Kasie West spoke to the Goodreads people about her new book and I thought I'd include the cover and excerpt here but totally go and check out the exclusive for her interview and more stuff. I'm just doing this cause I love her books and I think this cover is super cute and fun.
Earlier this week the new Katie West book, Maybe This Time's cover was revealed. And all I could think was, "Wow! So pretty!" and "Gimme, gimme, gimme!".
I usually don't 100% love the covers of her books. I find them cute and they follow the look of the story and the main couple. Which always helps to see just how adorable they are. But this new cover is just too beautiful. And it makes me think that its a mix between her other covers and Morgan Matson's The Unexpected Everything and Since You've Been Gone.
I don't know maybe it's just me. Or the fact that they are all well-staged photographs specifically made for these books.
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Excerpt
I slid Caroline’s boxes full of gift bags toward me. Unassembled gift bags. Great. I now knew what I’d be spending most of my night doing. I stacked one box on top of the other and carried them back inside.
I made it halfway down the hall when I heard a voice call out from behind me.
"Excuse me?"
I turned. A guy around my age, dressed in fitted jeans, a pastel collared shirt, and a tailored sport jacket stood there, a smile on his handsome face. He clearly wasn’t from around here. He was citified.
I offered him a polite smile, hoping this wouldn’t take long. "The event doesn’t start for fifteen minutes," I said. "But you’re welcome to wait in the lobby. Families are already gathering there."
I knew every school-aged kid in my town (and most of their living and dead relatives). So this guy had to be here visiting for the event. I tried to place him with a grandparent in my head—Betty or Carl or Leo or…
"You’re not from around here," he said, as if voicing my thoughts.
I shifted the boxes in my arms. They weren’t heavy but they were bulky. "What?"
"You’re not from Rockside," he said.
"I am, actually. Born and raised."
"Ah. There it is. I didn’t hear your Southern accent at first."
I straightened with a bit of pride. I worked very hard on making my accent as minimal as possible so that when I went away to college I wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
The guy took several steps forward and pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal he’d been holding a pink tulip. "Something beautiful for someone beautiful."
My brows dipped down. Seriously? I wasn’t sure what to make of such a brazen romantic gesture. If that’s what he was going for. Was it?
I looked at the boxes in my arms, transferred them awkwardly to one hip, and reached out for the flower. With my hand halfway to its destination, I noticed a small green wire wrapped up the stem and supporting the bulb.
I paused. "Where did you get that?"
The question seemed to surprise him, his smile faltered a bit, but he recovered with, "It doesn’t matter where it came from, only where it’s going." He extended his arm farther.
I set the boxes down on the floor and took the flower to inspect it. Sure enough, the wire was wrapped exactly the way I’d done it on over a hundred tulips that very morning. Hours and hours of my life were spent with that wire, in fact.
"You took this from one of the vases in the cafeteria?" I asked, incredulous.
He nodded. "Yes, I rescued it from its tacky prison. It looks happier already."
My mouth dropped open.
"No worries. There were hundreds of them. Nobody will be able to tell."
"I sense I’ve offended you," Mr. Obvious said, following me. Or Mr. Entitled? Maybe I’d go for a hyphenated last name since both applied.
I stood in the doorway and scanned the centerpieces.
"You’re telling me that you’re going to know which one of these flower arrangements I found this flower in," he said.
"Found? Yes, I’m going to tell you exactly which flower arrangement you stole this flower from, considering I’ve spent the last eight hours putting them together."
He coughed. "Oh. Did I say tacky? I meant…uh…festive."
I rolled my eyes.
I saw him glance my way, as if sizing me up. I was wearing a green silky blouse with a floral knee-length skirt. My party attire. But even outside of work events, I liked fun colors and classic styles.
"These centerpieces aren’t your design anyway," he pronounced, "so I don’t know why you’re upset."
I scowled. "There is no way you could possibly know that."
He shrugged like he disagreed, then said, "I still don’t think you’ll be able to tell which one I took it from."
"I will."
"Without counting the flowers?"
"You’re adding rules to this made-up game?"
"Yes!" he said proudly. "If you can’t tell which arrangement is missing a flower, just by looking, then nobody else will be able to tell either and you must accept my gift."
"Can something that was stolen really be called a gift?" I asked, and began weaving in and out of tables.
"Deal?"
Leo’s grandson sure was annoying. Maybe it was John’s grandson. John was known for being demanding. But I could’ve sworn I met all John’s grandkids at the town’s Fourth of July barbecue the previous year. "And if I win?" I asked.
One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile. "If you win, I owe you a dozen flowers that I must pay for."
"A dozen flowers arranged by me."
"Only if they don’t involve foil."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "It’s called cellophane. And they won’t."
"I sense this is going to be expensive."
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Maybe This Time by Kasie West
One year. Nine events. Nine chances to . . . fall in love?
Weddings. Funerals. Barbecues. New Year's Eve parties. Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family dramas.
Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Entitled, arrogant, preppy Andrew. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there is Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn't so bad after all . . .
Told over the course of one year and following Sophie from event to event, this delightful novel from master of romantic comedy Kasie West shows how love can blossom in unexpected places.
Maybe This Time by Kasie West will be available July 9, 2019
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