Patricia Sands

Author

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Bonne Fête Nationale ~ Quatorze Juillet/July 14 in France

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Paris-PSandsPhotos

Bonne Fête à toutes et tous! The most important national holiday in France is July 14, Quatorze Juillet or La Fête Nationale. On this day, throughout the country, the French celebrate the start of the French Revolution in 1789 when the Bastille was stormed. It is now also an important symbolic celebration where the French values ​​are celebrated: Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood.

Everywhere there are red, white and blue flags and people wear a rosette with those colors as parties are planned. Large tables are set up on the square of each city or village and music is everywhere, often beginning with a military band. Family gatherings can be found throughout the country. In the evening there is dancing, feasting, and controlled fireworks displays.

Since the horrific events in Nice of 2016, when a deranged man drove a truck into the crowd of celebrants with many fatalities, there are solemn commemorations of lives lost.

In Paris the day begins with a massive military parade, including the army, air force and navy, over the Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe.
La Patrouille de France, part of the French Air Force, is the first to launch a fighter jets’ fly over with a roaring sound, leaving red, white and blue plumes of smoke.


The parade is the oldest and largest in Europe and goes from the Place de l’Etoile across the Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde.
In the evening there is a free concert on the Champs-de-Mars, ending with spectacular fireworks over the Eiffel Tower.

May July 14, 2023 be a safe and joyous day for all in France and wherever you celebrate.

Vive La France!

My recent newsletter ~ hiatus over!

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NL #93 August 2, 2022

Bonjour

It’s been a while! I have been on a bit of a writing hiatus and am glad to be getting back into my regular schedule now.


How are you doing? I hope your summer is going well and that you are managing to stay cool in those areas where temperatures have been skyrocketing. Our thoughts are also with everyone impacted by other shocking forces of nature … fires, floods … life has not been easy for many people.


I find it’s often difficult to focus on the positive when such tragic circumstances abound. But, focus on the positive is exactly what I hope to do here with you. But before I go on, here is one way we can help those in need of assistance. Just click here.


Now, here’s my first bit of good news!


As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I was finishing up the final details in order to release my new novel, THE SECRETS WE HIDE. In fact … ta daaaaa … drum roll please … the cover reveal just happened. Only the front cover was revealed but I am sharing the complete cover here with all of you.


The book is ready for pre-order now and will be published August 25. I hope you are ready for a story that ultimately is about commitment, hope and second chances. Life isn’t always what we expect it to be but we should always be open to change. That is Kaito Tanaka’s lesson.


Here’s the pre-order link.

Moving on to my next good news which I’m sure you will all understand, since so many of you have been with me through a lot of years. In June, I finally was able to return to my beloved south of France. It was only for three weeks, but I was thankful to have that.


Apart from simply being thrilled to stroll the colorful streets of the Côte d’Azur again, I also had the pleasure of spending an afternoon in Nice at an author event that was a lot of fun with a full house and great question/book signing session afterward. Organized by the über-efficient Ella Dyer and M-C-ed by the effervescent Adrian Leeds, author, real estate expert extraordinaire and seen on House Hunters International.


There were seven authors in the lineup and I can’t wait to tell you about their books in my next few newsletters. This time I am highlighting Lisa Anselmo and Craig Carlson. In the meantime, feel free to find out more here: Debra Moffitt, Janet Hulstrand, Jeanne Oliver, Oliver Gee.

First, I’ll begin with these two dear friends. Read on:


Lisa Anselmo is an author, branding expert, speaker, and coach. She spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing in New York City, working on such iconic brands as Allure, InStyle, and People. In 2014, she left her “day job,” and now lives (mostly) in Paris where, when she’s not hanging out in cafés, she’s writing and coaching.

Her experiences inspired the fabulous memoir My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home, (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press), a candid narrative of a woman searching for hope and healing in the city she loves after the death of her mother from breast cancer. Check out her blog and YouTube series and be amazed at this multi-talented special woman, who also happens to be an exceptional singer and tons of fun!


Lisa and her projects have been featured in New York magazine, Travel and Leisure, Bustle, House Hunters International, The Today Show, The Guardian, New York Times, LA Times, BBC, and CNN International, among others.

You can connect with her here ~ Website: LisaAnselmo.com

New York Times bestselling author (and super nice guy!) Craig Carlson first
came to France as an exchange student in 1985 and instantly fell in love with
the country. He never could have imagined that some thirty-five years later,
he’d be the owner of two American diners in Paris and be nicknamed “Le
Pancake Kid” by the French. With a background in journalism, Craig studied
cinema at the prestigious USC School of Cinematic Arts, using his experience
as a screenwriter to pen his debut memoir, Pancakes in Paris: Living the
American Dream in France. It’s a great story!


Craig and his husband, Julien (also a super nice guy!), currently split their time
between Paris and Los Angeles. Well, at least they try to. With two busy diners
that can’t be left alone for too long, their lives lean heavily on the Paris side,
which, of course, is not such a bad thing, n’est-ce pas?


