Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contemporary Romance. Show all posts
Hello Lovely!
This year is going by SO fast already, I can't believe we're halfway in February already! (basically!)
This year is going by SO fast already, I can't believe we're halfway in February already! (basically!)
Today I am very honoured to host an extract for this gorgeous book by Maddie Please called A Year of New Adventures
The cover is gorgeous, but let's take a look at what it's all about before I leave you to read the extract; A Year of New Adventures is written by Maddie Please, published by HarperCollins and is set to be a fantastic read of 2018
A Year of New Adventures
It’s time for Billie Summers to have an adventure … but it might not be exactly what she expected.
Billie Summers has always been quite content in her little cottage in the Cotswolds, sure half the house hasn’t been renovated, but what’s the point when it’s only her! Working part-time at her uncle’s bookshop and planning 3-4 writer retreats with her best friend allows her to pay the bills. What more could anyone want?
That is until Oliver Forest, the bad boy of the book world, turns up to one of her retreats and points out that Billie hasn’t done anything very adventurous. Couple that with her best friend falling head over heels and beginning to drift away from their Friday night wine and dinner plans, Billie is starting to wonder if it isn’t time she take control of her life.
So she starts a list: get fitted (properly) for a bra, fix up rest of house, find a ‘career’ and well, get a tattoo … Her life might just get the makeover it needs, too bad irritating and far-too-attractive for his own good, Oliver keeps showing up …
Because sometimes you need an adventure!
Let's take a look at the extract;
We broke up soon after that –
I put up with a lot from him in our two years together but even I have my
limits – still, I think he was partly right. I like Mint Clubs. I’m not ashamed
to admit it. OK, I like most things that mix chocolate and biscuits, if I’m
honest. Perhaps that’s why my figure is always slightly out of control.
It wasn’t a very merry
Christmas last year. We had been about to go to New York as he had finally
persuaded me there were holidays to be had outside Europe. I was fizzing with
excitement. These sorts of trips were few and far between but Nan had left me a
small inheritance that I’d been hanging on to and I’d just been paid for some
private pre-Christmas catering, so for once I had some savings.
Unfortunately, I gave the
money for my part of the holiday to Matt and I still haven’t got it back.
Swine. We had been living together in the tumbledown Cotswold stone cottage my
grandmother had been in the middle of renovating when she died. When we split
up he left with my holiday to New York, most of my DVDs and all the decent
towels.
New Year’s resolution: never
do anything spontaneous.
My sister inherited the
picture-perfect holiday house in Cornwall. Typical. In her will Nan said Josie
‘needed’ it more than I did. I guess that’s because Josie and Mark have two
boys and their school has longer holidays than some members of the British
aristocracy, while I had no kids and no prospect of any.
I started trying to write
when I was doing English A level, and had just read Forever Amber. I quite fancied
being a writer of historical fiction. After all, it didn’t need specialist
equipment, formal training, or a particular level of physical fitness; the
only thing it did require was aptitude.
Oh wow! How good does this book sound??!! Seriously! I have to get myself a copy on my kindle...to enjoy!
Here's where you can get your copy also;
Today I am super excited to share with you all an extract from a book that was released yesterday - I saw it in Tesco's so it's out there! - and one that I am thoroughly enjoying (review will come when i'm finished reading it). It's a gorgeous little book with so many laugh out loud moments, so much truth - I find myself nodding along just knowing the feeling sometimes. I have to say it's a unique story, for me at least because I've not read anything with a similar theme running through it before.
Anyway, here is the extract for you to read, which I am sure you'll be hunting down the book afterwards because you'll need to know what happens next. Enjoy!
‘You may kiss the bride!’
There was a moment’s silence while we leant into each other, then my sisters started whooping as one, and as we kissed the whole register office applauded, and it felt alright for a moment. We pulled away and Jack looked like he was glowing, happiness pouring out of his freckles, and I thought, I wonder if I look like that?
Then the registrar said a few more things, the music started up and we were back down the aisle, out into the sunshine and then. . . then we didn’t know where we were supposed to go. The car wasn’t there – Al wasn’t due back for a good while yet. He was probably sitting back in the pub he’d picked me and Dad up from, enjoying a quiet drink before the happy couple spilt prosecco all over the back of his car. We milled about for a while, doubling back on ourselves to watch everyone trooping out, then we had to walk back in and out again so the photographer could get some shots of everyone throwing confetti at us on the stone steps.
My shoes hurt and my eyes felt heavy from the fake eyelashes I’d let myself be talked into, despite my choice of natural hair, plain white jumpsuit and simple faux fur. I was happy enough at this precise moment – all these people! Jack’s face! – but I’d wanted us to just keep on walking when we got outside, just hit the road, no looking back until we’d had some time to talk about all of this. I squeezed Jack’s hand and he squeezed back.
‘Happy?’ he said.
‘I was about to ask you the same thing.’
We smiled at each other, but neither of us answered.
The photographer moved us around from car park to entrance steps to under the one tree in the vicinity not surrounded by cigarette butts and cider cans, in an attempt to get a satisfactory shot. I tried to avoid Dad’s eye, until our driver finally turned up again. I dragged Jack into the car, and we sat back with a sigh, his arm around my shoulders, and we stayed in comfortable, quiet stillness until we reached our reception venue twenty minutes later. Al didn’t attempt small talk either, just turned up the heaters in the back a little more.
