Game Of Scones: a feel-good summer romance for 2018! (Samantha Tonge) читать онлайн (2024)

A story of icing and flour…and how love doesn’t always go to plan!

Growing up, Pippa Pattinson’s summers were spent in the idyllic Greek island fishing village of Taxos. There she spent many long hazy days determinedly ignoring thoughts of the life her parents had mapped out for her (a dreary-but-secure accounting job and obligatory sensible husband!). Instead she daydreamed of running her own teashop – serving the perfect scones – with mocha-eyed childhood friend Niko by her side…

Arriving back in Taxos for the first time in years, with suave boyfriend Henrik, Pippa barely recognises the tired little town – but is relieved to catch glimpses of the quaint, charming village she’s always loved. Together Niko and Pippa put together a proposal to save Taxos from tourist-tastic ruin, and at the heart of their plan is Pippa’s dream project – The Tastiest Little Teashop in Taxos. It’s time for Pippa to leave her London life behind and dust off her scone recipe that’s guaranteed to win over both locals and visitors. And amidst the rolling pins and raisins, it seems romance is blossoming where she’s least expecting it…

If you’re a fan of Lindsey Kelk or Lucy Diamond then don’t hesitate to step into Samantha Tonge’s truly delightful teashop.

Also by Samantha Tonge

Doubting Abbey

From Paris with Love

Mistletoe Mansion

Game of Scones

Samantha Tonge

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2015

Copyright © Samantha Tonge 2015

Samantha Tonge asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9781474034029

Version date: 2018-07-23

SAMANTHA TONGE

lives in Cheshire with her lovely family and two cats who think they are dogs. Along with writing, her days are spent cycling, willing cakes to rise and avoiding housework. A love of fiction developed as a child, when she was known for reading Enid Blyton books in the bath. A desire to write bubbled away in the background whilst she pursued other careers, including a fun stint working at Disneyland Paris. Formally trained as a linguist, Samantha now likes nothing more than holing herself up in the spare room, in front of the keyboard. Writing romantic comedy novels is her passion.

http://samanthatonge.co.uk/

http://doubtingabbey.blogspot.co.uk/

http://pinkinkladies.wordpress.com/

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I’d like to thank my hardworking, lovely editor Lucy Gilmour, along with the rest of the dedicated HQ Digital UK team. Thanks also to Kate Nash for her input. HQ Digital UK authors, I love you guys, thanks for brightening every working day. Hugs to Martin, Immy and Jay for their continued support. Appreciation to my many online friends who always know when to offer virtual chocolate. And a big shout-out to all those wonderful bloggers who generously give up their spare time to help us authors promote our books.

A special thank you goes to Frank de Jong, the very charming KLM flight attendant I met on the way back from Japan who inspired the character of Henrik. Thanks Frank, for putting up with my emails and requests for photos; for not running a mile when KLM tracked you down, having heard me chat about this book’s “hot Dutch hero” on Twitter.

Of course, these acknowledgements wouldn’t be complete without mentioning my favourite Game of Thrones characters Tyrion, Daenerys and Jon Snow. George R R Martin, I salute you!

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Word to the wise: never Google “Dutch” and “Sex” in the same sentence. Mmm, tempted you, haven’t I? A graphic image hovered in my mind, after I closed the page on my browser. Really? How was that even possible? With a brief smile, I put my phone on the coffee table and snuggled back into the black leather sofa. On my lap lay a pen and sheet of paper. For important decisions, I had to map out my thoughts the old-fashioned way. On one side I’d scrawled a list titled HEAD: