Saturday, March 31, 2018

Grand Finale For Prince Of Granola Book Tour

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Grand Finale for
Prince of Granola
By L.A. Sartor

We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops
you can see snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch - Author Interview

What do you hope readers take with them after they’ve read it?

That an adverse past event doesn’t have to always color your future in a negative way. That love is a great healer and that love eventually wins, if you let it. That’s why we read romances. For that emotionally satisfying Happily Ever After scene.

Because I truly believe an HEA is what we all want. And I believe people can change for the better. That hanging on to old anger, hurts, and slights aren’t helping you move into a healthier place where you be open to finding happiness and love. Wow, that was a bit deep, but that’s what I think. What about you? Too much moonbeams and sunshine?

Guess what character says that?


“I think you’re making a mistake. There is nothing wrong with the chocolate. We’re in a crowded market—it’ll take some time to build a following. This isn’t a problem like last year’s issue.”

The issue Melissa so coyly referred to was the launch of their new soy milk flavor that had garnered scathing reviews. A first for Prince Organics. And the last. He’d admitted publicly that the fault was his, and it was. He’d been too busy and allowed the sourcing of the flavoring to be less than consistent.

He’d delegated.

Melissa Fontaine, his director of marketing, had objected to the coconut-soy launch, and she’d been right.

This time she was wrong.


“So, as you make your way in the world, don’t be a part of the status quo …”

Drew Hopkins tuned out the commencement speaker’s voice as a flock of swallows flew overhead at Stanford’s stadium.

She envied their freedom on this warm June morning, wishing she had the ability to fly away from all the responsibilities that kept her mired in the morass of financial statements and sales charts that had been her life for the past fourteen years at HH Chocolate. She was part of the speaker’s status quo, and not by her own choosing.


"I love visiting other places by reading a great story with an awesome setting such as this one. Once I started reading I couldn't put the book down...

I highly recommend this book to other readers. It has a great story line, romance and plenty of drama to keep you interested."

Colorimetry - Excerpt

It has to. Maria must come back to me. She must understand that this is my way of saying I was a fool. I’m giving up my life’s work to get my family back again. It will be worth the loss to regain the love. Señor Cam turned away from the view of his harvest’s bounty to look at his sister, wishing she’d forgive him as well. At fifty years of age, only the smallest of lines graced the corners of her eyes. Her profile was strong, her nose straight, her teeth even and white. As she turned toward him, obviously feeling his stare, her brow knitted together over her deep brown eyes.

Isabelle was a lovely if somewhat matriarchal woman who deserved love and a family of her own. Perhaps at her age a family was too much to ask for, although she cared deeply for little Armando. But she wasn’t too old for love.

She’d lost one love but surely there was another man she could love as much as she’d loved her Paolo.


“Here for surfing?”

She glanced down at her linen capris, then back up to him with what she knew was a wry expression twisting her lips. She didn’t look like she was here for surfing, did she? Her pants, a once-crisp black big shirt and her favorite espadrilles didn’t feel like surfer attire to her. But then she’d never really been around surfers except those seen at the cinema, so what did she know?

Anyway, surfing wasn’t her adrenaline fix. Scuba and skydiving were her choices for physical and mental challenges. “Ah, no.”

He raised his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. “High-end clothes don’t automatically rule you out of wanting to ride the waves. We get all types of people in all sorts of clothes. You come here one kind of person and leave another. Promise.”


Drew knew she wasn’t the only CEO invited to the sale of the plantation. But seeing Robert Prince dressed so casually in shorts and a dark green polo shirt, looking for all the world like he belonged here, created an anxious knot in her throat.

The fact that his jaw appeared to be tightly clenched and his brown eyes burned with competitiveness only increased her heartburn.

Drew fought to keep her nerves under control as she extended her hand to the señor, a man she’d guess to be in his midsixties, shorter than either herself or Robert. A wide smile creased his deeply tanned and weathered face. Yet his brown eyes startled her as she glimpsed a quickly hidden sadness deep within his gaze.


Robert had planned well, arriving in San Jose yesterday and driving over the old highway today, taking his time, getting the feel of the area. But the older compact car had no air conditioning and the humidity must be a hundred and ten percent, far greater than the thirty percent he was used to in Boulder, Colorado.

Now, nearing the noon deadline, sitting in the deep shade on Señor Camerillo’s covered veranda, Robert gratefully accepted the cold coffee the señor’s sister handed him. The glass sweated, sending rivulets of moisture down its sides. It took all of Robert’s self-control not to press the glass against his temple and cool off a bit more, but as his host looked totally unaffected by the weather, Robert took his cue from him.

