The Oddest Little Beach Shop

‘I love Beth Good’s quirky style!’ – bestselling author Katie Fforde

From the first day of Annie’s arrival in the sleepy Cornish resort of Polzel, next-door neighbour Gabriel seems determined to make her life difficult.

Despite his sexy looks and angelic name, Gabriel behaves like an ogre to everyone, and has apparently been that way since losing his wife in a surfing accident. Annie would do far better, her friend Claudia urges her, to focus her attentions on Jamie instead. Jamie’s the hottest lifeguard in the village – and her co-worker in the Polzel beach shop.

But when Polzel’s famous annual pie-rolling contest sees Annie and Gabriel forced together, it turns out Annie might have a thing for big Cornish ogres after all . . .

A feel-good summer novella from popular romantic comedy writer Beth Good and another quirky entry in her ‘Oddest Little Shop’ series.

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My review

From the moment Annie arrived in the Cornish village of Polzel with her nephew it was clear this story would be a fun read. Getting off on the wrong foot with her new neighbours seemed to be a habit, what with the farmer in the middle of the road blocking traffic with his sheep, and the irate driver getting road rage behind her. Annie’s first impression of the village was wonderful; however, the people would definitely take some getting used to.

Greeted by her friend, Claudia, she was thrown into village life, and she soon learnt that everyone knew her before she even opened her mouth to introduce herself.

Working at the beach shop, mastering the till and eyeing up Jamie, her co-worker and local lifeguard, Annie had more than enough on her plate without falling for his brother – the irate driver she’d met on her first day.

The story revolves around Annie settling in and trying to do her best by her nephew. The villagers are quirky, eccentric, and not people who take no for an answer. Subsequently, Annie ends up learning to surf with Jamie, and making arrangements for the annual pie-rolling contest with his brother, Gabriel – which is where their romance both begins and ends. Until an incident calls for Annie to rely on Gabriel’s help.

This is a funny, charming and fast-paced novella. The resort is a stunningly beautiful seaside town, and with it come all the pros and cons of tourist season.

The author has an easy writing style that is refreshingly down-to-earth and most entertaining. Packed with humour, outlandish characters and a sweet romance that eventually is allowed to sizzle, this is an ideal read for both the beach or a rainy afternoon when the summer sun has vanished.

This was my second book of the “Oddest” series, and I’m certainly going back for more.

About the author

Born and raised in Essex, England, Beth Good was whisked away to an island tax haven at the age of eleven to attend an exclusive public school and rub shoulders with the rich and famous. Sadly, she never became rich or famous herself, so had to settle for infamy as a writer of dubious novels. She writes under several different names, mainly to avoid confusing her readers – and herself! As Beth Good she writes romantic comedy and feel-good fiction. She also writes thrillers as Jane Holland, historicals as Victoria Lamb and Elizabeth Moss, and feel-good fiction as Hannah Coates.

Beth currently lives in the West Country where she spends a great deal of time thinking romantic thoughts while staring out of her window at sheep. (These two actions are unrelated.)

You can find her most days on Twitter as @BethGoodWriter where she occasionally indulges in pointless banter about chocolate making and the Great British Bake Off. Due to a basic inability to say no, she has too many children and not enough money, which means she needs as many readers as she can get.

You can follow Beth on Facebook and Twitter

For more reviews, excerpts and interviews, check out these amazing blogs.

Dark Paradise

by Gene Desrochers

Dark Paradise

Boise Montague’s life in Los Angeles has fallen apart. After his wife dies, he returns to the tiny island where he grew up. Unfortunately, coming home doesn’t bring him the peace he’s looking for.

Things have changed drastically since his last visit. The island has moved on and so have the people he once knew. When Boise tries to find the one friend he thinks he can count on to be there for him, he’s confronted with another death. A murder. A murder that the police did not think important enough to investigate thoroughly.

Boise wants answers. He enlists a local reporter named Dana, who has theories of her own, to help him dig deeper.

With not much left to lose, a bone to pick with the justice system, and a relentless partner, Boise sets out to do what the police would not: solve the murder of Jeffrey Black.

