NBTM w/Giveaway: Meadows Shore Series by Eva Charles

Meadows Shore Series

by Eva Charles

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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Eva Charles will be awarding a $75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Please visit GoddessFish.com to follow the tour, remember the more you comment better your chances on winning.

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BLURB:

Prepare to fall in love with the Claytons and Harringtons and their rich Portuguese heritage. A Wedding at Meadows Shore is the first book in the series. In it, you’ll meet the family and visit their beloved Meadows Shore nestled along the moody Atlantic in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor.It all begins with Sophie’s story, where she discards the past and learns to trust herself and others. The series follows the lives of her sisters and cousins while they, too, sort through their baggage and fall in love. Travel with them on their romantic journeys, stopping in rural Minnesota, New Orleans, and other enchanted places along the way. They are wealthy and powerful, but suffer pain and loss much like the rest of us. Even great privilege can't shield them from those experiences. But despite their wealth and power, I think you'll find them approachable and down-to-earth—or as Cole Harrington would say: “We put our pants on one leg at a time, same as everybody else.” There's an old Portuguese adage, "the rooster crows loudly, but it’s the hen who’s in charge.” And so it is with the Claytons and Harringtons: strong women, alpha males, and of course, Avó Angelina, the family matriarch who keeps them all on their best behavior. Bem vindo à família, Welcome to the family!

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Excerpt:

My Sweetest Sasha

Alexa rose from her chair and stood in front of Cole’s desk with her chin high and her spine straight. “I know your friend Clarisse is married to Dr. McKenna. I also know you’ve been sneaking around with her behind his back. You were alone in your office with her after hours, you planned dinner together at least once, and you have hushed phone conversations with her that end abruptly whenever anyone walks into the room. Even if, and it’s a big if, you haven’t been physically intimate with her, it’s not appropriate to involve yourself in their marriage in that way. He works for you.”

“You think that’s what’s happening? Christian’s all pissed off because I’m boinking his wife?” He shook his head. “This is Boston General Hospital, not ABC’s General Hospital. You need to stay the hell out of my business.”

“This isn’t just about you, or about the morality or lack of morality involved here, it’s about the hospital, too. You’re in an executive position. I work for Risk Management. This is a huge problem, with the potential to send ripples throughout the system, putting patients at risk. I have an obligation to report this.”

“Bullshit. You have no evidence I’ve done anything wrong. Just put it in your damn report. Go ahead. You’ll look like an idiot.”

“I can’t wait for the report to disclose this incident. Dr. McKenna left here livid. You took him off the schedule. His surgeries are either being performed by another doctor or they’ve been delayed. You’ve cut off his source of income, and interfered with his right to earn a living.”

Cole blanched.

“Tell me something that will allow me to keep this confidential, at least until the report is finalized. Offer some reasonable explanation—toss me a bone.” She was pleading with him now, but he said nothing.

She placed her fingers on his desk and leaned toward him, imploring him to look up at her. “If it’s not like it looks, then tell me what’s going on, Cole. Please give me something,” she begged.

He searched her face with stormy eyes, angry and conflicted. “I’m giving you nothing. Nothing,” he repeated.

“This is your choice. I wanted it to be different,” she whispered and left the room with slumped shoulders, shutting the door behind her.

Cole whipped his pen at the closed door, and when it didn’t make him feel any better, he hurled his keys, and then his water bottle. He wanted to tell her, he desperately needed her help with this, but he wouldn’t risk his friend’s reputation and career. Not even with her.

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Q & A with Eva Charles

What books/authors have influenced your writing?

The Bobbsey Twins was the very first series I fell in love with as a child. The books belonged to my mother, and I remember going up to the attic with her on a rainy Saturday afternoon, rummaging through cartons until we found them. Those stories transported me from my very modest, ordinary life, to their exciting upper-middle class one. I ate them up. Not just the mysteries, but also every detail of their lives—I knew absolutely no one who lived like them. The stories awakened a voracious appetite for reading, and a love of being transported to exotic places brimming with literary magic.

Katy Regnery, through her kindness and generosity, is the author who has had the biggest influence on my career. She gave me some publishing advice last year, going well above and beyond the simple question I asked, and her advice has had a significant impact on my fledgling career. If you haven’t had a chance to read her modern fairy tales or her Blueberry Lane series, I strongly encourage you to do so. She’s truly fabulous!

Tell us something you hate doing and why?

When I first jotted down the answer to this question, dishes after a holiday dinner, putting away groceries, and laundry were the first things that came to mind, but after some deeper reflection, I’ve decided what I dread most is visiting my elderly parents. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, but they’re quickly fading, and each visit is more painful than the last, reminding me that our time together is growing short. I visit a couple times a week, it’s a three-hour drive each way, and the ride home is particularly lonely, and often teary. It’s a rare visit that doesn’t involve grim doctors appointments, or me delivering bad news: you can’t cook anymore, it’s too dangerous, I’m sorry; you can’t drive anymore, it’s not safe, I’m sorry; the muffins you look forward to eating for breakfast each morning are sending your blood sugar out of control, you can’t have them anymore, I’m sorry—I could go on and on, but you get the gist. It’s heart-wrenching. Aging is not for the faint of heart, and neither is caring for aging parents.

What is your pet peeve?

My pet peeve is adults behaving badly, or as I call them, the entitled. We’ve all experienced them at one time or another. They’re the parents who leave a huge mess under the highchair for the waitress to clean up—that’s her job isn’t it? Or the aggressive woman at the deli counter who shamelessly claims in front of half a dozen people, that it’s her turn next. I’m sure wherever she needs to be is more important than what the rest of us have to do. And just last week, I was in a crowded train station, where not one able-bodied human being offered their seat to a very pregnant woman holding a toddler, or to the elderly man with a walker. While these sorts of behaviors get on my nerves, they’re not going to lead us to nuclear war, but they sure do make me wonder what happened to fairness and decency.

Who is your favorite hero/heroine?

My favorite hero, that I’ve written, is Drew Harrington in Petite Madeleine. I love many things about him, including the way that he accepts the heroine, Cassie’s, breast cancer and mastectomy. But this is what I love most about him (Drew is thinking about Cassie and the possibility of the cancer recurring): “While he hoped with all his heart it would never come to that, hoped a merciful God would take him first, after they’d shared a lifetime together, he knew he’d love her, and would care for her, as long as there was a single breath left in his body.”

In the end, isn’t that what we all want—someone who’ll stand by us, when the going gets tough.

Have you ever had one character that you wanted to go one way with, but after the book was done was totally different?

Yes! Gabe Innocenti, the hero in Unforgettable, the book I’m currently working on. Because I’m more of a pantser than a plotter, I allow my characters a great deal of freedom, and I never know exactly where they’re going to take the story. However, I always begin each book with a rough sketch of the main characters. In essence, I know who they are. But as this story unfolded, Gabe refused to conform to who I wanted him to be, and it drove me crazy. It also made the writing very difficult, the story disjointed, and frankly, unbelievable. It wasn’t until after the first draft was finished, and I began to edit, that I started to really understand Gabe. And much to my delight, I fell in love. Sometimes it pays to listen to the characters, the second draft was easier to write and so much better.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Eva Charles is the author of the multi-titled Meadows Shore Series chronicling the lives and loves of the Clayton-Harrington family. She invites you to visit their beloved Meadows Shore, nestled in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor, where you’ll enjoy love, laughter, loyalty, and an abundance of mouth-watering food, Portuguese style.

After being a confirmed city-girl for more than thirty-five years, Eva moved to beautiful western Massachusetts in 2014. There, she found herself living in the woods with no job, no friends (unless you count the turkeys, deer, and coyotes roaming the backyard), and no children underfoot, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking. But as it turned out, it was the perfect setting to take all those yarns spinning in her head and weave them into a romantic tale.

When she’s not writing, trying to squeeze information out of her tight-lipped sons or playing with the two cutest dogs you’ve ever seen, Eva’s creating chapters in her own love story.

Social Links:

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