Character Q&A with Jack Chatham from The Drought and The Flood by Steven Scaffardi - Blog Tour

Jack Chatham is the happy-go-lucky cockney character from the Sex, Love and Dating Disaster book series, and good friends with the main protagonist Dan Hilles. Today he has popped into Rachel’s Random Reads as part of the Lad Lit Blog Tour…

Welcome to Rachel’s Random Reads Jack. Thanks for joining us, please tell the readers a little bit about yourself.
Thanks Rachel, I’m excited to be here. Out of the four boys who star in The Drought and The Flood, I’m the joker in the pack. I’m the one who keeps the banter full to the brim. Girls love a man with a sense of humour, you know?

Is that right? In The Drought you are known to favour chat-up lines when attempting to woo a lady. What is your best chat-up line?
There are so many Rachel, but it’s all in the delivery. Allow me to demonstrate (clears throat, licks his finger and wipes it down Rachel’s top). Let’s get you out of those wet clothes! And if that one doesn’t work I normally just invite the girl back to my place for pizza and sex. If she says no, at least I know she doesn’t like pizza.

Really? That’s your best chat-up line? No wonder your friend Dan experienced a sexual drought if that was the sort of advice he was getting! 
What are you talking about? That is top grade material right there. It is not my fault Dan is hopeless with the ladies. 

Tell me a bit more about Dan and how he comes to end up in this predicament.
Basically you either have the golden touch with the girls or you don’t, if you catch my drift Rachey babe. Dan’s problem was that he stupidly got himself into a relationship and wasted three years when he could have been playing the field like me! So when he broke up with his ex-Stacey – which by the way was hilariously messy – he had completely forgotten how to go on the pull. It was embarrassing to be honest; watching him get into one ridiculous situation after the next. Do you know that he once went on a date and was unable to seal the deal because he got chased away by a sausage dog? True story.

In an attempt to help Dan get over his drought, you and the boys take him on a road trip. You created a set of rules for you and your friends to abide by. What is the most important rule you have to obey on a road trip?
That one is easy Rachey babe…

Stop calling me Rachey babe.
…What happens on tour, stays on tour! When you’re away with the lads, you can’t go blabbing about every little detail when you get home.  In The Drought I delivered a 10 point rule all men should follow when they hit the open road for the ultimate lad getaway. You can read it here.

Things are a little bit different for Dan in The Flood as this time round he makes a bet with you and your friends that he can date four girls all at once. What can you tell us about that?
Watching him transform into a nervous wreck trying to keep each girl from finding out about each other was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Dan never makes things easy for himself. Instead of finding himself four quiet and unassuming girls that would have been easy to deal with, he goes and dates a stalker, his crazy ex-girlfriend, the office ice queen, and a girl so hot she could melt the polar ice caps.  The problem is, when you are as unlucky-in-love as Dan is, it is never going to be smooth sailing!

Okay, time for a quick-fire question round before we wrap this up. Who would you be stuck on a desert island with? 
Cheryl Cole. 

What is your greatest ambition? 
To be stuck on a desert island with Cheryl Cole. 

What's your greatest fear? 
That if I made it on to that island with Cheryl Cole, she might be good at boat making. 

Thanks for joining me Jack and good luck with promoting The Drought and The Flood.
It was my pleasure Rachey babe. Hey, do you like pizza?

Sigh.

Download Sex, Love & Dating Disasters: The Drought by Steven Scaffardi for FREE on April 28-May 2 at Amazon and pre-order The Flood eBook for just 99p before it is released on April 30.

See the trailer for The Flood

Or click here to read the first chapter of The Flood 

About Steve

"But a man wouldn't do or say that!" 

This was a common rant that could often be heard coming from the lips of Steven Scaffardi over the last couple of years after he was forced to endure yet another rom-com movie at the hands of his girlfriend. 

"And he definitely wouldn't turn into a vampire or a werewolf! That is just plain ridiculous!"

So after suffering yet another Matthew McConaughey chick-flick, Steven decided enough was enough and it was time to stand up for men the world over and write a book that spoke about the male perspective on relationships, and The Drought was born...

