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Rosalind James

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Stone Cold Kiwi (New Zealand Ever After Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Rosalind James (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.7 1,236 ratings

Book 2 of 6: New Zealand Ever After

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Falling in love can be bloody inconvenient.
Let’s inventory, shall we?
State of my professional life: Brilliant, if counted in terms of sales of Hazel the Hippo books, the substantial proceeds from selling my Kiwi Adventures New Zealand glamping business, and any number of glossy magazine articles about my charmed existence. Of course, I couldn’t seem to write or draw anymore, but that would pass. Surely.

State of my personal life: Murky. A mysterious siren I was not, in my nursing bra and only-kind-that-fits maternity panties. My three redheaded children? Good thing. Good, exhausting, frustrating, terrifying, wonderful thing. My marriage? Living with a failing marriage is like living with a toothache. It’s not going to get any better, and eventually, it’s going to get heaps worse, but who wants a root canal?

Beginning to fall for the much-too-charming, not-quite-available, stone-cold-beautiful Dr. Matiu Te Mana, on the day he delivered the third of those children on the grass outside Dunedin Hospital, a few short minutes before my marriage began its spectacular and very public final implosion? Possibly tricky.

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There was a long, long pause, and then Matiu said, "It could be that you've got too much happening in your life just now for inspiration to strike. Too busy, maybe."

I felt pretty stupid. "I reveal my deepest fear," I said, "offer up my cri de coeur, and that's what you've got?" Possibly offensive, but the alternative was backpedaling like mad,or passing my awkward revelation off with an airy laugh, and either thing seemed to be beyond me.

He didn't take offense, fortunately. Instead, he smiled a bit and said, "Not sure what that means. If you're offering me something, you should probably tell me what it is. I may want to know."

Was it hot in here, or was it just my ever-resetting hormones? Definitely my hormones, because anything else was ridiculous. "Cry from the heart," I said, much too breathlessly. "French."

"Ah," he said, the absolutely satisfactory, full-grown-man lines around his eyes deepening with amusement. "French. Good to know. Well, then,there's this. It could be the way you feel when you're riding up a long, steep hill on a bike. How do you let your mind go when it's focused on how hard this is, on making your legs go around one more time, on the struggle? When you've got to the top at last and you're coasting downhill, though, your mind frees up some, lets you think. Least that's how it works for me. I'm not a big fan of the uphills."

"Today, for example?" I asked. "When you were running?"

"Well, yeh." I got another flash of smile. "The downhills were definitely better than the uphills today. There's a reason I'm not a triathlete, possibly. I prefer my recreation to be recreational." He got serious, then, his golden-brown eyes fixed on mine. "Could be you're riding uphill now, and that hill's too long and too steep. Wait for the downhill. It's got to be coming sometime. When it does? You're going to fly."

He hadn't looked at my breasts at all, I realized fuzzily. He'd looked into my eyes. Not that I wanted him to look at my breasts, because that would've been creepy, but I'd thought we'd had a moment before, unlikely as that idea was. I thought we might be having a moment now. Or maybe it was just that I kept having those moments, every time he looked at me. Every time he smiled like he couldn't help it, or gave me all that focus.

Hormones, clearly. It had been months since I'd had sex, and the last time I'd done it, it hadn't been what you'd call earth-shattering. I was overdue.

I lifted Isobel from my breast, adjusted my top, and began to pat her back, while Matiu kept his eyes on my face. "You didn't ring me," he said. "I was sorry about that."

Isobel gave a choking cough and spat up chalky white milk all over my ancient cardigan, and I reached belatedly for a flannel blanket in the nappy bag, spread it over my shoulder, settled her in place again, and said, still patting her back, "I keep thinking I must be misreading this whole thing, given your running companion and her extremely fit appearance, not to mention the amount of breast milk I'm wearing at the moment, but just in case. You do realize that I wouldn't be cleared to have sex even if I were looking for an affair, or revenge, or whatever it's called once you're separated, and you had an odd but convenient fetish for women with excess abdominal skin. You'd be brilliant revenge, of course, but I'm still married, technically. Also, I'm still bleeding like a stuck pig, and I'm still stitched up. And since you did the stitching, you have to know I'm not open for business."

The last few sentences fell into one of those pockets of silence you get sometimes in a café. The fella across from me at the next table, who hadn't been letting his eyes stray my way for one single instant, as if my breasts and I existed in a Cone of Blessed Invisibility, swiveled his head and stared at me, as horrified as if I'd offered to show him the evidence.His friend stood up abruptly, and the two of them bolted like they had an urgent appointment with Anywhere But Here. The middle-aged woman on our other side, sitting next to Matiu, let out a choked laugh, quickly stifled it, and looked away.

