10 Ways to Kill A Cupid by Leigh Parker: Review & Interview

Leigh has a story to tell and despite the absurdity of it, it has to be told before it's forgotten forever.

You see Leigh used to be a Cupid.
A very silly, naive and regretfully bitter Cupid.
And those are traits a Cupid shouldn’t technically possess.
When Leigh’s murderer is the next assignment, revenge stands in the way of helping Natalie McIntyre find her perfect partner…
That is until the appearance of the blue spark. (from Goodreads)

**This book is not suitable for those under 18 years old**

Ok, first things first here. If you're not an adult, get the heck outta here now, because this book is NOT for you. It's not the content, but the language. One of the main characters, Natalie, has a potty mouth to the extreme.  Honestly, though, once I got reading I was so taken in by the hilarious, yet sad story that I forgot all about her bad manners. 

I laughed out loud throughout most of this book. I could not stop laughing, no matter how hard I tried. This is not your normal story at all. The main characters are definitely not from the cookie cutter set. This book was totally different from anything else I think I have EVER read. EVER. Seriously, not exaggerating. This is a new kind of romance, with a very big twist. I loved it. 

This was a fun, sassy read and I flew right through it. I never saw the twists coming and in a million years I never would have guessed the ending. If you have any kind of sense of humor and you are looking for something new to read, you really must check this out! 

My Rating: 

And now, here is my Author Spotlight on Leigh Parker

Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am 30 years old and have lived all my life in East Yorkshire, England. I left school with a few qualifications, but feel I picked up and learned more from reading. I am an avid reader, writer and guitar/keyboard player. I think I’m more a listener and a watcher than a talker and social participant. I get frustrated at the injustice and prejudice I see around me. I like listening to old people talking and love their couldn’t-careless attitudes. I have 2 sisters and a niece and a nephew, and love to escape from them all and write.

What inspired you to write '10 Ways to Kill A Cupid' ?
I was inspired to write ’10 ways to kill a Cupid’ in 2000 after I’d watched ‘The Princess Diaries’ film on TV. There’s a scene in the middle where Mandy Moore sings ‘Stupid Cupid’ and a light bulb pinged above my head. I wrote those two words down and later on, began to write a story about an incompetent Cupid. The storyline has changed a lot since – Leigh was originally called Diane, though Natalie has always been Natalie in name and personality.

What are you reading right now? 

I’m reading ‘Going in Circles’ by Pamela Ribon. It’s about Roller Derby. I’d love to be a Roller Derby girl, although the thought of taking an elbow to the nose puts me off a bit.

I go though phases with books. I like quirky ones that are a bit different from the norm. I’ve never really been caught up in the Vampire/Werewolf/Faeries craze nor have I really been into Crime fiction. I have given them a go but they’re just not for me. I love books by Thomas Hardy, Fannie Flagg, Patrick Ness, Maria V. Snyder and Joseph Delaney.

What's the best writing advice you ever received and who'd you get it from? 

My mother once told me about how she found old books to be a bit daunting with the unnecessary detail so I kept that in mind when I wrote mine. I didn’t want to bore the reader by describing every minute detail of the scenes and characters. I like the reader to have their own idea and image of what the characters and their surroundings would look like.

What was the hardest part of writing '10 Ways to Kill A Cupid'? How did you get through it? 

The hardest part of writing ’10 Ways to kill a Cupid’ was the religious content. Not being religious myself, I didn’t want to put off others mistaking it for Christian fiction or offending those who are religious by depicting God in a bad way. I hope I haven’t.

What do you consider 'perfect' writing conditions? 

I used to write during the night/early morning. I am by nature, nocturnal. I’ve written most of my stuff during the hours between midnight and 4am, preferably with my headphones on, blasting out music from my iPod.

Do you ever get annoyed with your characters while you're writing? 

I did get annoyed with Natalie and her swearing. I wanted to cut a lot of it out but I found it was too essential to the story. She’s even worse in the sequel, I’m afraid. At times I found her behaviour too petty and childish, but having met people quite like her, I realised she was not so unique.

When did you know you wanted to write for a living? 

When I was 15 my parents bought me and my sisters a PC and we couldn’t afford the internet, so all we had was notepad and a copy of Tomb Raider. The first thing I wrote was a Sci-Fi script because I wanted to be a screenwriter. ’10 Ways to kill a Cupid’ started off as a film script, which I still have…somewhere.

Is there anything you'd like to say to your readers? 

Sorry for the profanity and thank you for reading my book and for all of the nice reviews I’ve received.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions! 

About the Author: 

I've been writing since 1997 when my parents bought me and my two little sisters our first PC. Since we couldn't afford the internet to accompany it, all we had was notepad and a pirate copy of the first Tomb raider game. I could never get into those Tomb Raider games so all I had was notepad. And since you can't really do much with notepad except write on it...that's what I did.

I have a couple of qualifications in everything, including mowing, stripping and blowing (agriculturally speaking, of course) except for English. And I once won an award at my Primary School for a drawing that I did of someone being electrocuted...which just goes to show you what a fucked up Primary School I attended.

I once wrote a poem that my Granny liked.

I make all my own book covers with coloured card and a sharp knife, which is why they look so crappy and unprofessional.

I have AS which I think has given me a twisted, nonsensical sense of humour.

I write books that don't really fit into any category.

My next 2 books will be called 'Fruitcake' and '10 Ways To Piss Off A Reaper' and should be out when I finish them. (from author's goodreads page)

You can find Leigh Parker: 

Twitter

Goodreads

Website

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