From Amazon: If a gold medal was awarded for ‘Worst Day Ever’ Laney Calderone would win it today, hands down. She’s just discovered she’s pregnant, her fiancé abruptly dumps her when she tells him, and her new car refuses to start as a brutal snowstorm hits Toronto. Good Samaritan Tyler Hammond offers to take her home; however, with the heavy snow falling and his patience dwindling, Laney’s gold medal day isn’t over yet. Storms intensify both outside and in as Laney finds herself inexplicably attracted to this tall, dark and very handsome but infuriating stranger. Can Laney fight her unwanted yet increasing desire for this man long enough to get through the relentless storm? And will Tyler let her walk out of his life as easily as she came into it?

My Review: This is the second book that I’ve read by this author. It is also the second book I’ve read with the Calderone family. Technically, this is book one in series, but I think each book is fine to read as a standalone book. Love, true love, real love, the deep in your soul love abounds in this novel. This kind of love and snowy weather is a perfect fit. Five stars.

From Amazon: These inspirational/spiritual quotes about love, peace, hope, joy, encouragement, spirituality and universal messages were channeled to Brenda Rachel by the angels so that she could share words of support, guidance, motivation, and inspiration with you. Brenda Rachel became a messenger for the angels when she was on disability and unable to walk due to excruciating spinal pain for several months. During this period, Brenda Rachel asked God and the angels, What do you want me to learn from this experience?, How can I serve you?, and What messages do you want me to bring to others? The answer was the birth of these quotes. These quotes are for anyone who desires to be inspired.

My Review: Amazing doesn’t begin to describe this book. The poetry and prose contained within will fill you spiritually. I’ve never read more beautiful words and quotes on love, hope, loss and more. Five stars. I pray the angels and Jesus speak to me from here on out.

From Amazon: ‘… a unique and emotionally charged historical romance novel’ Amazon review. In 1950 Australia, Raine believes her unplanned marriage to the volatile Teddy is working out fine. They have their own place, humble though it is. Their baby thrives. But when Teddy abandons his young family, a grieving and furious Raine faces hard choices – made harder when she discovers she’s bearing their second child. Are the words of the telegram the real reason behind Teddy’s desertion? Was there ever a future for them, or had his harridan mother been right all along? And what about the faithful, devoted Alf? He’s always looked out for Raine. He’d love to do so forever. With her baby nearly due, Raine sets out on a punishing journey to face the truth. And make the most important decision of her life. What readers say ‘…women’s fiction at its best. I was kept guessing till the end. I loved every bit of this book.’ Amazon review. ‘When a seemingly perverse choice is made, the repercussions of that slowly evolve and the consequences leave the reader gasping. Each time. Right to the end.’ Goodreads review. ‘Everything seemed REAL: the immigrant camp environment, the problems prevalent in early 1950s, and especially the relationship problems. Ordinary people’s problems, that you and I might have.’ Amazon review.

My Review: This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I found a great romance within, a love triangle if you will, and all that happens in the early 1950s in Australia. Life is hard, and hearts break, but the will to go on doesn’t give out. Surroundings are perfectly written in a manner in which the reader feels they are right there, in the thick of the scenery, weather, terrain, and life at the time this story is set. This book is highly worthy of five shiny gold stars.

The Prisoner of Paradise by Rob Samborn

Guest Post

March 2, 2022

The fire and untimely death that led to Paradise.

The Prisoner of Paradise is my debut novel, published by TouchPoint Press.

When Nick & Julia O’Connor, an American couple, travel to Venice, Italy on vacation, Nick comes to believe that his true soul mate is not his wife, but a woman trapped in the world’s largest oil painting.

Though Julia worries he suffers from delusions, Nick discovers a secret society that has developed a method of extracting people’s souls whom they deem to be evil. They imprison those souls in Paradise, painted by Jacopo Tintoretto in the 16^th century. Nick goes on a quest to save his soul mate from eternal purgatory but liberating her means freeing all the souls—something the secret society will never let happen.

In real life, Paradise (Il Paradiso in Italian), is located in The Doge’s Palace (Il Palazzo Ducale), a thousand-year-old building located on the edge of St. Mark’s Square.

Now a museum, it was once the seat of government for the Venetian Republic. It was home to the doge (the elected leader) as well as the meeting place for senators, making it a combination of the United States Capitol Building and the White House—but four times as old.

Salvatore della Porta, the antagonist of the book, is the director of the museum. He takes his job incredibly seriously and treats the building like his treasured home—if not castle.

