Teri Wilson's Blog - Posts Tagged "teri-wilson"
Grab a cupcake and pop the champagne! FAKING A FAIRY TALE is out today!
Hello, my lovelies! I’m thrilled to announce that my new book FAKING A FAIRY TALE is out in the world today! *glitter toss*
This book is chock-full of some of my favorite things: major Cinderella vibes, a swoony single dad hero, a pretend engagement, a fabulously fashionable girl gang, a sweet Golden Retriever pup named Buttercup, and a heroine who bedazzles her hair! And did someone say cupcakes??? 🧁
I’ve got a sneak peek excerpt for you below, but first, if you get the book, don’t forget to snap a photo and tag me on social media. Charm loves seeing pictures of your pets with “our book.” *wink face*
Okie doke, I promised you an excerpt, so here it is. FAKING A FAIRY TALE is the second book in my Love, Unveiled series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but if you missed the first book in the series, HER MAN OF HONOR, you can still get a copy here!
Drumroll…here we go!
FAKING A FAIRY TALE
She always dreamed of being Cinderella…
Just not with him
Bridal editor Daphne Ballantyne despises her handsome yet infuriating colleague Jack King. In fact, their workplace feud is legendary. But when a juicy magazine assignment requires going undercover as a blissfully engaged couple, both Daphne and Jack say I do. Fake affection soon leads to very real kisses, authentic emotions…and undeniable attraction. But will their high-profile marriage charade lead to a new romantic beginning for Veil's most combative employees?
EXCERPT:
What was she doing here?
Jack King blinked against the assault of glitter sparkling at him from Daphne Ballantyne’s hair. As per usual, the beauty editor looked like she’d had a run-in with a chandelier on her way to work. Also as per usual, she was glaring at him as if he’d just kicked a puppy.
Jack hadn’t kicked a puppy, obviously. Never had and never would. Not that Daphne cared, as she seemed to have somewhat of a loose relationship with actual facts.
“Jack,” she said as she took the seat beside him. For some reason, she appeared to be trying her best to smile at him. Clearly it pained her.
Jack couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit amused. Was that an immature reaction? Probably. Then again, Daphne herself hadn’t exactly been a beacon of professionalism yesterday when she’d barged into his office, accused him of being a control freak and purposely rearranged his carefully organized office supplies in an attempt to rattle him.
Jack had definitely been rattled. Fine, he could admit it: he liked things orderly and predictable. Was that really such a bad thing? The last time he checked, neatness was a positive trait in the workplace. Daphne might want to try it sometime. Earlier this morning, when Jack tried to stick a Post-it note to her desk, there hadn’t been a square inch of available space to affix it to. Her cubicle was filled to overflowing with makeup brushes, cosmetics, hair products and more bottles of hand lotion than he could count. And glitter! Glitter everywhere.
Jack had very carefully pressed the Post-it note to her pages and left them on the seat of Daphne’s chair. Even so, he’d somehow found himself plucking specks of glitter from his necktie half an hour later.
“Daphne,” Jack said to her in return. He stood while she took her seat, because in addition to liking things neat and orderly, Jack also had manners.
“Oh, were you just leaving?” Daphne asked as he towered over her. Her smile suddenly seemed more genuine.
“No.” Jack sat back down, spine ramrod straight. “I was simply being polite.”
She snorted and then tried to cover it with a cough.
Jack’s jaw involuntarily clenched. The woman was a bewitching, bedazzled, thorn in his side. He truly didn’t know why he let her get to him the way that she did.
He swiveled to face forward, focusing all of his attention on Colette. Still, Daphne shimmered in his periphery, about as easy to ignore as a disco ball.
“Good morning,” Colette said. She folded her hands on the surface of her pristine, cream-colored desk. There wasn’t a laptop or even a pen in sight—only a tasteful bouquet of white roses in a vase on the desk’s far right-hand corner. Minimalism at its finest. With any luck, Daphne was taking notes.
“Morning, Colette,” Daphne gushed beside him.
Jack cleared his throat. “Good day.”
A trickle of unease snaked its way up his spine as Colette’s gaze flicked back and forth between them. What was the purpose of this meeting, exactly?
“Thank you for coming in. There’s something very important I need to discuss with both of you,” Colette said.
“Yes, of course,” Daphne said.
Jack remained silent. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about where this conversation could possibly be headed.
“How would you say the two of you get along?” Colette asked.
And there it was.
He and Daphne had been hauled into the editor in chief’s office like two schoolchildren who’d been ordered to see the principal. Jack didn’t know whether to be mortified or furious.
Both.
Definitely both.
This wasn’t him. Jack took his job seriously. He didn’t engage in petty work squabbles. In prep school, he’d been voted “most likely to become a workaholic,” and he’d been the top-ranking student in his class at Yale. His work ethic was legendary.
He was a model employee, damn it. Or he had been…
Until his world had been turned upside down six months ago.
Jack was getting back on track, though. He really was. The only visible cracks in his composure came about when Daphne Ballantyne was in the immediate vicinity.
“We get along great.” Daphne beamed at him. “Jack is wonderful. So fastidious.”
He narrowed his gaze at her, ever so slightly. “Yes, we work very well together. Daphne is undeniably…colorful.”
They sat staring at each other for a beat, gazes locked in silent warfare. Then Daphne licked her lips, and Jack’s attention strayed toward her mouth—accidentally, of course. But for a strange, nonsensical moment, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” Colette said.
Focus, Jack’s subconscious ordered. He snapped his head back toward his boss, tugging slightly at his shirt collar.
“Because I have to say, I’ve sensed a bit of animosity between you a time or two, and this is never going to work if that’s the case.” Colette held up her hands.
“What?” Daphne sputtered out a laugh. “Animosity? No, absolutely not. Honestly, Colette, I’m not sure where this is coming from. Right, Jack?”
“Correct.” He gave a wooden nod. Jack had always been a terrible liar—again, something he’d always considered to be a positive attribute.
Not so, if the momentary spark of fury in Daphne’s aquamarine eyes was any indication.
She sighed and turned her gaze back to Colette. “Please don’t fire us.”
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. They couldn’t pretend to like each other for longer than two minutes, even when both of their jobs were at stake. What was this? Kindergarten?
“Fire you?” Colette’s brow furrowed. “I’m not following.”
“You just said this is never going to work if Jack and I don’t get along.” There was an unmistakable tremor in Daphne’s voice that made Jack’s body feel leaden all of a sudden. Or maybe that was simply a by-product of his pending unemployment.
“We can make it work,” he said, tongue tripping only slightly on the word we. As if the very thought of being part of a collective with Daphne was so inconceivable that his mouth refused to cooperate.
“Still not following.” Colette shook her head. “At all. Regardless, I have no intention of firing either of you. You both do excellent work.”
Daphne’s knee, just out of Colette’s sight, gave Jack’s thigh a sharp nudge. He could practically hear her internal squeal of triumph. Did you hear that, Jack? I do excellent work.
He sighed mightily. What was it going to take to get Colette to cut to the chase so he could get out of here? He longed for the solitude of his office, where his stapler was always situated precisely one inch to the left of his leather desk blotter, and he knew exactly what was expected of him from one minute to the next. Fact-checking suited him. Verifying information was black and white, with no room for gray. No room for confusion. No room for surprises or chaos.
Which had a lot to do with why he excelled at it.
“Colette, if I may…” Jack said, ignoring Daphne’s invisible eye roll in response to his formality. “Clearly there’s been some confusion. What is it, precisely, that Daphne and I need to make work?”
“Your engagement,” Colette said, as if that made a lick of sense.
“Our w-what?” Daphne sputtered. She’d gone deathly pale, those luminous, blue-green eyes of hers huge in her delicate face.
Jack’s chest went so fiercely tight that he couldn’t breathe. Maybe they’d both heard Colette wrong. Maybe he’d just had some sort of stress-induced auditory hallucination. Maybe he needed to pack up his stapler and his desk blotter and find a new job.
“I beg your pardon?” he managed to utter.
“Your engagement,” Colette repeated, this time with a sense of finality that settled like a rock in the pit of Jack’s gut.
He didn’t dare look at Daphne. In fact, he preferred to pretend she didn’t exist altogether. Whatever this was couldn’t be real. In no universe could Daphne Ballantyne be his fiancée.
“I’ve chosen the two of you to go undercover for a Veil special assignment,” Colette said, as if they’d both just won the lottery. Then, oblivious to their mutual suffering, she flashed Jack and Daphne a wink. “Congratulations! You’re betrothed.”
This book is chock-full of some of my favorite things: major Cinderella vibes, a swoony single dad hero, a pretend engagement, a fabulously fashionable girl gang, a sweet Golden Retriever pup named Buttercup, and a heroine who bedazzles her hair! And did someone say cupcakes??? 🧁
I’ve got a sneak peek excerpt for you below, but first, if you get the book, don’t forget to snap a photo and tag me on social media. Charm loves seeing pictures of your pets with “our book.” *wink face*
Okie doke, I promised you an excerpt, so here it is. FAKING A FAIRY TALE is the second book in my Love, Unveiled series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but if you missed the first book in the series, HER MAN OF HONOR, you can still get a copy here!
