Yes, I’ve been battling with finding a cover for A Piece of My Heart that I love. And here it is!
Cover Overhaul
Author: Cindi Page
Meet Love at Last Author Dorothy Ewels
The romance writing community in South Africa (ROSA) is an intimate, inclusive open sharing and learning one. The Cape Town chapter started getting together between conferences and it was in this context that I met Dorothy two years ago.
At the time she was writing but was not yet published – so I am thrilled today to be interviewing her on my blog as a published author and introducing her debut novel Love at Last.
(As I’m in England, we did a loo-ong Whatsapp call – it was great!)
How does it feel to finally have your first book baby out in the world?
I’m excited, nervous – there’s a moment where you ask yourself: what have done?? You always hope it will be well received – and I’m blown away with the reviews and feedback so far.
What is Love at Last about – in one sentence?
It’s all bout heartbreak, finding love and… sex scenes!
What has been the best part of the publishing journey so far?
Good question, I think – how well its been received. You hope that what you write will gel with readers. That’s been awesome. The moment the book went live – was quite a moment.
What has been the worst?
Marketing – it’s not my strong point. Having to put myself out there.
This is my favourite review on Amazon…
I read this to her:
This is the first book that I have read by Dorothy. I loved it. There was suspense, heart wrenching moments, romance and love. The beginning has you gripped wanting to know who and what is going to happen. I absolutely love Adam. From the very beginning he is caring and sweet. Willow suffers something no one should ever go through. But she ends up with a little happiness. Adam and Willow meet up 4 years after first meeting and things are still strong between them. But will they get through the past that is still after Willow. This was a wonderful written book from beginning to end. Absolutely loved the storyline and the characters. Willow was so strong through everything no matter how much she wanted to break down. I highly recommend reading this one.
How does that make you feel?
Wow – oh wow. Tearful… its just amazing when readers get it.
What you can expect from Love at Last
A romance that offers a complex heroine – and a second chance at love.
All I can say is – go buy this book! Give a local author some love. BUY IT HERE.
New Year, New Look
Since January was my “free trial month” to 2019, I only really started working on my goals in February. And one of the things I really wanted to get to was updating the cover of “A Piece of My Heart”. Although 2016, when the book was first published, wasn’t so long ago, I have, of late, started feeling disconnected from the previous cover.
So here it is! The new cover.
A Piece of My Heart is still permanently FREE on Amazon – so go and get it! I
Here’s wishing you a fabulous start to 2019!
Life’s a beach…Ride the waves!
A Piece of My Heart went on holiday to the Maldives, and that makes me both happy and very jelly!
Personal update
I’ve been quiet for some months because we moved. Not just house, but country. My family and I relocated to the UK and it took months of slog and planning to get here. While we are still finding our feet (albeit more often in thick socks and boots nowadays), the kids have settled well, I’ve found a book club and every week gets a bit easier. Immigrating is not for sissies!
Book news
A Piece of My Heart (e-book) is FINALLY permanently free on Amazon, Kobo and iBooks – yay! If you still haven’t read it – go grab it here now! And don’t forget that Alkan and Victoria’s story continues in Full Circle. These are my favourite reviews for Full Circle so far – thank you!!
My new project…
Even though I have not written a word in many months, I’ll soon be putting butt – in – chair to catch up on lost time in November with Nano. I’m aiming at 1000 words a day – which won’t finish my new novel by a long shot, but it’s a start and will hopefully get the momentum going again.
Wish me luck!
Why the royal wedding is the perfect love story
Roll on 19 May!!! As you guessed, I’m pretty excited about the royal wedding — and I’m not even a Brit!!
Never missing a social media post on the upcoming nuptials and the tabloids (oh, the tabloids!!), I started wondering Why On Earth do I care this much about people I don’t know and have never met. And the answer is quite simple really. I, like you, am a sucker for romance. And do you know why we love romance? Because we love seeing the conflict in action and watching our heroes and heroine’s issues dissolve when they find true love.
So let’s take Harry…
He is the royal wild child who covers up his grief by living life to the max. He is delightfully naughty and we find him rather endearing because well, he is a ginger!! And has a compassionate heart under all that Van Wilder Party Liaison exterior. In the royal pecking order, he is unlikely to ever be king, but still bears the brunt of constantly being in the limelight. And when his brother, Prince William marries the perfect woman…well, we all kinda assumed he’d be a bachelor for ever.
Enter Meghan Markle…
Famous, successful Hollywood actress (Not British). Mixed race (Not European). Divorcee (Not Innocent). In a nutshell, not exactly classic Princess material.
Will Harry’s family accept her? Will the Queen give her blessing? Squeee! So much potential conflict!
And how does a prince meet an actress anyway? By being set up by a well connected friend, of course.
Where did they meet? On neutral ground: Canada. While they are both in their usual elements – she’s filming suits and he is doing his royal duties at a sporting event. Perfect.
