ABOUT THE BOOK
What would you risk to be with the love of your life? A family is threatened by an irresistible attraction in this compelling debut that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Anita Shreve.Looking back on it now, I can see it was instant. the second we locked eyes. Boom. Just like that. the me I had spent a lifetime perfecting began its disintegration from that moment. And despite the carnage it brought to all our lives, I still don't regret it.
What would you risk to be with the love of your life? And what if your soul mate is the one who will destroy you?
Mel is living the dream. She's a successful GP, married to a charming anaesthetist and raising a beautiful family in their plush home in Perth. But when she boards a flight to Melbourne, she meets Matt and her picture perfect Stepford life unravels as she falls in love for the first time ever.
What begins as a flirty conversation between strangers quickly develops into a hot and obsessive affair with disastrous consequences neither Mel nor Matt could have ever seen coming. Mel's dream life turns into her worst nightmare.
Love at First Flight will take everything you believe about what true love is and spin it on its head.
INTERVIEW WITH TESS WOODS
Tess, do you have another job outside of writing?
I’m a physiotherapist and have been for the past twenty years. Along with my hubby, I own and operate three clinics around Perth. It is crazy busy, so writing is definitely my night job. But I also love my day job working in private practice. Every Tuesday I run exercise classes for the over 75s, and we always finish with a dance number like the Hokey Pokey or the Macarena, best job ever.
What’s your favorite line from a book?
“You’re my own personal brand of heroin.” Edward to Bella in Twilight.
Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Hell, yes! I really do believe you write what you know. Of course the novel is a work of fiction, not a biography and not a journal, and I credit my imagination for it, but I have definitely taken inspiration from events and people in my life.
It is no coincidence that Mel has long black hair and is a health professional who falls for a tall, dark, handsome and broody, moody physio. That’s me and my husband! But the great thing about writing is that I get to make Mel as hot as I like and morph her into someone as sexy as Angelina Jolie - hey, it’s my prerogative isn’t it? Matt’s parents are very much inspired by my own mother and father-in-law who lived out in the country on a sprawling property where we used to go to wind down from the city with them. Matt’s sister is a powerful human rights lawyer, just like two of my world-beating cousins. I even used my children’s names for characters - Tom, Lara and Lachlan. (Lara has a blink and you miss it, part because I am saving her. I have big things planned for Lara in book two!)
Is your book based on real events?
Again, the book is fictional and not a diary, but I did incorporate many real life events into this fictional story. My husband and I tragically lost our third child Lachy at birth, my darling friend Jess committed suicide, my darling friend Julie fought a fierce battle with cancer and those stories and a few more events that shaped my life made it into the book.
Wow. Sounds like a very poignant book. What song would you pick to go with your book?
"Here Without You" by Three Doors Down really captures the sense of longing of being far away from your love that is in Love at First Flight.
Who are your favorite authors?
My all time favourite author is Maeve Binchy. But I also love Marian Keyes, Nicholas Evans, Adriana Trigiani, Robert James Waller, Stephenie Meyer, and Rosamund Pilcher.
What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I’m reading Luna Tango by Alli Sinclair, on my Kindle (I love my Kindle!!). It’s a beautiful romance set in Argentina, and it shifts between today and the 1950’s.
Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
Snuggled up in bed. I’ve tried to be bohemian and trendy and take my laptop to hipster cafes to write, but I am just too distractable and get nothing done. I need to be tucked up in bed, late at night, hubby snoring peacefully next to me, and that’s where I do my best work.
Where’s home for you?
I live in Perth, right on the coast of the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. I can see the sun set over the horizon every night. It is the most beautiful place in the world and I’m so parochial about it, I set my book here.
Sounds wonderful! Let's say you’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?
TimTams - the best chocolate layered biscuit known to man. There are fake TimTam imitations the world over, but every Aussie knows there is only one TimTam worth passing your lips. We have a tradition here of TimTam slammers. We break off the ends of the TimTam and then dunk it into coffee and suck up the coffee through the biscuit.
What’s your favorite candy bar? And don’t tell me you don’t have one!
Of course I have one! It’s not a bar though, it’s an egg. Cadbury Crème Eggs, even just typing these words makes my mouth water.
They are delicious. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
My greatest hobby is reading. I love nothing more than heading to the beach with a good book and lying in the sun soaking up a story. I enjoy art and craft with my kids and spend lots of time weekends making things and painting things with them. I also love to bake, knit, tend to my veggie patch, watch Downton Abbey – anything little old ladies love to do, I do too! And I’m obsessed with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and New York! So watching them on TV is a real favorite.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I love my hometown of Perth and would not choose to leave it permanently, but if I could have a year in Venice, that would be a dream come true! Nowhere in the world has captured my heart like Venice did when I was there last year. Oh, to have a year of listening the church bells ringing from San Marco’s cathedral as gondoliers navigate past my balcony, singing “That’s Amore” and then wandering the tiny cobbled lanes in search of fresh pastries to eat. It doesn’t get much better than that!
What are you working on now?
I’m writing my second book, and I’m very excited! I am writing a contemporary romance called Flat White With One, which is about my main character Mel’s son as an adult (he is a teenager in Love at First Flight). Nick is Australia’s most popular football player, a real playboy who falls for a young, conservative Egyptian girl named Anna with a tragic past who is anything but the typical footballer’s girlfriend. Flat White With One is their love story. Nick and Anna are tested by her family, Nick’s football community, and the Australian public as nobody seems to approve of them being together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Connect with Tess:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads
