• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Patricia Sands

Author

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
    • Can I visit your Book Club on Zoom?
  • Books
    • The Bridge Club
    • Love in Provence Series
      • The Promise of Provence
      • About Promises to Keep
      • I Promise You This
    • Drawing Lessons
    • Les Villa des Viollettes series
      • The First Noël at the Villa des Violettes
      • A Season of Surprises at the Villa des Violettes
      • Lavender, Loss & Love at the Villa des Violettes
    • The Secrets We Hide
  • Travel
    • Photography, France & d’Ailleurs
  • Instagram
  • If it’s Friday, it must be France…
  • Contact me

The Secrets We Hide

A January Giveaway and a September Suggestion

January 15, 2023 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

Happy New Year! The Bridge Club is one of the great fiction reads in this January’s Booksweeps giveaway along with some of my friends Michelle Cox, Jan Moran, Suzanne Kelman and Tara Ross, among others.

TWO lucky winners will each collect a 45-book pack of literary, historical and book club fiction great reads PLUS an eReader!

Just click here to enter. Good luck to all!

I’m happy to remind you that The Promise of Provence (Book 1 in the Love in Provence trilogy) is an Amazon Kindle Deal for all of January! I was SO excited when I received the email from Amazon’s marketing division letting me know this was one of their chosen books for the month. It’s been a while since it was on sale, so if you have not read it now’s your chance. And if you own this book, these sales are always a great opportunity to gift it to friends. Help them get started on Katherine’s adventure in Provence. I love telling her story about discovering it’s never to late to begin a new chapter in your life. Here’s the link.

While we’re talking about the Provence trilogy, I want to let you know that there are just three spots left on our September South of France Memories tour. Are you coming? I know you want to! And we would love to have you. Click here for all the details.

The first week of the tour we stay in the best location in Nice, right on the Mediterranean and a two-minute stroll to the heart of the old town. In short day trips we visit so many of the beautiful towns and villages you read about in The Promise of Provence, Promises to Keep and I Promise You This. Will we see Philippe at the market? It’s a question we are asked every year!

As an added bonus in 2023, we have managed to include a stop at the 2000-year-old Roman monument, Trophée des Alpes, featured in my latest novel The Secrets We Hide … also on sale, BTW!

After six days, we travel by private coach to Aix-en-Provence to catch the market and an unforgettable Cezanne tour before we continue on to the ancient and intriguing town of Arles, the setting for Drawing Lessons and our home for this second week. Roman ruins, the spirit of Vincent van Gogh, and the unique attractions of the nearby Camargue fill our days.

Click here to see all the details and discover how to grab those last few spots with your bestie, sister, book club or come on your own and still have a great time. That’s what happens every year and we love seeing women become such lifelong friends!

I hope your new year is off to a good beginning and you have been safe from the extreme weather in some parts of the world.

Good luck with the giveaway and happy reading!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Blog, France, General Travel, Writing Tagged With: Drawing Lessons, giveaway, Kindle Daily Deal, Patricia Sands, The Bridge Club, The Promise of Provence, The Secrets We Hide

Happy Thanksgiving in Canada

October 8, 2022 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

I hope you won’t mind if I post a similar message to past years. It’s the message I want to share at this time every year … every day, really …

I just returned from another of my tours in the south of France a week ago and each year I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have that opportunity. Just one of many blessings for which I am grateful. Make a list of yours.

IMG_7305

Thanksgiving. No shopping for anything but dinner ingredients. No lists of gifts. Bags of food being filled for the Food Banks. Volunteers serving turkey dinners at homeless shelters. Quality time spent as families and friends gather to share memories, love and laughter. An attitude of gratitude prevails. I am so thankful for the life I have. I hope you feel the same about yours.

As we consider our individual blessings, let’s remember those who struggle with hunger, illness, poverty, war and a multitude of other challenges in our own backyards and around the globe. The refugee crisis is heartbreaking. Let’s try to make the sentiments of Thanksgiving a part of every single day.

What a good feeling to see the food donation bins overflowing today. If you can’t get out to help, here’s a way you can play a part without leaving home! Click right here.

logo-main

I’ve written about these sites before, but they are always worth mentioning from time to time.  All you have to do is go to TheHungerSite.com  once a day and click on the button — sponsors give free food. You are not put on any list or bombarded with spam. There are other links to click where sponsors donate for appropriate benefits: Breast Cancer ~ remember it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month; Child Health; Literacy; Rainforest; Animal Rescue and a few others. All of this has been verified as legit by Snopes years ago. I pop in every day. Why not?

