#HeartHop Why Heartbreakers Make The Best Heroes (& how you, the reader, can be featured in my upcoming series)

Hey beautiful people!

Absolutely delighted to be back on one of Carrie Ann's fantastic hops. And Heartbreakers... *swoon* Where do I sign up?

Seems like I'm not the only one with that wicked train of thought, because - get this! - there are about 300 participants in this hop! Nope, not kidding you. Check the hop's page and see for yourself.

Not only this - meaning like 300 giveaways, with one at every stop, there are also 3 fabulous Grand Prizes to win!

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more! (US only)

So what's the whole fuss about Heartbreakers, eh? How can a man who breaks a woman's heart be considered a hero?

Well, that's what it boils down to for me - a hero has to have the capacity to break the heroine's heart. Otherwise, he's not her hero, and he's not the love of her life.

Imagine a ho-hum guy with a written-in-stone routine who never notices when you've changed your hair colour from black to pink and shaved half your head in a faux-hawk. One day, he stands up and says, "I'm leaving."
You'd say, "Good riddance", innit? His leaving would totally not break your heart. Why? Because you never were in love with him, and he never seemed to love you or care enough to notice.

Now imagine a man who can, with a simple smile, turn your world upside down. A man who doesn't need to bring you flowers every day but shows his concern and feelings in more tangible ways. Like knowing you had an awful night so he wakes up early and takes the baby out on the run for your favourite coffee all so you can wake up to a great pick-me-up after getting some much needed shut-eye.

This man has the potential to break your heart, and you love him. You love for that, you love him because of that. He's your hero because he holds your heart, and he cares...


But what happens when the man you fall in love with really does break your heart... like Leila experiences in my latest 1NightStand romance, Once Upon A Second Chance.

This man saved her from a personal Hell and promised to love and cherish her. Through their short moments spent together, he's showed her he'll be her protector, that she's finally safe... And then he leaves without a word, Leila finding herself alone and not understanding what happened while trying to come to grips with living in a foreign country.

Does he redeem himself? Why did he leave?

Find out in Once Upon A Second Chance.

Leila Hassan Al-Nadir spent ten years in a forced, abusive marriage in the United Arab Emirates, before her husband divorced her... and another man stepped into his place to make her his wife. But before she can look at a future with this new man, he abandons her, dropping her off on the island of Mauritius in the care of his stepmother.

Khalid Al-Nadir wants nothing more than to be with Leila, his wife. But he hides a deep, dark secret – his intentions when he made her his weren’t noble. Despite falling in love with her in the end, he knows she will be better off without him.

Leila craves answers; Khalid desires salvation. Fate, in the form of Khalid’s stepmother, intervenes and sets this estranged couple up for a one night stand date with Madame Eve’s agency.

Can Leila and Khalid have a second chance, once they both face the truth that brought them together?

Genre: Multicultural/Interracial/Inspirational (Muslim) Contemporary Romance
Length: Short (45 pages/12,000 words)
Publisher: Decadent Publishing, LLC

Available on:

Amazon, Amazon UK, Decadent website, AllRomance Ebooks, Barnes & Noble (Nook), Smashwords


What do YOU think? Does the person you love have to have the capacity to break your heart, for it to be called love?

Answer in the comments, and don't forget to leave your email address! Both Carrie Ann and myself cannot enter you into the draw and contact you if you're the winner without it.

And what am I offering in my giveaway? I'm doing something different on this hop. Here it is:

I'm currently penning a contemporary series about 3 sisters set in a fictional little village in North Yorkshire, England. This place is the unofficial hiding place for most of the young, hunky, and eligible billionaires of England, with a ratio 3:1 where the male population v/s the female is concerned. Mecca of hot, handsome goodies up for the taking for all single gals out there, innit?

My giveaway - the winner gets to create a character in this village. Whether a hot, hunky, and eligible billionaire, or one of the lucky girls who gets to come there and pick her choice of rich and intelligent beefcake.
OR - winner gets to make a cameo in one of the books.

Don't forget to check the other participants in the hop. You can find the list with all their names here.

Thanks for dropping by today, peeps, and I hope you're having a great Friday and an even lovelier weekend.

From Mauritius with love,

Zee

Autumn Harvest Blog Hop - What does Autumn mean to me, my characters, & my readers?

Hey beautiful people!

