Hiya guys, we have Rebecca Cohen stopping by today with a recap of the first book in her Treading the Boards series, Overly Dramatic, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Prime’s review, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~
Overly Dramatic
Rebecca Cohen
Andy Marshall moves to London looking for a fresh start after breaking up with his long-term boyfriend. To stave off boredom from his day job as an accountant and to meet new people, Andy joins a local amateur dramatics society called the Sarky Players based in Greenwich, South London.
Despite his best efforts to avoid it, Andy is cast as one of the leads in a truly dreadful play called Whoops, Vicar, There Goes My Trousers, written by a local playwright.
The play might be bad, but the Sarky Players are a friendly bunch. Andy quickly makes new friends and finds himself attracted to Phil Cormack, a local artist helping with the props. But life doesn’t run to a script, so Andy and Phil will have to work hard to improvise their own happy ending.
Excerpt
A FEW more boxes and Andy would be finished. The remnants of a failed relationship and four years of love, tears, and anger down the drain and packed away into cardboard. He didn’t know if it was a good thing that he’d been able to shift his whole life one hundred and twenty miles in the back of his VW Golf, or if he should have fought harder to keep hold of more of their shared possessions. Too late for that type of thinking; he’d made his choice, and he was back in London—at least his mum would be happy. He shoved the keys into the pocket of his jeans, balanced the box on his hip, and looked up at his new block of flats. Not bad: new home, new job, new start.
Having committed the PIN code for the block’s outer door to memory, Andy let himself in and took the lift to the fourth floor, deciding not to think of the problems it might cause if it were ever out of order. He’d already worked harder today than during his usual visit to the gym, and the thought of lugging all his stuff up four floors without a lift made him thirst for a cold beer or—even better—a nice cup of tea. Dear God, had he really thought of tea over beer? Maybe Charlie was right about his head being twenty years older than his body. He was only thirty-bloody-four, but his back felt like it belonged to a sixty-year-old with an aversion to exercise.
“Do you need a hand?”
Andy turned to see a man who should be gracing the cover of Men’s Health leaving the flat across from his. Blond hair, blue eyes, and filling his Armani jeans like he was born to wear them, the stranger graced him with a blinding smile. If Andy had known the neighbors were this attractive, he wouldn’t have haggled so much over the rent.
“Well, er, if you’ve a few minutes.” As he tripped over the words, he wondered if he could sound any more idiotic. “I need to do a few more trips to my car.”
“More than happy to help. The name’s Rob, by the way.”
“I’ll just drop this in my flat,” Andy said, indicating the box. “And I’m Andy.”
Andy opened the front door, dropped the box in the hall, and glanced at the chaos of his life that needed to be sorted. He quickly shut the door again. “Thanks for helping. My car’s just downstairs.”
“No worries. I know the pain of moving. We’re just doing the final big clean before we give the keys back.”
Any hope of coming to Rob’s aid in a future “locked out just wearing a towel” scenario vanished, and Andy tried to tell himself that beautiful men who liked to help out their neighbors weren’t on his agenda right now. He was happy being single, no matter how lickable someone’s biceps might be.
“Oh, now there’s a pity. I thought I’d found a friendly face.” They entered the lift together.
“My boyfriend’s got a job in New York, and, well, you don’t turn down that sort of offer, do you?”
Andy consoled himself with the knowledge that at least his gaydar was working and the prospect of the wonderful view of watching Rob lift the boxes out of his car as they made two trips to bring up the rest of Andy’s possessions.
“Fancy a cup of tea as a thank-you?” Andy asked, setting the final box down in his hallway.
“Sorry. I need to get the keys back to the agent before they close.”
Andy waved Rob off with a wistful sigh because he’d never see that beautifully pert arse grace the hallway on a daily basis.
He retreated to his new flat, which wasn’t even half the size of the one he’d shared with Charlie. Although he might have dramatically culled his possessions, the London property market had reduced his living space as well. He hoped his expert Tetris skills would finally come in handy when it came to sorting through what was left of his “ordered mountain of clutter,” as Charlie had referred to it.
