Seasons greetings and literary tidings to all our Ndulgent Blog readers. It's the most wonderful time of the year.....to celebrate with family, friends and fellow book lovers galore! We have enjoyed another year of fabulous reads and hope you will all join us for our 5th (holy smokes!) annual Happy Hunky-days! Twelve fun filled days of Christmas where we treat you with gifts of joy and happiness (aka free books and very yummy eye candy!). All good readers who jump over to our Hunky Days Page will get a chance to win some really great e-books from our featured authors! Seriously, you can even be quite naughty and still get free books - just remember to enter to win!
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There are TWO different contests in this post. CLICK HERE to enter the 12 Hunky Days Contest, and scroll down to enter to win a $15 gift card and ebooks from RJ Scott!!
What happens when a broken man has to trust in the impossible?
Chapter One is an antique book shop and is the last tangible thing Joshua Blakeman and his mom have left of his father. Nestled in a quiet square a few steps from London's St Paul’s Cathedral, it is boarded up with whitewashed windows and no new stock. The place is a sad reminder of loss and it has to go, but destroying a business that has been in his family for generations is not a role Josh is looking forward to.
Michael is the owner of Arts Desire, the shop next door. With his rainbow pride mugs and his sunny outlook, he is the complete opposite of what Josh thinks he needs in his life.
But, when Josh and Michael become friends, Josh learns that finding true love starts with making big decisions—and that everyone deserves their own Christmas miracle sometimes.
Review:
I love this time of year and all of the holiday books that come out. They really help me get into the Holiday spirit. This was my first read this season and I could not have picked a better place to start. Scott fills her books with so much romance and family and hopefulness you can't help but finish with a deep sigh and a smile.
Josh has not had an easy year. If losing his father wasn't hard enough he also lost his job, his home and found out the man he loved had betrayed him. Now living with his mother and trying to come back from a mental breakdown Josh is at a crossroads with his life. The next decisions he makes could take him down some very different paths.
Michael owns the shop next door to Chapter One, the shop that has been in Josh's family for generations. When the two meet they both know there is something special between them. But Michael has secrets and Josh has had enough of them in his life. Trust the handsome stranger who in a short time has come to mean the world, or learn from your past and walk away?
This is a great read that will make you believe in Forever. The author takes the time to build the relationship and it's that trust that is earned over time that leads to the choices both men must make. This book will definitely be added to my Holiday Keeper list!
Excerpt from Chapter Two
I look up at the noise and try to make some sense of it. The door is half-hidden behind a cabinet displaying hand-carved knights and queens and open chessboards inlaid with gold leaf. The scratching…no, more a sighing…is a familiar sound once I settle into hearing it properly.
He’s here.
I straighten from my position hunched over a small watercolour I’m attempting to restore. I recall when this image was painted. One of my charges was a talented young lady whose skill for capturing beauty was lost when she gave everything up to become a wife.
Things have moved on, changed to where I don’t recognise the London of today. Still, I know what the sigh means.
* * * * *
Josh reread the list and mentally checked off each thing in his head with an accompanying tap of his pencil. “Inventory” was first on the list. Beneath that single word he wrote “Expert?”. Who knew how much all this stuff was worth? There were books in here that he was sure would be happy in a bargain bin at a supermarket, others that looked valuable. He’d need to get someone in who knew antique books just in case there was enough money in the place to give Mum a settled retirement.
The door opened and he glanced up, blinking into the light spilling in from outside.
“We’re not open,” he said, attempting to focus on whoever had moved into the space. Some tourist seeing lights and thinking that the Closed sign actually meant “come on in and browse”.
“Hi,” a voice said. The owner of the voice stepped forward into the gloom of the interior, pulling the door shut behind him, tripping over the still heaped-up post, and righting himself with a wry look at the pile.
Josh noticed two things as he blurted an apology for the mess on the floor. The man was big, tall and broad, and he had a takeaway coffee in each hand. Josh hoped to hell one of those was for him.
