скачать книгу бесплатно
The Single Mums’ Picnic Club: A perfectly uplifting beach-read for 2018!
Jennifer Joyce
‘A charming and delightful read!’Pretty Little Book Reviews on The Little Bed & Breakfast by the SeaKatie thought she had the perfect family life by the sea – until her husband left her for another woman, abandoning her and their two children! She knows it’s finally time to move on but she’s unsure where to begin…Frankie is shocked when gorgeous dog-walker Alex asks her on a date! As a single mum with her own business she struggles to put herself first, but maybe she’s ready to follow her heart?George is used to raising her son on her own – but now he’s at nursery, her life feels empty. So when she meets Katie and Frankie at the beach, she realises that her talent for rustling up delicious picnics could be the perfect distraction!But of course, life isn’t always a beach and as secrets begin to surface the three women’s lives are about to be turned upside-down…A cosy and charming romance set at the English seaside, perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley and Caroline Roberts.Readers love Jennifer Joyce:“The whole book has you hooked from the first page and I just couldn't put it down”“Loved it. I just wanted to keep reading it. The characters were fab. Great storyline. I'd recommend this book 100%”“It is a joy to have read it.”“It's uplifting and heart warming but also completely emotional”“It's wonderfully written and I enjoyed every minute of it.”“a lovely heartwarming novel which will leave you feeling all warm and full of joy.”
A summer of new beginnings…
Katie thought she had the perfect family life by the sea – until her husband left her for another woman, abandoning her and their two children! She knows it’s finally time to move on but she’s unsure where to begin…
Frankie is shocked when gorgeous dog-walker Alex asks her on a date! As a single mum with her own business she struggles to put herself first, but maybe she’s ready to follow her heart?
George is used to raising her son on her own – but now he’s at nursery, her life feels empty. So when she meets Katie and Frankie at the beach, she realises that her talent for rustling up delicious picnics could be the perfect distraction!
But of course, life isn’t always a beach and as secrets begin to surface the three women’s lives are about to be turned upside-down…
A cosy and charming romance set at the English seaside, perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley and Caroline Roberts.
Also by Jennifer Joyce
The Wedding that Changed Everything
The Little Teashop of Broken Hearts
The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea
The Wedding Date
The Mince Pie Mix-Up
The Single Mums’ Picnic Club
Jennifer Joyce
ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES
Copyright (#ulink_7a3a2651-e794-59d3-9dfb-4c5adec48fd8)
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018
Copyright © Jennifer Joyce 2018
Jennifer Joyce asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © June 2018 ISBN: 978-0-00-828143-4
JENNIFER JOYCE
is a writer of romantic comedies. She’s been scribbling down bits of stories for as long as she can remember, graduating from a pen to a typewriter and then an electronic typewriter. And she felt like the bee’s knees typing on that. She now writes her books on a laptop (which has a proper delete button and everything). Jennifer lives in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with her husband Chris and their two daughters, Rianne and Isobel, plus their Jack Russell, Luna. When she isn’t writing, Jennifer likes to make things – she’ll use any excuse to get her craft box out! She spends far too much time on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
You can find out more about Jennifer on her blog at jenniferjoycewrites.co.uk (http://www.jenniferjoycewrites.co.uk/), on Twitter at @writer_jenn (https://twitter.com/writer_jenn) and on Facebook at facebook.com/jenniferjoycewrites (https://www.facebook.com/JenniferJoyceWrites/)
For three amazing ladies in my life: my mum, June and my daughters, Rianne and Isobel.
