Summer at My Sisters by Emily Harvale **Pub Day** @rararesources @emilyharvale

Happiest of publication days to one of my absolute favorites!

Emily Harvale is one of my must-read authors and I am looking so forward to diving into this delightful book! Be on the lookout for my review on August 23🍉

Summer at my Sister’s

Twin sisters. One scorching summer.

A bucketful of secrets.

Diana’s life is perfect. Her twin sister, Josie’s – not so much. 

Diana has a rich and successful husband, two talented youngsters and an adorable dog. She always looks as if she’s stepped from the cover of a magazine. Her immaculate second home by the sea, for idyllic summers with her perfect family, was actually featured in one.
 
Josie has a messy, compact flat, dates, but not relationships, and she can’t even keep a houseplant alive. She moves from job to job, goes clubbing with her friends and often looks as if she’s fallen through a hedge.

Although Josie loves Diana deeply, each year she declines the invitation to spend the summer with her sister. Or any other family holiday. Because Josie has a secret.
 
But is Diana’s life so perfect? Or is she also hiding something? When secrets are revealed this summer, everything will change. Josie could finally have the life she’s always wanted … if she’s brave enough to take a chance.

Purchase Link – mybook.to/SummeratmySisters

An exciting update from Emily Harvale

I apologise if you haven’t seen me on social media very much recently but I’ve been exceptionally busy working on lots of exciting stuff (technical term) 😂🤩 for my new book, my website … and a map for my new series of standalone stories set in the tiny village of Seahorse Harbour.

The map will ‘go live’ on July 31st, publication day for the first in the series, which is … yep, you guessed it, Summer at my sister’s. Let me explain a bit more.

Summer at my sister’s was originally a standalone, but then I had an idea for a Christmas book, so it became a two-book series, with Book 2 featuring a couple of new characters and most of the characters from Summer at my sister’s (with me so far?) ……

Then …. I had an idea for another completely separate story set in the same village (which I’m writing at the mo.) This one has new characters.

So now, each story in this series will be a standalone with new characters … but as each book is set in Seahorse Harbour, you’ll be able to ‘see’ what’s going on with the characters from the previous books, because you can’t help but bump into people in a tiny village, can you?

I have to say, I LOVE THIS SERIES!!!!😍🤩💖🥰 I’ve got so many story ideas, although I’ve only written 2 of the books so far, Summer at my sister’s and the Christmas book, which is called …..

Wait for it……(no, that’s not the title)

Christmas at Aunt Elsie’s

This Christmas book will be available for pre-order from early August. 💖🤩🥰😍

Did I mention that I love this series? And yes – I’m just a little bit over-excited. I can’t wait to share these fabulously feel-good stories with you. I hope you’re a little bit excited too. 🤩💖 xxx

Author Bio –

Emily writes novels, novellas and short stories about friendship, family and falling in love. She loves a happy ending but knows that life doesn’t always go to plan. Her stories are sure to bring a smile to your face and a warmth to your heart.

Emily loves to connect with her readers and has a readers’ group in which many have become good friends. To catch up with Emily, find out about the group, or connect with her on social media, go to her website at www.emilyharvale.com.

Having lived and worked in London for several years, Emily returned to her home town of Hastings where she now writes full-time. She’s a member of the SoA, an Amazon bestseller and a Kindle All Star. When not writing, she can be found enjoying the stunning East Sussex coast and countryside, or in a wine bar with friends, discussing life, love and the latest TV shows. Chocolate cake is often eaten. She dislikes housework almost as much as she dislikes anchovies – and will do anything to avoid both. Emily has two mischievous rescue cats that like to sprawl across her keyboard, regardless of whether Emily is typing on it, or not.

Social Media Links – https://www.facebook.com/emilyharvalewriter

Tweets by emilyharvale

https://www.instagram.com/emilyharvale

Excerpt

Thank you so much for allowing me to share a little extract from my new book, Summer at my Sister’s.

This is where Josie Parnell is on her way to her twin sister, Diana’s house but stops for a while and meets up with Liam Fulbright – a man she hasn’t seen since he married the most beautiful girl in the world (in Josie’s opinion) when he was just nineteen.

