![Celebrations and Confetti At Cedarwood Lodge: A feel good, hilarious romance to curl up with by the fire by [Raisin, Rebecca]](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/518s9sjNCIL.jpg)
Celebrations and Confetti
Cedarwood Lodge # 1
By Rebecca Raisin
Releasing October 24, 2016
Carina
Part one in a feel-good romantic serial from bestselling author Rebecca Raisin!
Clio Winters is finally fulfilling her childhood dream of renovating the gorgeous old Cedarwood Lodge in Evergreen. Turning it into the perfect destination for big celebrations, weddings and parties has brought her back home, but Cedarwood Lodge is in need of a lot of tender loving care.
Perhaps all the work will be the perfect distraction from the real reason she had to leave her glamorous New York life behind.
Will coming home be the best decision of her life… or her biggest regret?
Cedarwood Lodge is a delectable romance told in three parts - following Clio Winters journey back to her hometown of Evergreen. This is Part One.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2exYINl
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2b4Q04O
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/celebrations-and-confetti-at-cedarwood-lodge-rebecca-raisin/1124580558?ean=9781474058414
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rebecca_Raisin_Celebrations_and_Confetti_At_Cedarw?id=bGPJDAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31423830-celebrations-and-confetti-at-cedarwood-lodge?from_search=true
I would like to thank Carina for approving me to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I have got to say I fell in love with Cedarwood Lodge from the first page of this book. As this is a first in the series it a novella size and a very easy read. The descriptions are just enough to envisage the lodge without getting boring and going into too much detail which seems to be the norm for romance novels at the moment.
Clio is a likable character and you really feel for her when you find out her reasons for being buying the lodge, after all, we've all made mistakes when we have thought we were doing the right thing. In some ways, she has gone home with her tail between her legs after leaving the small town to go to New York. Enter hunky surfer Kai and the tension fly off the page.
There is drama in this novella and great character in the shape of Micah and Isla and also a 50th wedding anniversary to arrange.
An excellent beginning to a fabulous series and I was annoyed how it ended but in a good way as I didn't want it to end there but it made me eager to read the next part of this series.
Chapter One
Staring up at the imposing structure with its weathered facade, I had a terrible premonition that I’d made a mistake. A huge one. But, I reasoned, clawing back rising panic, I had always wanted to buy the hundred-year-old abandoned lodge. It had been put up for sale recently, and I’d jumped at the chance. The old place had good sturdy bones; it was solid, despite the desertion of its caretakers aeons ago.
Even though I’d always dreamed about owning Cedarwood Lodge I hadn’t expected for it to happen so soon. But it had, and I’d fallen madly in love with the place as it stood, shutters broken, doors in need of paint, ivy creeping through broken panes of glass, and cascading roses growing wild and free around the porch balustrades. Here was a place untouched for decades and I had a chance to bring it back to its former glory.
The September sky shifted from foggy wisps of gray to country blue as dawn arrived in the small New Hampshire town of Evergreen. A sputtering car swung into the long, winding driveway and I turned to watch my oldest friend Micah leap from his battered hatchback.
We’d been best friends since childhood, and though we’d drifted apart as adults he was the first person I called when I bought Cedarwood Lodge – I offered him the job of maintenance manager which he’d accepted with a ‘Hell yeah.’
“You look exactly the same, Micah,” I said, reaching up for a hug. ‘You haven’t aged a bit.” He’d filled out, no longer the lanky teenager I’d left behind, but aside from that he was the same old Micah with the same affable smile.
“It’s the daily hikes up the bluff. That thin mountain air does wonders for my skin.” He waggled his eyebrows. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I almost fell over when you called. Lucky for you I was between jobs…”
“Lucky for me, all right.”
I couldn’t believe it’d been so long – when was the last time we had properly caught up, five years ago, six? Time ticked by so fast while I’d been away.
“You’re different,” he said, gesturing to my outfit and my usual flyaway curls restrained with a clip. “A little more polished.”
I grinned. “Denim cut offs and messy hair didn’t quite cut it in Manhattan.”
“What? Crazy city folk.” He clucked his tongue.
“Right?” I joked. “How’s Veronica?” I expected him to gush about his long-term girlfriend. Instead, his lips turned down for the briefest second, before he masked it with a smile.
“Veronica? There’s a blast from the past. I haven’t seen her for two and a bit years now. She was like you, Clio, left town and didn’t look back.”
Surprise knocked me sideways that she’d left town, left Micah.
“Sorry, Micah. I thought…” Way to go, Clio!
He touched my shoulder, giving me time to wrench the metaphorical foot from my mouth. “It’s OK.” He let out a half laugh. “One day she just decided that this place was too small for her big dreams. This town, it isn’t for everyone.”
Thanks for having me here today, Jo! Jo’s asked me where my inspiration came for the Cedarwood Lodge Series...
Originally, the series was set in an abandoned mansion, and it was really overgrown and derelict, but with the time frame set I didn’t give enough time in the story to get the renovations done and host the parties, though they are fictional, it still had to ring true! So instead my editor and I had a chat, and decided to set the series at a lodge that needed TLC and some modernizations to get it up to code, so the story could get straight into the good bits!
Cue Australian surfer Kai who also happens to be project manager for heroine Clio. As with any renovation there’s budget issues, schedules to meet, hidden issues crop up when you peel away those layers, figuratively and literally. I was inspired by the idea that there’s a whole history to the lodge, and a secret that will change Clio’s life, and those she’s related to… But she’s so busy, and distracted that it’s not her main focus, until suddenly there’s a confession and she has to figure out the past by herself.
And who doesn’t want to sit by a crackling fire, sipping red wine and watching the snow fall?
Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been published in various short story anthologies and in fiction magazines, and is now focusing on writing romance.
Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships, and most importantly believe in true love.
Website: http://rebeccaraisin.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaRaisinAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jaxandwillsmum
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6915386.Rebecca_Raisin
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