Celebrations and Confetti At Cedarwood Lodge: The cosy romantic comedy to fall in love with!

REBECCA RAISIN

is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been widely published in various short-story anthologies, and in fiction magazines, and is now focusing on writing romance. The only downfall about writing about gorgeous men who have brains as well as brawn is falling in love with them – just as well they’re fictional. Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships, and, most importantly, believe in true, once-in-a-lifetime love.

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Website rebeccaraisin.com (http://www.rebeccaraisin.com)

Thank you to my bookish pals for your friendship.

Writing would be a lonely job without you.

For Rachel

Despite the fact baby Bobbie’s head is still missing thirty years later, and even though you won’t read this, thanks for being the best (evil) twin sister a girl could ask for.

Contents

Cover (#u358e8f3d-1fd7-5f5a-95bd-7b7a2f597edf)

Blurb (#u9963e258-d49b-5d3c-b0ce-c7bece8f52ac)

Praise (#u32c9535e-e0bb-5b5f-86a9-fb9ae50a8bdb)

Book List (#ulink_47ec51fd-631b-599e-9483-2fc02c5945d0)

Title Page (#u64e606cc-50d8-5fe6-b083-b468985dc00b)

Copyright (#ulink_759d123a-1b4b-52fb-98e5-6c0add66a5c3)

Author Bio (#u4c7c9405-3516-5024-82a8-5cda5b2ab594)

Acknowledgement (#uce3e2e81-0248-5b41-b84a-b314eaa8914f)

Dedication (#u2e22558f-f88e-5c89-b8a9-cbae9ec5f9fe)

Chapter One (#ulink_d929b15f-30bc-5e9d-9d2c-80cd54ad7d12)

Chapter Two (#ulink_8c65cf52-0994-5f5f-bbf0-e41175d0cd00)

Chapter Three (#ulink_f2334525-1f16-5bb5-bc3f-d9d2639fbe86)

Chapter Four (#ulink_cf879209-b0c4-5d94-92c4-fd3a69d7f47b)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#ulink_2d801ae4-32c8-5f5f-8df4-ef0bfc85b342)

Staring up at the imposing structure with its weathered facade, I had a terrible premonition that I’d made a mistake. A huge one. But, I reasoned, clawing back rising panic, I had always wanted to buy the hundred-year-old abandoned lodge. It had been put up for sale recently, and I’d jumped at the chance. The old place had good sturdy bones; it was solid, despite the desertion of its caretakers aeons ago.

Even though I’d always dreamed about owning Cedarwood Lodge I hadn’t expected for it to happen so soon. But it had, and I’d fallen madly in love with the place as it stood, shutters broken, doors in need of paint, ivy creeping through broken panes of glass, and cascading roses growing wild and free around the porch balustrades. Here was a place untouched for decades and I had a chance to bring it back to its former glory.

The September sky shifted from foggy wisps of gray to country blue as dawn arrived in the small New Hampshire town of Evergreen. A sputtering car swung into the long, winding driveway and I turned to watch my oldest friend Micah leap from his battered hatchback.

We’d been best friends since childhood, and though we’d drifted apart as adults he was the first person I called when I bought Cedarwood Lodge – I offered him the job of maintenance manager which he’d accepted with a ‘Hell yeah.’

“You look exactly the same, Micah,” I said, reaching up for a hug. ‘You haven’t aged a bit.” He’d filled out, no longer the lanky teenager I’d left behind, but aside from that he was the same old Micah with the same affable smile.

“It’s the daily hikes up the bluff. That thin mountain air does wonders for my skin.” He waggled his eyebrows. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I almost fell over when you called. Lucky for you I was between jobs…”

“Lucky for me, all right.”

I couldn’t believe it’d been so long – when was the last time we had properly caught up, five years ago, six? Time ticked by so fast while I’d been away.

“You’re different,” he said, gesturing to my outfit and my usual flyaway curls restrained with a clip. “A little more polished.”

I grinned. “Denim cut offs and messy hair didn’t quite cut it in Manhattan.”

“What? Crazy city folk.” He clucked his tongue.

“Right?” I joked. “How’s Veronica?” I expected him to gush about his long-term girlfriend. Instead, his lips turned down for the briefest second, before he masked it with a smile.

“Veronica? There’s a blast from the past. I haven’t seen her for two and a bit years now. She was like you, Clio, left town and didn’t look back.”