Guest Post: Your Best Friends Man by Sue Moorcroft

Your best friend’s man
By Sue Moorcroft

In The Christmas Promise Ava secretly likes Sam from quite early on in the book. But her best friend, Izz, likes him, too. Izz is prone to crushes and Sam is her boss so even if he liked her back he wouldn’t act upon it. Sam doesn’t like Izz back, Sam does like Ava, but still Ava can’t bring herself to accept a date with Sam. She says it’s against her ‘best friend code’.

Do you have a code like that? Here’s mine. If you are one of my best friends here are #MyPromises:

I won’t try and move in on someone you romantically like.
If you have a partner I will be pleasant to him/her even if I don’t like him/her.
But if you want to complain about him/her I will listen sympathetically and always take your side. I won’t go off on a tirade of my own about him/her because you will feel better once you’ve let off steam and be fine with him/her next time I see you. (I’ve been caught like that before!)
I will share laughter with you. In fact, to be my friend you’d better have a sense of humour. (Take that any way you want to.)
Some of this laughter will be at your expense because your very best friends are those with whom you can exchange the most outrageous friendly insults.
I’m well equipped to find the friendly insults you hurl my way equally funny.
I understand that your children/partner/parents are more important to your than I am.
I will provide a shoulder for you to cry on.
I will cry on yours.
I will remember your birthday (although I may not remember your card on time. Sorry. I have this terrible habit of writing them but leaving them at home at the vital moment).
If I realise we haven’t been in contact for a while I will text/email you to see how things are. This might be awkward if you’ve gone quiet because you’re in a silent huff with me and I haven’t noticed.
You can tell me if you’re in a silent huff with me! I’m not perfect and sometimes I don’t notice …
I’m not a particularly silent-huff person so you do run the risk of me telling you if you’ve hurt my feelings. (I’m more of a lifelong-grudge person … No, that was a joke! You know I’ve got a funny sense of humour.)
Friendship means a lot to me. I hope it does to you.

A huge thank you to Sue and Helena at Avon.

For Ava Bliss, it’s going to be a Christmas to remember …
On a snowy December evening, Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava. Sparks fly, and not necessarily the good ones.

Times are tough for Ava – she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully, and worst of all, it’s nearly Christmas.

So when Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special, she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet…

Curl up with this gorgeous, festive read – the perfect treat for fans of Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews and Trisha Ashley.