<— Ooomph for the sound of this one, you guys!!! Natasha Boyd (our beloved author of the “Eversea” series) has just released a new comedy romance series (each one can be read as a standalone), and WOW on the premise of this one (Inconvenient Wife)! My angst-loving friends… tell me this doesn’t get you in the feels:
I love her.
I love her.
I am in love with her.
I am exquisitely, brilliantly, painfully and uncompromisingly in love with my best friend.
And I’m about to be married to someone else.
*ooooooooooomph* RIGHT???!!!!! WHOA. Yes please!!! But there’s more… and the author is going to tease us with all sorts of personal tidbits about this book:
A little intro about this book… by the author herself!
Inconvenient Wife is a stand-alone romantic comedy, and the second offering of the unofficially named Charleston Series. The series started with Accidental Tryst when Trystan Montgomery, a type A, serial dater, from New York, accidentally swapped cellphones with Emmy Dubois, a gorgeous red-headed, restaurant Instagrammer from Charleston. During the course of their hilarious and sexy back-and-forth’s by text, phone and email, where they become embroiled in each other’s lives, the reader meets Trystan’s cousin Beau Montgomery.
Grandfather Montgomery has just died and left his business to Trystan, and he also has an inheritance for Beau. But only if Beau gets married. The obvious choice is his best friend, Gwen.
Gwen has been in love with Beau since they were teenagers … so when Beau asks her to step in and do him a solid: get married … of course she’d say yes, right. Um, no.
We get to see how a life-long friendship, can gradually turn into more, so much more, along with a three-legged dog named Eileen, a fun cast of friends, and Trystan (From Accidental Tryst) of course.
Here’s an excerpt with Trystan and Beau:
EXCERPT
“So what’s the latest on finding a wife?” Trystan asks, popping some peanuts into his mouth as we settle in.
I get him up to speed on as much as I can, including the argument I just had with Gwen, and the stack of potential wives I probably have hitting my inbox as we speak. I hesitate to tell him about the kiss though. For now I keep it to myself. When I get done telling him almost everything thoroughly and honestly, Trystan is quiet and contemplative.
Finally, he takes a long sip of his beer and sets it down.
“Beau,” he says. “I think Gwen is in love with you.”
There are a few moments of silence before I snort with a barely contained chortle.
Then I laugh so hard my eyes begin to prick with tears.
“God, you are priceless, Trystan,” I say when I can finally find my breath. “Now that you’ve been hit with the love stick, you’re seeing it everywhere.”
Trystan throws a peanut at my head. “Just calling it like I see it, arsehole.”
“Gwen and I have been friends for a long time. I promise you, I’d have picked up on something if she felt that way. Besides she’s been seeing some guy in the military for a few years now.”
“Serious, are they?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think so because they hardly ever see each other, but he’s coming in town this week. She seems ecstatic about it.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Whatever, Dr. Love.”
“So are you going to check out these women that responded to the ad?” He nods at my phone.
“I want to, but I’m a bit nervous. What if one of them is a hulking, three-hundred-pound, ax-wielding murderer named Trevor, who’s cat-fishing me?”
“Read a few to me. I’ll see if I pick up on anything dodgy.”
I swipe my phone open and click open the emails. “How about you actually come with me as protection.”
“Um, no.” He sips his beer. “I have plans to rearrange my sock drawer. But thanks anyway.”
“I’ll remember that, asshole,” I grumble and pull up the emails. Daisy has very kindly put a name of the applicant in the subject line of each forwarded message. “Delilah,” I start.
“Not bad. It’s a cute name. Like that song. Go on.”
“Let’s see. Delilah, sixty-seven years ol—no.”
Trystan barks out a laugh. “Come on. Don’t be ageist. I know some smoking hot women who are in their sixties.”
“Would you bang them?” I ask, unamused.
He lifts his shoulders, smirking at me.
“This isn’t funny. And no you wouldn’t.”
“It’s f*cking hilarious. And neither are you going to be banging them, right? Isn’t that the point?”
I cast my eyes back to my phone and frown. “True. But I can’t bring someone home to a family dinner who’s closer to Grandmother’s age.”
“Why?” He laughs again. “You were just telling me how lonely she is. You can bring her a friend.”
“Stop punching holes in my case. You should have been a lawyer. Okay. Moving on. Sandra, no age given, feels like she’d be doing a good deed, and God told her when she was a child that one day she would devote her life in service to someone she didn’t know. And that it would change the world.”
Trystan snorts.
“Yeah, I think not.”
“And these are the vetted ones?”
“Yep.”
“I can’t believe you are taking these seriously.”
“I don’t have much choice. I need a marriage certificate.” I groan.
“Are you sure you don’t want to reexamine your feelings for Gwen?”
“Shut up about Gwen already.”
“I’m just saying … she wants sex and kids, right?”
“Yeah,” I say patiently.
“So give those to her. You want kids eventually anyway, right?”
