Blog Tour: An Extract from How to Fix a Broken Heart by Nicola May
TODAY is publication day for How to Fix a Broken Heart by Nicola May and I am sharing an extract! This is one I will definitely be adding to my kindle to read.. I’ll consider it an early birthday present to myself since my birthday is at the end of the month!
Book Description:
Gracie Davies is at an all-time low. After a devastating loss, the last thing she needs is a colleague hinting over coffee that it’s time to lose her baby weight. Then her boyfriend betrays her, and her world totally falls apart.
Rebuilding her life from scratch – with the support of her free-spirited sister, an unorthodox therapist, and a feisty new friend – Gracie finally begins to get her mojo back. Add in a passionate fling with handsome landscaper Ed, a fairytale encounter with a Hollywood film star and the persistence of her adulterous ex, and life is anything but predictable…
Soon she finds that community, purpose, and perhaps even new love might be the perfect prescription for a broken heart.
But can a heart that’s been so utterly shattered ever trust again?
Warm, witty, wildly sexy and deeply moving, Nicola May’s unforgettable novel is perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Marian Keyes, and Amanda Prowse.
A heart-wrenching and life-affirming story of love and loss from number one bestselling author Nicola May.
This is a revised version of The Women of Wimbledon Common/The SW19 Club.
How to Fix a Broken Hear is out NOW! Buy your copy here.
Background on the extract: Gracie getting used to single life bumps has an embarrassing moment when she meets the handsome landscaper on Wimbledon Common.
~~~
Gracie pulled into the packed car park. What was it with all these women who didn’t have to work? She looked around at all the 4x4s, the odd Smart car and the space-age-looking electric cars. There were also a couple of dog-walking branded vans. Naomi had told her that quite a lot of famous people walked their spoilt pooches here, too. There was actually nothing common at all about Wimbledon Common!
As soon as Gracie opened the passenger door of her red Ford Puma, Boris jumped out, barking and running around her feet in excitement.
Gracie liked the comfort that having a dog on a lead brought. It gave her the same comfort she felt pushing a pram. She had loved looking after Jack when he was a baby. The love she felt for him was so intense, she thought it must almost be like having a baby of her own. She tried to convince herself of this. Yes, her nephew obviously loved her dearly, but he would never be hers, not properly. The familiar sadness of knowing that nobody would ever call her Mum washed over her.
She set off on her trail, breathing in the early April air and enjoying the feeling of sun on her face. If she closed her eyes maybe, just maybe, she could magic all her angst away; she would wake up and still be pregnant, still have Lewis, her lover, by her side. A Lewis who hadn’t cheated. A Lewis who hadn’t ruined everything between them. The Lewis she had been so in love with.
Boris was in his element off the lead. He knew the paths of the common like the backs of his paws.
Gracie didn’t think she had ever seen so many dogs in one place. A lot of them were with the professional dog walkers, some of whom were walking seven at a time. Some were with joggers, most with yummy mummies bitching about one thing or another, in the knowledge that their little Jemimas and Scarlets had been safely deposited at their respective private schools.
All these people had the dog code down to a T. You didn’t really acknowledge the person, just talked about little Pooks, Rudi or Poppytail, then off you went. Mummy duties set aside, the talk now turned from dirty nappies and school uniforms to poo bags and studded collars.
Gracie chose not to join in. Caught up by a mixture of hurt and hatred, she wasn’t in the mood for conversation and, when her button decided to pop right off her jeans, complete self-loathing, too. When Boris decided to have a poo in the most open part of the path, it was just about the last straw.
‘Oh, you little devil, couldn’t you have done it in the woody part?’ She put a hand through her hair in despair and sat down on a bench which, she noticed had been skilfully carved out of a tree trunk.
‘Well, I’m glad he didn’t. I’m always getting shit on my boots. Have you got any bags?’ The North London accent was evident.
‘Oh God, no, I didn’t think.’ The man in front of her was grinning at her agitation.
‘Here, let me. I always carry a couple. I can’t bear the bloody mess.’ He ripped a bag from a roll and swiftly picked up the offensive-smelling litter.