You can connect with Craig here ~ Website: Craig Carlson Author

After that first busy week in Nice, it was time to check into Hotel Villa Victoria,
hook up with my tour-host partner and BFF, Deborah Bine (aka Barefoot
Blogger) and excitedly await the arrival of fourteen fabulous women who would
tour with us for twelve-days. This tour was created exclusively for them! You
see, these ladies had all traveled with us previously and wanted to do it again.
And so we did. In style. We made new memories in wonderful places along the
Riviera and folicked in the lavender fields of Provence. You can see more
photos in my Instagram account @psands.stories. You may recall my original
account was hacked in the spring and I’ve had to begin all over. I hope you are
following me there.


Enjoy a few moments from our trip:

More good news! Here are the winners from Newsletter #92. The authors will be
in touch with you. Felicitation! Anne Hardy, Kathi Banholzer, Pat Schelling and
Marlene Gagnon.

This month I have a very special giveaway for two lucky readers. Please note: This giveaway is for Newsletter subscribers only.

My dear friend, Lisa Barr … you may well know her now as a Woman on Fire! Her must-read novel WOMAN ON FIRE has been seen everywhere on all the bestselling book lists and in the news, as actor Sharon Stone will be producing and starring in the movie of this story! How exciting is that?


I have two copies of this book that come with a bookplate signed by Lisa. I
purchased the books at Lisa’s book signing at Books And Books in Coral Gables,
FL, last March. What a pleasure that was! But the lineup for signing was too long … no surprise there … and we had to drive back to Naples, so Lisa sent me the signed book plates.


You know the drill. Send an email to patriciasandsauthor@gmail.com and tell me why you would love to own this book. Trust me, Lisa’s writing is exquisite, exciting and engaging.


Here’s a blurb: From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazilooted masterpiece—forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth.

I hope you have enjoyed getting caught up with me here. I would love to hear how you are doing, so never hesitate to drop me a line.


My recipe for you today is an apéro I fell in love with all over again at the fabulous Bistro du Paradou on the last night of our June tour. We had the most wonderful ending to our tour there with the tremendous combination of joie de vivre and always delicious food!

Enjoy this Lillet Spritz ~ mine was made with Lillet Rosé but I understand Lillet Blanc is much the same. My garnish was mint and lemon but a strawberry sounds good too! (Book Club question ~ who remembers in which book Philippe first introduced Kat to Lillet? There might be a prize for the person who gets the answer right! In fact, there WILL be a prize.)


Here are a couple of shots from our farewell dinner. What a fine time! And I hope somehow you are all managing to have fine moments as we work our way through this summer. I trust you have many good books bringing you escape and wonder and great enjoyment.

Stay well, my friends, 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!

Note from me today August 20th: I’m working on my next Newsletter right now!

Six more days!

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January 31 is the final day in the Kindle sale of the three novels in my Love in Provence series. I hope you have taken advantage of this great deal!

I have no control over when Amazon chooses my books for discounts and am always delighted when I receive an email from their Marketing people informing me. Discounts on books has nothing to do with the literary value and everything to do with inviting new readers to enjoy the work.

As I often mention, if you already have this series in your library, it’s very simple to gift ebooks to friends and even have them delivered on special dates. You simply click on this link when you go to buy the ebook online.

One of the great rewards for me from writing these stories is opening my email to discover messages from readers sharing how they related to the stories … how they had experienced something similar to Kat at the beginning of The Promise of Provence. Hearing people explain how they were inspired to make changes or to take chances and explore new possibilities in life is absolutely priceless to me. I’m so grateful readers take the time to share their thoughts and experiences.

If you have not read the series, here is a bit of history.

The Promise of Provence was my second novel and I wrote it as a stand alone story. You, the readers, turned it into Book One of the series. You wanted more details about Kat’s journey and it was a pleasure to write the next two books … and then the Villa des Violettes series, which is not finished … I promise!

When I knew I was going to set the story of The Promise of Provence in Antibes, my husband and I rented an apartment there for five months.

Overlooking the old town, the harbour and all the way to the Baie des Anges and the Alpes Maritimes beyond, the view was as inspiring as it was breathtaking. We really lucked out finding the unit.

Although I had the bones of the story outlined, I had not settled on exactly who Katherine would meet there. Each morning I would take my panier, my camera, and a dictionary and wind my way through the oldest ruelles to the famous daily Provençal market.

Needless to say, my camera shutter steamed on a daily basis … and no wonder we have returned year after year to this special town.

As I stood in line at the most popular cheese stand one morning, shortly after we arrived in town, I watched the busy fromager discussing a wedge of cheese with a customer and was immediately attracted … not just because he was *ahem* gorgeous.

The passion on his face and his enthusiastic body language made it obvious how much he loved his work … and the character of Philippe was born. In my halting French a few days later, I explained to the fromager about the book I was writing. For several mornings at 7 a.m., before the market opened, he was gracious about spending some time with me answering my questions and giving me a quick education on his craft. Sadly he is no longer at the market, but lives on in my novels. (I’ve always loved that he brought Katherine cheese rather than flowers on special occasions.)

