Spotlight: Audrey by Sean-Paul Thomas

Publication date: May 21st 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

From the author of My Sister and I and The Old Man and The Princess (recently optioned to be a motion picture) – comes a new, suspenseful romantic tale that will knock you off your feet. A story that has a reminiscence of ‘500 days of Summer’ and ‘Midnight in Paris’ with a fair dollop of ‘The Graduate’ thrown in. And of course Audrey, a delightful, older female protagonist who takes the young and wayward ex-con Joe under her wing.

Just out of prison Joe, a young builder from Edinburgh who writes movie scripts in his spare time, randomly meets Audrey, a washed-up, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, middle-aged French film actress at his local film festival. After hitting it off and spending one crazy, magical night together, Audrey sees some potential in Joe and his writing and tries to help him win back his estranged daughter by getting his first screenplay made into a movie in Paris. And so, the adventure of a lifetime begins…

Excerpt

 “Julie?”

Julie froze on the footpath only a few dozen yards ahead of him, although she did not turn around right away to face the familiar voice.

“Julie, please!” Joe cried, continuing to approach her but slowing down his pace just enough to appear as non-threatening as he possibly could. Surprisingly it was Sarah who turned around to face him first.

“Who is it, mummy?” were the first words out of her mouth. “Who is that man?”

Julie took a deep breath and finally turned her stiff body fully around to confront the man that she truly hoped she would never have to see again. There was a long, deep silence as the two just stared at each other for what felt like aeons. Joe looked deeply remorseful stuck inside his own emotional turmoil.

“I heard you were getting out.” Julie finally spoke up.

“I just wanted to say hello.”

“You shouldn’t be here, Joe. You’re not allowed to be here. There are rules and regulations that you need to follow.”

“I know, I know, but I just wanted to see my...”

Joe glanced down at Sarah. He tried to smile, even with tears in his eyes. Sarah hugged a little closer into her mother, unsure of the strange man standing on the street in front of them.

“Don’t you dare say what you’re about to bloody well say, Joe? Don’t you bloody well dare!”

Julie turned to face Sarah again. She crouched down fast so they were both at the same height.

“Who is that man, mummy?” Sarah asked again.

“Just an old, old friend of your mum’s, that’s all. Nothing to worry about. But can you do me a wee favour, my angel?”

Sarah nodded gently.

“See that lamppost behind you, my wee darling? Can you go and wait for mummy over there, please? I won’t be long.”

Sarah simply nodded again and did what she was told. She took one last short curious glance at Joe before walking away. Julie then turned her focus back on Joe. With an angry glare and a determined steely walk, she made her way towards him with a face of thunder.

“Look. I knew this day was coming and I have been... mentally preparing for it to say the least...”

Julie hesitated. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips into her forehead, debating what to say next. Desperately trying to choose her words carefully in her emotional state of mind.

“Look. She doesn’t know who you are, okay? She doesn’t remember you. And I still haven’t gotten around to telling her about...” Julie hesitated again. Clearly choking up with the painful memories of it all. “…About what you fucking did.” She finally got her words out.

“It’s okay. I completely understand.” Joe swiftly replied, keen to comfort her. But Julie looked furious as hell at Joe’s casual answer. “No, Joe. No, you don’t understand. How could you ever understand?” Julie took a few moments to calm herself down.

“Look, if you want to see Sarah again then I guess I can’t stop you from trying. But you will have to go through all the proper channels to make it happen. I will not make this easy for you Joe, okay? So, this is your first and only warning. If you surprise us like this again in the middle of the bloody street, or if I see you anywhere near us without a social worker or a bloody lawyer then I will call the police and have you sent back to prison without even batting an eyelash. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Joe replied as sincerely as he possibly could. “I understand.”

Julie turned around to leave, but Joe still had more to say.

“Do you think we could talk sometime, Julie? Please?”

Julie stopped dead in her tracks and whipped around to face him again. She looked utterly flabbergasted that he was still talking.

“Talk?”

“I mean, just the two of us.”

“Didn’t you just listen to a bloody word I said?”

Joe suddenly began digging around in his pockets. By the desperate expression on his face, it was as if the thing he was searching for held the key to getting back on Julie’s good side again. Finally, he pulled out a pair of cinema tickets which only baffled her more.

“Look. I know it might sound stupid and dumb as hell, but I bought us some tickets for a movie at the film festival next week... I thought we could perhaps grab a bite to eat, talk, watch a movie. Like we used to do?”

