Author Guest Post with Patricia Leavy, Celestial Bodies

Heart-warming and wonderfully romantic, written with the sharp wit of Candace Bushnell and the sensitivity of Meg Donahue, comes best-selling author Patricia Leavy’s tour de force about learning to balance darkness and light in our lives.

Welcome to the August 9th stop on the blog tour for Celestial Bodies by Patricia Leavy with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts & interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

How Writing about a Famous Protagonist Let My Imagination Run Wild

The six novels that comprise Celestial Bodies: The Tess Lee and Jack Miller Novels has been so much fun to write. At the core, it’s an epic love story that explores the nature of love itself. These stories came from the deepest part of my soul. While each of the six books tackles some tough subject matter given Tess’s past trauma, they’re filled with laughter and lightness too. Tess Lee is a world-famous, extremely wealthy novelist. She’s traveled the globe and has a long list of celebrity friends and admirers. This made her a uniquely fun character to write. At the end of the day, she’s probably not like anyone you know in some ways—her life has been “surreal” as her best friend Omar always says. As a writer, penning an aspirational character that’s lived an extraordinary life allowed me to let my imagination take over in a way I’ve never been able to do in my previous books. I was able to imagine all the people Tess has met over the years, the places she’s traveled, and the funny stories that have occurred. As a novelist, it’s been a gift and I’m tickled that readers have told me it’s also been great fun getting immersed in Tess’s life.

Let me give you one, brief example. Throughout the series, Tess’s friendship with rock and roll legend “Mick” comes up. In Constellations, Tess and Jack are in a bar with Jack’s brother and sister-in-law. When one of Mick’s songs comes on the jukebox, they are floored to learn Tess is close friends with the idol. Jack asks her how she and Mick originally met. Here’s her response:

“It was at a party in Paris. I was there with Omar, and Mick showed up with a few friends. Omar and I were trapped in a conversation with the most arrogant, insufferable man, who was trying to impress us with his bank balance. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mick watching us, like he was trying to decide if I needed rescuing. I turned my neck and stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed hysterically, walked over, and asked me to dance. He was trying to save me. After dancing for ages, we sat down with his friends and Omar managed to make his way over. My second novel had just come out, and we were all talking about art and fame. Mick and I bonded over wanderlust and restlessness, something we both knew well. We noticed some people taking pictures of us, and he said something I’ll never forget. He said, ‘Darling, do you think by chasing freedom, we wound up creating another kind of cage?’ I said, ‘It doesn’t matter. If you’re surrounded by light, you won’t see the bars.’ He smiled, hugged me, and said, ‘Where have you been all my life?’ We’ve been friends ever since.”

As you can imagine, it was freeing and enormously fun to come up with these kinds of stories, many of which are sprinkled throughout the collection. For example, there’s a scene where Omar teases Tess about her short-lived relationship with a famous Hollywood star known for his love of supermodels and the yacht he travels around the south of France. It’s a humorous scene and was a ball to write.

About the Book

Celestial Bodies
The Tess Lee and Jack Miller Novels
by Patricia Leavy

Published 1 June 2022
Paper Stars Press

Genre: Romance
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Heart-warming and wonderfully romantic, written with the sharp wit of Candace Bushnell and the sensitivity of Meg Donahue, comes best-selling author Patricia Leavy’s tour de force about learning to balance darkness and light in our lives.

Celestial Bodies is a series of six novels that follow the epic romance of Tess and Jack: Shooting Stars, Twinkle, Constellations, Supernova, North Star, and Stardust. An exploration of the power of love, each novel focuses on love at the intersection of another topic: healing, doubt, intimacy, trust, commitment, and faith. While external threats occur in each book, this is ultimately a story about internal threats—the audio playing in our own heads.

Tess Lee is a world-famous novelist. Her inspirational books explore people’s innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite her extraordinary success, she’s been unable to find happiness in her personal life. Jack Miller is a federal agent who specializes in counterterrorism. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He’s dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself. The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, “I’ve never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides.” The two embark on a beautiful love story that asks the questions: What happens when people truly see each other? Can unconditional love change the way we see ourselves? Their friends are along for the ride: Omar, Tess’s sarcastic best friend who calls her Butterfly; Joe, Jack’s friend from the Bureau who understands the sacrifices he’s made; and Bobby and Gina, Jack’s younger friends who never fail to lighten the mood. Along the way, others join their journey: the female president of the United States, with whom Tess bakes cookies and talks politics; the Millers, Jack’s childhood family; and many others. Celestial Bodies is about walking through our past traumas, moving from darkness to light, learning to live in color, and the ways in which love—from lovers, friends, or the art we experience—can heal us. Written as unfolding action, this collection moves fluidly between melancholy, humor, and joy. It can be read for pleasure or selected for book clubs.

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Excerpt

At the end of the evening, they all bundled up and stumbled out of the bar.

A homeless man standing on the sidewalk asked, “Can you please spare anything?”

The group stood around awkwardly, but Tess walked right up to him. “Hi. I’m Tess, this is Jack, and these are our friends.”

Jack stepped directly behind Tess in a protective stance.

“What’s your name?” Tess gently asked the man.

“Henry,” he replied.

She smiled, pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of her pocket, and handed it to him. When he took the money, she held his hand. Surprised, he looked at her and said, “You’re very kind. Thank you.”

“Getting kind of cold out,” she said, still holding his hand.

“Sure is.”

She took off her cashmere scarf and held it out. “Here, please take this and try to stay warm.”

“Wow,” Joe muttered.

“Oh, I couldn’t,” Henry said.

“Please, I insist.”

“Thank you,” he said, taking the scarf. “Someone must have taught you to do unto others.”

“No, someone taught me there are no others. Good night, Henry.”

She turned to her friends, their mouths agape.

Henry looked at Jack, who hadn’t moved, and quietly asked, “Is she some kind of angel?”

“Yeah, something like that,” he muttered.

Tess walked over to Omar and hugged him. “Our usual breakfast on Thursday?”

“Yes, Butterfly.”

“Good night, guys,” she said to her friends.

They all said goodbye. Jack took Tess’s hand and walked her to his car. He opened her door and she got in. When he closed the door, he looked back at Henry, who was wrapping the scarf around his neck and smiling.

About the Author

Patricia Leavy, Ph.D., is a bestselling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. She has published over thirty-five books, earning commercial and critical success in both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has been translated into many languages. Patricia has received dozens of accolades for her books. Recently, her novel Shooting Stars won the 2021 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite Contemporary Novel, her novel Film won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Inspirational Fiction, the 2021 NYC Big Book Award for Chick-Lit, and the 2021 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite Chick-Lit, her 3-novel set Candy Floss Collection won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Anthologies and the 2021 NYC Big Book Award for Anthology, and her novel Spark won the 2019 American Fiction Award for Inspirational Fiction, the 2019 Living Now Book Award for Adventure Fiction, and the 2021 National Indie Excellence Award for New Adult Fiction. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” She lives in Maine with her husband, daughter (when she’s not away at college), and her dog. Patricia loves writing, reading, watching films, and traveling.

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