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June 8th Extravaganza for Women’s Fiction Day

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Join readers all over the world in celebrating WOMEN’S FICTION DAY! It’s a pleasure to be part of the festivities with WOMEN’S FICTION WRITERS ASSOCIATION. 


The Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) was founded in 2013 as a professional, non-profit organization for women’s fiction writers and publishing professionals. With more than 2,000 international members and growing, WFWA is the premier organization for Women’s Fiction. WFWA fosters an online community of inclusion and opportunity, and provides resources, professional development, networking, and support for aspiring, debut, and published women’s fiction authors. Learn more at www.womensfictionwriters.org. Twitter: @WF_Writers Instagram: womensfictionwriters

CLICK HERE on June 8th to be connected with the list of all the amazing giveaways!

I am happy to offer a signed copy of my award-winning novel THE SECRETS WE HIDE plus a $20 Amazon gift card. This novel was the winner of the 2023 Book Excellence award for Women’s Fiction … truly an honour!

To enter for a chance to be the lucky winner, simply leave a comment on this page and let me know which of the following you chose to do …feel free to do both!

Follow me on Instagram by clicking here @psands.stories ~ I love posting my photos, mainly of France … no surprise . … and I will be happy to follow you.

OR

Sign up for my monthly newsletter by clicking here https://www.subscribepage.com/v3p4z6g.

Have you ever wondered exactly what the definition is for “women’s fiction”? Here’s a graphic with all the answers.

Other Ways to Celebrate Women’s Fiction Day
Visit www.womensfictionwriters.org and search the list of authors offering free books and giveaways.
Attend one of the many book signings held nationwide on June 8th.
Visit www.womensfictionwriters.org and subscribe to the free Read ON! Newsletter where you’ll be kept up-to-date on new women’s fiction authors and titles.
Visit the WFWA Goodreads bookshelf and Pinterest boards to find hundreds of titles.
Download the Hear Us Roar debut authors’ podcast
Visit your local library and/or indie bookstore to discover new authors and novels.
Follow WFWA on Twitter @WF_Writers or Instagram womensfictionwriters.
On social media, #bookstagram your favorite book and include a photo or stack with #womensfictionday.

My grandpup is a fan of women’s fiction … especially my stories that include some lovable dogs and cats! And, if you know me, I’ll use any excuse to post a photo of this adorable muse of mine. I actually thought of the title for my next novel while I was chilling with her! She’s my tonic.

Have fun participating in this day of celebration and good luck winning at least one of these very special prizes!

Happy reading!

Oprah’s Book Club Giveaway ~ until May 22

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Have you entered this great giveaway organized by BookSweeps ~ including the 2023 Women’s Fiction Book Excellence award winner, THE SECRETS WE HIDE?

Enter to win all the goodies above and these bestselling novels … so much fun to see several books by good friends in this collection including my Blue Sky Book Chat sisters, Barbara Davis and Lainey Cameron:

Simply click on this link and follow the instructions. Good luck!

Bonne fête ~ May 1st, 2023

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May 1, 2023 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment (Edit)

Happy May Day!

En France ~ Bonne fête du muguet! Bonne fête du travail! Bon premier Mai! Happy Labor Day! Happy first of May!

In many countries around the world, the first of May is a celebrated Labor Day. In France there’s a special twist to the holiday that I love.
I recycle this post every year because I don’t want to change anything about it. If you read it last year … or the year before , I hope you enjoy it again. And if you can find some Lily of the Valley to give to a friend, all the better.

En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait!

Provençal proverb ~ In May, do what pleases you!


Here’s my May 1st muguet to each of you.

Every May 1st I like to share one of my favourite traditions in France ~ La Fête du Travail or La Fête du Muguet. The day is a national holiday ~ International Workers’ Day, like Labour Day in North America. But more than that it is an occasion when people give little bouquets or sprigs or pots of le muguet (lily of the valley) to each other. Like so many of the things we love about France, the tradition has lasted for centuries. It began in 1561, during the Renaissance.

Click here to read an excellent article by Margo Lestz, about this sweet tradition and all the history behind it.

Here’s another post about the tradition from Kristin Espinasse, everyone’s favourite scribe of daily French life.

A few years ago, my husband and I had just finished a magical stay (but then isn’t it always?) in Paris and the Loire Valley. We were driving south to the Dordogne region on May 1st and in every town, big or small, this was the scene. Even on a drizzly day. I loved it!


Obviously, young or old, everyone puts a lot of thought into this tradition.

A vivid memory of that rainy morning, is of an elderly woman sitting under an umbrella beside her small stand of bouquets of muguets. It wasn’t an appropriate picture to take … and no time to stop in the midst of traffic … but I’ve never forgotten the image. Does this happen to you sometimes when you travel? Your eye is the shutter and a particular image is captured forever in your memory?

Le muguet or lily of the valley represents a porte-bonheur, a good luck charm, to special people in your life. I am offering one to each of you.

Does your culture or country have a special May 1st tradtion?

My latest newsletter

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NL #100                                                 April 28, 2023
Bonjour! In case you don’t receive my newsletter, I’m happy to share it with you
My memories of a spring visit to this chateau in the Loire Valley are keeping my spirits high today. With random snow alerts popping up on my phone screen, I’m still waiting for spring to truly arrive here in southern Ontario. How are things in your part of the world?

Here’s something that’s warming my heart these days.  THE SECRETS WE HIDE was recently honoured with the Book Excellence Award for 2023 in the Women’s Fiction category. This international book awards competition recognizes books for their high quality design, writing and overall market appeal. I’m so proud of the recognition of this story and want to thank Tiffany Yates Martin for her superb editing skills and encouragement throughout the entire process. 

Now here come the giveaways!
To celebrate the award, I’m giving away two ebooks of The Secrets We Hide this month along with the following two great giveaway opportunities!

CRAZY TO LEAVE YOU by Marilyn Simon Rothstein, who is offering two ebooks! This is Marilyn’s third novel and a hilarious but poignant story that is great entertainment.

Blurb: From the author of Husbands and Other Sharp Objects comes a witty, bighearted novel about the happy accidents that lead to love and second chances.Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry, and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar.In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (Stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters only add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is too perfect.Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers courage to move on and plan her next step. She should know by now that nothing in life goes according to plan. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and at long last feeling worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale—and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place.



Christine Nolfi is offering two ebooks of her most recent bestseller, A BRIGHTER FLAME. Check out her website to learn more about her busy life and many other novels.

Blurb: She’s always wanted a sense of belonging. The last place she expects to find it is home.Vale Lightner’s dreams turn to ash when the Pittsburgh bar she owns goes up in flames. Just like the past she escaped, very little seems salvageable. Facing unavoidable change, Vale returns to her hometown of Philadelphia to stay with her grandmother.She knows that returning also means facing everything she left behind: a mother and stepfather who shunted her into the background from the day they married, and her charmed and favored half sister, Blythe, who has abandoned a perfect marriage and is now at a crossroads of her own. Everyone has their secrets, and this reunited family racked by them is about to reach a crisis point.For a mother and her two daughters, this reunion is a chance for closure, newfound love, and forgiveness. As each of them reassesses her own memories of the past, only the truth can bring them together—in ways that could last forever. From the bestselling author of The Passing Storm comes a poignant novel about family secrets, healing, and the hope of second chances.



It’s always a pleasure to offer these giveaways to you! I hope you are pleased to meet authors who might be new to you and to connect with those you already follow. Savour their books, find out more about the writers and pass along their information to your friends. Write a short review, thanks! The best way to hear about a good book is by word of mouth from dedicated readers like you. As always, to enter, simply send your email with your choice of book to patriciasandsauthor@gmail.com. This month share with us the title of your favourite read this month.

Both Christine and Marilyn are also on the author team of our Blue Sky Book Chat community. This is a fabulous and fun Facebook page where readers and writers gather to share book chat, have awesome giveaways and celebrate the love of literacy, life and laughter! Have you joined? If not, you will be glad you did. Just click here, answer two simple questions that Facebook insists we ask.

More book news! Lost At Sea is on sale for a couple of weeks at $1.99. If you have not picked this book up so you can cruise the sparkling Mediterranean, now is a good time for that. You might want to read the entire series! Each one is so different in setting and plot, you will experience a new vacation with each book! Ship Ahoy!

This Month’s Free Read!
As you know, I’ve joined with eleven other author friends to make a free book available to our loyal newsletter subscribers each month in 2023! There’s nothing to do except click on the Book Funnel link and download your copy.

We thought it would be a great way to say thanks to all of you! Of course, we would all be grateful if you could take a few minutes after you finish the book to post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, KoBo, Barnes & Noble and wherever else books are sold. It takes a few extra moments to copy and paste the same review into each platform. A few short sentences expressing your feelings about the story is all that is needed and helps the author immensely. Thank you so very much in advance.

Here’s the link to this month’s book, Blind Eye by S.W. Hubbard.

Download before the end of the month. 

In March I mentioned that a very good friend of mine, author Heather Burch, had recently been diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour.


Here is how she shared her news with us: “It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. Last week, John took me to the ER where we found out I have a very aggressive brain tumor. Although it is considered operable, between the brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiation I would have to undergo, the outcome is not favorable and would only extend my life by a few months. In those months, I would be very sick. Right now, I feel great. I’m enjoying time with family —sitting and talking and laughing a lot. I don’t feel sick. I’ve decided to opt out of treatment because the benefit does not outweigh the cost. So in the next three months, John and I plan to take our granddaughter Nevaeh to Disney World for her very first visit. The rest of my time I will spend visiting friends and with family and of course, John will be at my side every moment of every day. He withdrew from the Medical Dosimetry school that he’s been in for the last several months. They have guaranteed him a spot to return later—that makes me very happy. If you’re wondering, I have no fear. I am full of faith, and I know that when I step off this planet, I will step right into heaven. If you have my phone number, feel free to call or text me. I’m not able to answer every call, but if you leave a message, I will call you back when I can. Texting is pretty easy for me too so that’s a great option. I am very blessed by the circle of friends that I have had over the years. I cannot tell you how much you mean to me, and how valuable you are. Thank you for the support over the years and through this difficult time. Please believe me when I say we can feel your love and prayers.”

One thing I love about being an author is the way the writing community around the world supports each other. Author Cindy Kirk immediately set up a GoFundMe account to help Heather’s family cope with some of the many unexpected medical expenses. If there is any way you might be able to make a donation of any amount (every dollar counts), here is the link. 

I thank you in advance. We never know when tragedy may strike any one of us. Millions of readers have enjoyed Heather’s bestselling books. Click here to check them out …why not order a few?

Memories of the South of France Tour
It will come as no surprise that I’ve begun counting the days until I get to spend time in France in September. I believe there is one spot open in our unforgettable 12-day Memories of the South of France tour (that is based on my novels and way too much fun!) from September 11 to 23.Come and join us or share the information with any friends ~ click here for all the details.


By now the Provençal sun is beginning to warm the soil, although days can still be chilly. The bushy, fragrant scrubland (the garrigue or maquis I often write about) in the limestone hills, forests, and along the Mediterranean coast, fills the air with scents of rosemary, wild thyme and Mediterranean pine. Before long, bursts of color will paint the landscape with purple-pink centranthus, yellow broom and red poppies. The visual feast begins … after this, bring on the sunflowers and lavender!



It’s also time for freshly harvested asparagus … white, purple and green … to appear in the local marchés. This is truly synonymous with spring in Provence. Of course there will be asparagus festivals … who celebrates food better than the French?

White asparagus is the most eagerly awaited. Vulnerable, it needs protection from the sun as it grows and is best lightly boiled or roasted until it is tender. My French friends assure me it is seldom eaten alone, but usually married with a sauce (the classics are hollandaise in the north, vinaigrette in the south). And it is devoured in abundance before it disappears in June.

Click here for an article that offers good information for serving this springtime delight! Are you a fan?

That’s it for now, my friends. Stay well, be kind to one another, read a lot and appreciate every single day. Profitez de tous les jours! I’m reminded on a regular basis that the best part of being an author is hearing from readers. I value the messages I receive from you. Thanks also for sharing my books with your friends and for the reviews you write. It’s all most appreciated and inspiring. See you next month!


If you have read the The Bridge Club or any of the Love in Provencebooks or any of my novels and can find a minute to leave a short review on Amazon and Goodreads. I thank you in advance.

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Patricia Sands, Author
2405 Lakeshore Blvd W., Etobicoke
Ontario M8V 1C6 Canada
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