‘I haven’t seen you here before. I work here, see, get used to everyone who comes through. Same old faces, same old habits, same dirty bitches, oh, and their dogs.’ He smiled broadly.
Gracie noticed a good set of teeth along with cropped brown hair, a slightly outgrown goatee beard which she didn’t mind, even though Lewis had always been clean shaven. She also noticed his smouldering brown eyes and beautifully shaped big lips. She loved big lips on a man. He was in his late twenties, she reckoned.
‘You didn’t have to do that, you know.’ His small act of kindness made Gracie feel like she wanted to cry and just not stop. ‘But thank you. Thank you very much.’
‘I know I didn’t, but I did. By the way, my name’s Ed. I would shake your hand but…’
Gracie smiled, looking at the green bag hanging from his finger.
‘So what do you do here then, Ed?’ She felt she ought to make a bit of an effort as he had just picked up her dog’s shit and he was rather handsome.
‘Ground work on the common. Keep it shipshape, you know. I charge around on my quad bike, trying not to run over any posh birds and get sued.’ Gracie liked his devil-may-care attitude. ‘Well, good to meet you…’ Ed hung waiting for answer.
‘Gracie, my name’s Gracie, and this is Boris.’ Boris was now dragging around a stick wider than the length of his body and growling. ‘And he’s actually my sister’s, hence my amateur attempt at canine shit disposal.’
‘Well, he’s a lucky boy having you at the end of his lead.’ Ruffling Boris’s brown coat, the handsome one winked. ‘Right. I’d better do some work.’
Gracie, not sure what to do with this obvious flirtation, stood up, then swore loudly as her jeans began to slowly slip down her hips. She sat down again abruptly.
‘You OK?’ Ed called back.
‘Not really, but I’ll get over it. Seeing all these runners makes me think I should get fit.’
‘You look fit enough to me.’ He grinned. ‘But if you need a bit of a push there’s a running club that meets here regularly.’ He assumed a posh voice. ‘The SW19 Club,’ he laughed. ‘There should be details on the café noticeboard.’
With that he leapt on his bike and whizzed past her with a smile and a wave.
About the Author:
Nicola May is a bestselling rom-com sensation, with over a million copies sold. The author of eighteen romantic comedies, her books have been translated into fifteen languages and consistently appear in the Kindle bestseller charts. She made a remarkable achievement by reaching number one on Amazon twice as a self-published author and has been a vocal advocate for indie authors, campaigning for their own chart in The Bookseller magazine.
When she’s not writing, Nicola can be found enjoying cream teas in her favourite Devon spots, hiking in nature, or placing a bet at the races.
Contact Nicola:
website
X: @nicolamay1
Instagram: author_nicola
Blog Tour: An Extract from The Lotus House by Ann Bennett
Today as a part of the blog tour, I am sharing an extract from The Lotus House by Ann Bennett. This is a recent release and it is described as a gripping, emotional drama of love and courage set in the Philippines during WW2.
Book Description:
1960: Nancy Drayton, an American nurse living on Lake Sebu, is visited by a stranger who hands her some faded letters, given to her by a dying man. Reading them transports Nancy back to the terror of the war years.
1941: When Nancy’s world is blown apart by the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, she volunteers to travel to the Philippines to serve at the front. She soon finds herself working in a field hospital on the Bataan Peninsula in the thick of the fighting, experiencing the horrors of war first hand.
When tending to some wounded men, she meets Captain Robert Lambert, and they become close. But the Japanese are closing in on Bataan, and when the US surrenders, they are driven apart.
As Robert struggles to survive the horrors of the Bataan Death March and the brutality of captivity in a prison camp, Nancy too finds herself a captive, fighting for her life. Will they survive to find one another again or will the forces of war keep them apart?
If you enjoy compelling historical fiction, you’ll love this sweeping story of love and war. Perfect for fans of Kristen Hannah, Dinah Jeffries and Victoria Hislop.
Buy Your Copy of The Lotus House here.
