brand-new duet
The Life Swap
Embracing a new life ⦠discovering a new love!
Meet Maddison Carter, New York socialite, and Hope McKenzie, English homebody. These two women couldnât be more different, but for six months, they will be swapping jobs, swapping homes and swapping lives! And in doing so theyâll meet two men who will turn their worlds upside down â¦
Enjoy Maddisonâs story in In the Bossâs Castle
Available now
And look for Hopeâs story, coming soon!
PROLOGUE
Hi, Hope,
Truthfully I was a little shocked when they asked me to job swap with you for six months. I thought I was way too far down the food chain, especially since I changed careers and found myself back at the bottom of the ladder again. But Iâve never left the USâso my bags are packed, I actually have a passport and Iâm on my way to London before they change their minds!
I guess you want to know a little about the stranger coming to take over your life? Thereâs no big scandals youâll be glad to know, so no need to warn the neighbours or hide the family silver. Iâm Maddison and Iâve been working for DL Media for just over three years, I started out in the PR and events team before Brenda, my boss (soon to be yours) poached me for Editorial. Itâs a step down in some waysâback to making coffees and booking taxis and a lot less managing my own time, but somehow she convinced me that itâll be worth it. Itâs nice to be wanted for my brains and not my contact list, at least thatâs what I tell myself when I pick up her dry cleaning. Because, in between the taxis and the coffee pick-ups, she is teaching me a lotâyouâre lucky to be working with her.
Sheâs very focused, doesnât see the point of any life outside work and is absolutely obsessed with glass ceilings and reaching full potential, blah-blah-blah. Itâs not that I donât want all that, Iâm as ambitious as they come in some ways, but I do want more. I want it all. I want to meet the right guy and settle down, picket fence, big dog, rugrats and all. Donât tell Brenda that!
I thought Iâd found the right guy. Bart. AKA Bartholomew J Van De Grierson III. But turns out heâs not The One or rather Iâm not The One for him. At least not right now. He wants a break. Thinks we should âexplore other optionsâ. So this opportunity has come at the right time for me. Iâm exploring other options on the other side of the Atlantic and putting my career first for a change. Maybe working with Brenda has influenced me more than I knew!
I do hope he misses me at least a little, though...
SoâNew York! Itâs the greatest city on earth, I promise. My biggest advice? Pack light! The good news is youâll be living in the Upper East Side and it is fabulous! The bad news? No one expects to swing a cat in a New York studio, but mine...? You couldnât swing a mouse. But, hey, location is everything, right? And when you sit on the fire escape with your morning coffee and watch the sun rise over Manhattan you wonât want to be anywhere else.
Welcome to New York. City of reinvention, city of dreams...
Maddison.
* * *
Hi, Maddison...
Welcome to London and Londonâs greatest borough. Iâve compiled a âWelcomeâ file which tells you absolutely everything you need to know, in alphabetical order, from where the boiler isâand the number of a good plumberâto the best place to buy coffee locally. Thereâs a guide to buses and Oyster cards (no Tube here in Stokey) under T for Transport, and a comprehensive section on work (W for Work) to help you find your feet right away.
I hope you feel at home here. Stoke Newington is pretty sought-after now, but when my parents moved here it was still a scruffy, community-minded part of the East Endâand even with all the swanky bars and yoga studios I miss the place I grew up in. Not so community-minded when you are more likely to bump into nannies and cleaners than neighbours, and everyone is obsessed with extending and rainforest wetrooms. But itâs still home and I canât imagine living anywhere else. Except maybe New York, of course...
I am so excited about moving to New York for a whole six months. Iâve always wanted to travel but never had the opportunity. Faith, my younger sister, is on a gap year and seeing the world, lucky thingâbut living in a new city and progressing my career? Thatâs an amazing opportunity.