I am thrilled to welcome my dear friend, Tina Fausett, with a fun interview and her fantastic new release…
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
I was born in Oklahoma City and currently live there in a historic neighborhood with my best friend, Draco (minpin/chihuahua mix). My home is a 107 years old…I sometimes like to refer to it as my life in ruins. My main focus is on my children and granddaughter.
Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc, you’d like to share?
This book is a work of fiction, however, most of the characters are based on people I know. I don’t care how old you are, I think everyone can agree that dating is hard, but I truly believe it gets harder the older you are. We change, we know what we want and don’t want, and I know for myself that I’m not willing to settle…we get set in our ways. Women in my age range (Baby Boomers) have typically spent a lifetime working and being caregivers…to our children, our husbands, our parents, our spouses’ parents, to grandkids…now a lot of us don’t want to do that with the years we have left, and I think that’s difficult for a lot of men… So, in discussing men and dating and sharing experiences, my friends and I decided that newly widowed and divorced men, bless their hearts, really needed help learning how to live again as well as how to date a contemporary older woman and the idea for a Widower Whisperers’ business was conceived. Though we didn’t actually form a business, I decided to write about it.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read Unrequited?
Deep down, I’m a hopeless romantic. I would like people to come away feeling good and understanding that it’s never too late…never to late to fall in love, never too late to pursue writing, art, a business…your dreams. And to know that on the inside, most of us seniors still feel young on the inside.
What actors would you like in the main roles if your book were made into a movie?
Susan Sarandon, Steve Martin, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren
What is your favorite quote?
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” I mean who hasn’t said it…or at least wanted to say it?
If you could spend time with a character from your book, whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please 🙂
It would have to be with Thomas Fitzsimmons. I’d be picking his brain, cooking and/or baking. He’s intelligent, well read, has a sense of humor and he likes to get in the kitchen and stir things up. I just find it such a joy when a man likes to cook…for a multitude of reasons.
What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author?
I was told by an agent that I wasn’t commercial enough. What has been the best compliment? I was told by the same agent that she couldn’t put my manuscript down all weekend, and I wrote like the classics. That being said, I still wasn’t commercial enough. That was years ago!
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
Ha! Almost all the main characters are based off people I know. The idea for the book came from my 50th reunion. People kept coming up to me saying they remembered me and my red hair. I have high school amnesia and didn’t remember most of them. My graduation class had almost 1,000 people. A couple of different men kept asking if I remembered them and showing me their badges with their graduation pictures on them. Young or old, past or present, their faces didn’t ring a bell. One man was a bit tipsy and actually got upset (I figured he must have been a big deal in high school and expected everyone to know who he was). Later I asked a friend (Betty in the book) if I had dated him or something, because according to her, I don’t recall going out with a couple of guys that were really cute. She didn’t think so, but out if it all I thought what if…what if there was really a story between them and a reason she doesn’t remember him. Except for his looks, Thomas is one hundred percent fantasy…much to my chagrin…he’s almost too good to be true! Darrell on the other hand…
What do your friends and family think of your writing?
That’s a mixed bag. I have such wonderful, supportive friends. Sometimes, I’m not sure if they’re excited if I base a character off them and/or something that’s happened to them or they’re terrified what I might write. But they are always so sweet. As for my family…they’re supportive of my endeavors, but my granddaughter has helped me a lot. She taught me about different writing apps and is great for getting a young opinion. I’ve been writing most of my life, and I feel that people who don’t write, don’t really don’t grasp what we do… It’s like they think if you’re not a best seller and a household name, you’ve just got this little hobby that you piddle around at.
What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
Absolutely Darrell! He is a culmination of some of my worst dating memories.
How did you come up with the title?
