When Katie loses her Athens
office job, a gypsy woman hands her an amulet for good luck. Next, she gets hired as hotel receptionist on
the Greek island of Sifnos and everything seems perfect, except for the
overbearing hotel owner, Mrs. Matina. One of the guests, heart-stoppingly
handsome Aggelos, keeps saving the day whenever Katie needs help. As she falls
in love, she grows all the more intrigued by him and his quirky friends,
including a little girl who keeps turning up on her own. Add a psychic, half-mad
elderly woman into the mix and you’re in for a few laughs. Things are not what
they seem in this small, family hotel and get even more complicated when the
gypsy woman shows up again. Will Katie ever work out that Aggelos is a guardian
angel that came with the amulet? And if she does, will she be able to keep him?
It may take a miracle. But on an island as magical as Sifnos, anything is
possible!
EXCERPT
When Katie arrived back at
Hotel Asimi the sun was slowly gliding towards the horizon against a
pastel-coloured sky. She was strolling past the hotel’s thatched umbrellas,
making her way towards the entrance when her jaw dropped. Sitting on the bottom
step was Aggelos. He was holding an orange juice carton, drinking through a
straw thirstily.
Katie put her hands on
her hips and gawped when she stopped to stand before him. ‘Aggelos! How did you
do that?’
Aggelos beamed at her and
pulled a long tendril of silky hair back from his brow. ‘How did I do what?’
‘How did you get here
before me? It was a good five kilometres out of Asimi where I left you. Did you
hitch a ride?’
Aggelos pointed at his
feet. ‘Yes. On those babies.’ He chuckled and winked. ‘I’m a fast walker.’
‘But . . .’ She scratched her
head. ‘You can't be faster than the scooter I was on, surely.’
Aggelos stood and
scrunched up the carton, then hopped up the few steps to the bin. He tossed it
inside and shrugged when he returned to her at the bottom of the steps. ‘Nah,
you’ve been gone ages. I bet you wandered around the village and lost track of
time.’
‘I did buy an ice cream .
. . and lingered at the village square for a while,’ she mumbled.
Aggelos tilted his head. ‘See?
Not Superman, after all.’
‘I never said you’re
Superman. But, I have noticed you
tend to save the day.’
Aggelos put up a finger. ‘Now,
that’s a compliment and a half! Thank you, Katie.’
Katie heard the sound of
her name on his lips again and it made her knees weak. Earlier, when he was
drinking his refreshment she couldn’t take her eyes off his pouted lips around
the straw. She’d tried to imagine there and then how it would feel to kiss
them. Now, as he gazed at her, his wide smile exposing perfect pearly whites,
she shifted her weight from foot to foot, wondering if she had it in her to ask
him out. She decided it was too soon. After all, she’d never done this sort of
thing before. As she contemplated all that, Aggelos was telling her about the
beauty of the places he’d explored that day. She kept nodding and making the
odd comment and, all the while, marvelled at his perfectly sculpted features.
INTERVIEW
Welcome, Effrosyni. You must be excited about your newly
published novel, The Amulet. What is it about?
First of all, thank you
so much for inviting me to your blog. I am excited to be here! The Amulet is a
romantic comedy with angels that is set on the enchanting Greek island of
Sifnos. The story has romance, intrigue, humor and a touch of drama – so a bit
of everything really. I also made sure to tantalize my readers again by
describing Greek dishes, like I often do in my books. One of my beta readers
reported she had to put the book down at some point and go get something to
eat!
Sounds delightful! And I understand you have a giveaway
open at the moment for Team Effrosyni members. What is the team about? And can
you tell us more about the giveaway? My readers are book lovers and they may
want to enter
Team Effrosyni is my way
of playing Santa with my fans! Anyone is welcome to join and it’s all free.
Every time I release a book, I’ll be giving all the members a FREE advance
reader’s copy to read without any obligation. Members are also able to enter
occasional giveaways that are open exclusively to them. For the one I created
to mark the launch of The Amulet, there are tote bags up for grabs as well as a
bunch of six kindles set in Greece by authors I admire.
Your readers are welcome
to join Team Effrosyni. Once they do, they will be immediately taken to a
screen that will disclose the giveaway link so they can enter. It’s that
simple, and there’s still time to join! All details about Team Effrosyni are here:
http://effrosyniwrites.com/join-team-effrosyni/
I sent a FREE ARC copy of
The Amulet to all team members before the launch. Any new members can grab the
book off Amazon for only 99c. The book will remain at this bargain price while
the giveaway is still running.
That’s great. What plans do you have for the future? Any new
books in the pipeline?
I’ve decided to take time
to work on my back list for a while before writing another novel. The Necklace
of Goddess Athena has popular themes (mythology and family drama) for Greek
readers and I want to try marketing it in my country too. I’ve started
translating it into Greek and hope to finish it in 2017. I also plan to change
the covers of my romance trilogy, The Lady of the Pier. Other than that, I intend
to write a couple of short non-fiction books, but it’s still too early to say
more about that. On the subject of novels, I have ideas for a couple more
standalone stories with angel characters from The Amulet brewing in my head.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Effrosyni
Moschoudi was born and raised in Athens, Greece. As a child, she loved to sit alone in her
garden scribbling rhymes about flowers, butterflies and ants. Today, she writes
novels with Greek lovers in mind. She lives in a quaint seaside town near
Athens with her husband Andy and a naughty cat called Felix.
Effrosyni
is a proud member of the writer's groups eNovel Authors at Work, ASMSG, and the
Fantasy & SciFi Network. Visit her website for free excerpts, book
trailers, and to join her team of loyal readers that enjoy exclusive benefits:
On
her secondary blog, she shares her favorite Greek meals with the world. Visit
at your own peril. It will make you very hungry!
LINKS
