GIRLS ON TOUR came out yesterday!!!!  After 9 months of little ebook scans, the entire bouncing baby book was published yesterday in paperback and in ebook. It’s got all 5 novellas and EXTRA STUFF – short chapters between each novella, and an epilogue; an extra 50 pages in total. So you can find out what happened when Lily bought Alice and Sam two Koi Carp, or when Maggie and Rachel went on their first ever friendship date. Those are actually some of my favourite parts.

Publication day is great; it’s like an extra birthday. I got my hair done. I received flowers from Headline and my agent and many nice tweets. And I had a party!

With my fabulous agent Rowan and editor Sherise (out of her Maggie costume)

I had a great time and in fact I’m feeling a bit ropey as I type. It was in Nanna’s in Highbury: we ate canapés, and we drank prosecco and Kirs (which are both a bit of a theme in the book). I did my first ever reading. I finally met the wonderful Sophie whose reviews of my books have made me very happy. Oh: and my publishers all arrived … dressed as Poppy, Lily, Maggie, and Rachel.

L-R: Sherise as Maggie, Beth as Rachel, me, Christina as Lily and Fran as Poppy. With baguette.

You can’t really beat that, can you? Special props to Sherise my editor for wearing ski gear on a pretty hot (for April) evening … I’m glad that Fran (as Poppy) at least gets to eat part of her costume.

Today I’m over on Erin’s blog talking about the inspiration behind the series. I’ve also been on blog tour this week – discussing Poppy with Kevin, Lily with Sophie, Maggie with Kirsty, and Rachel with Jill. Now seems as good a time as any to say THANK YOU to everyone who’s read and reviewed the stories, or emailed or tweeted me about them. Every single one helps more than you know and you are all honorary girls (or boys) on tour.