I trust your new year is off to a good beginning! Let’s celebrate the first Friday of 2019 with a few of our favourite photos from France, that I hope will make you smile.
I hope you enjoyed this brief break from reality. I look forward to spending 2019 with you, sharing our thoughts about books, reading, writing, life, friendship and whatever else we want to add in there … and of course, France! Bon weekend!
I’m excited to introduce this first book in my new mini-series, featuring those beloved characters from the Love in Provence series.
Christmas markets, French pastries, family, friends, all come together after unexpected challenges threaten a joyeux Noël or a merry Christmas. Then there are those two adorable Chocolate Lab pups! Spend time on the stunning Côte d’Azur as Kat and Philippe deal with one crisis after another.
It was so much fun to get back on the pages with all of the characters! Stay tuned for Book Two of the Villa des Violettes series in May and Book Three in October.
I hope you love the cover as much as I do! In September, when I was co-leading our South of France Memories Tour with my BFF, Deborah Bine (aka Barefoot Blogger), two women on the tour offered to help design the cover. Talented artists and good friends, Clare Strohman and Donna Fedele, worked with me to create the cover I envisioned … and they made it even better!
(May I just add how amazing these two women are in every way? And we were not intentionally colour-co-ordinated for this photo. Just sayin’! Our entire group of 16 women on the tour were a dream to travel with.)
Then, with the help of literary/tech assistant Carolyn Ring, fonts and placement of the title and my name were chosen and … badda bing, badda boom … the cover was born. My gratitude to each of those clever women.
Kate Rock and Tonni Callan, the founders of Literally Connected, made magic happen behind the scenes. A bouquet of thanks to them.
Also, thanks to everyone who helped make this happen today. Mille mercis! I’m grateful to each and every one of you.
Click here for the Amazon link.
Here’s the blurb:
THE LOVE IN PROVENCE CHARACTERS ARE BACK …
Everything was going so well in Kat and Philippe’s life together. Then suddenly it wasn’t.
Roman ruins delayed the work on the Villa des Violettes. The Russian drug gang might be back in the neighbourhood. On top of that, Kat had worked herself into what Molly classified as a full blown “Christmas conundrum.” Kat wanted the holidays to work perfectly as she blended a Canadian Christmas with a Provençal Fête de Noêl for the first time in their new home. Now she’d lost her confidence and, with it, the holiday spirit.
Philippe hoped a weekend trip to the famous Christmas markets of Strasbourg would solve everything.
As it happened, things were about to get worse.
Are you feeling ready to embrace the holiday season? Have you started to decorate or do you wait until December arrives?
Be still my heart! On Day 5, we had a full day to wander where my heart lives … and where my Love in Provence series is set … enchanting Antibes.
This was a wonderful day of strolling the streets we’ve all read about, taking photos, picturing Katherine, Philippe and the other characters from the stories going about their lives. It was such great fun to listen to the chatter and comments. And Mother Nature continued to provide perfect weather.
Best fans ever!
On the search for Philippe, the handsome fromager in the Antibes Marché Provençal!
These 500-year-old doors are true inspiration, crafted for the church to give thanks for local villagers surviving a dreadful plague.
To be continued …
Okay, please don’t judge me ~ I’m slooooowly posting about every day on our tour. I have a lot more photos and will eventually get them into an online album. In the meantime, I’m at least compiling a (brief) daily photo journal of the wonderful memories we made together.
On Day 4, we had an easy morning with everyone free to do whatever they pleased … sleeping in, shopping, catching the Musée Chagall or Matisse, exploring the old town, or climbing Castle Hill. So many choices!
At 12:30 we met our guide Stephanie, boarded our comfy coach in Nice, and wended our way along the Moyenne Corniche, enjoying the spectacular views where the hillsides drop precipitously to the azure sea.
After a brief history concerning the stunning hilltop village of Eze, we committed to heading straight up the steep cobblestone allées to the 12thC castle ruin at the top of Jardin Exotique. The panorama from here at 1400 ft above the Mediterranean is worth the climb.
Below is another perspective of Eze that I took on a day when I drove along the Haute Corniche … a bird’s eye view.
From Eze, we drove back down to the sea and spent a leisurely afternoon exploring the stunning Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and its breathtaking gardens and dancing fountains in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
At the end of the day, another fine evening!
Be sure to visit the website of my friend and tour co-leader, Deborah Bine aka Barefoot Blogger, where you will find all sorts of great articles on more places in France than you can imagine. I’m telling you … that lady gets around! Click right here!
