Summary:
Stupid By Choice centers around Melanie St. John, a beautiful, smart, rich Texan daddy’s girl born to a bold, high-powered lawyer in the oil business who helps her grow into someone who is both worldly and capable. But once she leaves college and enters the privileged world of dating highly sought-after “men of leisure,” Melanie is catapulted in and out of the wealthiest places on the globe by some of the most handsome, spoiled, sought-after, jet-set playboy bachelors in the elite social circles of Texas, Monte Carlo, Manhattan, Newport, and Palm Beach.
Melanie truly hopes to find true, lasting love, get married, and start a family with one of them, but these mostly destructive love affairs soon become a dynamic exploration of wealth and love, with all the highs and lows. And to complicate matters she is surrounded by her older, free-wheeling, wildcat sister (and her sister’s exotic but destructive best friend) as well as her own two completely opposite best friends, and each of them also hopes to find their own Prince Charming—which all only adds to the competition, adventures, and scandals. But throughout each relationship Melanie explores the deeper, more prevalent themes of family, friendship, love, intimacy, betrayal, motherhood, and most of all, inner strength.
Author Q & A with Leighton Summers
First of all, thank you so much for having me as a guest on your blog, and for letting everyone who reads it know about my new book, Stupid By Choice. I truly appreciate it.
What are books that you love?
The books and writers who I enjoy reading the most are The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille, and earlier works of both Danielle Steel and James Patterson. They have all inspired me because of their fabulous writing!
Is there a book you re-read?
Oh yes, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby— even to the point that I think I might be obsessed with it! The writing is so good and classy, not like some of the more trashy writing people are into today (and I’m not putting books like that down, for if you’re into a lot of explicit sex scenes that’s fine, it’s just not for me and this is my opinion only). I also really enjoy reading about stories like Gatsby that are set in upscale worlds, for I can totally relate to it since I was fortunate enough to have been born into (and still live in) this same kind of upscale, privileged world. I’m completely accustomed to it. And I especially relate to the idea of wanting to throw a party as the host for other people to enjoy, but then want to just go upstairs (or escape into the kitchen) to get away from it all once it’s actually happening. I do this myself often and prefer to just “watch” all the fun rather than mill around playing busy hostess all night long. It’s so much more fun to just be the fly on the wall observing!
Is there a favorite character of yours?
One of my all time favorite characters is Carrie Bradshaw of the TV show Sex in the City (who is actually the “fictional version” of Candance Bushwell—the author of the book Sex in the City—which the show was based on). I relate to Carrie because she’s a writer, and I also love all the dating dilemmas, clothes, shoes, and shopping that she does! And the whole main storyline of the “on again, off again” relationship with Mr. Big is something I feel happens often in real life, or at least it does in my kind of social circles a lot. I felt my main character of Melaine had that same kind of relationship with Hunter as well, but I also wanted to show she learned from all that waiting around and wouldn’t do it again with another man ever.
What is your favorite book you wrote?
This one, because it’s my first novel! And though it took four years to write, I’m really proud I stuck with it and finally finished it too, for it wasn’t easy. I’m not a trained writer, but writing novels always intrigued me and I really wanted to try to write one about how a woman from the same kind of upscale, exclusive social circles I’m from could “love smarter.” I was very fortunate to be encouraged by my husband and some good friends to keep working on it too, even when I wanted to give up (which was often—I even wanted to throw it into the ocean at one point!). And though this book is pure fiction, throughout my life I have met lots of interesting people and seen many strange situations that created both tears and laughter and all helped to inspire me to keep writing this story, for I really hoped readers could learn from the character’s journeys. (At least that was my intention!)
What is your favorite line in your book that you would like others to quote?
Oldie’s saying, “When life happens, you happen back.” I feel everyone, regardless of social status, race, gender, or whatever, has something they have to overcome at some point in their life. But if you can meet that challenge head on and get through it you will come out stronger in the end. They say you are never given anything more than you can handle, so always know that if you keep striving towards the goal or finish line, you will be rewarded by a better, happier life overall in the end, no matter how hard it was to finally get there.
About the Author:
Leighton Summers is a sixth generation Texan who has traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe throughout her whole life. During her travels, she was always surrounded by interesting, successful (and often eccentric) people who encouraged her to find her passion and live life to the fullest. Writing novels always intrigued her, and so one day while in New York City she took out her laptop in a café and decided to jot down some notes about how a female character, created from her own world, could “love smarter.” Over the next four years, those notes turned into both funny and sad adventures of a woman’s quest to find friendship, love, self, and family and became Stupid By Choice, Summers’ debut novel.
GIVEAWAY: I have been given one ebook to a luck winner of Stupid By Choice by Leighton Summers.
Easy one comment with name and email included will win Stupid by Choice starting July 1 and ending July 6 at midnight Mountain time.
Only U.S. winner allowed because I don't know all the different laws.
Thank you Leighton Summers for answering my questions and good luck with your book. Hope it does well for you.
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