MEET ME IN LONDON BY GEORGIA TAFFOLO
PAPERBACK PUBLISHED BY MILLS AND BOON 15TH OCTOBER 2020
Falling in love was never part of the deal.
Aspiring vintage clothes designer Victoria Scott dreams of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.
Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. The opening of his family’s new London department store is behind schedule, and his interfering, if well- meaning, mother is pressing him to settle down. He needs a diversion. Something to keep his mother from meddling while he focuses on business.
When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition pretend to be his fiancée at the opening of his store and he will give Victoria the opportunity to showcase her designs. Only soon his fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed, will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for?
MY REVIEW
I absolutely loved this story from the very first page until the last. All of us women love clothes, which made me fall in love with Victoria Scott’s dream and idea of having her own boutique. And then there is Oliver’s mother who wants her son to have a girlfriend to Christmas dinner, which every mother of course wants her son to settle down. It’s such a beautiful story I have to very highly recommend reading Meet Me in London.
PART OF CHAPTER ONE
Oliver Russell could wrangle a wayward balance sheet back into the black, take failing stores apart and breathe new life into them, make difficult calls on staffing and personal issues, make his shareholders happy and very rich. But he had never managed to curb his mother’s meddling in his private life.
Some things were just impossible.
Earth to Oliver. This is your mother asking about your Christmas Day plans. Will I set an extra place at the dinner table ? Hint hint. Your mother xx
Sitting on a stool at the bar in the upmarket wine bar. The landing, Oliver groaned as he interpreted the hint as yet another badly veiled attempt to discover his relationship status. Great one, Mum. Way to put pressure on a guy.
Could this week get any worse ? He threw his mobile into the sticky, beer stained counter, gripped the tumbler in front of him and took a sip of a much needed fifteen- year – old Scotch.
As the honey- coloured syrup oozed down his throat and hit his stomach with a warming buzz he silently counted all the ways things had gone wrong in such a small space of time.
First mistake allowing his mother to believe he was finally settling down when in reality his love life could only be described as non existent. And now having to think up all the ways he could appease his parents over the holidays without going quietly insane.
PART OF CHAPTER TWO
There was nothing better, Victoria mused as she sipped her takeaway coffee and felt the late autumn sun gently warm her back than mooching in Portobello market on a rare afternoon off.
Sure, she loved working in Chelsea, with its neat white terrace, and feeling of grandeur from the myriad high end houses and guarded foreign embassies. She loved the sense of history from the three- hundred- year- old red-brick Chelsea hospital. Loved the new and old of chain- store shops rubbing shoulders with quirky clothing stores, the sometimes daring offbeat clothes choices. The shock factor and yet the reassuring solidarity of it all. Chelsea was her place. Her fit. She felt as if she was destined to have a shop right there. Had almost had one. But now she was back to square one with the plan. Thanks to Peter.
No. She wasn’t going to ruin this lovely day with memories of plans gone awry. She was simply going to make new ones and put them into action instead. Starting today, by focusing on her designs and growing her vintage- inspired portfolio.
And while Victoria loved working and renting in Chelsea, she also adored exploring the shopping in Portobello market. A more earthy, gritty place with its diverse stores, hippy buzz and exotic smells of cuisines from around the world. To her.
ABOUT GEORGIA TOFFOLO
Georgia Toffolo is a broadcaster and British media personality. Meet Me In London is her first book of her quarter. It is her second and her first fiction novel. She lives in South West London with her dog Monty.
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