Blog Tour and Giveaway: Falling for Provence by Paulita Kincer

Paulita Kincer

on tour July 20-31 with 

   

Falling For Provence

(women’s fiction, romantic suspense, family life)
 Release date: June 5, 2020 at Oblique Press   245 pages
Author’s page Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

Running a French B&B isn’t all wine and smelly cheese, Fia Jennings discovers as she tries to create a new life for herself and a smooth path for her teenage twins, while not—absolutely not – falling into a new romance. But she didn’t anticipate a handsome stranger showing up on her doorstep and sucking her into an art caper with dangerous overtones. Can she make a new life in France or will she retreat to the States and her broken marriage?

GUEST POST

For years, I’ve been writing novels about women who run away to France.

In January 2018, I actually moved to France. Unlike the heroines in my stories, I took (dragged) my husband along.

Was it all hearts and red wine? Not quite, but many mornings, as I step into the street to begin my morning run, I look up at the brilliant blue sky and the craggy mountains and just feel thankful that I’m in France.

I run past the bakery and smell the baguettes as they bake to a golden brown. I pause on the bridge over the river and take a picture in each season of the red-tile roofs of the houses built there, the mountains jutting behind the village.

If my husband hadn’t decided to retire early, we might never have moved to France. At 62, he’d had enough of 40 years of working. He was ready to throw in his journalist’s notebook. But, we had always purchased our health insurance through his work. If he quit, we had no options for health insurance in the United States, other than healthcare.gov, which was $18,000 out of pocket for one year. Not feasible for most retired people.

If we stayed in the States, I could continue to teach, but I worked as an adjunct professor at a couple of colleges and also had income through my novels. It was a good supplement, but it couldn’t do much more than cover the insurance bill.

To move to France, we had to buy health insurance to receive a visa; it cost less than $1000 to cover both of us for the entire year. That’s a savings of $17,000. Our trip would practically pay for itself!

We sold our house and put the profit into an account that we planned to use to buy a new house in France.

The first few months, we traveled and housesat through Trusted Housesitters. We didn’t get paid, but we had places to stay throughout France and England as we explored what area we wanted to live in. We had adventures! Some not so good – bronchitis, a flood that isolated us from the rest of the world, a lost dog down a badger hole. And some amazing – the discovery of café Cognac, watching swans alight in the flooded fields as we walked dogs, seeing the musical Hamilton when we housesat in London.

Finally, on our greatest adventure of all, we journeyed down to Quillan in the southwest part of France near the Pyrenees. We rented a house here for six months and our real French life began.

What had been a vagabond lifestyle, living out of suitcases, became a social whirlwind as we made friends – mostly Brits, some Americans and even a few French.

I remember reading blog posts about people who moved to France and made friends with other English-speaking people. I thought it was ridiculous. Now that I’m in the midst of it, I know how lonely it can be to have no one to speak to in your native language. Plus, it can be difficult to breakthrough with French people, but we aren’t giving up.

There’s the town flirt who, before Coronavirus, would double cheek kiss every woman he met. Now, as he drives past in his work truck, he calls out “I love you, chérie!”

The baker told me I can tutoyer, which means call him tu instead of vous. And the butcher is now a fan of ours ever since Earl bought him a tshirt from Bob Evans restaurants when we were in the States. The tshirt says “Go Pig or Go Home!” I’m not sure he understands it, but he will put it on to show us when we stop at the boucherie.

The fruit and vegetable seller at the market slips a free lemon or parsley into our bag when we stock up on market days. And I’ve had a few bicycle rides with a French friend who is married to an Englishmen, as she insists we speak only in French so that I can practice. If you think it’s hard to speak another language while having coffee, imagine while riding a bicycle.

I’m still working as a professor and I’ve added teaching English to Chinese children to my repertoire, so I don’t have the freedom to live a retired lifestyle, but most evenings find us gathering with friends. Their place, our place, a local café, Friday night fish and chips truck, the Thursday night market with music, and don’t forget the “bal” on July 13, the night before Fete Nationale. In spite of precautions for Coronavirus, people gathered and danced in the square. It was fantastique!

