I
absolutely loved Natalie's Getting Married - it has the perfect mix of laughter and
tears with a little bit of magic sprinkled throughout. I couldn't
put it down once I had started to read as I was completely under its
spell and gave it a 5 star review in January 2016.
I
am delighted to take part in the blog tour and have an excerpt from
this wonderful book to share with you.
Want
to win your very own e-book of Natalie's Getting Married?
Make
sure you enter the giveaway further down this page.
October 1990
Some girls dream of the
perfect wedding. I was never really one of those girls. I'd set my
sights on a career in media. I worked hard at school, achieved good
grades and decided to go to university. I'd had boyfriends up until
then, the first serious one was when I was sixteen, but the idea of
marriage never once crossed my mind. I'd never been in love, yet my
girlfriends fell in and out of it so easily, you'd think they were
exchanging one pair of must have shoes for another.
They'd all either been swept
off their feet, or claimed to have met “the one”, or bored
everyone senseless by walking around love struck and starry eyed. But
not me. I had plans and I wasn't going to let a little thing like
never having fallen in love stop me.
So, off I went to university
and that's where I met Jackson Humphries.
It was Fresher's Week on the
day I first saw him. He was so cool and self-assured I never would
have guessed that, like me, he was a Fresher too. He was out in the
quadrant where new students were signing up for various clubs and
societies. He was wearing a navy polo shirt, a pair of jeans and had
his bag slung across his shoulder. He wasn't very tall for a guy but
he had a perfect body; dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. And that
day, I fell in love.
Little did I know it would
take two years for Jackson to notice me and that he'd surprise me
with a wedding proposal on graduation day.
I stood gazing at Jackson
from the far side of the quadrant, doing that thing I do with my
curls, twiddling the ones that fall to my shoulders. In my misty-eyed
state, I signed up for the Poetry Society. I didn't mean to. I was
staring so hard at Jackson I hadn't realised I'd joined a queue of
poetry lovers.
'Thanks,' the Poetry Society
girl said to me. 'Our first meeting is next Friday. It's just a
welcome night. You won't need to bring your poems. We probably won't
read until the next time.'
'Fine,' I said, collecting a
Poetry Society Handbook and tucking it into my bag, all the time
keeping my eyes on Jackson. He seemed to know everyone; he was
relaxed and chatty. But, as I followed Jackson's every move around
the quadrant, I almost joined the Rowing Club. Finally coming to my
senses, I moved well away from the society reps.
I sat on a low wall and
watched Jackson walk up to a bunch of sporty types who were dribbling
a basketball and shooting hoops. Jackson scored a basket every time
he got the ball. Somehow, I knew he would.
'You like basketball?' a
voice from thin air said to me.
I turned around and saw a
tall guy standing next to me. He was smiling. He had sandy hair that
was uncombed, a wrinkled t-shirt under an un-ironed checked shirt,
and jeans that were fraying at the knees. His smile was warm, big and
white. He had hazel eyes that seemed to change from green to light
brown by the second. He rubbed his hand over his messy hair.
'Um,' I stuttered. How was I
to tell a complete stranger I was eyeing up some hunky guy? 'No, I'm
not a fan, not really. I'm just taking it all in.'
'Where are you from?' he
asked.
'London,' I told him.
'Ever been away from home,
London?'
'First time. And you?'
'I'm from Manchester so
Sheffield isn't so far. You'll find it very different up here,
though.'
'I've been up a few days
already, sorting out halls,' I said. 'Do you travel in from
Manchester?'
'No, I've got a house with a
bunch of students. This is my second year. How about you?'
'First year and my name is
Natalie. Spencer.' I put my hand out, immediately thinking that was
too formal a gesture and decided to wave at him instead. He seemed to
stifle a laugh but grabbed my hand to shake it anyway.
'Nice to meet you, London.
I'm Gabriel Miller.'
'Gabriel … like the
angel?'
'Yes, but only without
wings. Fancy a coffee?'
Gabriel Miller and I became
instant best friends. For me it was good to have someone with at
least one year's experience of university life to draw on. He showed
me the ropes, introduced me to all his friends and convinced me to
stay with the Poetry Society; he was an English Literature student,
wrote poetry and he was a member himself.
'But I'm hopeless,' I told
him. 'I don't know my Keats from my Emily Dickinson's.'
'That doesn't matter,
London.' He was very convincing. 'They're a great bunch of people and
you don't have to read your poems if you don't want to.'
'Believe me when I say, I
won't be writing any either.'
'Come on, you never know
what you might get inspired to do.'
'What you really mean is,
you want me to come along so I can listen to your poems,' I joked.
But I did stick with it and, I have to say, Gabriel's style of poetry
blew me away. I could listen to him read for hours.
It wasn't until a couple of
months after term began that I revealed to Gabriel my secret crush on
Jackson.
'You're joking, right?' he
laughed. We were sitting in the Student Union bar.
'Why do you say that?' I
asked.
'Because, he's a jerk.'
'Why is he a jerk?'