Note from the author:
These are the opening words from Chapter 20 of The Lotus House. Nancy Drayton, an American nurse has been serving in a field hospital on the Bataan peninsula when the Japanese break through American lines. The nurses are evacuated to Corregidor Island on the tip of the Peninsula.
~~
It took many hot, dusty, uncomfortable hours for the battered old bus with its cargo of nurses to reach the city of Mariveles at the tip of the Bataan Peninsula. The route south that ran along the coast was clogged with Filipino refugees. Queues of them swarming the road made it hard for any vehicle to make progress. Everyone was heading to Mariveles under the relentless sun; on foot, on bicycle, on horseback, on bullock cart, carrying or pushing their babies and children and all their worldly possessions along with them. Amongst them marched ragged US soldiers on their retreat south. They trudged along the dusty road, heads bowed. To Nancy they looked like a beaten army; sick, emaciated and defeated.
Everyone was fleeing the fighting, terrified of the Japanese, trying to get away to some sort of safety while there was still time. But time was running out for them, Nancy thought, staring out of the open bus window at the desperate crowds trudging along. The end would surely come soon, and then what would happen to them?
It reminded her of the journey to Bataan from Manila only a few months before, and the thousands of refugees they’d passed on the way. So much had happened since that day, she reflected. In those short months she’d experienced and seen so much; the horrific wounds inflicted on men during the fighting, the trauma of holding dying men in her arms, seeing so often the ravages that hunger and tropical disease could wreak on healthy men. But she had nursed many more men back to health again, she reminded herself, despite the desperate conditions they’d worked in. She knew she should try to hold onto that thought rather than dwell on the horrors.
The interior of the bus was as hot as an oven, and sweat was trickling down the inside of Nancy’s uniform. Looking around at her fellow nurses, sweating away like her as they bumped and rattled along, fanning themselves furiously with whatever they had to hand, they all looked as exhausted and skinny as she knew she did l. They’d all been through so much together, they felt like family now.
She counted herself luckier than most. In those few short, terrible months, she’d been fortunate enough not to fall prey to any tropical illnesses. And she’d been blessed to get to know and to love Robert. Thinking about him provoked a mixture of emotions in her heart, both pain and delight. Delight at the memory of what they’d shared together, but pain at the knowledge that Robert was probably at that moment fighting for his life, and that if the US surrendered, he would either be shot or taken prisoner. All the time, in the back of Nancy’s mind, was the niggling worry that she might never see him again. She closed her eyes and tried to push it away. The thought was unbearable. But they’d managed to say goodbye, she reminded herself. She was thankful for that at least.
At last, the bus reached the city of Mariveles and rumbled through the outskirts of the town. Here, the road was lined with shabby houses on stilts, built of patched wood or rusting corrugated iron. Soon the houses gave way to warehouses, and finally they were driving through the city centre between rows of shops and office blocks. Even here there were refugees at every turn, sitting on the sidewalk or the steps of buildings, sheltering from the sun under trees or tarpaulins stretched from fences. They had nowhere left to go. They had reached the end of the road. Nancy’s heart went out to those poor, stranded, homeless people as the bus rattled past them. They were innocent civilians, caught up in events completely beyond their control.
When the bus finally reached the port, the whole area was gridlocked with vehicles and yet more crowds of refugees, all trying to get into the docks. From where they sat on the stationary bus, the nurses could see through the crowds to the boats and launches lined up at the wharf. The driver turned around.
‘You want to walk to the boat?’ he asked them, and everyone chorused, ‘Yes!’
He jumped down, went to the back of the bus where the nurses had already begun to crowd around, and handed out their luggage from the trunk. Nancy picked up her suitcase and headed with Dorothy towards the wharf, shouldering their way through the surging crowds. Suddenly, came the boom of an explosion. The sound rocketed through the city and around the surrounding hills. People began to scream and push.
‘What was that?’ Nancy said. ‘The Japanese aren’t this far south already, are they?’
