Summer at the Highland Coral Beach (The Port Willow Bay series Port Willow Bay)
Page 28
But, if you’re after a guide book to Plockton you’ll be disappointed; they may look fairly similar but Port Willow is altogether more eccentric, magical, lost in time and in need of just the right mixture of romance and organisational zeal that Beatrice Halliday brings with her to the village. And as for the Harvest Home ceilidh, the willows, the riptide and that bed? Those are all my invention too.
Plockton means a lot to me because as well as having happy holiday memories of the place, it was there I received the email from Keshini at Hera Books asking for the full manuscript of what turned out to be my debut novel, One Summer’s Night (2019). A week earlier I’d read about a brand new woman-fronted independent publisher who were open for submissions and I’d sent the opening chapters and a synopsis immediately. When I was asked for the full manuscript, sitting over my laptop by the window overlooking the bay in our Plockton cottage rental, I replied instantly, jumping at the chance to show Hera more of my writing and attaching a completely blank document because that’s exactly the sort of thing I do and why wouldn’t I balls up the most important email of my life?
Anyway, much like the story in this book, things worked out and I got my (publishing) Happy Ever After. That’s why I’m able to bring you Summer at The Highland Coral Beach, my third novel for Hera Books, a love story about loss and recovery, and handsome red-headed Highlanders.
We’ve all survived times where we really are at the end of our tether and life feels cruel and unfair, and we’ve all coped in different ways. Beatrice, my hero, is just like me in that she copes by going into overdrive, trying to get the heck out of the situation she’s in. She likes writing lists, doing research, planning and wrangling until things work out. This strategy works well in everyday situations, but when you’re sad and grieving, as Beatrice discovers, it can lead to even greater difficulties.
As well as being a champion planner, Beatrice is also a matchmaker, just like me. Except I do all my matchmaking on paper. Beatrice, on the other hand, thinks love needs a helping hand sometimes and she sets to work playing Cupid on those around her. Again, great in theory, but tricky to pull off in practice, as you’ll see.
I hope you enjoy accompanying Beatrice through her summer of recovery and rebuilding, matchmaking and meddling, falling in love and getting into scrapes. She deserves the love, happiness and comfort she finds, as do you all, my readers.
Just so you know, you will read references to miscarriage in this story, but there’s also hope, kindness, laughter and lots of romance too. This is a story about waiting out the storm to see the rainbows, and about sweetness after difficulties. I hope with all my heart you enjoy it.
Happy reading,
Love, Kiley x
P.S. Drop by my Twitter page and say ‘hi’ @KileyDunbar or follow the Kiley Dunbar Author Facebook Page for all my bookish news!
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my lovely Nic and the babies for loving me. I love you all so much.
I receive a huge amount of support from the following wonderful friends and I’d be lost without them, so thank you Michael, Stephanie, Debbie, Leanie, Sara, Laura, Kelly and Liz. I really hecking love you lot!
Thank you, Mum, Dad, John and Bron. x
Andrew R, Clare H, and Roxanne, you keep me going with your lovely messages and Facebook posts, thank you!
Nicola, Jess, Catherine, Livi, Lucy S, James and Paul at Manchester Metropolitan University and the Manchester Writing School have helped me so much in recent months as I started a new and exciting part time senior lectureship and then immediately fell ill with severe pneumonia. Thank you for your kindness and patience.
Thank you, Steve, for the whisky info. I know you’ve done painstaking research and I trust your expertise.
I also want to shine a big light on all of the book lovers and bloggers who got involved in the blog tour, organised by the incredible Rachel’s Random Resources, for my second book Christmas at Frozen Falls. Thank you so much for being epic. And an especially big thank you goes to S.J. Lomas; Shelby at Breakfast at Shelby’s; Stacy at Stacy Loves Reading; Julie at A Little Book Problem and Elaine at Splashes into Books for hosting extra wee interviews and guest posts on your blog sites.
I want to thank you, my readers, and every single person who has bought my books, sent me messages about how much they enjoyed them, or who reviewed and rated them. Your support blows my mind.
Keshini and Lindsey at Hera Books have changed my life and I’m always grateful for the fact they took a chance on me, a total newbie. I hope this book makes you proud. Thank you for everything.
Jennie Ayres and Vicki Vrint helped copy and proof edit this book so carefully and pointed out a staggering number of daft mistakes and made my prose immeasurably better, thank you. It’s a pleasure working with you both.
Thank you to Jenny Crisp whose beautiful book, Willow: A Guide to Growing and Harvesting helped inform Atholl’s romantic, heartfelt willow-weaving lesson. Jenny’s book is a love song to this ancient craft and I urge you all to check it out from your local library, as I did, and pore over its wonderful descriptions of growing and weaving willow, all wonderfully illustrated in stunning photography. I may have taken a few liberties here and there with the technicalities of working willow, and that’s all on me.
Last but not least, thank you and I love you to the TAM mummies. I wrote this book thinking of the heartbroken One in Four and the parents, siblings and families of babies who will be loved and missed for a lifetime.
Books By Kiley Dunbar
One Summer’s Night
Christmas at Frozen Falls
First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Hera
Hera Books
28b Cricketfield Road
London, E5 8NS
United Kingdom
Copyright © Kiley Dunbar, 2020
The moral right of Kiley Dunbar to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781912973248
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.