Oh do I have a treat for you today!! My uber talented Wild Rose Press sistah, Sadira Stone, has a new novella dropping today!!. It’s part of the One Scoop or Two series the WRP has exploding all over the book reading world this summer. Gelato Surprise, Sadira’s entry, is a steamy contemporary romance novella set in a Washington State beach town. Forty-two-year-old divorcée Danielle Peters is determined to keep her kids’ lives as normal as possible. But her ex spoils their annual beach vacation by whisking the kids away for a surprise Disney trip, leaving her stuck with a two-week rental. Her friends convince her to take the trip solo, time to think about her next chapter. Skeptical and glum, Danielle heads for the beach alone—until she meets Matteo, a gorgeous young Italian gelato vendor. She agrees to be his date to thwart the matchmaking nonna mafia, but their first kiss flares into something much hotter than make-believe.
She came to the beach to find herself—and found him.
Forty-two-year-old divorcée Danielle Peters ends up alone on her family’s annual beach vacation. Maybe time to herself is exactly what she needs. That and gelato from her favorite ice cream shop. But when the owner’s intoxicating young nephew offers more than sweet treats, she’s tempted to indulge in a hot summer fling before returning home.
Thirty-one-year-old Matteo Verducci craved a fresh start to mend his broken heart, and he’s found almost perfection in Ocean View, where he scoops gelato by day and crafts furniture by night. But when a sexy older woman stops to sample his wares—Mamma mia! He only has two weeks to convince her their passion is more than a delicious surprise.
Excerpt
“Ciao, bella.” The unfamiliar voice snapped her reverie.
“Oh, uh.” She stammered at the gorgeous young man smiling behind the counter. Dark, curly hair, wide, lush-lipped mouth, cleft chin covered with dusky scruff, and espresso-brown eyes that twinkled with flirtatious mischief. Broad shoulders filled out his tight black T-shirt beautifully.
Like a scene from a Fellini movie, everything around her slowed and blurred as his gaze slid down her body before returning to her eyes. His glossy eyebrows flicked up, a flirtatious salute. “Welcome to Paradiso, signora. Tell me, how can I serve you today?” With his ice cream scoop, he waved toward the Italian ices. “Something tart to soothe the heat? Limone or mandarino? Or perhaps something richer.” He leaned onto the glass case and rested his perfect cleft chin on his fist. “Cioccolato fondente? Zabaglione? Tiramisu?” Rolling off his tongue, the words sounded far more like seductive foreplay than dessert options.
She swallowed hard, took a step back, and tugged her collar away from her suddenly sweaty chest. “Uh—so many choices. I can’t decide.”
His teasing smile widened, slow and sure. “Then place yourself in my hands. Just tell me how many scoops and let me surprise you.”
She was helpless to resist. “Okay. You choose. Two scoops, please.” She cleared her throat and found a bit of courage. “I place myself in your expert hands.”
Was that a blush darkening his sculpted cheekbones?
Get your copy here:
Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Kobo // Google play Books// i-tunes(AppleBooks)
Add Gelato Surprise to your Goodreads WANT TO READ list here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53741908-gelato-surprise
A little about AUTHOR Sadira Stone:
Author Bio:
Ever since her first kiss, Sadira’s been spinning steamy tales in her head. After leaving her teaching career in Germany, she finally tried her hand at writing one. Now she’s a happy citizen of Romancelandia, penning contemporary romance from her new home in Washington State, U.S.A. When not writing, which is seldom, she explores the Pacific Northwest with her charming husband, enjoys the local music scene, plays darts (pretty well), plays guitar (badly), and gobbles all the books. Visit Sadira at http://www.sadirastone.com .
You can connect with Sadira here:
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I’d love to hear from you! Please visit me on all the socials ~ Sadira
A few final questions for Sadira…
Tell us about what you write (short stories, novellas, novels, non-fiction)?
I write steamy contemporary romance set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. My Book Nirvana series, published by The Wild Rose Press, centers around a quirky bookshop in Eugene, Oregon. All three books are full-length novels and can be read as standalones. Gelato Surprise is my first novella. Honestly, I thought keeping a love story that short would be nearly impossible, but it wasn’t that difficult.
Under my own name, I write cozy mysteries and creepy short stories—think The Twilight Zone—but so far only one creepy short has been published. I’ll get to the rest of them eventually, but right now I’m having too much fun writing romance!
What was your inspiration for Gelato Surprise?
My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, put out a call for beachy summer reads involving ice cream. I immediately remembered a scene from Würzburg, Germany, where I lived for seventeen years. There’s a lovely formal garden behind the Baroque palace, and in summer an old Italian gent sold gelato there. He’d always greet my daughter and me with a hearty “Ciao, bella!” He became the model for Salvatore Verducci, owner of a gelato shop in my fictional Washington State beach town, Ocean View. (I grew up on Verducci Drive.) Sal’s gorgeous Italian-American nephew Matteo is the love interest in Gelato Surprise.
For the setting, I had fun combining various Northwest beach towns—Ocean Shores, Long Beach, and Seaview WA, Cannon Beach, OR, and more. There’s something so endearing about a kitschy beach town with its go-kart tracks, mini-golf, arcades, fudge and saltwater taffy shops, cheesy souvenir shops—all that noise and flash contrasting with the broad, windswept beach. I even incorporated one of my husband’s favorite spots, Beard’s Hollow, near Seaview. In the book it appears is Ivan’s Hollow.
Any new projects on the horizon?
I’m working on my first indie project, a Christmas romance set in a neighborhood tavern in Tacoma, Washington, where I live—the town, not the tavern! This series will be my usual realistic, steamy contemporary romance, and each story will feature a holiday celebration in Bangers Tavern: St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, 4th of July, Halloween, etc.
Peggy here: wow! That’s something to look forward to! Thanks so much for visiting today, Sadira. Now, let’s all go get some ice cream….or gelato!!!
Until next time, peeps ~ peg
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Peggy Jaeger, Author 