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"Darkly funny and sexy-literary escapism at its finest."
-Independent
By day, Petra Flint is a talented jeweler working in a lively London studio. By night, she's a sleepwalker troubled by a past she can't put to bed and a present that leaves her clinging to an unsuitable boyfriend. Arlo Savidge was once a budding heartthrob musician. Then tragedy struck and he chose to forsake stardom and all future affairs of the heart for a quiet life in the countryside as a music teacher.
Petra and Arlo haven't seen each other since they were teenagers-when their feelings ran deep but the timing wasn't right. Now, seventeen years later, they run into each other once more. Might first love get a second chance-or will what keeps them up at night keep them apart forever?
Praise for Pillow Talk
"I defy anyone who doesn't fall in love with it."
-Glamour
"Warm, sexy, satisfying."
-Heat
"North charts the emotional turmoil with a sexy exactitude."
-Marie Claire
"Another North gem."
-OK
Something isn't quite right-I have a hunch about this. But I think I'll just tuck it into the back of my mind while I tuck my feet into my wellington boots. Now I'll open my front door and step out into the night.
I'm ready. Where is it I'm meant to be going? I can't quite remember. It'll come back to me in a moment. I'll just put one foot in front of the other and trust myself. I am turning left. If I am automatically taking this direction to Wherever, this must mean it is the right way to go.
Now where am I? I'm glad I'm wearing my gumboots. That was a good idea. I had to rummage for them as I can't remember when I last wore them. I can't remember when I last had a weekend away from the city. No one has ever whisked me away. Not that I've ever asked-that wouldn't be me. That's not to say I haven't daydreamed of it, though.
But enough of this mental meandering, I must walk on. This way. That way. I don't feel very comfortable. I'm rather cold and my feet feel-strange.
I'm hoping for the landmark to loom, to say to me that I've arrived at my destination. I know metaphysics would say that it's not the arriving but the journey that's the point-but I'm going to have to have a sit-down and a rethink if I don't get there soon. Perhaps I've gone the wrong way. I don't want to admit to myself that I don't really know the route because that would call into question the destination which, actually, I can't remember at all.
Well, I'll keep on walking this way. My feet are really sore. I'd love a bar of chocolate. I'm quite tired now. Sleepy, in fact. Something will jog my memory. It was not Petra Flint's memory that was jogged. It was her slumber. By the police. She woke with a start and in a panic; for a split second she thought she was blind. Actually it was very dark and she was lying face down on the ground. Earthy, itchy ground, and wet.
"Are you OK?"
Petra lifted her head a little and glanced up: two police officers were looming over her. The sudden beam from a torch scorched her eye so she dropped her gaze and put her face back to the ground. She was wearing her nightshirt and her wellington boots, which were on the wrong feet, and she felt mortified. She also felt alarmingly cold. She spat. There was a tickle of grass and a crunch of soil in her mouth. The torch beam wavered. Shit. The police. She scrambled up, whacked by nausea as she did so. Disoriented, she still sensed an urgency to explain because it couldn't look good, to the police, that she'd been found sprawled on the ground in an oversized Snoopy T-shirt and wellies.
"Are you OK?" one officer asked, steadying Petra; the firm arm of the law surprisingly gentle at her elbow.
"Oh, I'm fine," she told them, hoping to sound convincing but certain she sounded guilty. She looked around her. She recognized nothing. She didn't know where she was. A park. "Where is this?" She caught the glance that passed between the officers. She just wanted to go home. Warm up. Tuck in tight for a better night's sleep. Better not ask any more questions then, better leave that to the police. Better still, give them answers before they even ask. "My name is Petra Flint," she said clearly, "and I sleepwalk." Oh my God, my grandmother is dead. The shrill of the phone woke Rob with a start; his ailing grandmother his primary thought. He grabbed at his watch, noting it was almost three in the morning as he said hullo. He listened carefully, soon enough faintly amused by how he could be relieved it was just the police. Grandma is fine, Rob thought, though he wondered whether he'd now jinxed her life by anticipating her death.
"Yes-Petra Flint," he said with the measured bemusement of a parent being called before their child's head teacher. "Petra is my girlfriend. Yes, she is known to sleepwalk-though usually she takes measures to prevent this, keeps herself under lock and key. You found her where?"
He scrambled into some clothes muttering that Christ he was tired. As he found Petra's keys and snatched up his own from the mantelpiece, he wondered why somnambulists never managed to subconsciously take their keys when they took off into the night. On one sortie, Petra had filled her coat pockets with onions. On another she had taken the remote control from the television with her, having first removed the batteries and placed them in a careful configuration on the kitchen table. In the ten months Rob had known Petra and on the many occasions she had sleepwalked, only a few times had she made it out into the night yet not once had she taken her keys. Or a penny. Or her phone. And, as he drove off towards Whetstone at the behest of the police, Rob decided that, in this age of mobile telecommunication, it was for sleepwalkers alone that phone boxes still existed, providing shelter and the reverse-charges call until someone arrived to take them home. This was, however, the first time he'd been called by the police.
Her sheepish expression could have been due as much to her Snoopy nightshirt as to the circumstance. Rob thought she looked rather cute, all forlorn and mortified. If he ignored the wellington boots and the dirt on her chin.
"Petra," he said, raising an eyebrow towards the duty officer, "what were you thinking?"
He always asks me that, Petra thought petulantly. And he never listens when I say I don't think, I don't know. Somewhere, in the deeper reaches of my subconscious state which I simply cannot access when I'm awake, I obviously thought that this was a very good idea at the time.
She shrugged. "Do you have my keys?"
