The Love Island Bookshop
by
KATE FROST
LEMON TREE PRESS
Kindle Edition 2021
Copyright © Kate Frost 2021
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events or localities, is entirely coincidental.
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The moral right of Kate Frost to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
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All rights reserved in all media. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author and/or publisher.
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Cover design by Jessica Bell.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
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Acknowledgements
In loving memory of my wonderful dad.
Forever in our hearts.
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Chapter One
Turquoise water surrounded the white sand beach of a tropical island with palm trees and a beach villa nestled among the undergrowth. It wasn’t so much the image that caught Freya’s attention but the headline, ‘Fancy having the best job in the world?’ Three friends had tagged her in the Facebook post.
Freya clicked the link and skim-read the article, the background chatter and hiss of the coffee machine in the cafe fading as her heart raced and her palms began to sweat. She breathed deeply and reread it slower this time, taking it all in, mentally ticking off the qualifications and personal attributes she had that the job of a bookseller on an island in the Maldives required. Not only was it pitched as the best job in the world, it was the dream job for her.
She read it a third time, her lunch momentarily forgotten. It was an actual job, that she could apply for. It felt like madness even considering it, but what was stopping her? She’d been thinking about moving on and finding a new challenge for a while. She was desperate to put the last eighteen months behind her, and with the big 3-0 looming, she felt it was the right time to make her dreams come true.
Freya’s mind raced as she looked up from her mobile at the busy cafe. Every table was filled and the lunchtime queue went out of the door. Her colleague Aisha was standing at the end of the counter waiting for her coffee. The deserted beach was so far removed from Freya’s life in London; it was hard to imagine even being there for a holiday, let alone the possibility of living and working in a place like that.
Aisha placed her tray on the table and slid on to the empty seat opposite. ‘You okay? You’re staring into space.’
The chicken and avocado sandwich on Aisha’s plate looked more tempting than Freya’s salad.
‘I’ve just seen this.’ Freya turned her mobile round. ‘It’s a job advert to run a barefoot bookshop on an island in the Maldives.’
‘Wow.’
‘I know.’ Freya put her mobile on the table, the screen still showing the picture-perfect beach. She stabbed her fork into a tomato.
‘Are you actually considering it?’
‘I don’t know. I mean the likelihood of getting a job like that is slim to non-existent, and the thought of leaving Bloom & Cole feels stressful. I love working in publishing. I’ve worked hard and worked my way up... It’d be reckless to throw that all away, wouldn’t it?’
‘Well yeah, if it was for something unrelated, but for a once in a lifetime opportunity, I don’t think that’s reckless.’ She scrolled through the post on Freya’s mobile. ‘Oh my God, have you seen who owns the resort? Zander Cohen.’
‘Who?’
‘Zander Cohen. From the boy band One Love. How do you not know who he is? They were massive in my teens.’
‘I was into indie music.’
‘Yeah, you were probably too cool. And too young.’
‘Only by a couple of years.’
Aisha handed Freya back her phone. ‘Makes all the difference.’
‘Would you apply?’
‘Would I?’ Aisha laughed.
Freya knew the answer before she said anything.
‘I’d have jumped at the chance a few years ago, but not now.’
‘I’m sure they wouldn’t mind partners tagging along if you were the right person.’
‘Can you see Tom giving up work to go live on an island in the Maldives?’
‘It’s only for nine months.’
‘Just nine months?’
‘Ha, now you’re interested.’
Aisha bit into her sandwich and wiped her mouth with a napkin. ‘Why are you trying to talk yourself out of it and me into doing something that you know isn’t right for me, not now at least. Tom and I want to start a family. I’ve exhausted my wanderlust; I want to put down roots.’ She pointed a manicured finger at Freya. ‘While you have no ties...’ Her face dropped and she put her hand on top of Freya’s. ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that to come out the way it did, not after the year you’ve had.’
Freya breathed deeply and shook her head. ‘I know you didn’t. And it’s true; I have no one else to think about. And I’ve needed a change for a while now, well ever since...’ The wave of upset took Freya by surprise and she battled to contain her emotions. ‘Well, you know.’
‘I know; you don’t have to say.’ Aisha looked across the table at her, her brow furrowed. ‘So, what is stopping you?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You should apply.’
‘It’s kinda crazy though, isn’t it?’
‘Well, yes, but then the best things in life are. You’ve already talked about moving on and finding something different, starting your own publishing house, or owning a bookshop... What better way to kickstart that dream than running
