I am so excited today to be able to share with you all the fabulous final cover for Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines! It’s gorgeous, and I adore it. Just look at the pretty!
Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines is the companion novel to Love, Lies and Lemon Pies – which means it’s set in the same school, and has a lot of the same characters, but it’s not exactly a sequel, so you don’t have to have read the first book before you read this one.
Here’s what it’s about:
Plan A: Be the Star.
Who needs a Plan B?
Grace:
She never really knew what life was like out of the spotlight, but when Grace opened the door to a family secret, everything changed. Now she’s having to learn the hard way.
Connor:
Being the new boy at school tends to get you noticed, but all Connor wants is to keep a low profile. Then he meets Grace.
Grace had a plan for this year – and it didn’t involve learning to sew. But her world has been turned upside down, and now her family is in need of patching up. Grace is trying to focus on what really matters – but how does she even figure out what that is? And why does proving to Connor that she’s changed seem so important?
The biggest difference from the first book, as you can see, is that instead of Lottie telling us the story, this time we have Grace, who has Big Plans for Year 12.
“Mr Hughes.” I sidled up to his chair, still trying to catch my breath. “I’m so sorry I was late today. Bit of a family crisis, I’m afraid.” His gaze unnerved me. It felt like he was studying me, analyzing me, like a character in a play.
“Another one, Grace?” he asked. “Wasn’t that the excuse you used when you missed Drama Club the first week we came back? And the second, actually. Is it something you’d like to talk about?”
My smile froze. No, actually, it really wasn’t.
“It’s been an … interesting summer,” I told Mr Hughes, aiming for wry understatement in my voice. What I actually felt was disbelief, confusion and just a tinge of despair, but I figured he didn’t need to know that. “I’d still really like to audition for the play. You know how much I love Shakespeare.” Total lie, but teachers always liked to hear that sort of thing. “And how much time and energy I’ve put into Drama Club over the past five years.” A little reminder that I’d paid my dues and worked my way up.
This year’s play, after the roaring success of last year’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream (featuring yours truly as the fairy queen), was Much Ado About Nothing. As far as I’d been able to tell from the film clips on YouTube, it was about two people who argued all the time to hide the fact they were secretly crazy about each other.
I was the queen of banter. Nobody in the group could pull off a flirty argument like me. I was born to play Beatrice. This was my year to take the lead. That was the plan!
And, as you can probably tell from the title, while the gang still spend plenty of time in Bake Club, this time around we have lots of fun sewing projects for you to make instead of recipes. And just like with my Baking Through The Book posts, this time I’ll be Sewing Through The Story right here on the blog. I’d love for you to sew along with me!
Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines is out on Valentine’s Day, and available for preorder now!
Reblogged this on Issey Stevens.