Spotlight & Giveaway: Work in Progress by Kat Mackenzie

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Kat Mackenzie’s new release: Work in Progress

A warm, sexy, laugh-out-loud rom-com about a woman who, desperate for a fresh start, books a literary bus tour across the UK that consists of a lively group of elderly ladies plus one infuriatingly handsome Scottish driver.

UK Bus Trip Goals:

Crawl out of pajamas.
1. Get over cheating bastard and his stupid ironed jeans.
2. Have my first real adventure!
3. Achieve stability, strength, and growth.
4. Definitely do NOT kiss any British men.

Alice loves a good list. But careful planning didn’t stop her from losing her job and her fiance in one fell swoop. With her dreaded 30th birthday looming on the horizon, Alice makes the first impulsive decision of her life – booking a flight to the UK for a three-week, all-female, literary bus tour. What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out – everything.

Alice arrives to discover that this tour isn’t what she expected. At all. Instead of cool, globe-trotting thirtysomethings with meaningful tattoos, she finds a rickety, antique bus full of fluffy-haired octogenarians. And to make matters infinitely worse, the tour guide makes her blood boil! And that devilish grin of his tells her he’s dead set on making her trip a misery.

But as they travel from castle ruins to cozy pubs, Alice may just find that she’s got it all wrong. The ladies are vivacious. The book club chat is on fire. And damn if that mischievous smile doesn’t threaten to turn her world upside down – and her beloved list right along with it!

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from Work in Progress 

I could never have imagined that I would be so happy to see the
inside of Edinburgh Airport. Surprisingly small and unmemorable,
to me it was heaven: a beautiful salvation after my quick, seven-hour
hop over the pond had become a thirty-six-hour circle of hell that
would have chilled even Dante to the marrow. I have a hazy memory
of trying to suffocate myself in the velour depths of my travel pillow,
but I was too tired to die, and gave up.

When finally I arrived in the UK, I was dangerously underslept
and underfed, and my entire body was one giant cramp. Only a
maniac could have been happy as they trudged off the plane, wove
through endless yellowed hallways, and got at the back of a line so
long it looked like James McAvoy was giving away free hugs at the
Scottish border. But to my surprise, I found I had a smile on my face.

An unfamiliar ember of joy sparked and began to warm my chest.
I zeroed in on it and tried to let all the pains and miseries of the past
day and a half fall away. I put an upbeat song on my headphones and
coaxed my smile to grow. Sometimes happiness needed to be fought
for. That’s why I was here, and I was ready for my adventure to begin.

While I waited in the customs line, I took the opportunity to dig
out my notebook and make a list. Because lists make everything better.

WONDERFUL BRITISH THINGS I’M FINALLY ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE IRL:
1. Crooked thatched cottages with curls of smoke rising
from the chimney
2. Cobbled streets with painted shop fronts
3. Crispy fish and salty chips wrapped in paper
4. Cozy old pubs with open fires
5. Mossy stone walls that you can run your hand across
as you set out for a chilly country walk
6. Stately English lawns where I can imagine Mr. Darcy
on a horse with the wind in his hair
7. Rugged Scottish vistas where I can imagine Jamie
Fraser on a mountain with the wind in his kilt
8. The accents—every single one of the confusing, sexy,
adorable accents
9. Castles
10. Actual freaking castles!
11. Red phone boxes
12. Double-decker buses
13. The word loo

A stern lady stamped my passport, and the sound of it sent a little
thrill to my stomach. This trip was going to be life-changing. I just
knew it. Every damn minute of it was going to be spectacular!

That is until almost immediately after stepping on British soil,
when disaster struck.

My suitcase was missing. While others grabbed their bags off the
carousel and skipped away arm in arm, I stood looking at the clock,
trying to hold out hope as the last few bags squeaked past, inch by
excruciating inch. An eternity later when the empty carousel finally
shuddered to a stop, so did my desperate little heart.

This was going to be bad. I just knew it. And I really needed
this trip to be perfect. I needed it so badly. My feet hardly left the
linoleum as I dragged my body toward the customer service desk,
bowed and beaten. Over my earbuds, the first few miserable strums
of R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” came up in the shuffle to provide
the soundtrack.

Touché, universe. Touché.

Excerpt. ©Kat Mackenzie. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: We’re giving away 5 copies of WORK IN PROGRESS by Kat Mackenzie! US only.

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Meet the Author:

Kat Mackenzie is an American who just happened to find herself living abroad for ten years and accidentally traveling to over forty countries in an attempt to taste all the food. She holds degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford but has discovered that they serve her best collecting dust on the shelf while she pens comedy-forward stories about women who travel. Work in Progress is her first novel.

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