Blog Tour Review, Excerpt, & Giveaway: Loving Lucianna by Joyce DiPastena

 

Joyce DePastena's debut novel, Loyalty's Web, was a favorite of mine (you can see my review here). I have read each subsequent release by this author and enjoyed them, so I was happy to join this tour to promote DiPastena's newest book. Scroll on down to find out more, read an excerpt and my review, and to enter the giveaway...

Loving LuciannaLoving Lucianna
(Hearts in Autumn Romance #1)
by Joyce DiPastena
Adult Historical Romance
Paperback220 Pages
October 11th 2014 by Sable Tyger Books

Summary

Sir Balduin de Soler gave up long ago on love. He never had the means to support a wife until an unexpected advancement in his fifties allows him to reassess his future just as the lovely Lucianna enters his life.

Lucianna Fabio harbors a secret, painful memory from her past that has kept her unwed, as well. Now in her forties, she thought herself too old to marry until she meets Sir Balduin. Now suddenly their lonely autumn lives feel very much like spring again . . . until Lucianna’s brother appears without warning and threatens to revive the secret that will destroy Lucianna’s second chance at love.

"Loving Lucianna" is the first in Joyce DiPastena’s new "Hearts in Autumn" romance series, medieval romances revolving around heroes and heroines “in the autumn of their years.” Because you’re never too old to fall in love!
   

My Review

The beginning of Loving Lucianna was a little slow for me. I loved Sir Balduin's character. I loved how Lucianna talks about him and his defense of Siri and how she came to finally accept his suit after he continued to try to earn her love while she was trying to resist falling in love with him. I struggled a little with Lucianna. I thought that she should have had a stronger backbone, if not in the past, then definitely now. She also could be quite dramatic. I really, really disliked Serafino. I literally wanted to smack him and then smack Lucianna for letting him get away with what he did. However, by the time I was two-thirds through I couldn't put the story down. I would definitely say the ending was delightful. It showed how much Lucianna really loved Sir Balduin and Siri and how scarred her past had made her. Sir Balduin really became her knight in shining armor and I loved it!

Overall, Loving Lucianna was an enjoyable and sweet romance. I appreciated that it was clean.  I enjoyed the historical setting, the feeling of finding home and family where you may not be looking for it and that a bond could be found stronger between those not related by blood. I would definitely recommend this to those who enjoy sweet historical romance or romance in general.

Content: Clean

Source: Purchased and from the tour host, which did not affect my review in any way.

Excerpt

[After a quarrel between Sir Balduin and Lucianna that threatens to derail their wedding, Sir Balduin tries to woo Lucianna back by singing a song in her praise. But he is not a poet and the rhyme goes horribly awry.]

Lucianna would never forgive him for humiliating her in front of her kin. Any hope that he might successfully disclaim that his poem had anything to do with her was dashed when her eyes snapped back to him with a glittering glare.

“Foxy hair? Milky smile? You are not only drunk, you are an atrociously bad poet. And emeralds do not come in pools!” She swept away from him to pause between Siri and Serafino. “You ask a great deal of me, carissima, to expect me to endure another month of such lamentable attention. I do not know that I can bear it, truly I do not!”

Siri jumped up to catch her arm as Lucianna started to leave the dais. “Lucianna, wait! I am certain Sir Balduin did not mean to insult you. It is—it is a misunderstanding, merely. You have only to look at him to see his chagrin.”

Aye, look at me, the silent plea pounded in his breast. Look and see how I love you and how you will take springtime from my heart if you go away.

About the Author

Joyce DiPastena dreamed of green medieval forests while growing up in the dusty copper mining town of Kearny, Arizona. She filled her medieval hunger by reading the books of Thomas B. Costain (where she fell in love with King Henry II of England), and later by attending the University of Arizona where she graduated with a degree in history, specializing in the Middle Ages. The university was also where she completed her first full-length novel...set, of course, in medieval England. Later, her fascination with Henry II led her to expand her research horizons to the far reaches of his “Angevin Empire” in France, which became the setting of her first published novel, Loyalty’s Web (a 2007 Whitney Award Finalist).

When she’s not writing, Joyce loves to read, play the piano, and spend time with her sister and friends. A highlight of her year is attending the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival. She lives with her two cats, Clio and Glinka Rimsky-Korsokov, in Mesa, Arizona.


Did you know that Lucianna (the heroine of “Loving Lucianna”) has her very own Pinterest board?  Check it out here

Tour-Wide Giveaway

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8 comments

  1. Cali Willette11/1/14, 11:08 AM

    Great book and giveaway!

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  2. Oh! The owls are SO cute! ^_^
    I love them all <3 (I have to admit my favorite one is the ghost :P but don't tell the other ones)
    Hope you and your kids had a great Halloween!
    Now we're looking forward to Christmas ;)

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  3. I won't tell the others - your secret is safe with me. ;)


    Wait! What happened to Thanksgiving?!! I'm not ready for Christmas yet, so I'll to think of that holiday first. Think it's work? Yeah. Probably not. :)

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  4. :O That's right, you have Thanksgiving to think about!
    You see, I live in Canada. So thanksgiving is in October around here :P
    For us, the next big holiday is Christmas! :D

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  5. These look like an interesting series. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I was just thinking about holidays and wondering who celebrates Halloween outside the US. I guess that is a US holiday - at least at that time of year. At least Christmas is still just under two months away. :)

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  7. The first book was really cute. I didn't realize at first that it was going to be a series and so I was expecting a finished ending and then it wasn't... I'm looking forward to eventually finding out what happens.

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