As we pulled up the drive to our hired manor house, the first arrivals of our wedding party, Jack stroked my handbag with one finger. ‘This looks fancy, Zo.’
‘Gift from Mum and Dad last night. More Mum than Dad, I expect. In fact, probably more my sisters than either, but still. . .’
‘You’ve always wanted one of those.’ I shrugged, smiling, and Jack went on, ‘And if everything else goes wrong in life, at least we know we can flog this and live like kings.’
I clutched it to my chest. ‘You wouldn’t. . .’
‘Of course I wouldn’t! I wouldn’t dare, my dearest.’ He picked it up, and looked at it more closely. ‘It doesn’t matter how expensive it was – you deserve something this gorgeous.’
Jack pulled me in for another kiss and I wondered if we could tell Al to go back down the drive. No one’s seen us. We could still escape, just me and Jack.
Then I remembered Dad’s words this morning –sometimes you just have to do what you think is right – and swallowed the feeling down.
***
You can grab yourself a copy of Sunshine on a Rainy Day here;
Hello again!
Lovely to have you back again for another wonderful blog tour. Today we are celebrating All Shook Up by Chelsey Krause! We have an exciting extract and a GIVEAWAY!!! Without further ado, let's get stuck in and enjoy this glorious excerpt! Don't forget to enter the competition below too to be in with a chance of winning!
Lovely to have you back again for another wonderful blog tour. Today we are celebrating All Shook Up by Chelsey Krause! We have an exciting extract and a GIVEAWAY!!! Without further ado, let's get stuck in and enjoy this glorious excerpt! Don't forget to enter the competition below too to be in with a chance of winning!
Title:
All Shook Up
Author:
Chelsey Krause
Publisher:
Tryst Books
Release
Date: August 17, 2016
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
ISBN:
9781988387048
Natalie’s
world is shaken to its core when she discovers an old photo of a
woman who looks like her. Could this woman be related to her birth
mother, who put Natalie up for adoption as a baby? When she tracks
down the person who dumped the photo album at her thrift shop, she’s
shaken again. Especially when the gorgeous fire-fighting guitarist
offers to help her find the owner. They quickly become friends –
which is all they’ll be, as far as Natalie’s concerned. Her
rebellious youth turned her off cheating men, and the new Natalie is
looking for true love and a family of her own – something Casey
isn’t willing to provide. But how long can Natalie ignore her
undeniable attraction to the man with the Irish accent and the
broken-down ’57 Chevy?
In
Chelsey Krause’s second novel, friends become lovers over a
whirlwind summer of rockabilly rhythms, twirling skirts, and a
mystery that takes them hilariously far out of their element.
Add
to your TBR list: Goodreads
Pre-Order
Links: Amazon
| Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes
| Google
Play
Excerpt:
I
stare up at the house for a moment, my hands shaking on the steering
wheel, wondering what I’ve got myself into. I do some breathing
exercises to calm down, pick up the box, and get out of the car. I
can barely stand, my legs are so wobbly.
Maybe
I’m working myself up over nothing. So what if the woman in the
picture looks like me? It could be a coincidence.
Or
maybe, just maybe…
I
walk slowly up the driveway and knock on the door, my heart racing.
After a couple of minutes, I knock again. Maybe they aren’t home?
Maybe they didn’t hear me? I try the doorbell.
After
a minute, I hear heavy, muffled footsteps.
Oh
god. I should have worn a better outfit. I quickly smooth my hair
with my free hand and stand a bit taller. Am I going to meet my birth
mother? Or, at the very least, an aunt or something? Or my
grandmother? Although, if someone cared enough to take these pictures
and put them in an album, why would they throw them away? Is that the
sort of person I want to meet?
The
door swings open. The person standing in front of me is most
definitely not a granny.
“Can
I help you?” he asks as he rubs his eyes.
“Oh,
I, umm…”
My
brain has stalled.
He
shouldn’t be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. But for some
reason, he is. He looks like he’s in his late twenties, maybe early
thirties. He isn’t wearing anything that spectacular, just a plain
T-shirt and fleece pants. And his dark eyebrows are a bit thick for
my liking.
But
those lips…thin on top, full on the bottom, framed by a cleft chin
and dark stubble. And those brown eyes fringed with black lashes…
He
blinks. “Okay, then. Well, if that’s all…” He starts to close
the door.
“Does
this belong to you?” I yelp. I shove the box into his chest. He
takes a half step back and sneezes as the dust flies up around him.
He
frowns. “Is this the crap I took to the thrift store?” With a
confused look on his face, he hands the box back to me and crosses
his arms. He leans on the door frame, making his biceps strain
against his T-shirt. His entire left arm is covered in swirling blue
and green tattoos. “How did you find where I live?” he asks
cautiously. He has a hint of an accent. Scottish, maybe?
I
roll my eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, I’m not stalking you.”
He
smirks. “Good. I’ve already got too many stalkers.”
About
Chelsey Krause:
Chelsey
Krause has a thing for thrift stores and used bookshops. A nurse,
wife, Starbucks addict, and mom to two children, she can often be
found repurposing other people’s junk or considering whether the
library would let her move in. The rest of the time, she’s
reviewing for Chicklit Club or writing. All
Shook Up
is her second novel.
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