Book Extract: Starlight on the Palace Pier by Tracy Corbett

A big hello to Tracy Corbett and the blog tour for her new novel, Starlight on the Palace Pier. 

After an injury derails her dream of becoming a professional dancer, Becca Roberts heads home to Brighton in search of a fresh start.

And, when a part-time dance teacher role becomes available at The Starlight Playhouse, it seems like her stars are finally aligning. The crumbling old playhouse might need a bit of tender loving care (and a lick of paint!), but Becca is more than up to the challenge.

That is until Becca’s first love (and first heartbreak), Tom, waltzes into the Starlight Playhouse, and she realises life by the sea might not be as simple as she thought…

I have reviewed the book below but first, Tracy and Avon have shared an extract with us. Enjoy.

*****Beginning of extract.*****

Becca was suffering with her second hangover in the space of forty-eight hours. She’d met up with a couple of old school friends last night and had ended up at Patterns. Why had she drunk so much? Her head hurt, her eyes hurt, even her hair hurt. But most of all her knee hurt. Too many gin cocktails coupled with dancing in high heels until the early hours had aggravated her injury…again. If she carried on like this she might never make a full recovery. But it was hard to remain focused on her rehabilitation when she knew her dancing career was over.

Still, she didn’t want to walk with a permanent limp, so she needed to dial down the abuse and let her knee heal, which was why she was sitting in the kitchen with an ice pack balancing on her knee. Two paracetamols and two ibuprofens had dulled the pounding in her head, but she still felt battered.

It wasn’t the best preparation for an interview. But then, she wasn’t even sure she wanted the job. Teaching was certainly an avenue lots of dancers chose after retiring, but they were usually the ones who’d had successful careers and had taken teacher training courses. She hadn’t done any of that. She’d never considered herself the teaching type. On the other hand, she needed a job. And Jodi was desperate for an ally, so Becca had contacted Carolyn Elliot-Wentworth and applied for the position.

She drank another glass of water and forced down a slice of toast, but she knew fresh air would be the only real antidote. A walk up to Preston Park would do her good, plus it would help strengthen her thigh muscles, something the consultant said was necessary to protect her knee from future injury.

Yesterday’s clouds had blown away leaving a lovely September day. It was warm enough that she didn’t need a coat, so she headed away from the marina up towards Victoria Fountain, reacquainting herself with her home town. Once a place filled with cheap housing, hippies and squatters struggling to make a living, Brighton had been transformed into a thriving town full of artists and celebrities.

She upped her pace, fighting the urge to limp. It took a while for the stiffness in her knee to ease, but gradually the pain subsided enough that she could almost ignore it.

***** End of extract.*****
 

My verdict on Starlight on the Palace Pier:

Becca has recently returned home after an injury has stalled her dancing career. Unsure about what she’s going to do, she joins her cousin Jodi and begins work as a dance instructor at the local playhouse – a place she was very familiar with as a child.

As she adjusts to life away from dancing and the return of the man who broke her heart, can Becca find happiness somewhere?

Her cousin, Jodi has a criminal record and has had trouble getting a job. She is given a chance but her it isn’t long before her past catches up with her.

Okay, I want to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this cover. It’s one of my favourites of the year for sure. As is this book.

I adored Becca and Jodi straight away. I loved their friendship/relationship. Can I be a member of their gang? The other characters are great too although I wasn’t too keen on Vivienne.

The setting for this novel is wonderful. There is a great atmosphere within it.
The plot moves well. There’s romance, laughter and a little mystery too. I full on laughed out loud in many places. Tracy writes with a lot of warmth and humour.

I don’t want to say much else as I don’t want to give too much away. I really hope you decide to pick up this book. I very much enjoyed reading it. Tracy, you have a new fan.

About Tracy: 

Tracy grew up in Berkshire with her large, noisy and adorable family. She now lives in Surrey with her partner and started writing in her late twenties, song lyrics, sketches for pantomimes and short stories, before venturing into the wonderful world of novel writing.

She describes her writing style as modern tales of romance, with engaging quirky characters, who overcome adversity, grow as people and conclude in satisfying optimistic endings.

When Tracy isn’t writing, she enjoys amateur dramatics and can regularly be found dressing up in various strange costumes and prancing about the stage pretending to be all manner of odd characters!

Her latest novel, Starlight on the Palace Pier, released by Avon is now available to buy as an eBook. The paperback is due for release in December. Click to view on Amazon UK. 

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.