Julie looked utterly confounded, but she restrained herself from raising her voice into an angry screech in the middle of the quiet neighbourhood where she could already feel the presence of hidden eyes from behind the twitching blinds and curtains of the surrounding houses.

“You want to go and watch a fucking movie? After all this time? After what you did?”

“I know it sounds dumb. I just don’t know what to do or where else to start here, Julie, please?”

“You could start by moving to the other side of the fucking planet and staying far, far away from us.”

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About the Author

Scottish Author/Screenwriter.

Sean is an author from Edinburgh in Scotland. He is the best selling Kindle Author of 'The Old Man and The Princess' which was recently optioned to be a major motion picture.

Sean spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish army Parents growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales, and England, as an army brat.

With a keen interest in both reading and writing, he was diagnosed with travel and writing bugs very early in life. Now, writing, travelling, reading, cinema, and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Edinburgh City for his sins) are his main passions in life.

His main inspiration for writing today comes from living in such a beautiful, charming and hauntingly, Gothic city, such as Edinburgh. An awe-inspiring wee city that has given him so much amazing inspiration to write the more time he spends there.

Recently, Sean has been working on a couple of screenplay adaptations of his books. One of which 'The Old Man and The Princess' made the final of the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition 2018 and has since been optioned by an award-winning Director /Producer team. Scheduled to go into production in Ireland in the summer of 2021 filming has been postponed until 2022 due to the recent covid pandemic.

Connect:

https://www.facebook.com/SeanPaulThomasAuthor

https://www.instagram.com/xseanpaulthomasx/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5364942.Sean_Paul_Thomas

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Spotlight: Backstage Benefits by Laquette

BACKSTAGE BENEFITS by LaQuette (on-sale Nov.30, Harlequin Desire): When show business leads to secret pleasures, how can they resist in this Devereaux Inc. novel by LaQuette.Their daytime partnership sets the night on fire. Who said they can’t have it all? Lyric Smith didn’t become the nation’s most successful lifestyle guru by losing focus. Yet Josiah Manning, daytime television’s hottest—and sexiest—young Black producer makes her do just that. Publicly, Josiah wants Lyric to star in a new talk show. Privately, he’s headlining her sexiest fantasies. But when their explosive chemistry leads to complications instead of contracts, will Lyric find the ultimate partner to help her crush her rivals…or exit stage left alone?

Excerpt

“Are you okay?”

She seemed slightly dazed, and he couldn’t tell if it was because his hand was still lingering on her arm. He was a perfect stranger, and just because he was boys with her play cousin Jeremiah didn’t mean he had a right to touch her or barge his way all up in her mix.

He dragged his hand away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep.”

    Josiah let his hungry gaze slide down her body, then brought it back up to meet hers. “If this is a hot mess,

then I don’t think the world is ready for when you get glammed up. You’re breathtaking.”

She nodded, smiling playfully as her laughter filled the cozy space between them. “You are a charmer, aren’t you? I bet all the Hollywood starlets fall at your feet when you pay them those kinds of compliments.”

He lifted a brow and pursed his lips. “You’d be wrong. I don’t pay compliments easily. And trust me, there’s no one in Hollywood that looks like you, so no, I’m not usually this charming.”

He could see the brown of her cheeks burn into a deep mauve as she blushed. “Then thank you,” she responded. “And on that flattering note, I’m gonna call a car and head home.”

“Call a car?” His question stopped her mid-turn. “You didn’t come in your own?”

“No, my cousin Amara and I had business earlier, and I hitched a ride with her. But as the family lawyer, there’s no way she can leave now.”

“Then let me take you home.”

Her cute smile as she dipped her gaze and blushed again tore down all his defenses. As a producer, he was around beautiful women all the time. But none of them disarmed him the way Lyric did.

“Is ‘take me home’ just an offer of transportation or a euphemism for sleeping with me?”

Pump your brakes, man.

He wasn’t thinking with his head at the moment, so he simply said, “Whichever you want it to be.”

He braced himself for the slap he knew he deserved. But it never came. Instead, she stepped closer to him, filling his senses with the light fragrance of citrus and coconut she wore.

“Take me home, and I’ll use the duration of the trip to decide.”

Well, I’ll be damned.

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Spotlight: Rancher's Forgotten Rival by Maisey Yates

THE RANCHER'S FORGOTTEN RIVAL by Maisey Yates (on-sale Jan.25, Harlequin Desire): Will amnesia turn these enemies into lovers? It's a hero in distress, with a more than capable damsel on hand to save to him. Find out more about the book in this book #1 miniseries, Carsons of Lone Rock, by New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates. Welcome to Lone Rock, Oregon’s Wild West. Chance Carson is the one man in Lone Rock who gets Juniper all riled up. His family is ranching royalty. He’s arrogant, insufferable and obnoxiously charming—she’ll keep her distance, thanks. But when Juniper finds Chance Carson on her property, injured and without his memory, she saves his life…and sort of lets him believe he’s her ranch hand. Making the entitled rancher work a little is one thing…but actually liking the man is another. Falling for him? No way. And yet the passion between them is as undeniable as it is unexpected. Will it survive the truth?

Excerpt

“You know, I take people to the hospital every day,” she said. “They don’t just go there to die. They go there to be healed. I understand that there can be bad traumatic memories connected to that. But… But the hospital can be a good thing.”

“Logically I know that. But…”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry that the first memory you’re having is so sad.”

“I think it’s probably the strongest one I have. Because I think I felt that sadness inside of me before I ever saw her face. What a hell of a thing. That I almost died. Out there in the field. When…”

“When what?” she whispered.

“My parents have been through enough,” he said. “She must’ve been my sister.”

“Oh.” The word left her body in a gust.

He knew what it was like to lose someone. He was…human.

Just the same as she was.

Just the same as they all were.

The Carsons and Sohappys weren’t so different.

She was hoping he might see that during this time, but she hadn’t expected it would be her own lesson.

She…she had never heard anything about that and she didn’t know why he thought it. Or if it was true. And it still settled hard in her chest.

He was getting way too close to remembering things, and it was getting… Dicey. It was one thing to think that she wanted to endear herself to him this way, but him sharing something personal like this, something he never would’ve shared otherwise, it felt like a violation. And she had never thought that she would feel like she violated Chance Carson. But this was different. The situation with his sister.

No. He had a sister. And she was alive and well.

Callie Carson was much younger than him, and she had gone off and married a rodeo cowboy who lived in Gold Valley.

But the way he was talking about it, it sounded like he was younger.

She felt hungry for more, but at the same time she didn’t want to press him. For so many reasons, but maybe the biggest one was her heart felt so tender right now. For him.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

“All right,” he said.

He stood up, and she stood at the same time, ready to take his bowl from him.

“I can take the dishes.”

“Oh no, that’s okay,” he said, and she put her hand on the bowl, and her fingertips brushed his, and their eyes locked.

And she felt a frisson of something magical go through her. Something hot and delicious and sticky like cayenne honey, flowing all the way through her veins.

And she could hardly breathe around it. She could hardly think. All she could do was stare. And feel the thundering rhythm of her heart, like a herd of wild mustangs, the kind that you could find out here in Eastern Oregon, and she was sure that he could hear it too.

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Spotlight: Tall, Dark and Off Limits by Shannon McKenna

TALL, DARK AND OFF LIMITS by Shannon McKenna (on-sale Dec.28, Harlequin Desire): His job is to protect his best friend’s sister…not seduce her! Don’t miss the conclusion of the Men of Maddox Hill series by New York Times bestselling author Shannon McKenna. When it comes to his best friend’s sister, he’s tempted to be much more than her protector. Assigned to keep an eye on social media darling Ava Maddox, security expert Zack Austin is more than up to the task. After all, she’s like family. But dealing with the dynamic beauty requires every ounce of patience…and sexual control. They’ve been denying their forbidden feelings for way too long and soon professionalism gives way to passion. Zack’s willing to face her overprotective family’s wrath, but is Ava’s talent for finding trouble about to explode in his face?

Excerpt

“No wine,” Zack told the waiter brusquely, realizing too late how stuffy and uptight that sounded. “For me, of course,” he said to Ava. “Feel free to have some. I never drink when I’m working.”

“Good for you.” She smiled up at the waiter, whose name was Martin, according to the tag on his shirt. “I’ll have a glass of red wine, please.”

“I have a beautiful 2016 Romanée-Conti that’s open,” Martin told her.

“Sounds lovely.” She gave the waiter that trademarked blinding smile that brought men to their knees. Martin stumbled off, probably to walk into walls and tables.

