It’s been a pretty amazing weekend so far. My daughter’s middle school dance team took home the title of Grand Champions last night at Chicago’s JamFest (forgive me for the Proud Mama moment!) The girls were incredible and it was nice to see all their hard work pay off. I know a thing or two about reaping the benefits of some hard work. There’s nothing quite like holding a book that I wrote in my hands. I’m pretty sure it will never, ever get old. I certainly hope I never take it for granted.
Today, I’m celebrating the release of my third book, the second in the Chicago Sisters series. The Best Laid Plans took a good three months to write, much of my summer was spent typing away. It originally was going to be a little tragic. I opted not to make people bawl their eyes out and switch up the storyline. My editor and I went back and forth about there being a love triangle and I watched several episodes of Chicago Fire to get a feel for what it’s like in a Chicago firehouse (or at least what people will believe goes on).
If you read The Better Man, then you have already met Emma and Charlie. Charlie is a paramedic who lives below Max Jordan, the hero in the first novel. He’s a fun-loving, easy-going, nice guy. He’s the kind of guy who knows how to make everyone around him smile. He’s a charmer who hasn’t been very lucky when it comes to love, however. He hopes all that will change when he decides to pursue Emma Everhart.
Emma is the younger sister of Kendall from The Better Man. Emma is an ER nurse who believes she has figured out how to have the perfect life. She carefully plans out what should happen and, as long as she sticks to the plan, everything turns out exactly the way she wants it to. If she tries to change the plans, however, her world tends to fall apart. Emma does not like changing her plans. So, when the plan is to marry a doctor and a handsome new intern comes to work in the ER, Emma is certain everything will turn out as it should. Until Charlie makes her feel something she thought she’d only feel for the man in her plan.
The Best Laid Plans has a huge cast of characters. I hope you enjoy getting to know the doctors and nurses in the ER as well as the men and women at the Lincoln Park firehouse. You also meet Charlie’s crazy family and catch up with Kendall and Max and the rest of the Everhart gang.
Most of all, you get to read about how love is the only thing that can override the best laid plans.
Here’s a little excerpt:
Standing out like a sore thumb amongst all the servers dressed in black stood Max’s neighbor, Charlie. He was a giant, probably six foot four, and had on jeans and a Chicago Cubs T-shirt. Charlie taking the boys was not part of the plan.
“I thought Lucy and I were going to take them back to Kendall’s?”
“Charlie offered to watch them at my place,” Max said as if it was no big deal.
Charlie and his extra-wide smile came over to congratulate the happy couple. He was Max’s only friend in the city besides Kendall. Emma knew him from the hospital. He was the paramedic all the triage nurses flirted with when he brought someone into the ER. Emma could admit there was something attractive about his dark brown hair and green eyes that were always smiling.
“But that wasn’t the plan,” she said, unable to let it go.
“The plans changed, Nightingale. Is that okay?” Charlie asked. The way he looked at her made her stomach feel weird.
“Someone could have texted,” she said to Max, who was oblivious to her frustration.
“Let’s not make a big deal about this,” Lucy said, bumping Emma with her hip and glaring.
This was Kendall’s night. Emma needed to pull it together. Plans changed. Not her plans, but other people changed their plans all the time. Roll with it, she told herself.
“You can come over and help me get them to bed if you want. Floor Three has the good cable. All the movies we want at the touch of a button.” Floor Three was Charlie’s nickname for Max because he lived on the third floor of their three-flat. Charlie had a thing for nicknaming everyone he met. It was weird but oddly cute at the same time.
His invitation threw her off for a second. His eyes were locked on hers, still smiling but so intense. He had this way of making her feel as if there was no one else in this world he wanted to be looking at other than her.
Her face warmed. “I have to work tomorrow. Maybe it’s best you’ve got them.”
“Another time, maybe.”
“Maybe.” Maybe not. There was only one thing Emma knew for sure—Charlie Fletcher was not part of any of her plans. No matter how those eyes made her feel.
Ready to give it a go?
Buy the paperback:
HARLEQUIN
Ebook available:
HARLEQUIN
AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo,
Amy Vastine 