New Year, New Guy
by Angela Britnell
Amazon US / UK / AU / CA /
B&N / Kobo / GP/ Apple
Out with the old life, in with the new …
When Laura’s bride-to-be sister, Polly, organizes a surprise reunion for her fiancé and his long lost American friend, Laura grudgingly agrees to help keep the secret. And when the plain-spoken, larger-than-life Hunter McQueen steps off the bus in her rainy Devon town and only just squeezes into her tiny car, it confirms that Laura has made a big mistake in going along with her sister’s crazy plan.
But could the tall, handsome man with the Nashville drawl be just what reserved Laura Williams needs to shake up her life and start something new?
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
He was a perfect example of the theory that surgeons didn’t need a good bedside manner because their patients were generally asleep.
‘What time is your wedding overhaul session anyway?’ ‘Overhaul? You make Polly and I sound like a couple of old cars in need of a tune up.’
That’ll put a glow on your face and make the spa’s job much easier. You’ll need less make-up to fool people you’re not past your sell-by date yet.
Laura’s mouth gaped like a fish, although he wasn’t stupid enough to make that comparison out loud.
My Review:
I was initially quite concerned I’d made a mistake with this book as I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to warm up to the main character of Laura, she seemed like the perfect example of a dried-up priggish snob who needed to save up for that all-important surgery to have the stick removed, and hers seemed to be so deeply embedded it could have been fatal. Luckily her soon to be married sister placed a huge and oddly insightful wedding guest in her charge, and though he annoyed the uptight Laura to no end, he also intrigued her as well. His thoughtful and perceptive manner gradually thawed her iciness until the sparks could ignite.
This is my third time delving into Ms. Britnell’s wryly written work and I am quite taken with her amusing and vibrantly descriptive style as she manages to easily entertain my gray matter while smoothly slotting me into the sidelines of each scene. I was tucked in and part of the background yet could smell their perfume and charred attempts at meal preparation. Her storylines were engaging, easy to follow, and agilely managed to effortlessly yet thoughtfully tap on all the feels. I’m not sure how she does that but I’d like to have a ready supply of some of that on my shelf.
About the Author
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I was born in the beautiful county of Cornwall in southwestern England and grew up in a small village there. I return frequently to visit family and friends but especially to savor the cool rainy weather and hot tea. After school, I joined the Royal Navy and served for nearly six years. I held varying jobs from being the only woman in the staff of a sports center to arranging social engagements for the Captain of the base. My last assignment was to Denmark where I thought I would spend a wild two years in Copenhagen only to discover I was being sent to a NATO Headquarters in a quiet town on the Jutland Peninsula. I was only disappointed for a while as I met my own tall, dark, handsome stranger there – a US Naval Officer named Richard who became my husband.
I have always been a voracious reader, even at 5 years old my school reports show a keen interest in English and very little in math – some things never change! Although I enjoyed writing in school it wasn’t until 2001 that I was tempted to take a creative writing class at a local recreation center which has sparked my new career.
When I’m not busy writing I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I try to grow English flowers in the Tennessee heat and succeed some of the time. I belong to the wonderful Red Bandanas Writing Group, Jubilee Readers Book Club, and volunteer at my local library so you can see that words are important to me.
