Summer People

Summer People

by Corinne LaBalme

 

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GENRE: Cape Cod Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

Jessica Stratton's long-cherished dream of opening her own Folk Art gallery in an idyllic Cape Cod setting finally comes true. However, her start-up is anything but smooth sailing. Her ten-year marriage hits the rocks and, when the hunk next door to her shop - a brooding ecologist on a mission to save the planet - proves too irresistible to ignore, she's got to relearn the rules of the dating game while working overtime to lure clients to her boutique. Unfortunately, someone's already far too interested in a 19th century example of advertising art in her collection and will go to any means - legal or illegal - to acquire it. Maybe the planet isn't all that needs to be saved...

 

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EXCERPT:

 

Why on earth did that woman get under his skin so much? This was the second time he'd stomped off her property. Well, it had a whole lot to do with that chunk of jewelry on her left hand, didn't it? He didn't need anything to do with married women. Never again. 

            

Had he said anything to her that would make them both cringe if they ran into each other in the mini-mart? 

            

Oh yeah. Smallpox. Well, that was a low blow, considering that she personally hadn't poisoned any of his ancestors. All the fashion stuff was OK.  But he'd added something about French can-can boots, hadn't he? Boots which had absolutely nothing to do with his sister's thesis. No, those kinky, lace-up boots were part of Martine's Halloween costume last year. 

            

She hadn't taken those boots off either. Not even when they went to bed.

 

 Just thinking about the sex that ensued made him feel like he needed another shower. But then he'd have to dry all that damn hair again. How did women stand all this stuff hanging around their shoulders? He'd read about hermits who refused to cut their hair until they'd atoned for their sins. 

            

Well, Rick Starfire Martell had a helluva lot to atone for.    

   

A Word With the Author

1.     Did you always want to be an author?

 

If anyone had asked me (as a child in a boring Pennsylvania suburb) for my most cherished grown-up fantasy, I’d have said “being a writer in Paris”. 

Now, as I look around my Right Bank apartment, cluttered with manuscripts, I can tell you that dreams do come true. 

Nevertheless, I do rather wish that I specified being a wealthy author in Paris… but two out of three ain’t bad! 

 

2.     Tell us about the publication of your first book.

As a journalist, I’ve published non-fiction all my life but there’s something special about seeing your first work of fiction in print. During COVID, when travel journalism ground to a halt, I decided to write a cozy mystery about a ghost-writer stranded in Paris. FRENCH GHOST came out in January 2022 and it was great fun to see it come to life with the very snazzy cover designed by Diana Carlile at the Wild Rose Press. 

SUMMER PEOPLE, however, is the very first book I ever wrote. It languished in my hard-drive for years and resurrecting it has been a joy. Cape Cod is a magical place for me and – while I must admit that I’ve been in love with the book’s romantic hero, Rick Martell for like… forever – I’m finally ready to share him. 

 

3.     Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

For this particular book, I will say Charlotte Brontë. SUMMER PEOPLE was conceived as an ode to my mother’s house in Brewster. (Fiction took over. While the location and the interior are the same, the exterior is quite different.) So… why JANE EYRE?  I’ve always felt that Thornfield Hall is one of the romantic leads in the tale, just like Manderley in Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA. Both those books are love stories…  with a heavy dose of real estate lust thrown into the bargain. 

 

4.     What’s the best part of being an author? The worst?

The best part is finding out that readers enjoyed the story. The worst part? Feeling lazy when one isn’t writing.  

    

5.     What are you working on now?

 

I’m currently in edits for the second book in the ghost-writer trilogy. 

 

In FRENCH GHOST, writer Melody Layne plunges into the glitzy world of French cinema when the loathsome Parisian movie star who hired her to pen his memoir dies – rather suspiciously – before the first interview. In FRENCH TOAST, Melody signs on to co-write a celebrity cookbook… but unfortunately, there’s something very fishy (besides fish) in the chef’s bouillabaisse. 

 

And Melody’s love life? She’s still mooning over a very sexy but enigmatic Spanish history professor… but will their ill-starred affair end happily ever after? Find out in FRENCH POSTER GIRL, due for release in 2023. 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Corinne LaBalme lives in France and loves everything about it… except eating snails. Her articles about European fashion, food and fun destinations have appeared in The New York Times Travel section, Diversion, La Belle France and France Revisited. Her favorite place to write? Any Parisian café with a good croissant connection…  

 

The setting for SUMMER PEOPLE is founded on childhood memories of vacations on Cape Cod and based on my mother’s (very real) house in Brewster. 

 

The romantic hero of SUMMER PEOPLE -- Rick Martell -- is the kind of guy who exists only in our sweetest & beachiest dreams…. sigh! 

 

Twitter: @corinnelabalme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corinnelabalme/

Website:  https//corinnelabalme.com/

 

https://www.amazon.com/Summer-People-Corinne-Labalme/dp/1509243275/r

 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61449367-summer-people

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

Corinne LaBalme will be awarding $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway