Celebrations at the Beach Hotel by Francesca Capaldi (book extract)

 

I'm delighted to invite Francesca Capaldi to my blog today, with a book extract from her latest historical novel, Celebrations at the Beach Hotel.

Celebrations at the Beach Hotel

Sisters Alice and Annie have always been close but will a man come between them?

Annie and Alice love their life working at the Beach Hotel together and each is thrilled to have finally found a sweetheart. Yet the path of true love never did run smooth, and they soon find themselves facing conflict and strife. Could love come between them and the bond they share?

Meanwhile, as men start to come home from the war, the women have to work out how to keep their jobs, although they are delighted to be back with their beaus. Soon, wedding bells ring out in Littlehampton.

Will everything be made right in time for Christmas?

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Extract: Celebrations at the Beach Hotel by Francesca Burgess

 

The men have slowly been returning from the war to the Beach Hotel to work. Alice Twine had looked forward to Jasper returning, but things haven’t turned out the way she’d hoped.

 

The following Monday, it was Alice’s afternoon off. She was glad to get away from her sister, and the growing whisper around the staff that she was walking out with Jasper. At the same time, she felt lonely, wandering around the town on her own, her head filled with unwelcome thoughts from which there was little distraction. She’d asked an old school friend, who lived near them in Wick, whether she fancied a trip out, as they’d done on occasion. But her friend’s day off from the grocery store was currently on a Wednesday.

Walking down High Street, she stopped to look in the window of Mann’s, the draper’s shop. Perhaps she should buy some fabric and make herself something, a dress maybe, like the straight-lined, mid-calf length ones she’d seen some young women wearing. It might do her good to have a little project like this to interest her. And it would be much cheaper to make it than to buy it. She unclipped the metal catch on her handbag and took out her purse to peer inside. There wasn’t enough, and her savings were in a box at home, under her bed. She should have thought of it before.

She put the purse back in her handbag and was about to close the clip, when she was pushed forward, almost hitting the glass of the shop window. A young man had bumped into her, knocking her handbag off her wrist. With it still being open, her purse, comb and handkerchief spilled onto the pavement.

The young man crouched down quickly to pick the bag up, along with the items. At first, she panicked, afraid he was going to steal them, but he quickly stood up and handed the bag back to her, looking contrite.

‘I am so sorry. How clumsy of me. I really should look where I’m going,’ he said in a middle-class accent.

She was struck by his good looks and by how tall he was. His hair was very fair and a little longer than was fashionable. He had on a grey cap. His beard was fair too, with a hint of ginger, and he was wearing glasses. His neat, blue, three-piece suit, visible under a smart, open coat, was quite dapper.

‘That’s all right.’ She smiled to make him feel better. ‘No harm done.’

‘I do feel guilty. I hope your bag and the other bits haven’t got too dirty.’

‘They’ll survive.’

‘Listen, to make up for my clumsiness, could I buy you a cup of tea somewhere?’

She faltered for a moment, not knowing how to react to this rather swift invitation.

‘Sorry, where are my manners. I should have introduced myself first. I’m Jamie. Jamie… Sparks.’

She didn’t know him from Adam, so would it be right to agree? Then again, there were plenty of people around, so it wasn’t like she’d be in any danger.

She held out her hand and he shook it. ‘And I’m Alice Twine.’

‘Nice to meet you, Alice.’

‘And nice to meet you, Jamie. Yes please, a cup of tea would be very welcome.’

For a moment she was hopeful that he’d suggest Read’s Dining Rooms, as it was just around the corner on Surrey Street. She’d always fancied visiting it.

‘There’s a nice little tearoom at the end of High Street: Kimble’s.’ He pointed in the opposite direction.

‘Yes, I know the one. All right.’

They said little as they made their way to Kimble’s, and she wondered whether this would be a rather stilted affair. She questioned her decision; she wasn’t good at talking to strangers. But then how was she ever going to meet a future husband?

Future husband! She had no illusions that Mr Sparks was any such thing, but she had to start somewhere.

To her relief, once they were settled into the cafe, awaiting their order, he started chatting.

‘It’s my day off today and I wasn’t looking forward to spending it alone, yet again, so I am glad I, um, “bumped” into you, though I wish it hadn’t been quite so literally.’

‘It’s my afternoon off too. Where do you work?’

‘I’m a reporter for the Sussex Daily News.’

‘Isn’t their office on Terminus Road, near the railway station?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You must be well educated to do that job.’

‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ he said shyly. ‘I’m just good with words. Where do you work?’

‘I, um, work in the stillroom at the Beach Hotel, on the common.’ It wasn’t quite true, of course, but it sounded better than ‘scullery maid’, which might be considered the lowest job at the hotel.

‘The Beach Hotel, eh? Very posh.’

He looked a little surprised – or was it even shocked? – at first. Didn’t she look good enough to work there?

‘It is very posh. I work with my sister mostly, which can get a bit much at times, as she’s older and rather bossy.’

‘What’s it like, working there, apart from having a bossy sister?’ He chuckled.

‘It’s a great place to work. The manageress, Mrs Bygrove, treats us all well. We’re very lucky in that way. Of course, during the war, it was mainly women doing the jobs, even as porters. The male staff are starting to come back now… those what survived.’

He nodded. ‘We lost a couple of the reporters I worked with too. I’ve always wanted to go for lunch or afternoon tea at the hotel, but I’m not classy enough.’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’ It was out of her mouth before she’d had time to consider it. It might sound like she had a fancy for him…

Purchase Link:

Amazon https://amzn.to/4gTi5fj

Kobo: https://bit.ly/4765y3M

Author Bio – 

Francesca Capaldi has enjoyed writing since she was a child, largely influenced by a Welsh mother who was good at improvised storytelling and an Italian father who loved history. She is the author of historical sagas, short stories and pocket novels. 

The first novel in the Beach Hotel series, A New Start at the Beach Hotel, won the Romantic Saga Award at the Romantic Novelists' Association Awards in 2024. The first novel in the Wartime in the Valleys series, Heartbreak in the Valleys, was shortlisted for the Historical Romantic Award in the RoNAs in 2021. 

Francesca was born and brought up on the Sussex coast, went to London to do a history degree, but has lived for many years in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrission.

Social Media Links – 

Facebook: @ FrancescaCapaldiAuthor

Twitter: @ FCapaldiBurgess

Instagram: @francesca.capaldi.burgess

Tiktok: @francesca.capaldi.author

Website: francesca-capaldi.com 

Ripples Through Time by Christina Courtenay (book extract)

I'm thrilled to welcome Christina Courtenay to my blog today and offer an extract from her latest time travel novel, Ripples through Time. 

Ripples Through Time

A love that will change them forever

A treasure that will bring them home

West Mercia, AD 873 – Merewen's settlement is on guard against the outside threat of the ‘Heathen’ Norsemen. But for Merewen, the real threats come from within, as her future is cruelly snatched away from her.

Eirik, a Norseman, finds himself abandoned and injured after his uncle’s plunder of Mercian land goes wrong. He thinks his fate is sealed – until Merewen saves his life.

Hereford, Present Day – Left reeling after a huge betrayal, Alix moves to her grandfather's farm in Hereford to heal her broken heart. There, after being given a family heirloom, she soon finds herself haunted by memories of a life she never lived, a relationship she never had, and a time in which she never existed.

Local farmer Noah is being hounded by the police to find the Viking hoard that his sister and her criminal boyfriend stole from his farm. Noah must prove his own innocence while struggling to decipher the curious connection he has to newcomer Alix – a bond that seems to transcend their own reality.

As they search for the lost treasure, Alix and Noah start to feel the whispers of a love they never expected, one powerful enough to echo through history. 

Purchase Link - https://geni.us/ripplestime

London, present day – heroine discovers betrayal of the worst kind 

 

‘How long do we have to keep sneaking around like this? Can’t we just tell her and get it over with?’ 

 

Alix Howell stopped abruptly at the sound of her younger sister’s voice. It was coming from the mud room beyond the kitchen in their parents’ house, and although Autumn was whispering, the words were still perfectly audible. 

 

‘Patience, baby.’ The voice replying belonged to Alix’s fiancé, Sean, and hearing it made her freeze in shock. ‘We have to wait until the mortgage application for the flat has been approved,’ he continued. ‘You know we need Alix to cover the down payment. It’s not like we can afford it ourselves. Once all the paperwork is signed, it won’t matter so much, and I’ll pay her back when I can. Or you can pay her rent so she can go and live somewhere else. I doubt she’ll want to share with us, even though there are two bedrooms.’ 

 

A muffled giggle was the answer to that statement. What the hell? The pain of betrayal hit Alix right in the middle of the sternum, knocking all the air out of her. She clutched her stomach and tried to breathe while processing what she’d just heard. Her sister was having an affair with Sean? Since when? No. This couldn’t be true. Alix hadn’t noticed him acting any different recently. There had been quite a few late nights in the office and some outings with his mates that he’d claimed were for boys only, but no other red flags. He’d acted as loving as normal. What a consummate liar! She hadn’t suspected a thing. 

 

And what was this about the down payment? Was he seriously planning to use Alix’s life savings, combined with his own meagre contribution, to obtain a mortgage for the flat they were buying together, then dump her? A flat that apparently she was never going to live in. The utter bastard! 

 

So not happening. 

 

After the week she’d had at work – although she didn’t want to think about that right now – this was the last straw. She marched over to the door that separated the mud room from the kitchen and threw it open. 

 

‘No need to wait. I won’t be signing any of those papers now, or providing any money, so you can go ahead and make your relationship official,’ she announced, pulling off the cheap zirconia ring Sean had bought her instead of a diamond one and throwing it at him. It was supposed to have been temporary until he could afford something better, since they’d needed the money for the flat. So much for that. 

 

‘I wouldn’t have been able to afford the mortgage payments anyway, as I quit my job yesterday,’ she added. She hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone yet, and now it probably didn’t matter. It might even be a blessing in disguise. 

 

Autumn and Sean’s stunned expressions and gaping mouths would have been hilarious if the cause hadn’t been so hurtful. Alix didn’t intend to stick around and wait for them to recover, however. No doubt they’d try and come up with some excuse as to why they were perfect for each other. Judging by previous experience, it would involve a variation on the theme of Alix being too serious or boring, compared to her uber-glamorous sister. Autumn was the ‘fun one’ of the two, according to most of their friends. The one with the natural charm and a gift for socialising and hogging the limelight. Whereas Alix was shy and introverted, more interested in reading than partying. 

 

Being less than a year apart, most people had mistaken them for twins when they were children. They did look fairly similar when in their natural state, but Alix always felt overshadowed by her sister. Autumn was a beautician and knew how to enhance her looks; from chemical hair-straightening and lip fillers to a year-round spray tan and hours spent with a personal trainer each week, nothing was left to chance. And it would seem that Sean preferred this improved version of what the gods had given them. He was welcome to it. 

 

‘Alix, wait! I can explain! Stop for a minute …’ 

 

She ignored the increasingly anxious pleas from behind her and swore that this was the last time she’d allow Autumn to steal anything that belonged to her. Her sister had been doing it more or less from birth, and mostly getting away with it too. She had been the golden child for as long as Alix could remember. The one who could do no wrong. As soon as she’d been born, Alix had been effectively sidelined. Autumn had been a beautiful, contented baby, by all accounts, whereas Alix had been colicky and difficult. The new baby was able to charm their parents in a way that Alix had never mastered, and later she had lying down to a fine art as well. More times than she cared to count, Alix had been blamed for every misdemeanour, despite any lack of evidence. It was enough that Autumn turned her limpid gaze on their parents and shed a few theatrical tears. They fell for it every time. There was no competing with her. She always got her way. Well, enough was enough. 

 

Sweeping past their astonished parents, and assorted other relatives who had come over for Sunday lunch, Alix grabbed her handbag and jacket and slammed her way out of the house. Thank goodness she hadn’t completed the flat purchase with Sean yet. She was still sharing a loft apartment with two friends, but that would have to change too. Now that she’d left the job that tied her to the capital, it was time to move somewhere far from London. Anywhere her sister wasn’t living would be fine. 

 

Vindictively, she hoped it would be many years before Sean and Autumn could afford to buy a flat. Her own nest egg would be used to purchase a property that was all hers. 

Author Bio –

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a Vice President and former chairman and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. RIPPLES THROUGH TIME (dual time historical romance published by Headline Review 21st November 2025) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Social Media Links – 

Website:- http://www.christinacourtenay.com

FaceBook:- Christina Courtenay Author Page - https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts 

Twitter/X:- @PiaCCourtenay - https://twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay 

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