BEACH
HOUSE SUMMER
Author:
Sarah Morgan
ISBN: 9781335462824
Publication
Date: May 17, 2022
Publisher:
HQN Books
Book Summary:
USA Today
bestselling author Sarah Morgan returns with the ultimate beach read, as one
woman forges the most unlikely friendship of all, and embarks on a summer of
confrotning her past in order to build the future she wants...
When Joanna Whitman's
ex-husband, one of California's most beloved celebrity chefs, dies in a car
accident, she doesn't know what to feel. Their dysfunctional marriage held more
secrets than she cares to remember, but when she discovers a young woman was
with him in the crash--who's now in hospital, on her own, and pregnant
--Joanna sees red. How dare he ruin yet another woman's life? More than
anyone, Joanna knows the brutal spotlight this girl is going to find herself
in...unless she can find a way for them both to disappear?
Ashley can't believe
it when Joanna shows up in her hospital room and offers to spirit them both
away for the summer to her secluded beach house on the Californian coast.
Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But orphaned and pregnant, Ashley
can't turn Joanna down. Even though she knows that if Joanna ever discovers
the real truth of why Ashley was in her ex's car, their
tentative bond would never hold.
Together, they escape to the beach house, nestled high above the sleepy Californian town where Joanna grew up, and left without a backward glance. Joanna's only goal for the summer is privacy, but her return creates waves in the community, not least for the best friend she left behind. Both Joanna and Ashley are hiding secrets, but as they fall under the spell of their summer home - and draw on each other's courage - these unlikely friends realise that to seize the futures they want, they must step out of the shadows and into the sunshine.
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Teaser Excerpt:
one
ASHLEY
She slid into his car, hoping this wasn’t a mistake. It
hadn’t been her first choice of plan, but the others had failed and she was
desperate.
He smiled at her, and there was so much charm in that smile
that she forgot everything around her. The way he looked at her made her feel
as if she was the only woman in the world.
To add to the charm he had the car, a high-performance
convertible, low, sleek and expensive. It shrieked, Look at me, in case
the other trappings of wealth and power hadn’t already drawn your attention.
Her mother would have warned her not to get in the car with
him, but her mother was gone now and Ashley was making the best decisions she
could with no one close to offer her advice or caution. She remembered the
first time she’d ridden a bike on her own, unsteady, unbalanced, hands sweating
on the handlebars, her mother shouting, Keep pedaling! She remembered
her first swimming lesson where she’d slid under the surface and gulped down so
much water she’d thought she was going to empty the pool. She’d been sure she
was going to drown but then she felt hands lifting her to the surface and a
voice cutting through water clogged ears: Keep kicking!
She was on her own now. There was no one to tug her to the
surface if she was drowning. No one to steady the wheels of her bike when she
wobbled. Her mother had been the safety net in her life and they’d grown even
closer after her father died. But now if she fell she’d hit the ground with
nothing and no one to cushion her fall.
He turned onto Mulholland Drive and picked up speed. The
engine gave a throaty roar and the wind played with her hair as they sped
upward through the Hollywood Hills. She’d never been in a car like this before.
Never met a man like him.
They climbed higher and higher, passing luxury mansions,
catching glimpses of a lifestyle beyond the reach of even her imagination. Envy
slid through her. Did problems go away when you had so much? Did the people
living here experience the same anxieties as normal people or did those high
walls and security cameras insulate them from life? Could you buy happiness?
No, but money could make life easier, which was why she was
here.
Spread beneath them were views of downtown, Hollywood and
the San Fernando Valley.
Stay focused.
“I know the best place to see the sunset.” His warm,
deep voice had helped propel him from yet another TV personality to a megastar.
“You’re never going to forget it.”
She was sure of it. This moment was significant for so many
reasons.
What would happen to that confidence when she told him her
news?
Nausea rolled in her stomach and she was relieved she’d been
unable to eat breakfast or lunch.