Dorothy shrugged, her eyes wide with fear as she struggled to stay upright, jostled by the panicking crowd. They carried on pushing their way through to the boats. It was hard to maintain a steady course, but eventually they reached the wharf where launches, fishing boats and small ships were docked.
An old Filipino stepped forward, his skin leathery from the sun. ‘You nurses from Hospital Number 1?’ he asked. ‘I am here to take you to Corregidor Island. Get into the boat. Luggage in the bottom. Hand it to me.’
About the Author:
Ann Bennett is a British author of historical fiction. Her first book, Bamboo Heart: A Daughter’s Quest, was inspired by researching her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway and by her own travels in South-East Asia. Since then, that initial inspiration has led her to write more books about the second world war in SE Asia. Bamboo Island: The Planter’s Wife, A Daughter’s Promise, Bamboo Road: The Homecoming, The Tea Planter’s Club, The Amulet and her latest release The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu are also about WWII in South East Asia. All seven make up the Echoes of Empire Collection.
Ann is also the author of The Lake Pavilion, The Lake Palace, both set in British India during the 1930s and WWII, and The Lake Pagoda and The Lake Villa, both set in French Indochina. The Runaway Sisters, bestselling The Orphan House, The Child Without a Home and The Forgotten Children are set in Europe during the same era and are published by Bookouture.
Ann is married with three grown up sons and a granddaughter and lives in Surrey, UK. For more details please visit www.annbennettauthor.com
Contact Ann:
Website
X @annbennett71
Instagram @annbennettauthor
Here are all the stops on the blog tour:
Blog Tour: Casa Paradiso by Francesca Scanacapra
Today as the start of the blog tour, I am sharing an extract from Casa Paradiso: 300 Years in the Life of a House.Casa Paradiso is a recent release and the fourth book in the Paradiso Novels.
Book Description:
Lombardy, Northern Italy, 1637
Cristó Lovetta, a skilled stonemason, arrives in the rural village of Pieve Santa Clara to work on a nobleman’s house.
Haunted by a tragic past, Cristó wonders if he will ever find happiness again. However, as he immerses himself in his work, the warmth of the community and the beauty of the landscape convince him to begin a new life there.
Cristó designs and builds his own house, which he names Casa Paradiso. Over the centuries, Casa Paradiso becomes home to many generations, standing testament to lives beginning and ending, and witnessing the everyday challenges and triumphs of its inhabitants – from love lost and found, to the tragedies of war, the far-reaching consequences of political decisions made by powerful men and the evolving role of women in Italian society.
Casa Paradiso – the fourth installment of the Paradiso Novels – is a shining, evocative saga spanning three hundred years in the life of a very special house, and a book that explores the enduring strength of the human spirit, contrasted with the transient nature of life itself.
Buy your copy of Casa Paradiso here.
Note from the author: This extract begins in 1739, a century after Paradiso was built. One of the subsequent generations has produced twin boys, Ugo and Moreno, whose differences are striking and causes violent problems between them.
1739
UGO LOVETTA
The Lovetta boys, Ugo and Moreno, were fraternal twins, and although not dissimilar in appearance, they were like day and night in temperament. From the moment he had torn his way bawling into the world, it was clear that Ugo was the more forceful character. He did all he could to assert his dominance and to torment his brother with pokes and pinches, shoves and slaps. This caused not only Moreno, but also their parents, significant anguish.
‘What am I to do with that boy?’ Ma Lovetta would despair. She couldn’t leave the twins alone for a minute or set them down to sleep in the same bed. The moment her back was turned, Ugo would start on Moreno, who despite his placid nature would not take his brother’s attacks without defending himself.
Dealing with Ugo’s aggressive tendencies became evermore difficult as the boys grew. Scuffles and tussles escalated to fights involving sticks and stones and all manner of improvised weapons. When he wasn’t physically attacking his brother, Ugo delighted in trying to get Moreno into trouble for things he himself had done. He was never believed, and this led to more problems. Ugo would protest his innocence, say it wasn’t fair and rile that his parents showed blatant favouritism towards his twin brother.
