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Patricia Sands

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Promises To Keep

Six more days!

January 25, 2022 by Patricia Sands 2 Comments

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.

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, France, Photo blogs, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: Antibes, award winner, bestseller, Côte d'Azur, follow your dreams, French Riviera, I Promise You This, Kindle Daily Deal, Patricia Sands, photography, Promises To Keep, Provence, The Promise of Provence, womens fiction, writing

Happy Valentine’s Day ~ Joyeuse Saint Valentin

February 14, 2021 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day! Treat yourself or your sweetheart to a heartwarming story about love and be transported to the south of France. No packing, no passport, pure pleasure!
Click here to order https://amzn.to/2THbVp6

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Filed Under: Blog, France, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: Happy Valentine's Day, I Promise You This, La Saint Valentin, Love In Provence series, Patricia Sands, Promises To Keep, The Promise of Provence

Thanks!

October 28, 2015 by Patricia Sands 11 Comments

canstockphoto8136400This past month, with Canadian Thanksgiving and all the good things that are part of it, has  been one big festival of gratitude and today I’m adding this post to the celebration.

First of all, I’m thankful to every person  who purchased my novels and shared them with friends and those who took the time to write a review. Without your purchases and reviews, Amazon might not have become aware of what I was writing. There are a lot of authors to look at out there. In fact, statistics say there are between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books published yearly in North America alone. Yikes.

This month I’m grateful beyond words for Amazon’s relaunch of The Promise of Provence and Promises  To Keep. The story that turned into the Love in Provence series thanks to the enthusiastic support of so many readers and requests for more of Katherine’s ‘mid-life coming of age’ journey.

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Thanks to the amazing team at ‪#‎LakeUnionPublishing‬, led by Senior Acquisitions Editor, Danielle Marshall, for their priceless support and to all the avid readers who keep me inspired ! Book 3, I Promise You This, will be published Spring 2016. The last round of edits has been completed and I’m thankful for the guidance of my superb developmental  editor, Amara Holstein. Katherine’s journey continues!

As an indie author, I’ve been fortunate to reach a good number of readers Unknown-3 and they have proven to be inspiring and ardent. Thank you to each and every one of you. I keep repeating that hearing from readers is the best reward for a writer! I’m constantly surprised and amazed at the personal and meaningful messages I receive along with simple “I loved the story” emails. Each one is special and I know I speak for my fellow authors when I express this: Writers love hearing from readers.

The other side of being an indie author is the endless support and collegiality that writers offer each other. Self-publishing is hard work: researching and writing the book, working with professional editors and proofreaders,  and choosing cover designers is just the beginning. Books will not sell without marketing and promotion to spread the word. Did I mention it was hard work?

Thank goodness for the community of indie authors, professional editors, technical experts, virtual assistants, author service providers, book promoting websites, bloggers and reviewers who offer each other endless assistance and share information so openly.

Through Amazon I look forward to having my books in front of many more readers than I could ever hope to reach on my own. Thanks to Amazon’s amazing marketing people, I will have more time to write novels.

Yes, there is so much to be thankful for. I hope you feel the same with your life.

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Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, News, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: Amazon, authors, gratitude, Lake Union Publishing, Patricia Sands, Promises To Keep, readers, Thanksgiving, The Promise of Provence

A photo journal two-fer: part one

August 26, 2015 by Patricia Sands 20 Comments

I didn’t plan it this way, but as it happens I have two different photo journals/essays posted this week on two of my favourite sites: The Good Life France and the LAHE Lifestyle Magazine.

Put your feet up, take a break and go on a little armchair vacay with me.

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First, we’re going to the medieval village of Entrevaux, tucked on a rocky crag above the Var River, just an hour’s drive from Nice.

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After my husband and I visited this town two years ago, I knew I had to include it in the manuscript I was working on at the time. As a result, Entrevaux is featured in Promises To Keep (Book 2 of the Love In Provence series). In the story, you’ll have a chance to wander it’s narrow alleyways and discover its intriguing history along with meeting a couple of cool new characters.

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It’s not a picture perfect charming village such as the ones we love in the Luberon. Rather it is intriguing, mysterious and enigmatic, but beautiful in its own unique way. Discover Entrevaux by clicking right here.

Later this week I’ll post a visit to magical Venice, La Serenissima, so please make a note to come back. I promise you’ll be glad you did! As much as I adore France and spend all the time I possibly can there, I do love to travel for short periods to other places. Venice is one of those places. It is truly a visual feast.

Here’s a taste …

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I’ll post the Venice photo journal on Friday. See you then!

 

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Filed Under: Blog, France, Photo blogs, Uncategorized Tagged With: Entrevaux, history, LAHE Lifestyle Magazine, Love In Provence, Patricia Sands, photo journal, Promises To Keep, The Good Life France

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