A Kingswater Summer by Jo Lambert
Blurb
KIERA
Newly returned from backpacking around Europe, Kiera Merrick has landed a dream job - working for actress Stella Wynter, helping set up a memory room at Penmarra, her beautiful riverside home just outside Kingswater.
JAKE
Jake Paterson is currently staying with Stella after filming the final series of his popular TV drama. He is trying to work out how to get his co-star and long-term girlfriend Rachel Tyler back after she walked out on him. But Jake soon finds himself drawn to Kiera, developing feelings for her that have no place in his life. He realises painful choices will eventually have to be made. And someone is going to get hurt.
TOM
Stella’s godson, hapless Tom Armytage is also staying at Penmarra along with girlfriend Chantal. He dreams of becoming a successful property developer and hopes Chantal’s dynamic presence will boost his ambitions. To impress her he boasts that he is heir to all of Stella’s wealth.
CHANTAL
Chantal Porter is a woman used to getting her own way. Tom is her ideal partner; weak and easily manipulated. Listening to him talk about his inheritance, she likes the idea of being Penmarra’s next mistress. But Stella and Jake’s close relationship gives her cause for concern. Who is he? And could he be a threat to her future ambitions?
As Jake comes to a difficult decision and sets off for London to sort things out with Rachel, a heart broken Kiera is left to watch helplessly as Chantal puts in place a plan to secure Tom’s inheritance. One that will change Stella’s life for ever.
Set on the south coast of Cornwall, A Kingswater Summer is a story of love, deception, and family secrets…
Extract
It was the squirrel that ruined what should have been a peaceful walk. One small grey furry animal in the wrong place at the wrong time. Afterwards Kiera was convinced the animal had deliberately taunted Erik, high in the foliage, constantly chattering as it looked down at him. Erik had been watching it, moving easily like a seasoned circus performer in the trees above them. If only it had stayed there. Instead, when it thought it was far enough ahead, it shimmied down the tree trunk and landed on the ground. From there it danced back and forth, with lots of erratic tail twitching, immediately drawing attention to itself. Erik froze. Kiera knew she had to get the lead back on him otherwise there would be trouble. Unfortunately, just as she stepped forward to clip it onto his collar, he bolted.
‘Erik,’ she called after him. ‘Come back at once.’
But Erik wasn’t listening. The squirrel took refuge in a nearby tree, ran along the branch and sat, looking down at Erik, who peered up at him, growling.
Kiera slowed, sure one small rodent would soon tire of baiting its canine pursuer. She was right. Erik lost interest. He padded back to Kiera, but as she reached down to secure his lead, she heard a rustling above her head. She looked up. The squirrel was back, jumping effortlessly from branch to branch before it took off again. Erik growled again and set off in pursuit.
Once more Kiera found herself chasing the wayward dog, dodging fallen logs and tree roots and wrestling with bracken which grew waist high in large clusters. By now she was totally lost, having no idea where they were. Emerging from yet another patch of green undergrowth she heard a yelp up ahead and then everything went quiet.
‘Erik,’ she called out, moving cautiously forward into yet another thick patch of vegetation. ‘Erik.’
She heard a whine followed by a sharp bark, and then another. When he barked for a third time, she began to move quickly towards the sound, and then without warning the ground simply disappeared under her feet. She screamed as she dropped into a dank, dark world. She felt like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole. With nothing to hold onto, she had an awful thought she might have found the entrance to some smugglers’ tunnel, and she would end up in the bowels of the earth with no way to get out. No sooner had the thought entered her mind than she was spewed out into the light again. She landed on her backside on a mixture of damp sand and gravel, Erik beside her, his back, doggy beard and eyebrows coated in a dusting of soot.
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Author Bio
Jo Lambert lives on the eastern edge of the city of Bath. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors. She has been writing since 2008. Her first five books, a set of linked romantic sagas following the lives of several families in rural West Somerset, were followed in 2015 by Summer Moved On, a contemporary romance set in South Devon. A sequel, Watercolours in the Rain was published 2017,
In June 2018 Jo signed to Choc Lit and her debut A Cornish Affair, set in North Cornwall was published in 2019 under their Ruby Fiction imprint.
Her latest novel A Kingswater Summer is the second of a three-book series. The first, Shadows on the Water, was published in 2020. Both books can be read as standalone stories.
When she isn't writing she reads and reviews. She also has an active blog. Jo loves travel, red wine and music and long as it has a great melody and lyrics. Oh, and she often takes the odd photograph or two…
Social Media Links
Website: https://jolambertauthor.website
Twitter: @jolambertwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jolambert185