And Zack just sat there, tongue-tied. When Ava Maddox was around, his foot always ended up stuck so far into his mouth, he needed surgical intervention to get it out. She was giving him that look. Big, sharp blue eyes that missed nothing. So on to him.

The restaurant had low light and a hushed ambience, and they were in the back, tucked in a wood-paneled corner booth. Now the challenge was to kick-start his brain into operation, instead of just staring at how beautiful she was in the flickering candlelight.

She just waited, patiently. Like she was all too used to men losing their train of thought as soon as they made eye contact with her. Like she was accustomed to cutting the poor stammering chumps some slack while they pulled themselves together.

Her cell rang, and she gave him an apologetic glance when she saw the display. “Gotta take this. One sec.” She tapped the screen and held it to her ear. “Ernest? Thanks for getting back to me. Are you still in the office?… Yeah? Could you get a cab to swing by the Mathesson Pub and Grill on your way home?… Yeah, I need my laptop, the pink one with the collage cover. I’m talking to the Maddox Hill CSO about the online harassment…yeah, I know, but still…uh-huh. Okay, thanks. You’re my hero. Later, then.”

She laid the phone down. “Ernest is my assistant. He’ll bring my computer here so I can show you the master list of the last few of years’ worth of Blazon’s projects.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have your laptop with you at all times,” he said.

“I usually do,” she said. “But I had every intention of going back to Gilchrist House tonight. I have a crazy weekend coming up. Ernest and I are flying down to the Future Innovation trade show in Los Angeles tomorrow. It’s a very big deal.”

Zack couldn’t hide his disapproval. “Traveling to Los Angeles? Going back to a deserted office late in the evening? Leaving by yourself, going home by yourself? With all this going on?”

Ava sighed. “Zack, Gilchrist House has a twenty-four-hour doorman. And I would call a car to take me from doorstep to doorstep. I’m not an idiot.”

“I never suggested that you were.”

“I’m not in physical danger,” Ava assured him. “Really. This is just, you know, the new normal. The incivility of our modern electronic age. It’s ugly and unsavory, but I’ve got to get used to it and learn to roll with it.”

“The hell you do,” he said. “New normal, my ass. I’ll tell you what’s normal. When I find that bottom-feeding son of a bitch and grind him into paste.”

Ava gave him that narrow, nervous look, which by now he recognized. It was a signal that he wasn’t behaving professionally. He was too intense. Making it personal.

In a word, scaring her.

“Ah, wow, Zack,” she murmured. “I’m surprised at your reaction.”

“Why? This situation is a disgrace. Why should you be surprised that I’m horrified?”

Her eyes slid away. “Well, I don’t know. It’s just that you’ve never taken me seriously before, so why would you suddenly take me seriously now?”

“I’m sorry I gave you that impression,” he said stiffly. “It wasn’t intentional.”

“Oh, don’t be that way.” Her tone was light. “I’m  used to it. I rub a lot of people the wrong way. I’m just too much for people sometimes. Drew’s always on my case about it, telling me to tone it down. And I try, I really do. But it never works. Boom, out it comes. The real Ava, right in your face.”

“He shouldn’t do that,” Zack said forcefully.

“Shouldn’t what? Sorry, but I’m not following you.”

“Drew. He shouldn’t be on your case. He shouldn’t tell you to tone it down.”

Her eyes were big. “Ah… I didn’t mean to get you all wound up.”

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Spotlight: The Bad Boy Experiment by Reese Ryan

THE BAD BOY EXPERIMENT by Reese Ryan (on-sale Dec.28, Harlequin Desire): A steamy fling with an old crush who doesn’t do commitment? What was she thinking! Find out in the conclusion to Reese Ryan’s Bourbon Brothers series. What happens when you say yes to a bad boy? Even if divorcée Renee Lockwood were willing to give love a second chance, she wouldn’t choose Cole Abbott. The sexy, successful real estate developer doesn’t do commitment. But he’s perfect for a no-strings fling—exactly what Ren needs now that she’s moved back home to raise her son. Mind-blowing pleasure with the man she once crushed on is harder to quit than Ren expected. Impossible, in fact. Is time running out before the bad boy bolts…or will the results of her experiment surprise her?

Excerpt

Renee turned and started down the stairs. Suddenly, the door swung open, taking her by surprise. She missed a step, tripping but catching herself on the banister before she face-planted in the gravel.

Graceful, Renee. You’re a regular Misty Copeland.

“Ren?” Cole hurried down the stairs. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I thought maybe you’d… I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Changed your mind.”

