Hello lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Shaylin Gandhi and her new book, “By the Light of Embers”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25
Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also,
come back daily to interact with Shaylin and to increase your chances of
winning!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!
By the Light of Embers
by Shaylin Gandhi
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GENRE: Historical
Women’s Fiction
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BLURB:
It's
1954, and twenty-two-year-old Lucia Lafleur has always dreamed of following in
her father’s footsteps. While sock hops and poodle skirts occupy her
classmates, she dreams of bacteria and broken bones—and the day she’ll finally
fix them.
After
graduation, a letter arrives, and Lucia reads the words she’s labored a
lifetime to earn—"we are pleased to offer you a position at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine." But in the midst of her triumph, her
fiancé delivers a crushing ultimatum: forego medical school, or forego
marriage.
With
fractured hopes, she returns home to Louisiana, expecting nothing of the summer
of '54 but sweet tea and gumbo while she agonizes over her impending choice.
There, she unexpectedly befriends Nicholas, a dark-skinned poet whose dignity
and intellect are a salve to her aching heart. Their bond, initially forged
from a shared love of literature, soon blossoms into something as bewitching as
it is forbidden.
Yet
her predicament deepens when a trivial misunderstanding between a local white
woman and a black man results in a brutal lynching, and the peril of love
across the color lines becomes chillingly real. Now, fulfilling her lifelong
dream means relinquishing her heart—and escaping Louisiana alive.
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EXCERPT TWO:
I
snuck a glance at him as he looked into the distance. Something had sprung to life inside me—and
for a moment, I ignored all the complications.
Suspended in the blossoming evening, I admitted that undiscovered pieces
of myself were surfacing, opening before him like flowers.
“Any
minute now.”
I
followed his gaze. Inverness, a distant
castle of pale light, was just visible over the treetops. Beyond it, the ashes of the day clung to the
horizon in a lingering afterglow. Above,
the sky’s vaulted reaches shimmered.
Suddenly,
a flower of green fire bloomed over the swamp.
My breath caught as bursts of blue and white spiraled through the night. I leaned forward, enraptured, and Nicholas
made a soft sound just before the percussive booms reached us.
Jeweled showers thundered on a stage of
starlight, in plumes of green and red, in staccato diamond haloes and fountains
of pink. The glistening river reflected
each spark, surrounding us with flowers of flame.
I
watched, slack-jawed, my heart soaring.
“Magnificent,”
he said, each unfurling shower shining in the mirrors of his eyes.
I
couldn’t say how long we stood there, but eventually the display came to its
final salvo. Fireworks illuminated the
night as the explosions reached a deafening roar. Then, as quickly as the show had begun, the
last dandelion of blue faded to an incandescent shadow.
The
bayou lay still.
I
held my breath, unwilling to break the silence.
The air ripened, heavy with magic.
I looked up at Nicholas with widened eyes.
“Worth
the walk?”
I
nodded. “It was beautiful.”
So
was he. It was all I could see now—the
line of his jaw, the sweep of his eyelashes.
His lips, their lush curves.
I
said, “It would’ve been worth it without the fireworks.”
Gilded
eyes searched my face. “Why’s that?”
The
humid night pressed in, gathered between us like a palpable force, pulling me
forward until I found myself leaning into his question. He must have felt it too, because he raised a
hand. I braced myself for contact, for
his skin to touch mine for the first time.
The pale pad of his thumb hovered inches from my cheek.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
SHAYLIN GANDHI secretly
stole her mother’s copy of Clan of the Cave Bear at age ten, and fell madly in
love with love stories. Now, as an author, she still can't get enough, and the
tales she spins all center around affairs of the heart. To her, that's what
makes a story truly worth telling.
Besides
writing, she tries to stamp her passport at every opportunity. Traveling has
been a lifelong passion, and she’s lucky to have done it a lot. Shaylin and her
husband once spent an entire summer living in their van while touring the
Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alaska. Her most memorable trips often
tie in with writing: her books are usually inspired by majestic places that
stole her breath.
In
addition, Shaylin practices medicine, scuba dives, plays the piano, and once
rode her bicycle from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. She now lives in
Denver with her incredible husband, their identical twin daughters, and two
adorable rescue dogs. The family can usually be found in the mountains, either
hiking up or skiing down.
You
can find Shaylin online at www.shaylingandhi.com or on Twitter @shaylingandhi. Please get in touch—she would love to
hear from you!
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CONNECT WITH SHAYLIN:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:
BookBub Author Page:
BookBub Book Page:
Goodreads Author
Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINK:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Shaylin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC
to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Shaylin ~ Good morning! Welcome to FAB! It is so great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Ally! I really appreciate you hosting. I'm really excited to share this book with people. It's been many years in the making!
DeleteAre any of the characters in the book inspired by people you know?
ReplyDeleteHi Bernie! Thanks for stopping by :) Like most authors, I do draw inspiration for certain facets of my characters from people I've met in real life. That said, I didn't base any of the characters on any single one person. It's more like I cobble together qualities from people I've come across in my life (including myself!) and then enlarge them to really stand out on the page.
DeleteAwesome question :)
Thanks, Rita! I hope you enjoy the read :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read
ReplyDelete