New Book Alert! The Amulet by Effrosyni Moschoudi

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:

http://www.effrosyniwrites.com

On her secondary blog, she shares her favorite Greek meals with the world. Visit at your own peril. It will make you very hungry!

https://effrosinimoss.wordpress.com/category/greek-recipes-2/

LINKS

http://www.amazon.com/author/effrosyni

https://www.facebook.com/authoreffrosyni

http://www.twitter.com/frostiemoss

http://www.pinterest.com/efrosinimoschou/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7362780.Effrosyni_Moschoudi