Book Review: Sunny Days at the Second Chances Sweet Shop by Hannah Lynn
I am pleased to be welcoming Hannah Lynn to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Sunny Days at the Second Chances Sweet Shop.
A getaway to remember…
It’s Holly’s best friend’s hen do and the plan is a week away in the South of France.
With little Hope still so very young, it’s going to be difficult for Holly to tear herself away, but Ben is the perfect co-parent and her own parents are just down the road, so – Holly decides – there’s really nothing holding her back, is there?
Will the sunshine and sea air help her get back to who she really is? Or will this be the perfect distraction, a chance to have a holiday fling?
Bask in the sunny skies of France with everyone’s favourite sweet shop owner – because everyone deserves a break, don’t they?
*****
Holly is on her way to the south of France to celebrate her friend’s hen do. With Hope being so little, Holly is finding it hard to leave her daughter but with ex-boyfriend, Ben being such a great co-parent and it only being for four days, she is eventually convinced to go.
Looking forward to celebrating with friends and having a brief rest, she doesn’t count on meeting the gorgeous Evan.
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Book Extract: Dating Little Miss Perfect by Cassandra O’Leary
Please join me in welcoming Cassandra O’Leary to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Dating Little Miss Perfect.
On an anonymous online dating app, LittleMissPerfect meets HotAussie007 and it’s love at first click. In real life, a smart but spiky woman in STEM, research scientist, Dr Eden, meets a laid-back Aussie marketing manager, Finn, at the big pharma company where they both work in California. They’re forced to compete for special projects funding, and both their jobs are on the line.
Eden just wants to win at science and in life. It’s not happening! She can’t stand Finn’s too-cool-for-school, nice guy act, or his delectable forearms that keep invading her space. While Finn is stupidly attracted to Eden, when she’s not telling him off, he isn’t free to pursue her. He’s stuck in the worst position in his professional life, and doesn’t see a clear way out. He can’t tell her the whole truth about what’s going on at work or in his personal life. . . or it could all blow up in his face.
When they realise the truth about their online alter egos, dating is off the table. Can they ignore their inconvenient attraction, and work together to take down their unethical boss? Or will intense rivalry cause their IRL work lives and online love lives to collide and explode like a science experiment gone wrong?
Cassandra has shared an extract with us today so grab that drink, those biscuits, a comfy chair and enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
The following excerpt is from Chapter Two of Dating Little Miss Perfect, © Copyright Cassandra O’Leary, 2023. Reproduced and shared with permission of the author.
This chapter starts in the hero, Finn’s, point of view. He’s just received the latest in a series of flirty online messages from LittleMissPerfect, an anonymous prospect on the dating app he’s using. They are yet to meet in real life. But it’s his cranky work rival, Dr Eden, who is on his mind. And later, we find out Finn is on Eden’s mind too! They work in a big pharma company in California, and they’re being forced to compete for special projects funding and to collaborate, to a certain extent.
LittleMissPerfect: Where are you taking me on our date, big shot? Downtown?
Finn stared at his phone in the palm of one hand while rubbing the back of his neck with the other. LittleMissPerfect’s opening gambit was a tease. Normally, he’d fire back, saying he’d love to take her downtown. Get down and dirty. But today? Another woman occupied his thoughts like an invading army.
Cupcakes? Doctor Eden bakes cupcakes?
by Book Review: Love Blossoms at Puddleduck Farm by Della Galton
I’m so pleased to be welcoming Della Galton back to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her latest novel, Love Blossoms at Puddleduck Farm.
How can life be too busy for love?
Phoebe Dashwood is living the dream. She’s running her own successful vet practice, Puddleduck Vets, alongside her grandmother’s animal sanctuary.
She’s also dating the gorgeous, yet slightly broken Rufus Holt, the most eligible bachelor in the New Forest.
So why isn’t she blissfully happy?
Both Phoebe and Rufus are consumed 24/7 by their own commitments. Their relationship is always last on the list.
Phoebe juggles quirky, yet demanding clients and their pets whilst widowed Rufus is consumed by his anxieties, responsibilities of fatherhood and the unenviable tasks of being a Lord in waiting with a huge estate to manage.
Phoebe knows that when you’re a vet, there isn’t always a happy ending. But will there be a happy ending for Phoebe, Rufus and everyone else at Puddleduck Farm?
Is it ever really possible to have it all?
*****
Things seem to be going well for Phoebe Dashwood. Her Veterinary Practice is doing well and she is now in a relationship with Rufus Holt, the handsome lord of the manor.
However, as both of them try to balance their work and relationship, can it survive?
It was so lovely to be able to catch up with Phoebe, Maggie and all the people at and around Puddleduck Farm.
by NK Chats To… Margaret Amatt
Hi Margaret, thank you so much for inviting Novel Kicks onto the blog tour for your novel, Two’s Company at the Forest Light Show. What’s your typical writing day like and how long does the writing process take you overall?
I’m a binge writer so when I get in the zone I keep going as long as possible! This usually happens when my son is at school and the house is quiet. I can write from nine a.m. to three p.m. with only short breaks. I find it the best way to keep the flow of the story going. On good days, I’ll write in the evenings as well.
Overall, I’m quite a fast writer, but to do that I spend a lot of time planning the books before I write a word. Once I know exactly where I want the story to go then I start. sometimes they detour here and there from the plan but generally speaking it keeps me on track and means I always know what I need to write.
Which songs would make up a playlist for your book?
That’s a really tricky question. I’m not sure what would fit this particular book. I’m thinking some power ballads for Cha and maybe something classical for Nick! Something that shows their opposite personalities.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered since you’ve started writing?
by Book Extract: The Accidental Housemate by Sal Thomas
I am pleased to welcome Sal Thomas to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Accidental Housemate.
Cath Beckinsale is in a jam. She’s a single mum of three, with her 40th birthday in sight and a precarious hold on employment. And she can’t quite let go of her late husband Gaz, whose ashes are still in an urn on the kitchen table.
To make ends meet a student lodger seems like the perfect solution – after all, what’s one more child in the house? But when Dan flies in from the US, complete with guitar and chest hair on display, it’s immediately clear that he’s no teenager, but someone who quickly sends life in an unexpected direction.
Sal has shared an extract today. We hope you enjoy it.
(Warning: Language.)
*****beginning of extract*****
Widower and mum of three Cath has agreed to take in a student lodger to help make ends meet. Recommended him by a colleague, she spends a tipsy evening with best friend Sindy looking up the American teenager she thinks she’s getting, as well as ogling over a same-name-but-different-state guy. However, a misunderstanding about Kansas vs Arkansas means she’s in for a surprise….
Of course, it’s only the following weekend as I’m on the way to the airport that the full force of what I’ve let myself in for comes rushing at me like a tidal wave of WTAF? I’ve left Jack and Eric at home with Sindy, who assured me that inviting someone I know barely anything about to come and live in my house, without so much as having had a conversation with him, is a great idea. I guess it happens all the time on Airbnb, right? Still, my stomach is doing all manner of odd things as I pull into the car park.
Minutes after I get to the gate a stream of people starts to emerge from the exit, their weary faces lighting up as they spot waiting relatives. I check the photo of Dan I saved to my phone. No sign yet, but he’s probably slowly lolloping his way from the plane, peering through his hair curtains and taking in a brand-new country. As I’m watching it all unfold, a man, I’d say in his mid-thirties, emerges from the exit carrying a large rucksack and a guitar. He’s over six-feet tall and archetypically handsome, a mop of loose brown curls framing an elfin face rescued from femininity by a defined jaw and strong straight brows. His cheeks dimple as he smiles at the striking young air stewardess walking alongside him. I can’t make out what he’s saying, but she is lapping it up as she overtly throws her head back in amusement and lightly touches him on the arm.
by Book Club