He tried to smile his thanks at Isabelle Camerillo, but she turned to go back inside the villa as soon as she’d handed him the glass. It didn’t take a genius to realize that for some reason the woman disapproved of his being here.

Wishful Endings - Excerpt

“Come out to the terraza when you’re ready,” the older woman suggested and left the room.

Unable to wait another minute to shed the sweltering jumpsuit, Drew entered the bathroom, automatically closing the adjoining door.

Adjoining? No way.

She reopened the door a crack, wide enough to glimpse an opened suitcase on the bed. It had to be RP’s.

Her day just got considerably worse.


Robert watched as Drew, garbed in that ridiculous jumpsuit, followed Isabelle up the steps to the hacienda. Just before disappearing into the house, his nemesis hesitated, turned, and gave him a brief, provoking smile.

The furrows on his brow deepened. If this continued for four days, he’d have a permanent set of ridges.

How was it that the one person he avoided whenever possible was here now, after the same plantation?

It was ridiculous that Señor Camerillo would think of selling his rare cacao beans to HH Chocolate. They weren’t in the same league as Prince Organics. Or for that matter, any other gourmet chocolate company.

And don't forget to enter the giveaway below, if you haven't already...

Prince of Granola
(Plantation of White Treasure #1)

by L.A. Sartor
Contemporary Romance
ebook, 229 pages
March 25th 2018

Cacao – long a symbol of wealth, love, and power – now the center of a powerful rivalry.

The fabled Costa Rican Plantation of White Treasure, source of the rarest form of the cacao bean, is up for sale. Though two fierce competitors have been invited to bid on it, only one can win.

For Drew Hopkins, purchasing the plantation is the perfect solution to escape a life she never wanted.

For Robert Prince, it’s the perfect route to revenge.

Drew, the founder’s daughter and now CEO of HH Chocolate, heads a company whose sales are waning. Robert, CEO of Prince Organics, a man driven by excellence, despises everything and everyone labeled Hopkins.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Will their forced proximity at the lush and exotic plantation rekindle old flames or will it fan the fires of antagonism?

About the Author

I started writing as a child, really. A few things happened on the way to becoming a published author … a junior high school teacher who told me I couldn’t write because I didn’t want to study … urk … grammar. I went to college, moved a few times, came home and found the love of my life (that is another novel worthy story, but for later), and got married.

We were super busy with our respective careers, mine a custom jewelry business with my mom, who was also teaching metalsmithing at the time, and my husband a crazy law career. We had two fur babies, Fudge (and briefly her brother Smudge, but sadly he didn’t live very long) and Two. Our cats would sleep with us and when they’d stretch out to their full length, we’d end up sleeping on the edge of the mattress.

I have always been a voracious reader and one night after throwing a particularly bad book at the wall (even putting a small ding in said wall), I realized that I could do better. I told my husband, and he said go for it. I called Mom and she revealed the junior high teacher story and she told I’d been writing all the time up to that point.

That blew me away. I didn’t remember any of it. But I started writing again, nearly the next day, pen and paper, learning, making mistakes, winning contests, nearly getting an agent, becoming disenchanted with the publishing industry and moving away from novel writing to screenwriting, getting a contract for a script and doing really well in screenwriting contests.

But none of that was making me much money. After numerous scary robbery drills I wanted to move away from my bank job (yes, this is many years later and a lot of stuff in between) and write full time for the green stuff.

My husband told me repeatedly that independent publishing was becoming a valid way to publish a novel and people were making big dollars. I didn’t believe him even after he showed me several Wall Street Journal articles. I thought indie meant vanity press.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I started pursuing this direction seriously, retired from the bank and hit the keyboard, learned a litany of new things and published my first novel. My second book became a bestseller, and while I’m not rolling in dough, I’m absolutely on the right course in my life.

So if you have a dream, pursue it as hard as you can. Life can get in the way, but never give up.

Please come visit me at www.lasartor.com, see my books, some pictures, some screenplays and sign up for my mailing list. I have a gift I’ve specifically created for my new email subscribers. And remember, you can email me at Leslie@LeslieSartor.com.