I hate the sensation that snakes through my gut at Trystan’s words. I rake my fingers through my hair and blow out a breath. “I’ve already pissed her off. Apparently I insulted her by asking. I’m not doing it again.”
“But have you offered her sex? I mean is she still cute? Could you go there?”
Cute? She’s gorgeous. I instantly replay our kiss from earlier, and before I can stuff that ill-gotten memory into the tight vault where it needs to forget the light of day, it has my pulse racing and my cock hardening. In public. Christ. I should never have found out what it was like to kiss her. Get a grip, Montgomery. “She’s fine,” I say tightly. “Just drop it.”
Trystan takes my phone and starts scrolling through the emails. “This one,” he says. “Call her right now and tell her to come down here. Look, she even sent a picture.”
I look at my phone. “She looks seventeen. No.”
Trystan takes the phone back. “No, she doesn’t.”
“Fine. What’s her story?”
“Needs a place to live so she can move out of home while she studies.” He looks over the top of the phone at me. “She’s twenty-two, has a small dog who’s house-trained, would be willing to cook and do laundry too.”
“God. Basically, I’d be married to my housekeeper.”
“There are worse situations. And this will make me sound jaded—”
“You are jaded.”
He rolls his eyes and goes on. “But having someone younger might mean she’s less jaded and easier to get along with.”
“You’ve had some bad relationship situations with older women, have you? The sixty-year-old?” I smirk.
“F*ck off. And I haven’t had any real relationships. Not really. Until now.”
“And you’re not even in one yet. Okay, hand the phone over.”
Trystan types out something on my phone.
“What are you doing?” I scowl.
“Texting her. She left her number.”
“Give me that. I can do it.”
He holds it out of the way. “I don’t trust you. You’re stalling.”
“I’m not.” Okay, maybe I was for a few days, hoping Gwen would help me out. But now I am all business. “What are you saying?” I ask.
“I’m asking if she’s free to meet tonight.”
I make a lunge, but Trystan is too fast. “Christ, what are we? Twelve?” I complain.
“Incoming,” Trystan says as he stops and stares at the phone. “This?” He holds up the screen to face me, his eyebrows raised. “This is Gwen all grown up?”
Last year, when I got my new smart phone I set up a profile picture I had of Gwen when we were out on a boat her dad had just finished in the fall. We had to deliver it down to the port in Savannah. The weather was cold, and she was all bundled up in a pale cable-knit sweater, her hair flying in the wind and laughing at something I’d just said. It’s a great picture, I admit. The call goes to voicemail, and she disappears as the screen goes back to normal.
“Jesus, Beau,” says Trystan, shaking his head incredulously. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to advise you growing up, because dude, you basically got friend-zoned by the hottest girl in town.”
And Nastasha give us an inside look into her own experience writing her latest release:
Hey Natasha! Is Rom Com new for you?
It is! Well … I always love to have a comedic break in tension in a lot of my books, especially when you have the kind of character who can naturally see the funny side of life. But this (Charleston) series was really all about having fun, and even though there’s a lot of love, lust, and emotion, the ultimate feeling is meant to leave the reader with a big, happy, sighing smile!
I have been so thrilled that Accidental Tryst was such a hit with rom-com readers. I hope they love Inconvenient Wife too. It’s a slightly softer pace because the characters have been friends for a long time, but it’s no less touching, light-hearted, swoony and sexy. And amusing.
Who’s your favorite character in the series?
In Accidental Tryst, it was probably the coffee shop owner, Armand. In Inconvenient Wife, I think my favorite character is Eileen, Beau’s three-legged rescue dog.
Will there be another in the series?
Yes! I have another book due for my publisher, but will be back to Charleston as soon as I can. I’m also working on a book for my Butler Cove series, since I still have people emailing to ask who the baby-daddy is for Lizzie’s son. I’ll get there! Eventually! It’s been amazing to write rom com though, because we all need happy endings and laugh-out-loud moments these days. It’s my civic duty ha ha.
Should we read Accidental Tryst first?
No! Yes! LOL. You don’t have to. They are COMPLETELY stand-alone stories. But you’ll probably want to read Accidental Tryst too, if you’re a rom-com fan, you don’t want to miss Trystan Montgomery and Emmy Dubois. In the meantime, Beau Montgomery and Gwen “Gracie” Thomas will warm your heart and make you swoon to the very last page. You don’t want to miss the way their story ends
Good enough for me!!! Many of us love reading in order. In fact some of us INSIST! But for those of us that like to jump in ’cause the blurb grabs us, it’s always nice when it “can” be read as a standalone. 🙂
I’m first, fancy that. Must be the jetlag. Throws glitter and twirls.
I just finished Hating you, Loving you. I really enjoyed it. But it was very slow until about half way.
I have my daughters 21st party on Saturday night and so much to do.
And Bev on GR there’s a message for you. Something you are organising.
That you don’t know about.
Loved this book!!