Tuesday, July 19, 2016

LADY OF THE TWO LANDS is a winner!

Great news: LADY OF THE TWO LANDS has won first place in its category in the Affaire de Coeur cover art contest!

Here's the cover:



Isn't it gorgeous, and absolutely deserving of the award?

And here's the ribbon attesting to it!



The cover art is by talented artist Cora of Cora Graphics Book Cover Designs. 


Absolutely made my day!

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Carmen Stefanescu's #RomanticIdeas

Carmen Stefanescu is my guest today in the summer blog exchange, sharing romantic ideas. First, here is info about Carmen's latest release.



                            Till Life Do Us Part

Publisher: Solstice Publishing
Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Mystery, Suspense, Reincarnation.
Release date: 9th June 2016

Blurb
Barbara Heyer can hear voices of dead people. They whisper of their deaths, seek comfort for those left behind, and occasionally even warn her about future events. But when Barbara’s brother, Colin, is accused of murder, it will take more than her gift to prove his innocence.
Becoming smitten with the handsome investigator, Detective Patrick Fischer, is a serious complication given his assignment to her brother’s case. Barbara senses there is something far deeper—and perhaps much older—than the surface attraction between them. Could that be why she’s visited by a mysterious woman named Emma in her dreams? Could past life regression tie all the seemingly unconnected events together?
Barbara and Patrick must overcome heartache to find the truth to save Colin, and perhaps themselves.

 Amazon: :    https://goo.gl/H0dqkb



 



Author Bio
Carmen Stefanescu resides in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire Count Dracula, but where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble - the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.
Teacher of English and German in her native country and mother of two daughters, Carmen Stefanescu survived the grim years of communist oppression, by escaping in a parallel world, that of the books.
          Her first novel, Shadows of the Past, was released in 2012 by Wild Child Publishing, USA.
                   Carmen joined the volunteer staff at Marketing For Romance Writers Author blog, and is the coordinator of #Thursday13 posts.

Excerpt 2
Patrick poured the bubbly liquid into the glasses. He offered one to Barbara and raised his.
“To the undercover, paranormal investigator, Barbara.” He smiled and touched his glass to hers, looking straight into her eyes.
“To you, too, Patrick, Detective Fischer. If it hadn’t been for your determination to find out the truth, many families wouldn’t have had the small consolation to see their relatives’ murderers behind bars.” She took a sip of the champagne.
“There’s something else I’d like to tell you, Patrick said. He cleared his throat and took one of her hands in his. “It’s something that I wanted to tell you... to ask you for a while, but it never seemed the right moment.”
She heard the tremor in his voice and was sure what was to come. Yet, she didn’t want to make it easier for him. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in the touch of his hands. He was in love with her as she was with him.
“So, as I was saying... I want to ask you if—”
The telephone rang again, cutting like a steel blade through the thick emotional atmosphere surrounding them.
“Oh, not again.” Barbara rolled her eyes upward and headed to the bloody thing. She picked up the receiver and said in a voice that sounded a bit irritated, “Yes. What? Who? Yes, one moment, please.” She turned to Patrick, “It’s for you. An emergency, it seems.”
Patrick grabbed the phone, “Yes, Fisher here. What? When? I’m on my way,” he said and put down the receiver.
“I’m sorry, Barbara. There’s an emergency, indeed. Bruce has been injured. He’s in the hospital right now.”
“Oh, goodness. Is it bad?”
“I’ve no idea. They didn’t say. I’m going there. Sorry I spoiled the evening.”
“No need for apology, Patrick,” Barbara replied hiding her disappointment. “Duty comes first in your job, I know.”
“I’ll call you. Soon. There was something important I wanted to tell... to ask you. Goodnight, Barbara,” he said and kissed her hand affectionately. He hurried outside.
Barbara stood in the middle of the room. It looked empty and cold without him. She took the bottle of champagne, pushed the cork back into it, then went to the kitchen and put it in the fridge.
Moments later, she returned to the living room. With a reflexive gesture she picked up the packet of cigarettes Patrick had forgotten on the table. She weighed them in her hand for a moment and smiling, opened a drawer of the bookshelf and placed the cigarettes inside. She took her book from the bookshelf and sat on the couch, enveloped by the faint smell of aftershave left behind by Patrick.
Jack stretched, then came to Barbara and curled up in her lap.
“Yes, Jack. It is like that. It’s always been like that. Just you and me.” She sighed and opened the book. She failed to notice a faint light hovering outside the window.



You can stalk the author here:

Trailer for Till Life Do Us Part: https://youtube/UbuntlWISc0

 And here are Carmen's romantic ideas. Awesome!


Here are some #romantic ideas to rekindle the spark :
                 Learn a romantic foreign language.
Take an intro-class together for a language that neither of you speak -  French, Italian, Spanish or Romanian  simply sound romantic -  and practice whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears, in that new language!
              Cuddle up together in a horse-drawn carriage ride.
You’ll probably feel like you are in a romantic comedy, and that’s a good thing.
                       Read each other’s Tarot Cards.
Take turns reading each other’s fortunes using Tarot Cards. Even if you don’t believe in divination, it will make for one fun evening spent together.
                          Go on a ghost tour together.
Find the nearest ghost tour in your city and head out on the adventure together. At least you’ll have someone’s hand to hold onto should things start to get a little spooky.
                             Feed each other fondue at home.
It really doesn’t get sexier than feeding each other chocolate dipped strawberries.