US PRIZE PACK: $25 Amazon Gift Card and book one in the Star Light, Star Bright Series, BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT (winner has choice of print or ebook)

INT PRIZE PACK: $25 Amazon eGift Card and an ebook of book one in the Star Light, Star Bright Series, BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT

- Ends April 4th

Friday, March 30, 2018

Class Flash Featuring Classes From Laurie Schnebly Campbell

As always, I'm thrilled you bring you Laurie's classes. She rocks. 

onlineFROM PLOT TO FINISH
(April 9-20writeruniv.wordpress.com/classes
            A continuation of the March process open solely to people who've taken PVM online or in person at some point, this no-more-than-30-people group gets you plotting a brand new or already-begun book (using your completed 14-point worksheet) from start to finish. No need to prepare a new story idea, character bios, goal charts or anything else, because you'll see how to plot an entire book -- and actually have it ready to type -- by the end of this hands-on workshop.

blogYOU'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY
(April 20) 
writersinthestormblog.com
            Some people just strike sparks. How can that work for your book?

online: RELATIONSHIPS BY ARISTOTLE: MYERS-BRIGGS
(May 7-18
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/AriRel/info
            Myers-Briggs relationships haven't changed much since the days of ancient Greece. Aristotle identified personality types for different types of people who, even though their descriptive names have changed, still embody those who wind up in your novel. Naturally, each type has intriguing and attractive elements that make readers want to know this person, as well as some problematic issues that'll keep the conflict coming...and going...and coming...

blogPERFECT PITCH
(May 16
romanceuniversity.org
            Musicians envy people with that gift, but it's equally important for writers.

blogSELLING WITHOUT BRAGGING
(May 30
seekerville.blogspot.com
            How can you interest people in your work without being all Me-Me-Me?

onlinePERFECTING YOUR PITCH
(June 3-14) 
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PerPitch/info
            Are you pitching your work at a conference? In an email? By phone, by letter, by chance if you run into someone browsing for a good book? The techniques will be slightly different for each situation -- and while writers tend to feel more anxiety when pitching face-to-face, it's useful to have a plan of action for every possible scenario. Whether you're pitching an agent, editor, interviewer, publisher or regular reader, learn how to make it a good experience for you both!



Laurie's Bio:
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves giving workshops for writer groups about "Psychology for Creating Characters," "Making Rejection WORK For You," "Building A Happy Relationship For Your Characters (And Yourself)" and other issues that draw on her background as a counseling therapist and romance writer.

In fact, she chose her website (www.BookLaurie.com) so people would find it easy to Book Laurie for programs.

But giving workshops -- for students from London and Los Angeles to New Zealand and New York -- is just one of her interests. During weekdays, she writes and produces videos, brochures and commercials (some of which feature her voice) for a Phoenix advertising agency. For several years she would turn off her computer every day at five o'clock, wait thirty seconds, turn it on again and start writing romance.

It finally paid off. Her first novel was nominated by Romantic Times as the year's "Best First Series Romance," and her second beat out Nora Roberts for "Best Special Edition of the Year." But between those two successes came a three-year dry spell, during which Laurie discovered that selling a first book doesn't guarantee ongoing success.

"What got me through that period," she says, "was realizing that the real fun of writing a romance is the actual writing. Selling is wonderful, sure, but nothing compares to the absolute, primal joy of sitting at the computer and making a scene unfold and thinking 'Wow! Yes! This is great!'"

After six books for Special Edition, she turned her attention to writing non-fiction -- using her research into the nine personality types to help writers create plausible, likable people with realistic flaws. Her other favorite activities include playing with her husband and son, recording for the blind, counseling at a mental health center, traveling to Sedona (the Arizona red-rock town named for her great-grandmother, Sedona Schnebly) and working with other writers.

"People ask how I find time to do all that," Laurie says, "and I tell them it's easy. I never clean my house!"

Laurie welcomes email from readers—send her a "Hello!"





Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Prince Of Granola Book Tour and Rafflecopter


I decided to try something new to promote the launch of my latest book, Prince Of Granola and used Prism Book Tours and a rafflecopter Prism created to draw in new readers that will hopefully turn into fans.


 


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Book Tour Launch for
Prince of Granola
By L.A. Sartor

Author Interview

What is your motivation behind PRINCE OF GRANOLA? Why did you want to write it?

Chocolate was the motivation. Specifically, dark chocolate.

Kidding, sort of. I watched an Anthony Bourdain show about a rare white cacao bean and the struggle to find it. Bingo. A novel seed was planted.

Then what happens you ask? You find the story. My story didn’t start out as a reunion story, but sure ended up that way. And I think it’s partly because recently there has been all sorts these types of stories on the news, in the paper, and on social media.

