Blog Tour ~ Absolutely, Almost, Perfect (Sucre Coeur series #3) by Lissa Reed (Excerpt + Playlist + Giveaway)
SUMMARY:
Craig Oliver and Alex Scheff lead a charmed life. Craig is part owner of Sucre Coeur, the bakery he’s loved and managed for years. Alex is an up-and-coming Seattle photographer. Their relationship has been going strong for a year, and everything is absolutely perfect—right up until Craig receives a wedding invitation from his long-estranged brother.
As Craig grows tense over seeing his brother for the first time in years, Alex can’t control his anxiety over meeting Craig’s family. At the wedding in an English hamlet, boisterous Scottish mothers, smirking teenage sisters, and awkward ex-boyfriends complicate the sweet life they lead.
EXCERPT
* * *
“Up and at ‘em, babe. Mum’s downstairs making the biggest breakfast you have ever seen, and we have a long day ahead. I unpacked your toiletries bag; your contacts are in the loo by the sink if you want them instead of the glasses.”
“In a minute.” Alex struggles up to a sitting position and accepts both the tea and the glasses, taking care to apply them to his person in the correct order—that’s a mistake he’s only made once. He takes a long sip and sighs in gratitude. “You’re an angel, Craig.”
“Most nights you call me God. Bit of a downgrade.” Craig winks and maneuvers around the tea mug to kiss Alex on the cheek. “Sorry I didn’t have milk for the tea. I forgot.”
“S’okay. Undiluted caffeine might be the better choice before we go downstairs to face the masses.” Alex yawns again and takes a bigger gulp of his tea to hide his sudden surge of anxiety. “Have you already been down? Is that where this came from?”
“It’s where the sugar came from, but otherwise…” Craig jerks his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the battered desk tucked under a window at the other end of the room. An electric kettle sits there next to a stack of old journals and magazines. “The kettle’s a perk of being banished to the top floor of the house—along with the bathroom, the fireplace, and complete privacy. Didn’t manage to successfully lobby for a mini-fridge, though. I expect Mum and Dad rightly concluded I’d never come downstairs again if they installed one of those.” He swipes Alex’s mug and takes a sip. “There’s also a handy sneak-out route through that window behind you, if you’re up for shimmying down a rickety drainpipe.”
“Three floors up? No thanks. I much prefer the quiet-stalk-down-the-stairs method.” Alex snatches his mug back. “Get your own, I need all of this.”
“Fine, greedy.” Craig winks and ambles to the kettle with Fitz scrabbling at his heels. “Fitz and I slept like kings. How about you?”
Alex stares warily at the Wall O’ Robbies as Craig disappears into the bathroom. “Okay, I guess.”
“Liar.” Water runs for a moment or two, and Craig emerges with the kettle in his hand and a skeptical look. “You tossed and turned all night. Is this trip getting to you so badly already?”
“Yes… no…” Alex rubs at his chin and sighs. “It’s the staring, Craig. All those Robbies staring at us, all night long. Not blinking. I can’t… no. I did not sleep.”
Craig joins the array of Robbies, staring at Alex for a very long and, given that he has company, uncomfortable moment. “Are you judging? It sounds like you’re judging.”
“Only your choice of decoration, not the subject,” Alex says, and it’s as ridiculous out loud as it was in his head the instant before he said it.
Craig obviously agrees. “Do I need to remind you,” he says as he crosses the room to plug the kettle back in, “that I am in possession of several photos of your untouched teenage bedroom, sent to me by your very own mother? A bedroom with not one but four walls solidly plastered with posters of Ben Affleck and Chris Evans?” One dark eyebrow arches nearly to a point.
“Posters, you idiot, I’m judging the posters, not your taste in men,” Alex snaps as his face flushes ten shades of hot, red, and flustered. “I’m judging the fact that a dozen versions of Robbie Williams are leering at your bed like a gang of serial killers.”
* * *
Absolutely, Almost, Perfect will be published by Interlude Press on August 3, 2017. Connect with author Lissa Reed at LissaReed.com; on Twitter at @LissaReedBooks; and on Instagram at Lissa_Angeline.
Purchase Links:Interlude Press: store.interludepress.com Amazon: http://amzn.to/2uzeXj7Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ absolutely-almost-perfect- lissa-reed/1126397688?ean= 9781945053269 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/ 723955 Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Absolutely- Almost-Perfect-Liss-Reed/ 9781945053269?ref=grid-view& qid=1501126498966&sr=1-3/?a_ aid=InterludePress
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs, and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her early interest in writing back to elementary school, when a teacher gifted her with her first composition book and told her to fill it with words. After experimenting with print journalism, Reed shifted her writing focus to romance and literary fiction and never looked back. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Absolutely, Almost, Perfect is the third book in her Sucre Coeur Series.
“The Playlist”
Hi there, and thanks for having me at Bayou Book Junkie! I’m a DFW-based writer, cat fancier, and full-time techbot. The tech pays the bills, and the writing feeds the soul. And the cats just lay around looking cute and getting fur all over everything.
My latest book is Absolutely, Almost, Perfect and it is a straight-up Brit rom-com. It’s the final book in my Sucre Coeur bakery romance series, and it returns the focus of the series back to Craig and Alex from my first book… but I yank them out of their cozy love nest in Seattle and send them to England for a family wedding and all the associated hijinks. It’s a whole rollercoaster of fun, I can’t wait for people to get their hands on it.
The Official Absolutely, Almost, Perfect Playlist
A playlist is something I create for every book, because music is so often the catalyst for my stories - some song or piece of music I hear somewhere in the world will tease out the ghost of a scene, so I’ll build a playlist around it. Spotify Radio is great for this, because I can take the first song and use it to seed a station, and then I’ll take whatever songs help build the scene and story and create a playlist.
Here’s the list I put together for Absolutely, Almost, Perfect:
Level Up – Vienna Teng
I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – Sleeping at Last
Our House – Madness
Let Me Entertain You – Robbie Williams
Take My Love – The Lone Bellow
Cough Syrup – Young the Giant
Poet – Bastille
On Top of the World – Imagine Dragons
Keep on Moving – The Rival
Fire and the Flood – Vance Joy
Hold Back the River – James Bay
Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran
Life With You – The Proclaimers
Book Tour Rafflecopter Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveawayGrand Prize $25 IP Gift Card + Multi-format eBook of Hold // Five winners receive Absolutely, Almost, Perfect eBook
Thank you for the stop today!
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