He hopped over a box containing books and CDs and picked up the one marked Essential Items, which he plonked down on the countertop of the kitchen. Out came the kettle, teabags, and his favorite mug, and a few minutes later, he sat in the small remaining space on the sofa, sipping at a cup of Earl Grey with a notebook open on his lap. His to-do list spanned several pages.
Andy chewed the end of his pen, trying to figure out which of his many three-star priorities he should tackle first. The new filing system would need to be high on the list, but so would the color-coding of cupboards and getting the tracker set up for the contents of the fridge and freezer. This was something else Charlie had hated—Andy’s lists. As if Andy’s perpetual planning were an affront to his own “throw a bag in the car and drive” mentality. Andy snapped shut the notebook, annoyed with himself for letting his mind wander. He had too much to do to waste time thinking about a selfish prick who’d valued casual sex over their relationship.
Draining the last dregs of his mug, he stood up with purpose. First things first: get the bed made and his suit sorted for Monday.
“Positive thoughts,” he muttered to himself and headed to the flat’s master—and only—bedroom.
With the duvet defeated, a new bedcover in place, and pillows plumped, Andy lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. A crack ran out from the light fitting and a tangle of spiders’ webs would have to go before he went to sleep, but despite his initial misgivings, he knew he’d made the right decision. It had been a while since he’d lived on his own, and it would take some getting used to, but he was already relishing sorting out the kitchen cupboards and ordering the plates by size.
Finally he could have the home he wanted, a home fit for his purpose and not for a fat-headed, duvet-stealing bastard who wouldn’t know a good thing if it danced naked in front of him.
About Rebecca
Rebecca Cohen is a Brit abroad. Having swapped the Thames for the Rhine, she has left London behind and now lives with her husband and son in Basel, Switzerland. She can often be found with a pen in one hand and a cup of Darjeeling in the other.
Where to find the author:
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Review
Title: Overly Dramatic
Series: Treading the Boards 01
Author: Rebecca Cohen
Genre: Contemporary, Arts
Length: Novella (131 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (19th August 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3.5 Hearts
Blurb: Andy Marshall moves to London looking for a fresh start after breaking up with his long-term boyfriend. To stave off boredom from his day job as an accountant and to meet new people, Andy joins a local amateur dramatics society called the Sarky Players based in Greenwich, South London. Despite his best efforts to avoid it, Andy is cast as one of the leads in a truly dreadful play called Whoops, Vicar, There Goes My Trousers, written by a local playwright.
The play might be bad, but the Sarky Players are a friendly bunch. Andy quickly makes new friends and finds himself attracted to Phil Cormack, a local artist helping with the props. But life doesn’t run to a script, so Andy and Phil will have to work hard to improvise their own happy ending.
ISBN: 9781634764551
Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6693
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is a bit of a fun novella which was thoroughly enjoyable and good when you just want to read and relax. ‘
It’s a bit of a usual story – main character moves town/city to get away from a bad relationship and a fresh start. Andy has done exactly that after a long-term relationship breaks down and takes up a job in London where he works as an accountant. After talking to one of his co-workers he winds up joining a small amateur theatre group called the Sarky Players.
This is a funny story, helped particularly by the fact that Andy finds himself cast in the horrendously named Whoops, Vicar, There Goes My Trousers. It’s especially funny when Andy encounters the play right and her reaction that the play she wrote as a bet was being put on by the local am-dram company. It’s through the Sarky Players that he meets one of the props managers, Phil, and instantly there are sparks between the guys. Sometimes it felt like the romance was a bit slow in coming along but I love the chemistry between Andy and Phil, nonetheless.
I liked the very human and relatable feel of the other characters in the Sarky Players, including the woman and her husband that had introduced Andy back into the world of theatre. It’s a lot of fun and nothing to take more seriously than the words on the page.
Thank you for the review and giveaway chance!