Cover Reveal: Laura Florand's A Crown of Bitter Orange: La Vie En Roses
FRIENDS BECOME LOVERS IN LAURA FLORAND’S CROWN OF BITTER ORANGE
Book 3 – La Vie en Roses – on sale February 2016
“Silky and addictive.” – RT Book Reviews
❧❧
Laura Florand, bestselling author of The Chocolate Kiss, combines
lush description, smart dialogue, provocative sensuality, and the perfume of
love itself in A Crown of Bitter Orange, an irresistibly lush novel that
is an ode to the scents and pleasures of the south of France and the beauty of
falling in love.
A CROWN OF BITTER ORANGE
by Laura Florand
February 2017 / Ebook & Trade Paperback / Original / Fiction
Childhood
friends. Tristan Rosier might have asked Malorie Monsard to marry him when
he was five years old, but things had only gone downhill from there. She’d
spent the rest of their lives ignoring him, abandoning him, and destroying his
perfumes. Now she was back, to wreak who knew what havoc on his life.
Lifelong
enemies. Tristan might choose to dismiss the generations-long enmity
between their two families, but Malorie didn’t have that privilege. Like all
the other privileges wealthy, gorgeous Tristan took for granted that she
couldn’t. But if she was going to restore her family company to glory, she
might just need his help.
Or the
perfect match? They’d known each other all their lives. Could these childhood
friends and lifelong enemies ever uncross their stars and find happily ever
after?
PRE-ORDER LINKS
Kobo: link not yet available
iBooks: link not yet available
EXCERPT
© Laura Florand, 2016
Well, look at that. Prince
Charming. Malorie should have known she’d stumble over him the instant she set
foot back in his kingdom. The man was the bane of her existence even when she
was halfway around the world.
She put her hands on her hips
and looked down at him, so peacefully dozing out in the open that he hadn’t
even stirred at the sound of her feet in the great white pebbles by the river.
Tristan Rosier asleep looked
exactly how Malorie had always imagined. Gorgeous. Insouciant. Not vulnerable
in the least, except to being over-kissed by the sun. A wicked little smile
curving his mouth as if that sun was a woman and he was quite used to this kind
of treatment.
She sighed. It would serve
Tristan right to have his nose peeling for a week, but then forty years from
now, if he got skin cancer, it would be all her fault, and the last thing a
Monsard needed was more lives on her conscience.
Plus, knowing Tristan, a
peeling nose would probably improve his ability to flirt with hot actresses,
not weaken it—he always managed flips like that. And his ability to flirt with
hot actresses was already freaking annoying.
Fine. She dipped her hands in
the milky green river, high from the recently melted snow in the peaks,
limestone giving it that beautiful color. She carried the water back across the
round white pebbles, tightened herself and double-checked her buttons to make
sure her clothes weren’t going to melt off as soon as he winked at her, and
then tossed the icy water over his bare torso.
Muscles flicked like a
cat’s—powerful, lean, surging awake—and he opened his eyes, blinking sleepily
at her as if she was all shadow in too much light. “Malorie Monsard,” he said,
with a sensual, lazy pleasure, as if he’d just woken up on a Sunday morning and
was quite happy to see that she was the woman draped in his bathrobe bringing
him coffee in the hopes he would ask her to stay.
She had to dive fast into
irony to protect herself, as she always did with him.
“You make a good Sleeping
Beauty, Tristan.” She used the masculine beau au bois dormant. “Or
should I say Snow White?” A nod to the half-eaten apple resting against his
washboard abs.
Tristan sat up, blinking, his
eyes clearing. “Malorie Monsard.” His voice flattened. He shifted to sit on the
rock against which his head had been resting, cushioned by his backpack. “Trust
you to replace the kiss in the story with ice water on a man’s skin.”
Yeah. Tristan had been as
friendly to her as to any other female on the planet when they were in high
school, but when they met again in New York, it had not gone well. For him.
Supple, expressive eyebrows
that could lilt up subtly in amusement, invite a woman in with laughter, tease
her wickedly, did what they always did when she was around. They drew together.
“Malorie,” he said for the third time, looking around them at the limestone
cliffs and the rushing spring river as if finally processing it. “What the hell
are you doing here?”
PRAISE FOR LAURA FLORAND’S NOVELS:
“Chocolate, Paris, and a Greek god for a hero; this delectable confection has it all!” – Library Journal Starred Review
“(Florand) captures the nature of love, its fierce, soul-warming necessity, in a way that will make you as happy as the finest bonbon could.” – Eloisa James, The Barnes & Noble Review, a Best Book of 2013 selection
“Florand outdoes herself with this exquisite confection… painstakingly crafted and decadent as the sweets it portrays, leaving the reader longing for just one little taste.” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“Adorable, charming, whimsical.” – Smexy Books
“Florand serves up a mouth-watering tale of slow-burning passion and combustible consummation that’s as perfectly crafted as the hero’s surprisingly complex confections and as silky and addictive as the heroine’s dark chocolat chaud.”– RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!, RT Seal of Excellence, RT Reviewers Choice nomination Best Book of 2013
“A delectable summer bonbon.” – NPR Books
“This is one of the cleverest, most persuasive enemies-to-lovers stories I’ve read in a long time.” – Dear Author, RECOMMENDED READ
❧❧
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Florand burst on the contemporary romance scene in 2012 with her award-winning Amour et Chocolat series. Her international bestselling books have appeared in ten languages, been named among the Best Books of the Year by Romantic Times and Barnes & Noble, received the RT Seal of Excellence and starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist, and been recommended by NPR, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, among others.
After a Fulbright year in Tahiti and backpacking everywhere from New Zealand to Greece, and several years living in Madrid and Paris, Laura now teaches Romance Studies at Duke University. Contrary to popular opinion, this means she primarily teaches French language and culture and does a great deal of research on French gastronomy, particularly chocolate. For more information, please see her website: www.lauraflorand.com.
More Praise for Laura Florand’s Novels
“The battle of pastries is an erotic subtext for their love affair, and every bit as decadent.” – Publishers Weekly
“All the elements of [Florand’s] successful recipe for reading pleasure—headstrong heroine, dashing hero, sinful desserts, and sultry situations—come together in another deliciously entertaining offering.” — BOOKLIST
“Full of whimsical charm, great dialogue and what turns into a very sexy romance. The author weaves the food these two create into their romance so well… a truly charming book. Highly recommend.” – USAToday.com
“Sweet, sexy, and all around delicious. I’m addicted. I can’t wait for the next book.” – Nalini Singh, NYT bestselling author
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