Contents
Cover (#u70e542d3-92f8-5227-9d11-3958fb7c4e90)
Blurb (#u691f202e-6059-5407-9560-10c5f1bd6527)
Title Page (#u3749953e-7dc6-5656-b67b-68cecb806cb6)
Copyright (#ulink_2500edbc-28d0-5cc1-89cd-251ee0757959)
Author Bio (#u0f61a1c0-bafd-56a2-b880-88be7f1fa386)
Dedication (#u52f5c0e8-7bde-5cea-b9e1-901a0e2536a6)
Chapter One (#ulink_078e0327-38a5-50ad-bef6-0bf7b08d5bae)
Chapter Two (#ulink_3a356545-370a-5857-b653-88c054b8ff38)
Chapter Three (#ulink_bcf379e6-3ab9-5f38-ba2d-915e4ee24a60)
Chapter Four (#ulink_72d8f994-2b29-5bef-8eff-a74b1f054fe3)
Chapter Five (#ulink_e8a0d363-43db-5c53-a6a5-ef35207f9084)
Chapter Six (#ulink_58e844fc-2595-5b16-a3a0-9f19635ae20f)
Chapter Seven (#ulink_7e89c1d8-a4bf-57d3-8b9d-dfc6bf8c8b05)
Chapter Eight (#ulink_51ca43d4-dc7c-50c7-b9e2-a0f9fc64d8fb)
Chapter Nine (#ulink_664fc566-ec30-548e-97e9-609963b26a83)
Chapter Ten (#ulink_5aba90d3-41ac-556b-a2d5-28d7272965fc)
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)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#ulink_e550fcbc-721f-580e-b176-ac4a352ff078)
Katie
‘What do you mean, you don’t like cheese sandwiches?’ Katie blinked at her daughter, unable to comprehend the information she had just been given. ‘Since when?’
Hadn’t Lizzie polished off the double Gloucester with onion and chive from the cheese board just a few days ago? The double Gloucester with onion and chive that Katie had been looking forward to? She’d deliberately left it until last and the deep disappointment at finding the empty wrapper in the fridge was still there, as was the annoyance, bordering on rage, that her children seemed unable to use the flipping kitchen bin to dispose of empty wrappers. The whole kitchen showed their abuse of the family home, from the puddle of milk seeping towards the edge of the countertop to the dirty breakfast dishes dotted around the room; a bowl plonked on top of the microwave, a plate spilling toast crumbs on the table, a butter-slicked knife smearing grease on the floor. Katie despaired, but she was hardly a domesticated goddess herself right now, as evidenced when she gathered up the dirty plates, bowls and cutlery and yanked opened the dishwasher. It was full. And the contents inside were far from clean.
Lizzie dumped the offending clingfilm-wrapped cheese sandwich down on the kitchen counter, missing the milk puddle by mere millimetres. ‘Can’t I have Nutella instead?’
Ha! If only. Katie had discovered the empty jar in the cupboard during the early hours, when she’d been in dire need of a stress-generated snack, and had almost howled with fury. She suspected her oldest child was the culprit of this particular crime, so she’d enacted her revenge by wolfing down three segments of the boy’s squirrelled-away Chocolate Orange. Elliot hadn’t clocked the theft yet so, having calmed down since her hunger-induced haze of rage, Katie was hoping to replace the pieces before he did.
‘It’s cheese or nothing, I’m afraid.’ After dumping the dirty dishes in the sink, Katie grabbed the sandwich and dropped it back into Lizzie’s open Tupperware box. ‘You’re lucky we had any bread in for sandwiches at all.’
It was January now – the first day back to school after the festive break – but Katie was still submerged in the fog of Christmas, where routine things like grocery shopping flew out of the window and more relaxed eating habits became the norm; five-a-day now related to different versions of chocolate treats, and grazing replaced structured mealtimes. The bunch of blackened bananas lounging in the fruit bowl hadn’t enticed anybody while there was an unhealthy supply of festive indulgences on offer.
‘Mu-um!’
Lizzie’s protests about the cheese sandwich situation were swallowed by the holler of her fifteen-year-old brother from the top of the stairs. Katie winced. Had he discovered his depleted Chocolate Orange already? She’d planned to dash to the supermarket after her morning’s appointment (she desperately needed to stock the kitchen with foodstuff that contained vitamins after two weeks of eating crap anyway) and replace the nabbed segments before Elliot noticed, but it looked like she’d been rumbled. She should have nipped the chocolate-for-breakfast in the bud as soon as Boxing Day was over, but she’d rather enjoyed indulging too, to be honest.
‘Where’s my tie?’
Katie released a giant sigh of relief. She was still safe.
For now.
‘Didn’t you put it away safe in your underwear drawer at the end of term? Like I told you to?’
Lizzie sniggered as she clicked the top of her Tupperware lid into place. ‘Elliot doesn’t even have an underwear drawer anymore, Mum. Most of his clothes are on the floor and any that have made it into drawers are in shoved in at random. When was the last time you saw his room?’
