The Big Little Festival
The Big Little Festival
Love happens when you least expect it…
Jodi is panicking. It’s only weeks until her little village in Devon
holds its first ever festival and everything is falling apart.
Desperate to avoid disaster, she brings in notorious party planner
Christian to save the day. Although she wasn’t prepared for just how gorgeous
he would be!
Men are off the cards
for Jody and surely Christian is the last man she would ever date? But with tensions
rising – along with the bunting and home-made scones – she’s about to find out…
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One of the parts I
loved most about writing Christian’s character was watching him transform from
a man used to giving orders without having them questioned, to a man who had to
learn to work in collaboration with others, to a man who had to learn how to
let people in, and to trust them – even when they didn’t always make it easy
for him…
Christian nodded his thanks and spooned the sugar into the coffee,
hoping the women across from him, still snickering away, wouldn’t notice the
trembling of the spoon, or the small granules of sugar that fell onto the
table.
‘So, how is this going to work then?’ he asked. ‘Will I make
suggestions and you poo-poo them?
Will you make suggestions and expect me to action them?
Am I to be your lackey?’
Will you make suggestions and expect me to action them?
Am I to be your lackey?’
‘Ooooh, I’ve always wanted a lackey.’ Mrs Harper clapped her hands
in delight. ‘Yes, I’m very happy with that idea of yours. Excellent idea. You
do as we say. I could live with that.’
‘Now, now, Shirley.’ Mrs Hunter shook her head in mock despair.
‘Give the poor lad a break. He’s here to help us and he must have connections.
Why don’t we let him find the musical acts and we can go
about telling the Rotary girls what we need for the baking stall. We’ve got the
Welly-wanging sorted; Jody had that well in hand. So that should be it. We’re
done.’
Christian gripped the coffee cup with both hands, brought it to
his lips and sipped, holding the rich and surprisingly delicious liquid in his
mouth. Who knew a tiny town could do a better cup of coffee than any he’d had
in the city? He swallowed and tried to process what he’d just been told. Did
they think a baking stand, some Wellington throwing and a bit of music was all
a festival needed?
It needed more. Much more.
It needed more. Much more.
But it wasn’t going to work if he didn’t have a team he could
trust working with him. Mrs Harper and Mrs Hunter were loose cannons. They’d
likely jeopardise plans rather than bring them to fruition. But Jody? There was
something about her he felt he could trust. She was determined, yet centred.
Solid. She’d make the perfect second-in-command. But she’d quit. Shit.
He took another sip of the brain-focusing liquid. No, he wasn’t
letting these two women smash the career he’d spent his life building into
smithereens. He’d left London with his tail between his legs; there was no way
he was going back to face the music of his great mistake without a success
under his belt.
He was going to make this work.
He was going to make this work.
‘Ladies.’ The word came out with a squeak. Hardly the show of
strength he’d hoped for. Still, it had caught their attention. He cleared his
throat and tried again. ‘Ladies, I appreciate how hard you’ve worked on this
festival. I can see how passionate about it you are. But to be honest, it’s not
enough. A festival needs to be fun, it needs excitement, amusement, it needs to
be something people talk about all year round as they wait for it to come
around again. What you’ve planned is a start. But it’s not an end. No. We’re
going to have to work together to make this bigger. To make it better than any
other festival in the area. A festival people from other counties come to
visit. We’re going to make this festival the biggest little festival in
England. Are you with me?’
Author
Bio:
At the age of five Kellie Hailes declared she was
going write books when she grew up. It took a while for her to get there, with
a career as a radio copywriter, freelance copywriter and web writer filling the
dream-hole, until now. Kellie lives on an island-that’s-not-really-an-island in
New Zealand with her patient husband, funny little human and neurotic cat. When
the characters in her head aren’t dictating their story to her, she can be
found taking short walks, eating good cheese and hankering for her next coffee
fix.
Author
Links:
Twitter:
@KellieHailes
What could be more fun than a festival to commemorate a HUGE event in the town's history - the town being Rabbits Leap (with no apostrophe) and the event, a passel of wild rabbits being run out of town by loud, BAD music! Who is up to celebrating with a round of Welly-wanging?
Thank you for having me, and thank you for the glorious review. I may have done a happy wiggle dance :) X Kellie
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