I’m a guest on Long and Short Reviews today discussing how I named Rafe Iuliano from Return to Audubon Springs. Stop by and leave a comment!
What’s In a Name?
Posted in Return to Audubon Springs, The Brothers of Audubon Springs
Tagged BROTHERS OF AUDUBON SPRINGS, Rafe Iuliano, Return to Audubon Springs
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Happy Thanksgiving Eve!
I have fond memories of the night BEFORE Thanksgiving. Growing up my house was always in a state of activity the day before Thanksgiving. Mom usually took care of the important Italian Thanksgiving essentials the night before like these yummy artichokes. The secret is to steam them FOR-EVER until they literally melt in your mouth. I was usually helping with cleaning and prepping. My dad…he was a blur of in and out of the house running errands to prepare for our Thanksgiving celebration. It became a running joke, no sooner did he arrive home from braving the grocery store than he’d have to head back out for something else. Dad put on a lot of miles during Thanksgiving eve.
I imagine the Iuliano house looks a lot like my own on Thanksgiving Eve with foods in various states of readiness and family gathering, in and out of the house, in preparation of the feast to come. The best thing about Thanksgiving Eve is bar none, THE PIES. Mama made an extra apple this year because, horrors of all horrors, I almost didn’t get a piece last year. I was still in digesting mode when others started on dessert. Before too long, only one piece of apple pie remained. Mama wrapped it and stashed it for her girl!
I imagine Mama Iuliano makes a pie for each of her sons, plus several more of nearly every variety for the rest of the masses. What pies do her boys love best? Rafe goes for Apple, Tony likes the Pecan, Vince gets his own Pumpkin pie, but it is understood he will take a taste of them all.
What does Thanksgiving Eve look like in your house?
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Posted in Family, The Brothers of Audubon Springs
Tagged BROTHERS OF AUDUBON SPRINGS, Mama Iuliano
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Cover Reveal!!!! SECONDHAND ROMANCE
When I finished writing the first draft of Return to Audubon Springs, I went to bed that night feeling happy and accomplished, yet disappointed. I’d grown to care for the characters in Audubon Springs and didn’t want to leave the town. Ten minutes later, I sat behind the keyboard and wrote down the notes that would eventually evolve into SECONDHAND ROMANCE.
Readers may have expected the next book in the series to tell the story of Mia and Daniel. I did as well! Instead the next installment in my Brothers of Audubon Springs series stemmed from the slightest germ of an idea in Return to Audubon Springs. In a split of a second, after one too many Mai Tais, Annie O’Malley sets her gaze on Tony Iuliano and ponders the following…Is he a Mr. Darcy or a Mr. Knightly? The moment doesn’t even take place on the page, and is communicated – as are many things in Audubon Springs – in the form of gossip.
Annie is a character who intrigued me the moment Emma stepped foot in her bookstore, Second Chance Books. Modeled in part (with GREAT liberties taken) after my friend and Beta Reader, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent getting to know Annie better. What’s on her mind is on her tongue, and Tony fills the role of an Iuliano brother, antagonist and counterpart to Annie to yummy perfection.
Without further ado, here is the cover for SECONDHAND ROMANCE!! The book is currently available in print through my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, and will start its exclusive digital release for Kindle on December 28th, 2013 with a full World Wide Release date of April 2, 2014. Please leave a comment here or on my FB Author Page to let me know what you think of this cover! For additional information on SECONDHAND ROMANCE, check out the blurb and excerpt on the Books page.
RoseAnn DeFranco - Where Laughter, Passion and Love Bloom 