I Promise You This by Patricia Sands

 

I Promise You ThisI am thankful to have been given the opportunity to read the third in the Love in Provence trilogy in advance of release date.  I reviewed Patricia Sand’s first book in the trilogy, The Promise of Provence in July of 2013 (and it is a pretty great review, if I do say so myself, so please click through on this link and re-read it!), so when Emma from Words and Peace sent out an email looking for reviewers for the third in the series, I quickly devoured the second and signed up!   I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  See below for a giveaway so that you can get your own copy!  

Patricia’s books read like travel guides with some plot thrown in.  The descriptions of the locales and the food and the people make it feel as though you’re there!  It helps that I follow Patricia’s Instagram account (@patricialsands) and see her eautiful photos of France and her travels ! Click HERE to see her travel journal and Fall in Love with Provence!  

The second book (Promises to Keep) finds Kat remaining in France with Philippe and exploring their relationship. There’s some drama and intrigue, but nothing scary.  I don’t do scary, after all.  The book ends with a cliff hanger and I Promise You This picks up with Kat returning to her native Toronto to care for her great friend who was in a bad auto accident.

This third and final book in the Love in Provence series has Kat looking in her heart and wondering if she can leave the first and only home she has known for a new life in France. Being in her childhood home while her friend recuperates from her life-threatening accident brings Kat closure – with her ex-husband’s betrayal and with her mother’s death.  She packs up her treasured memories and boxes them for their voyage to her new home in France, wondering if she will ever return.  She is never unsure about her feelings for Philippe and their life together in Provence, even though an old beau professes his feelings.

This is a satisfying  resolution to this story of a woman starting her life over after an emotional crisis. In the first book her mother taught her that “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Her friends taught her to “Take a chance. Make a choice to change your life.” In this final book in the trilogy, her new found friend, Simone, teaches her “Once you choose to do what you really want to do, you will begin living a different kind of life. It will be the life you are meant to be living in that moment of time.”  Kat and Philippe are looking forward with great happiness to opening their Inn, to developing the website blending their love for photography and cheese (Fromagegraphie – love it!).  Their happiness exudes and Kat realizes that home is, truly, where your heart is.  

Kat and Philippe are living the life of their dreams – doing what they love, loving what they do.  Seems like I just read some articles about happiness that insist that very same theme – live authentically! (Like this one and this one!) And here are some quotes:

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Ghandi

“The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. And happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy.” – HH The Dalai Lama

“Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.” – Helen Keller

As I said earlier, these books read as travel guides and make you yearn for your own travel adventures – thankfully I now have a fresh passport and am always ready!   France is definitely on the list!

Patricia Sands

on Tour

May 17-26

with

I Promise You This

I Promise You This

(women’s fiction)

Release date: May 17, 2016
at Lake Union Publishing

ISBN: 978-1503935723
365 pages

Author’s page | Goodreads

 

SYNOPSIS

Suddenly single after twenty-two years of marriage, the calm of Katherine Price’s midlife has turned upside down. Seeking to find her true self, she took a chance on starting over. A year later, she is certain of this: she’s in love with Philippe and adores his idyllic French homeland, where he wants her to live with him.

But all that feels like a fantasy far removed from Toronto, where she’s helping her friend Molly, hospitalized after a life-threatening accident. Staying in her childhood home full of memories, Katherine wonders: Is she really ready to leave everything behind for an unknown life abroad? And if all her happiness lies with Philippe, will it last? Can she trust in love again?

Searching her heart, Katherine finds the pull of the familiar is stronger than she thought. An unexpected meeting with her ex, the first time since his cruel departure, and a stunning declaration of love from an old flame spur her introspection.

With sunlit backdrops and plot twists as breathtaking as the beaches of Côte d’Azur, author Patricia Sands brings her trilogy about second chances to a provocative and satisfying close that proves that a new life just might be possible—if you’re willing to let your heart lead you home.

BOOK TRAILER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I Promise You This Patricia Sands

A confessed travel-addict,
best-selling author
Patricia Sands lives in Toronto, Canada,
when she isn’t somewhere else,
and calls the south of France her second home.
I Promise You This,
is Book 3 in her award-winning Love in Provence series.
Find Patricia on Facebook,
on Twitter
on Instagram
at her Amazon Author Page
or her website

Subscribe to her mailing list and get information about new releases.

Buy the book : Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca | Amazon.fr | available on Barnes & Noble on May 17

***

You can enter the global giveaway here
or on any other book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook,
they are listed in the entry form below
.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open internationally:
10 participants will each win a copy of this book, print or digital

***

CLICK ON THE BANNER
TO READ REVIEWS AND EXCERPTS

I Promise You This Banner

 

A Summary of Summery Events!

