Bethany Turner
Author Interview - Bethany Turner
Author of The Do-Over
When McKenna Keaton walks into the boardroom of Wallis, Monroe & Burkhead, the prestigious NYC law firm she's devoted her life to, she expects to be named senior partner. Instead she's placed on unpaid leave under suspicion of embezzling $300,000. With no choice but to wait out the investigation in her family's home in North Carolina, she's reunited with Henry Blumenthal, her old high school rival who is now a famed documentarian and Durham’s darling son, who has attained all his dreams and more. He also happens to look like he stepped out of an Eddie Bauer catalog. Whereas McKenna is a disgraced workaholic, succumbing to panic attacks, watching her dreams unravel. At age thirty-eight—and destined by the family curse to die before she turns forty, it appears—it’s absolutely the wrong time to have a major crush on a man. Especially one who treasures his memories of McKenna as the girl Most Likely to Succeed.
Author Interview - Bethany Turner
Author I draw inspiration from: Nora Ephron, Helen Fielding, and Jane Austen are my romantic comedy trifecta, forever and always.
Author Interview - Bethany Turner | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: I'm not sure I've found my favorite place yet. I'm always on the hunt.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. He'd be very practical and calm and handle the whole situation like a champ, but of course he'd also be very aloof and wouldn't make any real attempts to comfort me or anything, which I think would really annoy me. And then once I was annoyed I'd probably become pretty annoying myself, if I'm being honest. And once he was annoyed we'd start bickering and exchanging witty insults back and forth, but we'd inevitably find a way to form an unlikely emotional connection while in crisis mode. Then we'd be rescued and go our separate ways, but of course that wouldn't be the end of the story.
For the record, I probably would have chosen the original Darcy (Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) if not for the fact that he would have been all "What is this magical box that transports us higher into the sky?" and "How is that light beaming forth? Are there minuscule candelabras behind each of these numbers?" You know...stuff like that. That would get annoying after a while.
Author Interview - Bethany Turner | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: Truthfully I had no idea until I was about thirty years old and started writing. I was Vice President of a bank at the time and I hated it. I didn't even realize how much I hated it, but I hated it. I needed an outlet for the stress and misery, so I started writing...and I knew. I didn't necessarily know that I wanted to publish books or even what sorts of stories I wanted to tell, but I knew there was no turning back.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I'll tell ya...I was late to the audiobook game, but I've become a believer. I live in a small town so I don't have long commutes, but being able to listen to a book while loading the dishwasher is a true gift of the modern age.
The last book I read: To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne on audiobook and The Layover by Lacie Waldon in paperback, pretty simultaneously. Each as delightful as the other!
Author Interview - Bethany Turner | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Oh my goodness, computer. At least for writing. I need to be able to delete entire paragraphs in one swift motion and move on with my life as if they never existed. But I will always love handwritten correspondence and to-do lists. No computer program has yet to grant me the satisfaction that comes with striking through a completed task.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Well, obviously Mark Darcy. Eventually. Once we moved past the leftover animosity from the elevator incident.
Author Interview - Bethany Turner | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: Growing up I wanted to be a presidential historian. At the time I basically just envisioned myself as the resident expert on the news on Election Day or during the television coverage of a presidential funeral. Now I suppose I would also get to teach a Masterclass. Of course to be viewed as the expert I guess I'd have to write some books. So...still an author. That may not count. But my other aspiration was to be the person who names the hurricanes. Turns out that alone is not an actual job, so that dream died long ago, sadly.
Favorite decade in fashion history: I know it would require so much work and if I had to wear it, I'd probably hate it, but I really love so much of the look from the 1910's. I blame Rose DeWitt Bukater and that amazing hat and pinstripe suit combo she wore as she boarded the Titanic.
Place I’d most like to travel: Italy, and Venice in particular.
My signature drink: I'm sorry...are you implying there are other drinks out there apart from coffee?
Favorite artist: Visual artist: Georges Seurat.
Musical artist: Billy Joel.
Makeup artist: Pat McGrath.
Sandwich Artist: The guy at my local Subway restaurant who's always generous with the mayo.
Escape artist: Houdini, I guess. 🤷🏼♀️
Number one on my bucket list: I want to watch and help protect sea turtle hatchlings as they make their way to the ocean.
Anything else you'd like to add: For the record, while I think Mr. Darcy would be a bit of a drag in the elevator, I firmly believe Captain Wentworth from Persuasion and Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility would both adapt pretty quickly. Yeah. They'd be cool about it. Take note, Darcy.
Find more from the author:
Instagram: @seebethanywrite
Facebook: Facebook.com/seebethanywrite
Twitter: @seebethanywrite
Author Bio: Bethany Turner has been writing since the second grade, when she won her first writing award for explaining why, if she could have lunch with any person throughout history, she would choose John Stamos. She stands by this decision. Bethany now writes pop culture–infused rom-coms for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight. She lives in Southwest Colorado with her husband, whom she met in the nineties in a chat room called Disco Inferno. As sketchy as it sounds, it worked out pretty well in this case, and they are now the proud parents of two teenagers. Connect with Bethany at seebethanywrite.com or across social media @seebethanywrite, where she clings to the eternal dream that John Stamos will someday send her a friend request.
