Patricia Sands

Author

books

A brief retrospective

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

How was your week? Our Women’s Fiction Fans Summer Party on Tuesday evening was an enormous success. We were blown away! And we’re so grateful to all of our enthusiastic readers who joined in the fun. We can’t begin to thank you enough!

Congratulations to all of the winners. Books, bags and macarons! Those were just some of the sought after prizes!

If you haven’t had an opportunity to join our group, just go to this page and click on “joined”.  It’s as easy as that!  The aim of this friendly group of authors and readers is to share thoughts and comments about books or simply reading in general … or anything else that’s on your mind. Ask us questions, enter our giveaways, enjoy our special events and, by all means, please invite your friends!

Right now I’m awaiting the final sign off on the manuscript for Drawing Lessons. We are eager to have the book available on Net Galley for everyone who is interested in writing a review. Stay tuned! I will let you know the minute it is there.

In the meantime, Drawing Lessons can be pre-ordered right here.  This just means that the day the book is published, you will receive your copy. Great service! And thanks!

I’m also working on my July newsletter tonight, so with all that going on, I’m going to leave you with a few of my favourite shots from May and June in the south of France. Enjoy! Profitez!

Villefranche-sur-Mer ~ How many times am I going to take a photo here? Year after year, the view is simply too irresistible.

It was hot, hot, hot! There were few breezes through the narrow streets in the towns and villages of Provence. Shutters were closed to keep the cool inside. The cicadas hummed.

The little yellow house with the blue shutters. I’m writing about one now. 🙂

Chilled rosé (extra special because it comes from a friend’s vineyard ~ Jean-Marc Espinasse, husband of the delightful Kristin) + delicious nougat + strawberries so sweet they taste like candy.

A favourite shot ~ on one of my daily walks to the marché. Can’t you almost taste the colours?

The Women’s Travel Network’s 12-day tour of the south of France, based on my Love in Provence series. Sixteen fabulous women who made each day an absolute pleasure.

Ten days with two BFFs ~ 4 in Antibes and 6 in St. Remy. Girls’ getaway. Friendship is priceless.

The garden behind the 12thC former monastery and asylum of Saint-Paul de Mausole. Vincent van Gogh spent May 1889 to May 1890 here, one of his most productive periods. Van Gogh and this setting also feature in my new novel. This is truly a peaceful, spiritual place.

The delicate beauty of poppies is symbolic in Drawing Lessons. I wanted to take photos for marketing and graphics for the new novel. The poppy season was almost over but then we got lucky and voilà!

I hope you have an excellent few days planned. Bon weekend!

 

 

SEE YOU THERE ~ 6:00/11:00 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, July 18

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YOU’RE INVITED! BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

It’s time for the Women’s Fiction Fans Summer Party!

If you know our enthusiastic group of authors and readers, then it won’t be a surprise to see how much fun this party will be. If you’re new to our group … WELCOME! Here are the details:

JOIN THE PARTY for FUN, PRIZES and GIVEAWAYS ~ click right here
Nine of your favorite Women’s Fiction Authors have joined in to make this the event of the season for book lovers! There will be author chats going on all evening, loads of paperback giveaways and since it is summer…lots of beach-themed gifts. In short it’s a party you won’t want to miss!
Plus, Bette Lee tells us she will be be offering a Value-Packed Party-goers Special that will be for this one evening only…but it’s a secret and the only way you can find it is to stop by the party.
The festivities start with Grace Greene at 6:00 PM (est). She’ll be sharing the behind the scenes story for “The Memory of Butterflies”
Following her is the fabulous Ashley Farley (rumor has it that she may be giving away a copy of her new release “Sweet Tea Tuesday”)
At 7:00 Christine Nolfi will be here to celebrate her latest novel “The Comfort of Secrets” sequel to her bestseller “Sweet Lake”
Bette Lee Crosby will be on hand at 7:30 with a party-goers special, a giveaway that gets you ready for the beach, and three Winner’s Choice paperback giveaways
At 8:00 Patricia Sands will chat with readers and share pictures from her stay in France this summer & have a surprise draw!  Plus, she’ll be giving us a sneak peek into her upcoming release “Drawing Lessons”.
At 8:30 you’ll meet Andrea Hurst, author of the Madrona Island Series. She not only has some fun giveaways but will share some of her own island experiences
At 9:00 Barbara Hinske will be flying in from Arizona with giveaways and some secrets about what is happening at Rosemont. It promises to be delicious fun.
At 9:30 we have Dete Meserve, author of “Good Sam” and “A Perfectly Good Crime” Dete has giveaways and plenty to say about spreading kindness and good will.
At 10:00 Nancy Naigle, a favorite for romantic suspense stories, will be on hand. She’ll be sharing some insight into what’s next and have plenty of giveaways
This is an all-evening party, so stop by whenever you can and join the fun. This event comes with a guarantee of a good time for all! See you there!

Click right here to sign in.

Reading suggestions for our 2017 France tour

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

 

 

Our 2017 women’s tour of Provence is just weeks away! I know the time will fly by and can’t wait to greet the sixteen women when they arrive in Nice on June 6. Our beautiful Hotel Beau Rivage, is just out of this photo to the left. The vieille ville (old town) and colourful daily market are located there as well, footsteps away. So this will be our ‘neighbourhood’ for six days before we move on to Avignon for another six days of exploring the countryside of pastoral Provence. Lavender will be in bloom!

One of the great features of this tour is that we only move once. From our base hotels, we have wonderful day trips with well-trained guides and bus drivers. My friend, author Susan Sommers, and I are along to ensure that everyone is happy and organized every day. We have the best time!

I recently sent some reading suggestions to the group in advance of their arrival in France and I thought I would share the books with you too. You may well be familiar with the titles as they are favourites of mine that I frequently recommend. Enjoy!

 

Click here for Kristi’s book.

Click here for Ted’s book.

Click here for Anne-Marie’s book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you love the south of France like I do, you would enjoy reading all of these books too.

Of course, #PeterMayle is the writer who began it all … back in 1991! Click here for A Year In Provence.

Whether you are preparing to visit France or not, you will find hours of reading pleasure in these books!

 

 

Of course we’ll be visiting many of the beautiful locations written about in the Love in Provence series. Most of the women on our tours have read the stories of Katherine’s adventure in France and it’s great fun to experience their enthusiasm as we visit the special places they have discovered in the books. Antibes is a highlight!

 

 

Where have you taken vacations in books? And did you actually visit those places at another time? 

 

 

 

Joyeuses Pâques~Happy Easter~Chag Sameach~Passover Wishes ~ et bon weekend to all???

Party time on the Women’s Fiction Fans FB page

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Hey everyone! Join all of us who host the Women’s Fiction Fans FB page on Tuesday, March 28th, for our spring fling! We love to connect with our readers and share thoughts and comments about books you love or simply about reading in general … or anything else that’s on your mind. Ask us questions at the party, enter all the great giveaways we have planned and feel free to invite your friends!

Don’t forget to keep refreshing your FB page. That’s how you can keep up with the conversation threads. I know it gets a bit crazy at times …  but you all make it so much fun!

Here’s what the schedule looks like … see you there!

Enter the special code word from the party in a comment here, for a chance to win a free audiobook of The Bridge Club! Good luck everyone!

The winner will be announced in my April newsletter. Have you subscribed yet?

The link is over there in the column to the right ============>