‘Six foot two with blue eyes ✅
Dimples and strong arms ✅
Giant turtle backpack ❌’
The Ick
The Ick, by Holly McCulloch publishes 6th March with Renegade Books and is described as a ‘spicy, swoon-worthy and totally hilarious romantic comedy’
I am delighted to be joining Holly on tour today in celebration of the upcoming publication of The Ick and have an extract from the first chapter to share with all. I do hope you enjoy!
The Ick – Purchase Link
[ About The Ick ]
Girl meets boy. Girl gets the ick. Girl moves on.
Gem’s date is looking promising. Atlas is 6’2, with blue eyes, dimples and strong hands that look like they would be at home wielding an axe. But when he says he eats soup for lunch, Gem is immediately hit with the ick. Suddenly she’s painfully aware of his giant backpack that makes him look like a turtle, his colourful socks, and his hair that’s just a bit too floppy.
Gem, who collects icks like others collect loyalty points, is adamant that the phenomenon is her instinct kicking in, but her housemate and best friend Shanti disagrees, and challenges Gem to take part in a study for her psychology course: Is intuition real?
Gem eventually decides to take part, but doing so means she has to break all her own rules. She sees Atlas for a second date, a third, and even a fourth, until she starts losing count. It’s all for research purposes, of course – but what if the impossible happens and Gem falls for Atlas? And if he finds out she’s being paid to date him, will he ever forgive her?
Forced-proximity meets enemies-to-lovers in this spicy, swoon-worthy and totally hilarious romantic comedy. Fans of Emily Henry, Ali Hazlewood and Mhairi McFarlane won’t be able to put this sizzling romance down.
[ Extract from The Ick ]
She should have known that he was too attractive.
While being attractive is good, being too attractive is a big nono.
Beautiful people get away with (or simply just get) too many
things. Preferential treatment in queues. Fewer fines. More promotions.
Plus, there’s an innate and uniquely aggravating arrogance
that comes with being too good- looking.
Right on cue, he gives her a little chin nod, and winks.
Gem feels just as much revulsion towards the man in front of
her as she does towards herself. To think that five minutes ago she
would have found that wink attractive.
It gives her hives.
Although ostensibly perfect, Atlas is undeniably completely
wrong for Gem. She collects icks the way other people collect
loyalty card points, and five minutes ago, Atlas added another to
her collection.
She barely manages to supress a shudder.
She has to get out of here.
On the other end of the phone, she can hear Shanti, her housemate,
her friend and currently also her saviour, eating popcorn.
‘Can I hang up now?’ Shanti’s voice is distracted, possibly even
bored. Gem can hear the TV in the background. The first few
times they’d acted out this scene, Shanti had come up with some
pretty good emergencies and had been quite believable. Once she
even broke a bowl, hoping the sound effects would travel through
the phone, right into the ears of Gem’s date. But now, having run
through variations of this scene over a hundred times, her performance
is a little stale.
Gem’s, however, remains as animated as ever. It has to. She has
a live audience. She lets her shoulders droop as if she’s finally given
up and releases a sigh.
‘OK, OK. I’m coming.’
Her act is so convincing, she almost believes it herself. If she
didn’t need financial stability, Gem would consider being an
actress. As it is, she’s stuck in accounting. ‘I’ll be there in twenty
minutes.’ And with that, she hangs up and turns back fully to face
Atlas.
‘I’m so sorry. That’s my housemate, Shanti. She’s . . . ’ Gem
pauses. Shit. The need to escape has come on so suddenly she’s
forgotten to come up with an actual excuse. ‘Had an emergency.’
There’s no time to think of anything
better. She needs to leave
quickly, otherwise she might scream.
‘I could help. I’m really good in an emergency.’ Atlas takes a sip
of his second beer before putting it back down – as though being
inebriated is a good idea when you need quick reactions, fake scenario
or not. ‘Let me come with you.’
‘Oh, God, no.’ Even with the din of the surroundings, Gem
can tell that her answer came out a little too quickly, and far
too forcefully. But what kind of person says they’re good in an
emergency? It’s exactly the kind of weird brag that men think is
attractive. Like boasting about being able to beatbox. Plus, what
is a man who eats soup for lunch really going to contribute to an
emergency? A spoon?
‘That’s not a good idea.’
‘Why not?’
Gem is already halfway out of her seat. The audacity of this
man! ‘It’s . . . an embarrassing emergency.’
‘Well, now you have to tell me what’s happened.’ The hint of
humour in his voice is echoed by a hint of a smile on his lips,
almost as though he wants to make this as uncomfortable
as possible for her.
[ Bio ]
As the fourth child in a busy household, Holly was often left to entertain herself. Luckily, she quickly found the world of books and since then, she has never looked back. As a kid, Holly often went to sleep with at least four books underneath her pillow just in case she needed them. And she often did. Books have saved her time and time again.
After being an Editorial Assistant at Headline, and a book buyer at WHS Travel, Holly made the terrible decision to become a management consultant. She wrote her first novel Just Friends (published by Transworld in 2020) when she needed to escape. Her second novel, The Mix-Up followed in 2021. She is currently working as a freelance editor and writer, and lives in the outskirts of Oxford with her dog. She is fuelled by baked goods and a need to make people laugh.