Excited once again to be joining another of Carrie Ann’s amazing hops. Love the rush of being together with so many fantabulous authors, and the chance to meet so many readers and bookaholics during those tours.

I’ll admit this one nearly ran past me – I’m up to my eyeballs in deadlines, and wasn’t planning to post on the blog today. Thank goodness for reminders, lol.

So... Autumn Harvest Blog Hop. 200+ participants, as many opps to win books & swag & other goodies, and as many chances to enter the draw for these fabulous Grand Prizes. Check them out: I know I am tempted... J

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains 10+ paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

 

 So we’re supposed to be talking about Autumn, and what we like about the season. I’m a bit out of my depths here, because right now, where I live in the southern hemisphere, it’s spring, not fall. And on my tropical island, Mauritius, we have mainly two seasons – summer, & winter. There’s a brief transition between the seasons that we can barely label spring and autumn, though around April, all the big maple trees in town start turning russet. The air also gets crisper, especially at twilight time, and during the day, there’s a sparkling radiance that shines from the deep-blue sky.

I love this change of weather, because it usually means a respite from the horrendous heat of summer. Down the line, winter will be coming – bringing with it lots of cold and humidity as I live in the coldest town on the island.

But there definitely is something magical about our Autumn when it happens, a sense of hovering between two mighty shores, suspended in an airy bubble...

 

Now this got me thinking – what would the characters from my books have to say about Autumn, the ones who do experience this season at the time we’re speaking? I asked them the question; check out the answers.

From WalkingThe Edge (Corpus Brides: BookOne) – a romantic suspense thriller on the backdrop of amnesia and espionage:

Amelia Jamison – the ‘bored’ housewife with no memory of her past life, who however feels something is off in her existence: I barely remember seeing autumn strike in this year... With me not remembering anything about my past, I hoped this time would be a transition to the real life I’m supposed to live... Then, my ‘husband’ took me home, and my hopes crashed.

Gerard Besson – the Marseille police commissaire who reluctantly finds himself running to Amelia’s rescue: Autumn on the Mediterranean coast is magical. Marseille never looks any better, though with night coming in earlier, that does spell a more active lookout for us cops where crime is concerned.

From BeforeThe Morning (Corpus Brides: BookTwo) – a high-stakes, espionage thriller on the backdrop of childhood best friends reuniting through marriage and heavy-handed, crazy family involvement.

Rayne Cheltham – the former espionage mastermind & skilled assassin who has just ‘retired’ and is looking forward to a peaceful, domestic life with the man she never stopped loving: Autumn is the time for slowing down and taking stock of your life, and the path you’ve taken. *sigh* For the first time in seventeen years, I’ll be able to do that, because this fall, I will not be undercover on any mission to rid the world of some of its biggest, baddest criminals.

Ash Gilfoy – the former policeman turned ambulance worker, who suddenly finds himself hitched in Vegas to a complex puzzle, the girl who used to be his childhood best friend, and now a woman with more secrets than all the secret services of the world combined: Autumn... Beer in front of a roaring fire inside the cosy comfort of your home. Doesn’t get better than that; not yet a biting sting to the cold, just enough chill to have your woman want to snuggle up with you in front of that fire. *grin*

From CallingHome (A Destiny’s Child Book) – a sweet, romantic contemporary tale between an uptight forensic pathologist who suddenly lands herself custody of a tween girl, and the young and sexy country doctor who steps in as a modern knight in shining armour.

Margo Nolan – forensic pathologist, clueless mother, half-dead/zombie-brained woman where love & relationships are concerned: Autumn? Kinda depressing. I mean, that’s the season when we get the most suicides, you know— *her ‘hero’ interrupts with a shake of his head here* Fine. The season where you bring the wide range of designer boots you own out. That’s the best thing about Autumn.

Jamie Gillespie – young, up-and-coming doctor who chose life in a quiet Surrey village over a lucrative career in London’s private practice world: Autumn is the time of hot chocolate with marshmallows, comfy afghans, and baking gingerbread men. Time well spent in the kitchen, making families tighter.

I think these people have it as for what Autumn truly represents...

What does Autumn mean to you? Answer in the comments to let me know – and enter to win a copy of one of the 3 books I feature above (winner’s choice!).

A comment here also gets you another entry into the draw for the Grand Prizes – just don’t forget to leave your email address, otherwise we cannot compute your entry in.

And check out the Blog Hop’s page with the list of all the participants here!

From Mauritius with love,

Zee