Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for Love at the Northern Lights by Darcie Boleyn!
What They Say:
‘Climbing out the window in her dress and tiara wasn’t exactly how Frankie imagined her wedding day…’
Runaway bride Frankie Ashford hops a plane to Norway with one goal in mind - find her estranged mother and make peace with the past. But when a slip on the ice in Oslo lands her directly in Jonas Thorsen’s Viking-strong arms, her single-minded focus drifts away in the winter winds.
When it comes to romance Jonas knows that anything he and Frankie share has an expiration date - the British heiress has a life to return to in London that’s a world away from his own. But family is everything to Jonas and, as the one man who can help Frankie find the answers she’s seeking, he’ll do whatever it takes to help her reunite with her mother.
Now, as Christmas draws closer and the northern lights work their magic Frankie and Jonas will have to make a choice... play it safe or risk heartbreak to take a chance on love.
Book Spotlight:
Title: Love at the Northern Lights
Author Name: Darcie Boleyn
Previous Books: Love at the Italian Lake, Christmas at Conwenna Cove, Forever at Conwenna Cove, Summer at Conwenna Cove and A Very Merry Christmas
Genre: Women’s Fiction, romcom
Release Date: 17th September 2018
Publisher: Canelo
Exclusive Extract from Love at the Northern Lights:
‘No! Please put the thong back on…’
Frankie bolted upright in bed and blinked. Memories of her hen night the previous weekend were still disturbing her sleep. Following a very pleasant meal at The Ivy, there had been another nightclub and a return of the fake police officers, followed by stripping and… She shuddered. It was probably a night that a lot of brides-to-be might have enjoyed, but for Frankie, it had been her worst nightmare. Shaved groins, greased pecs and gyrating strangers, all made her extremely uncomfortable. She’d always been quite shy and reserved and never really felt that she fitted in with the people of her social circle. Perhaps it was due to her early years when her family unit had taken a hit, but perhaps she was just a prude at heart. Nothing wrong with the latter, but sometimes she wished she could do as Jen had suggested and go with the flow. If only she could be happy with the life she’d been given. She just had a feeling that something was missing; it had always been missing.
Her mobile buzzed on the bedside table and she reached across the king-size bed for it. Just her alarm, set to wake her in case she slept on. She’d been so tired recently and was finding it harder and harder to get up in the mornings. Of course, the fact that winter was pushing autumn aside and settling onto England with frosty mornings and dark afternoons probably didn’t help. They’d even said there could be snow this year, something that had sent Grandma reaching for a second large gin when she’d heard it on the farmers’ forecast.
Frankie flopped back on the fawn satin pillows and sighed. Winter could be such a dreary time and often made everything seem so much worse. That was why Grandma had suggested she and Rolo marry in November, to give them something to look forward to.
‘Bugger!’ She sat up again. ‘Married. Damn and blast it!’
Frankie was getting married… today…
She jumped out of bed and ran to the rear window of the double-aspect chamber, then pulled the heavy curtains apart.
Outside, on the expansive lawn, sat a huge white marquee. She knew exactly what it would look like inside: cream chair covers and tablecloths with their silver and gold place settings and crystal glasses. There would be white roses and mistletoe in the vases and the favours would be pinecone fire starters, encouraging the guests to ‘Let love warm your heart’. Twinkling fairy lights and evergreen festoons would be draped across the ceiling and around the entrance. It would be perfect, magical and Frankie should be excited.
But she wasn’t.
Not. At. All.
She backed away from the window, as if that could erase the image of the marquee from her mind. Her grandmother had organised the finer details of the wedding, like the favours and décor, and the wedding planner her prospective in-laws had hired had taken care of the rest. It had been remarkably easy for Frankie. In fact, she’d barely had to think about what was happening. Which was part of the problem. She was detached from the process, going into the marriage with blinkers on, as if pretending it wasn’t happening would make it all easier to go through with.
She was like a pawn being handed over to the highest bidder at a marriage auction, and that bidder had turned out to be Rolo Bellamy. Rolo was – on paper – the ideal match for Frankie, and although their families weren’t quite in the top one hundred of the Sunday Times Rich List, they had amassed impressive fortunes over the years through investing in property, land and farming.
It was, apparently, also the right time for her to get married. All her friends were doing it, or had done it – like Jen – and some were even on their second or third child, except for Lorna – who was younger, at twenty-five – and had sworn never to have babies because it would ruin her model physique. It wasn’t that Frankie didn’t like Rolo, because she did (at least, she thought she did) and they’d known each other a long time, but if someone had entered the bedroom at that moment and asked her if she loved the handsome, suave and very successful lawyer, Frankie knew she’d have struggled to reply.
She should love him. Wanted to love him. But for some reason, she didn’t.
Perhaps she was just incapable of love. She’d tried to speak to her grandmother about it, but Helen Ashford had pursed her thin lips and frowned, then raised a hand to silence her. Helen had spouted something about love being for poor romantics and that it was wise to marry for money – or to marry into more money in this case – then love would find a way.
‘I wish love would find a bloody way and pretty sharpish seeing as how I’m getting married in…’ she checked her mobile, ‘four hours!’
Four hours and her fate would be sealed. She would be Mrs Rolo Bellamy – she’d reluctantly agreed to take his name, as he said it looked better than her keeping her own – and they’d be jetting off to a honeymoon on the private island of Cayo Espanto in the Caribbean. Rolo had booked them a 2,100 square feet villa with a large private plunge pool, personal decks and a private dock. She rubbed at her throat, finding it hard to swallow, as she recalled the images Rolo had shown her of their honeymoon destination. Although he hadn’t interfered with the wedding details, like the marquee, bridesmaids’ dresses and the rest, he had decided where they would honeymoon and for how long.
When Rolo had basically insisted she take his name, she’d wondered if he’d try to get her to quit her job – the job she didn’t need to have for financial reasons but she chose to have for her sanity. Admittedly, it wasn’t the career she’d have picked, had she been able to follow her heart, but it had been the topic of a challenging negotiation with her grandmother, and management consultancy had been one of the routes deemed suitable for a young woman of her wealth and social status. So far, Rolo hadn’t seemed interested in persuading her to relinquish that treasured independence. The tight feeling in her throat increased and she had to cough to try to dislodge it.
Rolo, though outwardly nice and respectable, was rather controlling. And Frankie knew she was a bit of an ass for letting him take charge. But she was used to relinquishing control of her life; it had always been the way.
A knock at the door dragged Frankie from her thoughts and she hurried to answer it, hoping that it would be someone who could put her mind at rest and reassure her that it would all be absolutely fine and that she was just having pre-wedding jitters.
Please let it be nothing more than that…
About the Author:
Darcie Boleyn has a huge heart and is a real softy. She never fails to cry at books and movies, whether the ending is happy or not. Darcie is in possession of an overactive imagination that often keeps her awake at night. Her childhood dream was to become a Jedi but she hasn’t yet found suitable transport to take her to a galaxy far, far away. She also has reservations about how she’d look in a gold bikini, as she rather enjoys red wine, cheese and loves anything with ginger or cherries in it – especially chocolate. Darcie fell in love in New York, got married in the snow, rescues uncoordinated greyhounds and can usually be found reading or typing away on her laptop.
Contact Darcie:
Twitter: @DarcieBoleyn
Website: https://darcieboleyn.wordpress.com/
Love at the Northern Lights is out now with Canelo Books! Thanks to Ellie Pilcher for allowing me to be part of this tour!
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