Most of these new stories have satisfying endings. But as a writer, you have to ask yourself the next question. WHAT IF? So, what if this story wasn’t a happy reunion? Or at least didn’t begin that way? Ah, now you have a story that can be written. All because of that first glimpse of finding that rare white cacao.

I wanted to write Prince of Granola because it’s about healing old wounds. We’ve all been through stretches of rough emotional times, some of our making, and some because of other people’s actions. And we carry those wounds with us, sometimes forever.

But occasionally, a lightbulb goes off, and if we’re open to whatever epiphany hit us, we can approach the entire situation in a new light. Other times it takes a sledgehammer to make a person realize whatever happened is in the past and it’s more important to move forward in the relationship and be in the present than live in old hurts.

Can you guess which character takes each path?

What do you hope readers take with them after they’ve read it?

That an adverse past event doesn’t have to always color your future in a negative way. That love is a great healer and that love eventually wins, if you let it. That’s why we read romances. For that emotionally satisfying Happily Ever After scene.

Because I truly believe an HEA is what we all want. And I believe people can change for the better. That hanging on to old anger, hurts, and slights aren’t helping you move into a healthier place where you be open to finding happiness and love. Wow, that was a bit deep, but that’s what I think. What about you? Too much moonbeams and sunshine?

Guess what character says that?

Do you have a favorite scene that you can share with us?

Only one? Kidding aside, I think one of my favorites is Drew and Robert’s first walk up to the waterfall. On the damp and leaf covered path, Drew is “looking around with fascination at the intense green of plants and trees that seemed prehistoric in their size and shape, some with deeply ridged bark and even some with ominous curled leaves. A scent of something floral highlighted the subtle dankness of rotting timber and foliage. There was no doubt she was out of her element. But the newness of the experience rushed through her, filling her with a joy she hadn’t experienced in years.” In this scene Drew and Robert let their guard down long enough for us to learn about their past, and what they miss in each other and in their current life.

To me, it brought the conflict into sharper focus, and I hope my readers will wonder how on earth they’re ever going to regain that sense of kinship.

If you could sum the book up in one sentence, what would you say?

The past shapes the future, ll Drew and Robert let it destroy theirs, or use it to build a new partnership?

Share something about you that is unique - maybe about how/where you write... or favorite snack foods?

Unique, huh? I have a horrible time writing without a view. Facing a wall creates an internal wall that seems to block my flow. Sure, I can write for a short period of time with no view, but I really need natural light and an outdoor scene in front of me. When the weather is warm, I love to write outside on my laptop, but as I live in Colorado and we have a real winter, I can’t do any writing outside in the cold. 😊 However, my office has a view of the mountains all year ‘round so I’m never without scenery. Perfect. Especially with a bite of dark chocolate within an easy reach.


About the Author

I started writing as a child, really. A few things happened on the way to becoming a published author … a junior high school teacher who told me I couldn’t write because I didn’t want to study … urk … grammar. I went to college, moved a few times, came home and found the love of my life (that is another novel worthy story, but for later), and got married.

We were super busy with our respective careers, mine a custom jewelry business with my mom, who was also teaching metalsmithing at the time, and my husband a crazy law career. We had two fur babies, Fudge (and briefly her brother Smudge, but sadly he didn’t live very long) and Two. Our cats would sleep with us and when they’d stretch out to their full length, we’d end up sleeping on the edge of the mattress.

I have always been a voracious reader and one night after throwing a particularly bad book at the wall (even putting a small ding in said wall), I realized that I could do better. I told my husband, and he said go for it. I called Mom and she revealed the junior high teacher story and she told I’d been writing all the time up to that point.

That blew me away. I didn’t remember any of it. But I started writing again, nearly the next day, pen and paper, learning, making mistakes, winning contests, nearly getting an agent, becoming disenchanted with the publishing industry and moving away from novel writing to screenwriting, getting a contract for a script and doing really well in screenwriting contests.

But none of that was making me much money. After numerous scary robbery drills I wanted to move away from my bank job (yes, this is many years later and a lot of stuff in between) and write full time for the green stuff.

My husband told me repeatedly that independent publishing was becoming a valid way to publish a novel and people were making big dollars. I didn’t believe him even after he showed me several Wall Street Journal articles. I thought indie meant vanity press.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I started pursuing this direction seriously, retired from the bank and hit the keyboard, learned a litany of new things and published my first novel. My second book became a bestseller, and while I’m not rolling in dough, I’m absolutely on the right course in my life.

