In Bloom. C.J. Skuse

      

      CJ SKUSE is the author of the Young Adult novels Pretty Bad Things, Rockoholic, Dead Romantic, Monster and The Deviants and the bestselling adult novel Sweetpea. She was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She has first class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children, and, aside from writing novels, works as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

Copyright

      An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

      Copyright © CJ Skuse 2018

      CJ Skuse asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Ebook Edition © August 2018 ISBN: 9780008216740

Praise for CJ Skuse

      ‘If you like your thrillers darkly comic and outrageous this ticks all the boxes.’ The Sun

      ‘This isn’t a book for the squeamish or the faint-hearted … think Bridget Jones meets American Psycho.’ Red

      ‘This darkly comic novel…has the potential to become a cult classic.’ Daily Mail

      ‘Sweetpea hits all the right buttons. A dark, twisted read about a female serial killer with dollops of humour, sarcasm and a lightweight approach…keeping you gripped and on the hook, both smiling and squirming.’ Maxim Jakubowski, Lovereading.co.uk

      ‘You MUST read this book especially if you like your (anti) heroes dirty-mouthed, deadly and dark, dark dark. ADORED IT.’ Fiona Cummins, author of Rattle

      ‘This book is OUTRAGEOUS.’ Compulsive Readers

      ‘This anti-hero is psychotic without doubt, sexually voracious and incredibly funny.’ Shots magazine

      For Matthew Snead. From a distance,

      you’ve been an excellent cousin.

      ‘The odour of the sweet pea is so offensive to flies that it will drive them out of a sick-room, though not in the slightest degree disagreeable to the patient.’

      – A TIP FROM The 1899 Old Farmer’s Almanac

      Contents

       Cover

       About the Author

       Title Page

Copyright

Praise

       Dedication

       Epigraph

Sunday, 24^th June – 7 weeks pregnant

Monday, 25^th June – 7 weeks, 1 day

Thursday, 28^th June – 7 weeks, 4 day

Sunday, 1^st July – 8 week exactly

Monday, 2^nd July – 8 weeks, 1 day

Wednesday, 4^th July – 8 weeks, 3 days

Friday, 6^th July – 8 weeks, 5 days

Monday, 9^th July – 9 weeks, 1 day

Friday, 13^th July – 9 weeks, 5 days

Monday, 16^th July – 10 weeks, 1 day

Friday, 20^th July – 10 weeks, 5 days

Monday, 23^rd July – 11 weeks, 1 day

Wednesday, 25^th July – 11 weeks, 3 days

Saturday, 28^th July – 11 weeks, 6 days

Tuesday, 31^st July – 12 weeks, 2 days

Wednesday, 1^st August – 12 weeks, 3 days

       Saturday, 4^th August – 12 weeks, 6 days

       Tuesday, 7^th August – 13 weeks, 2 days

       Wednesday, 8^th August – 13 weeks, 3 days

       Thursday, 9^th August – 13 weeks, 4 days

       Friday, 10^th August – 13 weeks, 5 days