I'm so pleased to welcome Julie Ryan to my blog today, with her book Jenna's Journey, which sounds really interesting! I've written about a multigenenerational story about a woman heading to Greece when her marriage fails myself, so maybe it's a fantasy of women... to just take off! I've certainly entertained the thought on occasion ;) Enjoy this blurb and extract; buy links are at the bottom.
Jenna's
Journey
Blurb
Leaving
town, heading to the Greek Isles without telling husband or friends, is heady
medicine for a failing marriage. Seduced by Grecian sun and sky, Jenna
innocently buys an ancient urn that tangles her into the web of a criminal
world more sinister than she ever imagined. Romance is always afoot in the
Greek Isles and Jenna gets a large helping with the seductive Nikos. Family is
important in Greece, and Nikos helps Jenna learn all the richness it brings,
and pass it on to the next generation.
Twenty-five
years later, Allie takes this same journey. A little time travel, a big “what
if” dream, a fated meeting with a taxi driver and a sprinkle of paranormal
intrigue intertwine in a story that spans the lives of a mother and daughter.
Twisty as the streets in a Greek island village, full of unexpected characters
found on a faraway vacation, Jenna’s Journey will keep you turning pages far
into the night.
Author bio
Julie
Ryan’s roots are in a small mining village in South Yorkshire. After a degree
in French Language and Literature, wanderlust kicked in and she lived and
worked in France, Poland, Thailand and Greece. Her spirit enriched, her
imagination fired, Julie started a series of mystery romantic thrillers set in
the Greek Isles.
Jenna's Journey is the first
novel in Julie Ryan’s Greek Islands Series, a series she did not set out to
create but which took on its own life and grew, rich and fascinating. This is
the first of three published so far and it promises to delight readers looking
for the hidden dark sides of dream vacations in the Greek Isles. Pandora's Prophecy and Sophia's Secret make up the rest of the
trilogy.
Excerpt
As she stepped off the plane, a rush of excitement and
anticipation flooded over her. She wondered if her mother had felt the same
when she arrived in Greece almost twenty-five years ago. She knew that there
must have been many changes during that time. Instead of flying direct to the
island, her mother would have had to fly to Athens first, and then taken a boat
to the island as direct flights to the island had only started up a couple of
years ago. She stood in line waiting to clear customs, feeling guilty even
though she had nothing to hide. Just walking through the green channel, she
could sense hidden eyes watching her every move. This automatically made her
act suspiciously, and then breathing a sigh of relief, she was through and out
into the bright Greek sunshine. Squinting to read the address on the scrap of
paper, she hailed a taxi and the driver sped off towards the hotel.
“Hi, I am Leo,” the taxi driver said, introducing himself
in fluent English.
“Allie,” she replied.
She’d been anxious about being ripped off or taken on a
wild goose chase, but there was no need to worry. Leo seemed to be the
exception to her stereotyped image of Greek drivers. Although he drove fast, he
negotiated the roads with great skill. Driving up narrow tracks, he tooted his
horn to let any other drivers know he was coming.
She wanted to ask him about the austerity measures that
had recently been imposed on them in order to meet their euro-deficit
obligations. She had been quite shocked at the effects that the cutbacks had
had on ordinary people. Last year, the government had introduced a kind of
surtax cunningly collected through the electricity bill. If you refused to pay
or couldn’t pay, you were cut off—simple! People had struggled to keep warm
through the winter, as many couldn’t afford oil any more. The news had shown
piles of rubbish in the streets thanks to the refuse collectors going on strike
because they hadn’t been paid. Allie remembered seeing pictures of Piraeus on
the news with garbage heaped as high as cars. She wanted to ask Leo more about
how ordinary people had coped, but when she pressed him for more details, he
shrugged and smiled.
“Greece is not only Athens, you know. Here, sure, life is
tough, but we survive. Maybe we spend a little less, complain a little more,
but life is good. You are in the most beautiful place in the world. If you have
the sun and the sea and a few vegetables—what more do you need?”
Looking round at the idyllic scenery of the island, Allie
thought that this was a far cry indeed from the sensationalist pictures of
Athens that she’d seen on the TV. They finally pulled up in front of a
traditional-looking but freshly painted hotel. Allie took the well-thumbed
photo from her bag for comparison. Whilst the land round had all been eaten up
by new developments, the hotel itself looked remarkably similar to the photo.
It had been extended at the side, but there was no doubt that this was the
place. Maybe now she would get the answers that she’d been waiting for all this
time? She wanted answers that her mother couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, give
her.
“Here we are,” said Leo, taking her holdall from her and
escorting her up some stone steps. Allie added a few euros to the fare, partly
in relief at having got here in one piece, and also because Leo had been so
charming. She knew from the guidebook she’d read on the plane that it wasn’t
necessary to tip, but Leo accepted gracefully, handing her a card with his
number on it in case she needed his services again. If what he’d told her was
true, Allie guessed that meant his family could eat that night.
She walked up to the reception desk and, seeing no one
about, rang the bell. She was quite surprised by the interior. Whilst the hotel
looked traditional on the outside, the inside had been renovated in a very
contemporary style. She was sure it was the right place, but she really didn’t
know where to start to get the answers she’d come all this way for. She was in
the middle of reading the notice above the desk which advertised free Wi-Fi
access for hotel residents when a man in his late forties, or he could be early
fifties—Allie wasn’t much good at telling people’s ages—came out of a room at
the back. His skin was lightly tanned and he was wearing a light-blue chambray
shirt, which set his tan off perfectly. He must have been good-looking in his
youth, thought Allie.
The man stopped in his stride and she watched the colour
fade from his face in disbelief.
“My God, it can’t be,” he whispered.
“You must be Nick,” replied Allie. “You look as if you’ve
seen a ghost!”
Book Links
Social Media Links
Author Central Account: http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Ryan/e/B00F0VYX34/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jewilkinson1441 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/458168.Julie_Ryan
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