“You’re quiet.” He drove with one hand on the wheel, supremely
confident. One hand, his eyes mostly on her. She wanted to tell him to keep his
attention on the road.
“I’m a little nervous.”
“Are you intimidated? Don’t be. I’m just a normal, regular
guy.”
Yeah, right.
He was driving fast now, enjoying the car, the moment, his
life. She knew that was about to change. She’d rehearsed a speech.
Practiced a hundred times in front of the mirror.
I’ve got something to tell you.
“Could you slow down?”
“You prefer slow?” His hand caressed the wheel. “I can go
slow when I need to. What did you say your name was?”
He didn’t recognize her. He didn’t have a clue who she was.
How could he not know?
She sat rigid in her seat. Was she really that forgettable
and unimportant?
In this part of town, where everyone was someone, she was no
one.
She fought the disillusion and the humiliation.
“I’m Mandy. I’m from Connecticut.”
Her name wasn’t Mandy. She’d never been to Connecticut.
Couldn’t even put it on a map.
He should know that. She wanted him to know that. She
wanted him to say, I know you’re not Mandy, but he didn’t, of course,
because women came and went from his life and he was already moving on to the
next one.
“And you’re sure we’ve met before? I wouldn’t have forgotten
someone as pretty as you.”
She’d had dreams about him. Fantasies. She’d thought about
him day and night for the past couple of months, ever since she’d first laid
eyes on him.
But he didn’t know her. There was no recognition.
Her eyes stung. She told herself it was the wind in her face
because her mother had drummed into her that life was too short to cry over a
man. She wouldn’t be here at all except that she’d felt alone and scared and
needed to do something to help herself. She was afraid she couldn’t do this on
her own, and he had to take some responsibility, surely? He shouldn’t be
allowed to just walk away. That wasn’t right. Like it or not, they were bonded.
“We’ve met.” She rested her hand on her abdomen. Blinked
away the tears. The time to wish she’d been more careful was long gone. She had
to look forward. Had to do the right thing, but it wasn’t easy.
Her body told her she was an adult, but inside she still
felt like the child who had wobbled on that bike with her ponytail flying.
He glanced at her again, curious. “Now I think about it, you
do look familiar. Can’t place you, though. Don’t be offended.” He gave her
another flash of those perfect white teeth. “I meet a lot of women.”
She knew that. She knew his reputation, and yet still she
was here. What did that say about her? She should have more pride, but pride
and desperation didn’t fit comfortably together.
“I’m not offended.” Under the fear she was furious. And
fiercely determined.
She wasn’t going to let this guy ruin her life. That wasn’t
going to happen.
They were climbing now. Climbing, climbing, the road winding
upward into the hills while the city lay beneath them like a glittering carpet.
She felt like Peter Pan, flying over rooftops.
Should she tell him now? Was this a good moment?
Her heart started to pound, heavy beats thudding a warning
against her ribs. She hadn’t thought he’d bring her somewhere this remote. She
shouldn’t have climbed into his car. Another bad decision to add to the ones
she’d already made. The longer she waited to tell him, the farther they were
from civilization and people. People who could help her. But who would help?
Who was there?
She had no one. Just herself, which was why she was here
now, doing what needed to be done regardless of the consequences.
Thinking of consequences made her palms grow damp. She
should do it right now, while half his attention was on the road.
She waited as he waltzed the car around another bend and hit
another straight stretch of road. She could already see the next bend up ahead.
“Mr. Whitman? Cliff? There’s something I need to tell you.”
Excerpted from Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan.
Copyright © 2022 by Sarah Morgan. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books
S.A.
Author
Bio:
Sarah Morgan is a
USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of contemporary romance and
women's fiction. She has sold more than 21 million copies of her books and her
trademark humour and warmth have gained her fans across the globe. Sarah lives
with her family near London, England, where the rain frequently keeps her
trapped in her office. Visit her at www.sarahmorgan.com
Social
Links:
Twitter: @SarahMorgan_
Instagram: @sarahmorganwrites
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