Spanning an entire wall of the Great Council Room, what used to be the largest room in all of Europe, Paradise is seventy-five feet wide by forty feet high, situated twelve feet off the floor.

The massive room is covered in Renaissance art and enthralls Nick and Julia, who have never seen anything like it.

But it’s Paradise—or more specifically, a woman in Paradise—who mesmerizes Nick.

Completed in 1592 by Jacopo Tintoretto, Paradise commemorates the coronation of Mary in Heaven. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people on the canvas. Many of them are depicted as flying angels (so we can see When Angels Fly 😊). The breathtaking painting is enormous. It’s impossible to view it all at once and even with multiple viewings, you’ll always find something new in it. 

In the image above, the orange lines illustrate where the actual top of the door is at six feet off the floor. For a reference of scale, you could fit three adult men shoulder-to-shoulder beneath each orange line.

This painting of Heaven has its roots in unsolved mysteries. Where Paradise hangs now was once a Gothic style fresco by Guariento, created in 1365. The subject matter was similar and the title was Coronation of the Virgin. In 1577, a fire demolished part of the Doge’s Palace, including the fresco. Nobody knows how the fire started.

Once the Doge’s Palace was restored, the Great Council held a competition for the replacement painting. The commission was granted to Paolo Veronese, the most famous Venetian painter and a rival of Jacopo Tintoretto’s. To this day, Veronese is more renowned.

In 1588, Veronese contracted a fever and died a few days later at the age of sixty.

The commission was then granted to Tintoretto, who took four years to complete the work. Tintoretto was a remarkably pious and generous man. It’s unlikely he was engaged in any nefarious acts. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great background for a story.

To learn more about The Prisoner of Paradise or to find purchase locations, visit www.robsamborn.com.

Media Kit

Book Title: The Prisoner of Paradise

Series: The Paradise Series, Book 1

Author: Rob Samborn

Publication Date: 30th November 2021

Publisher: TouchPoint Press

Page Length: 333 Pages

Genre: Commercial Thriller, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism

Twitter Handle: @robsamborn @maryanneyarde

Instagram Handless: @robsamborn @coffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #MagicalRealism #Thrillers #tintoretto #venice #UnlockThePast #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://maryanneyarde.blogspot.com/2021/09/blog-tour-prisoner-of-paradise-paradise.html

The Prisoner of Paradise

(The Paradise Series, Book 1)

By Rob Samborn

(Blurb)

The world’s largest oil painting. A 400-year-old murder. A disembodied whisper: “Amore mio.” My love.

Nick and Julia O’Connor’s dream trip to Venice collapses when a haunting voice reaches out to Nick from Tintoretto’s Paradise, a monumental depiction of Heaven. Convinced his delusions are the result of a concussion, Julia insists her husband see a doctor, though Nick is adamant the voice was real.

Blacking out in the museum, Nick flashes back to a life as a 16th century Venetian peasant swordsman. He recalls precisely who the voice belongs to: Isabella Scalfini, a married aristocrat he was tasked to seduce but with whom he instead found true love. A love stolen from them hundreds of years prior.

She implores Nick to liberate her from a powerful order of religious vigilantes who judge and sentence souls to the canvas for eternity. Releasing Isabella also means unleashing thousands of other imprisoned souls, all of which the order claims are evil.

As infatuation with a possible hallucination clouds his commitment to a present-day wife, Nick’s past self takes over. Wracked with guilt, he can no longer allow Isabella to remain tormented, despite the consequences. He must right an age-old wrong – destroy the painting and free his soul mate. But the order will eradicate anyone who threatens their ethereal prison and their control over Venice.

Trigger Warnings.

Violence, a rape scene, a torture scene.

Buy Links:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09F8RYG2M

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09F8RYG2M

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09F8RYG2M

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09F8RYG2M

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/the-prisoner-of-paradise-1

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-prisoner-of-paradise/id1593897696

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-prisoner-of-paradise-rob-samborn/1140407539

Author Bio:

In addition to being a novelist, Rob Samborn is a screenwriter, entrepreneur and avid traveler. He’s been to forty countries, lived in five of them and studied nine languages. As a restless spirit who can’t remember the last time he was bored, Rob is on a quest to explore the intricacies of our world and try his hand at a multitude of crafts; he’s also an accomplished artist and musician, as well as a budding furniture maker. A native New Yorker who lived in Los Angeles for twenty years, he now makes his home in Denver with his wife, daughter and dog. 

