It’s winter at The Vineyard in Alsace, and wedding bells are in the
air
How do you know when you’re ready for love?
Ellie Robinson has spent her life running from commitment following the
breakdown of her parents’ marriage when she was young. She doesn’t believe
in happy ever afters and the last thing she wants is to settle down in one
place when she could be travelling the world.
Having moved from place to place throughout his childhood, Henri Weiss now
calls the vineyard in Alsace home, and he loves the stability the vineyard
and the people on it give him. While he enjoys travelling, it’s always good
to come home again.
Following an extended travelling trip together, Ellie and Henri find their
differences more marked than before, despite their love for each other being
even stronger. Then a series of shocks in Ellie’s personal life throws
things into turmoil, leaving Ellie unsure as to how to get everything she
wants. And Henri facing the loss of the future he has dreamed of.
Can Ellie and Henri reconcile their very different desires and take a leap
of faith on their love for each other? Will they get the happy ever after
they’ve both been longing for?
Escape to The Vineyard in Alsace once again for this uplifting, romantic
read and enjoy Christmas at Domaine des Montagnes.
A Leap of Faith - mybook.to/ALeapofFaith
The 3 book series page - mybook.to/ddmseries
Excerpt
This extract is
from the beginning of Chapter 3 of A Leap of Faith at the Vineyard in Alsace.
Ellie and Henri have just returned to the vineyard after travelling for five
months. Ellie wasn’t that keen to come home and has since found out that there’s
no work for her to do. Then Henri asks her to set up a website and blog for the
vineyard to help promote them.
Ellie
Ellie had got
straight to work on the website as soon as Henri had sent the details through
to her the previous day. The bare bones were all there with Fran having created
a static home page and an About the Vineyard page, but although she’d obviously
made a start on listing their products, that job had never been finished.
Fran’s original role as marketing manager for the estate had grown to include
so much more, and Ellie understood how easily the website must have fallen to
the bottom of her friend’s to-do list.
After spending the previous afternoon tidying
everything up and creating a page for her new blog, she was now ready to go.
She began by writing a short piece detailing all the work done so far to
restore the downstairs of the château, including a namecheck for each of the
companies that had been involved. She planned to email them all once she’d
finished writing to let them know that they would be getting free advertising
for the first month after she published her article in the hope that they would
pay for more after that once word got round.
She dug out some photos of the magnificent
staircase work, as well as the decorative mouldings around the ceilings in the
downstairs rooms. After adding these to the post, she reviewed her work one
last time before publishing it to the blog. She then turned her attention to
how she would generate interest in the website and her blog, which made her
wonder if there was a village magazine to help spread the word. There was only
one person who would know that kind of information, and that was Sylvie.
After emailing all the tradespeople who had
worked with her on the first phase of restoring the château, she threw on her
coat and scarf to set off for the village. It wasn’t far from Henri’s house to
the market square, but this time, she paid more attention to the shops and
other businesses she passed on the way. She stopped in at the florist’s to pick
up a bouquet for Sylvie as a thank you for looking after the house during their
absence. Although she’d been in many times before, to her embarrassment, she’d
never really engaged much with the owner.
‘Bonjour, Madame.’
‘Mademoiselle.’ The woman nodded and
smiled.
Ellie placed her order and was about to go when,
on impulse, she decided to take a chance. ‘I’m sorry I’ve not introduced myself
before, but I’m Ellie. I work up at the vineyard.’
‘Yes, I know. You’re Henri’s girlfriend, n’est-ce
pas?’
Ellie relaxed a little then. ‘Would you be
interested in being interviewed for a feature on the vineyard’s blog about the
local area? We’re trying to attract visitors.’ All her words came out in a rush
as she gathered her confidence to make her request.
‘Oui, certainement.’
Ellie was delighted by her first success, and
after arranging a time to come back and interview Madame Gastaud, she made her
way to Sylvie’s house with an extra spring in her step.
A few minutes later, Ellie knocked on the door of
the house that Sylvie now shared with her partner, Frédéric, admiring the
neatly tended front garden while she waited for her to come to the door.
‘Ellie! Quelle bonne surprise.’ Sylvie’s
face lit up as Ellie handed over the pretty bouquet of flowers she’d bought.
They kissed affectionately before going inside.
‘Thank you so much for looking after the house
while we’ve been away, Sylvie.’
‘It was my pleasure, chérie.’ Sylvie led
the way to the kitchen and put the kettle on before gathering the cups. ‘Did
you have a wonderful time?’
‘We really did. Even Henri enjoyed himself.’
Ellie laughed and Sylvie joined in, knowing that Henri hadn’t really wanted to
go travelling at first.
‘I’m sure he’s glad to be back home again
though.’ Sylvie made the drinks and passed a cup over to Ellie. They both took
a seat at the kitchen table.
‘He couldn’t wait to come back.’
‘How about you? Are you glad to be back?’ Sylvie
asked perceptively.
Ellie frowned. ‘I wasn’t looking forward to
coming back, and I’m still finding it hard to settle, and when I found out that
there’s no money to complete the restoration of the château, that only made
things more difficult. But Henri and I are working on a new idea to help raise
funds, and that’s given me something to keep me busy.’
She proceeded to tell Sylvie about the blog and
online shop idea.
‘That sounds wonderful, and just the input we
need to get things going again.’
‘I wondered if you knew about a village magazine
I could contact, Sylvie. I need to get some interviews arranged to help spread
the word.’
Before long, Sylvie had provided Ellie with a
list of her contacts within the village.
‘This is such a wonderful idea, Ellie, and it
will help you to get more involved in the community. I will tell everyone I
know about your plans, as well, when I go to the market on Saturday.’
Author Bio –
Julie Stock writes contemporary feel-good romance from around the world:
novels, novellas and short stories. She published her debut novel,
From Here to Nashville, in 2015, after starting to write as an escape
from the demands of her day job as a teacher.
A Leap of Faith at the Vineyard in Alsace is her eleventh book, and
the third in the Domaine des Montagnes series set on a vineyard.
Julie is now a full-time author, and loves every minute of her writing
life. When not writing, she can be found reading, her favourite past-time,
running, a new hobby, or cooking up a storm in the kitchen, glass of wine in
hand.
Julie is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of
Authors.
She is married and lives with her family in Cambridgeshire in the
UK.
Social Media Links –
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Thank you for hosting me on your blog today, Jasmine. It's much appreciated :)
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :)
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