Thursday 12 June 2014

From Paris with Love - the cover!



Isn't it preeetty? Well, okay, I'm biased - but I just love the cover to Doubting Abbey's sequel, From Paris with Love. Here's the blurb below! Not long now, it's out on July 24th  - I can't wait to unleash Gemma's Parisian adventure upon the world!





 Every girl dreams of hearing those four magical words Will you marry me? But no-one tells you what’s supposed to happen next…. 

Fun-loving Gemma Goodwin knows she should be revelling in her happy-ever-after. Except when her boyfriend Lord Edward popped the question, after a whirlwind romance, although she didn’t say no….she didn’t exactly say yes either!

 A month-long cookery course in Paris could be just the place to make sure her heart and her head are on the same page…  And however disenchanted with romance Gemma is feeling, the City of Love has plenty to keep her busy; the champagne is decadently quaffable, the croissants almost too delicious, and shopping is a national past-time!  In fact, everything in Paris makes her want to say Je t’aime…. Except Edward!


 But whilst Paris might offer plenty of distractions from wedding planning – including her new friends, mysterious Joe and hot  French rockstar Blade - there’s no reason she couldn’t just try one or two couture dresses is there? Just for fun…

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Why I Heart Paris!







On my lounge wall is a famous picture - the Parisian kiss photo, taken by Robert Doisneau - and it sums up everything I love about Paris. The romance - understated in a classy continental way. The sexy accents. The majestic tourist spots.

I lived there you see, a couple of times in my youth and this no doubt inspired the setting for From Paris With Love, the sequel to my romantic comedy e-book, Doubting Abbey.

I spent six months there as a university student, working for a chemical company, just off the Champs Elysees - my, how I enjoyed my lunch hours, strolling down that famous boulevard, taking in the fashionable passers-by and gawping at the glamorous, sophisticated boutiques.


No doubt the French capital holds a special place in my heart, as I fell in love, with an older Frenchman who wrote poetry and played the guitar. I have fond memories of whizzing around the Arc de Triomphe on his motorbike and us sitting together, at night, on the steps of the Sacre Coeur. We would visit jazz bars and eat couscous at Tunisian restaurants.

Of course, some things weren't quite so romantic - the musty smell of the underground... The time I got pick-pocketed... Being very ill after a meal of rare beef, cockles and oysters! But whenever I look back on my time in Paris, my chest glows. My fantasy is to have a little flat near the artists' haven, Montemartre... 

I revisit all my favourite places in From Paris With Love - the atmospheric Pere Lachaise cemetery, where Chopin, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried... The awesome Monet watercolour canvasses at the Orangerie Museum... The fabulous flea market in Porte de Clignacourt...

One day I hope to return there with my English husband, so that we can create some romantic memories of our own. 

Yes, I'll always have Paris... And it's been wonderful to take Doubting Abbey's bonkers main character, Gemma, there.

From Paris with Love is out on 24th July and is the standalone sequel to bestseller Doubting Abbey which is currently 39p on Amazon UK, $0.66 on Amazon.com and is today's Daily Find and 39p on Nook