Hey lovelies! It gives me great
pleasure today to host Sylvia Ashby and her new book, “Prosecco Christmas”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this
Be sure to make it to the end of
this post to enter to win a super cute, fun pair of Prosecco Socks!! Also, come back daily to interact with Sylvia
and to increase your chances of winning!
This book is on Sale for ONLY
$0.99 and is FREE on Kindle Unlimited during the book tour!!! See below for more details.
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
Prosecco Christmas
by Sylvia Ashby
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GENRE: Romantic Comedy/Chick Lit
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BLURB:
Family
is where life begins.
And
what better time to spend with your family than Christmas week?
Ashley
and Giacomo go to Upper Swainswick, a postcard village ten minutes’ drive from
Bath, to stay with Ashley’s mum and stepdad. It’s their last visit before the
arrival of their first child.
But
babies have a habit of being unpredictable.
So
when Ashley goes into labour on Christmas Eve, three weeks ahead of schedule,
it takes everyone by surprise.
She’s
not ready! Her perfect Birth Plan is packed away in her hospital bag two
hundred miles away, she has no going home outfit, and she has a live event
planned for New Year’s Eve for her YouTube channel, The Sinking Chef. People
have been signing up for it for weeks. She can’t possibly disappoint them on
the last day of the year. What is she to do?
The
tinsel gets even more tangled when Giacomo’s parents decide to fly from Italy
to meet their first grandchild. Hotels are fully booked, so everyone has to
stay under the same roof.
Would
eleven people in the house, not counting the baby, turn out to be simply too
much for Ashley?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT THREE:
We’re
sitting around the low living room table about to begin a game of Best of
British.
‘Right,’
Mum says. ‘Does everyone have a drink?’
Orna,
Clara and Vittorio are drinking Prosecco. I raise my cup of tea. Thomas and
Philip ignore her. They wanted to have the rest of the Coca Cola in the fridge,
but Mum put her foot down. Also, they think Best of British is a dumb game.
They wanted to play Cards Against Humanity, but Orna vetoed them. And now they
are in a funk.
‘The
question that we’re asking today is what makes British people so British?’ Orna
reads aloud the back of the game box.
‘Let
see,’ Mum opens the box and tips out the contents. There is a board, which she
unfolds. The playing pieces are different colours and each of us has to choose
one.
‘I’ll
be blue,’ says Philip.
‘No,
I’ll be blue!’ Thomas snatches the pieces before Philip can get to it.
‘I
said it first!’
‘You
can have green!’
‘Muuum!
Tell him,’ Philip shrieks.
‘Boys,
if you don’t behave there will be no desserts at dinner.’ Mum’s voice is
assertive, but her eyes are pleading with them.
‘Tom
always gets whatever he wants,’ Philip whines, but Mum stares him down and he
settles for green.
Mum
throws a shaky smile at Orna, who returns the smile without showing her teeth,
then has the tiniest sip of Prosecco and rolls her eyes.
My
blood boils in indignation on Mum’s behalf. How dare she treat Mum like that
when she’s never had children. She has no idea what it’s like. I open my mouth
to say something, then close it. What’s the point? She’s just a horrible woman.
And I don’t want to spoil everybody else’s fun.
We
each select a piece in silence and put them on the start space on the board.
‘Right,
I’ll read out the rules, shall I?’ Mum grips the string of pearls hanging down
her neck. She looks quite stressed. I wish she wouldn’t mind Orna.
She
carries on.
‘“The
Question Master picks up the first Question Card from the box,” I’ll be the
Question Master,’ she says before Orna can jump in. ‘“The Question Master picks
up the first Question Card from the box, making sure the answers are concealed
from all the players on both teams. If it is a Picture Card, the picture is
shown to all the players on both teams. If it is a Themed Card, the theme is
read out to all the players on both teams. If a question is answered
incorrectly then the Question Master can put the same question to the next
player for a bonus move. If they answer correctly they move their own piece
onto the next space on the board that matches the colour of the question.”’
Mum
releases her string of pearls and makes them rattle.
‘Is
everything clear?’ Mum looks around for a second time. ‘OK, then the youngest
player goes first.’
Philip
perks up. He picks up a card and hands it to her.
‘Who
were Randolph, Diana, Sarah, Mary and Marigold?’ Mum looks at the answer
perplexed. ‘Oh. This is rather hard. Perhaps you can choose another card, Phil.
Something with a picture on it.’
‘This
is not how you play a game!’ Orna pushes her ample bosom forward. ‘Rules are
rules. They are meant to be followed by everyone. How will he learn to follow
the rules if he’s always given leeway?’
‘He’s
not always given leeway!’ Mum protests. ‘It’s just that… this question is
rather out of his “era”.’
‘What
do you mean out of his “era”? Since when has knowledge had an “era”? It’s not
only current affairs that are important, you know?’ Orna clicks her tongue.
‘I
didn’t say that, but he can’t be expected to know everything. He’s only
twelve.’
‘Than
you offer the question to the person who’s next in turn! When that person
answers, he’ll learn.’
Mum
rolls her eyes but complies.
Next
in turn is Thomas.
‘Thomas,
who were Randolph, Diana, Sarah, Mary and Marigold?’ Mum reads the question
again.
‘I
don’t know.’ Thomas grumbles. ‘This is a stupid game. Cards Against Humanity is
much better.’
‘Yes,
but we’re not playing Cards Against Humanity,’ Mum snaps at him. ‘We’re playing
Best of British, OK?’
Her
veneer is cracking. I see Philip throwing a warning glance in his brother’s
direction but Thomas ignores him.
Next
in turn is Orna.
‘Orna,
who were Randolph, Diana, Sarah, Mary and Marigold?’ Mum reads the question for
the third time.
‘They
are all character from Downton Abbey!’ Orna says victoriously.
‘I’m
afraid not, Orna.’ Mum’s mouth twitches. ‘They were Churchill’s children.’
Thomas
starts laughing and Mum shoots him a warning frown.
‘Oh,’
Orna’s face turns puce. ‘Very well, then. Carry on.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Sylvia Ashby is
fond of the written word: books, blog posts, recipes, even an explanation to
the HM Revenue & Customs as to why she thinks skirts should be exempt from
VAT - she's written it all!
She
likes travelling and has lived all over Europe - London, Brussels, Amsterdam
and Sofia, Bulgaria. Currently, she lives in Leuven, Belgium with her husband,
daughter, son and a sparrow called Jack, who comes occasionally to peck the
seeds she leaves for him on top of the garden shed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH SYLVIA:
Blog:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMAZON BOOK BUY LINK
& BOOK SALE INFO:
**Prosecco Christmas
is on Sale for ONLY $0.99 and is FREE on Kindle Unlimited during the book
tour!!**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
Sylvia will be awarding a pair of funny Prosecco
Socks to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Sylvia ~ It is great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDeleteSounds great.
ReplyDelete