Drumroll…here we go!
FAKING A FAIRY TALE
She always dreamed of being Cinderella…
Just not with him
Bridal editor Daphne Ballantyne despises her handsome yet infuriating colleague Jack King. In fact, their workplace feud is legendary. But when a juicy magazine assignment requires going undercover as a blissfully engaged couple, both Daphne and Jack say I do. Fake affection soon leads to very real kisses, authentic emotions…and undeniable attraction. But will their high-profile marriage charade lead to a new romantic beginning for Veil's most combative employees?
EXCERPT:
What was she doing here?
Jack King blinked against the assault of glitter sparkling at him from Daphne Ballantyne’s hair. As per usual, the beauty editor looked like she’d had a run-in with a chandelier on her way to work. Also as per usual, she was glaring at him as if he’d just kicked a puppy.
Jack hadn’t kicked a puppy, obviously. Never had and never would. Not that Daphne cared, as she seemed to have somewhat of a loose relationship with actual facts.
“Jack,” she said as she took the seat beside him. For some reason, she appeared to be trying her best to smile at him. Clearly it pained her.
Jack couldn’t help feeling the slightest bit amused. Was that an immature reaction? Probably. Then again, Daphne herself hadn’t exactly been a beacon of professionalism yesterday when she’d barged into his office, accused him of being a control freak and purposely rearranged his carefully organized office supplies in an attempt to rattle him.
Jack had definitely been rattled. Fine, he could admit it: he liked things orderly and predictable. Was that really such a bad thing? The last time he checked, neatness was a positive trait in the workplace. Daphne might want to try it sometime. Earlier this morning, when Jack tried to stick a Post-it note to her desk, there hadn’t been a square inch of available space to affix it to. Her cubicle was filled to overflowing with makeup brushes, cosmetics, hair products and more bottles of hand lotion than he could count. And glitter! Glitter everywhere.
Jack had very carefully pressed the Post-it note to her pages and left them on the seat of Daphne’s chair. Even so, he’d somehow found himself plucking specks of glitter from his necktie half an hour later.
“Daphne,” Jack said to her in return. He stood while she took her seat, because in addition to liking things neat and orderly, Jack also had manners.
“Oh, were you just leaving?” Daphne asked as he towered over her. Her smile suddenly seemed more genuine.
“No.” Jack sat back down, spine ramrod straight. “I was simply being polite.”
She snorted and then tried to cover it with a cough.
Jack’s jaw involuntarily clenched. The woman was a bewitching, bedazzled, thorn in his side. He truly didn’t know why he let her get to him the way that she did.
He swiveled to face forward, focusing all of his attention on Colette. Still, Daphne shimmered in his periphery, about as easy to ignore as a disco ball.
“Good morning,” Colette said. She folded her hands on the surface of her pristine, cream-colored desk. There wasn’t a laptop or even a pen in sight—only a tasteful bouquet of white roses in a vase on the desk’s far right-hand corner. Minimalism at its finest. With any luck, Daphne was taking notes.
“Morning, Colette,” Daphne gushed beside him.
Jack cleared his throat. “Good day.”
A trickle of unease snaked its way up his spine as Colette’s gaze flicked back and forth between them. What was the purpose of this meeting, exactly?
“Thank you for coming in. There’s something very important I need to discuss with both of you,” Colette said.
“Yes, of course,” Daphne said.
Jack remained silent. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about where this conversation could possibly be headed.
“How would you say the two of you get along?” Colette asked.
And there it was.
He and Daphne had been hauled into the editor in chief’s office like two schoolchildren who’d been ordered to see the principal. Jack didn’t know whether to be mortified or furious.
Both.
Definitely both.
This wasn’t him. Jack took his job seriously. He didn’t engage in petty work squabbles. In prep school, he’d been voted “most likely to become a workaholic,” and he’d been the top-ranking student in his class at Yale. His work ethic was legendary.
He was a model employee, damn it. Or he had been…
Until his world had been turned upside down six months ago.
Jack was getting back on track, though. He really was. The only visible cracks in his composure came about when Daphne Ballantyne was in the immediate vicinity.
“We get along great.” Daphne beamed at him. “Jack is wonderful. So fastidious.”
He narrowed his gaze at her, ever so slightly. “Yes, we work very well together. Daphne is undeniably…colorful.”
They sat staring at each other for a beat, gazes locked in silent warfare. Then Daphne licked her lips, and Jack’s attention strayed toward her mouth—accidentally, of course. But for a strange, nonsensical moment, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” Colette said.