Then he caught himself wishing for things that weren’t going to happen and stopped with a shake of his head.
“I’m sorry, but we’re closed,” he repeated.
The man moved closer and held out a coffee. “I know. I’m Michael. I have the shop next door, saw you go in, thought you’d like coffee.”
As he drew closer Josh had a proper look at the man who proclaimed himself neighbour. Tall—well, Josh had that much from the way he’d filled the doorway. Michael’s hair was near ebony black and would have looked stupid on someone as pale as Josh. On this man, with his warmer skin tones and dark eyes, it looked just this side of dangerous to Josh’s libido. Josh stood immediately, took the cup with his left hand, and extended his right.
“Josh Blakeman,” he introduced himself.
Michael shook Josh’s hand warmly. “I was so sorry to hear about your loss,” he said. The familiar words meant nothing. Josh had heard them a million times, repeated by everyone from his work colleagues to the barman at the King’s Head. Everyone felt it was what needed to be said. Josh had yet to work out, even after eleven months, exactly what to say in return. Instead he sat back down on the stool and took off the lid of the coffee cup.
“You knew my dad?” Josh asked. He expected the usual pleasantries, but there were none from this man who filled the empty shop with his quiet presence. Josh coughed to cover the odd silence, suddenly worried as to why this man was still standing here with his face carefully blank of emotion. What did he want? He had cheekbones to die for, and…wait…hello dimples.
A spur of want poked insistently at Josh’s subconscious. It had been a long time since he had felt anything for another man. He’d found out his ex had been screwing him over way before Josh had ended up in the hospital, and that had been a few months back now.
Michael didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with the silence. He pulled out a selection of sugar packets and a stirrer from a pocket. “Just in case,” he said as he placed everything on the already muddled desk. “I gave you coffee, but this one is tea if you’d prefer that.”
“No, coffee is fine.” Coffee was way past fine. The first sip was heaven even as it scalded the roof of his mouth. He savoured the taste of the second sip as he rolled the liquid on his tongue to cool it. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Michael went silent again and seemed intent on checking the shop space out as thoroughly as Josh had done just now. He didn’t touch anything, nor did he move, but his gaze fell on the floor and the tall bookshelves and the door separating this shop from what Josh presumed was his. He looked serious, thoughtful, and there was sadness there too.
“So, you knew my dad?” Josh asked again.
This time Michael shook his head, his attention pulled back to Josh at the question. “Not really, though I took the shop next door a little while ago,” he admitted. “But who knows anyone in London, with everyone always so busy rushing this way and that?” The dusty lightbulb cast a luminous shimmer about the stranger, and the way he stared at Josh was a little disconcerting, intense and thoughtful.
Josh didn’t have time to think on the odd use of the words or the way they were spoken in such a formal manner. He was just about to comment that he didn’t remember his dad rushing anywhere when Michael turned on his heel and left the shop with a wave and a goodbye. The silence after he’d gone made Josh struggle to believe that anyone had actually been in the shop with him. Only the rising scent of his caffeine fix told him that he hadn’t dreamed the whole thing.
Author Bio
RJ Scott has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies. She was told to write a story and two sides of paper about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born.
As an avid reader herself, she can be found reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror. However, her first real true love will always be the world of romance where she takes cowboys, bodyguards, firemen and billionaires (to name a few) and writes dramatic and romantic stories of love and passion between these men.
With over sixty titles to her name and counting, she is the author of the award winning book, The Christmas Throwaway. She is also known for the Texas series charting the lives of Riley and Jack, and the Sanctuary series following the work of the Sanctuary Foundation and the people it protects.
Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.
Competition
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Thanks for the post and excerpt to RJ's new book.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this so much, since I love angels AND bookstore boys!
ReplyDelete--Trix
Josh has the coffee.
ReplyDeleteJosh takes the coffee. Thanks for the giveaway...I can't wait to read the book!
ReplyDeleteJosh is offered coffee or tea. Josh takes the coffee.
ReplyDelete