If the story was based on a relationship that Sally and Thomas had in high school, and he was disappointed that she didn’t remember him and didn’t return the crush he had on her…the one word that came to mind was Unrequited.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Yes, definitely. I think it was said by one of the bachelorettes in The Golden Bachelor. She said something about when you get older, people don’t see you anymore. There isn’t a lot of respect for elders these days…it almost feels like people are just waiting for us to pass on and quit taking up space. I would love for the younger generations to understand that we still have the same feelings and fears…that we’re capable of falling in love again…and we’re not dead till we’re dead. I started this book prior to the pandemic then health issues and 4 surgeries caused me to quit writing for a couple years…I can’t tell you how happy I was to see The Golden Bachelor and the chance those beautiful women had to be seen and to shine.
How much of the book is realistic?
Probably way too much. A lot of conversations and a few of the scenes actually happened…I’m positive a man will now think more than twice before asking me out.
Getting Old isn’t for sissies…and neither is falling in love
Blurb:
After a coffee date from hell, Sally Estes and her friends come up with an idea for a business-The Widower Whisperers, LLC. They train Newbies, recently widowed and divorced men, on how to start living again and to do the things their wives used to do for them. The hardest part is teaching them how to treat and court a contemporary woman. Little did Sally know this new venture would change all their lives forever, bringing back a man from her past she can’t remember and a history she wants to forget. What started out as a promising enterprise now threatens to destroy her friendships and everything she’s worked so hard for.
Excerpt:
His head was bent but Elaine could see the trace of a tear escape from the corner of his eye. She stretched forward and ruffled his hair. “Could we get back to Sally?”
“Yes, let’s,” he mumbled without looking up.
“I was just reading an article about her and some of her girlfriends starting a business called the ‘The Widower Whisperers’. Ghastly name I know and doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but catchy.
“They evidently help widowed and divorced men…newbies, they call them, get back into the swing of life and train them how to do the things their wives did for them, as well as getting them ready to start dating…I think they even have a course called ‘Women 101’. When I first saw their ad about four months ago, I kind of thought it was a ridiculous idea and had no clue Sally was involved. But it looks like they’re doing really well and have so many male clients that they’re going to branch out to females soon.”
“That’s charming and I wish them all the luck in the world, but it has absolutely nothing to do with us.”
“Well, if you think about it, it really is a good idea. It’s hard for most people to start over. You know what it was like after you and Gayle divorced. I remember what it was like dating after Jake died, before I met you. It was horrible. Men were absolute idiots, thinking they were suave and debonaire. You’d go to dinner, and they’d be putting down the ex, drinking too much, start trying to hold your hand and talking about back rubs…” She shivered and ran her hands over her arms. “It was creepy, and I don’t imagine it’s gotten any better as we’ve aged.”
Buy link(s): Amazon.com: Unrequited (The Widower Whisperers Book 1) eBook : Fausett, Tina : Kindle Store9781509252992 – Walmart.com
Unrequited by Tina Fausett (booksamillion.com)
Unrequited a book by Tina Fausett (bookshop.org)
Unrequited by Tina Fausett, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Unrequited eBook by Tina Fausett – EPUB Book | Rakuten Kobo United States
Unrequited by Tina Fausett (ebook) – Apple Books
First off, I want to say that I never pictured myself this old writing about people this old. But we’re not dead yet and I realized there’s definitely a market and a need to tell our stories. (I think the fascination with the Golden Bachelor proved that). My favorite place is New Orleans where I once lived. A native of Oklahoma City, I grew up with a southern mom and she used to tell me I had swamp water in my veins. I’ve owned an antique store and art gallery, been a pickle pusher (I had a company called Red Hot Mamma’s Pickles), I’ve sold real estate in the Big Easy and OKC, yet I am always drawn back to writing. I’ve written mainstream, a children’s book that’s not published, some mystery and suspense with romantic and paranormal elements and even erotica. I can say, quite proudly that I have two Raunchy Read Awards. A rather haughty an unimaginative woman once asked if I regretted not focusing more on my intelligent side. woman. In response, I quoted Einstein. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
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Author Alicia Dean 
Fascinating concept and plot! Best of luck with Unrequited!
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