FOUR WEDDINGS TO FALL IN LOVE by Jackie Lau –Featured New Release

four weddings now available

FOUR WEDDINGS TO FALL IN LOVE

Jackie Lau


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four weddings ebook When I meet Kim Sung at a friend’s wedding, I don’t make the first move. God, no. But she’s delightful and gorgeous, and she asks me to dance. Later, we head to her hotel room and …

Okay, I admit it doesn’t go well. She might be all about one-night stands, but I’m not used to having them.

That should be the end of it. I can forget about her or, more likely, obsess about it whenever I can’t sleep.

But then I see her at a second wedding. Apparently, she’s a family friend of my cousins. All three of them are getting married this summer, so she’ll be at the next two weddings as well, along with her parents.

Kim is even more beautiful than last time, and I really want the chance to prove I’m not a complete disaster in bed. I also want to take her on an actual date, but she has no interest in dating anyone.

More than anything, though, I need to avoid her because I’m too embarrassed to hold a conversation, and my brothers have found out about my unfortunate one-night stand.

Oh, no. She’s coming this way. What do I do?

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EXCERPT

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Chapter 1

Max

“Fucking hell.”

I hear the woman before I see her—I’m busy adjusting the suit bag in my hand—and nearly trip over her leg. She’s fallen on the stone path that leads to the hotel on the lake.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

Before I can extend my hand, she jumps up. Her purple dress ends just below her knees.

“Yeah, I’m fine. These shoes just aren’t made for running.” The petite East Asian lady gestures to her silver stilettos with her bouquet. One of Tessa’s bridesmaids, I assume. “Even for walking, they’re a fucking nightmare.” She pauses. “Sorry.”

She doesn’t need to apologize for her language, but perhaps she senses that I’m not the sort of person who swears vehemently, well, ever. A quiet “shit” is as far as I go and—

Wow. She smiles at me, and I’m struck by how beautiful she is.

There’s a giggle from behind the pink rose bushes. Her gaze snaps in that direction.

“For fuck’s sake,” she mutters. “The flower girl escaped again, and I’m tasked with bringing her back.” She dashes off toward the roses.

I shake my head and continue along the path. Someone else in a purple dress flies out the door of the hotel. Is she also in pursuit of the flower girl, or is there another wedding-related emergency?

God, weddings are such chaos, and I have four to attend in the next three months.

I head into the lobby, check in, and proceed to my room on the second floor, where I hang up my suit and open my suitcase. Still over an hour until the ceremony starts, so I’m in no rush. It’s not as if it’ll take me more than fifteen minutes to get ready.

My phone rings. It’s my parents, so I answer.

“Did you get there safely?” Mom asks.

“Yes,” I say, “but traffic was bad so it took almost three hours.”

I would have called within the next few minutes if she didn’t call me first. I never want her to worry, and I do my best to ensure she doesn’t have to worry about me.

“Max!” My dad’s voice bellows over the phone. He’s the louder of my parents by far. “How’s it going? Any pretty bridesmaids?”

“The wedding hasn’t started yet,” I say crisply, even though I’m thinking about the woman I saw earlier.

“I think that means yes.”

“It does not.”

We chat for a few more minutes, then I tell him that I have to get going. Before I get dressed, I glance out the window, toward the small lake. Chairs are set out for the ceremony, and the wind whips around some gauzy material at the altar…and the flower girl is running down the aisle, pursued by two bridesmaids, two other women, and a Canada goose.

My lips twitch.

Weddings aren’t my cup of tea. Not because I don’t believe in love—I do—but because there are so many people, and I get asked about my own romantic prospects. It’s gotten worse recently, thanks to the fact that I’m thirty-five and single, I suppose.

Plus, something usually goes wrong. The groomsmen have horrible hangovers and look like death warmed over during the ceremony; the maid of honor slips and falls onto the cake; the father of the groom gets punched in the face by his brother, due to some quarrel that started twenty-seven years ago; the photographer is trying to hide a dead body. Obviously, the latter hasn’t occurred at any weddings that I’ve attended…at least I don’t think so. But anything can happen at a wedding.

Even if it mostly goes according to plan, the parents of the happy couple might freak out over something minor. Maybe the peonies in the bouquets aren’t quite big enough, or the canapés aren’t the perfect temperature.

