Below see my latest Book Bubble on Bublish to read another tempting sample from this Chatelaine Grand Prize winning, Reader’s Favorite Five Star, Romantic Women’s Fiction novel. Or click the link above to see my author profile and read all my book bubbles. Then browse other authors and read theirs too!
“Awesome characters…. A masterpiece, this is!
Loved it, loved it.”
Reviewed By Christian Sia for Readers’ Favorite
“Excitement, pure delight, and an emotional adventure await the reader in this thrilling contemporary romance, The Art of Enchantment by MA Clarke Scott. Clio wants only one thing: to complete her PhD program, hence fulfilling one of her father’s greatest wishes for her. But then Guillermo, the hot and charming Italian architect, happens. Two powerful souls with a great and refined appreciation for beauty and art and history! They are from two different backgrounds, irrevocably drawn towards each other. Things get even more complicated when Guillermo’s ancestral home risks being sold to an American pop star who may not value the historic significance of such an investment. Can Clio pursue the exciting romance, help Guillermo save his home, and still succeed in getting her PhD?
The Art of Enchantment is exciting and I enjoyed the themes of art, romance, history, and family and how they are masterfully written into the engaging plot. Clio and Guillermo are interesting characters. While Clio is shy and composed, Guillermo is boisterous and outgoing, two opposite personalities that perfectly complement each other. The prose is equally exciting, composed of descriptions that are absorbing, and great dialogues that read like natural conversations. It is wonderful to note how the characters evolve throughout the story. The external conflict is evidently developed throughout the story, but the one that arrested my attention was the internal one taking place within the minds of the characters. It was fun watching Clio faced with multiple dilemmas. MA Clarke Scott has become my new master of the romance. Can’t recommend this one enough.”
To celebrate the exciting news that The Art of Enchantment won not only the top category prize for contemporary Romance and Women’s Fiction, but also the Chatelaine Grand Prize, I’ve created a Goodreads Giveaway for three first edition copies of the print book. Click on the box to enter between April 17th and 25th!
Giveaway ends April 25, 2017.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
And yes, it feels great to be singled out from among a huge group of extremely talented and dedicated authors to be given this prize. Obviously it makes me happy and proud, and it’s a great way to launch my newest baby into the world.
Here’s me geeking out over the category win with Margie Lawson. And no… that’s not spinach in her teeth. She got it out with a stiletto heel just in time for the photo op. ;-D
In fact at the Chanticleer Author’s Conference Awards Banquet April 1st in Bellingham, WA, I was pretty thrilled when the book was called out as the category winner. Awkward in public settings as always, I was nevertheless okay with walking up to receive my blue ribbon, pretty chill receiving the congratulations of my fellow writers in the room, and content to drink wine and laugh at stupid jokes with my new friend and table-mate, writing guru Margie Lawson.
Within a few short minutes, the room went silent as each of the Grand Prize winners was announced. When they got to the Chatelaine, the speaker read out my series title first, before mentioning the book title, and I, since I’d just changed it twenty times before publishing it, didn’t recognize it! I just sat there smiling, happy for whomever was winning the prize.
The Chatelaine Award Winning Authors: M.A. Clarke Scott [C], Diana Forbes [R], & Gail Avery Halverson [L]
It wasn’t until about, oh, four days later, lying awake in the middle of the night, that I thought of what I should have said. Something along the lines of…
“Thank you [ladies and gentlemen…except writers are seldom so formal]. I especially want to thank Kiffer and Andy and their staff for all their hard work year round, running a stellar writing contest, making professional book reviews available, and organizing this brilliant author’s conference.
Thanks also to the many judges who read thousands of manuscripts and had to choose from among so many excellent, worthy stories, to single out just a few to recognize tonight. I’m humbled and honored to receive this award. Congratulations to all the winners, short-listers, and to all the writers to completed their manuscripts and entered the contests. Bravo. And don’t ever quit.
It’s opportunities like this that help to bring us writer-trolls out of our dark and solitary hovels, to mingle with other writers, learn, be stimulated, practice our social skills, and to shine a light on some of the new works and emerging voices in this increasingly crowded publishing marketplace.”
Or some such. By the time I fell asleep I’d revised it five times and decided I was too verbose anyway and it was just as well I became catatonic in the spotlight or I’d be one of those people the long hooks were invented for, and have to be dragged from the stage.
…and not a press secretary or a lawyer or a politician or tv host.
So here’s a formal thank you and shout out to Chanticleer Book Reviews and Contests and all the hard-working people who made this possible. Please check out the official announcement of all the winners on the Chanticleer website, and follow them so you receive the book reviews that this organization makes possible. And then buy the books you like, and take a moment afterwards to post a favorable review on Amazon or Goodreads or Librarything.
Because we writer-trolls need all the love and attention we can get.
I promised you food as part of my All-Italian blog week to celebrate the launch of The Art of Enchantment. And I woke up this morning with a serious craving for biscotti.
When I want biscotti, my go-to recipe is always by Christine Cushing. No need to re-invent the wheel here. If you are a biscotti fan, this is the BEST!
Lately I’ve seen a trend in coffee shops to monster-sized biscotti of strangely ubiquitous consistency and no discernible flavor. Be careful not to break your teeth.
This is not that.
The recipe is quick and easy. I laid out my ingredients first, since I just moved this week and I wanted to know that I could find everything. There are other versions, with hazelnuts, chocolate or whatever you like best, but today I wanted dried cherries and almonds. In my opinion, the secret ingredient that makes these cookies so good is the grape seed oil. Don’t substitute anything else for that. And don’t leave out the lemon zest or anise because the flavor is so Italy.
Basically I mix up the dry ingredients in one bowl, blend up the wet ingredients in the mixer, stir them together and presto!
Then I pour/drop/shape the sticky dough into two long, rather narrow logs on buttered parchment. Bake for about 20 minutes. It gets quite golden brown, but it’s still a bit soft inside.
After the first-baked slabs cool for fifteen minutes, slice on the diagonal into 3/4″ slices, lay them on their sides and bake again until crispy and dry. Yum. You can dip them in your caffe latte if you like them soft, but they are just as delicious eaten straight off the pan all by themselves. Buon appetito!
1 1/2 cups and 2 tbsp. all purpose flour (405ml)
2 tsp baking powder (10 ml)
1 tsp ground anise seed (5 ml)
pinch salt
grated zest of 2 lemons
1 cup sugar (250 ml)
1/3 cup grape seed oil (75 ml)
3 eggs
1 cup toasted whole almonds, skin on (250 ml)
1/2 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped (125 ml)
butter, for brushing baking tray
Note: I used my new convection oven for the first time, so I adjusted the times down about 5 minutes per stage.
Let me know if you try the recipe and if you agree they are the best biscotti ever.
I hope you make yourself a nice coffee, sit down with a biscotti or two turn on your soundtrack and settle in to a good read, once you pick up your copy of my new release, The Art of Enchantment, on special this week for only .99. Ciao!
Special bonus for release week!
I’ve created a romantic soundtrack of various artists that I listened to while writing the book.
There’s a little bit if everything, including the Andrea Bocelli songs that Guillermo sings to Clio.
If you want to check out the lyrics in English, you can go here for translations of most songs.
Click the cover image if you haven’t picked up your copy of the book yet. Monday is release day, and the special $0.99 price applies this week only.
Enjoy!