"Yes," he said, "come on." He put his fleece jacket around her shoulders and bit his tongue against commenting on her wellington boots. They certainly weren't Hunters, they weren't even imitations. These were old-fashioned: shapeless tubes of black rubber reaching the unflattering point midway up her bare calves. Tomorrow, he'd see the funny side. Tonight he was tired and a little irritated.
"One day you'll get hurt, you know," Rob warned her, before starting the car.
My feet really hurt right now, Petra thought, even though each boot was now on the correct foot. "I'm sorry," she said, pressing the side of her head hard against the car window, the judder at her temples convincing her she was truly awake. "I can't remember a thing. I don't know where I was going."
"So you always say," Rob nodded. "Do you mind if I don't come in?" he said, soon pulling up outside Petra's flat. "I have clients from Japan first thing in the morning."
"Sorry," Petra shuffled, "sorry."
Rob looked at her, his exasperation softening a little. "It's all right. It's fine," he said. "Goodnight, Petra-and lock your bloody bedroom door."
Leah-books
Posted May 16, 2012
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What a great read! really enjoyed it. It was very easy for me to connect to the characters
23 out of 23 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 6, 2005
I really enjoyed reading htis book. Her writting reminds my a lot of Rachel Gibson (whom I love). It was just a really good read.
19 out of 27 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.bklvr67
Posted May 11, 2012
This is a good book read awhile ago. Nice twists and turns. It will make you laugh and cry.
16 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 12, 2012
Will ppl PLEASE stop giving away every detail of the book in their review....re harriet klausner? You ruin every book for me by revealing the entire story line. You can review a book without giving away the entire plot!
13 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 27, 2001
I found it to be good except for the personal stuff .
13 out of 34 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 13, 2012
This book is just so...British. I was constantly looking up phrases ("pop socks"? Huh?!) I found it rather slow in the first half...I mean, you KNOW what's going to happen from the premise, but it takes SO long to happen! The author could have started the book at the point of the incident that sends our heroine away from London...we would have gotten the gyst of it from a few pages of flashbacks. Choppy in parts, too much detail where it isn't needed, not enough where it actually is needed. Okay but not great.
8 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 12, 2012
Not for kids due to a wee bit of graphic content. The plot was fun and well done. The characters have real life issues that are not in the "perfect male or perfect female " characters that you see in a majority of novels today. Enjoyable read!
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 12, 2012
This book was horrifically bad. The author can't seem to choose a narrative voice or a verb tense to. The characters are unlikable, and the plot plods along like it's been given a sleeping pill. Somehow, the author even managed to make sex completely unsexy. I spent most of my time saying, "ew." I tried to finish this book and failed miserably, with miserable being the operative word.
5 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 11, 2012
Usally theese books are pretty sucky when they are the freebies but this is really good from the first page
5 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 16, 2012
The first 1/3 of this book was so boring...it seemed to drag on forever. It was entirely too much back story. I wanted so badly to quit reading, but I have never quit in the middle of the book. I forced myself to keep going and eventually the story picked up. However, it was really predictable. The characters were nothing special, and neither was the storyline. I can't say I'd recommend this book, but I can't say not to read it either...just be prepared to ne bored out of your mind at yhe beginning.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 10, 2012
I thought the book started out fine just like a romance novel. But the story went in so many ways that it started to be too much detail and not enough dialog. The story kept changing from third person to first person. I skimmed the last 100 pages skipping many chapters. I did not miss much. The book neverended it just droned on. The author had a great idea for a plot. I would have liked more of a "beach read".
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 13, 2012
Couldn't get through it- too vulgar
3 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 12, 2012
I had high hopes for this book, but was disappointed. This is the first book ever that i didnt finish. It moved so slow and all the british phrases were hard to understand. I had to look the meaning up and it took away from the story.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 29, 2012
British phraseology throughout book. Lots of new vocabulary to look up while reading.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 20, 2012
A romantic novel with more depth and heart than than a dime store romance. The British setting and vocabulary freshens it up and gives the story added legitimacy. All in all it is an entertaining read perfect for vacation.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 15, 2012
This attempt at fictional writing is poor at best...I have to admit I finished reading it for no other reason than to give the author chance after chance to redeem herself...sadly I was let down EVERY time.
2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 14, 2012
Cant finish this book it is to boring
2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 13, 2012
Too many point of views to deal with
2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 19, 2013
Sorry but as a teacher of English, I refused to continue reading when the author went from third tense to first at the start of Chapter 3. Then Chapter 4 was back in third. In future chapters, she used both tenses, switching like they were windshield wipers.
One of the FIRST rules of narrative fiction is pick a tense and stick to it.
Epic fail.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 3, 2012
I hate to not finish what I've started when it comes to reading but I gave this book to the hundreth page to decide if I would finish it or not. It was really slow going at the start and somewhat boring but luckily right around the hundreth page things picked up a little bit and I did finish it. It wasn't bad. The two secrets that were eventually revealed by the two main characters kept me interested and I even learned a little bit about the history of the precious stone Tanzanite. I'm eager to look it up and see for myself what all the fuss is about. Thanks again B&N for another decent Free Friday read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
"Darkly funny and sexy-literary escapism at its finest."
-Independent
By day, Petra Flint is a talented jeweler working in a lively London studio. By night, she's a sleepwalker troubled by a past she can't put to bed and a present that leaves her clinging to an unsuitable boyfriend. Arlo Savidge was once a budding heartthrob musician. Then tragedy struck and he chose to forsake stardom and all future affairs of the heart for a quiet life in the countryside as a music teacher.
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