Manatee Books
Unhappy, friendless and dissatisfied with life in general, Lottie Botte isn’t afraid to let people know how she really feels.
When her husband Donald comes home and drops a bombshell, Lottie realises she is about to lose everything. Now is her chance to make some changes.
Second chances don’t come along very often, and Lottie must grab her opportunity with both hands, even if it means negotiating with the mysterious hot guy who is moving into her house…
Can Lottie become someone else - a less grotty, snotty Lottie?
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I loved writing Lottie’s story. She is such a mass of contradictions, she made me giggle. As for Gibb, and the tale of the lip plumper, you’ll have to read the book to discover what that’s all about. Sufficient to say, my editor was in tears of laughter when she read it.
And here is, what we say in Scotland, a wee tease
Lottie glanced around. No one paid the slightest interest to her. Why would they? She didn’t usually frequent this supermarket—too downmarket for her—and she was dressed as unlike her normal attire as possible. Sniggering, nudging locals had brought her to this.
And Bryony Bennett of course.
It was all that woman’s fault. Coming into the Bristows and swanning around as if she owned the place. Corrupting Dario and...
Lottie grimaced. If she was totally honest with herself, that wasn’t true. Bryony had done no more than move into a house Dario had wanted, and integrated into the village. Dario had met her and now they were a couple.
However, Lottie’s ignominious fall from grace came from that awful day when Bryony and Dario hosted a book event, and Lottie wasn’t magnanimous enough not to blame Bryony for the fact her new floaty dress (bought at great expense, much to Donald, her husband’s horror) had caught on a nail. It was Bryony’s barn after all, and she should have seen to things like that. To not have checked for sticking out nails or whatever was totally irresponsible.
It could have been a child who caught themselves on it. The fact the nail wasn’t easily found—unless you were storming out in a huff and slamming the door back on its hinges—and it was an adults only event was irrelevant. In Lottie’s mind, it was all Bryony’s fault. She had corrupted Dario, taken him away from Lottie. Lottie refused to acknowledge they weren’t that close anyway, they hadn’t been for several years. Not, if she were honest, since Dario had gone to university and Lottie was left at home with their mother. She resented that. However, that wasn’t the point. Dario wasn’t at all sympathetic, and neither was Donald. As her husband, Lottie thought Donald had failed miserably at giving her the support she needed.
The dress had ripped and to her chagrin, Lottie showed her holdy-in undies from top to toe. Everyone, but everyone, even her blooming brother, had sniggered, and for weeks if she ventured abroad, someone would shout, ‘Still holding it all in, are you?’ or some such vulgar thing.
Why on earth her brother had chosen someone like Bryony, Lottie couldn’t imagine. Mind you he had gone strange these last few years. Not the oh so conventional man she’d thought he was. He even had an earring. An earring for goodness sake. What next? Shave his head? Take up naked yoga on the village green? After all, when you considered what he wrote...
Katy, who writes rom com is the softer sweeter side of Raven McAllan and is the author of both Regency and contemporary stories.
She lives in the Trossachs, in Scotland on the edge of a forest, with her long suffering husband, who is used to rescuing the dinner from the Aga and passing her a glass of wine as she works.
Katy/Raven loves hearing from her readers and you can find her at www.ravenmcallan.com where all her social likes for Facebook and twitter are also found.
Second Chances for Lottie Botte is the second of her Devon trilogy. The first New Beginnings for Bryony Bennett is also on Amazon.
The third story, about Maisie will be released next spring.
