Monday Give Away: STOLEN TIME

I am delighted to report that our very own Céline (aka Chloé Duval), who many of you may know from this website community and Facebook, is celebrating the release of her first novel, Stolen Time!

Here’s the official blurb:

stolen-time-chloe-duvalIn a rural French village, a letter is delivered decades late, inspiring a young woman to try to reunite two star-crossed lovers . . .
Middle school teacher by day, romance writer by night, and group knitter on Tuesday evenings, Flavie Richalet leads a fairly uneventful life—until she receives a long delayed letter meant for a total stranger. Postmarked 1971, the yellowed envelope, addressed to an Amélie Lacombe, holds a fervent message of love and a marriage proposal, signed only with the initial E. Given her own fractured family history, Flavie is dreamily determined to learn what became of the couple…

Flavie’s inquiries lead her to a French seaside inn—and to E. himself, a true romantic who never forgot the girl who got away so many years ago. But his protective nephew, B&B owner Romaric, isn’t sure that trying to find Amélie after all these years is good for his uncle. At odds with the tall, dark, and impossibly passionate Romaric, Flavie must show him, and perhaps herself, that true love is timeless—and always worth waiting for…

Now I’d like to hand the floor over to the author, to talk about how she came to write her debut novel. Over to you, Céline/Chloé!

Hi, everyone, and thank you so much, Lauren, for allowing me to talk to your readers about my debut novel! Being a proud member of the Willig-maniacs family for quite some time now, I can’t tell you how honored I am to be here today, on the other side of the page!

First, let me introduce myself: my (pen) name is Chloé Duval, and I am a French-Canadian romance novelist – or at least, I try to be; sometimes, it feels like I am but the mere vessel through which the characters that have claimed possession of my brain get their stories out, if you see what I mean.

As a little girl, I loved fairy tales, and used to write stories about princes slaying dragons and freeing princesses from towers (any resemblance to any famous fairy tale would be completely fortuitous. Or maybe not). Then life, school, homework, studies took over, and I kind of let go of that creative side. Fast forward a *few* years later, when I started feeling my fingers tingling and the urge to write romantic stories came back to me with a vengeance. For a while then, I had discovered Lauren and the wonderful Pink Carnation series, and I *really* wanted to write stories that were as fascinating, as compelling, and as romantic as the Pink Carnation books were. I wanted to share the butterflies, and make people feel as happy as I was when I read them (and re-read them, and re-re-re-read them). I wanted to bring as much light into the world as Lauren brought into mine with her books. So, I wrote. And wrote again, when the first attempts didn’t work very well. And then, one day, two things happened. I saw Letters To Juliet, and heard about a postcard that made its way to its addressee quite a few decades after being mailed. Those two otherwise unrelated events made me start thinking… what if it was a love letter that got lost in the mail? What if in that love letter, a man asked a woman to elope with him, but she never received it? What if life kept them apart after that? What if… what if… Cheeks burning hot with excitement, my heart beating hard against my ribcage, I sat down with a pen and a notebook and started jotting down ideas, plots, character profiles, and that love letter that would be at the center of my story.

A few months later, Stolen Time was born, and then published (which in itself, was amazing enough), and then, acquired for translation into English (by then, I was pinching myself every other day just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming). And I have to admit, I am so in love with this story that I can’t tell you how happy I am that it happened, because it means I get to share it with readers, and that is the best feeling in the world.

Now, I’d love to introduce you to the story. I’m offering one ebook to two lucky readers! Just tell us in the comments… have you ever received something that wasn’t addressed to you? And if yes, what did you do?

Stolen Time makes its English language debut tomorrow, June 13th.

Happy book birthday, Céline/Chloé!

Good luck to everyone who has entered to win a copy. The winners will be announced on Wednesday.

29 Comments

  1. Chloé on June 12, 2017 at 10:14 am

    Thank you so much Lauren!!!

  2. Susan Craig on June 12, 2017 at 12:12 pm

    A few years ago we had a kind, gentle mailman who got a little senile. We all used to meet in the street after he’d gone and sort our mail.

    • LynnS on June 12, 2017 at 12:18 pm

      Awww. That’s was so kind. What a great community to live in. I did meet one of my neighbors, because I kept getting their mail and started taking it over to them myself.

  3. Deborah on June 12, 2017 at 12:20 pm

    I do receive another person’s mail occasionally but usually it is just bills so I am quick to deliver them to the right person.

