Whisk Me Up by
+Zee Monodee
Havisham Park, Book 1
Small-town contemporary Romance set in Yorkshire, England
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BLURB
After fainting backstage at a fashion week, supermodel Mary Beth Beresford is forced to go into hiding in the sleepy North Yorkshire village of Stonydale in Havisham Park when her sisters kidnap her and bring her there to their late father’s family stronghold so she’ll face the truth - she is anorexic.
Never one to be bossed around, Mary Beth attempts to break out the very next morning...only to land onto the path of the gorgeous, Viking-like pub owner and chef, Niall Barry.
Suddenly, sticking around in this one-horse town doesn’t look like Purgatory anymore.
But Niall is a very private person who shies away from celebrity, and Mary Beth is one of the biggest celebs on the planet. Not to mention that she is an aristocrat - daughter of the late earl and member of the peerage - while he is simply a working-class chef.
Is any relationship between them doomed to collapse like a failed soufflé?
BUY LINKS
TEASERS
EXCERPT
Something about this lass
didn’t add up.
She jerked in his arms, and
clamped her lips shut before pressing a hand to her mouth. A garbled sound came
from her throat and her skin paled, beads of sweat erupting at her temples.
He grabbed her shoulders; to
steady her or to keep her in place, he knew not.
“Are you sick? Is it your
blood sugar, if you’re diabetic?”
She struck him as much too
young for diabetes, but stranger things happened in the world.
“Fine,” she bit out behind her
hand and shook her head, sending her ponytail flying.
Early twenties, he’d say.
Still a girl. Off-limits for him, being on the wrong side of thirty. He
released her.
“You’re not fine.” Could he
have growled more if he’d wanted?
She bristled and shrugged away
from his touch. “And you’re not my keeper.”
This scrap of a lass wanted to
take him on?
Niall drew to his six-five
height and towered over her. You could put two like her side-to-side and only then
would she match him somewhat in width.
But she poked that pointed
chin out and stared him down, even if she appeared on the brink of collapse.
“The saying is, ‘you’re not my
mother’,” he threw out in a bid to unsettle her.
She snorted. “Like she ever cared.”
Late teen/young adult
rebellion? Hence the druggie route?
“Well, you’re in my place, and
under my roof, you do as I say.”
“But of course, if you say so,
Thor.”
Bit of a smart mouth, ain’t
she? With his build, blond hair, and Viking ancestry, he’d been compared to the
Norse god many a time.
Then her eyes rolled back, and
she slumped.
Hell fire! “Calling the
doctor.”
He picked her up again and
brought her to the back, into the office, where he lay her down on the worn
settee.
“No!”
“Listen, lass. You almost
passed out three times in the past quarter hour—”
“I told you I’m not sick. I
came out for a run but got lost and been out longer than I planned.”
“And you set out on an empty
stomach, I bet.” Where that certitude came from, he knew not.
“I had a protein shake, okay?”
She had the gall to glare at him.
He leaned down and peered into
her face. “Don’ cut it with me. You’d need to run mile afore that worked off.
Hardly in sweat, are you?”
Fire flashed in her gaze, and
she pursed her lips as if to refrain from cursing him, or worse, spitting into
his face.
“Stay put,” he ordered as he
dashed out of the room and into the kitchen across the corridor. From the oven,
he pulled a dish of leftover shepherd’s pie he’d heated up for Anna. Lord knew
the woman never remembered to eat. Anorexic at her age; he snorted.
Eeh bah gum. The lass back there? Way too thin. She probably
hardly ate a thing.
“Where are you off to?” he
barked from the kitchen doorway.
She froze in the corridor. “On
my way out.”
“Not afore you eaten summa’.”
“Gosh dang! Ya never let up,
duntya?”
AUTHOR BIO
Author, editor, smitten wife, in-over-her-head mum to a tween boy,
best-buddy stepmum to a teenage lad, bookaholic, lover of all things fluffy
& pink, chronic shoeholic, incompetent housewife desperate to channel
Nigella Lawson (and who’ll prolly always fail at making domestic goddess
status)...
Zee hails from the multicultural, rainbow-nation island of
Mauritius, in the southern Indian Ocean, where she grew up on the figurative
fence—one side had her ancestors’ Indian and Muslim culture; the other had
modernity and the global village. When one day she realised she could dip her
toes into both sides without losing her integrity, she found her identity.
This quest for ‘finding your place’ is what she attempts to bring
in all her stories, across all the genres she writes. Her heroines represent
today’s women trying to reconcile love, life, & relationships in a
melting pot of cultures, while her heroes are Alpha men who often get put back
into their rightful place by the headstrong women she writes. Love is always a
winner in her stories, though; that’s a given.
CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
**Email her at this addy (she loves to talk...prolly too much,
even!) zeemonodee@gmail.com
GIVEAWAY
Zee is giving one lucky commenter the chance to name a character in her next book of the series. Just leave a comment on the post and complete the rafflecopter for your chance to win.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
MY REVIEW:
I've read several of Zee's books already. What surprises me as they always make me feel so deeply. I had to bring out the tissues again with this one. What I especially loved about this book was the real and very touching journey that Mary Beth went through in her healing from anorexia. It wasn't brought across in a gruesome, trying to garner sympathy way, but in a realistic way of how a strong woman with lots of passion for life overcomes a difficult disease. It also wasn't the main focus of the book but it definitely makes the reader aware of the horrors of allowing skewed image and modern expectations destroy one's health. The story of how Mary Beth grew as a person and found her own direction for her life was thoroughly enjoyable to read.
I have to admit, I struggled with the book in the beginning - specifically with the dialect of the Yorkshire people. I couldn't work out what they were saying sometimes. I did, however, love the setting and the whole feel of the place. I'm sure the subsequent books in the series will be fascinating.
The romance was sweet and touching. I loved Niall. He was really a big, gorgeous teddy-bear of a man - a gentle giant. I thought Mary Beth was amazing. She was tender, sweet, yet a tough cookie on the inside. They were perfect for one another. I loved the journey that Niall had to take. I won't give it away.
Another part of the book which kept me gripped was the periscope into the world of fashion and modelling. I can see the writer spent much time researching that and the issues with anorexia. To me it seemed true to life although I've never had much knowledge about the fashion industry. Her idea that anorexia often stems from deeper issues than just body image was spot on too.
All in all a great read. Who says light and heart-warming romance doesn't deal with real life issues?
