1
SARAH
‘It’s too big!’ I winced.
‘I’m sure you can make it fit!’
My best friend Jess laughed down the phone as I tried to squeeze my huge suitcase into the taxi whilst balancing my mobile between my neck and shoulder.
‘Get your mind out of the gutter, young lady!’ I said.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Jess replied in a mock-angelic voice. ‘You should definitely use that line when you write the spicy scenes in your book, though. Romance readers will love it!’
‘If only! I haven’t even managed to write a decent meet-cute yet, let alone a sex scene.’ I sighed.
‘I thought you wrote a few thousand words last week?’
‘Yep. And it was all crap, so I deleted it.’
‘Sarah!’ Jess scolded. ‘I’m no author, but you should’ve kept it, just in case. I bet what you wrote was much better than you think.’
‘Trust me, it was shit. I wrote a meet-cute in a café where the sexy hero spilt his coffee down the heroine’s blouse and it burned her so badly that he had to take her to hospital.’
‘That’s good, though, right? It shows the hero taking care of her.’
‘Yeah, but the burn ended up scarring her for life. Hardly romantic,’ I huffed, frustrated by my lack of writing progress and the fact that the taxi driver could see I was struggling to fit my suitcase in his cluttered boot but hadn’t offered to help.
‘Oh… well, you always said you wanted to write an enemies-to-lovers romance, so at least a coffee burn would be a valid reason for hating him!’
That was what I loved about Jess. Although it was obvious that my idea was rubbish, she still tried to encourage me and focus on the positives.
‘Or maybe edit it a bit so shedoesn’tget scarred?’ Jess suggested.
‘I tried changing it to the hero offering her his shirt because she had an important meeting. So he invited her to his office to do a clothes swap, and I was about to write that they started shagging on his desk, but then I stopped.’
‘Oh… okay!’ Jess paused. ‘That’s very insta-love. Some readers like that. Why did you stop writing that scene?’
‘Because if they banged in the first two per cent of the book, what the hell would I write for the other ninety-eight per cent?’
‘Good point.’
‘I just don’t think I’m cut out for this writing stuff.’ I blew out a breath as I finally managed to close the boot before sliding onto the back seat.
‘Of course you are!’ Jess insisted. ‘You just need the right inspiration, that’s all. The change of scenery will do you good. You’ll see.’
‘I hope so,’ I said, tying up my smooth shoulder-length black bob and wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. I’d barely started my journey and I was already sweating like a pig. ‘I’m definitely not getting any inspiration from here.’
‘Forget about that. From today you’ll have a fresh start. New town, new job andmaybeeven a new man…’ Jess teased.
‘Maybe!’ I said, excitement fizzing in my stomach.
I wasfinallyleaving the tiny town in the Midlands where I’d lived my whole life to go and work with Jess, who ran a romance library in a gorgeous seaside town called Sunshine Bay in South East England.
I’d been running the library’s social media since before it opened around eight months ago. Now they had the money to expand, Jess had hired me to work full-time.
Talk about a dream job. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get paid to sniff and read books all day.
Okay, technically that wasn’t in my job description. I’d be employed as a full-time social media and online marketing manager. But I’d also need to help out in the library and the bookstore, so I was sure there’d still be plenty of time for book sniffing and reading.
