Spotlight & Giveaway: The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo

Posted May 17th, 2019 by in Blog, Spotlight / 38 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Tif Marcelo to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Tif and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Key to Happily Ever After!

 
Thank you so very much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Key to Happily Ever After is about the three very different de la Rosa sisters who have inherited the family wedding business. As equal owners, they now have to learn how to work with each other and manage their complicated love lives all at the same time.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The bronze skeleton key jingled among the other shop keys in Marisol de la Rosa’s palm, and the hopeful clinking noise brought a smile to her face. The key was multi-toned, some parts glossy, other parts dull, with one tooth notched in three places, its bottom blooming into a metal rose with six petals.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • The chapters have corresponding songs to signal its mood, and it makes for an outstanding playlist.
  • For research, I went to a wedding expo where sampled quite a few treats, ogled over dresses, and chatted with vendors.
  • This book was inspired by my love of weddings, one of my favorite movies The Wedding Planner, and the deep connection of sisters.

 

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

The de la Rosa sisters consist of Marisol, Janelyn, and Pearl. Marisol is 32, type-A, serious, and meticulous, and opinionated. Janelyn is 30, an introvert, detail-oriented, logical and the mediator of the family. Finally, Pearl, 26, is free-spirited, creative, sometimes impulsive, but with great instincts. They all surprised me in that together they are synergistic despite their differences. That despite their bickering, underneath all of it is respect.

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

There’s a scene where Jane is the head planner of a wedding smack in the middle of a snowmageddon. It’s chaos, just minutes before the start of the ceremony, and while Jane and Mari discuss Pearl’s wedding planning abilities, they are actively fixing tables, moving flowers, and creating the perfect venue. Then Pearl shows up, hair sprinkled with snow, with the perfect solution to the wedding photo shoot that was sure to be ruined by the snow.

 

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

Firstly, I hope that they had fun reading this book, that it lifts their mood and gives them warm fuzzies. But if I had a wish, I hope that they feel inspired to ring up a friend they haven’t spoken to in a while, or maybe reignite a friendship that had staled. I hope that my readers feel inspired to reach out.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m currently editing ONCE UPON A SUNSET, a stand-alone novel, that will be published in 2020.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: One signed book, The Key to Happily Ever After. Open internationally.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you were planning your own wedding, would you want a creative, festive, but novice wedding planner? Or would you prefer a meticulous, by-the-rules wedding planner with years of experience?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from The Key to Happily Ever After:

The NBA had the Finals; the MLB had the World Series. The NFL, the Super Bowl. Rings & Roses had Wedding Day, the combination of months of coordination, of weaving the intricate and the mundane, of fielding panicked phone calls and emails. Wedding day was the romantic conclusion.

In Pearl’s eyes, Wedding Day was also always deliciously dramatic.

This morning, the Robinson-Ortega wedding was in its final quarter. From the Sanctuary of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, a hired quartet played a Celtic version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D. The groom’s party stepped out in perfect time to the music–all were wearing the barong tagalog, including the groom; Pearl internally patted herself on the back for this win–toward the priest at the front of the church. The pews were packed. Everything seemed perfect.

The church’s foyer told a different story. Currently, Pearl was trying to mitigate a MOB and MOG, or mother of the bride and mother of the groom, catfight. Despite the women wearing delicate attire, their scowls were a sure sign neither one was afraid of throwing down.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

All’s fair in love and business.

The de la Rosa family and their wedding planning business have been creating happily ever afters in the Washington, DC area for years, making even the most difficult bride’s day a fairytale. But when their parents announce their retirement, the sisters—Marisol, Janelyn, and Pearl—are determined to take over the business themselves.

But the sisters quickly discover that the wedding business isn’t all rings and roses. There are brides whose moods can change at the drop of a hat; grooms who want to control every part of the process; and couples who argue until their big day. As emotions run high, the de la Rosa sisters quickly realize one thing: even when disaster strikes—whether it’s a wardrobe malfunction or a snowmageddon in the middle of a spring wedding—they’ll always have each other..

Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Tif Marcelo believes in and writes about heart-eyes romance, the strength of families, and the endurance of friendship. A craft enthusiast and food-lover, Tif is a veteran Army Nurse and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Public Administration, and is inspired daily by her own military hero and four children.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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38 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: The Key to Happily Ever After by Tif Marcelo”

  1. Melanie Bowers

    Novice – wedding full of surprises like a marriage and life would be

    • Pamela Conway

      Festive novice. It would also depend on how I got along with them.

  2. Mary Preston

    I’d have to decide once I had met them. A novice would be more enthusiastic I think.

  4. John Smith

    “If you were planning your own wedding, would you want a creative, festive, but novice wedding planner? Or would you prefer a meticulous, by-the-rules wedding planner with years of experience?” No fancy wedding and no planners of any kind! Just a justice of the peace and a bunch of strangers!

  7. janinecatmom

    I have never used a wedding planner, so I have no experience in them. But, I do like the idea of creativity. I wouldn’t want a cookie-cutter boring wedding.

  14. Summer

    I would go with a creative, festive, non-planner, it just sounds like a more fun, easygoing kind of day.

  20. Natalija

    No wedding planner at all. I want an in and out wedding in a city hall.

  23. Lynne Brigman

    I think that a novice would be perfect for me. I wouldn’t want anything fancy , just a simple wedding.

  31. flchen1

    I’m thinking that if I were to do this again, I’d prefer something so small that I could do it all myself, LOL! (I guess that means I’m the novice 😉 )

  34. Kay Garrett

    If I were creating my own wedding, it would definitely be with a creative planner. Nothing by the book about me. 🙂

    This is a new to me author, but one that I would love to get to know through the pages of “The Key to Happily Ever After”. Sounds like a wonderful book!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  36. Terrill R.

    I would love a great mixture of the two, but for the chance of the wedding going off without a hitch, I would go with the latter.