Paula Martin
Cate: Yay, Paula is here to help us Celebrate Amore. Paula, please tell
us a little bit about yourself.
Paula: Hi, Cate, thanks so much for having me on your Valentine’s blog
celebration. I’m a contemporary romance author from the UK. I live in North West
England, and have two daughters and two grown-up grandsons. I had some early
publishing success in my 20’s with three romances published by Mills and
Boon/Harlequin and one by Robert Hale, but then my family and my career as a
teacher left me with hardly any time for writing for many years, apart from a
few short stories and articles. I came back to writing novels about five years
ago, and have had four contemporary romances published in the last two years,
with another one due out this month.
Cate: Congrats! What do you love most about Valentine’s Day?
Paula: It’s a long time since I celebrated Valentine’s Day as I have had
no significant ‘other’ for many years, but I love all the cuddly Valentine toys
which are so cute.
Cate: Aren't they? :) Do you have a favorite Valentine’s Day memory?
Paula: When I was sixteen, I received a Valentine card signed simply
with a big question mark. I never discovered who sent it, but always hoped it
was from a boy called David. I was crazy about him at the time but was too
scared to ask him, in case he said no! Teenage love can cause such angst, can’t
it?
Cate: Love that story. :) Do you have any romantic Valentine’s Day traditions?
Paula: Valentine’s Day is not as ‘big’ here in the UK as it seems to be
in America, but people still buy cards (either jokey or romantic), and maybe
flowers, chocolates, or other gifts, for their partners.
Cate: Tell us about your latest release, and where readers can find it
online.
Paula: My new novel, due for release this month, is ‘’Dream of Paris’ –
and Paris, of course, is known as the City of Love, and is probably the most
romantic place for lovers. My hero and heroine visit Paris twice in the story,
and each time is a life-changing experience for them both.
It will be available on Amazon, B&N, and other outlets, in both
e-book and print format. Here’s the link to my Amazon author page, which will
contain the details of my new book as soon as it’s released. http://www.amazon.com/Paula-Martin/e/B005BRF9AI/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Cate: Very cool - great theme! Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
Paula:
Blurb: Anna Richards
has a dream of going to live and study in Paris, but when Matthew Carlton comes
into her life, her dream changes direction. Attraction sparks between them, but
Matt’s behaviour is strangely inconsistent. Anna is shocked when she discovers
the reason and is sure there is no future for them. Can Paris work its magic
and make her dream come true?
Excerpt:
Matt has kissed Anna for the first time and now they’re in a small
bistro on the Left Bank.
Arnaud brought them a
bottle of wine without Matt having to order it.
She looked across the
table at him, afraid he was about to tell her the kiss meant nothing.
“Paris has gone to our
heads, hasn’t it?” he said with a small smile.
She lowered her eyes
and stroked her fingers up and down the stem of her glass. “Is that all it
was?” Slowly she was returning to reality, even though she tried to cling to
the dream.
Her heart jerked when
he put his hand very gently around hers. “Do you want it to be any more?”
She raised her head
again until her eyes met his. “Do you?”
He studied her for a
long moment, and then sighed. “We’re playing with words, aren’t we? All I hope
is you won’t hate me when you look back at this.”
She frowned, not
understanding. “What do you mean? Why should I hate you?”
“I’m worried you might
think I’ve been taking advantage of you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know how much you
love Paris, Anna, and Paris is a very romantic city.”
“And you think that’s
why this has happened? That we’ve been swept away by the atmosphere here?”
“I don’t know.” He
drained his glass and reached for the bottle again. “I suppose we won’t know,
either of us, until we get home, will we?”
“I know already.” She
held out her glass for him to pour more wine, and went on, “But what about you?
Has it just been the magic of Paris for you?”
“No.”
“So what has it been?”
The silence seemed to
go on forever. The candle on the table sent flickering shadows across Matt’s
face and she knew he was deep in thought. She looked down and, as she took
another sip of wine, she saw her hand was trembling.
“If you want the
honest truth, I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks.”
Her head shot up.
“What?
“You mean you didn’t
realise?”
“No, I—For weeks, you
said?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “The
first time was when we played that crazy tennis game—and the prom night, of
course, and after the staff meeting—and ever since we arrived in Paris.”
She stared at him,
hardly able to believe what he’d said. All the time she’d been thinking it was
an impossible dream, he’d been wanting to kiss her. “Why didn’t you?”
His gaze met hers for
a few tension-filled moments, and then, without breaking eye-contact, he
reached to push a stray strand of hair back from her cheek. His soft fingers
traced the outline of her ear as he tucked it behind, and stayed near her
earlobe, gently caressing the side of her neck with his fingertips
His eyes softened.
“Because I’ve been trying not to fall in love with you.”
Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Paula: I’ve always loved Paris, ever since my first visit there when I
was in my teens, and even though I’ve been there many times since then, it has
never lost its magic. I actually wrote this story about thirty years ago, and
decided to rewrite it. Of course, the world has changed a lot since then, so I
had to do a lot of updating. The biggest problem is nowadays everyone has a
cell phone, which makes it much easier for people to keep in contact – and
causes a problem when you want the hero and heroine not to be able to contact each other! Other changes worked more in
my favour, especially the Channel Tunnel which has made it so much easier, and
quicker, to get from England to France.
Cate: Anything else you’d like to share?
Paula: Readers can find me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/paulamartinromances
and at my blog http://paulamartinpotpourri.blogspot.co.uk/
My website is http://paulamartinromances.webs.com/
Cate: Oo, you lucky readers! Paula has a surprise for you. :)
Paula: I’m happy to give a PDF copy of ‘Dream of Paris’ to one lucky
commenter (as soon as it is released this month)
Thank you again for having me as your guest – and Happy Valentine’s
Day!
Cate: Thanks for being part of the fun! Happy Valentine's Day to you!
