Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: The Calm I Seek by Christina Lourens

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for The Calm I Seek by Christina Lourens. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a fantastic guest post from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for more content. Enjoy!

--

Title: The Calm I Seek

Author: Christina Lourens

Publisher: Pheasant Hill Press

Publication Date: November 26th 2020

Print Length: 250 pages

Genre: Inspirational Fiction

~

With love, betrayal and grief disrupting her perfectly peaceful life, will she fight for the happiness she deserves?

After the violent death of her husband, Rebecca Holmes is content leading a quiet life spending time with her sisters and niece. When her younger sister Hannah asks her to plan her wedding, Rebecca discovers her friends and family all think her life is empty. Determined to prove them wrong, Rebecca takes up salsa lessons where she meets the charismatic salsa teacher, Gabriel Rodriguez.

Falling in love is the last thing Rebecca wanted to do, but she is inexplicably drawn to Gabriel. Opening her heart again is terrifying, especially after what happened with her late husband. With the help of the local vicar, Rebecca starts to believe that maybe she deserves a happy ending after all.

Just when she’s decided to give her heart to Gabriel, a betrayal brings back demons from the past. Heartbroken, Rebecca closes herself off again, but when disaster strikes her family, she is forced to confront her past actions. Can there be redemption for her and can she forgive those who betrayed her?

The Calm I Seek is a heartbreaking novel about forgiveness and redemption.

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble *

Book Depository * Books-A-Million * Half Price Books

* iBooks * IndieBound * Kobo

---

EXCERPT:

Someone clinked their fork against their wine glass, and it took me a few moments to realize this was done to draw our attention. A short inspection around the table showed us the culprit: Michael. We all groaned. Now was not the time to regale us with speeches.

He stood. “I’m sorry to break into your daydreams, but I wanted to say a few words.” 

Hannah smiled as her cheeks reddened. What did she have to blush about?

“As you all know, I dearly love your sister Hannah. We’ve been together for two years now, and we feel as if we’re made for each other.”

What was this? A public declaration of love? I could really do without that after stuffing myself full of turkey.

“Since we’ve been together for that long, we thought we’d make it official this year. If you permit us, that is.” He bowed slightly at Laura, who looked as confused as the rest of us. When he beamed at her, she realized a reply was expected.

“Sure,” she mumbled, although I doubted she knew what she was assenting to.

“Wonderful. Then it’s decided.” Michael now beamed at Hannah. Too much beaming going on for my liking. Hannah stood up as well, and he put his arm around her. “The wedding will probably be over the summer, although we haven’t set a definite date yet.”

Wait, wedding? 

“You’re getting married?” Emily hadn’t eaten that much and was clearly more with it than the rest of us.

Michael’s smile faded slightly. “Yes, that’s what I was telling you.”

“Well, congratulations.” She moved around to Hannah and hugged her. 

I was still trying to get my turkey-fogged brain to accept the new reality.

“A wedding? Well, that’ll be something to look forward to.” Laura’s smile seemed a bit strained, but that could have been indigestion. She also got up and hugged Hannah.

I got to my feet too, and since Michael was closest to me, I hugged him instead. Robert followed with manly shoulder claps and vigorous handshaking.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Christina Lourens has always been passionate about writing, but life got in the way of her writing career. She’s never given up and can be found writing in the evenings and on weekends, often accompanied by her pug. When she’s not writing, Christina keeps busy at the day job (until her writing career takes off) or snuggles up on the couch with a book. She loves crocheting, but because of her busy life, crocheting projects tend to take a long time to be finished.

Christina has lived in three countries, but is currently living in the UK with her husband of 20 years, their two children, pug, canary and pheasant.

The Calm I Seek is her first novel. 

Website * Amazon * Goodreads * Twitter

---

GUEST POST:

- What is the most romantic thing someone has done for you? 

When I saw the topic for this guest blog post, I turned to my husband of nineteen years and asked him, “What is the most romantic thing you’ve done for me?” We looked at each other in silent puzzlement, unable to come up with anything. 

Horrified, my husband asked, “Am I that bad at doing romantic stuff?”

Truth is, neither of us are the big-romantic-gestures-type. And that is fine, especially considering the origin story of our relationship is in itself quite romantic.

It was the late nineties and the internet was still in its infant stages. I lived in the Netherlands, my husband in Canada and neither of us knew of the other’s existence. I had discovered IRC chats and enjoyed talking to people from all over the world.

It was in one of the chatrooms that I met my husband. We chatted and became friends. My husband had a friend in the Netherlands—coincidentally in my town—and he mentioned that he would be visiting his friend in the summer. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so we planned to meet each other.

It was love at first sight. What was meant to be a quick coffee ended up as a whole day at the beach with a lovely dinner to finish. And the rest, as they say, is history. We did the long-distance thing for a year, then I moved to Canada for a year on a university exchange program, and then we did another three years of long distance before we got married. 

I don’t need big, romantic gestures. I’d rather have the smaller moments which so far have lasted twenty-four years of our relationship, with more to come. I have to admit that my heroes in my novels don’t tend to make big, romantic gestures either. Even Gabriel in The Calm I Seek is low-key, with the only big, romantic moment completely backfiring on him. Better to leave romantic gestures small, I think.

---

GIVEAWAY:

Christina Lourens will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. To increase your chance of winning, leave a comment at a different stop on the tour each day. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway