With: Amy Ayers
Congratulations to "Laney4", the winner in Amy's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!
At
16, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to spend a summer as an exchange
student in the south of France. We spent the hot summer days down at the beach
with my host sister’s friends drinking fresh fruit smoothies and eating greasy croque monsieur sandwiches. Evenings were spent listening to live jazz at
the local beachfront cafes sipping sparkling jus de poire. It wasn’t until much later I fully appreciated the
fact that I’d spent a summer on one of the Cote d’Azur’s top three beaches.
My
host family was kind and helpful and so patient with my adequate French. My host mom was intent on giving me the full
provincial cultural experience and tasked me with getting bread every morning
and getting something sweet for dessert each night. I felt more than a little like Belle as I
made my way through the streets of the small town each morning doing the
shopping, stopping in the parfumiere
to inhaling the exotic French scents and wandering through a librarie full of rare works. I got to try octopus for the first (and last)
time and had a banquet dinner at the longest table I’ve ever seen in a real,
working vineyard. That dinner may or may not have included lots of champagne
which delivered my first hangover the next morning. Shhh…don’t tell my parents.
All
of those experiences made me fall in love with this region of Europe. Not just the Provence, as the area is known, but also the Catalan region of
Spain, just a skip away from where I summered.
For a girl originally from a working class, urban corner of Portland,
Oregon, every single experience was transformative. I came back a different person. I was confident, self-assured. I mean, I could speak a foreign language! I
knew that octopus tasted like feet!
So
when it came time to find an ancestral home for my hero’s tightknit, tradition
bound family, the Medinas, I knew exactly where I wanted it to be. The Catalan region is fiercely
independent. They don’t consider
themselves either Spanish or French. They are Catalan and their language,
customs and culture reflect that. I hope
you enjoy your time in Girona when you read HIS FAMILY OF CONVENIENCE.
Giveaway:
Amy will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one lucky person leaving a comment or email entry.
Giveaway:
Amy will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one lucky person leaving a comment or email entry.
Senna
Callas’s one-night stand with her alpha asshole boss, Marco Medina, was
supposed to mark the end of her internship and their ridiculous attraction.
After being unreachable and ignoring Senna for a year, Marco sweeps back into
the country and summons her to his office, revealing he knows her secret…the
secret created during their explosive night together.
Marco
is determined to be there for the son he’s just discovered he has, but when it
comes to being with Senna, his choices aren’t his own. His meddling family expects
him, the firstborn son, to follow through with the arranged marriage set up
when he was a child. And Senna has no plans on being his mistress and still
resents how her attempts to contact Marco were ignored. The only thing going
right between them is the attraction that burns no matter the complicated
situation they’re in.
Marco
would do anything to protect his family, anything except decide between the
legacy he was born into and the young family he’s just found…
About the author:
Amy Ayers
remembers writing her first fiction as an introspective tween in rainy
Portland, Oregon. She took a break from
writing to move with her family to the desert of Phoenix, Arizona. She
currently divides her time between her writing, her family (including one
husband, four boys and two dogs), and her far too lengthy daily commute to
work. A life-long lover of literature,
she began writing her own contemporary romance in earnest in 2014 and is
thrilled to be published with Entangled.
Connect:
Author Website: http://amyayersauthor.com/
This is such a fun and interesting post; thank you for sharing your personal experience, Amy. Also, congrats and all the best to your newest book release! Looks to be quite a read. :)
ReplyDeletepuspitorinid AT yahoo DOT com
The world of rich and how they try to influence even their own family members is always fun to watch. Can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeletenatalija(dot)shkomare(at)gmail(dot)com
That's such a cool experience, getting to spend time learning in a foreign country. I would have loved to do that in my youth! Thanks for sharing!! Looking forward to reading this!
ReplyDeleteahui89 at hotmail dot com
Great blurb. I want to know how Marco works things out. So I'll be reading it to find out.
ReplyDeletejoanne.boykoATyahooDOTcom
Thanks for sharing your story. It's very interesting. I was wondering with your long commute to work if you ever use the time to record scenes or dialogue or other parts of a book. freebookskg(at)yahoo(dot)com.
ReplyDeletethe book sounds great
ReplyDeletealysap at yahoo dot com
Thanks for sharing the post :)
ReplyDeleteamie_07(at)yahoo(dot)com
"... My host mom ... tasked me with getting bread every morning and getting something sweet for dessert each night...." I'm drooling here! Maybe I'll go have a snack. Yeah. That works for me!
ReplyDeleteMaureen has my email address.
Are you still in touch with the host family?
ReplyDeletejtcgc at yahoo dot com
Enjoyed reading your post! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletefun post
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
I really like the sounds of this one, I've put it on my wish list. It would be wonderful to be able to buy fresh bread all the time. Of course I'd pack on the weight if I ate that much bread.
ReplyDeletelinda dot henderson70 at yahoo dot com
I don't get to travel much but I would love to travel to Spain!! That would be such a fun experience. But if I don't, getting to read books set there is the next best thing!
ReplyDeletethebigbluewall77 (at) gmail (dot) com