Love on the Shelf by Sheila Roberts

Excerpt:

CHAPTER 1

GOOD GRIEF, ALICE, you’ve got to stop hiding in books. Wake up and see what’s going on around you.”

Alice Willoughby frowned at her older sister. Scarlet had always been a little bossy. Which was hardly surprising, since bossing was what older sisters did, even when they were only two years older. But this was . . . bossy plus. Not nice.

“It’s bad enough that beast king is turning men into lemmings with his stupid radio show and podcast, but now he’s trying to take down your business. You should be going after him,” Scarlet informed her.

“My business?” Alice repeated. “He’s said stuff about the store?”

“He might as well have.”

Scarlet was heated, Alice got that. Parker Black, radio personality and host of the popular radio talk show Jock Talk, had evolved into Parker Black, woman hater. He’d been using his platform to encourage men to quit being, as he put it, doormats. She’d heard some of their customers complaining about him. They were becoming upset as their boyfriends and husbands

began following him for more than his sports commentary. He was the new champion of American males.

Scarlet’s husband Mark was turning into a Parker Black lemming, going out with the guys after work whenever the spirit moved . . . or the spirits called, and spending what he referred to as his money, money he was goaded to spend because he worked hard and deserved it. All talk of starting a family

had been put on hold because their love life was paused, and their marriage of three years was circling the drain.

“You’ve got to do something,” Scarlet repeated as if Alice hadn’t heard her when she first blew into the bookstore.“Now he’s dissing romance novels.”

“I didn’t know anything about that,” Alice said.

Scarlet did the eye roll of disgust she’d perfected by the time she was eleven. “Of course you didn’t, because you hide in here all day and talk about living happily ever after with dukes and dragon trainers.”

Alice could feel embarrassment draping itself over her face like a red flag. But she rallied. “It seems to me you’ve been showing up for a lot of those happily-ever-after conversations when your

book club meets here.”

“Those are historical and we’re learning about history,” Scarlet said, sounding like a total snob. She was a regular at the Back in Time book club, one of four that met at the store.

“You’ve been known to be seen hanging out with the Chili Peppers a few times, too,” said Alice.

That group liked their books smutty and their heroes smexy. Two other book clubs besides those two met at the store, which, in addition to author signings, kept Alice busy most nights. The Closed-Door

Club preferred sweet romances and Darkness and Dragons was all about dark fantasy. Alice sat

in on all the club meetings, selling them books and passing out home-baked treats. 

She didn’t read much of what the Chili Peppers read. When she wanted to escape it was usually into another time, where women wore beautiful gowns and lived on large estates. Where men fought duels, and words of love rolled off their tongues like poetry. But she also enjoyed a good contemporary story, especially if the hero was a millionaire. With a yacht. And a little getaway place in Italy. She was a closed-door girl, preferring love scenes that faded to black like a classic movie. Although she’d been known to give in to the temptation to peek through a keyhole or two . . . and wish. Like she did with every book she read. Sighs and yearnings. Happily-ever-afters. Sighs and yearning, that summed up her love life. Actually, nonexistent summed it up much better.

“Okay, so I like spice,” Scarlet said. “So, sue me. But we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about what this man is doing to you. To all of us.”

“I don’t know what you expect me to do. I’m trying to run a business,” Alice protested. Even though she was only half owner, HEA Books took up all her time and energy. “Anyway,

one angry man isn’t going to affect the bookstore. Almost all our customers are women.”

“Well, Parker Black is affecting men and they’re affecting your customers. Like me! That’s why you need to take this guy on, to fight on behalf of women,” said Scarlet. “This man is a two-legged

virus. He needs to be eradicated.”

“Why don’t you take him on?” Alice argued.

“Because I don’t have the clout you do. You’re the expert on romance.”

On books about romance. There was a big difference.