I am delighted to have an extract for you from Terri Boaz' debut novel, Two Scoops not Three. It was published by Wrate's Publishing on 4th June 2020. First, here's a little about the book:
Briony, Natalie and Lauren have been best friends since
school. Now in their thirties, their lives couldn’t be more different.
Eternally single Briony is desperate to find ‘the one’,
while Lauren, a singer onboard cruise ships, is having far too much carefree
fun to even think about settling down with ‘Mrs Right’. Or is she?
Meanwhile, long-term married mum Natalie has had her head
turned at the gym by sexy spin instructor, Jason. And when he suggests some
private, one-on-one sessions, sex-starved Natalie is powerless to resist.
When Natalie’s affair comes to light after a boozy night
down their local, where they go to get their alcohol and ice cream fixes,
Briony doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forgive her friend. Luckily, a date
with Mani, the hot, chivalrous son of her larger-than-life American boss helps
to take her mind off things. Could he be the special someone she has been
waiting for all her life?
As the girls embark on some of the most challenging moments
of their lives, only one thing is for sure – their friendship will never be the
same again . . .
Honoured as a Finalist in the, Fiction: Women's Fiction
category at the American Book Fest 2020, Best Book Awards.
Extract
Two scoops, not three follows the lives of best friends
Briony, Natalie and Lauren over a series of events in May 2017.
This extract is from chapter 14 where Natalie
is confronted by her bad decision.
Bethany was asleep in the front bedroom of her quiet house
when she was woken by the big ball of black and white fluff that jumped from
the windowsill and onto her bed. Instant-ly aware that she was awake, Dec
proceeded to parade around her face with a high-pitched happy cat noise before
padding around her tummy and massaging his claws in and out to make himself
comfortable. Bethany couldn’t be cross with her favourite cat and pandered to
his needs with big strokes, encouraging his purrs. In appreciation of her
af-fection, warm droplets of dribble fell from his mouth and onto her princess
pyjamas.
The
noise of a car pulling up outside the house aroused Bethany’s suspicion, as it
did her father’s, who was in the living room. Martin was wide awake in anticipation
of his wife’s return. After a day’s recovery, his nose wasn’t quite as sore,
but the bruising had turned his skin to a mixture of hues, ranging from violet
to sky blue, and he knew that be-fore it disappeared it would turn the same
green as army camouflage. At the sound of ac-tivity outside, he peeked through
the curtains.
He
hoped that Natalie was alone. After all, she’d been so convincing when she
promised to break it off with Jason. She’d agreed with Martin that for the sake
of their kids they needed to work on themselves and their marriage.
His
stomach fell like a kilo weight when he saw the two silhouettes in the back of
a cab. He hoped beyond hope that Jason was just being a gentleman and escorting
Natalie home safely. The dark fear of defeat ate through his mind and his eyes
filled with tears, as he realised that he really should have appreciated his
wife more. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. In fact, he adored her just as
much as when he’d first asked her out. But he’d been forced to accept that he’d
gotten his feet way too far under the table and unin-tentionally taken his wife
for granted All the hours of work he had been putting in was to allow her to be
a full-time mum to their children and afford them the lifestyle they had
be-come accustomed to, but it was true that money couldn’t buy everything. Deep
gremlins of regret clouded his mind and he closed the curtains before he saw
something he didn’t want to see. It was bad enough picturing his wife with
another man, but to see him in real life would be completely devastating. He
knew he wouldn’t have the strength to to deal with the comparisons he’d make.
Defeat weighed heavy on his shoulders and body, as he scraped his feet across
the living room carpet and collapsed into a heap on the pull-out bed, which
shook under the thunderous drop of his weight. He acknowledged that while he’d
recognised the changes in his wife’s behaviour, affection and interest levels
in recent months, he’d taken the easy option and stuck his head into the sand.
He held his breath until the familiar jangle of Natalie’s keys in the front
door.
Meanwhile,
Bethany tuned into the sound of the front door opening and jumped out of bed.
Dec wasn’t at all impressed by the sudden movement and watched her quick exit
from underneath the discarded duvet covers.
Triumphantly,
she got to the top of the staircase just as Natalie stepped through the door,
“Mummy, who was that man you were kissing in the car?”
About the Author
Terri Boas lives in
Hampshire with her husband, Rich, daughter, Portia and Pud, the cat. She works
part-time at The Raven Hotel in Hook. Famous children’s author, Enid Blyton
wrote the first of her hundreds of books right there!
Two scoops, not three is Terri’s debut novel.
You can follow Terri here:
Twitter | Instagram
Book links: Amazon UK | Amazon US
Coming soon!
Hot off the Press – here is a sneak peak at the cover for the sequel Two scoops, Too
much which is due out in December!
Thanks to Terri Boaz, Wrate's Publishing and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for the extract and a place on the event.
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