LIZ FIELDING

A NEW AUTHOR...

I'm part of the Carmarthen Chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association here in the UK. I occasionally meet with other members for coffee and once in a while we all get together and have lunch to talk books, writing and quality puddings.

It's also a treat to celebrate a new publication by a friend and I'm delighted to present the first full length book, SUDDENLY YOU KNOW, by one of our members, Toni Sands.

Ambitious and independent thirtysomething Tanith has turned down not one, but two eligible men. As she starts work in a UK health store after a sizzling summer job in Majorca, she's determined to remain immune to both the icy charms of exec Adam and sexy, spiky-haired musician Rupe.

But avoiding romantic mayhem without resorting to comfort eating is a challenge, especially when confronted with Parents Behaving Badly, a flat-mate who falls for a love rat and a scheming colleague. With the odds against her, can Tanith find the strength to unravel the chaos, overcome her hang-ups and discover that love and passion are indeed within her reach?

Here's an extract, to whet your appetite...

Palma Airport concourse buzzed. Hellos and goodbyes, laughter and the whimper of a twitchy toddler hung in the recycled air while scents from the duty-free flirted with the coffee whiff. But flickering monitors and bilingual announcements faded as Tanith Russell felt Carlos’ arms envelope her like a smooth chocolate couverture.

“Adios, mi amor. I shall miss you so much.”

Crushed against his muscular chest, she asked herself for the millionth time if she were totally sane. Abandoning a Majorcan lover who roused her nerve endings to red alert with one touch of his lips had to be madness, didn’t it? Especially as he’d begun referring to her as his ‘significant other.’ And leaving the lush surroundings of the tennis resort where she’d worked a six month coaching contract was worse than the prospect of a wet Wimbledon fortnight.

This the woman who hated the business of flying; always putting her passport in the wrong pocket, always forgetting to fasten her seatbelt and always desperately needing a wee just as the cabin crew were performing synchronised safety procedures. So, why was she about to shut herself inside an airborne sardine tin for the second time this year?

For heaven’s sake - my decision’s made and I know it’s for the best. It’s time I stopped playing at life and went home to get on with it. My parents and my best friend need me much more than Carlos does.

“Adios, Carlos. Mmm.” Tanith hated goodbyes. “Thanks again for collecting George Clooney.”

“No problem. I hope he bring your friend happiness.” He pronounced the last word as ‘a penis,’ triggering Tanith’s gleeful snort; hastily disguised as a cough. The full-size cardboard publicity figure of the A-list heart-throb would no doubt ramp up her best friend’s pulse, but Tanith was beginning to regret her prank; especially when she contemplated toting Gorgeous George from the Heathrow baggage carousel to the Reading coach stop.

With a display of reluctance that would have won him a place at RADA, Carlos surrendered Tanith to the queue for Security, stretching out his arms in a Brief Encounter moment. She could almost hear plaintive piano chords as the human crocodile inched her towards the barrier. But, one last glance over her shoulder revealed Carlos running his fingers through his lustrous locks with one hand while the other punched a number into his phone. Clearly he was sizing up the straggle of pasty-limbed tourists filtering from the arrivals hall, seeking fun and romance in the October sunshine before succumbing to the dank embrace of the UK autumn.

Tanith applied for the coaching job at the Steve Dennis Tennis Resort purely on a whim after she disengaged herself from fiancé Will. They’d dated for two years before he asked her to move permanently into his king size bed, clinching the deal with lunch in a restaurant adjoining a chic jewellery store.

“What took you so long?” This comment from best friend Becky after Tanith de-activated the ticking time bomb of wedding plans.

“Was it so obvious?”

“Only to me,” said Becky. “But even I never suspected you possessed such self-flagellating tendencies.”

Disenchanted with her teaching job and conscious of colleagues eyeing her bare ring finger, Tanith worked the rest of the term. Temporarily back at her parents’ and sharing her bed with Douglas, her single male teddy-bear, she’d begun researching coaching jobs abroad.

**

For more information on Suddenly You Know, check out Toni's website here or you can find it online here --



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