Published in September 2011, Steven's debut novel The Drought received fantastic praise for its hilarious take on how the male mind works when it comes to the opposite sex, being labelled chick-lit for men.

To help promote the book, Steven took to the open mic stand-up comedy scene in and around London in 2011, sharing his funny observations and self-deprecating humour about life as a 30-something man.

Steven is now busy working on his second novel, a follow-up to The Drought called The Flood. He is hoping to emulate the success of fellow lad-lit writers such as Mike Gayle, Danny Wallace, Nick Spalding, and the undisputed king of lad-lit, Nick Hornby.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5162103.Steven_Scaffardi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StevenScaffardiAuthorAndComedian/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveScaffardi

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Scaff7

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WsknUo

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+StevenScaffardi

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevescaffardi/

My review of the Flood is now live as part of this tour too, so please do check it out. Please also follow along with the rest of the #LadLitBlogTour

Thank you so much to Jack Chatham and Steven Scaffardi for giving me such a hilarious interview.  It had me in floods of laughter the first time I read it, and gives a real indication of the sense of humour of the book.

And Jack.....my phone number is XXX XXXX XXXX! Call me! 

Book Review - The Flood by Steven Scaffardi - Blog Tour

Amazon UK

Title: The Flood (Sex, Love and Dating Disasters Book 2) 

Author: Steven Scaffardi

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied review copy

Publisher: Lad Lit Press

Publication Date: 30th April 2016

Rating: 5 Stars

One bet, four girls, eight weeks, multiple dates. What could possibly go wrong? 

Following his traumatic eight month dry spell, Dan Hilles is back in the driving seat and ready to put his dating disasters behind him. 

But if only it were that simple. 

After a drunken afternoon in the pub, fuelled by the confidence of alcohol, Dan makes a bet with his three best pals that will complicate his love-life more than ever when he brazenly declares that he could juggle multiple women all at the same time. 

With just eight weeks to prove his point, Dan is about to find out how hard it is to date a flood of women without them all finding out about each other, especially when they come in the shape of an ex-girlfriend, a stalker, the office ice queen and the one that got away. 

My only slight regret with regard to this book, is that I didn't make the time to read The Drought first, and that is purely because I loved the writing so much in The Flood, that I'm already longing for more. The Flood can definitely be read as a stand alone and enjoyed as such, and I was smiling the whole way through. 

My first impressions of this book, was that it reminded me a bit of that 90s TV programme, Men Behaving Badly, especially with regards some of the humour. I find that humour is subjective, so although this didn't have me rolling on the floor with laughter, as I may have been hoping, I did find it very amusing, and there are some brilliant one liners. 

In fact any time Olly or Steph said something they got either a giggle or an eye roll from me, depending on the exact level of stupidity they were displaying. They are loveable characters, just unfortunately a bit dim, or as Olly said for himself at one point, that he needed to work on his "vocadbury". 

If you are a person who doesn't like reading about men dating multiple people at one time, then this may not be the best book for you. However this is fiction, none of these women got hurt in the making of the book, and it is all a bit of fun, especially for a group of four lads in their twenties, as a result of a very drunken bet. 

The Flood is a brilliant example of the Lad Lit genre between its sense of humour and the overall storylines and situations the characters find themselves in. This is emphasised by Dan and the four women he attempts to date simultaneously which include his ex-girlfriend, a stalker, the office ice queen who loves bad boys and the girl he has previously messed up two previous dates with. 

We also get to know all of Dan's friends really well, and with the introduction of reasonably naive lad into the group, who needs Jack's expert tuition to be better with the ladies. There are chat up lines galore in this book, as well as drunken hijinx, a very weird flatmate, the stalker's stalker, and all manner of weird and wonderful happenings. 

All I am going to say at this point is that books ends with those three words can really bug a person, and I am really looking forward to the next edition of this Sex, Love and Dating Disasters series. I think Steven Scaffardi is definitely a talent to be watched in this genre. 

Thanks so much to Steven Scaffardi for this review copy. This is my honest opinion.