Social Media Links:

Website: https://robsamborn.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobSamborn/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobSambornAuthor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-samborn/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robsamborn/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/robsamborn

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-prisoner-of-paradise-the-paradise-series-book-1-by-rob-samborn

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Rob-Samborn/e/B09FQ4HCBYGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21829341.Rob_Samborn

From Amazon: Will Captain Wentworth realize too late that he has a second chance at love? With a successful naval career and a fortune to his name, Frederick Wentworth receives a hero’s welcome from his sister’s neighbours. One person, though, presents a source of vexation. Years earlier, Miss Anne Elliot had reneged on her promise to marry Wentworth, revealing a significant character flaw. Yet Anne’s unmarried state at the age of seven and twenty, her altered demeanour, and her resolute avoidance of Wentworth raise questions that gnaw at his composure. In this Regency variation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the captain follows the advice of a respected new friend and re-examines the agonizing circumstances of his bitter break from Anne, reaching a novel conclusion. But before he can act upon his new resolve, a dire twist of fate threatens Anne’s life.

My Review: Miller has done it once again. I enjoyed reading this book! Each variation of Pride and Prejudice has been from interesting perspectives with love riding high in the story, yet diferent each time in complications, misunderstandings, and more. Danger and murder lurks within, and gallantry shines as bright as the five shiny gold stars that I give this book.

From Amazon: When Tessa’s big-city plans take the A Train to disaster, she lands in her sleepy hometown, smack in the middle of the most unlikely love triangle ever to hit Pennsylvania’s Amish Country. Hot-shot Dr. Richard Bruce is bound to Green Ridge by loyalty that runs deep. Deeper still is Jonas Rishel’s tie to the land and his family’s Amish community. Behind the wheel of a 1979 camper van, Tessa idles at a fork in the road. Will she cruise the superhighway to the future? Or take a slow trot to the past and a mysterious society she never dreamed she’d glimpse from the inside?

My Review: This romance novel is truly wonderful and well written. From dashing and quite handy doctors to a Amish community in the ridges of life in a town in Pennsylvania and the rural Amish. Love happens. True love. If you don’t know what true love is, read this book. Mountains can be climbed despite one’s way of life. Adding Colorado to the mix and triple up the scenery and sunsets and sunrises in ways that are magical. I must add in that fairytale world can exist at night, in a clearing through the woods, and the sounds of creatures combined with dozens of dancing fireflies sets for one lovely and memorable part of a single evening. I highly recommend this book. Five shiny gold stars.

Flight of a Valkyrie by DW Harvey

From Amazon:

Astrid didn’t want to be a Valkyrie.

But she couldn’t fight fate, no matter the cost.

How much will she risk when faced with the hardships of her past?

Can she accept her destiny?

My Review:

This was a great short read full of folklore and rather uplifting, actually. I thought it would be sad but then I realized not only the historical value, but the emotional value as well. Five stars.

BLURB: When the Strongest Hurricane in Decades Takes Aim at Florida, Ronnie Tries to Escape its Wrath. Will she Die in the Storm or Be Lost in Time Forever? Ronnie Andrews is lucky to be alive after a time travel glitch nearly took her life during Hurricane Frances. When Hurricane Ivan, one of the strongest storms in decades, sets its sights on Florida, Ronnie jumps at the chance to join Mike, her mysterious new boss, on a business trip to Puerto Rico. Sparks fly, but when a newspaper article surfaces with horrific pictures of a woman who may have died at Mike’s hands, Ronnie regrets the decision. Before she can confront Mike about what she knows, Hurricane Jeanne forms off the coast, trapping them on the island. Her doctors warned that another time-travel-induced illness may kill her. Mike may be her only salvation. The storm strikes and Ronnie time travels to Texas in 1872 where she is taken by Comanches. A rescue party saves her life led by Jesse and Frank James, hiding under assumed names. Will Ronnie find a way to make the time-traveling episodes stop before the dangers of the past, and the damage from the journey destroy her?

My Review: KJ has done it yet again! I’m addicted to this book series. Time travel takes on new meaning in this book and KJ has woven brilliant nuances of perfect wild west action into this story. If you like romance, then you will love Ronnie and Mike. If you love time travel or sideways travel, then this is your book. If you love the old west and Florida and Caribbean this is your book. Not giving anything away as dislike spoilers. Five stars.

From Amazon: Rhyming word fun: What a day! Kim and Fredy has had a busy day. Measuring and pouring for the special birthday surprise! Working Together to get it done. Now they are dirty, wet and covered in mud. But why! It’s a surprise at the end. You can also color your very on Mud Cake coloring book. Outside fun day.

My Review: I found this book to be lots of fun and quite cute for kids to read. The rhyming was great and the illustrations captured the story. Children need make-believe play and this works in nicely. Five stars.