Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the blog series where I share snippets from new and past releases and works-in-progress, and occasionally twist the arms of writer buddies to do the same.

Are you all ready for Valentine’s Day tomorrow? We’re not! Not that the Hein house doesn’t have its romantic moments but with a house move coming up we have other things on our minds. Cleaning out accumulated junk being the biggest. I swear stuff breeds at night.

As for books… ay yi yi! They definitely breed.

Speaking of books, on this week’s Teaser Tuesday I thought I’d tease you with a couple of lines from a work-in-progress. Those of you familiar with the Levenham Love Story books might remember a minor character called Eddie Argyle. Eddie is Harry from Summer and the Groomsman’s younger brother, and has popped up in a couple of books, namely Santa and the Saddler and Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy.

Now he’s getting his own story – Eddie and the Show Queen.

And who’s the Show Queen? That’d be Alice Lindner, Chrissy’s perky blonde friend from Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy.

No release date for this one yet, but it’s likely to be around October/November.

A word of warning. This is an unedited snippet, which means it might change a lot between now and release day. In fact, it might not even make the final cut. I think it will though. I’m rather fond of this scene.

For a long moment Alice said nothing. Eddie held his breath as her gaze flicked over his face. A chance was all he wanted, to prove that he wasn’t who she thought, and to make amends for the hurt he’d somehow caused her and still didn’t understand.

That he was still the bloke she’d once loved.

‘Go on then,’ she said. ‘Surprise me.’

He tapped the raffle book. ‘This Show Queen thing is open to anyone. I could have a go.’

Alice laughed. Eddie didn’t. He’d thought it was quite a clever idea.

‘What’s so funny about me entering? No reason I couldn’t win this thing.’

‘You? As Show Queen?’

‘King, not queen.’ There was nothing queenly about Eddie. ‘Why not? It’s not like it takes any special skill. It’s just running a few raffles.’

‘Just a few raffles, huh?’

He shrugged. ‘Maybe a sausage sizzle.’

Alice’s blue eyes took on a dangerous glitter. ‘Go on then. Enter. I dare you.’

As you can probably guess, Eddie takes up the challenge, leading to all sorts of shenanigans in his race to impress Alice.

But will it work? Sorry, can’t tell you. You’ll have to wait until release to find out!

By the way, those fab folk at Booktopia are celebrating their 14th birthday with a sale and free shipping offer. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand, you could grab the paperbacks of Santa and the Saddler, Chrissy and the Burroughs Boy, Summer and the Groomsman or any of my novels freight-free. Cool, huh?

Note: For free shipping use promotion code BIRTHDAY at the checkout. Code can be used as many times as you want. Ends midnight Australian Eastern Daylight Time, Wednesday 14th Feb, so you’d better be quick. Minimum spend $17.

Go get ’em!

Newsletter subscribers are always first to hear details of any new release. If you’re not already part of the cool gang, join here. You’ll even receive a couple of short stories to enjoy over a cuppa.