Many said that Pa Lovetta was too soft and what Ugo needed was a good walloping to bring him into line. Pa Lovetta was a big, gentle man who did not believe in raising his mighty hand to anybody, let alone to his own children. He was driven to do so only twice when the circumstances had been life-threatening. The first time, when the boys had been eight years old and he had caught Ugo chasing Moreno with a pitchfork and clearly intending to cause him permanent damage with it. The second time, for throwing a brick through the kitchen window. Pa Lovetta struck his son not for smashing the glass, but more precisely because at the time Ugo lobbed the brick, he had been aiming it at Moreno’s head. Ugo took the spankings whilst laughing at his father and showed no remorse. He resolutely refused to apologise to his brother.
The incidents with the pitchfork and the brick were not the last of the brothers’ altercations. However, when Moreno began to grow bigger than Ugo, and by the age of eleven had overtaken him by over three inches in height and several pounds in weight, Ugo’s enthusiasm for picking fights with his brother decreased. He turned his attentions to other forms of baiting instead, such as mocking his twin with smart-mouth jibes and jeers and name-calling. Moreno could give as good as he got, and often he did, although most of the time it was easier to ignore the insults and get on with his own things. Unlike Ugo, Moreno was always willing to assist his mother around the house and garden and loved nothing more than going out for the day to help his father in the fields.
Bored with goading his goody-goody twin brother, Ugo sought other amusements, and there was entertainment a-plenty to be had with his best friend, Aldo. As far as Ugo was concerned, Aldo was the brother he should have had – a partner in crime who shared his tearaway spirit. What a tight little gang they became! They were both boisterous in nature and keen to throw their weight around. Many of the boys in the village were scared of them. Picking on those who were smaller and weaker provided Ugo and Aldo endless thrills. They also developed a taste for practical jokes, such as letting livestock out of their enclosures, scrumping and setting things alight. Whenever the priest, or the mayor, or some angry villager turned up at Casa Paradiso with a face like thunder, Pa Lovetta would greet them with the same weary words – ‘What’s Ugo done now?’
By the time the twins turned thirteen, it was clear to the Lovetta parents that if something was not done to regulate Ugo’s behaviour, he would end up either in prison, or dead – and sooner rather than later. He was old enough, and certainly big enough, to go to work, but with his unruly reputation, finding someone willing to employ him was easier said than done. None of the farms would have him, and as he had expressed a visceral contempt for working the land, even if one of the local farmers had been desperate enough, or foolish enough, to give him a chance, Ugo wouldn’t have gone anyway. Trying to force him was more trouble than it was worth. The blacksmith and the wheelwright refused to consider Ugo, both stating that they did not trust him around their fires. Similarly, various carpenters, masons and roofers expressed concern about giving Ugo access to sharp or heavy tools. Ugo was a liability, they all said, and most of them added that if Moreno wanted a job, they’d be happy to employ him instead. Eventually, after much asking, begging and prayer, Pa Lovetta managed to secure an apprenticeship for Ugo at the local sawmill as a general labourer. The sawmill boss had the reputation of being a tough, no-nonsense fellow. Pa Lovetta hoped that he would be a positive influence on his errant son, and that he would teach him the things which he had failed to, such as respect, compliance and a good work ethic.
About the Author:
Francesca Scanacapra was born in Italy to an English mother and Italian father, and her childhood was spent living between England and Italy. Her adult life has been somewhat nomadic with periods spent living in Italy, England, France, Senegal and Spain. She describes herself as ‘unconventional’ and has pursued an eclectic mixture of career paths – from working in translation, the fitness industry, education and even several years as a builder. In 2021 she returned to her native country and back to her earliest roots to pursue her writing career full time. Francesca now resides permanently in rural Lombardy in the house built by her great-grandfather which was the inspiration for her Paradiso Novels: Paradiso, Return to Paradiso, The Daughter of Paradiso and Casa Paradiso. Her novel The Lost Boy of Bologna was also published by Silvertail Books.
Contact Francesca:
Twitter/ X @francescascana2
Instagram @francescascana2
Here is the blog tour:
