A Garden in Cornwall by Laura Briggs - Book Blitz + Giveaway
A Garden in Cornwall (A Wedding in Cornwall Book 12)
With their lives exactly what they've always dreamed, Matt and Julianne await the arrival of the third member of their family — but their happiness is threatened when their landlady Mathilda announces her intention to sell their beloved Rosemoor Cottage for an impossible value. Devastated, Julianne struggles to accept the cold reality of her and Matt making their home elsewhere.
Matt's life has taken a new turn as he finally puts aside his academic work to pursue his gardening hobby as a career: his first new job as a landscape designer involves neglected Penwill Hall's 'lost' garden — one with a truly romantic Cornish past. But the task of restoring its legendary beauty from nearly seventy years ago proves difficult among the ruins lost in weeds and wilderness.
With notions of secret gardens and wartime stories echoing in her thoughts, Julianne is determined to help Matt and the estate’s new owner after the discovery of a hidden mural in the hall itself, depicting a breathtaking garden that may well be the lost one. Her efforts to uncover the past lead her to a curmudgeonly local gardener who just may hold the knowledge that would restore the 'lost garden' to its former glory. Will Julianne's quest help her find a way to deal with losing the home she loves?
Hellos and farewells abound as Dinah returns to lend a helping hand at Cliffs House and Julianne relives her favourite memories of her and Matt's beloved cottage in Book Twelve — the final instalment in the bestselling series A WEDDING IN CORNWALL.
Purchase Link - http://smarturl.it/agardenincornwall
A
Garden in Cornwall Excerpt for Jazzy Book Reviews:
Thanks so much to Jasmine for
inviting me to share about my book with her readers! It’s called A Garden in Cornwall and is actually the
final book in a series of twelve novellas. This scene finds the heroine, an
event planner named Julianne, sharing a tender moment with her husband Matt, as
they talk about their respective passions in life:
I
took his notebook from his hands and turned its pages, looking at all the
sketches and designs he had made. Some were older than this project, belonging
to the work he had done for the garden in Falmouth, and the sculpture garden in
Penzance. Some existed only in his
imagination, designs that might someday belong in a real-life garden from
Matt's consulting career. If I were lucky, I would get to watch him turn the
earth in those places, and carefully disentangle the roots of potted plants
destined to grow there.
"What
are you searching for?" he asked, sounding curious. My thoughts turned
back to reality.
"Nothing.
Just admiring your work," I said. "I was wondering how the sculpture
at Tremenheere looks now."
Matt had helped an artist create a living sculpture in the garden, one that
would change with the seasons. I had seen its winter version of thin evergreen
and dried grasses; now I was imagining it in springtime, when the vines would
begin to bud and the first leaves were unfurling.
"We
should go see it," said Matt.
"It was unique among the places you've
worked," I said. "I'll bet you can't choose a favorite."
"Could
you?" he said. "Choose a favorite from your own work, I mean?"
I
bit my lip as I thought about it. "Constance's wedding," I said.
"It wasn't mine, really, in a way ... but helping Lady Amanda find a way
to make her happy felt like a privilege, not a job."
"And
the runner-up?"
"I
should say the Grand Baking Extravaganza's contest. That was such a
perfect summer, and so many good things came from it for people we care about.
But — honestly? I would say it was my first event. Petal and Donald's
wedding."
I
could see a hint of perplexity in those dark coffee eyes. "Because it was
your first opportunity as an event planner?" he asked.
"No,"
I said. "Kind of maybe." I amended it, for honesty's sake. "But
mostly because it was the beginning of everything else that happened. It was
magic for me, coming to this place; and it was because of you that it came to
mean so much more to me."
I
laid his book on his lap again. "You've worked too hard this past year to
really enjoy the part of your work that you love best. I'm glad that you're not
in the classroom or the lecture hall now. This —" I patted the notebook,
"—is where you belong. I'm glad you can finally do it as long as you
want."
Matt
gazed around us, at the garden stirring only with three other human beings, and
a faint breeze which rustled through the old stalks and dried plumes of the
ornamental grass. "I used to imagine this as my life, years ago," he
said, softly. "Teaching was my passion in Boston, of course. But
consulting for the rose garden, even on a mostly academic level — it reminded
me of the days when I tended gardens to earn my wages before university. There
was a level of passion and contentment in those roots ... it gives the science
its 'romance,' as you would call it. Its purpose, really."
So
that was why he became a gardener again after his first taste of heartache. Matt hadn't been simply returning to his
roots in his childhood village, but returning to the roots of his first passion
as well.
"Sometimes
I can't help but be curious to see the places in this book again, after time
has passed," he mused. "In a garden, no matter how changeless it
seems at first glance, it's never really the same as the last time you saw it.
Nothing alive is ever the same from moment to moment."
"Seeds
springing from the ground, flower buds opening," I said. "All the
things you watch under a microscope, only without being reduced to their
cellular structure by a lens." I slid my hand along his arm, squeezing his
shoulder when I reached it at the end of my caress. "Don't think I haven't
caught you lingering over the cellular divide of a botanical microorganism.
Probably imagining all those little pieces forming the whole package."
Matt
laughed heartily. "Are you jealous?" he asked, sounding amused.
"No,
of course not," I said, dismissively. "I'm only jealous of the
hothouse roses. I think they've seen a side of you that I haven't."
Author Bio – Laura Briggs is the author of several lighthearted romance novels and novellas, including the bestselling Amazon UK series A Wedding in Cornwall. She has a fondness for vintage-style dresses (especially ones with polka dots), and reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with family, caring for her pets, going to movies and plays, and trying new restaurants.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurabriggs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaperDollWrites
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