up sharing a table for two, or will it be a recipe for disaster?
Olivia Fuller longs to manage one of the restaurants in her father’s chain and to break free to live the independent life she’s wanted for so long. When her father finally puts his trust in her and sends her to a failing restaurant in Devon, she’s confident she can prove herself capable of doing the job.
Finn Anderson is about to lose his beloved seaside bistro, unless the bank can find a buyer to dig him out. When George Fuller offers Finn a deal, he has no choice but to accept if he wants any chance of getting his bistro back one day. And then the new manager arrives…
Even after meeting the prickly chef and discovering his complete lack of business skills,
Olivia is confident she can turn the struggling business round. But as Olivia and Finn start working together, a mutual attraction develops between them, and soon, nothing is going according to Olivia’s plan.
When there’s a real chance that the bistro might be sold off, Olivia and Finn determine to fight for it, united by their hard work and their growing feelings for each other.
But can they save the bistro and be together, or does destiny have a different path in mind?
A feel-good contemporary romance set in a bistro beside the sea in Devon.
Julie Stock writes contemporary feel-good romance from around the world: novels, novellas and short stories. She published her debut novel, From Here to Nashville, in February 2015 and her second novel, The Vineyard in Alsace in March 2017. Over You (Sam's Story) and Finding You (Jenna's Story), her follow-up novellas to From Here to Nashville were published in 2018, making the From Here to You series complete. She has also published a boxed set of the From Here to You trilogy of books.
Julie’s next novel, The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridge, will be out in summer 2019. If you'd like to sign up to her newsletter list, you can do so here:
https://mailchi.mp/f3a7d28c0ab8/julie-stockcouk . As a thank you, you'll be able to download Before You, the prequel story to the From Here to You series, for free.
Julie is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Authors.
When she is not writing, she works in communications. She is married and lives with her family in Bedfordshire in the UK.
Giveaway to Win Signed copy of The Bistro by Watersmeet Bridget and goodies (UK Only)
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Signed paperback,
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Notebook with front cover on
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Postcard magnet with front cover on
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Bookmark with front cover on
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Bag of Devon fudge
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