Rejected

“Everyone I love will leave me,” Josephine St. Claire whispered to herself.

“Wrong,” an annoying voice said behind her ear. “I won’t leave you.”

She turned around to behold the unbearably handsome yet immensely irritating face of Theodore Lawrence, Lord Lowry, or ‘Teddy’ to his long-suffering friends.

“You don’t count, Teddy—wait, is your mouth full?”

“Indeed it is,” Teddy replied, with said mouth spitting crumbs of cake. “And, may I ask, why do I not count?”

Josephine sighed. “Because you are my best friend.”

He was wrong; she’d been right. He did leave her. But not before he had ruined everything by kissing her.

Josephine St. Claire prefers to be called ‘Jo’.

Unruly, with more interest in books, writing, and swordfights than in corsets and slippers, she is struggling to find her place in Regency London’s marriage mart. Her one comfort in life, her three sisters and one roguish brother, are slowly slipping away into adulthood, leaving her behind. And she, at nineteen, is horrified by the idea of looming romance and marriage.

At least she still has her best friend, Laurie. Or, as he now likes to be called, ‘Teddy’. She can rely on him not to succumb to any silly romantic ideas.

Theodore Lawrence, Lord Lowry, used to be called ‘Laurie’ when he was a child.
He is not a child any longer. He is about to step into his title and his responsibilities, and leave away the comfort of his early boyhood for good. Orphaned at infancy, he has been blessed with a found family: the St. Claires. Four sisters and a boy slightly older than him were the ones who saved his life when he was lost and alone. And his friendship with Jo has continued to save him, every day since.

Too bad he is about to utterly wreck it.
Because Laurie has a secret: he has been in love with his best friend for years. And if he doesn’t do something about it soon, he is going to lose his mind.
Laurie is about to propose to Jo.

It is going to be a resounding disaster.
And that, by far, is not the worst thing that’s about to happen.
Rejected is a Jo and Laurie rewriting. This story is not a retelling of the book in its whole: Just of the Jo and Laurie part. We are going to remake their story into a Regency era swoon-fest. And we are going to get it right this time.
Or not.
Tip: Bring tissues

……

This short and dark Regency retelling of Jo and Laurie’s story is for everyone who has shipped them so hard, they wished for a better ending. Do you think we might get it with this story?
Rejected is a quick, short read, but don’t let its length fool you: It’s packed with drama, romance, heat, darkness and light, and it will make you cry and swoon, and then cry again.
This one is for the Jo and Laurie endgame fans.