When they do hit it off, they have to overcome living on different continents. It’s 2018 – social media comes into play and Meghan starts following Harry on Instagram soon after they met. And they spend much time texting – just like regular joes go about falling in love. And just like that, Yolandi Koekemoer from Pitsonderwater can also relate.
Will Harry’s heart heal now that he has found love? Will these two give us what we want: a Happily Ever After?? and what will their babies look like??
Only time will tell 🙂
NEWSFLASH
I’ve recently expanded my distribution channels to Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble & Google Play!
That’s not all, I’ve also set up a Patreon account so, if you’d like to be a very special fan, then please do join my little club!
Interview with Suzanne Jefferies
Last Friday, despite being on opposite ends of the world, Suzanne Jefferies agreed to be interviewed by me!
We were testing out a remote means of achieving this, so excuse the wobbly start! Also we got side tracked – a lot…!
Suzanne is releasing her first erotic novel Watched in April 2018. We chatted about that and some other randoms.
Looking back on 2017, and forward to 2018
Ahh…a new year! A magical clean slate to start over, try again and try and fix the mistakes of the previous year.
But for once, instead of beating myself up for the things I did not accomplish in 2017 (like publish Full Circle), I’m going to recall the things I did manage to do, because although 2017 was a total roller coaster, it has left me and my family with many happy memories and proud moments.
Starting with our health. Our family went sugar free in January last year, and although in December we wined and dined like there was no tomorrow, we were pretty good the whole year. I’m really proud over all of how much more conscious we are of what we eat and how much more we move.
Our kids flourished at school and otherwise in 2017. Our eldest moved from an Afrikaans language stream to English, and despite the challenges that that can bring when you are 10, he sailed through the year. Not only that, he also got his blue belt in karate! The younger little guy finished his first grade like a rock star and moved to the goalie position in his soccer team, where he did really well. They’re growing up fast, and I could not be prouder of how they carry themselves out there in the big wide world.
We travelled to the US and hiked up Mt. Lassen. We also went to Las Vegas and spent time with our American friends.
We got married! In November I married my high school sweetheart <3
I released Without You, a secret novella just for my subscribers.
I guess, what I’m trying to say is – yes, I did not reach my goal last year to publish a second book, but I did a lot of other great things. And sometimes you just have to cut yourself a break, and “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
And on that note, here are my Wildly Important Goals for 2018.
- I want to publish Full Circle as soon as possible.
- I want to complete my first draft of my next novel (which I’ve already started working on).
- I want to read more books, like at least 50 this year.
- I want to learn to meditate.
- I want more quality time with family.
I hope that your coming year is filled with adventures instead of detours, and opportunities instead of disappointments. May 2018 be year where you find yourself further along the path you want to be, living your life to the fullest with those you love.
Dear Subscribers, ‘Without You’ is Just for you!
Without You is exclusively and totally free to my subscribers only.
You’re special. I mean it 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
We don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving in South Africa, but I want to. Because this year I have so much to be thankful for, not least of all, the people who buy and read my books.
I’ve been working on a short novella called Without You. It’s sort of like a bridging story between A Piece of My Heart and the sequel, Full Circle (Dec. 2017). You are going to love it! It’s all about what the sexy Turkish businessman Alkan Aslan gets up to after that heartbreaking moment when Victoria says she doesn’t want to get back together with him.
Full Circle will be released in December 2017, so watch this space!
Eeeek! That’s just around the corner.
In the mean time, dear subscribers, this will be landing in your inbox just in time for Thanksgiving weekend!
Happy reading!
Why ‘The End’ is never really The End
It’s Sunday, the 15th October 2017. I’ve just finished my final revision for my second romance novel and new novel FULL CIRCLE, which is the final instalment, and follow up book to my debut, A PIECE OF MY HEART.
Early this morning, I nudged my fiancé awake to tell him that I’d declared a today a duvet day. I needed to write the ending to my book. It started raining, which if you had insight into the current water crisis in the region I live in South Africa, you’d understand, rain in October is a big deal. (We only have 18% usable water left in our dams, and summer hasn’t started yet).
So, today is bittersweet.
- I finished the final revision to my second book FULL CIRCLE (it took me 18 months to write this one, but hey!)
- It rained for a couple of hours.
- My Ouma Jane would have been 101 years old today and I can’t believe she’s been gone for 4 years already.
- My Ouma Audrey died on this day, 8 years ago.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about ‘The End’, it’s this: the end is never really ‘The End’. I may have had to say goodbye to my grandmothers, but they still live in my memories of them. I may have finished writing this book, but the work is far from done.
‘The End’ does not mean that your book is not magically done. No, the writing may be largely complete, save for the editor’s instructions / changes. But the work of publishing your book has just started. Cover. Formatting. Book Blurb. Marketing. Waiting for the reviews to roll in. Printing proofs and sign offs. Freebies. Distribution.
The list can go on for days. But I would not have it any other way.
Today we celebrate!
P.S. Here’s a very unflattering pic of me, still in my PJs at 2 in the afternoon, with a glass of bubbly celebrating finishing my book FULL CIRCLE.
