Today we have the release blitz for All That’s Left by Emma Doherty! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!
Title: All That’s Left
Author: Emma Doherty
Genre: Contemporary Romance
About All That’s Left:
Izzy Kavanagh’s life falls apart when her mother dies. She
is forced to move to the US and live with her absent father, who thinks money
is the answer to every problem, and her twin brother Ethan, who she has barely
spoken to in years.
She hates everything about the move. She hates that she’s
forced to finish high school even though she’s already completed it in the UK.
She hates that her father is controlling her and threatening to take away her
inheritance if she doesn’t do as he says, even though he’s barely there and
couldn’t care less about her. She hates that everybody already has an opinion
on her based on her family name.
But what she hates above all else is having to see her
brother every day in his perfect life where everybody worships him, because he
chose this life over her and her mum.
And for that, she’ll never forgive him.
Available for Pre-Order from Kindle Unlimited Now!
Exclusive Excerpt:
A chair is kicked out directly into my path, halting me in
place. I turn to see where it’s come from and see Ethan is sat slouched in the
chair opposite the one he’s shoved in my direction. Of course he’s in here. I
should have thought about that, and I mentally kick myself for not thinking
about him when I agreed to come in. My eyes scan around his table. It’s
completely full. Every seat is taken, and there are people standing around on
the edges, like they’re chatting to those that are sat down, only no one’s
chatting right now. They’re all staring at me.
Ethan clears his throat and nods towards the only empty
seat, which he’s kicked into my pathway. “I saved you a seat. Sit down and I’ll
introduce you around.”
I pause whilst he stares back at me, his face totally
expressionless unless you know him well and can detect the tenseness in his
jaw. He’s not as comfortable as he’d like everyone to believe. We both know
what this is. It’s a chance for me to slot into his life as his sister and take
my place amongst his friends, to forget about the last six years. My eyes meet
his and, just for a second, I see the hope that’s there before I shake my head.
No.
No, he can’t have it both ways. He can’t drop me as a
twelve-year-old and then expect me to walk back into his life like nothing has
happened. We can’t pretend the last five years didn’t happen and that he wasn’t
there when I needed him. Neither of us say anything for a few seconds then I
shove the chair back towards him with more force than is strictly necessary and
go to move on.
“Izzy!”
I pause and look back at him. His eyes are still focused on
me, but I’m acutely aware that it’s not just his eyes on me. His whole table is
silent as they watch our exchange. “Just sit down, okay?”
“Yeah, come on, pretty girl. Sit with us.” I turn and see a
grinning guy with light brown hair sat next to Ethan. It’s the same guy who was
in my history class and wanted me to sit near him.
Ethan turns to face him. “Shut up, Logan. Didn’t you hear me
this morning?”
The guy pales at the memory and the smile is wiped from his
face. “Sorry, I’m just being friendly.”
“Well don’t,” Ethan snaps. He turns back to me. “Come on,
sit down.”
“No, thank you.”
“Biz!”
I freeze completely, and my eyes find his. “Don’t call me
that,” There’s a definite bite to my tone. Biz is what my mum used to call me.
Ethan did too, to be fair, but I can’t hear that right now. Not when no one’s
called me that since she died.
His eyes flash with annoyance. “Fine,” he bites out. “Take a
seat, Isabella.” My eyes narrow, he knows I hate my full name and no one ever
calls me it, not even teachers. I go by Izzy, as he knows full well. I shake my
head and turn to walk away. “Actually, I heard you’re going by Kavanagh now.”
There’s an edge to his voice that I’ve not heard before. “Been hearing all
morning about the new girl Izzy Kavanagh.” Anger crosses his face, like it’s a
personal insult to him that I’m not using the same surname as him. But why
would I? I can’t stand my father, so why would I want his name? “Kavanagh,” he
mutters like it leaves a bad taste, which is weird considering it’s his mum’s
name too.
“I go by my mum’s name,” I tell him unnecessarily.
“Your mum’s name?” he asks
incredulously. “Yours?”
“Yeah, I think they know each other,” someone mutters
nearby, and someone else replies, “No shit.” Apart from that, there’s total and
utter silence from his friends as they watch our exchange.
Ethan doesn’t even notice them. His focus is solely on me as
he shakes his head and his hands clench into fists on the table. “You’re
unbelievable, do you know that? You finally decide to turn up after four days
and then I hear you’re using Kavanagh. You’re a…” He stops himself from
finishing and instead takes a deep breath, in through his nose and out through
his mouth, as though he’s trying to calm himself down.
But I’m interested now. “I’m what?” I step towards him. This
isn’t like him. Usually he’s happy-go-lucky. Usually he doesn’t show his real
feelings; he’s an expert at covering them. “Finish your sentence, Ethan,” I say
sharply.
He throws his hands up. “You know what? I should just be
grateful you showed, right? That you showed up and are gracing me with your
presence. That you’re not drunk for the first time in days. That I actually
know where you are for once.”
My eyes bore into his. Why is he acting like he’s concerned?
Why is he acting like he’s bothered about my behaviour? He can’t suddenly start
acting like this after years of silence between us.
My silence just pisses him off further. “Or maybe I should
just be thankful that we’re actually having a conversation, right? Because God
knows you don’t talk to me anymore,” he mutters snaps.
Finally. Finally he’s not being the
perfect all-American teenager who’s bothered by nothing.
“I don’t even know…” His voice trails off as he shakes his
head, like he wasn’t actually aware of what he was saying.
“Speak up, Ethan,” I tell him, putting my lunch onto the
table in front of me and crossing my arms. “Use your words. Formulate a proper
sentence.” I say just because I want to see how far I can push him to get a
reaction. “Even you can manage to do that.”
“You fucking bitch,” he snaps before he can think, and I
start to laugh as there are shocked gasps around us. I’m amused because my
perfect brother is finally losing his control and showing me some of his true
feelings for a change.
“Whoa, whoa,” Finn starts, looking at him in surprise before
glancing back at me. “We all just need to chill out.”
Neither Ethan nor I acknowledge him.
“Yeah,” Logan starts. “I think maybe you should go sit
somewhere else, pretty girl.”
Ethan turns to glare at him. “Stop calling her that. I
already told you guys to leave her alone. If I find out any of you guys have
gone near her, I swear to God you’ll regret it.”
Finn looks startled at the anger in Ethan’s tone as I start
to laugh and say, “It’s a bit late to start worrying about my honour, Ethan.
That went a long time ago.”
He winces as he realises what I’m saying. At the look on my
face, his wince turns into a glare. “Just shup up.” He turns to look back at
his friends. “I mean it. She’s off limits.”
“We got it, E,” Finn assures him just as the blonde at
Ethan’s side—the girl Pippa shied away from earlier, the one who’s been looking
steadily more and more pissed off throughout our conversation—finally explodes.
“WHAT THE HELL, ETHAN? Why are you telling people she’s off limits?”
He barely glances at her. “I’ll tell you later, Evie,” he
says distractedly, dismissing her.
Evie. That’s the name of the girl I know I don’t like
without even saying a word to her.
Ethan is reaching down and grabbing his bag, and he’s
rounded the table before I tear my eyes away from Evie, having matched the look
she’s giving me with one of my own. “Come on,” he starts, grabbing my arm. “I
want to talk to you.”
I snatch my arm back from his grip. “Don’t touch me,” I
snap. I already have one family member trying controlling me and telling me
what to do. I don’t need another. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
That seems to be the last straw for Ethan. “You are a
fucking nightmare. Do you know that? I’ve been worried about you all week and
you just turn up like nothing’s wrong. You are so selfish and…” He stops
abruptly, clamping his mouth shut as he realises just how much we’re being
scrutinised, but I want to hear more.
“Go on,” I tell him, my voice low. “Tell me what you think.”
He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said
that. Let’s just get out of here.”
I take a step closer to him. “Tell me what you think of me,
Ethan,” I challenge quietly. I pause whilst he just glares back at me, his
whole body radiating tension. When he doesn’t respond, I continue. “Do you want
to know what I think of you?” There’s no need to raise my voice. There’s total
silence around us, and it’s not just his table watching us anymore, but I don’t
care. I’ve been itching to tell Ethan what I think of him for months, if not
years, and if this is the place where I do it, so be it. I take another step
closer to him. “I think that you are a pathetic excuse for a so—”
“WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” Evie suddenly erupts
from her place at the table. She stands and comes to face me, flanking Ethan on
his left. “YOU DO NOT SPEAK TO US LIKE THAT.”
“I don’t remember speaking to you. Did I?”
Her jaw falls open. Clearly she’s not used to people
speaking back to her. She crosses her arms over her chest and takes a step closer
to me. “You need to be careful.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“You don’t have a clue what you’ve just done.” Her dark blue
eyes bore into me, and a smile takes over her lips. “You just made a big
mistake,” she warns me. “You just committed social suicide, babe. I don’t care
about your dumb accent or your designer handbag. You’re officially done here.”
“I’m done?”
“I’m gonna make sure of it. I’m gonna be your worst
nightmare.”
Ethan’s head snaps to her in surprise, and he scowls in
disgust. “Evie, stop. Don’t be such a bitch.”
She looks utterly flabbergasted that he’s defended me.
“I don’t need your help, Ethan,” I tell him.
He turns to me. “It would be really good if you could just
shut your mouth right now, Biz.”
