Pages

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Welcome, Authors Sadie and Sophie Cuffee!


This week I am delighted to welcome authors Sadie and Sophie Cuffee to "Gina's World of Good". The sisters grew up in the midcoast region of Maine and are avid nature-lovers. They will be talking about their book, Blind Man's Bluff as well as their other work...and the fascinating topic that all writers address: inspiration. Leave a comment to be eligible to win a hardcover copy of their book, Blind Man's Bluff. 

Welcome to my blog, Girls.  What is your newest book about? Ever feel like you’re stuck on the merry-go-round of beige and you’re given one moment to jump off into a totally different life -- the ultimate makeover? Would you take the leap if it leads to murder?
Gwen jumps off the ferry and onto the rocky shores of Candle Island still reeling. To go from lifetime-kindergarten-teacher to heiress, with the slit of an envelope, is heady stuff, but the sticker shock at the sight of the mansion on Blind Man’s Bluff turns to culture shock when the clannish islanders slam the door in her face.
As she gets sucked into island community life, Gwen’s up to her neck in opulence and inconsistencies, and knows she’s rubbing elbows with a murderer—a murderer who’s become a friend. But she’s lost her heart to Candle Island and faces the heartbreaking choice of doing the right thing and being hated for it, or protecting a fragile soul in trouble.
Life on the playground never got this serious, and this time a BAND-AID™ and a kiss won’t make it all better.


Where did you get your inspiration for this novel/book/work?
When we were kids our dad was the pastor of two small island churches. Although the islands were connected to the mainland by bridges, there was something special about the people and the places. Those friendships and the experiences are a big part of who we are today.


What kind of research did you do for this book?
Almost every summer we ride a ferry out to one of the coastal islands and bike/hike/camp around it. It’s an opportunity to be transported to a unique way of life, and to disconnect from the blaring noise and pressures of twenty-first century culture. And it’s wicked fun! As for technical research for specifics of everything from high tides to how to murder someone in weird ways– Sophie’s our go-to girl. She’s not afraid to dig deep and get the minute details right.




Did you put real experiences from your research in this story?
We hesitate to say “yes” because when we do, people immediately try to see real-life individuals and specific places in the fictional world of Candle Island. It’s all a figment of our imaginations, but all fictional writing has a thread of the authors’ life experiences and personalities running through it. If our books didn’t have that “real experience” woven into the fiction, they wouldn’t feel authentic or hold together with believable characters and setting. (We make no such claim on the plot!)




What intrigues you most about writing these stories?
We enjoy the opportunity to mess with the lives of our characters. The fictional world of Candle Island is like a blank canvas. We get to throw on as many colors and textures as we like (and scrape off some of the paint when it gets too thick and distorted), and sometimes even we’re surprised at what picture emerges when we write “The End.”


Tell us a bit about your other books.
Our first novel, Hard Country, was also a mystery, but more dark with multiple murders, set in Texas in the 1980’s. We have a historical series: The Wainwright Family Saga (set in the Civil War era from Maine to Virginia to Kansas) which features a different setting, plot, and member of the Wainwright family in each novel.



A Woman Like Me is rip-your-heart-out women’s fiction highlighting a year-in-the-life first-person POV from—you guessed it—the woman we all strive to be; the woman we are, and the woman with battered heart and scars who battles the storms of life but doesn’t always win.

For quick fun reads we also have multiple novellas, mostly inspirational historical tales that offer a variety of characters, plot twists, and glimpses of history from epic forest fires (taken from the real-life 1947 fires of the year Maine burned) to the orphan train phenomena that relocated thousands of children to new lives out west.



Our newest series, Blood Brothers in Christ, is due out soon and features an ongoing dark suspense plot set in the deep woods of western Maine.



Which of all your characters is your favorite?
That’s a tough one because it tends to change with the current book we’re writing, but our all-time favorite is Susanna Jacobs from A Woman Like Me – her authenticity, her struggles, and her heart always get to us.


How did you get started in this genre?
We wanted to write a lighter mystery than some of our other books, but we still wanted to feature a character that our readers could appreciate and enjoy, someone with a quick wit but not annoying or tstl (too stupid to live), and we wanted to write a series set on a coastal island. We combined the three and came up with a cozy. Blind Man’s Bluff is our first cozy mystery, and the first in the Candle Island series, so we hope to revisit the characters and commit a few more “bloodless” murders on the island before we finish.


