Derek Bryer loves his
life. His job as an assistant director at Joy Universe, the second-largest
theme park complex on the planet, makes him indirectly responsible for bringing
joy (pun intended) to millions of people. So what if none of his relationships
are that close? Everyone he meets loves him.
Except Trav Jones. For
some reason, the visiting Broadway performer would rather Derek just go away.
He appreciates Derek’s work ethic, though, and after Trav steps up when Derek
desperately needs someone to fill in for his sick staff, Derek seizes the
chance to convince Trav he’s not such a bad guy.
Falling in love while
distracted by a murder at the park, food poisoning, and colleagues placing bets
on their relationship won’t be easy, but between the two of them and with the
magic of Joy Universe, they’ve got this.
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Cat gives this one 5
Meows...
I love this cover. It
really set the tone for Derek.
Derek is a work driven man
and loves his job, but it leaves no room for romance. That is until he meets
the one man that seems to not like him on the worse day of his life. He is
faced with murder in one of his villas and almost all his dancers get hit with
salmonella. Trav Jones is a Broadway performer in one of the shows and fills in
for the sick dancers. but he doesn't seem to like Derek like everyone else, so
Derek tries to find out why and sparks fly.
The story is interesting
from the start the characters are all likable and intriguing and I didn't want
to put the book down once I started. It is a sweet, charming story.
Excerpt…
I JUST can’t help it—I sing loudly to myself and
the cars around me as I drive to work. Well, considering the speed traffic is
moving at, it’s unlikely anyone in those cars can hear me, but I like to think
that maybe I’m brightening someone’s morning with my off-key warbling along to
the radio. Everyone should be as happy to face the morning as I am.
Admittedly, I have a pretty great life. I’m
thirty-seven and have great parents who live far enough away that I don’t have
to see them too often. I’m also financially independent, with friends around
the country—the world, actually, thanks to my employer’s propensity for hiring
talented people from around the globe—and generally get along with everyone. I
can recognize the good things about myself—and the not-so-good things, but why
would I want to tell you about those? Let’s call it confidence. I’m confident
in myself. And that means that most mornings I wake up happy to face the day.
Some people hate their jobs. Not me. I’ve worked
damned hard since graduating college, and now I’m in the enviable position of
being an assistant director at the second-largest entertainment complex in the
world—the youngest ever assistant director. For those of you who
don’t know, that’s Joy Universe, a resort and theme park complex in southern
Georgia, not far from the Florida state line. JU has four theme parks,
twenty-six resorts and three campgrounds, and a shopping and entertainment
village that rivals anything on offer anywhere else.
The downside? The complex is pretty much in the
middle of nowhere, except for the town that was established to provide housing
and services for staff. It’s called Joyville, and is now a thriving small city,
actually beginning to attract residents who don’t have any connection to
JU—although, as a long-term resident myself, I don’t know why. Still, the
University of Georgia recently decided to build a campus in Joyville, so I
guess it’ll keep on growing.
I’m just turning in the entrance of the JU complex
when my phone rings, cutting off the musical talents of whatever pop star the
radio was playing. I flick a glance at the in-dash display.
Fuck.
It’s Dimi, my assistant. He’s an ambitious
overachiever, so he usually beats me to the office, despite the fact that I get
there at seven thirty and he’s not required to start work until eight. The
point is, he knows exactly when I’m due to arrive, so the only reason for him
to call is if there’s an emergency.
I’m just about to hit the button to accept the call
when sirens shatter the morning calm. A peek in the rearview mirror shows
two police cars, lights flashing, tearing around the corner from the highway.
They zip past me as I answer. “Are those sirens for us?”
“Murder at Tiki,” Dimi says tersely.
Double fuck.
Dreamspinner and Riptide
both offer excerpts on their site for the titles. I usually copy the prologue
or several paragraphs from the first chapter.
Louisa Masters started
reading romance much earlier than her mother thought she should. While other
teenagers were sneaking out of the house, Louisa was sneaking romance novels in
and working out how to read them without being discovered. She’s spent most of
her life feeling sorry for people who don’t read, convinced that books are the solution
to every problem. As an adult, she feeds her addiction in every spare second,
only occasionally tearing herself away to do things like answer the phone and
pay bills. She spent years trying to build a “sensible” career, working in
bookstores, recruitment, resource management, administration, and as a travel
agent, before finally conceding defeat and devoting herself to the world of
romance novels.
Louisa has a long list of
places first discovered in books that she wants to visit, and every so often she
overcomes her loathing of jet lag and takes a trip that charges her
imagination. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she whines about the
weather for most of the year while secretly admitting she’ll probably never
move.
enjoyed the excerpt
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