Showing posts with label Carole Ann Moleti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carole Ann Moleti. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

The Making of a Trilogy with Carole Anne Moleti #Giveaway

Posted by Susan B James on 3:00:00 AM with 3 comments
Carole Ann Moleti's latest release is Storm Watch: Book Three in the Unfinished Business Series
A Cape Cod Paranormal Romance


One last chance, their only choice.
  
Mike and Liz thought they'd gotten control of the specters haunting the Barrett Inn. But things get very complicated when they're the ghosts from your past life. The Category Five Hurricane bearing down on Cape Cod appears to be headed directly for them--or has it been spawned from inside them? Knowing it’s their last chance to end the hauntings, they face an impossible choice. Will they survive the storm?


 I have trouble enough coming up with a stand alone book. I asked Carole how 
The Unfinished Business Series began like most of my projects—when I was not even thinking of writing a story. While opening up a summer cottage, pulling dust covers off furniture and vacuuming up flies, I had the sudden inspiration to write a story about a woman who finds a trunk of old clothes and learns sad truths about the person who they once belonged to. It was a quick hop from that to a ghost story, and I missed all the barbecues and parades over that the Fourth of July weekend in upstate New York while immersed in writing a paranormal fantasy set on Cape Cod. The series combines my love of the beach and boats with a fascination about paranormal activities, and how past life experiences influence our fears, fantasies, and choices. 

I grew up on the waterfront and on boats of all sizes. My family has been vacationing on the Cape since I was very young, and I have been intrigued by the history of the Brewster sea captains and their wives. What better place than to situate this trunk in a dilapidated Victorian, that just happens to be haunted?

I started writing the first book in the series, Breakwater Beach, that long weekend. The short story version was done before it was time to pack up and go home. Over the next several months, it expanded into a novelette—and then into a novel. Breakwater Beach is Liz's story, and the novel delves more deeply into Elisabeth's and Edward's stories.  

I never intended to write a series, but the story line presented itself in another moment of inspiration—with a focus on a key feature of Victorian architecture. The Widow's Walk, is primarily Mike's story, though he shares the spotlight with his very troubled new wife. 
Both Books One and Two required research into Victoriana, maritime history, and the social and legal climates of the late 1800s in Britain and the United States. I am fortunate to have many British writing associates to help, but I made a trip to London and Surrey in 2014 that helped immeasurably to nail down the details of the setting.
 I want to make another trip to London to research anything! I haven't been back since 1966.
 About a year later, I was siting on Breakwater Beach in Brewster and there was a fisherman in his beached boat, waiting for the tide to come in. I remember doing the same when I was a kid, while my father was cleaning the bottom. I dashed the opening scene of Book Three, Storm Watch off the same day. There is a scene in the book reminiscent of a harrowing experience on Long Island Sound. Plus, I’ve prepared for and recovered for several major hurricanes, so there wasn’t too much research to do for Storm WatchI grew up on the east coast when hurricanes were regular events. I remember all the preparation fun. I actually researched hurricanes for a children's book. 
Tying up not only the Storm Watch, but also all the other plot-lines took some doing. I’m delighted with the way it turned out and think the cover is just perfect.

I love the cover. Wren Taylor did a beautiful job.Thanks you for being here, Carole Ann and for sharing the development of a series.

I’d love to offer a chance for anyone who leaves a question or a comment to win an ebook copy of BreakwaterBeach: Book One in the Unfinished Business series. 

Simply leave a comment or ask a question on this blog. I will announce the winner over the weekend so everyone has a chance to post.

And everyone that subscribes to my newsletter (link) gets a gift: a PDF download of Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts.
That sounds like fun. I will do that now.

Link to subscribe to newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bfNver

 I did it. That was easy. Looking forward to a shot of ghostliness.

 Carole Ann Moleti Links:

Pinterest Boards for each Book: 



Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Meet Carole Ann Moleti Cross-genre Romance Writer

Posted by Susan B James on 3:00:00 AM with No comments
Carole, please tell us a little about yourself.
Hi everyone! My name is Carole Ann Moleti and I live in New York City. I write urban fantasy and paranormal romance as well as non-fiction and memoir.

Growing up, my favorite books were classics like Black Beauty, Nancy Drew Mysteries, and the Bobbsey Twins. I also loved the Whitman Westerns and science fiction, including The Andromeda Strain and The Arm of the Starfish. Once I got older, my grandmother would give me hand me down romance novels. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Trilogy began my love affair with fantasy, and the Harry Potter series turned me into fanatic for urban fantasy and paranormal romance. So, I read everything and writing cross-genre stories is the result.
We've read a lot of the same books.

Breakwater Beach, Book 1 in the Unfinished Business Series came out April 13.
More about this a little further down.

I love firsts, so tell me about the moment when a publisher told you they wanted to publish your book.
I had been working on the Unfinished Business series for ten years. When Deborah Gilbert at Soulmate emailed that she loved it, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

If it isn’t too nosy. How about the first time you kissed your true love?
It was an awkward and sweet moment - while buying hot dogs at a NY Mets game. 

Other than your own, who are your favorite (heroes/heroines/writers) in your genre?

