A Wedding in Cornwall by Laura Briggs - Book Blitz + Giveaway
A Wedding in Cornwall
It’s the career move of a lifetime, and Julianne can’t believe it’s hers: a position as an event planner at a country house in Cornwall, England, beginning with the wedding of a celebrity! If her old firm's senior planner back in the States hadn't fallen suddenly sick with the chicken pox, Julianne would never have found herself chosen for a life in one of England's most beautiful coastal counties, surrounded by rugged shores, quaint cottages, elegant gardens and a house to die for.
But life in Cornwall isn't exactly as Julianne imagined it. Her first bride-to-be is a resentful, petted snob, the groom is immature and bored, and the Cornish staff of Cliffs House has a difficult time believing that an event planner from a mid-level position can handle a wedding this big. And then there's a personal matter -- the handsome, sometimes charming, sometimes standoffish gardener Matthew Rose. He and Julianne have a strangely complicated relationship somewhere between friendship and attraction. But with a secret in his past, and a scheming bridesmaid plotting to have Matthew all to herself, will Julianne find a way to untangle her feelings and the problems of planning a perfect Cornish wedding?
Purchase Link: https://smarturl.it/aweddingincornwall
Excerpt
Excerpt
Thanks so much to Jasmine for
letting me share an extract of my feel-good romance with her lovely readers! Now
celebrating its 3rd book birthday, A
Wedding in Cornwall has been a Top 100 Amazon UK seller and has several
sequel books about the American event planner Julianne and her work at a
beautiful Cornish manor house. In the scene below, Julianne learns more about
the estate’s mysterious and handsome gardener with the help of the maids Pippa
and Gemma, and the manor’s no-nonsense chef Dinah.
When the lilies arrived the day before their scheduled
arrangement, something else arrived with them, in a white florist's box unlike
the lilies' basket. Pippa read the note taped to the top, then handed it to me.
"For you," she announced. "Looks like
you've got an admirer already."
"Who?" I asked, with total shock. I opened
the box and found a sheet of pale green tissue paper folded around blossoms —
roses in a shade of deep, violet-pink.
"Oh, they're gorgeous," said Gemma.
"Who're they from?"
I pulled out a card tucked near the blossoms. I
apologize for being rude to you. You were correct before — no visitor to
Cornwall deserves a welcome less than warm. With my sincere wishes for your
success here, Matthew Rose.
I read the words aloud despite the faint blush on my
cheeks for the episode in my memory. A little gasp of shock came from Gemma.
"Ross sent you flowers?"
"Heavens, did he really?" Even Dinah was
listening now, even though she was busy poring over a recipe for petits fours,
a row of spices lined up before her like soldiers.
"What — here four days and you've hooked him
already?" said Pippa, with amazement. "Ross never pays any attention
to anyone — how on earth did you manage it?"
"Hold on," I said. "Who is 'Ross'? The
card says it's from someone named Matthew Rose."
Gemma's jaw dropped. "What, you don't see the
resemblance?" she asked. "Everybody sees it when they look at
him."
"Sees what?"
"You know, the television programme. Poldark? Ross,
the main character?"
"I've never seen it," I answered.
"Never? Not even once?"
"I don't watch PBS?" I said, meekly. Both of
the girls exchanged glances once more —
this time, of pity for my ignorance.
"Does he really look like this — Ross guy, I take
it?"
"Dead ringer," said Pippa. "Why do you
think all the women about go a bit soft in the knees whenever he comes
by?"
He was handsome. No denying that. And in a way that
Donald Price-Parker was not, which was precisely the reason I had found myself
staring at him a few days ago in the railway station.
"Why was he apologizing to you?" Gemma
asked.
"Oh, that." My blush was back, for reasons
besides Matthew Rose — or the mysterious Ross's — good looks. "I, um, sort
of ... stepped on his plants the other day."
From her place by the stove, Dinah let out a peal of
laughter. "Dear me, I would have loved to have seen that," she said.
"Why?" I asked. "He was completely rude
about it. And it wasn't intentional, what I did. Obviously."
"Ross is that way. Part of his charming
manners." Pippa flashed me a grin.
"He's not rude," retorted Gemma. "He's
nice. Funny and smart, if you know him well enough, I've heard. Trouble is,
he's hard to get to know. He's a slave to the dirt, he likes to say, and that's
no lie. Hardly ever goes out from that cottage he rents, except to the village
to buy groceries."
"Leave him alone," scolded Dinah. "He's
a grown man. He knows well enough what he's doing. At least he's not acting
silly with his head in the clouds, or mooning about over some personal troubles
the way so many others do." A look in her eyes made me curious to know
exactly what she meant by this, but I hated to ask.
The grounds were proof of Matthew Rose's devotion to
his work, anyway. I had seen both perfection and wild beauty in the tumbling
foxglove and periwinkle, and carefully-tended roses, and marveled at whoever
produced it. "Looks like his hermitage has paid off for Cliffs
House," I remarked.
Maybe this was the sort of fantasy they were writing
about in those gothic novels. A mysterious, brooding, dark-eyed gardener in the
wilds of Cornwall, tending beauty while living in a tumbledown, ivy-covered
cottage —
"I guess I owe Mr. Rose an apology, too," I
said. "Maybe I missed the sign he mentioned. And it was my fault his plant
got a little crushed. I just thought he could have been nicer about it."
"Sent you flowers, didn't he?" said Dinah.
She gave me a look that made me feel self-conscious again — this time for the
impossibility of myself paired with this mystery man of a gardener whom half
the village was tracing.
Author Bio –
Laura Briggs is the author of several feel-good romance reads, including the Top 100 Amazon UK seller '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 and friends, caring for her pets, gardening, and seeing the occasional movie or play.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1JjeMoI
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1ME9ivJ
Giveaway to Win one of 4 Fabulous A Wedding in Cornwall Prizes (Open Internationally)
1st Prize: A Demelza collectible Knitdark character doll (Open Internationally) - 1 winner
A wonderful keepsake for fans of all-things Poldark, this Demelza doll was made by Angela Blay, whose popular Knitdark creations have been featured on The Graham Norton Show. You can learn more about the Knitdarks at Angela's Twitter page @kwerkyknits as well as her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/kwerkyknits
2nd Prize A Kindle/Tablet case featuring cover art from the series A Wedding in Cornwall (Open Internationally) - 1 winner
A specially designed case for a Kindle or Tablet featuring cover art from the series A Wedding in Cornwall. The final product's size, image, texture, and color will depend on the winner's device.
3rd Prize: A Paperback Copy of A Wedding in Cornwall: Books 1-6 (Open Internationally) - 1 winner
This winning paperback (non-signed) contains the novellas A Wedding in Cornwall, A Christmas in Cornwall, A Cottage in Cornwall, A Manor in Cornwall, A Bake Off in Cornwall, and A Castle in Cornwall.
4th Prize: A Paperback Copy of A Wedding in Cornwall: Books 7-12 (Open Internationally) - 1 winner
This winning paperback (non-signed) contains the novellas A Romance in Cornwall, A Star in Cornwall, A Sewing Circle in Cornwall, A Talent Show in Cornwall, An American in Cornwall, and A Garden in Cornwall.
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
1 Comments
Sounds like a good read.
ReplyDeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.