Laura Florand's Blog

A quick message to let you know that I will be experimenting with Instagram this year. I am going to be traveling a LOT, in fact have already started, so I wanted to play around with the multimodal storytelling possibilities and just share some of what I’m seeing. (Or as my teen said ironically when I described it that way: “You mean post?” “Yes, but it IS multimodal storytelling, and it’s really fascinating the way people make an art form out of the combination of hashtags, photos, captions.” “Yes, Mom. Again, we call that a post.”)

(I am wasted on my teen, I am telling you.)

No need at all to follow if you don’t want, as I expect this to be very clumsy as I feel my way around. And I’m going to try to make the posts also show up on FB. (I have no clue what I am doing and my snarky teen is so busy I haven’t even been able to get her to show me the difference between “post” and “add to story” yet, so bear with me.)
But my Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/laurafloran... if you want.
Happy summer everyone!

I hope all of you are doing very well, despite the very challenging two years we have had. I do hope that 2022 improves soon, despite the Omicron start. I think about readers a lot during this and the way books are one of the safe things we can curl up with and always have been, really. (And this might be why there is a definite subset of us readers who want books that are safe, too, where good things happen, and why we often follow authors we trust.)

I know I am very overdue for an update on when new books will come from me, as people often write and ask. I have been putting it off and putting it off because I just don’t have good news at this point, and I don’t know when I will.

I DID learn how to recognize my own depression and get treatment, so that was a huge step and has made an enormous difference. Worlds of difference, really, I feel like my old me. But writing became something I battered myself against every morning instead of the joy it was before, and so I had to set it aside. I found out that when I redirected all that energy into outlets where it could flourish, I could flourish, too! (And, in fact, I think I might be driving my colleagues crazy right now with all the energy I now have to create new projects and all the ways I try to loop them into them.)

So…right now writing is a bit like ground I am letting lie fallow. I can’t beat myself up about it anymore and stay healthy. But I am hoping that lying fallow will be the best thing for that ground and when it’s restored, life will flourish again there.

So that is me, and I wish I had better news for those of you wanting Antoine’s book…or any book, to help get through this time!

I hope you will let me know how you have been doing, and I hope you have been staying afloat. I know there has been so much loss and so much strain on everyone. I am thinking of you and wishing for everyone a brighter 2022!

Tous mes meilleurs voeux. All my best wishes for all of you.

BIG sale on the Chocolate books!


 


Kensington is putting THE CHOCOLATE TOUCH ebook on sale for $1.99 through October 21 and three others in the series (The Chocolate Thief, The Chocolate Kiss, and The Chocolate Heart) on sale for $3.99.


 


This is a great deal on these ebooks, the lowest Kensington has priced them since they’ve been published. Please share the word with any reading buddies you think might enjoy them!


 


Some links to THE CHOCOLATE TOUCH (Dom and Jaime’s book):


Amazon: http://lauraflorand.com/chocolatetouch_amazon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss


BN: http://lauraflorand.com/chocolatetouch_bn/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss


Kobo: http://lauraflorand.com/chocolatetouch_kobo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss


iBooks: http://lauraflorand.com/chocolatetouch_apple/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss


Google: http://lauraflorand.com/chocolatetouch_google/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

I know it’s been about a year since I posted that I was taking a year off, so I just wanted to check in.

It has actually been quite lovely, with some interesting consequences. I started getting a full night’s sleep. I didn’t have to stress as much, but I still do. (This might just be a feature of my personality.) I lost 25 pounds. (Not from a diet. It was weird. I think it was due to sleeping properly, less stress, and being able to take more time to make proper meals and not try to sugar-nibble myself through the day instead. You know I am a fan of chocolate, but there’s a difference between a good dessert and chasing a sugar high to keep going, as we all know.)

I am slowly starting to work again, but on Antoine’s book (La Vie en Roses) rather than Elias and the jewel thief’s (Paris Nights), which I had originally intended to be next. It is very hard going still, though–Antoine’s story has SO MUCH STUFF going on at once that I can’t weave it together right. So I may need to try playing with something else for a while–we will see. The other problem is that I don’t want to have to get up at four a.m. anymore! And that was when I always wrote–four to six every morning, before my daughter got up and I shifted to family care and then headed off to campus. So I’m still trying to figure out how to carve out other spaces.

I think I do better fairly removed from social media, though, so I must say that I don’t plan to be very present on it, and I’m sorry. I think I am a hermit writer and might have been better suited to an era when hermit writers were so much a given that it seemed redundant to put those two words together. It’s just very, very distracting to me, and contributes to that feeling I mentioned before, about having my soul covered in Post-It notes. I think more deeply and make better stories when I make a bit bigger of a space for those, and you know how the internet and social media just kind of nag at you all the time, trying to pull your thoughts and attention their way.

I do have some lovely photos from France and Spain to share, for those interested. (It depends on how much you enjoy seeing other people’s travel photos.) So I may try to put some of those up, but please don’t feel the need to be distracted by them, if social media is distracting for you, too!

Here’s me very happy and relaxed in the trunk of a mammoth in Barcelona last month. Barcelona is a very fun city, for those who haven’t been. My recommendation: Rent ebikes or e-scooters to get around and make sure to reserve tickets for Sagrada Familia in advance. It is absolutely worth seeing, the light is incredible, but the crowds are crazy-making even when you do have tickets in advance, so bear it in mind.

I hope you all are winding up wonderful summers and that you have been enjoying many new good authors! I have not been reading romance, but if you are open to some other genres, a few recent books I can heartily recommend: AJ Pearce’s Dear Mrs. Bird (lovely!), Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, and T Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys duology. The last two are fantasies, with a touch of romance, although the touch is quite tiny in Spinning Silver. All have great strong female leads.

What about you? What have you been doing, and reading? Any good books you would recommend? Any lovely photos of you relaxed and happy that you would like to share?

The Chocolate Temptation is getting a new look! Don’t get confused, those who’ve already read it.


 


And if you haven’t read it yet, this is a reader favorite from the Amour et Chocolat series: Patrick and Sarah’s story.







She hated him.


 


Patrick Chevalier. The charming, laid-back, golden second-in-command of the Paris pastry kitchen where Sarah worked as intern, who made everything she failed at seem so easy, and who could have every woman he winked at falling for him without even trying. She hated him, but she’d risked too much for this dream to give up on it and walk out just so he wouldn’t break her heart.


But he didn’t hate her.


 


Sarah Lin. Patrick’s serious, dark-haired American intern, who looked at him as if she could see right through him and wasn’t so impressed with what she saw. As her boss, he knew he should leave her alone. The same way he knew better than to risk his heart and gamble on love.


 


But he was never good at not going after what – or who – he wanted.


 


He could make magic out of sugar. But could he mold hate into love?


 


Amazon / BN /Kobo / iBooks: / Google




 


Please note that the print book ALSO has the new cover, so even though some sites might still show the old cover, the one you are likely to get if you order it is the new one. (Just a head’s up, since some people I know like to try to collect certain covers.)


 


I hope you enjoy the new look, and happy reading!

Rediscovering relaxation in the Outer Banks. (You can kind of forget how lovely it is to just relax away from everything! Make sure you all are giving yourselves room to breathe, too.)


 


Thank you all so much for all the support as I shift into my time away. As you know, I do have one last public commitment next Saturday, October 21 (see previous post on the MORWA workshop), so if you are in St. Louis, there is the all-day workshop and also a public signing at 5 p.m.


 


And thank you so much for the emails and reviews for A KISS IN LAVENDER! I am so happy I was able to get this book out to you before I went on writing leave, and so very happy that people could love Lucien and Elena and sink into their story.


 


People have asked if I will be much available on social media during my leave. Probably not very much, I am sorry. Right now, at least, I want a very big space of quiet. But maybe I will peek in once in a while when it starts feeling right.


 


But I will be pulling in some new experiences and thinking of new stories! Thanks so much for reading these books and for letting me know that they mean something to you.


 


I’m so very glad A KISS IN LAVENDER could be a good “send-off” until the next book.


 


Much, much happy reading, and other happy experiences, to all of you!

Here he is! Lucien Rosier is back!


 


Happy reading, everyone! I hope all of you are safe and dry after all these storms.


 


I will miss you during my year’s break, but I do hope this is a great “send-off” and that you all enjoy Lucien’s story, and that maybe some of the series can be worth a re-read in the meantime.


 


NO review copies of this book went out, so please do leave reviews where you can, if you can. They do matter, and I so much appreciate it, always.


 


HAPPY READING!


 


A hardened exile


 


It had taken Lucien Rosier fifteen years at war to rebuild himself after he lost his family. To remake himself, he had left behind even his name. Now a captain in the Foreign Legion, the last thing he wanted was to face his past. Even for her…


 


A woman longing for a home


 


Lucien Rosier had been her hero once, when everyone else had turned away. Now it was Elena Lyon’s turn to rescue him. If she could teach him to believe in love and family again, she would pay back her debts. But after a lifetime of abandonment, she wasn’t about to make the mistake of believing in love herself. Not even for him…


 


Could two broken hearts find in each other exactly what they needed to heal?


 


From international bestselling author Laura Florand, a sensual and heart-warming tale of love, family, and redemption. Explore the south of France, a world of heat and fragrance and tales as old as time, through the stories of the five Rosier cousins, and the women who win their hearts.


 


Amazon: http://Lauraflorand.com/kissinlavende...


iBooks: http://Lauraflorand.com/kissinlavende...


BN: http://Lauraflorand.com/kissinlavende...


Kobo: http://Lauraflorand.com/kissinlavende...


Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/d...

PRINT version of A KISS IN LAVENDER is now available for order, so that all my print readers should be able to order it now and get it the same time as ebook readers are able to download it Tuesday.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2j825gm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

It will be available through Barnes and Noble and other print vendors, too (like Book Depository), but there is always a short delay before it appears on BN and a long one for BD.

Note: NO review copies of this book went out. Only my editors have read it. Please do not be hurt if you had requested a review copy or as a long-time supportive blogger or a reader reviewer might normally have assumed you might get one. I hope you will enjoy discovering it at the same time as everyone else! I had to settle for what I could get done, and I did not want to delay this book until I came back from my writing sabbatical–it didn’t seem fair to all of you!

That said, if any of you can take the time to review once you read it on Amazon etc, that is wonderful and awesome and I deeply appreciate it! Reviews are crucial for authors, and I very much value them and all of you for the support, I hope I manage to make that clear.

Life just is what it is this year!

I hope you all enjoy A KISS IN LAVENDER and here’s wishing you all much happy reading this coming year!

I’ve been receiving some inquiries about my lack of presence on social media, so I wanted first of all to thank you for your concern and second of all, to let everyone know that I will be closing up shop for a while.

I have two significant things in production from which I cannot desist at this point–a talk I am doing in St. Louis in October, and, of course, Lucien’s book, which is releasing September 12! Don’t worry–it was sent into production (edits etc) months ago and will still be releasing as scheduled.

But I am otherwise on leave from writing/publishing and plan to remain so for the next year. This is why I may or may not manage to get review copies out for A KISS IN LAVENDER, although I thank everyone for your interest. I do appreciate it hugely, and please do not feel ignored. It really is me not you! And I will still try but I do not promise.

I have been working from four in the morning until ten at night most days since The Chocolate Thief came out, with the only interruptions to my regular daily routine being going out to exercise and family care, and it is time for an extended break. I think my entire soul is covered in Post-It notes, and it just needs to get uncovered. I’m not able to write anymore with that much clutter cutting off the creative air, if you know what I mean.

I hope I will be back stronger and fresher in a year or so, and in the meanwhile, I hope you will love Lucien’s book! It’s all up on Amazon, Apple, etc, and ready to download on September 12, so you do not at all have to worry that it will not come out because of this.

Thanks so much to all of you for all the support and enthusiasm these past five years. (And from some of you even longer, since way back when Blame It on Paris came out!) It has been a wonder and a joy, and I am thankful for every bit of it.

 

Coming September 12, the fourth book in the Vie en Roses series: A KISS IN LAVENDER.

A hardened exile

It had taken Lucien Rosier fifteen years at war to rebuild himself after he lost his family. To remake himself, he had left behind even his name. Now a captain in the Foreign Legion, the last thing he wanted was to face his past. Even for her…

A woman longing for a home

Lucien Rosier had been her hero once, when everyone else had turned away. Now it was Elena Lyon’s turn to rescue him. If she could teach him to believe in love and family again, she would pay back her debts. But after a lifetime of abandonment, she wasn’t about to make the mistake of believing in love herself. Not even for him…

Could two broken hearts find in each other exactly what they needed to heal?

From international bestselling author Laura Florand, a sensual and heart-warming tale of love, family, and redemption. Explore the south of France, a world of heat and fragrance and tales as old as time, through the stories of the five Rosier cousins, and the women who win their hearts.

Preorder now!

 Amazon / Nook / Kobo / iBooks

(Print editions will be available on release day but are not available for preorder.)

 

Save

Save

Save