I decided to sit for a while beneath the ancient Oak in the centre of the village, and right in front of the church. From here there was a view directly out to sea and I watched a yacht bob along in the distance and seagulls soar and swoop low over the glass-like, turquoise water. I breathed deeply, pushed my sunglasses onto the top of my head, shoving back the tumbles of wavy red hair and closed my eyes, suddenly remembering long-ago summers. I heard someone walking past but I kept my eyes closed. Until I heard my name.

‘Josie? Is that you?’

My eyes shot open at the sound of a man’s voice. It sounded a lot like Liam Fulbright’s had all those years ago, only deeper, stronger and more commanding somehow. But the man standing in front of me looked nothing like the Liam I remembered. Liam had been tall and gangly and never quite as tanned as everyone else. His hair was always short, as if the scissors had taken fright and cut off far too much. Bits of it stuck out everywhere, a bit like a porcupine. His eyes were dark blue, but nothing to write home about, especially as they appeared more bulbous thanks to the thick glasses he wore. But I had always thought there was something simmering just beneath the surface and that one day, whatever it was, would burst forth and Liam would be transformed.

It seemed I was right. Unless this wasn’t Liam Fulbright.

‘It’s Liam. Liam Fulbright. I don’t suppose you remember me? We spent several summers together, a lifetime ago. Becca told my daughter, Orla you were coming. You haven’t changed a bit. Except, perhaps your hair. I think it was chestnut brown in those days.’ His smile was warm and friendly.

I shaded my eyes from the sun.

‘Liam Fulbright? Really? Wow.’

I put on my sunglasses so that I could see him better and got to my feet. He towered over me. But then so did everyone. Diana and I stopped growing when we reached five foot three.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve walked from the station?’

‘What? Oh. Er. No. I took a taxi but stopped for a quick drink at The Seahorse Inn.’

‘And ended up on the bench here? Just the one drink? Or did you have several?’

I didn’t answer immediately. I was still trying to take in how much he had changed.

‘Er. No. Just one. But I think the jet lag and heat is getting to me.’

‘So you stopped to admire the view.’ He half-turned to look at the sea and then his eyes focussed on me again.

‘Well, it is a rather gorgeous view,’ I said, scanning him from the tips of his black, Converse trainers to the roots of his lustrous chocolate-brown hair.

Gone was the spiky haircut and in its place, soft, natural waves sat around a deeply tanned and exceedingly handsome face. The firm jaw held a hint of stubble, the dark blue eyes, sparkling in the bright sunlight were free of glasses and when he smiled, his sensuous-looking lips parted to reveal perfect, naturally white teeth. He was at least six foot or more and his legs were long in his jeans. His pale blue cotton shirt, although not tight, showed that his chest and shoulders were broad and his forearms, where the sleeves had been rolled back, were certainly toned. Not in a body-builder way, but in a way that made it clear Liam Fulbright was no slouch.

‘I agree with you on that,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t imagine living anywhere but here and seeing that view every day.’

‘No. I could easily get used to a view like this. I mean, like that. The sea. The sea view is gorgeous. Er … I was so sorry to hear about Una. I should’ve sent a card or something. Sorry. I’m a terrible person, I know.’

He reached out and touched my shoulder and I swear to you, my skin seared beneath his hand. Or perhaps my shoulders had got sunburnt. I was wearing a sleeveless blouse and I’m not sure how long I was sitting on that bench in the full midday sun.

‘No you’re not, Josie.’ His voice changed tone. I could detect a hint of anger. ‘To be honest, I wouldn’t have known if you had or not. I was in a bit of a state and didn’t really take in anything at the time. Everything was a bit of a blur.’

Thank you for taking the time to read this extract. I hope you enjoyed it.

And thank you, lovely, for sharing this on your blog. xxx

The Friendship List by Susan Mallery **Excerpt** @tlcbooktours @harlequinbooks

Happy Thursday afternoon all!

Excited to share with you today at Excerpt for this amazing book! I will be posting my review on August 9. I don’t know about you but it is books like this that are getting me through these crazy times!🐚

About the Book

[ ] Dance till dawn 

[ ] Go skydiving 

[ ] Wear a bikini in public 

[ ] Start living

Two best friends jump-start their lives in a summer that will change them forever….

