I'm so excited to share with you my latest work!

Here's the blurb and book cover.

An escape from reality becomes so real…

When her work husband chooses someone else, Lola the Brand Guru, finds herself heading to the exotic Twin Bliss Resort to lick her wounds. Arriving at the tropical resort and seeing all it has to offer – luxury, fun, and the added bonus of handsome rich men – she changes her plan.

Recoiling from his fiance’s betrayal, Onahi buries himself into trying to resolve the conflict of interests brewing at the Twin Bliss Resort’s boardroom and to complicate matters, its sacred grounds.

It threatens the ideal.

A chance encounter brings Onahi and Lola together as he tries to unravel the puzzle of why a stranger is occupying a villa reserved for his old friend. Sparks fly and they both get more than they bargained for.


It is currently available on Amazon, Roving Heights, Book Fever Ng and major digital platforms https://margaretadetimehin.com/product/escape-a-twin-bliss-resort-novel/

LOLA



WOULD I BE A BAD PERSON if I use the code in the email to register? Robbie is... Why am I calling him Robbie? Robert. It is Robert!
He doesn’t know this good lady he has lost would not pine and cry for him. I just want to take something that will make me forget all these thoughts warring in my head. Become numb to the betrayal. Is the promotion worth it? I can’t believe I didn’t see it. Didn’t notice it.
Still can't believe my eyes. I can't believe I’ve been deceiving myself, while he strung me along. You know you’re my day one. Good riddance. I don’t even want biracial kids anymore.
“Lola common. He was never yours to begin with.”
“But I liked him. I’m sure he knew ‘cause... we clicked. We just... clicked.” I snort, then sniffle. I don’t like him anymore. He is in the past. What did I even see in him? He rarely talks. Just... “I liked him.” I resume staring at the screen, hot tears rushing down my cheeks. “I should have listened to your advice and told him already.”
“That wouldn’t have changed a thing. Maybe complicated it.”
“I can’t believe I was so nice to help him plan Thelma’s surprise birthday party from scratch and then he goes ahead to propose to her! In front of me!”
Carolanne giggles and I glare at her. Whose side are you on?
“It’s not funny...” I blow my nose into the tissue paper she shoves in my face. “You don’t know how it feels. How hard it is to find a man that understands you. And doesn’t feel small because of your knowledge.”
She tilts her head to the side. “I’m sorry.” She moves in to hug me, still cackling like a witch and I struggle to get her off me. “Sorry now.”
“And he’s a good man. A good man.”
She moves me from side to side and I keep bawling.
“I’m going to do it.”
Carol pauses in her mockery of consolation to stare at me. “Do what?” Her eyes wide in concern. “Please don’t have me calling social services or whatever it is they are called, here. I bind and cast all forms of suicidal thoughts in your head.” Getting up from the couch, she picks her phone, her legs twitching as she fiddles with the device. “In fact, I’m calling your mother. What’s all this?”
From deep within me, it starts like a cough, then I begin cackling, just like she had been doing moments ago. She tosses her phone, reaching out to hold me as I fall off the cushion, to the floor. Laughing so hard.
“Lola?” She shakes me. “Lola?” She shakes me so hard my teeth clatters.
I pull out of her grasp, getting up, and wiping tears off my eyes. “You’re a foolish girl. You thought I was considering suicide?”
She shrugs, looking at me from the floor. “Is that not what they do there?”
“Everywhere, not just here.”
Carolanne drags herself back up the cushion and I sit beside her. “So, what did you mean by, ‘I’m going to do it’?”
