Fall #Romantic Travel, and TILL LIFE DO US PART
Author Carmen Stefanescu is taking over the blog today as part of the Fall #RomanticTravel exchange to talk about her favorite place to visit and her book, Till Life Do Us Part.
Take it away, Carmen:
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.
Or 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?
Till Life Do Us Part
Blurb
Barbara 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.
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
You can stalk the author here:
http://shadowspastmystery.blogspot.ro/
https://twitter.com/Carmen_Books
http://www.pinterest.com/carmens007/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carmen-Stefanescu-Books/499245716760283
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6624397.Carmen_Stefanescu
https://plus.google.com/117216040843648957646/posts
http://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Stefanescu/e/B00APVDGAA/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30115839-till-life-do-us-part
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16249401-shadows-of-the-past
Trailer for Till Life Do Us Part: https://youtu.be/UbuntlWISc0
Buy Links:
Short URL for Amazon: https://goo.gl/H0dqkb
B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/till-life-do-us-part-carmen-stefanescu/1123896837?ean=9781625263858
All images courtesy of Carmen Stefanescu