Single mom Ellen Fox couldn’t be more content – until she overhears her son saying he can’t go to his dream college because she needs him too much. If she wants him to live his best life, she has to convince him she’s living hers.

So Unity Leandre, her best friend since forever, creates a list of challenges to push Ellen out of her comfort zone. Unity will complete the list, too, but not because she needs to change. What’s wrong with a thirtysomething widow still sleeping in her late husband’s childhood bed?

The Friendship List begins as a way to make others believe they’re just fine. But somewhere between “wear three-inch heels” and “have sex with a gorgeous guy”, Ellen and Unity discover that life is meant to be lived with joy and abandon, in a story filled with humor, heartache, and regrettable tattoos.  

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Connect with Susan

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Excerpt

Silver Pines was the largest retirement community in the Pacific Northwest. There were single-family homes, condos, a golf course, several clubhouses, three restaurants, a workout facility, two pools, tennis and pickleball courts, and a grocery store. Deeper into the multi-acre complex were the independent living apartments, assisted living apartments, memory care and rehab facilities, a skilled nursing home and an outpatient surgery center.

The community hosted weekly garage sales, movie nights and all kind of clubs. The senior center—housed in the largest of the clubhouses—was open to the public.

Unity had discovered it and Silver Pines when she’d first moved back, three years ago. She’d decided to take up knitting, and the senior center had offered a class. She’d enjoyed the company so much, she’d joined the local pickleball league and was a regular at various events. Now, with the exception of Ellen, all her friends were over the age of sixty-five.

She drove through quiet, well-maintained streets. The association took care of all front lawns—freeing the residents from worry. Unity smiled. Maybe Howard should tell his son about the work his lawn business could have here. Not that she was interested. Too many of her friends were trying to fix her up. They liked Unity and wanted to see her “happy.” When she tried to tell them it had been only three years and she was nowhere near over Stuart, they told her she shouldn’t wallow. As if she had a choice about the amount of grief in her life. She also tried explaining that she’d had one great marriage and didn’t need another one, but that didn’t work either. Only Ellen let her be.

Unity turned onto a side street, then another, before pulling in front of a small rambler. The house was two bedrooms and two baths—about twelve hundred square feet. Sadly, Betty had fallen the previous week and broken her hip and would be moving into an independent living apartment.

Betty’s soon-to-be former house, like all the other houses, was on a single level with no stairs. The path from the street to the dark blue front door had a gentle incline. There were no steps anywhere in the house. The doorways were wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Inside the finishes were upscale. There were several floor plans and this was one of Unity’s favorites.

Dagmar met her at the front door. “You’re here. Good. We can get started right away. I went and saw Betty yesterday and got a list of all the things she wants us to pack for her. The movers come in the morning and take care of the rest of it.”

Dagmar, a seventysomething former librarian, had the energy level of a brewing volcano. She wore her straight hair in a chin-length bob. The color varied, sometimes significantly. Currently her swinging, shiny hair was a deep auburn with a single purple stripe on her left side. Her clothes matched her personality—vibrant hues battled prints for attention. She was as likely to show up in a Hawaiian-print caftan as riding pants and a bullfighter’s bolero jacket.

Today she had on a calf-length wrap skirt done in a balloon animal print. Her twinset picked up the lime green of one of the balloons and seemed conservative enough until she turned around and Unity saw a sequined version of the Rolling Stones open mouth logo. As always, reading glasses perched on Dagmar’s head.

“Let’s start in the bedroom. All she wants us to pack up there are her unmentionables.” Dagmar grinned over her shoulder as she led the way through the cheerful living room to the short hallway. “She used those exact words. Unmentionables. What is this? The set of Little Women? I told her unless she had some fur lined G-strings, the movers weren’t going to care, but you know how Betty is.”

Unity was used to Dagmar’s whirlwind, take-charge attitude. The first time Unity had come to Silver Pines to take her knitting classes, Dagmar had spotted her immediately. Within ten minutes, she pretty much knew Unity’s life story. By the end of the fifty-minute lesson, she’d introduced Unity to everyone in the class and had invited Unity to a potluck and a pickleball game. They’d been friends ever since.