The next three weddings I have to attend are those of my cousins. All of Auntie Gladys’s kids are getting married this year, and she’s definitely the sort who’d make a big deal out of small imperfections. My mother and Auntie Gladys don’t get along at the best of times, and she’s really been trying Mom’s patience lately, constantly calling my parents about one thing or another. So while I’m happy for my cousins in theory, I’m not looking forward to those weddings.

But this wedding, my friend Malcolm’s, doesn’t involve family. It should try my sanity a little less, though the long drive wasn’t a good start to the day.

Read the first two chapters on Jackie’s website.


ABOUT JACKIE

Jackie-1590Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between penning “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. She is now the author of over twenty books.

Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet donuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining.

Social Media Links:

Instagram: @jackielaubooks
Twitter: @JackieLauBooks
Facebook: @jackielaubooks

FOR THE LOVE OF YOU by Claire Marti – Release Day Review

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FOR THE LOVE OF YOU 

by

Claire Marti

 

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For a French soccer icon, and a gifted artist, a fake engagement is the perfect solution for their current dilemmas. But when last summer’s fling slips from lust to love, their pretend relationship becomes too hot to handle.

Gabriel DuVernay is heir to one of the oldest wineries in France, but his passion is playing soccer, not tending vines. When he signs a multi-million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy, he’s able to postpone his unwelcome duties and help his younger sister convince their old-fashioned father she should be their family’s first female winemaker. Another bonus of moving to California is reuniting with the striking redhead who snuck out of his apartment after the hottest night of his life.

Last summer, artist Dylan McNeill’s life on her family’s Southern California horse-breeding ranch was thrown into chaos and she escaped to Paris. One electrifying night with a gorgeous playboy athlete helped her forget her problems. She’s never forgotten Gabriel, but aspiring artists trying to break into the elite art world don’t have time for romance. She’s determined to get discovered without trading on her family’s famous name.

When Gabriel suffers a career-shattering injury, he needs to buy some time to figure out how to remain in America and choose his own future. His influential mother can open important doors in the art world and help Dylan fulfill her dreams ––for a price. A fictitious engagement seems like the simple answer until living at Pacific Vista Ranch and pretending to be in love starts to feel real.

Can last year’s one night stand and this year’s fake engagement turn into true love forever?

Buy Links: 

Amazon:  amzn.to/3a95T7l
B&N: barnesandnoble.com/w/for-the-love-of-you-claire-marti
Kobo:  kobo.com/for-the-love-of-you-7
iBooks:  books.apple.com/id1494966200

 

REVIEW

Oh là là!  With a steamy one-night stand in Paris, a fake engagement in LA, two attractive and talented protagonists with respective family issues, For the Love of You offers an entertaining diversion from our current worries. In this third book of her Pacific Vista Ranch series, Claire Marti tells a sophisticated romantic fantasy-fulfillment story between American artist Dylan McNeill and  French soccer superstar Gabriel DuVernay.

There’s so much to like in this light contemporary novel. Both main characters have valid reasons for agreeing to the fake engagement and the benefit to both is equal. While there is a Hollywood gloss to the entire story, the emotions displayed by the characters felt real. Gabriel’s pain, both physically and psychologically with the end of his high-profile career, manifested strongly. Dylan’s guilt about lying to her family, especially to her twin, was incredibly apparent. Also obvious is their chemistry and the eventuality of their turning the fake into a true engagement.

Kudos to Ms. Marti for seamlessly incorporating updates about the couples from the other books in the series without taking away the focus from Dylan and Gabriel. Great job also of introducing several characters and giving each of them distinct personalities. I can honestly say that this book can be read as a stand-alone but it’ll make you want to read the first two as well. In my opinion, it’ll make you want to read all of Ms. Marti’s back list, if you haven’t done so already, and her future books too.

Content advisory: mild profanities, on-page injury, open-door sexual intimacy.

4 out of 5 stars

 

ABOUT CLAIRE

Headshotfullbody518smallClaire Marti started writing stories as soon as she was old enough to pick up pencil and paper. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a BA in English Literature, Claire was sidetracked by other careers, including practicing law, selling software for legal publishers, and managing a non-profit animal rescue for a Hollywood actress.

Finally, Claire followed her heart and now focuses on two of her true passions: writing romance and teaching yoga.

Social Media Links:

Website:  clairemarti.com
Facebook:  ClaireMartiAuthor
Twitter:  @clairepmarti
Instagramclairepmarti
Goodreads: Claire_Marti
Bookbub:  claire-marti
Amazon:  Claire-Marti