Fall #RomanticTravel in Romania with Author Carmen Stefanescu

Author Carmen Stefanescu is here to share Fall #RomanticTravel in her home country of Romania, and tell us about her latest release Till Life Do Us Part.

Fall Romantic Travel

Copyright:jurajkovac; Licensed from depositphotos.com

Fall #Romantic Travel

It’s true that Romania, my country,  is the homeland of Count Dracula, the infamous vampire, but when you visit the country in autumn you are not only going to enjoy its imagery of medieval castles but also spectacular views of autumn’s finest foliage.

You can enjoy romantic walks in leafy parks dusted with crunchy auburn, red and gold leaves.gardensOr visit the rural areas for a rustic experience and fill your lungs with the strong, fresh air in the mountains. It’s also hard not to feel starry-eyed among the rolling hills and fragrant vines of wine regions.

And what place can be more suitable for rekindling the sparks of love than a visit at The Gate of the Kiss that features a kiss motif on the gate pillars?
Gate of the KissTill Life Do Us Part Blurb

Till Life Do us part coverBarbara Heyer can hear voices of dead people. They whisper of their deaths, seek comfort for those left behind, and occasionally even warn her about future events. But when Barbara’s brother, Colin, is accused of murder, it will take more than her gift to prove his innocence.

Becoming smitten with the handsome investigator, Detective Patrick Fischer, is a serious complication given his assignment to her brother’s case. Barbara senses there is something far deeper—and perhaps much older—than the surface attraction between them. Could that be why she’s visited by a mysterious woman named Emma in her dreams? Could past life regression tie all the seemingly unconnected events together?

Barbara and Patrick must overcome heartache to find the truth to save Colin, and perhaps themselves.

Excerpt:

Patrick poured the bubbly liquid into the glasses. He offered one to Barbara and raised his.

“To the undercover, paranormal investigator, Barbara.” He smiled and touched his glass to hers, looking straight into her eyes.

“To you, too, Patrick, Detective Fischer. If  it hadn’t been for your determination to find out the truth, many families wouldn’t have had the small consolation to see their relatives’ murderers behind bars.” She took a sip of the champagne.

“There’s something else I’d like to tell you,” Patrick said. He cleared his throat and took one of her hands in his. “It’s something that I wanted to tell you… to ask you for a while, but it never seemed the right moment.”

She heard the tremor in his voice and was sure what was to come. Yet, she didn’t want to make it easier for him. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in the touch of his hands. He was in love with her as she was with him.

“So, as I was saying… I want to ask you if—”

The telephone rang again, cutting like a steel blade through the thick emotional atmosphere surrounding them.

“Oh, not again.” Barbara rolled her eyes upward and headed to the bloody thing. She picked up the receiver and said in a voice that sounded a bit irritated, “Yes. What? Who? Yes, one moment, please.” She turned to Patrick, “It’s for you. An emergency, it seems.”

Patrick grabbed the phone, “Yes, Fisher here. What? When? I’m on my way,” he said and put down the receiver.

“I’m sorry, Barbara. There’s an emergency, indeed. Bruce has been injured. He’s in the hospital right now.”

“Oh, goodness. Is it bad?”

“I’ve no idea. They didn’t say. I’m going there. Sorry I spoiled the evening.”

“No need for apology, Patrick,” Barbara replied hiding her disappointment. “Duty comes first in your job, I know.”

“I’ll call you. Soon. There was something important I wanted to tell… to ask you. Goodnight, Barbara,” he said and kissed her hand affectionately. He hurried outside.

Barbara stood in the middle of the room. It looked empty and cold without him. She took the bottle of champagne, pushed the cork back into it, then went to the kitchen and put it in the fridge.

Moments later, she returned to the living room. With a reflexive gesture she picked up the packet of cigarettes Patrick had forgotten on the table. She weighed them in her hand for a moment and smiling, opened a drawer of the bookshelf and placed the cigarettes inside. She took her book from the bookshelf and sat on the couch, enveloped by the faint smell of aftershave left behind by Patrick.

Jack stretched, then came to Barbara and curled up in her lap.

“Yes, Jack. It is like that. It’s always been like that. Just you and me.” She sighed and opened the book. She failed to notice a faint light hovering outside the window.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://goo.gl/H0dqkb
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/till-life-do-us-part-carmen-stefanescu/1123896837

Author Bio:

Carmen Stefanescu resides in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire Count Dracula, but where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble – the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.

High school teacher of English and German in her native country, and mother of two daughters, Carmen Stefanescu survived the grim years of oppression, by escaping in a parallel world that of the books.

Several of her poems were successfully published in a collection of Contemporary English Poems, Muse Whispers vol.1 and Muse Whispers vol.2 by Midnight Edition Publication, in 2001 and 2002.

Her first novel, Shadows of the Past, was released in 2012 by Wild Child Publishing, USA.

Carmen joined the volunteer staff at Marketing For Romance Writers Author blog and is the coordinator of #Thursday13 posts.

Other books by Carmen Stefanescu:

Shadows of the Past – paranormal/light romance/light historical/light mystery
https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-of-the-Past-ebook/dp/B00AK2D9I8/

Spotlight on Deadly Alliance + Fall #RomanticTravel with @RowlandKathleen #Tirgearr #Suspense

Author Kathleen Rowland is here with her Fall #RomanticTravel suggestion, plus an excerpt from her romantic suspense, Deadly Alliance.

Fall Romantic Travel

Copyright:jurajkovac; Licensed from depositphotos.com

Kathleen’s Fall #RomanticTravel suggestion:

Lake Arrowhead

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How about romantic travel to Lake Arrowhead, California, where Deadly Alliance takes place? Fall colors mix with evergreens around this pristine mountain lake. Bring a picnic basket and rent a pontoon!

Deadly Alliance coverDeadly Alliance blurb:

Finbar Donahue, former Army Ranger, walked on the wild side in Iraq, but now he lives in the shadows. After his evasive partner, Les, was shot in a random drive-by, Finn discovers cash is siphoned monthly. He fights to keep his investment company afloat. When the late partner’s girlfriend, Amy Kintyre, applies for his bookkeeping job, Finn suspects she knows about his company drain and hires her.

Amy needs a nine-to-five with free evenings and weekends to get her fashion design business back on track. She unearths Les’s secret bank account and alerts Finn. Freezing of the money laundering account sets off havoc within an Irish gang. Amy witnesses a gang fight between a brutal ISIS fundraising organization and the Irish. Desperate to escape a stalker’s crosshairs, she seeks refuge with Finn. As danger heats up, sparks fly hotter.

Chapter One from Deadly Alliance:

“You know I love your sportswear designs, right?”

“I’m glad you do.” Amy Kintyre sat opposite a buyer, none other than Kira Radner, at a coffee shop in Lake Arrowhead, California. This sudden opportunity to re-launch her sportswear designs gave rise to the jitters, and Amy clutched her hands under the table.

Kira pressed her face forward, Amy’s sketches drawn on figures in action poses. With the portfolio spread between them, she flipped it sideways to examine the fabric swatches stapled along the sidebar. Their earthy tones blended with the marred wooden table.

Amy stilled the chatty urge.

“You know your presentation is in two weeks.” Kira was giving her the green light with Recreational Sportswear, Incorporated.

“I appreciate this, Kira.” To get her business back on track, she needed blocks of time to sew mockups. Amy inhaled the spicy aroma of the raw cedar wood. The under-construction décor of wide, timber planks on the walls made her think of her new self.   Crazy how thirty felt like seventeen when embracing life and freeing her artistic side.

“Then I beg you,” Kira said, “please, please, please have your product samples ready. Deadline is the first Monday of November.”

“Got it.” Fear over the tight time frame tasted sour in her throat, but this break called like no other.

Kira leaned forward. “Impressive functionality with the shorts. Who would have thought this pocket holds a Swiss Army Knife!” The buyer’s fingertips traced the pick-stitch hem, made with thread matching the fabric, appearing invisible. “Nice detail.”

Amy’s only mock-up kept their face-to-face meeting running like the hum of the fluorescent lights above.

“Oooo,” Kira said and raised both her eyebrows. “Classic nostalgia with a twist. A pocket knife for hikers!”

“Useful, I think.” The bright light flickered over associates who’d worked together in the past, but Amy didn’t share the difficulty of making the deadline. Her breathing shortened, and panic carved a hole in her chest.

“Gotta bounce,” Kira said. “Get to work.”

“I will.” She pulled out a notebook and jotted down a to-do list ending with the file with various size patterns. After a half-hour of regrouping and rethinking, she stopped tapping her pen. Kira Radner took a chance on her, but to turn this chance into a reality, she needed evenings and weekends to make the deadline.

Last Sunday while pouring over Craigslist classifieds, she’d zeroed in on Finbar Donahue’s bookkeeping ad. After her inquiry, his head accountant sent her a message. She still favored the toe she stubbed after her in-box pinged.

Thanks to what happened, the call from Kira, she needed Finn’s job. Her mind raced to her third interview for his nine-to-five. Tomorrow morning, if all went well, she’d land the regular-hours job, tailor made for her time frame. She ran a hand through her hair, picturing the arrogant know-it-all with a never-ending string of women hanging on his arm.

Handsome wasn’t the word to describe Finn, her late, ex-boyfriend’s partner. She’d been around Finbar Donahue enough to know he looked at his world as if he were the Almighty himself. The former Army Ranger made her way too nervous. She tensed up to such an extent, her voice broke.

Romance wasn’t part of this equation. Her dream to launch herself, stitch by stitch, came down to landing the job. On a mission, her goal was simple. She closed her eyes and prayed tomorrow she’d nail it.

Deadly Alliance buy links

Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Nook.

Author Kathleen RowlandAbout the Author:

Book Buyers Best finalist Kathleen Rowland is devoted to giving her readers fast-paced, high-stakes suspense with a sizzling love story sure to melt their hearts.   Lily’s Pad and the Intervenus Series: A Brand New Address and Betrayal at Crater’s Edge are sweet.  Deadly Alliance and her work-in-progress, Unholy Alliance, are contracted with Tirgearr Publishing and written for adults.

Kathleen used to write computer programs but now writes novels.   She grew up in Iowa where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and raced her sailboat on Lake Okoboji.  Now she wears flip-flops and sails with her husband, Gerry, on Newport Harbor but wishes there were lightning bugs in California.

Kathleen exists happily with her witty CPA husband, Gerry, in their 70’s poolside retreat in Southern California where she adores time spent with visiting grandchildren, dogs, one bunny, and noisy neighbors.  While proud of their five children who’ve flown the coop, she appreciates the luxury of time to write.  If you’d enjoy news, sign up for Kathleen’s newsletter at http://www.kathleenrowland.com/.

Connect with Kathleen online at:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/786656.Kathleen_Rowland
http://www.amazon.com/Kathleen-Rowland/e/B007RYMF7S/
https://twitter.com/rowlandkathleen
https://kathleenrowland.wordpress.com/
http://www.kathleenrowland.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.rowland.50