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PROLOGUE
Love Among the Lemons
Book descr, draft 3
Amalia Plum
In the quaint little town of Citrus Grove, where lemon trees grow as far as the eye can see, Juliana Beeson arrives to claim her late aunt's rustic cottage. She plans to turn her life around, leaving behind her bustling city woes and string of failed romances. The last thing Juliana expects is to stumble upon a love story waiting to blossom among the groves.
Enter Alex Chartier, the charming and rugged lemon grower next door. With a smile that could light up the darkest of nights, and a secret sorrow in his eyes, Alex has long given up on love. That is, until Juliana’s refreshing zest for life begins to melt the walls around his heart.
While their affection grows, a series of comical mishaps and meddling locals threaten to squeeze the romance out of their budding relationship. From runaway goatsdisrupting their first date, to an old flame trying to rekindle with Alex, their journey to love is anything but smooth.
In this heartwarming tale of second chances and citrusy sparks, Love Among the Lemons will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. Will Juliana and Alex find a way to harvest the sweet fruits of love, or will their romance end up as just another bitter twist of fate? Join them under the lemon trees where love, laughter, and a little bit of cheesiness await.
1
AMALIA
Ten minutes later…
“What the hell is this?”
I’m tempted to stand up and stretch to my full five-foot-nine-inch height so I can look down at my douchey and vertically-challenged boss Cameron. But I know better. There’s nothing a short man with a Napoleon complex hates more than a woman graced with the height he feels he was entitled to but cheated out of by Mother Nature. Particularly when he’s pulling rank.
I nod at the paper he’s shaking in my face like it’s a piece of dirty toilet paper and try not to snicker at the disgust on his face. “Cam, that’s the blurb you asked me for. You know, for our new bookLove Among the Lemons.”
He’d strangle me if it wasn’t bad for his career in publishing. As well as against the law. Instead, he takes a slow, deep breath, a warning to let me know I’m about to get my ass kicked. Not literally, but still. “I know what this issupposedto be, Amalia. But how it got to be the biggest piece of crap out of all the crap I’ve seen in my career has me a little…confused.”
Confused, my ass.
I want to ask him if he understands the expressionputting lipstick on a pig.Polishing a turd.Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
Or my personal favorite,spraying perfume on a skunk.
I made that one up.
But I keep my snark to myself. What would be the point, except to rile him up further?
I nod like I sympathize with him, which I do not. “Not sure what to tell you, Cam. The book is a stinker. Therefore, it follows, the book description will be a stinker too.”
He turns red. Did I go too far?
His hands clench in fists by his sides, the offending book blurb now a crumpled mess. Regardless, I take a step back in case he really loses his shit and takes a swing at me. “I know it’s a bad book, Amalia. We all know it’s a bad book. It’s your job to make it anot-so-badbook. Do you think you can do that? I know you’renewhere?—”
“Actually, Cam, I just passed my six-month anniversary?—”
“That is still new,” he shrills.
Okay. Fine. I’m not gonna argue, even though it’s the longest job I’ve had, at least post-college. My years working as a cashier at Victoria’s Secret don’t count as publishing industry experience.
My job here at Empire Ink Press might be the longest-lasting one I’ve had since college, but it’s not the first. Yup, I was at another publishing house, but that lasted only three weeks. I was fired for punching someone who grabbed my ass.
That one didn’t have a romance division anyway, so fuck them.
As my overachieving mother likes to say, New York publishing is asmall world. I’d better be careful about keepingthis job, the one I have now, she’s warned me. I can only get fired so many times before the word is out that I’m trouble.
That’s what she said —trouble.
