Our guest today: Mia March Why we love her: Her books hit all the right notes.

The scoop: After losing her job and leaving her beloved husband, journalist Gemma Hendricks is sure that scoring an interview with Colin Firth will save her career and marriage. Yet a heart-tugging local story about women, family ties, love, and loss captures her heart— and changes everything. The story concerns Bea Crane, a floundering twenty-two-year-old who learns in a deathbed confession letter that she was adopted at birth. Bea is in Boothbay Harbor to surreptitiously observe her biological mother, Veronica Russo—something of a legend in town—who Bea might not be ready to meet after all. Veronica, a thirty-eight-year-old diner waitress famous for her “healing” pies, has come home to Maine to face her past. But when she’s hired as an extra on the bustling movie set, she wonders if she is hiding from the truth . . . and perhaps the opportunity of a real-life Mr. Darcy.

These three women will discover more than they ever imagined in this coastal Maine town, buzzing with hopes of Colin Firth. Even the conjecture of his arrival inspires daydreams, amplifies complicated lives, and gives incentive to find their own romantic endings

Our thoughts: LOVED it just as much as Mia's delightful debut, The Meryl Streep Movie Club!

Giveaway: TWO copies-just leave a comment to be entered--we 'll choose the winners after 3pm PST on July 14th.

Where to read more about Mia: Facebook and Twitter

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...MIA MARCH'S 5 FIRSTS AND LASTS

KISS

First kiss: For two summers in a row at my sleepaway camp, I had a very serious crush on a tall, skinny boy named Milo who played the drums in the camp band. Finally, the summer I turned 13, he asked me to the ice cream social and leaned over and kissed me on the lips while waiting for our butter pecan cones (both picked same flavor, which I of course thought meant we were destined for each other). It happened so fast I almost missed it, so I kissed him. A counselor came over wagging her finger at us, but we sneaked in a few more over the next hour. A nice memory. I have no idea what became of Milo.

Last kiss: I recently adopted an adorable beagle mix with the cutest face ever, so I kissed her on the snout just moments ago. I kiss her velvety ears all the time too.

BOOK

First book: The first book I remember reading is Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina. I loved those tsking monkeys in the trees. When my son was very little, he’d ask for that book every night at bedtime and couldn’t wait to get the pages with the naughty monkeys.

Last book: I just started The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan. The story of how the slogan Diamonds Are Forever came about it is so fascinating!

RISK

First risk: The first real risky move I made involved moving from New York City to Maine almost ten years ago. A city of eight million to a town of eight thousand. I wasn’t sure what small town life would be like, but turns out I love it and was meant for white picket fences all along. Or maybe just now.

Last risk: This does not sound all that risky, but adopting a dog (as a first time dog owner) from a local shelter scared the beehoosus out of me. As a cat person, I didn’t know anything about dogs except that they barked and required potty walks. But one look at that precious beagle’s face at the shelter, and I fell in love. She was so mellow and gentle and sweet! Three months later, it’s as if she was always with us. She may be the only dog (and beagle) who rarely barks.

HELL YA MOMENT

First: When I typed The End on the last page of my debut novel. I felt electric.

Last: Is it too boring that it involves piecrust? I’d been working on my homemade piecrust for a while and something was always meh about it until recently. Frozen butter is the key to the hell ya forkful.

AHA MOMENT

First: I was twelve and read Wuthering Heights for English class. Oh, Catherine and Heathcliff! That book started my love of reading the classics—and my love of brooding heroes. In my twenties I went on vacation to England and walked the very moors where the Bronte sisters dreamed up their novels. Those moors and those sisters inspired me to write.

Last: I know I sound obsessed with my sweet little dog (okay, I am), but who knew that having a dog would be this wonderful? (Everyone but me, apparently.) Walking her 4 times a day gives me open space to stop and smell the blue hydrangeas (abundant here in Maine) and contemplate story ideas and plot points. As I type right now, she’s curled up next to me, her chin on my thigh.

Thanks, Mia!

Today's IT girl: Mia March Why we love her: Beyond the fabulous writing, she quotes Bridget Jones and curses (see her interview below).