“I packed up her medications yesterday,” Dagmar told her, pointing to the bathroom. “I’m hiding them at my place until she’s out of rehab. You know that doctor of hers is going to mess with everything and it will take her weeks to get back on track. This way I have a stash so we can figure it out as we go.”

“Because self-medication is always the answer?” Unity asked wryly.

“At our age, it can be.” Dagmar pointed to the roll of packing paper on the bed. “You get going on her Swarovski collection while I pack up the girl stuff. That’s mostly what she’s worried about. Her glass animals and the pictures, of course.” Dagmar’s smile faded. “She won’t have room to hang them at her new apartment. I’ve been thinking that I should put them all in a photo album for her.”

Before Unity could say anything, Dagmar pointed to the paper. “Chop-chop. I have bridge this afternoon and I’m sure you have work you should be doing.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Unity didn’t take offense at the instruction—it was simply Dagmar’s way. She unrolled the paper, then she walked around the small house, collecting the crystal animals in a sturdy box.

Betty had them in her hutch, of course, but also on floating shelves in the living room and den. As Unity gathered crystal swans and frogs, dogs and birds, she looked around at various rooms. The kitchen was recently remodeled, with quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances. There was plenty of storage and a back deck with room for a table and chairs, along with a barbecue.

Have a lovely day! XOXO Berit🦋

You May Kiss the Bridesmaid by Camilla Isley **Book Review** @rararesources

Hello lovely book people!

Love love love this series! If you like engaging characters, gorgeous settings, and witty dialogue this one’s for you!

You May Kiss the Bridesmaid

Archibald Hill is handsome, single, and he’s going to his best friend’s wedding ready to make a conquest or two. After all, everyone knows weddings are the perfect setting to get lucky.

Summer Knowles used to have a life—friends, family, a sister who’d do anything for her—until she blew it all away with a terrible mistake. Now, attending her twin’s wedding as the party’s undesirable number one seems like more than she can handle. So, when a tall stranger with smoldering ice-blue eyes offers her a therapy of seven nights of no-strings-attached fun, she might even ignore that he has a beard and accept.

Problem is, Summer has never been good at keeping sex and feelings separated…

My Thoughts

Sweet and steamy! Camilla Isley has fast become a must-read author of mine. Her stories are packed with delightful characters, gorgeous settings, clever banter, and sizzling chemistry. ThisIs the sixth book in the”First Comes Love” series, but it can absolutely be enjoyed as a standalone. Although reading the fourth and fifth book will definitely get you in the mood for this book. Additionally both of those books were really good! We met Winter and Logan in the last book and now they are getting married. Summer, Winter‘s twin sister is not to excited about this wedding. She now has to face the past as well as her friends who have cut her out of their lives after she made a pretty major mistake. Archibald is Logan‘s best friend and the best man. He is a bit of a player. He was introduced to us in the previous book, I have to admit I was excited that he was getting his own story. SO of course pariah summer and bad boy Archibald end up hooking up. Summer and Archibald know this is not going to make the bride and groom very happy so they attempt to keep their relationship hush-hush throughout the week of wedding events. This book was just straight up fun and hot! Summer and Archibald had some big-time sizzle. I also love revisiting characters from previous books and all the fun events leading up to the big day. There was a touch of tension throughout the book. I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping that this couple could make things work, but I was also worried about how everyone was going to react. The perfect way to spend a summer day!

*** Big thank you to the author for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084BW3P7V

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/you-may-kiss-the-bridesmaid/id1497542581

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/you-may-kiss-the-bridesmaid-camilla-isley/1136377204?ean=2940163462445

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=9788887269413

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Camilla_Isley_You_May_Kiss_the_Bridesmaid?id=C6LNDwAAQBAJ

Author Bio –

Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband on an adventure abroad.

She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

Social Media Links –

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/camilla-isley

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14135080.Camilla_Isley

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

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

Twitter https://twitter.com/camillaisley

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/camillaisley/

Giveaway to Win 3 x ecopies of the boxset of the first three books in the series – First Comes Love (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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