This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the banner to visit other stops on this tour.
BLURB
When Rome’s loveliest rose and Venice’s fiercest lion team up to win back the love of their respective spouses-to-be, the Serene Republic may expect a hilarious romp – and perhaps the most torrid love story to have ever bedazzled its gilded canals…
Isabella discovers her fiancé is a cheat, her bride dream a lie. Her future husband, the man she loves with all her heart is flirting in… Brando’s fiancée’s arms!
Shock. Disappointment. Anguish. Fear for her future. The rascal deserves a lesson he will not forget, because a princess of Rome doesn’t bow out so easily. Brando Loredan will not be that hard to convince for he is jealous, angry and vindictive enough to get some brilliant idea. So she joins forces with him to get back her fiancé and put together the little dream back on track. But while trying and insisting on regaining the dream, she discovers a new path of light and love. It is not a lie, like the first dream, but it may be even harder to win.
Unmask My Heart is a story of love and sweet revenge set in sparkling, sumptuous Casanova’s Venice where everything is possible and sins are concealed behind a mask.
GUEST POST
What inspired me to write Unmask My Heart? Venice,
of course.
I have always loved Venice, I need it, it's almost
a physical necessity. That's why I visit the city at least twice a year.
So it seemed to me logical to set my novel in Venice.
Venice recalls a glorious past, luxury, seduction,
sin, gambling, passion, but also maneuvering, treasons.
In short, all the elements for a love story were there.
All I wanted was a strong story, a sexy romp and I wanted the town to
be a strong character as well as my protagonists. I went to Venice several
times during the writing process because I wanted the city to talk to
me.
I wanted my hero to be Venetian, someone important
for the Serene Republic.
Who better than a soldier willing to risk his life
for it? But I didn't want simply soldier, I wanted him to be much more
than that. My hero must be someone capable of being utterly ferocious,
a killer.
I wanted a man unhappy with his life, a cadet son
disregarded by his own family. Gloomy, tough, tormented, cruel,
godlike handsome, smart, loyal. The best and the worst at the same time.
During a road trip around Tuscany, Isabella came to
me in my imagination. A spoiled princess, capricious, used to have everything
the exact moment she demanded it, yet naive, romantic, brave and ...
in love with another man.
But Isabella isn't only that. She also harbors a fear she can't speak about. It
affects all her life and decisions and she thinks she can't break free.
I had my characters, now I needed a story. I found
it again in Tuscany, in my beach house. With a cup of cinnamon tea and
a notebook in my hands, the story came definitely to me. I wrote the
synopsis down in a night and two days later I returned to Rome, ready
to start writing.
EXCERPT
Everything happened at once. Giulia lost her balance, arched backward, and fell into the canal.
The gondola capsized and Isabella fell in as well. She gasped trying to keep afloat but her heavy dress dragged her down. She floundered about in order to reach the surface. There was no way to get out of her dress and her lungs burned from a lack of air. She looked up at the surface where indefinite, dark shapes moved against the light. She could no longer hold her breath. This was it. She closed her eyes and gave up her will to fight death.
Isabella felt herself being grabbed by the waist and hauled to the surface. A violent coughing fit shook her and her lungs burned with the sudden influx of air.
Hands. On her arms, chest, neck, face. Isabella opened her eyes and met Brando’s anxious gaze. His drenched locks dripped water onto her breast. He smiled at her. She was safe and sound.
“You scared me, lady. Are you alright?” Brando caressed her face and wiped away wet tendrils from her cheeks.
Isabella nodded.
Brando helped her to sit. It was in that moment that she saw her husband-to-be sitting on the dock on the opposite side of the canal. He was next to Giulia. Both were wet. Leonardo had rushed to the alley cat’s side and left Isabella to die.
Isabella suddenly felt old and tired. She took Brando’s hand in hers. “Thank you…Lion.”
He kissed her hand and hugged her. “No need to thank me.”
“I’m really sorry you had to witness such a scene,” Isabella said in a whisper.
Brando looked at her open-mouthed. “I am the one who hoped to spare you this humiliation.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Arianna Giorgi is a historical romance author and a journalist, a college graduate and an avid reader. She makes her home halfway between the Vatican City and the picturesque old quarter of Trastevere at the heart of the city of Rome in Italy, where Julius Caesar kept an apartment as a young man about town and from where a long list of artists gave the world some of its greatest masterpieces.
.jpg)
Independent and curious, Arianna has travelled extensively around the globe, from America to Africa and back to Europe. Frankly, she never misses a chance to pack her bags and jump on a plane. Driven by a passion for European history and art, she wanders and investigates every hidden corner of the Old Continent, armed with a camera and a notebook, and looking for intriguing stories and settings for her books.
She loves history, astrology, gourmet cooking, and cats. She lives with her husband, her beautiful daughters and her red cat, surrounded by her own cultivated flowers and the magical grandeur of the Eternal City.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arianna-Giorgi/252501224952593
Amazon Author: http://www.amazon.com/Arianna-Giorgi/e/B00LT8GI7G
Amazon Book: http://www.amazon.com/Unmask-Heart-Lions-Venice-Book-ebook/dp/B00N7AW9BS/ref=la_B00LT8GI7G_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412275144&sr=1-1
GIVEAWAY
Ariana will be awarding an original handmade Venetian mask from Venice to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and Venetian gadgets to two randomly drawn hosts.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The excerpt sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteI love your bio Arianna. It sounds wonderful.
ReplyDelete