Kaya Quinsey is the author of Paris Mends Broken Hearts, Valentine in Venice, A Coastal Christmas, which are all featured in Love, Amour, Amore: A Collection of Three Love Stories From Around The World. She holds her undergraduate and master’s degree in psychology. Her work has sold in seven countries and been translated into foreign languages. Kaya’s passion for culture, travel, and psychology blend for a reading style that is fun, full of surprises, and easy to read. A romantic at heart, Kaya’s writing offers a contemporary twist to traditional love stories. Through her stories, she hopes to inspire readers to fiercely chase their dreams. Visit Kaya at her website, Twitter, and Instagram.
Love, Amour, Amore: A Collection of Three Loves Stories From Around The World, is just that - a compilation of Kaya's three romance novellas, which take place in Venice, Paris, and the fictional coastal community of Pebble Shores. Love, Amour, Amore is an anthology featuring the stories Valentine in Venice, A Coastal Christmas, and Paris Mends Broken Hearts. All three stories offer something a little different - a story of love rekindled, love found where it is least expected, and finding love after loss.
Valentine in Venice is about rekindling that first love. Valentine Wells returns to Venice. After having visited ten years earlier when she was just sixteen years old, it was where she had impulsively met Lorenzo Dipachio. Her first kiss. Her first love. Now twenty-six, Valentine is a successful wedding photographer in Chicago. Still impulsive, Valentine is recently divorced after being married for about a minute in Las Vegas. And she doesn't miss the irony of being a divorced wedding photographer. Also dealing with her mother's recent diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, Valentine's father convinces her that she needs a break. Now that she is back in Venice, Valentine wants to prove to herself that she's no longer the impulsive, daring girl who got married (and quickly divorced) in Vegas to a man she barely knew. Now, she is living by a new set of rules: planned, cautious, and carefully executed.
But her plan is challenged when she falls (literally) into the path of her first love, Lorenzo. And with Valentine's Day around the corner, will Valentine be able to keep herself from making another big mistake?
A Coastal Christmas is about finding love where (and when) it is least expected. Successful broadcaster Jessica Beaton has it all: the perfect New York City apartment, high-flying career, and handsome boyfriend. And with Christmas around the corner, she has her sights set on one thing. A ring.
But Jessica is humiliated when her co-host and boyfriend, Brett Fanshaw, almost proposes to her on-air before backing out, leaving her dumped and embarrassed on national television. In the midst of her heartbreak, Jessica leaves to go home to Pebble Shores for the holidays for the first time in years.
While retreating at her family's seaside cottage to evaluate her life, Jessica finds herself butting heads with Dean Adams, the mayor of Pebble Shores, who isn't thrilled to have the media spotlight shed on their small town. Jessica couldn't imagine anyone being more of a Grinch. Over the Christmas season, Jessica finds herself more enamored with life in Pebble Shores, the community spirit, and to her own surprise, Dean Adams. Can a small-town mayor and big-city broadcaster have the romance that Jessica always dreamed of?
Paris Mends Broken Hearts is about finding love after loss. Gwendoline Delacroix finds herself fleeing Paris in a desperate attempt to escape the memories that haunt her in her French countryside chateau. Following the aftermath of WWII, she had become a widower and desperately missing her husband, Jean. Although her loyal and quirky staff do their best to keep her afloat, Gwendoline eventually takes charge and in a quick turn of events, finds herself at the Hotel de la Belle Paix - the hotel run by her brother and sister-in-law in the Latin Quarter in Paris. Over the summer, Gwendoline finds work at an animal sanctuary run by an eccentric aristocrat. With new friends, an elderly cat, and a glass of wine in hand, Gwendoline proves to herself and everyone else that there is life after lost love.
When it comes to holidays, I personally love any occasion that can be celebrated with chocolate. So whether you have someone special in your life, are having a Galentine's Day celebration with your best friends, or are taking advantage of indulging in some me-time, I hope you enjoy! Given the international destinations within Love, Amour, Amore, I thought it would be apropos to feature some of the Valentine's Day traditions across the world.
In Germany, while Valentine's Day is certainly celebrated, it is an adults-only kind of celebration. No mass giveaways of Valentine's Day cards in kindergarten for them! The Germans seem split when it comes to giving flowers or chocolate. According to Statista, 48-percent of gift-giving Germans give flowers/plants and another 48-percent give chocolates, pralines, and sweets. Which would you prefer? As they say in Germany, einen frohen Valentinstag!
On Valentine's Day in South Korea, it's the women who give men gifts as a token of their affection. But don't worry - these gifts are reciprocated shortly after on White Day, another holiday one month later on March 14th where the men have a chance to shower their loved ones with presents. Another month later on April 14, there is an entire day dedicated to singles!
In the small, romantic fishing town of Camogli in Italy, Valentine's Day celebrations are expanded over an entire week! Innamorato a Camogli, or 'Lovers in Camogli', is a week-long celebration that leads up to Valentine's Day where the whole town is transformed into a lover's paradise. You can put your name, along with your sweethearts, on a red paper heart and string it up along the harbour on a fishing net, enjoy art and poetry competitions, and celebrate with a fantastic dinner. Buon San Valentino!
It seems like Parisians get to celebrate La Saint-Valentin every day, living in the most romantic city in the world. But they amped up the romance a notch higher in 2017, when the Paris Metro line allowed certain stops to have 15-second love-filled messages broadcast over the train's speaker systems. That would certainly be one way to brighten up your loved ones morning commute!
In North America, I remember Valentine's Day as having been a big deal in elementary school. Getting the perfect cards, filling them out for the whole class, and receiving them in turn always felt so special. It always brightened up February! According to Statista, candies, sweets, and chocolates reign as the top gift for adults in the USA at a whopping 63-percent, followed closely by flowers and plants at 40-percent. But the most money spent on Valentine's Day in the United States comes from dining out at a restaurants together.
With new traditions emerging each and every Valentine's Day, I can't wait to hear what fun, thoughtful, and appreciative trends come up this year. And ultimately, it doesn't matter how much you spend or what you do, Valentine's Day is a chance to show your significant other, friends, pet, or family just how much you care. How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Thanks to Kaya for a lovely guest post and for sharing her book with our readers.
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Chocolate!
ReplyDeleteIt was the day that my husband asked me to marry him.
ReplyDeleteWe have dinner at home
I like the candy part of Valentine's day.
ReplyDeleteI love going on a date with my hubby!
ReplyDeleteI love special dinners.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is when it’s over... I’ve never been a fan. :p
ReplyDelete