Letting out a heavy breath, I lean back on the couch. “Let’s say I have a ticket to paradise.”
“You know you still sound like someone preparing to meet their maker, right?”
“Shut up. I’m not dying anytime soon.”
“Then speak like a sane person.”
“I’ll be right back.” I sniffle as I head to my room to get my laptop.
This is a bad idea. A completely bad idea. But it’s been over a week since he shared it with me. He said he wasn’t going to use it. We are supposed to present the project next week but at this point, I care less. Thelma has successfully changed everything to suit her and I hardly see myself in the mix.
“Here.” I sit back on the cushion, handing Carolanne my laptop. Playing on the screen is an introductory video to the Twin Bliss Hotel and Resort.
“Wow! This is true paradise,” she mutters as she watches, sighing and ah-ing as the playback continues. “A night for over two grand?! Who visits a place like this?”
Let’s drop the bombshell shall we? “I have a ticket for a two-week stay.”
Her head swivels to me. “You what?”
I laugh, then squeeze my eyes shut. “I have a ticket for a two-week stay.” Opening my eyes.
“Shut up!” She glances at the screen, then back at me. “How come? I sleep with you so I should know all these things.”
“Please don't post that on social media. You sleep with me? The heck you sleep with me.”
“Girrrl stop. Stop, stop jor. Tell me. How come? You got a raise? A company retreat? A reasonable company will not pay that for mere staff.” She clears her throat. “No offense to you.”
“None taken. Please.” I stretch my hand to her. “The remote.” All traces of tears gone. I just want to watch a sappy movie, go to bed, and sleep. I might even call in sick tomorrow. There’s nothing much to do on Fridays anyway.
“Tell me now.” She hands me the remote. “How did you get it? Two weeks! That’s... Lola.” She glares at me.
“Robert.”
She leans back dramatically, furrowing her brows. “Let me get this straight. Robin. Sorry, Robert gave you a ticket to this place so you can start an affair while his fiancée is... I’m not getting this.”
Laughing at her confusion, I retrieve my laptop and place it to the side. “No. No. No. You got it all wrong. A friend invited him. Don’t ask me. I don’t know who. And he needs to use it before the month runs out. He said he’s not sure he would make it. So... he forwarded the email to me since I was as curious as you are. And... I’m considering using it.”
“And work?”
I raise a brow, so work?
She stares at me then back at the screen. “Is it for two?” The machines in her head begins whirring.
“Why?”
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
I shrug.
“The people you meet in places like this. That business idea you’re thinking of, you’ll find an investor ready and waiting. And this Robbie guy, he would be a shadow to the men you’ll find there.”
“Nice insight, but who goes on a vacation alone?”
“That’s true oh.” Her shoulders droop, the machines whirring in her head coming to a complete stop. I hit play on the video again. What if I go? What’s the worst that can happen?
“Wait.”
What is it now?
“You’re going alone. So, there’s a high chance someone will be there alone too. You can meet your baby daddy and live happily ever after!”
“Hold it. I came up with the baby daddy thing for you.” I correct her.
“For us.” She says. “You can start, and I’ll follow.”
I hiss, shaking my head. “Thanks a lot. But pharmacists rarely take the pills they prescribe.”
“What do we do now?” She sighs.
“We watch TV. There’s ice cream? We have that too.”
I select a rom-com movie and in no time, I’m giggling.
“Oops.”
I turn to Carolanne who currently has my laptop with her. “What is it?”
“Urm... check this out.” She turns my laptop to me.
If she has messed with my laptop, it will not be funny. I move to check what she has done, and my web browser is on the Twin Bliss resort page.

Thanks for accepting your gift certificate.
You got 100% off for your scheduled staycation!
Please present this gift certificate with an ID when you register at the cashier.

Your scheduled staycation? “What have you done?” I glance at her, then back at the laptop, struggling to comprehend.
“I only wanted to test if the code was working or attached to a specific email address. I didn’t know it was going to go through.”
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I remove the laptop from her lap and scramble around the website, looking for a way to cancel.
“I don’t think you can do anything about it.”
“Oh Carol.” I lean back on the chair, biting my bottom lip.
“Well... You already said you were going to do it. So... Just do it.”
I glare at her, then resume my search to cancel the reservation.
“Think of it as a gift to yourself.”
“What dates did you pick?” Maybe I could present it to Robert as a wedding gift, proposal gift—whatever.
“Sunday?”
Staring daggers at her, my heart races a mile per second. “Sunday? This Sunday?”
She shrugs half-heartedly. “Next. I was only testing. I didn’t know it was going to go…”
Letting out a deep breath, I close my eyes. What to do... What to do….

****

“I CAN'T GET A DIRECT flight?” The call is on loudspeaker and Carolanne is pacing my bedroom carpet.
“I’m sorry ma’am, there are only interconnecting flights to the location.”
“I don’t—”
Carolanne snatches the phone from me. “We’ll take it.” She announces.
I tap her lap, and she mouths an ouch.
“Okay ma’am. I can make payments for you on this call, after which all the information you’ll need will...” What the heck am I doing? Why am I agreeing to this? Carolanne asks for my credit card, and I hand her my wallet.
“Thank you very much,” Carolanne says to the operator.
“Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
Carolanne replies, “That would be all, thank you.” Then disconnects the call moments later.
What have we done? I take quick shallow breaths as it feels like my skin will come off my body. This is so not happening right now. Who would I say I am when I get there? I’m supposed to present an ID, won’t that be traceable? I’m so not spending two weeks. One week and the end.
“It’s fine.” Carolanne’s calm voice reaches me before her arm comes around me in reassurance. “Just think of all the things you’ll be doing. You can get the Solo Traveler’s Handbook by Jessica Ufuoma, it’s going to boost your confidence.”
“Carolanne….” I say with gritted teeth, “you’re not helping.”
“Jokes apart. It’s an eBook, so no fears about delivery. And… your flight is tomorrow; we need to pack.”
“I’ve got to go into work tomorrow.”
“Who says you can’t take half day off? Tell them you need to take the two weeks off immediately.”
“For?”
“For mental health issues.”
“Pfft.”
“No one would stop you. You have to be in the right frame of mind to deliver the best result. This is America. I’m sure they would even make it paid leave.”
“How do you know these things?”
She shrugs. “I’ve got friends.” Sitting on my bed, we stare at each other in the mirror. “You’re a smart talent, Nigeria’s Lola the Brand Guru. Since you’re smart but not street smart, I am here to help you.”
I smile, then frown. “And the project?”
She turns to face me. “They would do it themselves.” Then holds my hand reassuringly. “Stop worrying about nothing.” She waves an arm as she continues whimsically, “Think of the men... The crazy things you can do. No one would likely know you.” She pauses to stare at me. “Then the baby daddy. A baby daddy that can afford a two-grand-per-night resort. Now that’s goals.”
“Yuck.”

