Blog Tour: Stuck With Me #excerpt #review

Can your perspective on life, happiness and love really change in a week?

Molly, known for her unflagging optimism and constant cheeriness, is thrilled to win an all-expenses paid vacation to Mauritius. She packs her camera and a few colourful bikinis and can’t wait to have some fun in the sun. Little does she know there’s a catch.

Adam is a journalist on assignment and his mission is to test Molly’s optimism and see how far she can be pushed before she breaks. Surely it can’t be that hard?

What happens when Molly meets the hilariously cantankerous Adam and finds that she can’t seem to shake him? How will Adam successfully complete his task when faced with Molly’s beautiful smile, quick wit and curvaceous body?

As they bicker their way around the island, Adam and Molly realise that there’s more to each other than meets the eye. An unexpected friendship develops between them which soon turns into much more. But what will happen when Molly learns the truth behind Adam’s trip to Mauritius?

A heartfelt, funny and touching story about life, love, and happiness.

Amazon | Goodreads

Today I am bringing you an excerpt from Cassandra Piat’s latest book Stuck With Me and then I’ll be letting you know my thoughts.

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“OUCH!”

I jumped in my seat, swivelling in horror towards the stranger sitting next to me. “Oh my God! Please tell me I didn’t just pinch you!”

His scowl was quickly replaced by a chuckle when he saw the look on my face. “If you wanted to get my attention, you could have just talked to me, you know.”

“I’m so sorry, not to mention totally embarrassed, but I was actually meant to be pinching myself,” I said, feeling like a fool.

“And pinching yourself is something you do for fun?”

“No!” I giggled, my face flushing. “I won this trip in a photo competition and I guess I’m having a hard time believing that it’s actually real. I mean, just imagine – me, Molly Malahan, from Perth, Western Australia, flying off to Mauritius! Totally surreal – so I was pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

“Well, Molly Malahan from Perth, Western Australia, I duly confirm that you’re not dreaming,” he said solemnly, stroking his arm and wincing.

I hid my face behind my hands and groaned in embarrassment.

“I’m only kidding, it didn’t hurt,” he said, laughing. “Well not much anyway . . .” he added teasingly.

He was friendly and easy to talk to, so we chatted until I finally heard my flight being called.

“Oooh, that’s me!” I exclaimed, jumping up in a flash as he watched me, looking amused.

“The plane won’t leave without you, you know?” he said, grinning.

I beamed back at him. “Well, I’m not taking any chances!” I chuckled as I waved over my shoulder and practically ran to Gate 3 where we were boarding.

I stepped onto the plane and as I looked around me, my face broke into an ear-splitting grin. I was finally on my way. I glanced at my boarding pass and made my way down the aisle to row fifteen. After putting my bag into the overhead compartment, I slid into the window seat, sighing contentedly.

I was gazing out the window when I felt someone hovering over me. I turned to see a tall, extremely good-looking guy scowling down at me. Although I was rather taken aback by his less-than-friendly expression, I pretended not to notice and greeted him with a welcoming smile.

He grunted what I guessed was a greeting in reply and turned his attention to the overhead compartment, putting his things inside without another word. I peeked up at him out of the corner of my eye. He looked really familiar. Had I met him before? I had no idea. He was in his mid-twenties with short jet-black hair, bushy black eyebrows framing a pair of silver-blue eyes, high cheekbones and a chiselled jawline housing a five o’clock shadow. He was catch-your-breath sexy. As his sullen gaze met mine again, it finally registered.

“Oh my God! You’re—”, I exclaimed, before stopping in mid-sentence when I realised how impossible that was. I mean, as if Ian Somerhalder, the actor from The Vampire Diaries, would have been travelling in economy class.

“No, I’m not!” he snapped, slamming the overhead compartment shut. “So don’t bother telling me how much you love Damon, what a great couple Damon and Elena make and blah, blah, blah.”

I stared at him in surprise. Okay, so he wasn’t Ian Somerhalder – but whoever he was, he needed to lighten up big time.

“Erm . . . well, no. Actually, I was just going to tell you that your fly’s undone!” I said, pointing to his trousers. There! Take that, you grumpy hulk of gorgeousness.

His head swung down, and just as quickly jerked back up again. “How droll,” he drawled sarcastically, as he – and his perfectly well-zipped-up trousers – slid into the seat next to me.

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Eternal optimist Molly wins the trip of a lifetime an all expenses paid week in Mauritius. There’s only one catch and it’s one she doesn’t know about. Adam is a journalist and his assignment is to see if it is possible to be that unwaveringly happy and how it stands up to a series of tricks and misunderstandings. But even with Adam being grouchy at every turn, things start to heat up between them, will it last when she discovers that their meeting isn’t a chance encounter?

I have to be pretty upfront with this review, I could tell pretty early in the story that I wasn’t really going to get on with this book. I’ve always felt like I was the type of person that could read anything because I’ve never come across a book that I just couldn’t gel with, but unfortunately this is one. It was bound to happen at some point as you can’t love every genre but I was surprised because I really thought that a light-hearted romance would be right up my street…apparently not.

I thought the concept was really intriguing, the blurb really did spark my interest in this book, and it does deliver. The things that Adam tests Molly with and the ways she finds to sometimes get back at him or when she reacts in a way completely differently to what you expected keeps the story moving along nicely.

It is a very light-hearted story, but it does deal with some more serious issues like deception, trust and anxiety. The author does a good job of not making light of these issues, without changing the overall tone of the book and making it too heavy.

Whilst I had a lot of issues with this book, I get the impression that if you have already previously enjoyed a book like this, a cheery and easy to read romance then this will be one you will really enjoy.

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Cassandra Piat is a part-time English teacher and a full-time disorganised mother and housewife. She spends her life trying to remember not to forget the 101 things on her things-to-do list, but seems to fail spectacularly most of the time! Whenever she has some free time she’s either with her head in a book, watching a romantic comedy or writing her own romantic comedies.

She lives in Mauritius with her husband, who prefers TV to books, and her three children who keep her on her toes and don’t leave her much free time to sit down and write.

She published her first book What’s it Gonna be? in December 2014 and Stuck with Me is her second novel. She loves writing stories that take place on her beautiful tropical island of Mauritius and sharing the island life with her readers. She is currently writing her third book in her head and hopes that she will soon have time to get it down on paper.

You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and her Website.