Interview (and Giveaway!) with Lauren Ho, Author of Last Tang Standing

What a treat to welcome Lauren Ho to The Debutante Ball today! Lauren’s debut novel, Last Tang Standing, is billed as Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones’s Diary, and wow — if that doesn’t sound about perfect for a summer read. She’s racking up all the buzz and great reviews. One of my favorite bookstagrammers says it’s laugh-out-loud with non-stop one-liners and the Library Journal’s starred review says, “The combination of an appealing lead, a glamorous setting, and relatable, funny portrayals of relationships and workplace politics make this debut one of the must-read escapist pleasures of the summer.” Read on to see how you can win a copy!

About Lauren Ho
Lauren is a reformed legal counsel who writes funny stories. Hailing from Malaysia, she lived in the United Kingdom, France and Luxembourg before moving with her family to Singapore, where she is ostensibly working on her next novel. LAST TANG STANDING is not based on her mother. At all. Seriously.
Lauren on Twitter.
Lauren on Insta.
What first inspired you to start writing?
Clearly the money. And the fame. And the groupies. Certainly not the low-grade fear of dying before achieving my dreams, or the voice inside my head that says “tell the world who I am, hissssss”. Seriously though, I’ve always been a writer–of comic strips, unforgivable puns, limericks, jokes, short stories, and now, with age and a much more sedentary lifestyle–a novel.
 
Tell us about some of the authors who inspire you.
Too many. In fiction: Arundhati Roy, Hanya Yanagihara, Tash Aw, Li-Young Lee, Amy Hempel, George Saunders, David Sedaris, Grace Paley, Sue Townsend, Helen Fielding, Mary Gaitskill, Curtis Sittenfeld, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zhang Ailing, Ayn Rand, Caitlin Moran, Marian Keyes, Johnathan Franzen, and from the classics, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, D.H. Lawrence.
 
Tell us about one of your proudest writing moments.

Placing second in the 2019 edition of the Golden Point Award, Singapore biennial national creative writing competition, in the English short story category. It was the only year I would have been eligible to enter, and I really wanted to place. When it happened I invited my parents to the awards ceremony and they were quite pleased. It almost made them forget I didn’t go ahead with medical school when I had the chance.

If you could tell your younger writer self anything, what would it be? 

Write with discipline, and without fear.

Publishing a book is a bucket list dream for many people. What other item(s) on your bucket list would you like to accomplish next?

I’d like to get back into stand-up comedy and work hard at it until I can perform a solid twenty minute set that’s good enough so that people who don’t owe me favours or money will pay to watch it.

**GIVEAWAY**

Can’t you tell from reading these answers that LAST TANG STANDING is hilarious?! To win, share our Q&A with Lauren on Facebook or Twitter.

LAST TANG STANDING is an #ownvoices comedic epistolary novel set in Singapore that explores love, friendship and family through the lens of a 33-year-old Chinese-Malaysian singleton, Andrea Tang, who is determined to climb the corporate ladder in her prestigious law firm, yet must appear to date towards marriage in order to appease her family. It’s being comped as Bridget Jones’s Diary x Crazy Rich Asians.

What the critics are saying:

“Andrea is a relatable, laugh-out-loud protagonist, a high achiever who also gives in to her weaker instincts on occasion. Last Tang Standing is a near-perfect blend of Crazy Rich Asians and Bridget Jones’s Diary, yet it still feels wholly original.”—BookPage (starred review)

“The combination of an appealing lead, a glamorous setting, and relatable, funny portrayals of relationships and workplace politics make this debut one of the must-read escapist pleasures of the summer. Fans of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians and Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game will be dazzled.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“A lush portrayal of Singapore life filled with vibrant characters and a lovable leading lady readers will root for.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Witty…Ho’s cute, quippy love story is sure to captivate rom-com fans.”—Publishers Weekly

“Charming and witty. . . It’s a good match for fans of The Hating Game, Crazy Rich Asians, and young professional women who feel at a crossroads.”—Booklist

“The funniest rom-com I’ve read in a very long time…The writing is so slick, the characters are so real, the pacing is so perfect! Andrea stole my heart.”—Beth O’Leary, author of The Flatshare

“A hilarious transcontinental romp filled with characters that crackle off the page. Lauren Ho’s incisive, sharp voice lays bare one of the central questions in many professional women’s lives—is everything we give up to live a ‘good life’ worth it?”—Andie J. Christopher, USA Today bestselling author of Not That Kind of Guy

“Your new favorite singleton is here and her name is Andrea Tang! Lauren Ho’s irresistible Last Tang Standing sparkles with that perfect match of hilarity and heart on every page. Smart, successful, driven lawyer-on-the-partner-track Andrea is the most endearing of heroines: trying to be a boss in her love life as she stumbles–uproariously!–through Singapore’s dating world in search of Mr. Right. You’ll fall in love with this warm, witty and winning tale of a woman learning to follow her heart–not her head–for the first time in her life!”—Aimee Agresti, author of Campaign Widows

“Joyful, exuberant and very funny. An absolute treat.”—Nicola Gill, author of The Neighbors

Author: Kathleen West

Kathleen West is the author of the forthcoming novel, Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes, out 2/4/20 from Berkley. She lives in Minneapolis with her family.

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