Yep, it’s happening, friends! This week I accepted a new deal with my lovely publisher, Joffe Books, for my second novel to be published! I’m so very happy.
This is a contemporary romance novel that I wrote while furloughed from my day job during the pandemic, in summer 2020. It definitely has all the vibes and feels of The Love of My Other Life, my debut that was published last year. This story has a similar fantastical premise – that of finding yourself in an alternate version of your life – but in a way flips that idea on its head.
This time, instead of my protagonist waking in a life where she has (almost) everything she could have ever wanted, my new heroine finds herself in a multiverse reality where she has literally nothing. Not a cent to her name, no job, no home, no means of getting any… not even any clothes. Why? Because she’s been thrust into a world where she died as a child.
The working title of my new book – which might change, given that my last one did – is If I Had Lived.
Below is my working blurb, which I wrote to explain the book to my agent when she first read it. I’m sure it won’t be what we end up using on the back of the book, as my publisher’s team will come up with professional back-cover copy. But it’s useful for explaining what the book is about at this early stage. Here goes…
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Olivia Grainger’s coastal life in Wilmington, North Carolina, is pretty much perfect. At 28, her design business is taking off, she has a close-knit family, and she and her handsome, childhood-sweetheart, surfer fiancé Jake are getting married this summer. They’re celebrating a year of engagement at their secret quarry lake when a naked Liv slips on the clifftop and plummets to the rocks below—in the exact spot where she nearly had a fatal accident as a child.
But Liv doesn’t die. She wakes in a world in which her childhood death actually happened. Where her family has been grieving her loss for 16 years. And where Jake, having eventually moved on from the death of his childhood friend, is now in love with another woman.
Void of any recent history in this version of reality, Liv has to fight to persuade her shocked family that she’s really their Olivia, miraculously resurrected after all this time. But even if she can convince them of this impossible truth, how can she exist in a world where she has no ID, no home, no job, no means of living… not even any clothes?
Back at the quarry lake, Jake is devastated when his beautiful fiancée Liv inexplicably disappears at their celebration picnic. In the investigation that follows, he is placed under a cloud of suspicion. The national media headlines demand to know: What in the world happened to Liv Grainger?
From the author of The Love of My Other Life comes a new tale of “what if?” — of paths not travelled, and of universes crossed in the name of love.
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So that’s If I Had Lived. I think it’s a really fun summer read – perfect for the beach, as it’s set in Wilmington from late May to late August and there are a lot of beach scenes since Jake is a surfer. I’m just so happy my agent and publisher agree that it’s an engaging and commercial novel, and one worthy of sharing with the world.
I’ll keep you all updated on its progress and when to expect its release. In the meantime, I’m celebrating – cheers!
CJ Connolly 