A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street

Jaimie Admans

Description

A brand new and utterly enchanting series by bestselling author Jaimie Admans.

'This is Jaimie at her warm and whimsical best, a magical story to sweep you off your feet!' Bestselling author Tilly Tennant

'This beautiful story is perfect for those who need a sprinkle of fairy dust in their lives. Heartwarming, joyful, with some true laugh out loud parts. I can’t wait for more in the series.' Bestselling author, Rebecca Raisin

'A sparkling and enchanting romance sprinkled with love, laughter and a little bit of magic.' Bestselling author Holly Martin

A picture-perfect town, a place where dreams come true. Welcome to Ever After Street...

Will a kiss at midnight change her life forever?

Sadie Winters has spent her whole life doing as she’s told. But when her overbearing aunt forbids her from going to the farewell ball at the beloved local castle, Sadie has had enough!

One magical makeover, one midnight curfew, and wearing a dress of her own creation, Sadie is unrecognizable as Ever After Street's shy seamstress.

Sadie might dream of meeting a handsome prince but the only person to cross her path is Witt – the slightly awkward estate agent intending to sell the castle and dash Sadie’s dreams forever.

As the clock strikes midnight, Sadie and Witt share a magical kiss and Sadie knows her heart is in serious danger. Surely Witt must feel the same way…? Sadie can't hang around to find out.

But as reality dawns the next day, and fate brings Witt to Sadie’s door again, Sadie realises that her mystery estate agent prince has absolutely no idea who she is!

Sadie can’t forget their midnight kiss, but is she brave enough to change her life and find love along the way…?

Perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Kat French and Caroline Roberts!

Sujets

• Mashups
• Folk Tales
• Fairy Tales
• Women
• Coming of Age
• Reino Unido
• 21st century
• Friendship
• Workplace
• Legends
• General officer
• Fairy tale
• Woman
• United Kingdom
• Mythology
• The Women
• Great Britain
• General
• Cinderella
• International
• Family Life
• Romance
• Disney
• Fiction
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 04 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804838495
• Langue: English

Extrait

A MIDNIGHT KISS ON EVER AFTER STREET


JAIMIE ADMANS
For everyone who has joined me on this journey over the last six years. Thank you for reading.
CONTENTS



Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19


More from Jaimie Admans

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Jaimie Admans

Love Notes

About Boldwood Books
1

‘Absolutely no one shall go to the ball!’
I look down at the gold-edged ticket in my hand and try not to let the wave of disappointment show on my face. I’d known what my aunt’s reaction would be, but ever the optimist, I still thought it was worth asking when that fancy embossed card came through our door. It’s all I’ve thought about since we heard that they were going to open up the castle one last time for a masquerade ball. It felt like my heart turned grey when the announcement about it going up for sale was posted, and it didn’t start glowing red again until we received notice that the seller was going to hold a fairy-tale ball to showcase the castle to potential buyers and, as a gesture of goodwill towards the locals, everyone would be invited.
‘No one on Ever After Street is going to the ball,’ Aunt Ebony continues. ‘It’s the principle of the thing. Soulless, heartless millionaire businessmen thinking they can swan in here with their gimmicks and buy our castle. We’re all boycotting it. That includes you, Sadie!’
Rumours are swirling that an offer has been made on the castle by a business conglomerate who want to knock it down and build a supermarket in its place, which would be catastrophic for Ever After Street and all those who live and work here, like us. I’m a seamstress at The Cinderella Shop, one of many fairy-tale-themed shops on this street. We’re a dress shop with a unique guarantee – you’ll find love while wearing one of our dresses or get your money back.
‘We don’t know who’s buying it yet. The seller must be hoping this ball will attract more offers. And it isn’t our castle. It’s… well, no one knows who owns it or where they are, but—’
‘That’s not the point. The castle is a huge part of Ever After Street. There should’ve been some legislation in place that prevented it from being sold to whoever wanted it. This ball is solely to paper over the cracks where they’ll cut planning permission corners, you mark my words. This will be the end of Ever After Street itself. A fairy-tale-themed shopping centre in the foothills of an Aldi doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.’
‘It might be a Waitrose,’ my cousin Scarlett suggests. ‘We don’t know which supermarket has made the offer yet. It might be something posh that appeals to a different type of visitor.’
‘At which point, they will have spent all their money up there.’ Aunt Ebony waves a hand in the direction of the castle nestled in the green hills at the end of the street. ‘And will have none left to spend down here in our shops. And no one’s mentioned access roads yet! They’ll tear up half the trees and plonk their pollution-filled road right through the middle of the Full Moon Forest. A supermarket will be the end of everything that’s good about Ever After Street. We’ll be lucky if they don’t bulldoze the lot of us and turn us into a supermarket car park! None of us are going to play nicey-nicey with them at their silly ball. We’re not going to give them the satisfaction. We’re going to show them that no matter who owns that castle, they can’t throw a fancy ball and then sell it to someone who will serve us all with eviction notices the next day. These shops are people’s livelihoods. A supermarket is not welcome here.’
Judging by how many dresses I’ve made over the last few weeks, a lot of people are going to the ball. I stand by the shop door and stare longingly down the road, towards the greenery of the forest and the castle hiding in the trees. I love that castle. It’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My mum filled my childhood with stories of how she’d met my dad there many years before when she was delivering handmade dresses to the viscountess, and he was an accountant to the viscount who’d owned the castle back then. It’s been empty since I was a child, gradually falling into disrepair and being swallowed up by the trees that surround it on the hillside.
‘It will put us all out of business. This place is a quiet, countryside haven. Children can roam free because of the safety of the pedestrianised street. People can wander, meander around the shops and then head into the woods for a picnic or a paddle in the river, or hike up to the castle…’ Ebony is still ranting.
‘But it’s just a ball. It’s a nice gesture. A nod towards the origins of the castle and the importance of keeping the fairy-tale aspect of Ever After Street intact.’ I read that bit from the gold text printed on the card in my hand. ‘As far as we know, the sale hasn’t gone through yet. The supermarket moguls who are sniffing around and sizing up the area might go to the ball, realise their supermarket doesn’t fit here, and that will be the end of it.’ I sound far too hopeful for my own good. The castle is still up for sale. Any potential buyer could have a damning effect on Ever After Street and the lives of the people who own shops here.
‘Honestly, Sadie, you’re so naïve,’ my aunt snaps. ‘Life is not a fairy tale. This is not some magical ball where a pumpkin is going to turn into a glittering carriage and rodents are bibbidi-bobbidi-booed into becoming the four horsemen of the apocalypse. You’re not going to meet Prince Charming and live happily ever after. This ball is a con that serves no purpose except trying to curry favour when it comes to the local council deciding which shops will be demolished first when the supermarket needs wider access roads or extra parking space!’
‘I don’t want to meet Prince Charming. Cinderella would’ve been better off living a happy life with her animal friends than marrying a prince who only recognised her by her shoe size.’ I run my fingers over the thick white card. ‘I just want to see the castle. It could be my last chance. No one’s seen inside it for decades and no one ever will again if they knock it down.’
‘Sadie could go as a spy,’ Scarlett says. ‘Go undercover on behalf of the shopkeepers of Ever After Street so she can report back on what they’re up to. Maybe she could go as a saboteur. Chat to any businessy-looking types and covertly drop into conversations how quiet the area is, you know, terrible for business. Or lament loudly about a flood risk due to proximity to the river, ask everyone if they remember what they were doing on the day the sewers backed-up and the drains overflowed…’ Scarlett really is dedicated to the cause.
‘Absolutely not. I forbid it.’ Aunt Ebony stamps her foot for good measure. ‘All the shopkeepers on this street are standing against them as a whole. We will be noticeable through our absence.’
‘It’s a masked ball! No one will know who stands against them or doesn’t because no one will recognise anyone!’ Scarlett snaps.
‘I don’t care. We must all stand together.’ She’s one step away from ribbiting along to Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus.
‘Loads of people are going,’ I say. Admittedly none of them work on Ever After Street though. ‘The unknown seller has invited everyone on this side of the Wye Valley. Everyone’s talking about it.’
‘Then there’ll be plenty of photos for you to look at online afterwards, won’t there? You can live vicariously through those.’
I seem to do nothing but live vicariously these days. For once I’d like to do something just for me, something that wasn’t dictated by someone else. ‘It’s not the same. I want to experience it – to see the magic that my mum once saw.’
Aunt Ebony’s face softens at the mention of her late sister, and then quickly hardens again. ‘You’re too old to be like your mother was, Sadie. Always with her head in the clouds, sewing “love” into whimsical dresses and daydreaming of handsome princes and enchanted castles.’
‘The love she sewed into her dresses is our entire business model. You don’t usually complain. You made it into a guarantee – you’ll find love in one of our dresses or get your money back.’
‘Exactly. It’s the kind of whimsy nonsense that paying customers lap up, but it’s whimsy nonsense with a price tag, and you know me, I can get behind anything with a price tag. Now, come on, girls. No more daydreaming of armoured knights and fair maidens. That castle is nothing more than a tumbledown load of old stone. It’s been abandoned for so long that the ball attendees will be lucky if the whole thing doesn’t fall down on top of them. It’ll be mouldy and musty, undoubtedly haunted, and probably full of bats too. You’d be more likely to find Dracula lurking inside than Prince Charming. You don’t want to go there, Sadie.’
I look longingly through the door towards the hills again. For the first time in my life, this week the castle has been a hive of activity. Teams of workmen are up there preparing for the ball. The tallest trees have been cut back, the windows have been opened and cleaned, and the stone walkway jet-washed until it glitters in the late-April sunlight. Any lurking bats would surely have been chased out. I do want to go there. Even if Dracula is the most interesting thing I find. I can’t imagine the castle being demolished without me ever having seen inside. Disillusionment is creeping into everything I do lately, and the promise of a ball is the first thing that’s made life feel magical again, as though the fairy tales I used to believe in could come true after all, and I can’t give up on it that easily.
I’m so lost in daydreaming that I don’t notice my aunt has stalked across the shop until she whisks the invitation out of m