Lemon Charm

Pic Tease, Chapter 20

Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop

Kara's Cupcakes


Crown and Crumpet

Chapter 20 Teaser

On entering the suite, I kick the door shut behind me and clumsily drop my shopping on the kitchen table. Prior to my dream, I probably would have joked around and called out ‘Honey, I’m home.’ I can’t really do that now, of course.

I’m playing house with Edward Cullen. Playing being the key word. I better be careful, or before I know it, I’ll be telling him off for leaving the toilet seat up, or demanding that he take out the trash.

This whole suite/mini-apartment thing must be messing with my head.

Edward bounds over from the living room, either really excited that I bought candy or really glad that I’ve returned. Perhaps it’s both.

“You’re back,” he says, grinning.

“I am indeed.”

Returning to Edward makes me smile to myself. He’s put a pair of pajama pants on, but he’s wearing the same t-shirt. I bite my lip as I check out his arms. He chuckles as he steps forward to greet me, touching me gently on the forearm. I smile in return, but the moment is a little awkward. I think he wants to hug me, but he steps back, probably knowing it’s too much too soon. Not thinking quickly enough, I shuffle on the spot for a few seconds before scrambling to say something to mask our awkwardness.

“They had chocolate swans,” I say excitedly, showing him the box. “No chocolate Cullens, though, which was disappointing. I would’ve liked the opportunity to bite your mother’s head off.”

When all else fails, make fun of a Democrat.

It’s my family’s default position.

Edward smirks, taking the box from me.

“And what would you have done with a chocolate Edward?” he teases.

“I'd probably take a bite out of him as well, and in order to do that I’d have to put his head in my mouth…” I trail off, waggling my eyebrows.

“Oh, come on now,” he says, challenging me. “You can do better than that.”

“What? Like put him in the spare room in Barbie’s funhouse?” I suggest dryly.

“Funhouse, did you say?” He winks. “I don’t think I’ll enjoy it there. Barbie isn’t my type. I prefer brunettes. Well, ever since I met you.”

“We met when we were like five,” I point out. “We weren’t strangers on that train.”

Venue Pictures for SF Chapters

Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square


Click here for virtual tour of the suite (yes, important for Ch 18, 19 etc)

Pic Tease 2: Chapter 16, Magazines

Blinkie by CassieWH

I bid on CassieWH for FGB, and she made an awesome TCC blinkie!

Here's the link: http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/belladonna1472/CullenCampaignBlinkie.gif

Pic Tease 1: Chapter 16

The Swan home in Philadelphia

Pic Tease: Chapter 13

Isabella's bedroom:
(all images from her 'apartment' are really Presidential Suite pictures from The Study at Yale hotel)
Other clues:

Pic Tease/ Word Tease: Chapter 12

Isabella's Living Room:

Random Words from Chapter 12:

-Train
-New Haven Register
-Prostitute
-Civil War
-Emmett
-The O'Reilly Factor
-President Banner
-The Smithsonian
-Orange Juice
-Gravitational Pull
-Jasper
-Advanced Torts
-Sleepover

Pic Tease: Settings for Chapter 11

Longworth House Cafeteria

Alice and Jacob's Dining Room

Pic Tease: Chapter 10

Who's in this chapter?


Where are they?


And another Edward pic...

Pic Tease: Pickup Location for Chapter 9

The front of The Rittenhouse during the day. Chapter 9 will take place at night, of course :P

Click here for a virtual tour of the front courtyard!

TCC Polish Translation

Karolina and Patrycja from Poland have been hard at work translating TCC into Polish. They've posted the first chapter already. Click here for their blog 'The Rules Committee'! Love it!

And I love Google Translate too! I need it to read all the comments :D

Pic Tease: Outfits for Chapter 8

Chapter 8 won't be up till Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, here are some more teaser pictures.

In Chapter 6: 'Google Me, Baby', Bella started to look for dresses online. This Vivienne Westwood dress is from net-a-porter.com (I've photoshopped it to make it full-length):
And we all expect Edward to be wearing a tux, right?

Pic Tease: Venue for Chapter 8

The ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia.

Curtis Sittenfeld - Quick Reviews

Prep: A Novel
(mentioned by Alice in the phone call in Chapter 3)
I'm a sucker for novels set in private schools so I was always going to love this one. I love the dissection of class, as well as the lessons the protagonist is forced to learn when it comes to friendship and love.

American Wife
(the book Alice gets Jake to buy Edward in Chapter 1)
This is my favorite of the three. It's loosely based on events in Laura Bush's life. That being said, I didn't see the protagonist as the former First Lady - it's fiction. The storyline revolves more around family and relationships than politics.

The Man of My Dreams
(the book Edward finds Isabella reading in Chapter 3)
I'm not the biggest fan of this one, mostly because I found the character's quest for love to be idealistic and cliched. It was interesting to read a book written in present tense - and it did give me the idea of writing TCC in present tense - but I found the protagonist to be annoying.

The Amtrak in Amtrak-gate

Chapters 1-4 are set on an Amtrak train.

I've traveled on an Amtrak Acela Express just once - from Washington DC to Boston. Unlike Bella and Edward's experience in TCC, nothing interesting happened on my trip. I read a book and ate snacks that I purchased back at Union Station. For lunch, I went to the dining car and bought a reheated hot dog.



Here's a photo of Union Station in Washington DC (Chapter 1):

And here's one of an Amtrak dining car (Chapter 2):














Lol, no, I won't be uploading a photo of an Amtrak bathroom...but yes, they are more spacious than a plane bathroom.

xx Bel

New Blog

Hey everyone!

Thought I'd start a TCC blog :) Now I can post extra info about chapters etc.

Just finished writing two Philadelphia chapters. There should be an update next week, but I don't think it'll be on Monday.

xx Bel