"Whoops," I said, determinedly patting Isobel, who didn't need it anymore, since the air bubble was well and truly out, and knowing I was blushing. "Redhead rules. When in doubt, spit it out."

Matiu was grinning. He had a very good grin. "Well," he said, "that's likely to be the most unexpected thing I'll hear today, and I hear a fair few surprising confessions. Glad we got that out of the way. I'm trying to decide whether to tell you I'm not sleeping with Daisy."

"Yet," I muttered.

He grinned some more. "Yet. I can promise that I won't, if you like. Even if she begs me." He laughed at my outraged expression. "But that would be presuming, since, as we know, you aren't available. Could be we'll have to settle for being friends."

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B082SCM7N5
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bellbird Publishing (February 17, 2020)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 17, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1645 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 450 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B084QL31PZ

Best Sellers Rank: #48,865 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #621 in Mothers & Children Fiction
- #1,550 in Contemporary Women's Fiction
- #1,701 in Contemporary Women Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.7 1,236 ratings

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Rosalind James

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*Sign up for my newsletter, get all the inside scoop, and never miss a release! www.rosalindjames.com/newsletter

*YES, they're stand-alones! (Except JUST ONCE MORE, FRACTURED, and FOUND.)

*All books also available in audio format.

*Printable book list available at: https://rosalindjames.com/printable-booklist/

Escape to New Zealand:

Book 0.5: JUST SAY YES (Reka & Hemi)

Book 1: JUST THIS ONCE (Hannah & Drew)

Book 2: JUST GOOD FRIENDS (Kate & Koti)

Book 3: JUST FOR NOW (Jenna & Finn)

Book 4: JUST FOR FUN (Emma & Nic)

Book 5: JUST MY LUCK (Ally & Nate/Kristen & Liam)

Book 6: JUST NOT MINE (Josie & Hugh)

Book 7: JUST ONCE MORE (Reunion/Hannah & Drew again)

Book 8: JUST IN TIME (Faith & Will)

Book 9: JUST STOP ME (Nina & Iain)

Book 10: JUST SAY YES (Chloe & Kevin)

Book 11: JUST SAY (HELL) NO (Marko & Nyree)

Book 12: JUST COME OVER (Zora & Rhys)

Book 13: JUST SAY CHRISTMAS (Victoria & Kane/Hayden & Luke/Reunion)

Book 14: JUST ONE LOOK (Elizabeth & Luka)

New Zealand Ever After:

Book 1: KIWI RULES (Karen & Jax) (NOTE: Read Karen's backstory in the Not Quite a Billionaire trilogy!)

Book 2: STONE COLD KIWI (Poppy & Matiu)

Book 3: KIWI STRONG (Daisy & Gray)

Book 4: KIWI GOLD (Layla & Lachlan)

Book 5: KIWI SIN (Oriana & Gabriel)

Not Quite a Billionaire (Hope & Hemi):

Book 1: FIERCE

Book 2: FRACTURED

Book 3: FOUND

Sinful, Montana:

Book 1: GUILTY AS SIN (Paige & Jace)

Book 2: TEMPTING AS SIN (Lily & Rafe)

Book 3: SEXY AS SIN (Willow & Brett)

Portland Devils:

Book 1: SILVER-TONGUED DEVIL (Dakota & Blake)

Book 2: NO KIND OF HERO (Beth & Evan)

Book 3: SHAME THE DEVIL (Jennifer & Harlan)

Book 4: DEVIL IN DISGUISE (Dyma & Owen)

The Kincaids:

Book 1: WELCOME TO PARADISE (Mira & Gabe)

Book 2: NOTHING PERSONAL (Rae & Alec)

Book 3: ASKING FOR TROUBLE (Alyssa & Joe)

Paradise, Idaho:

Book 1: CARRY ME HOME (Zoe & Cal)

Book 2: HOLD ME CLOSE (Kayla & Luke)

Book 3: TURN ME LOOSE (Rochelle & Travis)

Book 4: TAKE ME BACK (Hallie & Jim)

Visit www.rosalindjames.com to listen to the songs from the New Zealand books, follow characters on their travels, and learn about what's new.

Follow me on facebook: at rosalindjamesbooks

Join my Facebook reader group: Just Rosalind James

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

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Patsy

Another 5-star story from a 5-star writer

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2020

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Rosalind James has a wonderful "voice" to her work that always has me waiting breathlessly for her next book the minute I finish one. And while the voice is consistent - wonderful settings and descriptions, deep characters, real emotions, humor, and heat, all with a Kiwi "accent" - each story is truly unique.

