Love on the Lido Deck: A Nautical
Romantic Comedy
by Barbara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Sharp-witted,
always-organized Keira Graham has traded in her high tech career as a systems
analyst for the whirlwind world of event planning. As she builds up her
fledging business, she learns that her widowed mother has news of her own – she
has a serious gentleman caller! Is Keira
ready for mom’s new romance?
When
she gets a game-changing opportunity to organize a major event on a luxury
Caribbean cruise, Keira turns to best pal chef Alexandria D'Agostino to help
recruit famous chefs who will offer classes for foodies looking for fun in the
sun as they gain cooking know-how. The cruise becomes a rollicking adventure
for Keira, her sassy assistant Juliet, the entire D'Agostino clan, Keira's
mother and other surprise guests. And has Keira meet her match in charismatic
Cruise Director Brennan McAllister, who could have something more than keeping
everything shipshape on his mind?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
I picked up the phone and punched in a number I would never
forget.
“Maeve Graham,” answered the familiar voice.
“Mother, it’s me.” My mouth curled into a smile thinking of
my mother probably just getting back from a charity breakfast, slipping off her
impeccable heels to put on the comfy pink slippers I had knit for her when I
was eight and going through my crafts phase.
“Keira, my sweet”—I heard the love in her voice— ”I was just
thinking about you. Can you come over for tea and let me show you the new mare
we’ve gotten in?”
My mother lived on the 35-acre estate that my father had
inherited in tony horse country right outside the city. It was where I grew up,
and the word home to me always conjured up the sounds of horses in the
background. The stables were not as full as they once were, but she still had a
number of our own horses as well as some that she boarded.
“Sorry, Mother, but I am slammed with work.”
“Oh.” I heard the disappointment in her voice. Then she
brightened. “That’s okay, I’ll see you at the Witheroe wedding this weekend,
won’t I?”
“Mother, you’ll see me there but as the event planner,
remember? Not as a guest.” Although she had been the source of most of my first
leads when I started my own event-planning service in Denver, my mother
sometimes forgot that I was the hired help now.
“Of course, dear,” she paused.
“Mother, is something wrong?”
“No, no. I just haven’t had time to visit with you in
awhile. I’d like to chat ... you know ... girl to girl.” What? Girl to girl?
Had she been reading magazine articles on mother-daughter togetherness? We’ve
al- ways had a good relationship, but if she suddenly decided to follow some
strange trend in family togetherness—eek!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Readers'
Favorite Award™ Winner Barbara Oliverio is the daughter of Italian immigrants
and grew up in North Central West Virginia with a love of reading and a passion
for learning. Following a career path that included being a teacher,
journalist, and marketer, she has lived as far away from home as Italy where
she practiced her family's native tongue as well as took advantage of living near
to other European countries to travel extensively. A rabid Pittsburgh Steeler
fan, she lives with her husband, an equally committed New York Giants fan, in
suburban Denver where off-football-season dinner conversation is calmer and is
usually accompanied by a meal she cooks from one of her mother's treasured
recipes. Other interests include New York Times crossword puzzles, good movies,
and travel. She volunteers extensively for her parish and writes for its
publications. She also teaches part-time for the St. Catherine of Siena
Institute.
Interview:
Where are you from?
I am a coalminer’s daughter from North Central West
Virginia. My parents both immigrated
from southern Italy, and other than the fact that our house was physically in
the U.S. it was Italian in all respects. In fact, I spoke Italian before I
learned English. Our little town was a virtual United Nations with immigrants
from Italy, Russia, Poland, Syria, Spain and other areas who had come to work
in the mines.
Tell us your latest news?
I’m researching a new romantic
comedy. The heroine of this one is
working in an off-beat profession and will face the challenges in that
profession. I will keep true to my style of building a romance through plot and
dialogue rather than relying on excessive sex and crude language because that
has been my goal from the beginning of my fiction-writing career. I’m also
studying the techniques of writing screenplays because I feel that my stories
lend themselves to a movie setting.
When and why did you begin writing?
I have always written in one form or another.
I learned how to read before I entered school, and a natural fall-out of
reading is writing. My teachers in grade school through high school will attest
to the fact that I always loved to write during those years. In college, I chose
journalism as one of my majors, and throughout my career have continued to
write. As a technical writer, I documented everything from software to
oscilloscopes. I moved into the
marketing world and I created marketing, PR, and web copy. Even after I made
the jump into the world of fiction, I continued to write articles for
periodicals and still contract for that type of writing today. Why did I begin to
write? I guess because deep down I knew it was always what I was supposed to
do.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think there have been different stages in my
definition of writer. I have always written in one form or another. At one
point I was a “journalist”, then, I was a “technical writer”. When I worked in
marketing, I didn’t really define myself as a writer although a good portion of
what I did in those days was write. It wasn’t until I began my first novel that
I identified as a “writer”, and now I not only am a “writer”, but also a
“published author” and “novelist”, which all have a delightful ring.
What inspired you to write your
first book?
My best friend Nancy appreciated the fact that
I shared my mother’s recipes with her and suggested that I write a cookbook
with them. While I have quite a few of Mom’s recipes, there are not enough for
an entire cookbook. Nancy next jokingly suggested to bulk up a book with some
of the recipes I collected from the mothers/grandmothers of some of my former
boyfriends. That idea stayed in my mind, until one day when I looked around and
noticed that a lot of romance novels were not just R-rated, but beyond. I saw a
need for romance novels featuring young women who were fun, witty and lived
their modern lives while still maintaining their values. At that point, I
dreamed up the story of Alexandria and her madcap dating adventures while she
cooked for her boyfriends in Love on the
Back Burner – a novel in which I would be able to share my recipes. My
currently released novel, Love on the
Lido Deck, is the sequel to that book.
What would you like my readers to know?
If I
only had two words to share, I would say “Keep reading!” It is only in the
world of books that we can escape, travel and learn like no other method. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m a fan of well-written movies and TV programs, but they can’t
replace the written word. Also, if you have influence over a child, do all you
can to instill the love of reading entire books in him/her. We need to pass
that love to keep it alive for future generations.
Links
Twitter.com/Boliverioauthor
Facebook.com/AuthorBarbaraOliverio
BarnesandNoble.com
iTunes
Smashwords
Giveaway
$25 Amazon GC
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment