WHAT LOLA WANTS … it’s about time! @JoAnneKenrick #newrelease #romance #amreading
What Lola Wants … it’s about time!
Huge thanks to Jessica for hosting me on her awesomesauce blog! It’s a pleasure and honor to be here, as always. I adore the socks off that gal.
Well. It’s official, I am now one of those fandangled hybrid authors who is published both traditionally via a publisher, and self published. My first self-published book just went live for pre-order…and releases shortly on August 27th 2015. Psst…it’s only $1.11, what a bargain! One of the bonuses of self-publishing is that I get to set the price.
What Lola Wants, London Dolls book one, holds a very special place in my heart. Not just because she’s my first self-published book and kick starts a very exciting series set in London’s West End, but because she’s been on my computer for years. Yes! I said years. I finished her back in 2013. As with all my books, I polished her and edited her with the help of my amazing critique group. But then…2014 was an awful year. Personal stuff, but let’s just say writing was the last thing on my mind for a long while. She was ready to publish, really, mid-2014. But I just kept picking at the manuscript, slowly over time while I waited for life to settle down again.
And, as you can imagine, to finally be able to let What Lola Wants loose on the world is an incredibly satisfying yet nerve splitting feeling. I can’t wait for you to meet Lola. She’s full of sass and is so stubborn…but her old high school crush is about to knock that right out of her, and then some!
If you want a “girls night out” type reading experience, then my new London Dolls series is for you! It’s full of hopes and dreams, and glam…all set in the glizty West End of London with small town visits thrown in for good measure.
I hope readers love Lola and Dennis as much as I do, and the whole crew of characters waiting in line for their story to be told *grins* …
I present to you, London Dolls, book one.
What Lola Wants.
Louisa “Lola” Lone flees The Royal Ballet and ends her days as arm-candy to a cheating choreographer. Back in London, she plans to recreate herself and find the happiness success never brought her. But she hasn’t seen her best friend’s brother, the blond surfer who still holds her heart, in years, and worries he may resent her for leaving him for fame and fortune.
Dennis Bay sucks at relationships. Why? Because he can’t get over Lola. A decade after leaving without a glance back, she’s returned and needs support. He wants to pretend she’s just his baby sister’s friend, leave the city, and surf out his emotions on the biggest waves he can find, ultimately forgetting about her. But he can’t deny the frenzy of love and lust the sexy dancer has him in.
Spinning into the dazzling world of burlesque, Louisa hopes to rediscover her confidence and a path back to Dennis. But a stalker lurks in the shadows of her new life and threatens a second chance with her high school crush. Can history and desire overcome all that stands in the way of Dennis and Louisa’s happily ever after?
Available August 27, 2015
PRE -ORDER from
Kindle Worldwide: http://authl.it/B013VDM5HS
Kindle USA: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013VDM5HS
Print, coming soon.
Want a sneak look? Here’s a snippet just for you!
She pressed the cutesy doorbell she helped pick out when she and Jane had first moved in, then waited.
It had only been four or so months since she’d last chit-chatted on the phone with Jane, but ten years had passed since they’d last rehearsed together. Last she’d heard, Jane was some big West End star now. Knowing this eased her guilt of being accepted to The Royal Ballet when Jane had been rejected.
Louisa’s suitcase bulged with all the clothes she’d managed to squeeze into the battered old thing. The sight brought home her new reality. No performing for the unforeseeable future. She slumped. Voluntary sabbatical. Ha! Her ex had pushed her so far into a corner that she didn’t have a choice.
She pressed the button again.
Still no answer.
“Jane?” She knocked on the hardwood.
The door creaked open a sliver.
“Hello?” Louisa peeked around the opening, her voice a notch higher than a whisper. “Anyone home?”
She inched into her old place and peered around.
Not a stick of furniture remained in a room distinguished by peeling pink wallpaper and faded carpet. No welcoming aromas of coffee and sweet vanilla butter cream from her friend’s cake and caffeine addiction. Just the bitter lemon and pine scent of cleaning products lingered.
Nothing resembled the bright flat she’d once shared with Jane.
The door to the kitchen where she’d burned countless meals and brewed much coffee creaked open a little, and the sounds of a man engaged in a heated discussion echoed. He blasted complaints about spoiled fruitcake and returned invites.
Seemed her friend no longer lived here, but someone getting hitched did. The voice, gruff like Jane’s surfer brother, Dennis, made her pause. She dismissed the idea when the man said, “Poppycock.” Dennis wouldn’t be caught dead saying such a thing. Cock, yes. But with a poppy? Definitely not.
She pivoted into the hall and closed the door behind her.
Now what?
Time to head to a hotel, that’s what, and phone Jane to let her know she was back in town and needed hugs.
“You rang, and rang…and rang?” The door flung open. She staggered back and turned. Dennis Bay loomed over her. Blond, unruly hair, perfect tan, and bright blues. He was still the vision of a sun-kissed surfer straight from Devonshire’s wild waves, except he wore “adult” clothes now, instead of the long shorts and tee she remembered him in.
Smoking hot.
Her breath caught for the longest second before she was able to ask, “What happened to you?”
“Lola?” He curled his tongue as he over-pronounced the Ls in her name. “It can’t be.”
No one ever called her Lola, no one except him. And no one matched the sensual way he rolled his Ls that cut right through to her insides and made her heart flutter.
Oh, my.
Dennis Bay. Jane’s older brother and Louisa’s long-time crush. One she thought she was over. Apparently, not so much.
JoAnne Kenrick is a multi-published author who writes contemporary romances. She was born and raised in a wee seaside town in North Wales, and has traveled far and wide. In true Brit form, she is a teaholic.
She now lives in North Carolina with her very own British hero, where she creates ever afters with a backdrop of those wonderful places she’s visited.
Snuggle into your favorite reading spot, and let JoAnne entertain you with a story of romance and passion…
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