Come on Tour with Sophie and Dan… Visit where Sophie and Rachel live: Tooting (South London) Sophie’s Run Blogtour 2013

Sophie’s Run

Her famous star remains her rock while life takes her on a little detour…

Who says that the road towards true love is straight and even?  Sophie is certainly discovering that it is anything but.

So she has finally found the man of her dreams! Well… she knows who he is, even though she hasn’t actually quite met him yet.  But she misses her opportunity, and then her life goes crazy.  Rock star and ex-fiancé, Dan, keeps getting in the way of her new romance—even if he is just trying to be helpful.  A fire, an impromptu mini-trip with Dan, and a dreaded wedding later, Sophie is still struggling to meet the love of her life. Then, just as she is getting it together with her perfect man, best friend Rachel commits an act of unspeakable betrayal.

Sophie has had enough. Confused and distraught, she decides that it is time for radical change.  Surprising herself and shocking her friends, she embarks on a secret journey and eventually gets her life back on track.

Hi! My name is Nicky Wells, and I am the author of Sophie’s Run, Part 2 in the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. Today, Sophie and Rachel want to show you around Tooting in South London, where they both live, and have done for years and years.

Sophie: Do you remember when we first went house hunting, after we got that job at Read London?

Rachel: Oh God, yes. We thought we had it made until we got our copy of Loot! and discovered that we couldn’t afford Central London.

Sophie: Or South Ken, or Pimlico, or Bayswater…

Rachel: Not even Clapham. It took those few extra Tube stops south to get us into the realm of the affordable.

Sophie: I was totally overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle when we first got out at Tooting Broadway.

Rachel: Me too. But there was that fab Indian restaurant right across the street and we had lunch there before hitting the To Let ads.

Sophie: That was awesome. Proper Indian food! You had steam coming out of your ears.

Rachel: (laughs) I sure did, but I’ve toughened up a bit. And we found our favourite coffee hole on the High Street that afternoon.

Sophie: Oh yes. We practically used to live in there at one time. Shall we show these people a few pictures now?

Rachel: Go on then!

Sophie: So this is the Tube station. It’s got a supermarket right next door and it’s the focal point of our every excursion. The Tube station, not the supermarket. Although the supermarket is very handy! I’ve got in and out of the Tube here so many times, sometimes I have to remind myself what day of the week it is, and whether I’m coming or going. Although one occasion I’ll never forget…

Tooting Broadway Station

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATooting_Broadway_stn_building.JPG

Source: By Sunil060902 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

I took a deep breath. On autopilot, I had alighted from the train and exited the Tube. I was racing up my road and I had inadvertently started talking to myself, talking out loud, hissing that last utterance with all the venom I could muster. A terrified a passer-by took one look at me and changed to the other side of the road. I needed to calm down. (Excerpt from Sophie’s Run)

Rachel: (clears throat) How about a happier memory. What about our favourite coffee hole?

Sophie: I haven’t got a picture of the High Street to show anyone. I’ve only got one of Mitcham Road, on the way to our respective flats.

Rachel: Good job we live so close together. Remember when Dan had to bring you to my house…? He said the traffic lights on Mitcham Road took forever to change and he was struggling a bit.

Sophie: I’m not that heavy…

Tooting ~ Mitcham Road

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGranada_Tooting%2C_Tooting%2C_SW17_(3750617452).jpg

Source: By Ewan Munro from London, UK (Granada Tooting, Tooting, SW17  Uploaded by Oxyman) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Even Dan’s saint-like patience started to wear thin. He packed me bodily over his shoulder, snatched my keys, locked up behind us, and walked me down the road.

“Oh, I like a forceful man,” I giggled into his back.

Dan ignored me completely and kept trotting down the road in an awkward jog, me flopping over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I tried hard to make myself lighter, but my limbs seemed to have multiplied. In no time at all, we were outside of Rachel’s flat, and all of a sudden I was in a fluffy bed under a He-Man duvet, shoes still on—like all good cowboys. Then the room went dark and I fell asleep. (Excerpt from Sophie’s Turn)

Rachel and Sophie take a moment to look at the photo.

Rachel: Do you know, we’ve never actually been in that Bingo hall, not once?

Sophie: We could go tonight, if you want…?

Rachel: Maybe not… But shall we tell them about our coffee hole, even if we haven’t got a picture? We’ve talked about a lot of stuff in that place!

“So…. Did you have sex with him?” Rachel asked conversationally while she was blowing on her cappuccino to cool it. We were at our local coffee shop in Tooting to resurrect our old tradition of debriefing each other on our love lives on a Saturday morning. Having overheard her very direct question, the couple at the next table gave me an amused glance. I could feel myself blushing. Instead of a response, I tried a meaningful eye-rolling, mouth-twisting kind of gesture that was meant to say, ‘well, yes.’

Rachel wasn’t having it. She wanted to hear it.

“Did you? Come on, you must have done,” she teased.

I held my hands up in surrender. “Ok, yes, I did.” Muffled snorts from the next table indicated that the couple was still listening to our conversation.

“It was great,” I elaborated. Inspiration struck, and I continued wickedly. “Especially when the others arrived.” Complete silence next door now. Good.

Rach was confused. “What others?”

I pretended coyness once more. “You know,” I said pointedly. “The others.”

Rachel leaned back in her chair and sipped at her cappuccino. The couple at the next table sat frozen, she with her teaspoon mid-stir, he with his toast halfway up his mouth. Rachel’s eyes twinkled. She had cottoned on.

“Oh,” she said. “The others. I see.” She took another sip of her cappuccino while she was working out how to take this charade further.

“I thought you guys had stopped all that kinky stuff.”

Sophie: That was a great morning. I bet they’re still talking about us.

Rachel: Probably. Maybe. They looked like they didn’t have much else to talk about!

Sophie: D’you know, we’ve only shown these good people the urban views of Tooting. What about…

Rachel: … the park! Of course, how could we forget. (sighs wistfully) Long Sunday afternoons spent reading lying on the grass…

Sophie: …not to mention our one memorable trip to the outdoor swimming pool…

Rachel: Ah, London, you can’t beat it. It’s everything all rolled into one.

Tooting Bec Common

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATooting_Bec_Common_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1621219.jpg

Source: Phillip Perry [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Sophie: Well, anyway, that was fun. I hope you all enjoyed seeing a little bit of the area where Rachel and I live for most of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. But now I’ve got to dash. There’s a rock star waiting for me in Central London… Thank you for joining me here today, and hope you enjoy Sophie’s Run!

Wait, wait, wait, there’s more: Introducing the Sophie’s Run Give Away!

Sophie’s Run GIVEAWAYS

1) Standard Giveaway

Nicky Wells is giving away one delicious chocolate gift to a lucky winner in the UK or North America!

The small print: This Gift prize is a product of Unique Chocolate. The Gift prize is subject to availability in your country. If the Gift prize is not available in your country, Nicky Wells reserves the right to offer a substitute gift prize of a similar nature at her discretion. Nicky Wells will require the winner’s postal address for shipping purposes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2. Bonus Giveaway

Nicky Wells offers a giveaway of one Amazon gift voucher worth $20/£15 for one lucky winner. To enter, simply share your thoughts on Sophie’s Run with Nicky. Email your comment to nickywells@sapphirestarpublishing.com and your name will be entered into the draw. Competition closes 1 May 2013.

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door.  A signed author with U.S. publisher, Sapphire Star Publishing, Nicky is in the throes of publishing her Rock Star Romance Trilogy. Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.  When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in London and Washington, D.C.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook. Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Nicky also has author pages at Sapphire Star Publishing, Amazon and, of course, Goodreads.