Publication day 5th February 2018
About the book
It’s time for Billie Summers to have an adventure … but it might not be exactly what she expected.
Billie Summers has always been quite content in her little cottage in the Cotswolds. Sure, half the house hasn’t been renovated, but what’s the point when it’s only her? Working part-time at her uncle’s bookshop and planning writer retreats with her best friend allows her to pay the bills. What more could anyone want?
That is until Oliver Forest, the bad boy of the book world, turns up to one of her retreats and points out that Billie hasn’t done anything very adventurous. Couple that with her best friend falling head over heels and beginning to drift away from their Friday night wine and dinner plans, Billie is starting to wonder if it isn’t time she took control of her life.
So she starts a list: get fitted (properly) for a bra, fix up rest of house, find a ‘career’ and well, get a tattoo … Her life might just get the makeover it needs, too bad irritating and far-too-attractive for his own good, Oliver keeps showing up …
My Review
I really enjoyed Maddie's first book so I couldn't wait to read her next and I just absolutely loved this one!
It was fun and exciting and had plenty of laughter.
Everything about A Year of New Adventures was just perfect, the cover, story, characters and surroundings.
You will find you just cannot put this book down - It is fabulous!
Extract from 'A Year of New Adventures'
After he had rudely slammed the door in my face, Oliver Forest and Pippa stayed closeted in his bedroom for the next half-hour.
‘Perhaps they’re having sex?’ Helena whispered at one point, when it had all gone a bit quiet and we couldn’t hear him barking out instructions to the poor woman.
She edged closer to his door, crouched down, and angled her ear towards the keyhole. ‘Perhaps they’re doing it really quietly.’
‘I doubt it!’ I said. ‘I don’t think people like him do anything quietly.’
At that moment Pippa opened the door and stuck her head out. She looked down at Helena and seemed rather startled for a moment.
‘Could we have coffee?’ she said. ‘And I’d love one of those cookies.’
‘Of course,’ Helena said sweetly, pretending she had been about to re-tie her shoelaces, which was the wrong thing to do as she had slippers on. She recovered quickly by picking up a bit of fluff on the floor. I saw her checking to see if Pippa was in any way dishevelled. ‘Just come out when you’re ready.’
‘We’ll have it in here,’ Oliver said loudly.
Pippa gave a weak smile. ‘I’ll pop out in a minute for a tray shall I?’
‘Yes, yes of course,’ Helena said.
The door closed and we exchanged a look.
‘This is going to be a very long week,’ I said.
Helena, as is her way, tried to make the best of the situation. ‘Well let’s try and make sure he has nothing to complain about.’
She went and found a tray and wiped it over before she put out two matching mugs, a sugar bowl, a milk jug, and two polished teaspoons. Then we scrabbled around looking for the cafetière and some real coffee. I selected a pretty plate and put out some cookies before Helena found a nice little wicker basket and tipped them into that instead. Then, we took them all out again and this time lined the basket with a paper napkin. At last, after a bit of artful arranging – because there is only so much one can do with six choc-chip cookies – we took the tray up to the closed door and I knocked.
Pippa came to open it and took the tray from Helena. We both peered round her, trying to see what was going on.
‘Everything OK?’ I said cheerily, craning a little.
I could see Oliver Forest sitting in the armchair next to the window with a large notebook on his knee. He was writing, his dark hair tousled as he ran one hand through it. Almost as though he could feel my gaze on him, he looked up. His eyes really were beautiful, and he stared at me for a moment in that funny way writers do when they are deep in a plot and they aren’t actually seeing you.
