Title: Once Upon a Ring
Author: Kate Moore
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Novella with a touch of Irish magic
Book Blurb:
Boutique hotel concierge Tara Keegan finds the perfect way to deal with the woes of modern dating—invent a boyfriend. But as long as Tara clings to her Mr. Wright, she can’t take the first real step toward happiness—opening her heart. It takes the Ring of Truth, an Irish Claddagh ring given to her by a stranger, on Tara’s finger to show her that she wants more than fiction. Now her heart prompts her to risk all and tell the humiliating truth to a man who’s suddenly very present in her life.
Excerpt:
Tara ducked out of the hotel behind a pair of guests as George helped them into a cab. Outside the hotel the fog had lifted on a sparkling, crisp day, sunlight glinting off gleaming skyscrapers and the bright bay. She grabbed a Muni bus down to the financial district.
The late lunch crowd of returning lawyers and legal assistants streamed back into the neo-deco building that housed the firm of Burke, Wright & Ross. Tara’s heels clicked on the patterned floor. With the holiday decorations down, the grand foyer resumed its more understated elegance, not that anyone bunched in front of the elevators noticed. They all seemed intent on snagging a spot on the next car. Tara felt invisible in the mob. She glanced at her phone. To texts. She just had time to do her errand.
A bell rang, the doors opened, and the crowd surged forward. Tara tried to press into the last available space before the doors closed, angling forward, leading with her left shoulder. As she twisted to face the doors, she realized that her bag was going to be caught. She tried to squish back and met a firm hand at her back.
“Whoa, lady, take that trunk of yours and get the next one,” a male voice suggested.
Simultaneously, she felt her bag turned ninety degrees by unseen hands and looked up through the closing doors to catch the merest glimpse of a gorgeous man in a dark gray suit and blue tie. He had wind ruffled dark hair and a pair of steady blue eyes that made her heart catch. He had seen her need and acted. The doors closed on his grin, trapping her bag against her shins as the elevator rose in a quiet whoosh. Feeling that she’d violated the unwritten code of elevator etiquette, Tara hunched her shoulders, and tried to make herself as small as possible. She felt the ring on her finger where her hand clutched her bag and heard again in her head the stranger who’d warned her—Don’t let your bag get in your way. At the first stop three people exited, jostling past her bag, making her tighten her hold on it.
She stepped out on the eleventh floor. Maybe she should retain Burke, Wright & Ross to defend her bag. Really, her bag had never been a problem before today. A tight squeeze in an elevator was just part of city living, and she’d reached her appointment on time. Her bag had hardly held her back. In fact, it had earned her a grin from a handsome stranger.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Grab your e-copy for 99 cents!
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/706129
What’s your favorite activity to shake off the winter doldrums?
On the Northern California coast our winters are brief, and we enjoy warming up with soup, wearing our favorite sweaters, and breathing frosty air while it lasts. What's hard to take is the keen north wind that lingers when the days are longer and the hills are green. It looks like T-shirt-and-sandals weather, but it isn't! That's when I reach for spring colors--pale blues, corals, and lavenders with a pop of white! I bring some potted blooming thing inside for a splash of color, and buy my early spring favorites--daffodils, flowering quince or the super-fragrant mid-winter Daphne. And I make a date for tea or coffee with a friend I've been missing. Maybe it's a Zoom or FaceTime date, but I know we'll get to talking and laughing and the doldrums will fade away.
Why is your featured book a cure for the winter blues?
Once upon a time, three storytellers—authors Ciji Ware, Diana Dempsey, and Kate Moore—wondered what would happen if a magical ring, the "Ring of Truth," fell into a woman’s hands—along with the urgent instruction that she learn its lesson in seven days or forever lose its wisdom. The ring is a Claddagh ring, the timeless Irish symbol of love, friendship, and fidelity. Each woman who wears it passes it on to a stranger in whom she recognizes the need to take up the ring's challenge and find the courage to follow her heart's deepest desire. "Once Upon a Ring," is the story of Tara Keegan whose life is in the doldrums. Put on the ring with Tara, feel a bit of Irish magic, and be re-energized to shrug off winter and reach for your own dreams and joys.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon US or Canada gift card
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon CA account to win.
Runs March 1 – 31, 2023.
Drawing will be held on April 3, 2023.
Author Biography:
Kate was not orphaned. She never worked in a shoe-blacking factory or lived in an isolated country vicarage. Her childhood was an agreeable one in houses full of books in a family ready for adventures along the California coast, and magically on the island of Oahu. Her people were storytellers, fascinated with history, news, and gossip. When Jane Austen’s works revealed her world in a new way, she began to write stories of falling in love standing up (mostly fully clothed) in the midst of family. Many books and a few awards later, she's writing a new series set in pre-Victorian London. Kate lives in the woods north of San Francisco with her surfer husband, their yellow Lab, toys for visiting grandkids, and miles of crowded bookshelves.
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