Focus, Jack’s subconscious ordered. He snapped his head back toward his boss, tugging slightly at his shirt collar.
“Because I have to say, I’ve sensed a bit of animosity between you a time or two, and this is never going to work if that’s the case.” Colette held up her hands.
“What?” Daphne sputtered out a laugh. “Animosity? No, absolutely not. Honestly, Colette, I’m not sure where this is coming from. Right, Jack?”
“Correct.” He gave a wooden nod. Jack had always been a terrible liar—again, something he’d always considered to be a positive attribute.
Not so, if the momentary spark of fury in Daphne’s aquamarine eyes was any indication.
She sighed and turned her gaze back to Colette. “Please don’t fire us.”
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. They couldn’t pretend to like each other for longer than two minutes, even when both of their jobs were at stake. What was this? Kindergarten?
“Fire you?” Colette’s brow furrowed. “I’m not following.”
“You just said this is never going to work if Jack and I don’t get along.” There was an unmistakable tremor in Daphne’s voice that made Jack’s body feel leaden all of a sudden. Or maybe that was simply a by-product of his pending unemployment.
“We can make it work,” he said, tongue tripping only slightly on the word we. As if the very thought of being part of a collective with Daphne was so inconceivable that his mouth refused to cooperate.
“Still not following.” Colette shook her head. “At all. Regardless, I have no intention of firing either of you. You both do excellent work.”
Daphne’s knee, just out of Colette’s sight, gave Jack’s thigh a sharp nudge. He could practically hear her internal squeal of triumph. Did you hear that, Jack? I do excellent work.
He sighed mightily. What was it going to take to get Colette to cut to the chase so he could get out of here? He longed for the solitude of his office, where his stapler was always situated precisely one inch to the left of his leather desk blotter, and he knew exactly what was expected of him from one minute to the next. Fact-checking suited him. Verifying information was black and white, with no room for gray. No room for confusion. No room for surprises or chaos.
Which had a lot to do with why he excelled at it.
“Colette, if I may…” Jack said, ignoring Daphne’s invisible eye roll in response to his formality. “Clearly there’s been some confusion. What is it, precisely, that Daphne and I need to make work?”
“Your engagement,” Colette said, as if that made a lick of sense.
“Our w-what?” Daphne sputtered. She’d gone deathly pale, those luminous, blue-green eyes of hers huge in her delicate face.
Jack’s chest went so fiercely tight that he couldn’t breathe. Maybe they’d both heard Colette wrong. Maybe he’d just had some sort of stress-induced auditory hallucination. Maybe he needed to pack up his stapler and his desk blotter and find a new job.
“I beg your pardon?” he managed to utter.
“Your engagement,” Colette repeated, this time with a sense of finality that settled like a rock in the pit of Jack’s gut.
He didn’t dare look at Daphne. In fact, he preferred to pretend she didn’t exist altogether. Whatever this was couldn’t be real. In no universe could Daphne Ballantyne be his fiancée.
“I’ve chosen the two of you to go undercover for a Veil special assignment,” Colette said, as if they’d both just won the lottery. Then, oblivious to their mutual suffering, she flashed Jack and Daphne a wink. “Congratulations! You’re betrothed.”
A special reader treat from the vault: Chihuahuas are Better than Facelifts
Way back in 2007, before I signed my very first book contract, I wrote a serialized fiction column for Chihuahua Connection Magazine called Chihuahuas are Better than Facelifts. This was back in the glory days of chick lit, a la Bridget Jones’ Diary and Sex and the City. The column ran for seventeen months, and it was such great fun to write! The magazine printed it on pages splashed with huge pink polkadots. The whole thing was very over-the-top and girly. I loved it so much.
I thought it would be fun to share these old stories in my monthly newsletter. Reading them again was like opening a time capsule. The fashion references are hilariously retro. I’m republishing them again exactly how they were, with zero editing. If you’d like to read them, just visit the link below to get started. Make sure to subscribe so you can keep up with each installment. I’ll be putting one out every month for the next year and a half!
Click here to read Chihuahuas are Better Than Facelifts Part 1: https://teriwilson.substack.com/p/chi...
xoxo Teri
I thought it would be fun to share these old stories in my monthly newsletter. Reading them again was like opening a time capsule. The fashion references are hilariously retro. I’m republishing them again exactly how they were, with zero editing. If you’d like to read them, just visit the link below to get started. Make sure to subscribe so you can keep up with each installment. I’ll be putting one out every month for the next year and a half!
Click here to read Chihuahuas are Better Than Facelifts Part 1: https://teriwilson.substack.com/p/chi...
xoxo Teri