So if you have a dream, pursue it as hard as you can. Life can get in the way, but never give up.

Please come visit me at www.lasartor.com, see my books, some pictures, some screenplays and sign up for my mailing list. I have a gift I’ve specifically created for my new email subscribers. And remember, you can email me at Leslie@LeslieSartor.com.


US PRIZE PACK: $25 Amazon Gift Card and book one in the Star Light, Star Bright Series, BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT (winner has choice of print or ebook)

INT PRIZE PACK: $25 Amazon eGift Card and an ebook of book one in the Star Light, Star Bright Series, BE MINE THIS CHRISTMAS NIGHT

- Ends April 4th



Monday, March 26, 2018

Five Secrets With Multi-Published Author Amanda Cabot & Her Latest Release ~ A Borrowed Dream

 
I'm so pleased Amanda Cabot is with us again. She's written...well...a lot of books, you'll find out how many in her post below.  And I love how she chooses her character's names.  Read on.

From the time I was seven, I dreamt of being a writer.  You know how dreams are – not all of them come true, but that one did.  At current count I have more than thirty novels, eight novellas, four technical books, and dozens of technical articles that I describe as cures for insomnia to my credit.  


For more years than I’m going to admit I was a director of Information Technology for a major multinational corporation, a job that included collecting a gazillion – well, maybe a few less than that – frequent flyer miles, spending countless nights in hotels, and eating so many restaurant meals that fine dining quickly lost its appeal.  Now I’m a fulltime writer of Christian romances, living happily ever after with my husband in Wyoming.  
  
Hi, Amanda, please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about A Borrowed Dream but will after today!

1) A Borrowed Dream was not my working title for this book.  I’d called it Stolen Dreams, but after the titling committee decided that the first book in the series should be named A Stolen Heart, it was obvious there would be no more stealing in this trilogy.  Instead, we’re borrowing. 


2) When one of my writer friends saw the draft of the cover art, she pointed out that the books looked like antiques, not ones that a schoolteacher would be using for her classes.  I agreed and added a couple paragraphs here and there in the book to explain why Catherine was carrying those particular books.

3)   Do you ever wonder how an author chooses characters’ names?  The villain in A Borrowed Dream, Sherman Enright, got his name from two distinctly not villainous characters in old TV shows.  Sherman was a secondary character in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and Enright was the amiable sergeant in McMillan and Wife.

4) A music box plays a small but key role in this story.  Why a music box?  Why not?  After all, who doesn’t love music boxes?

5)   A Borrowed Dream is my thirty-fifth novel.

Blurb :
There is no such thing as an impossible dream . . .

Catherine Whitfield is sure that she will never again be able to trust anyone in the medical profession after the local doctor’s treatments killed her mother. Despite her loneliness and her broken heart, she carries bravely on as Cimarron Creek’s dutiful schoolteacher, resigned to a life where dreams rarely come true.

Austin Goddard is a newcomer to Cimarron Creek. Posing as a rancher, he fled to Texas to protect his daughter from a dangerous criminal. He’s managed to keep his past as a surgeon a secret. But when Catherine Whitfield captures his heart, he wonders how long he will be able to keep up the charade.

With a deft hand, Amanda Cabot teases out the strands of love, deception, and redemption in this charming tale of dreams deferred and hopes becoming reality.

Buy:

Find Amanda:
Website | Facebook  | Twitter | Blog




Sunday, March 25, 2018

New Release By Me, L.A. Sartor ~ Prince of Granola


I'm so excited to announce the release of my 7th book, Prince Of Granola.

Cacao – long a symbol of wealth, love, and power – now the center of a powerful rivalry.

The fabled Costa Rican Plantation of White Treasure, source of the rarest form of the cacao bean, is up for sale.

Though two fierce competitors have been invited to bid on it, only one can win.

For Drew Hopkins, purchasing the plantation is the perfect solution to escape a life she never wanted.

For Robert Prince, it’s the perfect route to revenge.

Drew, the founder’s daughter and now CEO of HH Chocolate, heads a company whose sales are waning.  Robert, CEO of Prince Organics, a man driven by excellence, despises everything and everyone labeled Hopkins.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Will their forced proximity at the lush and exotic plantation rekindle old flames or will it fan the fires of antagonism? 


And if you'd like to be a part of my mailing list, I send out a newsletter about 4 times a year filled with sales, new releases and freebies!! Please sign up here.