Hi peeps, we have Rebecca Cohen stopping by today with the recap tour for her second Treading the Boards release Summer Season, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Prime’s review, so check out the post and click that giveaway link! <3 ~Pixie~
Summer Season
Rebecca Cohen
A trip down to Cornwall is just what Ryan Penniford needs to recover from the daily grind of London life. Ryan and his amateur dramatics society, the Sarky Players, are traveling to Porthcurno to perform at the stunning Minack Theatre.
Stuart Box has returned to Cornwall after earning his PhD, and is killing time as he looks for a job back in London. Spending time with Ryan from the Sarky Players is a great way to take his mind off things.
During their first meeting, sparks fly, but not in a good way, and they must work to get past their initial hostilities to discover they have great off-stage chemistry. Stuart soon learns Ryan is not the superficial man people assume he is, and Stuart likes what he sees. The feeling is entirely mutual.
Pity Ryan is only visiting for two weeks, but both men want to see where this holiday romance might take them.
Excerpt
ORANGE DINNER always tasted better when cooked by his mum, and he had it as a welcome-home meal every time he returned from university, or when he was younger and having problems at school, or to celebrate the end of exams. True, it was one of the best things she could cook, as the rest of her edible repertoire was usually accompanied by the words “pierce film several times” and gave the time for an eight-hundred-watt model. As Stuart finished dinner, Fiona raced off to redo her makeup. By the time she returned downstairs, he’d washed and was waiting to go, cushion in hand.
“Ready?” she asked, threading hooped earrings into place.
Stuart spotted the stilettos. “You can’t wear those shoes—you’ll break your bloody neck.”
“They’ll be fine.”
“No. I’m not carrying you down the steps when you decide you’ve made a mistake. Put your flats on.”
She grumbled under her breath but didn’t argue, and finally, five minutes later, they were on their way to the theater, and Stuart felt more confident that they wouldn’t have a visit to A & E in their immediate future.
The weather had made a dramatic improvement, the clouds having given way to a clear blue sky. Turning off the path and crossing the car park made Stuart travel back in time to the rose-tinted summers of his childhood, when he was allowed to stay up late because he was going to the theater. Depending on the weather, he’d be decked out in shorts and a thin T-shirt or in full rain gear, but the excitement never waned. He’d tried to explain the Minack to people in London, his enthusiasm possibly more off-putting than inclusive. Only when he’d come across a theater buff or a lucky soul who’d experienced the place themselves did someone understand where he was coming from.
The audience began to file in, making him realize it was later than he’d thought. His mum dug through her huge handbag and handed over their tickets at the entrance. They moved to the left and waited to start the descent of the steep steps to the amphitheater carved out of the cliff face. Stuart was glad of the chance to enjoy the great view of the open-air theater and the Atlantic Ocean stretching out almost endlessly before them.
Fiona stopped dead. “Do you want a choc ice?”
“Don’t stop there, keep going.” He gave her a gentle shove. “I’ll get you an ice cream in the interval.”
People shuffled along the rows of seats, which were nothing more than blocks of stone with a grassy top. Stuart sniggered to himself as he spotted the first-timers, already squirming in their seats, who were ill prepared and would regret the lack of a cushion by the end of the evening. It’d be much worse in a couple of hours when they would have to climb back to the entrance with numb bottoms.
Their seats were quite close to the stage, thanks to Fiona being a Friend of the Minack. As she made small talk with a few people Stuart vaguely recognized, he flicked through the flimsy program, the blurb from an amateur dramatics group somehow hypnotically fascinating—especially as he didn’t want to get embroiled in a conversation about a local petition doing the rounds to complain to the council about the color the rubbish bins in the village had been painted.
Fiona elbowed him. “Are you listening to me?”
“Eh?”
She shook her head. “I said Tanya here knows Mike needs a few extra people to help on Saturday and Sunday if you’re not busy.”
“Oh, sorry, Tanya. I didn’t see you there.” He gave Tanya—who was Mike the theater manager’s sister—his best sheepish smile. “Needs help with a bulky get-in?”
“You know this place too well, Stuart. Always good to have a few people who know their way around during the get-in, particularly for a group new to the Minack.”
“Fresh meat… now there’s a surprise.”
“Cheeky! I know it feels like the same groups come time after time, but we’ve a lot of new ones. The next lot are from Greenwich. Which explains the silly name, I suppose.”
“Oh come, it can’t be as bad as the Norfolk lot… something like the Singing Tractor Men and Women of the Broads.”
“True, but the Sarky Players is a daft name if you ask me.”
Fiona snorted. “After the Cutty Sark, I suppose.”
Her supposition was neither confirmed nor denied, as the rest of the audience fell silent at the cue that the play was about to start. Unfortunately the opening lines were lost on most of the playgoers as a pod of dolphins were spotted in the distance.
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: Summer Season
Series: Treading the Boards 02
Author: Rebecca Cohen
Genre: Contemporary, Arts
Length: Novella (127 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (7 Oct 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Blurb: A trip down to Cornwall is just what Ryan Penniford needs to recover from the daily grind of London life. Ryan and his amateur dramatics society, the Sarky Players, are traveling to Porthcurno to perform at the stunning Minack Theatre.
Stuart Box has returned to Cornwall after earning his PhD, and is killing time as he looks for a job back in London. Spending time with Ryan from the Sarky Players is a great way to take his mind off things.
During their first meeting, sparks fly, but not in a good way, and they must work to get past their initial hostilities to discover they have great off-stage chemistry. Stuart soon learns Ryan is not the superficial man people assume he is, and Stuart likes what he sees. The feeling is entirely mutual.
Pity Ryan is only visiting for two weeks, but both men want to see where this holiday romance might take them.
ISBN: 9781634764551
Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6939
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is the second instalment to Rebecca Cohen’s Treading the Boards series (and I am well aware that there is at least one other series in MM called Treading the Boards). You don’t need to have read book 1 to get into this one. The couple of the previous book, Overly Dramatic, Andy and Phil, are mentioned a couple of times but nothing that requires a back story.
We are back in the world of the Sarky Players amateur theatre group and they are now on the road from London for a summer performance in Cornwall. This time round we get to meet member of the Sarky Players, Ryan as he readies himself to play the part of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s at the local outdoor amphitheatre that he meets local guy Stuart. The road to romance is rocky for them, and probably a bit predictable, but it is entirely pleasing. However, once again I enjoyed the chemistry between the MCs and the romance was hot.
On a more personal note, I have to say that it took me a few days to realise that I did indeed enjoy this story more than I originally thought. Stuart’s story of finishing his PhD and having problems finding a post-doctoral research position just hit too close to home for me, the problem being that I am approaching the end of my PhD and finding myself in the same position (and in a similar field of biology) to Stuart. Maybe I can find my very own Ryan!
In saying all that, people towards the end of their PhDs will find some of the descriptions so close to home that it’s almost depressing. For everyone else, rest assured this is a pretty damn realistic look at the life of research scientists.
Nevertheless, cannot wait for book 3!!! Even if that will also be alarmingly close to my own life.
