In my latest contemporary
romance, A PARIS FAIRY TALE, which was released by Choc Lit in July, the
heroine Aurora Black is a paleographer hired by a Paris auction house to value
an ancient illuminated manuscript. She has to work with daredevil journalist
Cédric Castel to unravel the mysteries surrounding the manuscript.
Although the story is mostly
set in Paris, Aurora and Cédric travel to Turin and they also visit a chateau
in the Massif Central. The inspiration for the chateau was a wonderful place I
visited during a recent holiday in Auvergne. Isn't this castle beautiful?
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| Chateau de Chareil-Cintrat, Auvergne, France |
(Excerpt from Chapter Three – A PARIS FAIRY TALE)
‘I’ll be fine here,
Jérôme. Merci et bonsoir.’ Aurora shut the passenger door and
watched the black Lexus speed away. The tyres splashed into puddles, and
the tail lights soon disappeared in the line of traffic on Boulevard
Saint-Germain, still busy despite the late hour.
The
rain had stopped, and the wet pavements glistened and reflected kaleidoscopes
of neon lights of the district’s many bars and restaurants. In fact, Papa
Louis, the jazz club Cédric Castel had mentioned earlier, was only a few
streets away – at least that’s what Jérôme had said as he drove her back from
Neuilly.
Why
was she even thinking about Castel? The man was smug and obnoxious – the
archetype of the pushy journalist, and it seemed that she was stuck with
him. What could Florent Maupas be thinking of, allowing him to shadow her
as she worked on the manuscript? It would be impossible to concentrate with
him at her side, watching, assessing, judging – waiting no doubt for her to
make a mistake, and confirm what he already believed: that she had only been
offered the job because she was Augustus Black’s granddaughter.
She
pushed back a feeling of unease. The thing was, he may well be
right. Once again, Augustus’s formidable shadow stretched over Aurora.
Trying
to ignore the pain in her foot, she turned into a side street and hobbled
across the tiny Furstemberg Square where trees created pools of shadows around
an old-fashioned cast iron lamp post.
This
was one of her favourite places in Paris. Centuries before, the artists
and craftsmen and women she so admired had walked along the same streets on
their way to purchase paints or pigments from the apothecary shops in the Ile
de la Cité, or sheets of vellum from the tanners in nearby rue de la
Parchimenerie, or to visit the libraires who commissioned
their work. Perhaps they still haunted these narrow streets, and watched
over her right now…
The
thought of walking among ghosts made her smile as she strode into the narrow
Impasse Fleury leading to the apart-hotel Florent Maupas’s secretary had booked
for her.
As
she reached out to push open the side panel of the porte cochère, a
gust of wind rustled through the branches of the square’s Paulownia
trees. The light from the old-fashioned lamp post flickered and the
darkness filling the alleyway grew thicker. Uneasy, Aurora glanced over
her shoulder. A large shadow appeared to detach itself from the wall and
move towards her.
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| Photo courtesy of Pixabay |
Is Paris the city of happily ever afters?
Workaholic art
historian Aurora Black doesn’t have time for fairy tales or Prince Charmings,
even in the most romantic city in the world. She has recently been hired by a
Parisian auction house for a job that could make or break her career.
Unfortunately, daredevil journalist Cédric Castel seems intent on disrupting
Aurora’s routine.
As Aurora and
Cédric embark on a journey across France, they get more than they bargained for
as they find themselves battling rogue antiques dealers and personal demons,
not to mention a growing attraction to each other.
But with the help
of a fairy godmother or two, could they both find their happily ever afters?
A PARIS FAIRY TALE is available from Amazon as an ebook
and audiobook
To read more extracts from stories that will give
you a taste for travel, please visit:
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1GK
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1GK
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Rhobin L Courtright http://www.rhobincourtright.com