“Shut up.”
“What did you say?” Evie demands, pushing past Ethan to get
closer to me. It’s obvious she’s getting more and more agitated that there’s
something going on that she doesn’t understand.
“I said ‘Shut up.’ Want me to spell it for you?”
Her face turns red with fury and she leans towards me. “I
don’t know who you think you are with that stupid accent—”
“British,” I interrupt her. “It’s a British accent. You
might have heard of it? Collection of countries in Europe? The UK?”
She splutters for a minute. “Whatever. I don’t care where
you came from—in this school you don’t speak to us like that, and you
definitely don’t speak to Ethan Carlington like that. Do you even know who he
is?”
I glance over at Ethan, who looks like he wishes he’d never
bothered stopping me. “Yes, I’m aware of who Ethan Carlington is.”
“Well then you should know he’s not even on your level,
babe. His dad owns this town, and if your family wants to settle in, it’s best
not to piss off his son.”
Ethan’s jaw falls open at her words, and I wonder just how
good she usually is at hiding her bitchy behaviour. I’ve no doubt this is her
true character, but I wonder how often she actually shows it to Ethan and his
friends, because the Ethan I knew would never tolerate this. He would never want
to be around someone who behaves like this.
I tilt my head as I survey him. “Wow. Sounds like you’ve got
a really great dad. Lucky you.”
He rolls his eyes at me in irritation, and it only
infuriates her further.
“You’re done here,” she continues, glaring hard. “I wouldn’t
even bother coming back if I were you.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, taking a step towards her so we’re almost
touching. She’s gorgeous, no doubt about that, and she definitely knows it, but
she’s one of those girls who needs to make everyone else feel bad just to make
herself feel better. “Why? What are you going to do?”
She smirks at me, and I can see it in her eyes. She thinks
she’s going to shut me down the way she’s probably shut down countless girls
before just because she doesn’t like something about them, or just because
she’s bored. Either way, I can promise she’s not going to do it to me. “You
just wait. You’ll regret ever stepping foot in this school. I’m gonna enjoy
this.”
I grin and glance over at Ethan, who is staring at Evie in
disbelief, like he doesn’t even recognise her. “Did you hear that, Ethan? Your
little friend here is threatening me.”
“Could you stop trying to wind everyone up for just a
second?” he snaps at me before turning to Evie. “And don’t talk to her like
that. What is wrong with you?”
Evie’s face turns red at the reprimand. “I was just…I was
sticking up for you.”
“Awww. It’s sweet that you want to fight your friend’s
battles, but he’s a big boy.”
She turns back on me. “He’s my boyfriend,” she bites out,
like it’s something I should just know. “And you can make sure you stay away
from him.”
Of course she’s his girlfriend. Of course.
I start to laugh and look at Ethan, who looks positively
mortified. “Seriously?” I ask. “This is your girlfriend?” I let my eyes sweep
around the cafeteria, taking in the faces looking back at me. “Must be slim
pickings around here if she’s the best you can do.”
It’s the final straw for Evie, and a growl leaves her mouth
as she lunges at me, but Ethan catches her around the waist before she gets to
me. He pulls her back, and she turns to look at him, hurt and confusion
crossing her face. “Why are you defending her?” she asks him. “Why are you
taking her side when she’s speaking to you like that?” She turns to look back
at me. “Who are you?”
I stare back at her and let out a humourless laugh. “Who am
I?” I step closer to her, my eyes boring into hers. I glance at Ethan, who is
glaring back at me, before turning back to this girlfriend. “I’m his twin.” I
pause as I watch her eyes widen in disbelief. “Who the hell are
you?!”
Title: All That’s Been Said
Author: Emma Doherty
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Day: November 7th
About All That’s Been Said:
Izzy Kavanagh hates her new life in the US; that much she’s
made obvious. She’s done everything she can to alienate her twin, Ethan, and to
prove she doesn’t want to be there.
She’s certainly succeeded.
Perhaps a little too much.
Suddenly the idea of having her brother hate her isn’t what
she wants. Knowing her mother would be ashamed of her behaviour weighs on her
mind, and the idea of having someone who cares about her isn’t so bad after
all. Then there’s her brother’s best friend, Finn. No matter how much she wants
to ignore him and pretend she doesn’t care about his opinion, he always seems
to be there, and it’s getting harder and harder to act like she’s indifferent
to him.
But the damage has been done, and now all she can do is
count down the days until she’s allowed to return to the UK and forget all
about her time in the US.
That’s what she’s wanted all along…right?
About the Author:
Emma Doherty was born in
Yorkshire, England. She attended university in Newcastle before moving to
London. She loves to travel, write, spend time with friends and family and hear
from her readers.
Connect with the Author:
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