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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Friday, December 8, 2017

will she break down now? - S’more to Lose (The Campfire Series #2) by Beth Merlin

If you love Sophie Kinsella and Emily Giffin, you'll love this heartwarming sequel to One S'more Summer from a fresh voice in contemporary chick-lit that offers a lighthearted and fun take on life, love, and how to move forward without looking back.

Description:

Published: December 5th, 2017

Four years after her life-changing summer, Gigi Goldstein thinks saying goodbye to Camp Chinooka means saying hello to a brand new life. Now faced with a second chance at her career, she is filled with more hope than she’s felt in a long time. Her design house is taking the fashion world by storm, even attracting notice of Victoria Ellicott, the fashionable British socialite who just happens to be engaged to the future king of England. When Gigi is chosen to design the royal wedding dress in London, she is forced to confront her ex-fiancé, Perry Gillman, now a successful composer with a hit show on the West End.

But when Gigi learns Perry’s been dating Victoria’s sister, who rivals her in looks, style and sophistication, Gigi can’t help but feel inadequate in everything. Her world begins to crumble as she develops a creative block so debilitating, she fears that a wedding dress of royal proportions is never going to happen. Even a budding relationship with the handsome, wealthy, and rich Viscount of Satterley can’t make her forget about Perry and her inability to get over him. As the world gears up for the wedding of the century, Gigi is on the brink of buckling under the immense pressure of the uncertainties of her future and failures of her past.

Will she be able overcome her creative paralysis to design the dress of Victoria’s dreams, or will she break down now that she has even s’more to lose?

GUEST POST

When I started writing One S’more Summer, the first book in the Campfire Series, it became clear very quickly the readers were going to route for Gigi’s future relationship with Perry over her past relationship with Joshua. The fiery and passionate scenes and exchanges between Perry and Gigi practically wrote themselves, a clear sign to me that I’d nailed down Perry’s character. Like my readers, I fell a little in love with Perry, the handsome, British, headstrong classical musician and camp counselor guarding a devastating secret. I struggled with the ending of One S’more Summer because of course I wanted Gigi and Perry to ride off into the sunset -- but the reality of a summer romance is that you don’t always know if they are going to continue into the rest of the year. I decided to leave it a bit more open-ended.

When the story picks up in Book 2 of the Campfire Series, S’more to Lose, four years later, we learn Perry and Gigi’s romance did continue to evolve and they eventually became engaged. For reasons the reader will discover, they ultimately decided to break it off. When Gigi finds herself in London for work, she’s surrounded by a million memories of Perry and their past. She’s more surprised than anyone when she starts a new relationship with Gideon Cooper, the good-looking, worldly, funny, and kind, future Earl of Harronsby.

I was sure after writing One S’more Summer, I’d never write a romantic leading man I liked as much as Perry Gillman only to be surprised by what evolved between Gigi and Gideon over the course of the book.  Their dynamic is very different than the one Gigi had with Perry, but just as compelling. I have a feeling the reader will be just as torn as Gigi is in trying to decide which path her heart should follow….and unfortunately will have to wait until Book 3 of the Campfire Series, Love you S’more releases next summer to find out!

About the author:
Beth Merlin has a BA from The George Washington University where she minored in Creative Writing and a JD from New York Law School. She’s a native New Yorker who loves anything Broadway, rom-coms, her daughter Hadley, and a good maxi dress. She was introduced to her husband through a friend she met at sleepaway camp and considers the eight summers she spent there to be some of the most formative of her life. One S’more Summer is Beth’s debut novel.


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