Blog Tour: This Book Belongs To

 

Women's Fiction

Date Published: 01-17-2022

Publisher: Cecil Press

While trekking across South America, Ellie Bartlett finds a mysterious guidebook that changes the course of her journey—and her life.

Ellie dreams of a life away from the sharp edges of New York City. Away from her creepy boss, shoebox apartment, and nights spent alone eating ice-cream. She’s desperate to find happiness and love.

After losing out on yet another promotion, Ellie quits her job and buys a ticket to South America. Arriving at her hostel as a first-time backpacker, she finds a mysterious guidebook filled with cryptic messages about life and love. Intrigued, Ellie contacts the previous owner, Bella, who wrote her name under the heading THIS BOOK BELONGS TO.

Her email lands in the inbox of Jerry Townsend, an architect and widower living in San Francisco. Jerry is barely keeping his life together as he juggles raising three daughters alone and construction of a museum in memory of his late wife—Bella.

Ellie and Jerry start messaging, sharing their fears, hopes and desires. Following Bella’s advice, Ellie embarks on a six-month solo adventure across South America, and over the course of emails, texts, phone calls and video chats, Ellie and Jerry’s pen-pal friendship develops into something more…

But can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met?

PROLOGUE 

Present Day, 18th July – Mount Roraima, Venezuela 

Where do you conquer fear? 

Ellie hoped it was twenty yards away, on the edge of a 1200-foot cliff. 

It better fricking be there. 

Clouds swirled around the table mountain, which rose above the jungle like a block of unformed clay. Sprawled across its flat top was a landscape belonging to another world—twisted rock formations, quartz fields and unexplored caves. Off its sides cascaded some of the tallest waterfalls on our planet. 

Ellie sat alone near the northern tip, shivering in a muddy t-shirt and feeling about as small as the tick she’d scraped off her leg this morning. Nature had a way of doing that to you. With arms wrapped around her knees to keep out the cold, she stared into the fog that first greeted her an hour ago. She still couldn’t get her stupid feet to move. 

It’d taken four days of grueling trekking to get to this point, in thick jungle, deep mud, and through a waterfall that tried to wash her away to an early death. Now was the last chance to face her greatest test. She needed to push herself out of the comfort zone she knew so well. That she’d lived in for too long. 

If only it were that easy. 

Ellie’s hair whipped across her neck and her eyes welled with fear. Here she was fulfilling a dream to visit one of the most unique places on earth, but she couldn’t have imagined a worse nightmare. She grabbed a stone and tossed it toward the precipice. It tumbled over the lip and was swallowed by the fog, never to be seen again. 

Maybe that’ll be my fate too. 

Brushing away a tear, Ellie closed her eyes to visualize her goal: combatting her mortal fear of heights by standing on the very edge of Mount Roraima—1200 feet above the ground. If she made it, what would be her reward? Courage? Happiness? Donuts? Surely just a taste of one would be worth the pain. 

Focus, Ellie. 

A deep breath of crisp air filled her lungs with inspiration. She stood, bracing against the biting wind. Her nose flared and she took her first tentative steps away from the safety of solid land. The clouds circled so fast that supernatural figures seemed to appear, like ghosts from a horror movie grabbing at her limbs to pull her into the abyss. They parted for a second and she glimpsed the vista beyond, a valley of emerald rainforest topped by a soaring blue sky. Her heart leaped, teasing her forward.

 “C’mon Ellie. You can do it. You have to do it.” 

She felt like a child, but knew it was time to be an adult or this entire journey would be for nothing. It was time to grow up, goddammit. 

Even if it killed her.

About the Author

Nick Levy loves traveling and writing to understand the world and our place in it. An award-winning scriptwriter and novelist, he has lived in dozens of countries, including Australia, the USA, Singapore, Mexico, Peru and Thailand. His passion for adventure has taken him from the highlands of Scotland to the coral reefs of Belize, and from the pyramids of Egypt to the tea plantations of Sri Lanka. With degrees in English, History and Education, he has taught in schools on three continents. His writing, directing and producing work in movies has crossed the genres of comedy, drama, thriller and action. Inspired by his parents’ love of travel, film and books, he enjoys taking readers on a journey of discovery so they can appreciate our incredible planet and its fascinating inhabitants.

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