A hilariously romantic tale of mishaps and matrimony, love and long shots, foibles and friendship, that may make you text that old school boyfriend of yours . . .
THE BACK UP MAN
by Phoebe Luckhurst
Michael Joseph, January 2023
(via Northbank Talent Management)
They made a pact to marry at thirty. The problem? Euan’s nowhere to be found. Can Anya track down her back up man . . . ?
Twenty-nine, single, jobless and in a house share with her cousin who can barely look at her, things could be going better for Anya Mackie. When she stumbles across the pact she made with high school crush, Euan Carrick – to marry at thirty if they’re still single – a silly teenage idea suddenly seems like a lifeline. However, Euan hasn’t been seen for a decade. Reluctantly enlisting the help of Euan’s emotionally unavailable best mate Jamie Kildare, who has his own mysterious reasons for tracking Euan down, Anya sets off across the country to find her Back Up Man. Will Euan even remember her, or their pact? And why is Anya betting her future on her past?
Phoebe Luckhurst was born in London and brought up in Glasgow. She is a Senior Commissioning Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine, and has written features and interviews for the Guardian, Sunday Times Style, Elle, ES Magazine, Grazia, the Telegraph and Vogue. Phoebe has had the theme tune to The OC stuck in her head since 2003 and once almost spent her student loan on a micro-pig. She no longer shops online when drunk. The Lock In was her debut novel.

Max Moody is in his 30s and thinks he has everything figured out, not the least of which is the best-of-best-friends a gay guy could ask for: Paige. She grew up with Max. She can light up any party. She finishes his sentences. She is always a reliable splunch (NOT brunch) partner. But then everything in Max’s life is turned upside down when Paige announces some big news: she’s engaged! And it turns out there’s not just one new man in Paige’s life… There are two. The groom, who’s a perfectly nice guy. And his charming, younger, and…really (really) hot gay brother, Chasten. As Paige’s wedding draws closer, Max and Chasten realize they’re like oil and water, yet they still have to figure out how to co-exist in Paige’s life while not making her wedding all about them. But can the tiny spark between them elevate their best man roles in a wedding to the best man in each other’s lives?
Lola Barnes’ summer is not off to the best start. Fresh off a scandal that tanked her social status, Lola has somehow managed to also alienate her twin sister, lose the friends she thought she had, and put a… fiery end to the first party of the summer. (The boat was barely on fire, for the record—and all the partygoers were just fine.) Lola is given an ultimatum: jail time, or spending the summer with the nonprofit Hike Like a Girl. Everyone seems to expect Lola to fail. But even as Lola encounters bugs, blisters, and bears (oh my!), she finds something greater that she’s been missing all along: unexpected friends, a sweet romance, strength she didn’t know she had—and herself, Lola, at last.
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