  4. Christine on June 12, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Celine – I’m so excited for you! You’ve mentioned working on writing for some time now and I’m so glad this has worked out for you! Congratulations!

    I used to get medical bills for the previous resident of my house. For years after they moved out. I kept returning to sender and calling the medical provider. Eventually they stopped. So really nothing exciting.

  5. Randy Riddle on June 12, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    When I was a child my mother found a bundle of about 25 letters written back and forth between a husband and wife during WWII. My mom never read them, as she felt that these were private and didn’t want to intrude. Last year, she gave them to me to read. And in turn, I found the family that they belong to! We’re working on getting them back to their rightful owners now.

    • Chloé/Céline on June 12, 2017 at 2:12 pm

      Oooh waow!!!!
      I love that story!! Did you really read the letters, then? How were they?

      • Randy Riddle on June 18, 2017 at 6:41 pm

        I read them ? They were so beautiful. After reading them, I told my husband he needs to “up” his romance game, lol! They family was so excited to get them back. They have no idea how the letters ended up in Kentucky (they were lost in Michigan!)

  6. Aura Harvey on June 12, 2017 at 12:40 pm

    I got some pears delivered to me by mistake. It had completely the wrong address. I ate them. I didnt think they would last if I sent them back. I felt a little guilty but nothing came of it.

  7. Adeia on June 12, 2017 at 12:41 pm

    Nothing really interesting but I do get a lot of stuff addressed to my ex husband – mostly bills, collection notices and legal stuff. I just forward everything to his mother.

  8. Michelle Springer on June 12, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    Sometimes I get mail addressed to whomever lives at 111 Scoville (my address is 1111 Scoville) or something that should have gone to the neighbors. Nothing exciting, unfortunately.

  9. DJL on June 12, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    I *have* gotten mail delivered to me, though not addressed to me…and when I most recently received it…I picked it up…walked next door…and delivered it to my neighbor (the actual addressee). Nothing too exciting–not like this book, which sounds fantastic! Congrats to the debut author!

  10. Sheila on June 12, 2017 at 1:43 pm

    Just bills, I am afraid, but this story sounds delicious!

  11. Pat Dupuy on June 12, 2017 at 2:02 pm

    UPS will leave packages for the same house number but one street off. We walk them over. Once they left computer equipment that had a company name but our address. I read the invoice and called them. Two office workers drove over to pick up their stuff.

  12. Linda Alkire on June 12, 2017 at 2:16 pm

    Right after I sold my house, but hadn’t closed on it, I got the new homeowner’s insurance bill (same insurance company as mine!). I accidentally opened it and was quick to pass it
    on to the new owner!

  13. Paige B. on June 12, 2017 at 4:04 pm

    Celine, congratulations! I am so excited for you, and your book sounds so fabulous! No, I have never received anything interesting addressed to someone else.

  14. Daniele K on June 12, 2017 at 4:06 pm

    The only mail I get for other people is credit card solicitations for the prior owners of our house. Straight to the shredder they go. Thanks for the chance to win.

  15. Amber on June 12, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    Nope

  16. Rachel Adrianna on June 12, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    Congratulations, Céline! I love that this online community can share literary accomplishments like yours– and the premise sounds absolutely tantalizing!

    I got a People magazine last month with another woman’s name but my address and I read it cover to cover 🙂

  17. Jane on June 12, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    Just recently received a bundle of our elderly neighbors mail. Took it over to his house 🙂

  18. Amy m on June 12, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    I got a package addred to a woman one street over. I walked it over to her house and it turned out that the box was full of Christmas treats from Germany. So began my obsession with marzipan…

  19. Maria on June 12, 2017 at 9:29 pm

    Sometimes we get our neighbor’s mail in our box. Whoever gets the mail that day just puts it in the right box.

  20. Emily on June 12, 2017 at 11:06 pm

    I usually get previous tenants’ junk mail. If it’s legit junk mail, I throw it out. If it looks like real mail, I write a note on it, put it back in the maildrop and hope for the best.

  21. Tara on June 13, 2017 at 6:27 am

    A package from Vietnam which belonged to my Vietnamese neighbor. I walked it over to him.

  22. Alexa on June 13, 2017 at 5:22 pm

    I sometimes receive my neighbor’s mail…and promptly deliver it to them, of course!

  23. bn100 on June 13, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    looks interesting

  24. Carla on June 14, 2017 at 12:04 am

    I also sometimes get my neighbors letters and walk them over… Nothing too exciting… But this book looks awesome!

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