Tag: Fix You

One of my favorite reads of 2013 is Fix You by Beck Anderson. Stick around for my review, interview with the author, and generous giveaway!

Fix You by Beck Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fixated on This Story!

How does a woman move on after the death of her husband? Having two adorable sons and supportive parents helps. But what really does the trick is falling in love with a humble movie star who needs some fixing of his own.

So goes the romance of Kelly and Andrew, who meet when Kelly breaks down sobbing on a run. Andrew’s in town for a film shoot, and he feels sad to learn it’s the two year anniversary of Kelly’s husband’s death. They gradually get to know each other. Can a famous actor and a down-to-earth widow make this long distance relationship work? It’ll be tough, given Kelly’s lovable neuroticism, Andrew’s shady past, and initial exchanges like this:

He fishes his cell phone and sunglasses out of the car. “Can I get your number?”
“You don’t want my number.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t.” Seriously, is he kidding?
“Do too.” He shakes his head. “This is insane. Why not?”
“Look at you. Come on.”
He stares at me with those very blue eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Give me your number.”

I loved the unique setting of Boise (said with an “s”, not a “z”!) and the realistic characters. But what I loved most of all was the humor. MAJOR props for the mention of that Saturday Night Live skit “Master Thespian!” As well as these quotes:

Starting the first day I get little texts each day:
“Development meeting in 90210. Lady across from me has taken ‘bee stung’ lips to a horrifying new level.”

“You’ll fly down here. A quick visit. Now go, make the phone calls. Make it so.”
“I will see what I can do, Jean-Luc Picard. You’re a huge nerd.”
“You’re the one who knows the name of the captain.”

The salesgirl is done giving me the up and down. “Size six is the largest we go.”
“I’m sorry, I missed it. Did the sign above the door say Big Heads on a Toothpick R Us?”

If my life were a movie this’d be the part where the montage begins. You know, they’d play a kicky song like “Walking on Sunshine,” and there’d be shots of Andrew and me getting ice cream, riding bicycles through the park, playfully doing lots of things as a happy couple.

Ha ha ha!

The only part of the story I didn’t eat up was when Kelly reveals something about her deceased husband Peter toward the end of the novel. That part of the story didn’t quite seem to fit as essential, unless I’m missing something.

Kelly and Andrew admire Ernest Hemingway, and it appears author Beck Anderson does as well, evidenced by her short sentences and overall clean writing.

Spend some time with Kelly and Andrew and you’ll enjoy them as much as I do!

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And now onto the interview of BECK ANDERSON:

Jennifer Lane (JL): Welcome to the blog, Beck, and congratulations on the success of your debut novel Fix You! How did you get started writing?

Beck Anderson (BA): Thanks for having me, my friend! I came to writing through my family. When I was a kid, my dad was a magazine editor. I was following in his footsteps. I remember one of my first attempts at a story was “The Monkey Olympics” in first grade. Pure gold.

JL: I obviously loved Fix You…my favorite part of the story is the humor. What role does humor play in your life and your writing?

BA: So glad you liked it! Humor is the way I make my sadly awkward self feel more comfortable in lots of different situations. I’m also a pleaser. I like to make people happy. Humor is an easy way to do that! There are many times in real life where the old adage “If I weren’t laughing, I’d be crying” rings true, and I’d rather laugh.

JL: Any experience with real life widows or movie stars?

BA: Sadly, I do have a good friend who lost her husband very young. She had two boys, and it definitely crossed my mind, “how does a person deal with that?” I guess I thought it might be interesting to play with the premise that, well, best-case scenario, you’d meet someone new that was rich and famous. But what would that really be like?

As far as rubbing elbows with movie stars, not so much. My brother lives down in LA, so he runs into people all the time and is very blase about it. The last famous person I came close to was Bobby Flay from the Food Network. I saw him get into a cab in New York City.

JL: Tell us about your love of Ernest Hemingway. Who are your favorite authors? Where do you find inspiration?

BA: My main character Kelly and I have the love for Hemingway in common. I am into him mostly because I live in Idaho, and on the occasion of what would have been his 100th birthday, I did get to go inside his house, which was very eerie. He was a gigantic personality, and he was very obsessed with love and romance. His short stories rock.

Other favorite authors? I love classic American authors like Fitzgerald and Ralph Ellison. But I also love JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer and Suzanne Collins because they are amazing story tellers and have brought so many people back to reading, which I think is awesome.

JL: What’s next for you, Madame Author?

BA: I am working on the sequel to Fix You, called Trouble Me. Hopefully readers want to know what’s next for Kelly and Andrew!

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