Her debut: The Meryl Streep Movie Club

The scoop: Two sisters and the cousin they grew up with after a tragedy are summoned home to their family matriarch's inn on the coast of Maine for a shocking announcement. Suddenly, Isabel, June, and Kat are sharing the attic bedroom--and barely speaking. But when innkeeper Lolly asks them to join her and the guests in the parlor for weekly Movie Night--it's Meryl Streep month--they find themselves sharing secrets, talking long into the night--and questioning everything they thought they knew about life, love, and one another.

Each woman sees her complicated life reflected through the magic of cinema: Isabel's husband is having an affair, and an old pact may keep her from what she wants most . . . June has promised her seven-year-old son that she'll somehow find his father, who he's never known . . . and Kat is ambivalent about accepting her lifelong best friend's marriage proposal. Through everything, Lolly has always been there for them, and now Isabel, June, Kat--and Meryl--must be there for her. Finding themselves. Finding each other. Finding a happy ending.

Our thoughts: For the record, we bone out on Meryl too. Plus, we love the title, the cover and the story. The perfect book trifecta!

Fun fact: Mia's working on her next novel is about Brit hottie Colin Firth! Yummee. (Finding Colin Firth will be published in 2013)

Giveaway: 5 copies! Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win one of five copies. We'll randomly select the winners on Sunday, June 24 after 6pm PST.

Where you can read more about Mia: Facebook, Twitter and her website.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...LIT IT GIRL: DEBUT AUTHOR MIA MARCH

1. How many agents did you query before you found "the one"? I queried four, but I had my heart set on one in particular. Her comments about my work, her response time, her approach, her manner, her sense of humor—I knew instinctively that she was The One.

2. What's a line from your "favorite" rejection letter? “I like Meryl Streep. I just don’t love her this much.” Say what?

3. What was the hardest part about writing your debut novel? I was overly conscious of some “rules” I’d read about in different craft-of-writing books. Don’t info-dump! No prologue! Lose the backstory! Kill those darlings! Adverb alert! Every time I broke one of these rules, I second-guessed myself. What helped was re-reading some favorite novels that broke these rules wide open. You can do whatever you want in fiction—as long as it works. And what works is very, very, very subjective.

4. What is the best/worst advice you received while you were trying to break into the book biz? Best advice: Thicken up that skin. Worst advice: You know, I’m happy to report I don’t think I’ve gotten any truly bad advice. Everything I’ve heard or read or been told has provided the ole food for thought and helped me focus on what I think.

5. How did you celebrate your book deal? Ooh boy, that was a particularly happy day. I drove up to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where the book is set, about an hour and a half away from where I live, and ate a lobster roll on the very pier where a year earlier I’d stood staring out at the water and the boats, soaking up the setting back when I was working on revisions, dreaming of one day getting that call: We have an offer . . . . That was the best lobster roll I’ve ever had.

6. Who is your writer crush? I have a girl crush on Jennifer Weiner, who I think deserves some kind of medal for the way she speaks out loud and proud. I also just love her books and her live Bachelor tweets. My boy writer crush is Neil Gaiman. Watch his recent commencement speech and you’ll know why. Rock star. 7. If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only one book, what would it be? Such a tough question. Probably the collected works of Shakespeare. But I’d hope to find a tattered copy of Bridget Jones’ Diary under a coconut. I re-read that novel every year and love it all the more. I like you. Very much. Just as you are. 8. What's on your iPod right now? You’d think I’d be sick of Adele’s 21 by now, but I’m not. I love the whole album, but every few months I have a different favorite song. Right now, I can listen to Turning Tables over and over.

9. What's your #1 stress reliever? A very long walk, no iPod. 10. Who/what would you place in the center of the Entertainment Weekly bullseye? Meryl Streep because when a reporter recently asked her if she’d do the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, she said, “Sure. I’d have to lose the fucking weight, but sure. I’d do it.” LOVE her. (Can I repeat curses on Chick Lit Is Not Dead?)

Um, yeah, Mia, you can fucking curse here!

xoxo,

Liz & Lisa

Mia March's 5 Firsts and Lasts