Guest Post with Author Barbara DeLeo and Giveaway

Today I am happy to welcome to RFTC author Barbara DeLeo. Barbara is celebrating the release of her book Contract for Marriage and has stopped by for a little chat. Before I give the floor over to Barbara, let's get to know her a bit.

Barbara DeLeo’s first book, co-written with her best friend, was a story about beauty queens in space. She was eleven, and the sole, handwritten copy was lost years ago much to everyone’s relief. It’s some small miracle that she kept the faith and now lives her dream of writing sparkling contemporary romance with unforgettable characters.

Degrees in English and Psychology, and a career as an English teacher, fuelled Barbara’s passion for people and stories, and a number of years living in Europe gave her a love for romantic settings.

Discovering she was having her second set of twins in two years, Barbara knew she must be paying penance for being disorganized in a previous life and was determined to get it right this time. It’s amazing what being housebound with four preschoolers will do for the imagination and she decided it was time to follow her writing dream. Funnily enough, those first manuscripts had not a single child in them.

Married to her winemaker hero, Barbara’s happiest when she’s getting to know her latest cast of characters. She still loves telling stories about finding love in all the wrong places, but now without a beauty queen or spaceship in sight.

Places to find Barbara:

| Site | Blog | Facebook | Twitter |

Thanks so much for having me here, Danielle. I’m in a bit of a crazy space at the moment as we’re on a three-month trip to Greece and Cyprus so it’s lovely to be able to sit down and put my feet up for a chat with you!

Actually, it’s a little spooky that we’re visiting Greece and Cyprus right now. The day my very first book, Contract for Marriage, released was the day I left Athens after a four-week stay. Coincidentally, my book opens with my hero, Christo, leaving Athens too!

Although I live in New Zealand, my husband’s family is Greek and we’ve travelled back here this time with our four kids and their grandparents to live the culture a little. My husband and I worked here in our twenties and we love the lifestyle—the focus on family, fun and great food.

In Contract for Marriage, Christo’s heritage is Greek too, and he returns to New Zealand after his annual trip to his home country to acquire the villa where his mother’s been housekeeper for forty years. Unfortunately for him, Ruby Fleming, the woman who turned her back on him ten years ago, wants it too. They’re both fighting to hold onto a piece of the past and they’ll do anything in their power to get it.

I guess we’re looking into the past while we’re on our trip here too and it’s fascinating. Visiting the villages my in-laws left when they were children, making connections with long lost family members. It’s fantastic for my kids to find people with names like theirs and to see a part of the world so very far from their home. Looking back in time can be fascinating, but for people like Ruby and Christo, it can throw up challenges far greater than those they’ve faced before.

I have an e-copy of Contract for Marriage to give away to a commenter who tells us about their experience when they revisited something (or someone!) from their past.

Barb X

Pregnant and alone after her ex-lover’s death, magazine editor Ruby Fleming’s not about to give up her home to the man who broke her heart—until she discovers her mother left half of the estate to somebody else, and she realizes she’s trapped.

Property tycoon Christo Mantazis wants the one thing his riches can’t buy—the villa where his mother has lived and worked as housekeeper for forty years. That it’s the same house he was banished from after being caught making love to the owner’s irresistible daughter stirs up old memories and now he wants her more than ever.

When Christo offers a marriage of convenience, Ruby knows it’s the only way for them to get what they want. Ruby needs her baby to have the link to its past, Christo needs his mother to retain her home, and for him to have the child he could never father.

But it’s another need—to have Christo again—that Ruby must resist at all costs.

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

1 lucky commenter will win a eBook copy of  Contract for Marriage

To Enter:

• Please answer Barbara's question: Please share about an experience when you revisited something (or someone!) from your past.
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck =)

a Rafflecopter giveaway