This one was unexpected in many ways... the feeling of real-life and extreme emotions was present throughout, making it feel more like a real family saga than a fictional one. Both hero and heroine are people Rosalind James' readers will have met before, but we see them in new ways with depth of character we didn't expect... Poppy is lively and fun, but we discover she has a persona she wants others to see and another more layered one. She has a strength she doesn't even know she possesses until she's forced to depend on it. Matiu has always been elusive, with the image of a handsome player that never goes too deep - but deep is what we discover he really is - it's just that those around him refuse to see it - or even let him be it.

This story was an emotional rollercoaster of wonderful highs and uncomfortable lows, laughter and tears, and all of the elements I've come to expect from Rosalind James. She has single-handedly made me a fan of New Zealand without my setting foot on the soil there. Don't miss this spectacular story... and for the most satisfaction, I recommend reading Book 1 of this series first, since that background makes this story even more powerful.

12 people found this helpful

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EFhappy@home

Amazing, Emotional, heart-stoppingly beautiful story!

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2020

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This story features a woman on the verge of her life and marriage falling apart and handsome doctor with a Casanova-complex, some really funny secondary characters, relatives, a dog and a duck. Not necessarily in that order.

Poppy and her children, whom we met in the previous novel in the series, Kiwi Rules, is a successful entrepreneur, children's book author and illustrator, when her brother Jax - the hero in Kiwi Rules - and Karen were getting married. And at their wedding Poppy meets a handsome and unattached Maori doctor, Dr. Matiu Te Mana, a relative of Karen's side of the family.

Poppy and Matiu meet each other again in the crisis of the birth of Poppy's third baby, Isobel. She is in a very public place with her two young children and suddenly went into labor and it escalated to crisis point very quickly. My impression of Poppy were that she kept incredibly calm under the circumstances, and put her young children's needs above all else -to ensure they were not afraid and kept them safe. Dr.Te Mana comes on the scene right outside the emergency room of the hospital - on the grass where Poppy is about to give birth.

What Poppy will soon learn, just after the birth of her child, is that her husband of 8 years, and her children's father had been betraying her in the worst way, and her marriage is essentially over. The story begins with Poppy's world crashing into flames, and is all about how this woman rises out of the fire as a phoenix and overcomes her challenges, and explores a new relationship possibility - with the last person she thought she would be attracted to.

This story is so much more than a woman in a rebound situation, finding love with her doctor hero and savior. This story is so emotionally deep, complex, and rich, and becomes more symbolic of Poppy's journey towards her freedom of spirit and courage. Through this blossoming friends-to-lovers romance with Matiu - it ends up enlightening and changing him too - changing HIS views on himself and his expectations for female relationships, along with his sense of character and integrity. Matiu is a much deeper and a stronger character than he gives himself credit for.

The dynamics of the ex-husband-and the extended family members who are lovingly - or not-so-much - trying to interfere with Matiu and Poppy's emerging relationship. Some of these moments are hilarious - and some are heartbreaking as you see Poppy's inner strength develop and flourish, allowing her to stand up for herself and become the confident and bold woman she never thought she had in her. I love this vulnerability that Poppy showed-and how she overcame her internal self-doubts and self-image issues. I can sure relate to all of these issues. Poppy's story brings to light all the doubts of a new post-partum mother, with her body changes and challenges, explores her emotional responses to some very real horrific events. Ms.James really gets it right in all her descriptions of the physical and emotional exhaustion, the realities of post-birth issues, and the truths that all of us women who have been down this road instinctively know.

No cliff-hangers or other parts to buy after this story.. and though I highly recommend going back and reading the beginning of the series of books, "Kiwi Rules" (Jax and Karen's story), and check out the "Not Quite a Billionaire" series (Hemi and Hope's story).

Rosalind James is a wonderful American writer and has spent a considerable amount of time in New Zealand and Aussie-land. She shares her amazing experiences with the New Zealand culture (and imaginative, creative story-telling) with us and we are lucky indeed to enjoy the results of her work. Another great one - and possibly my new favorite (it's at least in the top 3 now). This one will check off all of your boxes for a great romantic story! A job well done!

3 people found this helpful

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Sue Hallett

Book 2 in the series

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024

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The book is great, good story, good characters. I enjoy this author and have enjoyed both books 1 and 2. My only criticism: why must the sex scenes be so graffic? The story would be just as good without such explicit detail.

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Carolynn Brill

such an amazing story!

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024

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I have been enjoying this series, and this book is no exception. Poppy & Matiu are terrific, strong, messy, forbidden love interests in crazy, convoluted lives that wrap around these Māori family circles of love and relationships that draw you in immediately. The descriptions of Poppy being a mum of three littlies is spot on. And Dr. Te Mana is the Māori version of Dr. McDreamy.