1.IMG_2976

While we are at it, have you ever played FREERICE.COM? ~ This is a unique way to increase your vocabulary and donate rice to needy countries. Play it with your children as there are 60 levels. It’s a great place to learn new words for Words With Friends … ahem, my addiction when I need a few minutes off from writing. It’s such a fun way to keep connected with friends too.

One big personal thank you to the readers who take the time to contact me. I love hearing from you and appreciate every single message. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter (just click on the link in the column to the right) and for sharing my books with your friends. You light up my life!

This month the ebook of my new novel, THE SECRETS WE HIDE, is in a special October sale for just $.99. If you already have your copy, now is a great opportunity to pick up a few for friends. It’s easy to do on Amazon. The ebook is also available on Kobo and Barnes & Noble.

Also, a reminder that this giveaway below is still going for a few more days. Enter as often as you like! Good luck!

It seems like the giveaway season has begun! Be sure to let me know when you win something so we can all celebrate!

The more followers an author has on BookBub, the more often BookBub shares our work to readers all around the world. The beauty of subscribing to BookBub for readers is that this gives you access to information about great book sales. Think of it as an enormous library!

Just click here to enter to win 40 bestselling novels AND an eReader! How cool is that? Good luck to everyone who enters.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, Social issues, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: attitude of gratitude, book sale, Canadian Thanksgiving, Patricia Sands, psandsstories, thankful, The Secrets We Hide

My recent newsletter ~ hiatus over!

August 20, 2022 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

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!

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, France, General Travel, Photo blogs, Writing Tagged With: Adrian Leeds, Author event in Nice, Cote d'Azur, craig carlson, Deborah Bine, Debra Moffitt, Ella Dyer, Hotel Belle Rives, Janet Hulstrand, Jeanne Oliver, lavender fields in Provence, Les Pastras, Lillet, lisa anselmo, Lisa Barr, new release, Oliver Gee, Patricia Sands, Provence, South of France Reunion Tour, The Secrets We Hide, Woman on Fire

How your pre-order can help …

August 18, 2022 by Patricia Sands Leave a Comment

One week to go to release day! And the ‘to-do’ list doesn’t seem to be shrinking.

If you are considering ordering The Secrets We Hide, how about placing a pre-order now? That way you are assured the ebook will be sitting in your mailbox on publishing day and your print copy should arrive then too. For some reason, some print copies are being sent out already … the publishing world works in mysterious ways.

The more pre-orders you place for me, the better the chances of The Secrets We Hide making a best seller list. I thank you in advance!

Pre-order on Amazon

Pre-order on Kobo

Pre-order on Barnes & Noble

Have you seen the trailer for The Secrets We Hide? Feel free to share it from YouTube.

Here’s a reminder that the Goodreads giveaway is open now and ten ebooks are up for grabs. Here’s the link for that. Good luck and thank you to everyone for all of your support.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • Email

Filed Under: Author Promotion, Blog, News, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, France, Hawaii, Japan, Kobo, literary fiction, new release, Patricia Sands, pre-order, The Secrets We Hide, trip fiction

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Join Me Here!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow Me on BookBub

Follow me on Amazon

Follow me on Amazon

Available from Amazon!

Available from Amazon!

Available Now!

Available Now!

Available from Amazon

Available from Amazon

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

Join me and 9 of your favourite women’s fiction authors

The Good Life France Magazine

The Good Life France Magazine

Categories

Archives

Footer

Copyright Disclaimer

© 2020 by Patricia Sands. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided a link back to this page and proper attribution is given to me as the original author. All photographs on this site are copyright of Patricia Sands

Follow Me!

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
YouTube
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Share
Instagram
  • Privacy Policy

FTC DISCLOSURE

The Federal Trade Commission requires that I disclose any relationship I have between a product manufacturer or service provider when I write about a product or service. I may receive a small commission for purchases made via affiliate links on this site such as Amazon. The above does not affect my opinion of those products and services. I am committed to sharing the work of other authors with my friends and readers.

Copyright © 2023 By Patricia Sands · Theme created and maintained by Bakerview Consulting