Dreaming of France -- Goodies

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

As I looked through some pictures we took in France, I came upon this one.

Most people would not have taken a picture of the KitKat bar, but my husband and I did, because it reminded us of a fond memory when we visited France in 1998 with the children, ages 6, 4 and 2. 

We had been traveling around France for a few weeks, along the Atlantic coast, to the Mediterranean and to the Alps. We even ventured over to Salzburg, Austria before returning to EuroDisney. That's what they called it then before it became Disneyland Paris. 

Finally, we arrived in Paris on a Sunday morning. Luckily, traffic isn't especially bad on Sunday mornings, so we dropped the car at the rental place with only a few wrong turns. We found ourselves a few blocks past the Arc de Triomphe. And the first thing we spotted was a bakery. So I took the kids inside and let them choose a pastry. 

Tucker chose a pain sucre, a sweet roll with large pieces of sugar on top. Grace got a caramel eclair, long and slender with a stretch of caramel along the top and delicate cream inside. 

As for Spencer, he stood looking in all the glass cases before he chose a KitKat bar. Yes, exactly like he could have gotten at home. 

Here they are a few minutes later posing with their father in front of the Arc de Triomphe. Notice that Grace and Tucker are still holding their pastries. Spencer's KitKat bar was long since eaten.

Now at 22, Spencer assures me he would not pick a KitKat bar again. He has worked in some pretty fancy restaurants, and I think he's more aware of what good food is. 

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Dreaming of France -- Monet's Garden

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

We first visited Monet's Garden in 1998. We learned about it from a children's book, Linnea in Monet's Garden, which features a little girl from Sweden who visits Paris to see the gardens of the famous artist.

We were staying with a French friend, Marguerite, in Paris when we said we wanted to visit Monet's Garden. She had never heard of it, so she came along with us.

Here we are on the lovely bridge that Monet painted so often. Marguerite is in the red coat, dressed for winter as the French do right up until summer erupts. I'm holding Tucker, who was 2. Spencer was 4 and Grace 6.

Here's a shot of the pond and the gorgeous weeping willows.

 Here's a show of Monet's pink house with the green shutters from the gardens.

I'm not sure if this cat was in the window at Monet's house or elsewhere in France, but the stucco wall and the green window trim with the lace curtains make me think it was Monet's house. 

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. I'm hopeful that more people will begin to join us now that summer is ending. I appreciate your participation and hope that you'll share your love for France with the rest of us. 

Dreaming of France -- Traveling With Kids

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

Traveling with kids is always a hit or miss experience, and most of the time both hit and miss. We had some brilliant moments and some excruciating ones last time we took all the kids to Europe. We always looked for things to entertain them.
One day, while staying in Bandol along the Mediterranean, Earl took the kids to a nearby zoo. In the US, we take our zoos seriously. They're a little more laid back in France. You can buy popcorn or caramel corn to feed the animals.

 So the animals were anxious to greet visitors.

But my favorite pictures from the zoo were of my children goofing around. 

I love that Tucker, my youngest, was such a joker here. He had just turned 10 and could be his true self. 

Today, he turns 19, and he has become a serious guy without much room for making a fool of himself.

But we'll always have these memories and hope the true Tucker reappears in a few years.

Thanks for playing along and please visit each other's blogs and leave comments.

Goodreads Giveaway

If you're on Goodreads, enter for a chance to win a paperback copy of my novel, I See London I See France. I'd love it if you'd friend me on Goodreads too.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

I See London, I See France

by Paulita Kincer

Giveaway ends May 26, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Terrific Review of My Novel

I can't help tooting my own horn and directing you all to take a look at Sim's review of my novel I See London I See France. She reviewed it on her blog Chapter 1 Take 1.
Here's an excerpt:
Perhaps because the main character, Caroline is so richly drawn, flaws and all, and because her story is so relatable, I See London, I See France really resonated with me, frequently bringing me to tears.
Tears? It's like an author's dream -- not that I want to make people cry, but I love the idea that people are moved by the characters I write.
The travel caught her imagination too:
Deftly preventing the tone from becoming too melancholy, the author packs the book with all the charms of travel, making me feel like I was on the trip too, my suitcase squeezed into a corner of the hotel room, ready to see the sights
Sim has asked me to write a post about who I envision starring in the movie of my book.
That is so much fun.
I'll let you all know when that post is up.

$50 Amazon Giveaway -- One Day Only

Buy my novel I See London I See France on Amazon ($4.99) by noon on Saturday and share it on Facebook, tagging me, Paulita Kincer,(Writer) and you’ll be entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card. The contest runs from now until noon on Saturday, March 15 (Eastern Standard Time). Enter now!

Contest details: Buy my novel in Kindle or paperback form from Amazon (or Barnes & Noble). After you check out, Amazon offers the opportunity to share your purchase on Facebook or Twitter. Share, tagging my author page, Paulita Kincer(writer). 

If you don’t/can’t post on Facebook, take a screenshot of your receipt and send me an email at paulita at paulitakincer dot com. The odds of winning depend on how many people participate. If you’re the only one who plays, you’re the winner of the Amazon gift card. If two people play, your odds are 50/50. If 100 people play, your odds are 1/100.  I’ll enter all the names in a random name selector and select the winner at random on Saturday, March 15.

In a few weeks, I’ll do another giveaway for everyone who posts a 4- or 5-star review on my novel on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so if you don’t win this time, you’ll have another chance. 

Reviews

As a writer, I've kind of girded myself for tough reviews. I peer at them with my eyes squinted shut as if it can save me from the pain of hurtful words.
And nice reviews make me feel happy, but the reviews for I See London I See France, my latest novel,
thrill me because I feel like my writing might actually be making a difference. People are connecting with my character and the feelings of the character.
This review on Suko's Notebook almost brought me to tears.

The main character shares her private thoughts about sex and ruminations about romance in a way that's bound to resonate with many women, and I appreciated her candor....Caroline realizes that she must tend to her own needs as well as those of her children, and that it's up to her to discover a passion, her passion, outside of her children, which will bring her personal fulfillment and happiness.  I read this book quickly--not because I was on a deadline to post my review, but because I was eager to know how things turned out for Caroline.  I cared about this character.  Although she's not perfect, she loves her children, fiercely, and she does think about what's best for them.  Caroline seemed like someone I'd want to be friends with in real life.  Paulita Kincer's writing brought Caroline and her story to life.

Here I am with my three kids in France.

And, I thought, yes. That's exactly what I want people to understand, not just about the character, but about mothers raising children.

I also really enjoyed the review on I Am Indeed.

I think I enjoyed this story mainly because I wanted to have the courage that Caroline showed: chucking it all in and heading to Europe to just travel  and escape the reality of a situation at home that feels untenable. ...While I often wondered at just how she managed to pack kids and head off to Europe with a loosely defined itinerary, I also was able to see that perhaps Caroline was much more passive in her life, waiting for decisions to be made for her, instead of making those choices. During her trek, she had the opportunity, and took the chance to confront that more passive approach to life, allowing herself to be subjugated and last in the equation.  While not always comfortable, her growth and willingness to take accountability for the situation she is in, as well as the steps needed to make a change that will decide the next decade of her life was the perfect climax point for her story, and made the ending all that more satisfying. 

I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing nice things about my characters or my writing.
How can you top a line like this from the review on Mommasez?

Kincer writes Caroline’s tale of mid-life crisis with a light-handed realism that will make many women think that Kincer has read their diaries. 

I mean, does it get any better than that? I can definitely see that on a book jacket.

And on the blog Making My Mark, the author writes:

As the story progressed so did Caroline. She started off beaten and slowly but surely she came into her own. The evolution of Caroline as a woman is fascinating and inspiring. But can she discover what she was looking for? I won’t spoil it for you. But I will say, read the book to find out. Who knows, you may learn something about yourself.

Maybe this second  novel is better than my first was. Maybe it has simply found a more fitting niche of readers. Either way, I'm finding reviews much more enjoyable this time around.
Most of these reviews have ebook or paperback giveaways if you want to click on them and get a chance to win a copy of my new novel. Hope you all love it.

Dreaming of France -- I See London I See France

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
Finally, my latest novel I See London I See France is available.
It's a fun, women's fiction novel with the exhaustion of mothering and a hint of romance.
Here's the blurb:

When her husband of a dozen years walks out in a huff, Caroline Sommers walks out too – to Europe, with her kids after impulsively selling her minivan for travel money. Tired of being the perfect wife, she escapes to rediscover herself, and possibly rekindle the unrequited love of a Frenchman from her college days.  While shepherding her kids from London to Scotland then Paris to Provence, she finds herself at a crossroads. Does she choose love, or lust, in the arms of a European man, or should she try again with the father of her children and the man she truly loved, once?

I wrote this book originally when the kids were little. It was my first novel, but I put it away. I've revised it a few times and I'm really happy with its latest revision. I added flashbacks throughout as the main character remembers her college crush with an older Frenchman Jean-Marc. Part of Caroline's quest through Europe is to learn whether she settled for the wrong man by marrying her husband.
And where did those ideas and feelings for Frenchman come from? My very own trip to France when I was 22.
I've sworn my kids to secrecy -- because we are still connected to the family in France-- but I had a major crush on one of the brothers.

This snapshot doesn't do justice to my French crush, but imagine learning to sail in the Mediterranean with a handsome French doctor. The character in my book is a little more extreme, but has a lot of the same yummy qualities. 

Here's a link to the paperback version of I see London I See France.

The Amazon link for a Kindle version at $4.99 is here, and the Nook link is here.

I hope  my book helps other to Dream of France too.

Can't wait to see what you post this week.