Virtual Blog Tour ~ Clare Austin ~ HOT FLASH

Thank you for having me on your blog site today. I’m thrilled to be here and chat a bit about my new release, Hot Flash.
This has been an exciting year for my writing journey. I’ve had three books released since last August. Butterfly and Angel’s Share, the first two novels in my Fadό Trilogy, have been well received and I’m looking forward to finishing the last in that series soon.
Hot Flash, written before the Fadό Trilogy, was the first book I sent to publishers and agents. I felt it filled a need in a market rarely targeted…baby-boomers. To me, facing “boomerdom” myself, it felt like time. We have time to read, our children, if not grown, are independent enough to allow us a modicum of freedom and we have maturity and sophistication that only experience in life can teach. Why not a heroine turning fifty years old?
Publishers in general did not agree with my theory. So, I put Hot Flash away, wrote Butterfly and sold it almost as soon as I finished it. Angel’s Share came out just a few months later and my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, asked if I had any other stories. I submitted and sold Hot Flash.
Hot Flash is about starting over, learning to trust again and believing in one’s own value.
When this story started to form in my mind I was, literally, working out in an all women’s gym. There we were, sweating away as Cher belted out a song on the CD player, a room full of smart, beautiful, mature women. Sure, we might have a wrinkle here or there and a little cellulite on our thighs, but we know the value of relationship and never discount the virtue in good color and highlights! Though we live in a culture obsessed with youth, it is not true that it is more likely for a woman over forty to be abducted by aliens from outer space than she is to attract the hot guy. Not if we believe in ourselves.
Hot Flash is, I think, tender, full of physical and emotional challenges, but not forgetting the humor and joy that are the necessary comic relief in fiction as well as real life.
Recently I received a wonderful note from a woman in her eighties who has read all my novels. She said these are the first “romance” novels she has ever read and loves them. That kind of encouragement is precious to me. But, Hot Flash is not a book limited to any particular age group.
If you enjoy an in-depth story of relationships and the challenges of blending families, and a sizzling hot romance set in the exciting world of equestrian sport, this novel will capture your imagination and, hopefully, your heart.
I wrote Hot Flash for you. I hope you enjoy it.
Clare

My novels are available from most online booksellers in trade paperback and digital formats.
If you would like an autographed copy of any of my books, please go to my website buy link www.clareaustin.com/books.html and you may order there using PayPal or by contacting me at Authorclare@gmail.com. You can go to www.clareaustin.wordpress.com for updates, ideas, and my random musings.

“Sexy but sensitive, powerful but poignant---Hot Flash is not your daughter’s romance! This is a story for real women. Savor every word.”
---Award winning author---Deb Stover







Back cover blub…

Kate Aiello has spent her entire life trying to please others—her three brothers, her Italian mamma and her husband of twenty-five years. It isn’t insult enough she is turning fifty, and left at the side of life’s road by her philandering husband. Now she has to contend with her body’s betrayal…hot flashes!
The plain truth hits her with each thermostatic aberration—she has never been first in anyone’s life, including her own.
Brandon Sullivan has been on a downward spiral since the death of his beloved wife. Now he is a man desperate to save himself from impending financial ruin, loss of his farm and his life’s dream. He needs to get into the winner’s circle by spring or he’ll be just another poor, landless Irishmen downing his pints and bragging about the good ol’ days.
Sparks fly when Italian attitude meets Irish temper. Add two big crazy families, a barn full of horses and one woman’s menopausal hot flashes and the probability for combustion increases exponentially.
What will Kate and Brandon risk for a second chance at love?


Excerpt from Hot Flash
“So, Katie, tell me…why riding lessons?”
“It’s Kate.” She corrected him.
“What?” He looked genuinely confused.
“Kate…my name…it’s Kate, not Katie.” She wasn’t sure why it bothered her he liked to call her that. Maybe it felt a little too personal. Jeffrey had never called her anything but Catherine.
“Ah and why not? Katie suits you well, a good name for a beautiful woman.”
Nervous laughter welled up in her. “You have that ‘charming Irishman’ thing down to a fine science don’t you? Go ahead, call me anything you want.” Obviously, the man had his own opinions. It was most likely fruitless to try and correct him. She should have resented it, but his arrogance fit him like those breeches he wore. From another man, his attitude would have felt patronizing, but coming from him it was...well…titillating.
He said nothing, just looked directly into her eyes and smiled a slow, lazy grin that made Kate shiver deep in her bones.

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