Tales of Romance and Stalkers in The Secondhand Bookworm with Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm, Book 8

As of July 2020, I'm now having fun writing Book 8 in my series of novels set in an English bookshop and based upon my ten years running a used and antiquarian book shop - Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm, which sees Nora Jolly, her friends, family, co-workers, regular customers and new faces spending Valentine's Week in Castletown.


There are lots of themes in this story, including the many festivities that occur about the historic town during the week. Most especially, a blast from the past returns to Nora's life in the form of Braxton Parker-Hodge who now runs The Otter Shop down Market Street and is still obsessed with Nora.


Nora's brother Milton comes to the forefront as he spends the week outside The Secondhand Bookworm in his cupid costume selling tickets to The Jolly Theatre in Little Cove.
And, although the Duke of Cole spends most of the week in Myanmar, he's back on Thursday in time to whisk Nora up to the castle for the spectacular Valentine's Ball.


It's the usual chaos and madness in the bookshop, with tourists, customers, street performers, actors, mimes, regulars and new faces causing trouble and hilarity. Nora works with Amy, Lucy, Cara, Betty and Roger while Paperback Pam makes a return and Humphrey's become Nora's self-designated bodyguard, but to be fair, the Duke of Cole did ask him to keep an eye on Nora while he was away.


A new character arrives in the form of Dora Magic, a self-publishing author with a bit of a crush on The Secondhand Bookworm and an obsession with Nora. Imogene's stalking Humphrey, Crossword-Lady is running a valentine's stall, Spencer is giving testimonies about his romantic alien abduction, Georgina's hoping Troy will pop the question and then there are the abandoned salt factories behind The Otter Shop that give Braxton a villainous idea and prompts James to make a decision.

It's another week in The Secondhand Bookworm.


I tend to write my novels between 3 months and 2 years due to film making projects and writing moods, but so far I am heading towards chapter five of my first draft, playing around with plots, characters and story arcs as well as literary chapter titles and things that happen in my every day life that make me laugh and can be developed into events in the bookshop.

I'm keen to finish this novel as I have lots of additional books and plots planned and hope I'm able to tap away on my laptop and publish Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm soon!

Start the series today - Books 1-7 available now on Amazon in paperback, kindle and kindle unlimited - all sales go towards Mary's Dowry Productions.


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