When you have time to read, who are some of your favorite authors?
Regina Andrews, Jodi Picoult, Madeline L’Engle, K. M Weiland, Madeline Brent, Sarah Graves, Max Lucado, CS Lewis...


Let’s get personal for a moment: Please share with us the most daring thing you’ve ever done. Sadie: In my twenties, I drove out west on a solo road trip with my dog and worked for a short while on a South Dakota ranch. Sophie: Skied down a mountain in Germany where I missed the bunny slope and took a much steeper trail to the bottom. If sitting on one’s skis is technically called skiing. LOL


Favorite meal? At the moment, homemade pulled pork.
City you would love to visit and why? Dublin to explore our Irish roots. (Or Edinburgh to explore our Scottish roots. Or Auckland to explore New Zealand and pat a platypus...)


To learn more about this author, visit their facebook page.  You’ll find all their books there. And here are their links:






Thank you so much for visiting “Gina’s World of Good”! I wish you many sales!! Thanks so much for letting us visit Gina’s World of Good! It’s always fun hanging out with you, Sister!

Remember, leave a comment (and send me your email) to be eligible to win a copy of Blind Man's Bluff. 

Be sure to visit next week when our guest will be Deborah Tillinghast!

23 comments:

  1. Welcome, Sadie and Sophie! It is such a joy to have you here, joining in the 'Summer of '17 Blog Tour'.

    Thank you again for being here!

    We will have a great week together, I'm looking forward to learning more about you and how you work; a collaborative situation is so very different from a single author. How do you two balance your work/life relationship?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for having us! Sorry to be so late in responding. We had an farm emergency that ate up the whole day, but all is well now. So how DO we balance work/life relationship? As we drove to and from the vet clinic twice today, we remarked to each other how glad we were not to be doing it alone. We are truly blessed to be sisters!

      Delete
  2. Great interview! I love, love this book and these ladies! Lots of luck for big sales! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting, Jillan!

      Delete
    2. Thanks for your kind words and support, sister Jillian! We heart you, too!

      Delete
  3. Wonderful interview. Love the picture and the cover. BJ Robinson

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad to hear from you, B.J.! Thanks for stopping in :-)

      Delete
    2. Thank you, B.J. Always great hearing from you. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, and for your kind words as well. Bless you!

      Delete
  4. Wow love the cover art...nice interview

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting, Jonathan!

      Delete
    2. Thank you, Jonathan! The cover designer at Five Star did an excellent job. We loved it the moment we saw it! It's a picture that truly depicts downeast Maine.

      Delete
  5. The cover is great and I like the island setting. This entire interview was so interesting. Throw my name in the hat. Sadie and Sophia, my hat is off to you for doing the research needed. Yes, we must admit there are elements in our stories salvaged from real life adventures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for visiting, Larry. And you make such a great point:sometimes our adventures filter into our writing, even if we don't deliberately start out with that objective.

      Has it happened to you, Larry?

      I'd love to hear instances from everyone of when this has happened to them.

      Delete
    2. Yes, Larry. Tell all! Ever since we started writing, there have been those moments when we look at each other and say, "We have to remember this for a book!" Life has some great experiences to draw from, for sure.

      Delete
  6. To create your own island sounds fun. How intriguing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was wicked fun! We just wish we could actually OWN an island! Thanks for stopping by, Linda!

      Delete
  7. Yes, personal happenings have worked their way into my stories, some sad and some happy. Sounds like you Sadie, Sophie and Regina have experienced that. It is neat to rely on some version of real life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We think it makes the stories more real if readers can identify with at least one scene in the book. :)

      Delete
  8. I love their books. I'm sure this one will be a good read!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for taking the time to comment, Shirleyf. And for your kind words! Bless you!

      Delete
  9. Hello Gina did not realize that Sadie @Sophie have written so many books..Nice interview however!Cheers!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sadie and Sophie, thank you for a wonderful week. Please visit again soon!

    Readers, thank you so much for sharing your time with us. We appreciate all your interesting comments. We look forward to hearing from you again.

    The lucky winner of this week's drawing is Larry Hammersley. Congratulations, Larry!

    Join us at "Gina's World of Good" next week with our guest, Debbie Kaiman Tillinghast.

    Until then, all the best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for letting us visit with you! We had a wonderful time and will be sending Larry his copy of Blind Man's Bluff. YAY. Thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by and leave a comment. Bless you all! S&S

      Delete