Prepping for summer, the Cosmo Girls created a list of Summer Events in the area so that there is always a social event at the ready!  I typed up an excel sheet and emailed it to all, including the websites that provide further information, but I will post a condensed version here and trust that you can do your own research if you are interested in learning more about what is happening!  Of course, the list is not exhaustive, as we live close to Wisconsin and close to the Twin Cities, where something is always going on, but these either close to Rochester or involve a few bands I think are a hoot!  (If you’d like an emailed copy, write a comment below and I’ll email it to you – so you can sort to your heart’s content!)

Enjoy!

Date Event Location TIME Type
29-May Arch Allies Boiler Days in Arcadia, WI Live music/Dance
2-Jun Thursdays on First First St and Peace Plaza vendors /  music
4-Jun Rochester Art Center 70th Anniversary Party Rochester celebration
4-Jun Rhubarb Festival Lanesboro, MN small town celebration
7-Jun Community Singalong 7-8:30 Peace Plaza, Rochester singing
11-Jun Movies in the Park – The Intern Central Park, Rochester 9pm movie
June 15-June19 Steamboat Days Winona, MN town celebration
June 17-June 18 Straight River Days Medford, MN small town celebration
June 18-June 26 Rochesterfest Rochester town celebration
June 21-June 23 Rochesterfest Book Sale Roch Public Library ? sale
15-Jun Hairball Steamboat Days, Winona Live music/Dance
18-Jun Hangar Fly-In & Dance 9am-sundown planes and a dance (5-11)
19-Jun Art in the Park Lanesboro, MN 10A-5P vendors /  music
20-Jun Happy Hour Entertainment – Six Mile Grove Rochesterfest grounds 5p- Live music/Dance
22-Jun Phish Minneapolis ? live music / dance
23-Jun Rochesterfest Hot Air Balloon Glow ?? Dusk celebration
24-Jun Rochesterfest Parade Rochesterfest route 6:15start parade
June 24-June26 Lake City Waterski Days Lake City, MN small town celebration
25-Jun Hairball Cresco, IA Howard County Fair Live music/Dance
25-Jun Movies in the Park – Alexander and the Terible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day Central Park, Rochester 9pm movie
26-Jun Tammy Van Moer’s Birthday everywhere All Day celebration
26-Jun 1860s Baseball History Center historic
26-Jun Hairball Lake City Waterski Days Live music/Dance
26-Jun Gay Pride Parade Minneapolis ? parade
July 1-July 4 Austin Freedom Fest Austin, MN small town celebration
1-Jul Arch Allies Clear Lake, IA ? Live music/Dance
2-Jul Stewartville Street Dance Stewartville, MN ? Live music/Dance
4-Jul Harmony 4th of July Harmony, MN small town celebration
July 8-July 9 Basilica Block Party St. Paul, MN Live music/Dance
July 11-July 17 Rushford Days Rushford, MN small town celebration
9-Jul Movies in the Park – Jurassic World Central Park, Rochester 9pM movie
10-Jul Down by the Riverside – Soul Asylum The riverside 7pm Live music/Dance
22-Jul Movies at the History Center Barn movie
23-Jul Movies in the Park – Cool Runnings Central Park, Rochester 9pm movie
24-Jul Arch Allies Mystic Lake Casino  – Ribfest Live music/Dance
July 29-July 31 Wabasha Riverboat Days small town celebration
August 5 – August 7 Buffalo Bill Days Lanesboro, MN small town celebration
August 5-August 7 River City Days Red Wing, MN small town celebration
August 11- August 14 Western Days Chatfield, MN small town celebration
13-Aug Sudden Lovelies Dance at Western Days, Chatfield Live music/Dance
8/12ish-8/21 Ferragosto French Lake, Faribault Danette’s Italian holiday on French Lake
August 16-August 21 Ag Days Spring Valley, MN small town celebration
August 18-August 20 Corn on the Cob Days Plainview, MN small town celebration
August 19-August 21 Goodview Days Goodview, MN small town celebration
August 26-September 4 MN State Fair St. Paul, MN The Great Minnesota Get-Together
Fri/Sat/Sun The Nelson Stone Barn Nelson, WI 5-9PM pizza farm
Fridays Suncrest Gardens Farm Cochrane, WI 4:30-8:30 pizza farm
July 11-July 17 Rushford Days Rushford, MN small town celebration
Saturdays Farmer’s Market Rochester 7:30-12:39 vendors /  music
Sept 9 – Sept 11 Watermelon Fest Kellogg, MN small town celebration
Sundays (3rd)  May – Oct Red Barn Farm Northfield, MN 11:30-3:30 pizza farm
Thursdays Suncrest Gardens Farm Cochrane, WI 4:30-8:30 pizza farm
Thursdays Grower’s Market Chatfield, MN vendors /  music
Thursdays Thursdays on First Peace Plaza, Rochester vendors /  music
Tuesdays Taco Tuesday Tap House, Rochester live music / food
Wednesdays Berne Wood Fired Pizza Berne, MN 5-8PM pizza farm
Wednesdays Red Barn Farm Northfield, MN 4-8:30 pizza farm
Wednesdays Farmer’s Market Stewartville, MN evenings vendors /  music

 

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