That’s pretty easy. I write paranormal and urban fantasy. My favorite hero and heroines are in the Harry Potter series. Hermione is smart, brave and loyal. The Weasley brothers have a fantastic sense of humor. Harry rises above all his tragedies. My absolute favorite character is Molly Weasley. I’d love to have her sense of humor and magical skills.
Oh. me too!!!
I guess that makes JK Rowling my favorite- for world building. I love Neil Gaiman for his bold, elegant, and innovative style.

What is the most exciting moment, so far, in your writing career?
Holding the print copies of my first novel edged out winning the Oasis Journal prize for Creative Nonfiction in 2009.
  Love!

What is your favorite pastime, other than writing?
Taking ballet class. I could dance all day if my feet and knees could hold up.
That's terrific. I took dance again for a while when I was in my forties. Patsy Swayze was teaching. I called her on her 84th birthday, She had macular degeneration and was limited in her driving, but she was still teaching dance and, she said. "I can still dance the hell out of my kids." Keep it up.

How do you motivate yourself when inspiration takes a vacation?
I write something else. Or I go outside and garden or take a ballet class.

Any advice for new writers just starting out?
Take classes, online or in person. Hone your craft. Every single class I’ve taken teaches me something new.

What genre or genres do you write?
Besides paranormal and urban fantasy, I write memoir and creative nonfiction.

Tell us about Breakwater Beach.
It's the prequel to The Widow's Walk, and part of the Unfinished Business series of Cape Cod paranormal romances. I grew up on the waterfront around boats and learned to fish, swim, and sail. My family spent time just about every summer on Cape Cod. In all of the Unfinished Business series novels, the seaside setting is one of the main characters.

In Breakwater Beach, Liz is trying to recover from the untimely death of her husband. She attributes the visits of a dream lover to grief, but when she moves into the dilapidated Victorian in the historic sea captains' town of Brewster, the dream becomes very real, jeopardizing her chances at a new life—and a new love. In The Widow's Walk, Liz and the new man in her life struggle to escape the ghosts from their past lives.
BLURB – Liz Levine is convinced her recently deceased husband is engineering the sequence of events that propels her into a new life. But it’s sea captain Edward Barrett, the husband that died over a century ago, who has returned to complete their unfinished business. Edward’s lingering presence complicates all her plans and jeopardizes a new relationship that reawakens her passion for life and love. What are Captain Barrett’s plans for his wife, and for the man who is the new object of her affections?

Excerpt:
Mike tipped his hand in salute and went out to his truck. “Morning,” he said to Mae who was getting out of her van.
“Good morning’ to ya, too,” she replied, looking at him askance. “Come along, lassies, still plenty to do.”
Mae looked at Liz standing in the doorway wearing Mike’s sweatshirt. Her eyes traveled from Liz’s hair, still damp and caked with mud and sand, all the way down to her bare feet.
“Ehh . . . a change in plans, girls. We’ll start downstairs today. First, polish the woodwork and then clean all the fixtures. Then upstairs, after the missus has time to get dressed.”
Mae herded them out of the foyer then followed Liz upstairs, smiling like she was about to solve the crime of the century. “From the looks of ya, that was one wild night on the beach. Now ya best be hoppin’ into the tub after passin’ me the nightie. I’ll soak it and get that mud out before it’s ruined. I’ll freshen the big guy’s sweatshirt, too.”
“It was nothing like that, Mae.” Liz couldn’t bear the thought of having to explain this to another person she knew from another life.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not passin’ any judgment. To be honest, I’m relieved. Ya took my advice. There’s nothin’ wrong with livin’, Liz.” 
Sounds great. Love the excerpt.

All subscribers to my newsletter will receive a free PDF of Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, which has a preview (hint, it's a spoiler). http://eepurl.com/bfNver

The Widow’s Walk, Book 2 came out first in 2014.
Blurb
Mike and Liz Keeny are newlyweds, new parents, and the proprietors of the Barrett Inn, an 1875 Victorian on Cape Cod, which just happens to be haunted. By their own ghosts. The Inn had become an annex of Purgatory, putting Mike, Liz, and their infant son in danger. Selling the historic seaside bed and breakfast was the only answer, one that Liz and her own tortured specter refused to consider. Were they doomed to follow the same path that led to disaster in their previous lives? Was getting out, getting away, enough?

What’s your current WIP?
I am finishing up the third book in the Unfinished Business Series, Storm Watch.
I’m also researching the second book in the Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams Series.
Bad spells. Sounds great!

And finally, where can we find you?
My website has dedicated pages for the Unfinished Business Series books. I also have a page for my urban fantasy shorts, which are mostly excerpts from Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams.
http://www.caroleannmoleti.com/the-unfinished-business-series/
http://www.caroleannmoleti.com/boulevard-of-bad-spells-and-broken-dreams/

I haven’t gotten around to creating a page for my non-fiction, but one of my memoir pieces is in the Shifts Anthology, which has won some very prestigious awards.
All my fiction and non-fiction is listed on my Amazon Author Page. http://amzn.to/23KBru8

Thank you for being here, Carole. Carole is giving away an ebook copy of The Widow’s Walk. Enter via Rafflecopter below. Happy reading and Happy week to all of you.


a Rafflecopter giveaway