Blog Tour: Extract from Love Among the Treetops by Catherine Ferguson

Today I am very excited to share an extract with you from the brand new book by Catherine Ferguson. Here's what it's all about....

Can love flourish amongst the tree tops?

When pastry chef Twilight Wilson was a young girl, she would hide from school bullies up in the treehouse at the bottom of her garden in her family home in Sussex. It was her special place, and even as an adult she still loves it.

So when her family tell her they can’t afford to live there any more, Twilight is devastated. Not only will they lose their home – but the treehouse too!

She comes up with a plan to save the family home – she’ll start up a cafe in the treehouse! It’s a brilliant idea, and excitement builds as she starts planning the menus, with the help of Theo – a rather attractive man from the gym. But when former school bully Lucy finds out the plan, she starts plotting – and opens her own rival cafe in the village!

Can Twilight save her family home? Will her friendship with Theo ever be anything more? And who will win the cafe wars?

You can order your copy by clicking here. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more reviews, extracts and other exclusive content!

Thank  you to Catherine for sharing this extract with us all today!

A week goes by and the buzz around Lucy & Olivia’s Clean Food Café is showing no signs of dispersing.

In humiliating contrast, business is far from brisk at The Twilight Café. Starbucks, it’s fair to say, can definitely rest easy.

I can actually count the number of regular customers on the fingers of two hands – possibly three, if you factor in our local postie, who often calls for a quick espresso after finishing his rounds. I feel silly now thinking of how excited I was before the café opened – what high hopes I had for its success.

On the plus side, after doing the accounts, I was able to report to Paloma that the café almost broke even last week.

That, of course, was down to the loyal patronage of friends like Betty and Doreen, who’ve been in for coffee and cake practically every day since I opened. The girls I was friendly with at school have also been great at showing their support. Some of them are mums now, and they’ve started meeting here several times a week. They bring their toddlers and babies to play in the pre-school activity area I’ve set up, while they drink strong coffee and chat gloomily about how lack of sleep can actually kill you.

Some of Mum’s friends from the WI also come in from time to time. They think it’s an absolute scandal how Lucy sabotaged my big opening day, and they’re apparently spreading the word, hoping that people will start boycotting the Clean Food Café. (She’s not just ‘Lucy’ to them any more, she’s ‘That Lucy Slater’.)

I’m so thankful to the people who are supporting me. They keep me going through my most despairing times, such as the mornings when I don’t have a single customer through the door.

Today, I’ve got the ‘mums and babies’ in, which I like. It’s a stark contrast to the dead silence I’ve grown to dread. Betty is also here with her daughter, Jess, and sitting at another table are a couple I don’t know at all, which is quite a novelty. I’m relatively run off my feet this afternoon!

I’m through the back, stacking cups and plates into the dishwasher when I hear the door open. Checking my reflection in the little mirror by the fridge, I try out a welcoming smile and then hurry through to greet the arrivals.

One customer. My heart skips nervously.

Theo Steel.