I totally agree teddybear

Please name 5 facts about you. (Pics if you have any) 

  1. Jessica Redland isn’t my real name. It’s Julie but I find it easier to have everyone connected to writing to refer to me as Jessica. I decided to write under a pseudonym for a variety of reasons and chose Jessica because it’s a timeless name that I’ve always loved. I wanted my surname to be something that had a connection to my writing. The idea for my debut novel came to me when I was living on a street called Redlands Road. I ditched the ‘s’ and kept the Redland part
  • I’m an arctophile – a collector/lover of teddy bears. I love them so much that I took a career break from HR in 2003 and set up and ran my own specialist teddy bear shop. I started writing my first book on quiet days in the shop. The experience of running my own shop helped me develop the businesses on Castle Street and provided the inspiration for the teddy bear shop in All You Need is Love
  • I’ve been a contestant on ITV’s The Chase and I’d previously auditioned for Deal or No Deal although I didn’t pass that one. At the time, my motivation was about understanding what goes on behind the scenes of quizzes and gameshows for a romcom I was planning to write. My writing moved away from my intended romcom style so I never pursued that idea, although who knows when it may resurface in another format! I didn’t win The Chase, by the way. Two of us made it to the final chase with Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace and we were very slow and very pants, only managing an embarrassing ten steps!
  • I had a launch party for my debut novel, inviting close friends and family. A friend gave me a leather bracelet and a Trollbeads charm of a trilogy of books. I bought some writing-related charms and a relevant one for each book I wrote. I need to think of a new ‘thing’ to do for publication day now that my bracelet is full
  • Before I was published by Boldwood Books, I put an Easter egg in each of my books – a named teddy bear. Because I started writing when I had my teddy bear shop, I thought this might be a lovely thing to have and envisaged readers searching for the bears. As part of the editing process with Boldwood, several got edited out but there are still a few lurking!

Author bio:

Jessica Redland is a bestselling author of emotional but uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community. Her Whitsborough Bay books transport readers to the stunning North Yorkshire Coast where she lives with her husband, daughter and sprocker spaniel. Her Hedgehog Hollow series, set in a hedgehog rescue centre, takes readers into the beautiful rolling countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

My contact details:

Website: https://jessicaredlandauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaRedlandAuthor/

Twitter: @JessicaRedland

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicaredlandauthor/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jessicaredlandauthor

You can purchase Jessica’s latest book here: A Wedding at Hedgehog Hollow: The BRAND NEW instalment in the wonderful Hedgehog Hollow series from Jessica Redland for 2022 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0943582JF/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_QV6N2PG02S4T3T6FG32Q?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1