'Because – he's just some
stuck up rich kid who couldn't get into one of the posh universities
but wants to bum around until he takes up his guaranteed executive
position in Daddy's firm.'
'But he's a first year,' I
said. 'What do you know about Jackson? Have you ever spoken to him?'
'Not as such. But I know
people like him. You wait, he'll get a mediocre degree and end up
making three times what you and I do, even if we come out of here
with Firsts.'
I knocked back the last sip
of my watery beer. 'You can't begrudge people their inheritance Gabe.
He can't help being rich. Hey, don't tell me you're jealous?' I
grinned at him.
'I'm not jealous. I'm just
saying, be careful. But you're a big girl. You date who you like.'
'Thank you, Dad. I'm
glad I have your blessing. Anyway, he's got no idea who I am. We've
never actually spoken.'
'So how do you know you'll
even like him?'
'Don't spoil it, Gabriel. If
I never get to talk to him, at least I can say I fell in love for the
first time in my life.'
'You surprise me, London. I
can’t believe you've never been in love. Has that been your dream?
To meet a rich guy and fall in love? Is that all you want from life?'
'Of course not. What's
gotten into you today? You're acting weird and I don't like it. Why
don't you just buy me another drink?'
'Coming right up.'
And that pretty much summed
up what Gabriel was like any time I brought up the subject of Jackson
Humphries. Although, I had to learn to put up with him slagging
Jackson off because I talked about Jackson – a lot!
For a whole year I obsessed
about Jackson, observed what he was wearing, who he hung out with and
who he dated. He became the object of my affection and everyone in my
halls of residence knew I was a lovesick fool. They started calling
me Mrs Humphries. Jackson had no idea and Gabriel remained disgusted.
I'd be chatting to Gabriel
and catch a glimpse of Jackson walking around campus, and I'd
completely lose focus. Gabriel would do this thing of grabbing a
bunch of my curls and waggling it in my face to snap me out of my
Jackson trance.
With the end of my first
year fast approaching, I started getting ready for the summer ball.
'No,' Gabriel said.
'What do you mean, 'no'?'
'You're not going to the
summer ball so you can spend all night dribbling into the punch bowl
and staring at that idiot.'
'But I was looking forward
to it,' I whined.
'No, I'm taking you to an
alternative party instead. Do you trust me?'
'Um...'
But Gabriel was right, if I
went to the summer ball I'd probably end up drunk, sitting in a
corner, crying: 'Why? Why? Why doesn't he love me?' I knew, because
that was what I did most weekends.
So I accompanied Gabriel to
a party in a sleazy part of Sheffield. I found myself in a house with
all the curtains closed and a room that was so dimly lit I managed to
knock over a bowl of chilli, spill an entire pint of beer down Alison
Neuberg's leggings and sit in the lap of a blonde girl I'd never met
in my life.
Granted, it was a great
party. The music was brilliant and no one minded that I was a clumsy
wreck. But, Jackson wasn't there and with as much fun as I was having
with my new found, barely visible friends, I still kept wondering who
Jackson had taken to the ball.
'Where are you, London?'
Gabriel asked me. He noticed I'd glazed over.
'What?' I shouted back into
his ear because the music was so loud.
'You look like you're having
a good time but you've got a faraway look in your eyes.' Gabriel
leaned close to reply. He smelled of soap and aftershave with a hint
of whisky on his breath.
'How can you even see my
eyes?' I shouted back.
'Who could miss those great
big baby blues of yours? All that wide-eyed innocence is quite
charming.' He brushed my curls away from my shoulders and rested his
hands on them for a brief moment. Maybe he wanted to shake me out of
my daydream.
I didn't hear what else he
said but he gave me a warm smile and I tried to forget about my
aching heart and the misery that being in love with Jackson Humphries
brought with it.
I spent my first year at
university loving Jackson from afar and he never even looked at me
once.
*****************
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About the author
Rosa
Temple began writing romantic comedies and chick lit because of her
passion for what she calls the 'early chick lit films', like:
Sabrina, Barefoot In the Park and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She honed
her skills as a ghost writer, gaining experience writing romantic
novellas, both sweet and on the slightly steamy side. In her
notebooks, she constantly jotted down story ideas of her own and she
eventually completed her first novella Sleeping With Your Best Friend
and now, the full length novel, Natalie's Getting Married.
Rosa
Temple is a Londoner and is married with two sons. She is a reluctant
keep fit fanatic and doer of housework and insists that writing keeps
her away from such strenuous tasks. She spends her days creating
characters and story lines while drinking herbal tea and eating
chocolate biscuits.
To
find out more about Rosa and to catch up on all her musings please
join her here on Rosa
Temple Writes...
Amazon
UK : CLICK HERE!
Amazon
US : CLICK HERE!
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Giveaway Time!
Win
1 of 5 e-books of Natalie's Getting Married! Giveaway open to entries
worldwide.
Thank you Michelle for having me on your blog today and good luck to everyone entering the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Rosa! I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed Natalie's Getting Married.
DeleteThank you so much for participating!! Your post looks great!
ReplyDelete