Guest Post and Giveaway: In Wild Lemon Groves by Selina Kray

Welcome to author Selina Kray and the blog tour for her new contemporary romance novel, In Wild Lemon Groves. She’s here to chat with us about the story’s setting today, and there’s also a giveaway, so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget for entry details!

Italy ~ You Just Can’t Help Falling in Love

Hi, I’m Selina Kray, and this is the latest stop on my blog tour for In Wild Lemon Groves, my new contemporary M/M romance set in Amalfi, Italy. A big thanks to the kind folks at The Novel Approach for hosting me!

Being both a romance author and a dyed-in-the-wool romantic, it was inevitable that I would write about Italy. I’m only a quarter Italian, but that culture and cuisine has dominated my whole life thanks to the influence of my (very, very) extended family. Something about Italy will always feel like home to me, even though I’m not fluent in Italian and I look more Swedish than Tuscan.

Paris may be renowned as the city of love, but, for me, the Italian countryside and coastal towns truly say amore. Craggy hills, sun-baked fields, lush orchards, cobblestone lanes… there’s something both primal and timeless about the place. Just like love. Not to mention the sensuality of its people, of its food. I defy you to walk through any Italian city or town and not feel that butterfly flutter of attraction, be it to a statue, a person, or a bowl of pasta. There’s a reason Elizabeth Gilbert stopped in Italy on her quest to eat, pray, love.

And yet, walking its streets, I’m all too aware that I’m still a stranger in a strange land. That my time there will end. I tried to give that feeling to my main character, Seb, who has never been to Amalfi before, but heard all about it from his late husband Henry, a travel writer. Armed with Henry’s notes and his own Eat, Pray, Love-like quest for rejuvenation, Seb stumbles into the very situation he claims he’s trying to avoid.

But that’s Italy. You just can’t help falling in love.

About the Book

Universal Buy Link: Books2Read
Length: 200 Pages
Cover Design: Tiferet Design
Blurb: A telltale knock on a quiet winter night is a sound no husband wants to hear.

Sébastien Osaki has spent the past three years surviving the loss of his beloved Henry. When Seb lands in Amalfi, Italy, for their would-have-been tenth-anniversary trip, he’s haunted by the memory of the man he loved. Following Henry’s notebook leads him to some breathtaking coastal views but also right back to his despair. Seb’s there to get his groove back, not let the past wrong-foot him at every turn.

Enter Andrea Sorrentino, chauffeur, part-time pet whisperer, a Bernini statue in a soccer tee and tight shorts. From the moment Andrea picks Seb up from the airport, he knows just how to soothe Seb’s case of the sulks. But Seb isn’t sure he’s ready for Mr. Right Now, let alone a potential Mr. Right, in a part of the world where all roads lead back to Henry.

Can sun, sea, and eating your weight in pasta mend a tragedy-stricken heart? Will wine-soaked Amalfi nights and long walks through lemon groves work their magic on Seb’s wounded soul? Or will he slink back into the shell of his grief once his grand Italian adventure is over?

About the Author

Selina Kray is the nom de plume of an author and English editor. Professionally she has covered all the artsy-fartsy bases, having worked in a bookstore, at a cinema, in children’s television, and in television distribution, up to her latest incarnation as a subtitle editor and grammar nerd (though she may have always been a grammar nerd). A self-proclaimed geek and pop culture junkie who sometimes manages to pry herself away from the review sites and gossip blogs to write fiction of her own, she is a voracious consumer of art with both a capital and lowercase A.

Selina’s aim is to write genre-spanning romances with intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of heart. Whether she has achieved this goal is for you, gentle readers, to decide. At present she is hard at work on future novels at home in Montreal, Quebec, with her wee corgi serving as both foot warmer and in-house critic.

If you’re interested in receiving Selina’s newsletter and being the first to know when new books are released, plus getting sneak peeks at upcoming novels, please sign up at her website.

Social Links: Google || Twitter || Facebook

The Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Follow the Tour

February 8 – The Novel Approach
February 9 – Booklove
February 10 – Gay Book Reviews
February 12 – MM Good Book Reviews
February 13 – Hearts On Fire Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
February 14 – My Fiction Nook
February 16 – Love Bytes Reviews
February 17 – Open Mind For A Different View
February 19 – Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings, Sarandipity Book Reviews