☆♥.•Bella Cigna (Foreign Endearments, Book 1)
by Wendi Dass•.☆♥.•
Italy might be the very thing to heal her…
I am pleased to announce a great book release by Wendi Dass, a talented author I met during my journey! Her contemporary romance, Bella Cigna, book one of the Foreign Endearments series, officially released at the end of September!
Yay, that’s awesome! Congrats on your new release!
When a new book comes out, it’s always an exciting time for an author!
Wendi is giving us a look at her modern romance novel with a touch of humor, Bella Cigna, today.
Nice cover!
This is the blurb for Bella Cigna:
Devastated by personal loss, Sarah Flynn escapes to Rome where she finds a job teaching English. Only the girls’ school is like a nunnery and she’s expected to speak fluent Italian overnight. What has she gotten herself into? While the beautiful sights rekindle her interest in art, not even her brush finding canvas can heal all the wounds she carries. She’ll need the help of a meddling nun, a nutty mathematician, and a handsome Italian admirer. Can Sarah overcome the insecurities born of a shattered marriage? Will she again take a chance on love?
Here is an excerpt to entice you with!
Eduardo laughed again.
His laugh wasn’t loud or overbearing but a genuine expression of amusement. His eyes, so rich with warmth, smiled, too. For a moment, she lost herself gazing into them, even after his laughter subsided. She cleared her throat and stepped toward the table, where she pretended to busy herself with collecting the folders and handouts. “So, did you have a question?” She kept her gaze on the papers in front of her.
“Question?”
She stole a glance at him and nearly gasped. With his eyebrows pressed together and his glasses dipping to the edge of his nose, she knew where she had seen his face before. Michelangelo’s David. His eyes, his nose, and his mouth were all strikingly similar to the image she’d studied in college. And she’d studied the David closely: the toned biceps, the chiseled abdomen, and the intricately carved genitals…
A deep blush rushed her face, and she shifted her gaze to the desk. Why was she so embarrassed? She wasn’t undressing him with her eyes. Even if she had paid attention to the wide shoulders and narrow hips that now caught her eye, she needn’t be ashamed.
How long had passed since she had felt the warmth of desire for a man? Sarah swallowed hard and fanned her face. Apparently, long enough that even an innocent attraction burned her cheeks bright.
He relaxed his brows. “Are you all right?” Sarah froze her fanning hand in mid-flap. “Oh…yes. I’m still getting used to the temperature here.”
Purchase Links:
Universal Reader link: https://books2read.com/b/mlWBLZ
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
PRAISE FOR BELLA CIGNA
Escape to Italy in this fantastic tale… Reeling from betrayal and the break-up of her marriage, Sarah Flynn escapes to Rome, Italy. She gets a job teaching English at an all-girls school but soon discovers it is more like a nunnery. The nuns expect her to speak fluent Italian… what has she gotten herself into? She feasts on the art, scenery, and Italian lifestyle while trying to heal from her wounds. It’s not as easy as she imagined it would be. Can she open her heart to all that life can bring, even a new love or will she let her fears keep her from la bella vita (the good life)?
Bella Cigna is a fantastic story about taking risks, traveling to a foreign country and discovering the good life. Wendi Dass takes the reader on a romantic adventure through intensive descriptive narration. It’s like I was right there in Italy, which fed my artistic soul. The characters were so well-drawn, I liked them immensely. My favorite has to be Sister Maria. Ex-pats will love this story as will romance readers. Highly recommend! – N. N. Light (Amazon)
I liked the premise of this book. The main character, Sarah, is 33, in the midst of a divorce, and depressed. So what does she do? Heads for Rome, Italy and a girl’s school. She doesn’t speak Italian, knows nothing about the place she’s going, but goes anyway. Questions I had that confused me: When she gets there, her luggage is lost, but we never learn if it eventually caught up with her. And why doesn’t she just say something to Eduardo about possibly not being able to have a child? She had the guts to fly half-way around the world to a place where she doesn’t speak the language, but she’s too much of a coward to say: “My husband dumped me because I can’t get pregnant.”
What I liked: I loved the head nun. Sister Maria is an amazing character, and when she teams up with Sarah’s mother – perfect! Anna was interesting as well. And the ending of the story was perfect.
Recommendation: Even with the issues I had, I did enjoy this book. It had good characters and a satisfying ending. So… I do recommend it for a sweet romance with a HEA ending. – Vicky (Goodreads)
Five Stars — A beautiful story … this is definitely not a cheesy romance novel, but a story around subjects many women will have experienced and can relate to. Romance touched with a little bit of comedy, Wendi Dass’s Bella Cigna captures the reader right from the get-go. A story of losing and finding yourself again, Bella Cigna is highly recommended to lovers of art and contemporary fiction. – Readers’ Favorite
Intriguing! Gotta love this sneak peek. ♥♥♥
Thank you for telling us about your new book! It sounds great!
Readers, don’t forget to pick up a copy of this intriguing read! Or add it to your Goodreads bookshelf!
Author Bio
Wendi Dass is a math professor and author from Charlottesville, Virginia. Her writing interests include literary short stories, flash fiction, and novel-length women’s fiction and romance. Wendi’s short stories have been published in several small journals. When she’s not devising deceptively delicious problems for her students, she can be found drafting her latest story. For more information on her writing please visit www.wendidass.com.
Author Links
Website: www.wendidass.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorWendiDass/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Wendi_Dass1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendi_dass/
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Wendi-Dass/e/B08HKS5KV8/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17701072.Wendi_Dass
BookBub: https://bit.ly/36rpznp
Thanks again, Wendi! We hope to see you back on ILRB sometime.
Happy reading, everyone! And have a great week! ♥
I Love Romance Blog 
Thank you so much for spotlighting my book today! I can’t wait to see how your readers like my Michelangelo inspired hero, Eduardo (must be said with a drawn-out “r,” of course!)
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My pleasure! 😉
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