The island of St. Thomas is a gleaming tropical paradise. Welcome to the Caribbean, where murder is as common as sunshine.

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This sounds so good … and to entice you a little more, here’s an excerpt

In this extract, Boise explains to his friend’s aunt who he is. Boise begins to piece together what happened to Roger.

***

“Were you the ones with all the cats?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

I nodded.

“Father hated your cats. Ever since, I’ve disliked cats too.”

“That’s too bad. They’re good bullshit detectors,” I said. “Would you mind telling me what you know about Roger?”

She scratched her head and let out a long, reluctant sigh. “He got into illegal dealing. Drugs. He got into it deeply and wholly. It took him to the grave. He died around Christmas two years ago.”

My breath quickened as I felt a sharp pain run through my right arm like a moving needle. My thumb twitched. I put out my hand and found a chair in the corner. Roger dead? Impossible.

He’d never had any interest in that life. We played stickball, rode bikes near the baseball stadium, snuck into games on Saturday afternoons. The convenience store with its treasure trove of sugary goodies like Hubba-Bubba and ring pops, our only vices. Once, Roger washed blood out of my hair when an older boy pegged me with a rock in the head after a baseball game. I didn’t want my mother to know or she’d have whipped me. He washed it out and kept the secret.

The familiar feeling of home I’d experienced on the airport runway disappeared, leaving a gaping wound in my chest that fluttered with each breath. “Drugs?” I muttered.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Iris got up, went to a water cooler. She handed me a tiny paper cup. It felt cool against my fingertips. “Drink this,” she said as she gently pushed my hand toward my lips. I tried but dribbled some of the water onto my shirt. The cold wetness startled me.

“I…did he try to get out of that life?” I said, hoping his soul cleansed itself before death.

“Don’t think so. He was deep in, like I said. He wanted to run things. He was not savage enough in his heart for that, but he wasn’t a good person either,” she said. “I hear he’s buried down by Frenchtown.”

Iris adjusted the waist of her flowered skirt then circled back around her desk. As she sat down, her face lit up. “Now I remember you! You gained some weight, right?”

“Yeah,” I said, patting my protruding gut. I was probably twenty-five pounds over ideal weight. Stress. “I got more buff, just in the wrong places.”

She laughed. “Nah, mi son, we all put it on over the years. You also have a nice chest.”

I waved good-bye on the compliment. The sun warmed the back of my neck as I stepped outside.

Roger and I hadn’t seen each other or spoken in seventeen years. Yet without him, St. Thomas was a foreign land. I pushed the hair away from the scar on the right side of my head where that boy had hit me with a rock after the ball game.

Jet lag notwithstanding, trudging around in the ninety-degree humidity felt freeing. I walked through Charlotte Amalie, past the whorehouse, right next to St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church on Dronningens Gade, also known as Main Street.

I entered the iron gates and whitewashed concrete walls of the cemetery. After thirty minutes, I found his tombstone. It read: “Roger Black, January 26, 1983-December 24, 2011.” While there, I visited my grandparents’ graves as well.

About the author:

Gene Desrochers hails from a dot in the Caribbean Sea called St. Thomas.

He grew up with minimal supervision and free-roaming animals in a guesthouse that also served as a hospital during wartime.

He has spent his life steadily migrating west, and now finds himself in Los Angeles with a beautiful wife, cats, and kids.

After a lifetime of writing and telling short stories, he ventured into the deep end, publishing his first novel, Dark Paradise in 2018.

If you ask, he will regale you with his Caribbean accent and tennis prowess.

You can follow Gene on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Medium and on his website.

But, wait … there’s more.

Giveaway 1 – Win a $25 Amazon e-gift Card

Post your photo with your e-book or hard copy of Dark Paradise on social media and share on Gene’s Facebook Instagram or Twitter page and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a $25 Amazon Gift Card to be awarded on Monday, September 24th

Giveaway 2 – Win 2 x Paperbacks and 2 x E-copies of Dark Paradise (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. The two paperbacks are only open to USA entries. Please enter using the Rafflecopter link below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.