And let us not forget the character, Nick, also a popular favourite with readers. Walking past the harbour each morning, his story came alive.

Now back to the market … I would take my time filling my panier with flowers, olives, fruit, veggies and whatever the dinner menu called for.

Next I would pop into one of many fine boulangeries … say no more …

And my final stop would be at Le Vieil Antibes for a café crème at my favourite table where I could take notes on village life and read the morning edition of Nice Matin, with my trusty dictionary close at hand.

My head spinning with inspiration and ideas, I would rush home to spend hours writing. How I miss those days!

Thanks for spending a few moments with my memories and the story of how Book One ~ The Promise of Provence came to be, followed later … thanks to demand from readers … by Book Two – Promises to Keep and Book Three – I Promise You This.

Please feel free to let your friends know about the sale!

Happy reading! Bonne lecture!

I love sharing the trailer for the series … let it take you away.

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

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Bonjour ~ how can July be here already? I just got started on June …

I hope summer has arrived in all the best ways where you are. Our thoughts are with everyone who is being hit with the extreme heat waves and also those impacted by the condo tragedy in south Florida. Here is some information on how we can help.

I hope in some small way the blog posts you receive from authors and other bloggers bring some good moments to you. I’m beginning July by sharing with you my most recent newsletter. I’m up to my eyeballs on edits for a new book and hope to share more news of that with you at a later date.

For now, please enjoy the lavender … breathe in! And enter to win an Amazon gift card! Why not?

Newsletter # 87                                            June 21, 2021

Bonjour,

Happy Summer Solstice! I know how happy we all are to welcome summer and hopefully bid a loud good riddance to the dreadful pandemic. I trust you are all safely vaccinated as the world begins to open up again. It’s hard to believe that June is well on its way to being over.


Under normal circumstances, I would be in France right now with one of our tours. We would be ready to spend some time in the enticing lavender fields of Provence, but that is still not happening. I’m counting on 2022. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a few minutes imagining ourselves there. If only I could infuse these photos with fragrance!


The header photo of this letter is from one of the most special … and favourite … places to view lavender, the Cistercian Abbaye de Sénanque. Dating from 1134, the abbey remains an active monastery run by a community of monks who gather seven times a day to pray. If you plan to visit, arrive very early to beat the crowds at this time of year. A tour of the abbey is recommended.


Just because so many of us love lavender, here are a few more shots from France. I must admit I was not a big fan until the first time I stepped out of the car beside a field in full bloom. The heady sensation breathing in those scents for the first time is an unforgettable memory.


Although, this lavender field in the last photo is small, it is the one that is most special for me. This is the garden at the back of the monastery/asylum of St. Paul de Mausole, just outside St. Remy de Provence. It’s a place we visit on our women’s tour and I write about it in Drawing Lessons. Vincent van Gogh looked out on this garden as he spent one of his final (and most prolific) years there. A visit to the monastery is always a spiritual experience and I am counting the days until I’m back there in September 2022 to share it with our tour.

While I’m on the topic of lavender, here’s some good news! Book #3 in the Villa des Violettes series, Lavender, Loss & Love, is on sale for $1.99 right now.  Click here to
order your copy.



I hope in another month or so to share some new information about that series. Stay tuned!


In my last newsletter, I offered gift cards rather than free books and that idea was very well received. I still want to share books by author friends and will do so again in the autumn. For the summer, I am going to continue with gift cards … and who doesn’t like shopping for a new book or two?


I’m in the midst of editing my next novel and this one is LABOR INTENSIVE, let me tell you. So I’m cutting back on my summer newsletters to spend that time deep in my editing cave. I promise it will be worth it when the novel comes out. I don’t have a definite date on that yet, but will keep you posted. 


To enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card, simply send an email to patriciasandsauthor@gmail.com and tell me something special you have planned for the summer. We will let random.org software choose the winners. Good luck! Bonne chance!



Congratulations to the previous newsletter winners:
Sue Ahn, Karina Thibodeau, Diane Bryant



Recently I spent a week visiting with the great book community of Bookish Road Trip on Facebook.   On Thursday, 24th, at 7 p.m. I had a LIVE chat there with Melissa Face, author of I Love You More than Coffee. If you did not join us Live, you can always view the video at your convenience.

Before I sign off, here’s a reminder about The Good Life France’s quarterly ezine. The summer edition is out and, as usual, Janine Marsh has done a fine job! Filled with exquisite photography and excellent articles, it’s free, fabulous and all about France! What could be better? Click right here to open and enjoy.


Since I’m doing a bit of lavender overload this month, here are a few recipes you might find enticing! I’ve posted them before and would be truly interested to know if you have tried any of them. I’m always looking for new recipes using lavender, so please do share!


My wish is that you are feeling as hopeful and optimistic about the future as I am. There are still reasons to be cautious and if you are recovering from the lingering effects of Covid 19, my thoughts are with you. 

Once again, to all essential workers who sacrificed so much to keep the world turning for the rest of us, our eternal thanks.
And now, back to edits!



Stay well, my friends, 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!