I loved the wonderful way Poppy’s art was described. Like you could picture it all! And there is a exes “beat-down” of Matiu at a grocery store that is priceless (but happily slightly inaccurate!)

One person found this helpful

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RC Holmberg

great read

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024

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Found on a free site, this was a fabulous read... great characters and interesting sideline bits of Maori culture.. very enjoyable.

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KaCee

Great series

Reviewed in Canada on April 21, 2024

Verified Purchase

Love this author! Interesting stories, great characters, funny moments. Such a great read.

Ira W.

Sehr gelungener zweiter Teil

Reviewed in Germany on September 16, 2022

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Poppy und Matiu waren ein wunderbares Paar. Man spürt die Chemie zwischen den beiden, dazu noch der Zauber Neuseelands, liebenswerte interessante und vielschichtige Charaktere und eine gute Story. Ein schöner zweiter Band in einer tollen Serie und mit Sicherheit nicht mein letztes Buch der Autorin.

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Tulika Srivastava

She rocks!

Reviewed in India on February 23, 2020

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Recommended to all! Rosalind James is my favourite author and I have read all her books except one! Her writing is grounded, free and just sheer fun....and her stories are absolutely lovable!! Looking forward to the next....Heather this time???

Riverdaffyd

An emotional, deeply satisfying read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2020

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A most delightful, satisfying and emotional story to read, with quite possibly the most breathtaking first chapter that you will read in any book - ever! Poppy is having a bad day, she feels very restless, she is thirty-seven weeks pregnant, her husband is away on business - he often is, and she needs to do something. So she takes her two children to the Discovery Centre at the museum. Maybe it will give her ideas for the children’s book she is writing and illustrating. It is the latest in a very successful series, but she seems to have lost all inspiration. Rosalind is brilliant at writing children, these two are absolutely perfect; Hamish is five, just about to start school. He is quite timid and quiet, and takes his responsibilities as older brother very seriously. Olivia is three, a red-headed firecracker. She doesn’t listen to reason, always wants them to do whatever she wants to do, a real handful. Suddenly, when her nerves have been run ragged Poppy realises that her desperate need for the toilet is something else - the baby is coming! She tries to stay calm, and phones her husband, her parents, her grandparents ... and nobody picks up, she has to deal with this by herself, and manage a very cross Olivia who had wanted to stay at the discovery centre.

She phones for an Uber-taxi to get her to the hospital, and contacts the midwife to say she is on the way. But the Uber driver won’t take her because he doesn’t have child seats, so she decides to walk to the nearest hospital which is almost just across the street. She soon realises she is not going to make it, and has to get Hamish to cross the busy street to the hospital to get help. She imagines every minute that her little boy is going to be hit by a car, and struggles to hold Olivia, who is still trying to go back to the museum. You would imagine that things couldn’t get any worse, but they do, just a bit!
An imploding marriage is awful anyway, but when you have just had a baby and are hormonal, it is totally heartbreaking!

Matiu Te Mana is the doctor who calmly delivers baby Isobel, and sorts out care for Hamish and Olivia until relatives get there. He is distantly related to Poppy, in that wide-ranging New Zealand way. He is forty-five, quite a few years older than Poppy, but he feels a connection with her that he has never felt with anyone else, and she does with him, and they become friends. They support each other with trying times throughout the story. Poppy has been told that he is a player, he will never settle down with one woman, but she chooses to trust her own instincts about him, and he never lets her down. He is really good with all the children, far better than their own father, who doesn’t always do what he promises. But forces are trying to keep them apart, they have to fight for a life together, so there is still a lot of drama in their lives, some of it quite heart-stopping! And of course any permanent commitment is delayed because Poppy will have to wait for two years for the divorce from Max to be finalised, that is the law in New Zealand.

The end of the story is joyous, and beautiful, and emotional. There were several places in the story where I shed a few tears, not because it was necessarily sad, but because of the emotion on the page. It is a story that you can’t be detached from, it grabs you from page one, and doesn’t let you go unto the end. What more can you ask for?

3 people found this helpful

CJ

Excellent Read

Reviewed in Australia on July 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

This story was so much better than the first (only due to the sex part, the sex in this story suited them not like the first story). What a great author the whole way through you feel like your there, rooting for them to be super happy. Poppy is what mothers should be and Matiu is perfect. All the extras in the story family, kids are amazing. New favourite authors 😀

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Stone Cold Kiwi (New Zealand Ever After Book 2) Kindle Edition

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