Spotlight & Giveaway: The Dating Game by Ally Zetterberg

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Ally Zetterberg to HJ!

Hi Ally and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Dating Game!

 
So happy to be able to start chatting about The Dating Game!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Dating Game follows Tilda, a socially awkward board games designer, who prompted into action by her dying mother’s last wishes embarks on a journey to finding friendship, love and happiness. Games and rules are the only languages she speaks and seem the perfect way to achieve the goals. The only problem? The other players don’t know that they’re playing according to Tilda’s rules.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“Games are a haven in a world where people say one thing but think another and then end up doing something else completely. If the dice says three you take three steps. Games are easy. People aren’t.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Part of my research was walking the area and finding good hidden spots. There are 66 staircases connecting Monaco and Beausoleil, France and let’s just say my legs got their workout trying to find the perfect one for a scene…

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

There is no first attraction! In fact, Tilda spends a considerable amount of time trying to get rid of Ben. But they do say love and hate are closely related emotions…

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Tilda always makes me laugh. I think she’d be fun to hang out with. Writing her in Im everyday situations has been such a joy. Here she is trying to find someone in her contacts list to meet up for a drink with:
“ “Last night I texted three people from my contacts list asking if they’d like to grab a drink…

From Tanya yoga class: ‘New number, sorry who’s this?’

From Stephanie Marketplace: ‘You bought a shoe rack from me last month. I think you sent this by mistake?’

Finally from Khaled driver: ‘When I wrote I’m here for you I meant outside. I was your Uber driver.’”

Readers should read this book….

If they like character driven thrillers and heroines that think a bit differently. And if you haven’t been to monaco but are curious about it – let Tilda show you around!
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m working on a second thriller for the same publisher. It will be set in Saint Tropez and I hope to bring the same comical darkness to the page.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A copy of THE DATING GAME by Ally Zetterberg

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Excerpt from The Dating Game:

Jimmy’z Nightclub, Monte-Carlo, Monaco

I arrive late, around midnight, having drunk half the bottle of vodka at home beforehand. I always make a nice platter to go with my drinks; wasabi peas, cubes of cheese, Ritz crackers and salt and vinegar crisps that I buy in the English aisle of Carrefour. When I’m suitably intoxicated and think I’m able to relax amongst bad breath and the body liquids of nightlife I brush my teeth, check my hair and apply a coat of red lipstick.

I don’t call a taxi because I can’t stand the drivers and their judgy faces. It’s bad enough during the day but at night? Single woman? Headed to a club? In a country where women are attached to their husbands’ health insurance and get given menus with no prices, respectable women do not go alone to clubs.

Well, fuck them. Fuck everyone.

I get off the bus at an earlier stop and walk the short distance to Jimmy’z…

…

That’s when Maryana walks into my life. We meet in the toilet of Jimmy’z—which is probably how most girlfriend bonds are made here. That or the nail bar.

She’s hovering behind me and when I turn I find myself unable to take my eyes off her. I immediately know that I’ve found her.

“That dryer doesn’t work,” she says. “I’m waiting for yours.”

“You can have it.”

Maryana is beautiful. In that perfect, put-together, flawless way that makes her seem less human and more AI. She is precisely the type of woman I would never normally approach. Mum was right. I needed to keep an open mind.

…

I sit beside her bag.

Before I know it, I find myself sliding my hand inside, brushing against the silky lining. Lipsticks. Tampons. A wallet.

I just want to know what year she was born. What star sign she is. How much she is like me.

With one swift movement I slip it into my pocket.

…

Inside I drink a large glass of water and place Maryana’s wallet on my bedside table. Then I slip into bed and close my eyes.

Maryana is the type of friend I need. We have a connection, despite our differences, and I’m going to give her a chance. This is the start of my first friendship in Monaco. I’m at the start of The Friendship Game, I’ve picked my piece, have made the rules and know what I need to do next.

Clever Mummy! She knew exactly what to do.

Maryana is the friend I’ve been looking for.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

In this clever and surprising thriller about the perils of modern dating and the female rage it sometimes inspires, a board game designer starts playing by her own rules, and losers won’t be tolerated.

The friendship game. The dating game. The end game. For board game designer Tilda Smith they’re all necessary steps on the path to finding happiness. And by structuring her life according to a set of rules, just like in the games that she loves to create at her job, Tilda can finally win.

The only problem? The other players don’t know they’re playing by Tilda’s rules. She’s fair. Very fair, in fact. But then one night her date pushes her too far and she gets just a bit carried away. Any player who disappoints must face consequences, right? But as Tilda finds herself transporting a body in a laundry bag, she has to question how to make the punishment fit the crime.

And now someone is watching Tilda and playing a game of their own. Will they turn the tables on her, or can she figure out a way to best them? The game is never really over until she says it is.

Game on.
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Meet the Author:

Ally Zetterberg is a British-Swedish author who grew up in rural Sweden before a modelling career took her around the world. She eventually settled in the South of France, where she lives with her three children, a dog and a cat. With a degree in psychology, she’s fascinated by what makes people tick and loves writing complex, flawed characters who blur the line between hero and villain. The Dating Game is her third novel
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