Onahi

BLISS. THAT’S WHAT THE RESORT promises and that’s what I’m getting. Relaxing on the chaise by the pool outside my villa while sipping a Gin and Tonic Cocktail made by the island’s best, scores all the points.
Shit. I forgot my phone.
Stepping in from the evening sun into the welcoming coolness of the villa, I pick my phone and as I return back to the pool, I spot Heather walking down my path, her expression sour. It’s been over two days since our last Bleep-fest.
“What’s wrong?” I ask as she draws close.
She looks at me funny, stares at me for a while, then smiles. “I was heading back to my reality. And although I know we don’t have anything special going on, I wanted to let you know I was leaving.”
I take a sip of my drink, feeling indifferent. I thought she had left already, but it’s nice she’s taking it upon herself to inform me. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“Can we talk?”
I hope she’s not about to play the I’m pregnant card or worst of all, I’m in love with you card. There are some things I’m not prepared for, hence why I prepare beforehand for them. I used a condom every time I as much go near her. “Sure, let’s go inside.”
“I need to say some things and I think it’s best I do it out here.” She looks at the door to my villa, longing written over her face as she swallows. “You know what would happen if we go in there.” She smiles as her gaze returns to mine.
“Hmm. Do I?”
Shaking lewd thoughts from her head she continues, “So….” Gesturing towards the chaise, and I follow her lead.
A goodbye Bleep wouldn’t be a bad idea, something to hold me down for the remaining days I have left.
“My time with you has been memorable. I’ve learnt a lot, tried a lot and... you...”
“I get it.” I give a small laugh. “I’m a good Bleep.”
She smiles. “I know this might come to you as a shock but I have actually been in a committed relationship for the past four years.”
I snort and she places her hand on mine.
“He cheated on me and a month later, I jumped ship when he proposed marriage.”
I laugh, pulling out my hand and excuse myself for being insensitive.
“It’s alright. And I’m sorry I had to put you in this position.”
“You should be. Should I be thankful your Texan oil magnate father didn’t come searching for me too?”
“Stop it, Nahi. I know you’re hurt, but—”
“I’m not. Actually, far from it. It’s just...”
I’m fucking transactional. I spent the last two weeks fucking a woman screaming my name from sundown to sun-up. She took her time, sharing bits and pieces of her life and it’s only the fact that her father is a Texan oil magnate I can vividly recollect. Just because I didn’t want to commit to her. But look at the bright picture, if I had decided to commit to her, I’ll be in a bleeped-up situation right now—my emotions in a twist. Alas, it all works out for good.
“So, what changed?” I ask her.
“I know this might sound crazy, but I-I saw a lady two nights ago, by the beach. I saw her. Dressed in a sequined red dinner gown. She told me…she told me everything good will come and I should have no fear about his loyalty.”
Heather had drunk-called me that night. She didn’t make it over because she wanted to sleep it in and since then, she became a no-show.
“Were you guys drinking together?”
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “You don't get it, do you? I don't think she's human. When I went on the tour, one of the guys said some spirits are connected to this resort, and they sometimes appear to people who are confused about love.”
Bullshit. That’s a tale my sisters and I fine-tuned during our holidays here, acting as tour guides. Now it’s being peddled to our guests for extra tips. Stuff lonely rich people will happily buy into. For someone who is actually a son of the soil, a direct descendant, it is weird when people talk about these things like they're real. If these things are real, they should have happened to me. I should have had an encounter. A foreigner visits and all of a sudden, they’re having encounters with ghosts.
“Are you sure I shouldn't take you to the clinic?” I smile. “I’ve not seen you in days and now this.”
Her eyes twinkle. “I know you don't believe me, but I really wanted you to know that you are special and will find love someday. Thanks a lot for everything.”
I am not looking for love, but thanks, I think to myself as I watch her walk away.
Earlier in the week, while relaxing on this same spot, I had gotten a call from Jay after watching Ahmed’s failed proposal on Twitter. Ahmed was my dorm buddy in Cornell, while Jay, short for Janelle, was his childhood friend who later joined us in college and grew on me in time.
She giggled when I told her I had been expecting her call. “I saw the news. You and Ahmed, huh?”
“Yeah?”
“I take it he didn’t tell you he’ll propose tonight.”
She sighed, confirming my initial thoughts. Ahmed is a friend, but a sneaky one. And when it came to women, the few times we’d hung out, he was never interested—making excuses and all. After the booze, he disappears for the night. Lord knows what he’s got planned for Janelle, because I’ve never in my whole life seen a flicker of romance between them. I’m not the only aromantic or transactional individual in the world after all.
“Are you okay, though?”
“I’m fine now.”
“So... Did he get you to say yes? I know Ahmed has a way with words and can sell snow to an Eskimo.” A crafty and tricky individual. I keep him close because having him far would be worse and he’s got great business acumen.
She laughed. “Yes, he did. Ahmed and I will get married.”
“Congratulations, Jay.”
We spoke for over an hour, bantering and scheduling the perfect day for her arrival at Twin Bliss. Ahmed had called before her, asking for a favor—that I make space available for her. It’s peak season and most villas, booked.
“Okay dear, I’ll circle back with Ahmed with details for your scheduled rides from the airport.”
“Don’t worry. You can send them to me.”
“You sure? ‘Cause I don’t want you forgetting to add this to your visual daily planner. You still use it right?”
She laughed. “I’m autistic, not dumb.”
“I know. Just wanted to make sure you have that at the back of your mind when you get the email. Even though I know Ahmed will pester my life to know the whereabouts of his special fiancée.”
“Thank you, Onahi. You’re special too.”
I’m special. True. With the patience of a snail and the speed of a tiger.

If you're in Nigeria, you can put in for a giveaway to get paperback copies when you reply to this post about your interest.

Only three copies available!

Giveaway Closes Feb 10, 2022!