Sunday Spotlight is a feature we’re running in 2016. Each week, we will spotlight a release we’re excited about. We’ll be posting exclusive excerpts and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂
I’m a huge fangirl for contemporary romances and I really enjoy the romances that take place in far away places from me. Italy is pretty far and I’m so looking forward to digging into Roman Crazy for some vicarious living. 🙂
Roman Crazy by Alice Clayton & Nina Bocci
Series: Broads Abroad #1
Releases on September 13, 2016 by Gallery Books
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Avery Bardot steps off the plane in Rome, looking for a fresh start. She’s left behind a soon-to-be ex-husband in Boston and plans to spend the summer with her best friend Daisy, licking her wounds—and perhaps a gelato or two. But when her American-expat friend throws her a welcome party on her first night, Avery’s thrown for a loop when she sees a man she never thought she’d see again: Italian architect Marcello Bianchi.
Marcello was the man—the one who got away. And now her past is colliding with her present, a present where she should be mourning the loss of her marriage and—hey, that fettuccine is delicious! And so is Marcello…
Slipping easily into the good life of summertime in Rome, Avery spends her days exploring a city that makes art historians swoon, and her nights swooning over her unexpected what was old is new again romance. It’s heady, it’s fevered, it’s wanton, and it’s crazy. But could this really be her new life? Or is it just a temporary reprieve before returning to the land of twin-set cardigans and crustless sandwiches?
A celebration of great friendship, passionate romance, and wonderful food, Roman Crazy is a lighthearted story of second chances and living life to the fullest.
Let’s get to know our main character, shall we?
Excerpt
I’d scratched out a few drawings with Daisy, but I wasn’t thinking about what I was drawing; I’d just been doodling. Here, I was putting so much behind it my fingers froze around the pastel. Pressure was always something that I succumbed to too easily.
Along the square’s border I saw a group of people setting up easels, stools, and canvases, and my heart began racing and my fingers started twitching. They were clearly an organized class. Could I join them? Soon . . . baby steps.
Once they were arranged, they sat and began painting the landscape just beyond the square.
I was lost within moments, watching them work. My fingers gripped the pastel, and with one stroke down the page, I smiled. From there it wasn’t smooth sailing, but it was a start.
Before I realized it, I had lost thirty minutes. Shaking my head, I stood, stretching my limbs and knocking off the dust that had collected on my lap.
It wasn’t my finest work, but I was damn proud of it. The colors of the apples were captured, the farmer’s charming, weathered face and hands were rough, but I was cutting myself some slack. This was the first effort, but definitely not the last.
Tucking everything back into the bag, I wandered over to the group and eyed each canvas. They were good, but they all looked the same: a beautiful Roman landscape. The only varying details were how many flowers they used or the steadiness of their hands on the fine line details.
Except one. An older gentleman toward the end of the line hadn’t filled his landscape with the traditional reds, oranges, and yellows of Tuscany. He had painted the night sky. It was rich and haunting with the navy-gray base and stunning charcoal accents. The only swipe of brightness came from a building with a single lit window. Inside, a sultry-shaped silhouette gazed out over Rome.
I watched him finish it before he packed up his things and walked away, leaving the painting on the easel.
“Sir?” I called out after him.
One of the painters tapped me on the shoulder. “He comes every week,” she explained in broken English. “He always leave them.” She gently picked up the painting and held it out to me. “You take.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, watching the others pack up their things.
“Yes, enjoy. You come next week, yes?” she said, pointing to the pastel chalk dust on my clothing. She smiled, pushing the canvas toward me. “Next week.”
With a parting wave, she disappeared into the crowd leaving me with the painting.
I carried it home, staring at it most of the way.
She’s an artist and from the brief excerpt, she seems interesting. I’m in!
Giveaway: We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.
Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!
About the Authors
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Nina Bocci is a novelist, publicist, eternal optimist, unabashed lipgloss enthusiast, constant apologist, and a hopeless romanticist. She has too many college degrees that she’s not using, and a Lego addiction that she blames on her son.
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ALICE CLAYTON worked in the cosmetics industry for over a decade before picking up a pen (read laptop).
She enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up, and finally convinced her long-time boyfriend to marry her.
Now, about that Bernese Mountain dog…