Today I’m helping promote a new release by my fellow Decadent author, Vicki Ballante. Her Real-Life Hero is part of the “Beyond Fairytales” series and is an adaptation of “The Frog King” and “Iron Henry”. Everyone, readers and writers alike, needs to check out this blurb and excerpt. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end!
Blurb:
wants to get her romances published but can’t seem to succeed with her writing.
She buys an antique bureau which the shopkeeper says is magic. While using her
new bureau, she begins to talk to the hero in her book, asking his advice on
writing, all the while thinking it’s her own imagination. She promises he can
live in her home, eat at her table and sleep in her bed, if he helps her with
her writing. She doesn’t expect him to knock on her door and insist she keep
her promise.
has also bought a magic chest of drawers that brings him into Joanie’s life. He
wants to settle down with one woman, tired of shallow relationships, and Joanie
seems like the perfect candidate if it weren’t for her insistence on getting
rid of him.
The
magic keeps on forcing them to live together and Joanie’s not happy. This is
her first year alone and she’s been craving time to herself after looking after
her younger siblings and an ailing aunt. Theo’s presence in her home, although
unwanted, stirs up needs she’s suppressed for years. When they start to
discover things about the magic and why it’s bringing them together, will
Joanie recognize another type of magic at work? Will she succumb to the charm
of Theo or will her need for breathing space pull them apart?
Excerpt:
know,” the shopkeeper whispered in a covert tone.
rainbow scarf wrapped around her head and all those beaded necklaces blinking
from her wrinkled neck, she could pass for a gypsy.
woman gave her a knowing smile, which caused her irritation to rise.
the writing desk right away, please.”
a hurry. The piece is not your everyday antique. It has magical powers.”
antique store had she chosen? She’d planned on stepping into the little shop on
Essenwood Road
in Durban, South Africa, for years but never
had the finances to bother with expensive historical objects. Today, she’d come
in to browse but had fallen in love with the Victorian walnut bureau which
boasted a curved roll top revealing nooks and crannies, which could store her
stationery as well as her bird-ornament collection. The desk surface could be
propped at a slant for ease of writing by hand—perfect for someone who
preferred paper and pen to a computer. Underneath were lots of tiny drawers
accentuated with sweet, round knobs. She would have plenty of space to store
all her equipment. All in all, a good space for her writing.
the magic soon. I’m warning you though…it might shock you.”
eyes. “Do you honestly think I believe you?”
laughed. “I thought as much. Don’t come crying to me when things start
happening.”
away from the woman’s front counter. “Is there a curse on the desk, or is it
haunted?”
connected to your deepest desires. It will only surface if those desires are unfulfilled.”
kidding. This is like some crazy fantasy story on TV.”
people can handle the effects of the magic.”
antique. “Should I not buy it?”
should be based on how in tune you are with yourself.”
the bureau would help with. The dark-stained walnut would calm her, the ancient
feel would transport her to other worlds, plus the lack of modern clutter, like
files and electrical cables, would keep her from being distracted.
“I’ll take it, magic
or no magic.” She handed over her bank card. For a minute, she’d let herself
get swept away with the gypsy lady’s crazy talk.
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into an alternate world where strange and sexy things happen. She lives with
her patient husband and three noisy kids in South Africa. In between being a
busy stay-at-home mom who hates housework and spends half her life cooking
everything from scratch, she runs several blogs, writes under another name, and
buries herself in the delightful world of her characters.