She was flustered and rambling like a fool. Yep, this was definitely a bad idea.

Stop talking and make a graceful exit, if that’s even possible at this point.

“Not a chance, sweetheart.” Cole extended a hand. “C’mon inside.”

Renee swallowed hard, her hand trembling as she placed it inside his.

Don’t chicken out now.

Cole led her into the kitchen. Like hers, it was outdated. It reminded her of her Aunt Bea standing at the old stove making fried corn or her famous chicken and dumplings—the first thing Ren had ever learned to cook.

“Still feels weird being here, huh?” Cole’s voice shook her from her temporary daze.

“Very.”

They entered the living room where an exercise mat and weights were on the floor.

“You were working out. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have disturbed you.” Ren glanced at the equipment. “I know it’s really late and—”

“Renee…” Cole drew her closer, pulling her attention back to him. His gaze was soft and warm as he stroked her cheek. “It’s okay. We both know why you came here.” He managed to say the words without sounding cocky. “But I need to hear it from you. Tell me exactly what you want from me.”

Ren’s head was spinning. No one had ever asked her that. Not in a relationship or her career. And now that he had, she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

So instead, she clutched Cole’s white Abbott Construction & Development T-shirt, pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his.

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Spotlight: The Christmas She Married the Playboy by Louise Fuller

THE CHRISTMAS SHE MARRIED THE PLAYBOY by Louise Fuller (on-sale Nov.30, Harlequin Presents): Scandal leads to wedding bells in this uplifting, emotional marriage-of-convenience romance by Louise Fuller! The one thing not on her Christmas list? A convenient winter wedding! Louis Albemarle has tried to bury the pain and guilt of his father’s death with his playboy antics. So when a photo of his stolen moment with figure skater Santina Somerville proves one scandal too many for his company’s shareholders, Louis must contemplate the unimaginable: marriage! / Marrying Louis is the only way to save Santa’s pristine image. But after a past betrayal, it’s not the gossip she really fears. It’s the burning attraction between her and Louis that might just make resisting her convenient husband impossible…

Excerpt

Santa stared at him, groping for some way for his words to make sense.

Marry him!

But of course he was being stupid again—mocking her, trying to punish her for what he saw as a problem of her making.

‘Good idea,’ she snapped. ‘Why don’t we fly to Vegas? We could get married with Elvis as the celebrant and afterwards we could invite all our new paparazzi friends to the reception.’

His face hardened. ‘If you like—although I thought the whole point of getting married was to get them off our backs.’

She felt her face dissolve, her mouth forming an O of shock. He was being serious. ‘Are you out of your mind?’

Marry Louis? The idea was absurd, and wrong on so many levels, and yet she couldn’t stop a hectic pulse from leapfrogging across her skin, or deflect a sudden vivid memory of the moment when his mouth had fused with hers.

‘No!’ Shaking her head to clear the image from her head, she took a step backwards. ‘I wouldn’t marry you if my life depended on it.’

‘What about your reputation?’

His voice was cold—but, looking into his eyes, she saw the heat of wounded male pride.

Louis’s pride was the last of her worries right now.

‘We can’t get married,’ she said firmly.

‘Why not?’ he shot back. ‘It would solve our immediate problems. Unless, of course, you’re already married.’

His eyes locked with hers and she stiffened. ‘I’m not married.’

‘And you don’t have a boyfriend right now, do you?’

Her cheeks were flaming with a shame she hated feeling. ‘I would hardly have kissed you if I did.’

Something shifted in his face—something she hadn’t got a name for.

‘It’s not always an obstacle,’ he said silkily.

‘Only for someone like you.’

‘If you say so.’

He tilted his head back, the coldness in his eyes making her shake inside.

‘Okay then, as there appears to be no legal impediment as to why I, Louis, may not be joined in matrimony to you, Santa Somerville, let’s get married.’

She stared at him, trying and failing to read his expression. No legal impediment maybe, but what about a moral one?

‘You can’t just use marriage as some kind of sticking plaster to fix this mess.’

He shrugged. ‘That’s exactly what I want to use it for.’

Her head was starting to spin. Why was he being so contrary?

‘Well, I don’t. It would be dishonest, wrong—’

‘It would also be expedient and mutually beneficial. And it’s not as if it’s going to be till-death-us-do-part. We’ll be lucky if we last a month without killing each other.’

And what about kissing each other?

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