Written by A. L. Michaels

 

I’m delighted to be a part of this Blog Tour today – my thanks to publishers Canelo for inviting me. I’m so sorry I just couldn’t manage to read and review beforehand, but I will catch up with it!

 

 

 

 

Description

 

A fun, feisty novel of love and chasing your dreams

Bel Hailstone has spent the past decade building her dream – Soho’s best burlesque club – from the ground up. But now The Martini Club is under threat and it will take everything in Bel’s power to resist encroaching developers and save her pride and joy.

Amidst the chaos Bel’s past comes knocking with the unexpected arrivals of her still-not-quite-ex-husband, her estranged mother and Brodie Porter – the boy who got away all those years ago.

To keep her beloved club afloat – not to mention her sanity – Bel will have to accept help for the first time in a long time, put the past to rest and claim the happy ever after she once thought was lost for good.

 

Tags: rom-com

 

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 708 KB
• Publisher: Canelo Escape
• Publication Date: 13 August 2018
• Purchase Links: Amazon UK
•                                 Kobo (UK)
•                                 Google Books (UK)
•                                 Apple Books (UK)

 

Also in this series

 

         

Amazon UK                            Amazon UK

 

 

 

 

Guest Post

 

Writing a ‘Not’ Love Story – Bel’s journey

My books are always called rom-coms, but apart from the characters learning to fall in love with themselves (and why shouldn’t they, they’re heckin’ great) there’s not so much romance.

I don’t want to write books where the answer is a relationship, because often that’s not the question. When my characters fall, it’s because they’re searching for something else – they’re searching for a partner in crime, an adventurer, someone to listen and to remind them of the things they need to learn.

Romance, in my books, is the slice of lime in the gin and tonic – it’s necessary, adds flavour and it bloody delicious, but the magic is really in the drink itself.

I didn’t want to write Bel a love interest, partly because I didn’t think she needed one. She’s not lonely. She can (insert Carrie Bradshaw voice) ‘take a lover’ whenever she likes. She’s Bel freaking Stone. She can do what she likes. But she doesn’t want to. Because she’s so busy pretending to be this new version of herself she can’t trust anyone enough to let them in.

Which is why the two men in the book are the ones from her past.

Nostalgia can be a difficult thing – forgiving mistakes and moving on, but also realising things weren’t right then and they might not be now. How hard is it to have grown and changed, and then to be with someone who won’t let you be more than you were at eighteen?

Bel’s love story is with many things. It’s with dance, with the joy of ballet, the strength and control. It’s about discovering burlesque, and how that saved her. And it’s about loving that seventeen year old girl who worked in the chip shop by the beach and didn’t really think she had any choices in life.

Yes, Brodie is gorgeous and kind and all the things a good love interest should be. He knows her, he reminds her of her own brilliance and he strives to find a way to unite their worlds, even when they’ve moved so far away from each other over the years.

But Bel’s love story is with the life she’s created, and how she can merge it with the girl she used to be, the one she left behind.

Meet the Author

A. L. Michael is the author of 13 novels. Almost all of them are snarky love stories where difficult women learn to embrace vulnerability. Andi works as a content writer, so no matter what she’s doing, she’s all about the words. She has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Creative Business and an MSc in Creative Writing. She is represented by Hayley Steed at Madeleine Milburn.

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Twitter: @almichael_

Website: www.almichael.com