I had to leave behind my parents and my three adult children but would I do it again. In the words of the Edith Piaf song, “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

Pictures: Top picture, The Pont du Gard near Nimes France

2^nd picture: Quillan France

3^rd picture: My husband and me in Aix en Provence celebrating our 30^th anniversary

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Paulita Kincer has an M.A. in journalism from American University. She and her husband moved to southern France in 2018. She teaches college English online and ESL to adorable Chinese children. Visit her website www.paulitakincer.com and her blog at http://www.paulita-ponderings.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @paulitakincer Instagram, or Pinterest Like her Facebook page at Paulita Kincer Writer.

BUY the book here:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

***

You can enter the global giveaway here or on any other book blog participating in this tour. Visit/Follow the participating blogs on Facebook/Twitter, as listed in the entry form below, and win more entry points!

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

Tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time! [just follow the directions on the entry-form] Global giveaway open to all 5 winners will receive a copy of this book

***

CLICK ON THE BANNER TO READ MORE REVIEWS A GUEST-POST, AND AN INTERVIEW

MY REVIEW

I had the pleasure of reading books by Paulita Kincer in the past and was excited to have the opportunity to her newest release, Falling for Provence. Apparently, this is a second installment from her A New Life in Provence. I have not read the first book, The Summer of France, and feel that this one could be read as a stand alone. Though, I wish I had read it before. I thought was a great read and gives me yet another reason why this author is fastly becoming one of my go to / must read authors. This one is full of romance, suspense, drama, and entertainment. I did not want to put it down.

I am giving Falling for Provence four and a half stars. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy romantic books set in France. I will be looking forward to reading the first book in the series in the near future.

I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

  Save

Review, Excerpt, and Giveaway Virtual Book Tour: Paris Runaway by Paulita Kincer

Paris RunAway

(women’s fiction)

 Release date: June 30, 2016
at Oblique Press

ISBN: 978-1365189234
256 pages

Author’s page
Goodreads

   

SYNOPSIS

When divorced mom Sadie Ford realizes her 17-year-old daughter Scarlett has run away to Paris, all she can imagine are terrorist bombings and sex slaves. After learning her daughter chased a French exchange student home, Sadie hops on the next plane in pursuit. She joins forces with the boy’s father, Auguste, and the two attempt to find the missing teens. The chase takes Sadie and Auguste to the seedier side of Marseille, where their own connection is ignited. Since the divorce, Sadie has devoted herself to raising kids and putting her dreams on hold, but when her daughter needs her most, Sadie finds that concrete barrier to life beginning to crack. In her journey, she learns the difference between watching the hours pass and living..

“This enjoyable romp through Paris and Marseille combines the terror of a possible kidnapping with chick-lit-style romance…. A pleasant diversion with an appealing lead character and just enough tension to propel the narrative.” — Kirkus Review

The book has currently a 4.5 rating on Goodreads and Amazon, and the author herself thinks this is her best so far!

EXCERPT

I sighed. No one home again.
There are worse places to wait, I thought as I heard a louder crack of thunder from outside. The sky had been threatening rain all morning, and apparently the clouds now delivered on their threat. I imagined myself standing outside the gate without buttons to push as the rain soaked through my t-shirt, jeans and thin cardigan.
I assessed the landing where I could be waiting for most of the day. A thick wool rug covered the floor and a small table fit flush against the wall with a flat back.
The other half curled out in a semi-circle. On the table sat a round fishbowl with aqua-colored rocks in the bottom. A goldfish swished back and forth in the dim light. How strange, I thought, as I became entranced watching the fish make his circles, pausing to open and close his mouth in my direction a few seconds before swimming around again.
I sank to the floor with my back against the wall, like the little table. I would be able to hear or see either door if it should open. I might as well rest my tired feet. I debated undoing those ankle straps. But I decided to simply rub at the sore spots while leaving the sandals buckled. Who knew when I’d have to make a dash to catch someone?
I sat where I could gaze at the fish, and his endless rounds made me feel calm. I could feel my breath becoming slower and deeper. I knew I’d find Scarlett today; I just needed to be patient. Slow and steady, I told myself as I became more mesmerized with the striking orange fish.
Suddenly the fish ducked inside one of his faux coral hiding spots. I hadn’t moved or startled him. I glanced around, moving only my eyes, and I saw the reason for the fish’s abrupt disappearance. A handsome black-and- white cat crawled stealthily up the stairs. His front paws perched on the top step, and his nose and eyes just peeked between the paws. The rest of his body must be poised on the stairs below, ready to pounce on the table and snatch up the fish.
The cat moved only his eyes too, but they found me, and he froze. I was going to ruin his attempt at breakfast. I smiled. I missed my own cat Puck. His warmth on my lap, the way his purring could put me into a trance of well-being. This cat on the stairs seemed to have accepted the fact that an actual person sat in the stairwell. His eyes locked with mine, and I saw his body relax. He would not need to pounce after all. He turned to look at the fishbowl, but the wise goldfish remained hidden.
“It’s okay,” I said. I held out my hand, palm up, toward the cat. “Here, kitty. Come see me.” I didn’t have anything to offer him, but if he smelled my hand, he might let me pet him, rub my hand over his soft fur, gain some sort of relief from contact with another living creature.
“Come on, boy,” I said, making an assumption about his gender. It didn’t matter because the cat probably didn’t understand English anyway. My voice was soft and soothing as I tried to coax him. Suddenly, a desire overwhelmed me to hold a cat on my lap, stroke his soft back, and feel his purr kick in and vibrate against me.
Even a cat that didn’t understand English must sense distress and want to comfort a human. To feel some sort of release from the past two days would be such a respite.
“It’s okay; you’re safe,” I said. “Come on.” I had moved from sitting on the floor to perching on my knees as I held my hand closer to the cat. Suddenly, the cat streaked past me. I expected it to stop abruptly at the closed door of the apartment, but it continued to zoom through the legs of a man and down the hallway beyond. The door stood open now when it had definitely been closed the whole time I waited.
I looked up from the floor, drinking in the man whose brown leather Lacoste shoes stood before me. The little alligator near the heel marked them as Lacoste, and I couldn’t decide if I would adore or detest the pomposity of the shoes.
Brown jeans encased the man’s long legs, and he wore a white broadcloth shirt unbuttoned at the top. A loose cotton scarf with blue and gold draped loosely around his neck.
“Are you trying to seduce my cat?” The timbre of his deep voice, still thick with sleep, mixed with the French accent on the English words sent a quiver through me. His words sounded like a promise and a warning.
“Seduce?” My voice rose at the end of the word and came out like an irritating crow’s caw, in comparison to his smooth accent.

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Thursday, May 25
Review by Denise

Friday, May 26
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at Locks, Hooks and Books

Tuesday, May 30
Review by Andrea

Thursday, June 1
Review by Kim

Friday, June 16
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at Bookalicious Traveladdict

   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paulita Kincer has an M.A. in journalism from American University. She has traveled to France 11 times, and still finds more to lure her back. She currently teaches college English and lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her three children, two cats and one husband.

Visit her website www.paulitakincer.com 
and her blog at http://www.paulitaponderings.blogspot.com
or follow her on Twitter @paulitakincer and Instagram
Like her Facebook page at Paulita Kincer Writer.
Email paulita@paulitakincer.com
Buy the book (print, ebook audiobook):  Amazon

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY

MY REVIEW:

Paris Runaway starts off with any parent's nightmare. Sadie finds that her teen daughter, Scarlet, has lied to her about her whereabouts and has actually run away to her classmate Luc's home in Paris. I would be beside myself and not have a clue what to do. Sadie? She just hops on the next flight to Paris and begins her search. I have to say, I admire her courage and determination. I just could not imagine going into a foreign country alone. With the seriousness of the situation aside, I did find myself laughing out loud at some of her antics going through the city. Then she finally finds Luc's father, Auguste, who just discovers that his son is, also, missing. They wind up on quite an adventure they never thought possible. I did not expect the twist to where they would end up next.

I did like this book. It has a perfect combination I love in a story, some laughs, mystery, suspense, adventure, action, and romance. I highly recommend it!

Five stars

I received this book from the author, but was not required to write a review. This book review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Note to my clean readers: There is some foul language and mild explicit scenes within the book.