My Friday Reads this week, is my new feelgood romance novel, The Spanish Wedding Disaster, which was published on 16th June by Headline. Isn’t the cover gorgeous? And look, the wonderful Sunday Times bestselling author, Sue Moorcroft gave me an amazing quote for the cover!
Here’s the blurb
Some people are romantics. Some aren’t. When Sophie and Maddie are summoned to a mysterious, top-secret meeting by their best friend Kate’s partner, and told that he’s planning to whisk Kate away for a surprise wedding in Gibraltar, it’s immediately clear that bubbly florist Sophie is a total romantic. And that freewheeling, purple-haired Maddie is not.
Soon, Maddie finds herself reluctantly organising venues, planners and ceremonies; trying not to think of her own memories of Andalucía, and those she’s lost touch with there. Meanwhile Sophie’s hoping this dreamy gesture might spur on her own boyfriend to similar plans . . . and absolutely not thinking at all about Kate’s gorgeous brother-in-law-to-be.
But Kate’s got no idea what’s going on. And as the stress piles up and the group jet off to the sunny south, it seems it’s not just Kate who might get a surprise in Spain – one that could change everything . . .
Buy Link: http://smarturl.it/thespanishwedding
And here’s a short extract:
(Steve, the partner of Sophie and Maddie’s best friend Kate has asked them to meet him, and to not tell Kate as he’s planning a surprise for her. When they arrived, Josh told them he was waiting for someone to join them.)
‘Ah, here he is!’ Steve stood up to wave as a tall, muscular man, with an unruly mop of wavy raven-black hair atop a disarmingly handsome face strode over to them. He was dressed in well-worn jeans tucked into black motorbike boots, and a zipped-up black leather jacket. A black helmet was tucked under his arm.
‘Wow! I like,’ Maddie whispered to Sophie.
He was a head-turner, Sophie had to admit; the few days’ stubble on his chin only added to his sex appeal. Not that she was interested. She much preferred sensitive men like Glenn to macho biker types.
The man placed his hand on Steve’s shoulder. ‘Sorry I’m late.’
They both smiled at each other. There was a familiarity between the two of them, as if they were really close, Sophie thought, but no obvious resemblance so Steve’s next words surprised her.
‘This is my kid brother Josh.’
She would never have taken them for brothers. Mind, now she was looking more closely at them, Sophie could see a slight similarity with their eyes – although Josh’s were a deeper blue. They were actually quite a stunning indigo.
‘Josh, this is Sophie and Maddie, Kate’s two best friends.’
‘Pleased to meet you both.’ Josh nodded. ‘And can I clarify that I’m only two years younger,’ he added, his eyes meeting Sophie’s for a moment, then moving onto Maddie who blew him a kiss. He grinned and winked at her.
Okay, so it looked like the attraction might be mutual there, thought Sophie. Not that many men could resist Maddie; she was vibrant, outrageous, and fun. She left a string of broken hearts in her wake, even though she was always sure to stress at the beginning of every relationship that she was a ‘no commitment’ woman. Men seemed to see that as a challenge. Josh looked a bit of a player too, though; he was a little too self-assured, a little too aware of his sex appeal. They’d probably be a good match for each other.
The waiter returned with the two Americanos. Josh waited until he’d put the cups on the table and had gone off to serve someone else before asking, ‘So, why have we all been summonsed here? It’s a bit dramatic, isn’t it? Surely you could have just phoned us?’ He took a swig of his coffee. ‘Pleasant as it is to meet you two ladies, of course.’
‘It’s too important to put in a text. What if Kate looked at my messages? We don’t keep secrets from each other,’ Steve replied.
‘What do you call this, then?’ Maddie shot at him.
He paused, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and steepling his fingers. ‘You know we’re going on holiday to Spain in June?’
‘Yup, Kate told us last time we met,’ Maddie said. ‘Lucky you two!’
Steve took a deep breath and swept his eyes around the table to make sure he had everyone’s attention. ‘Well, we’re going to get married when we’re over there. The hotel organises weddings.’
‘What? Kate hasn’t mentioned it. I didn’t even know you guys were engaged! How exciting!’ The words tumbled out of Sophie’s mouth; she was astonished but so happy for her friend. She loved a wedding!
‘That’s because she doesn’t know. I’m planning a surprise wedding. I’m going to propose to Kate the night before.’
Sophie, Maddie and Josh all stared back at him and a stunned silence settled over the table.
Will Steve’s secret wedding plans end up a disaster? Will Kate say yes or run for the hills?
Grab a copy here and find out: http://smarturl.it/thespanishwedding
Available as an ebook, paperback or audio book.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for organising the blog tour for THE SPANISH WEDDING DISASTER and to the following bloggers for taking part.
The Spanish Wedding Disaster is set in Andalucia, Spain, where I now live and in Gibraltar. In this interview on fellow Headline author, Lynne Shelby’s blog I relate how the story features places I have personally visited and some of my own experiences there:
https://www.lynneshelby.com/post/the-spanish-wedding-disaster-karen-king-armchair-travel-2-andalucia