Barbara DeLeo Debuts as a Guest Blogger—from Cyprus!

Please give a hearty welcome to Barbara DeLeo, who has honored me with her first guest blog post! Her book, Contract for Marriage, is burning up the lists! Welcome, Barb!

Hi Natalie!

Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog and huge congratulations on the release of Under the Moon. It looks fantastic and is ready on my e-Reader!

I’m lucky enough to have a book out this week, too. Contract for Marriage is my debut novel and I couldn’t be more excited!

This week’s been a bit crazy in other ways too. My family and I have traveled from the Greek Island of Lesvos to the city of Athens, and now we’re on the island of Cyprus! By family, I mean my husband and his parents, my twin girls who are 11 and my twin boys who are 8. And we’re travelling through Greece and Cyprus together for a total of 3 months.

If you think that’s a recipe for insanity, then you’d be right! But it’s also an amazing cultural experience (my husband’s parents are from here), a unique opportunity to have 24/7 time together as a family, oh...and a huge amount of fun.

We started planning the trip pretty much when the girls were born. For us all to go back to the countries where my in-laws were born, and where my husband and I had lived in our twenties, would be incredible. The birth of another set of twins kind of put the brakes on things a little, but we kept the goal in our sights.

There were many things that we compromised on to save enough money to be able to take three months off work, pay airfares for eight people, and have enough for living expenses while we were away. No new car in nine years, no snazzy house renovations, none of the latest gadgets—it was sometimes hard to keep the dream in sight but we all believed in it enough to see it through. And now it’s paying off daily.

Writing with a view to getting published’s a bit like that. You need to keep your eye on your goal and stick with it through all the tough times, the crows of doubt, and the people who can sometimes put obstacles in your way.

If I leave one thing behind from pursuing a career as an author, I hope that my kids learn that if you want something enough, believe in it for all the right reasons, then the sacrifices will be worth it in the long run. They’ve seen the results this week with the release of my first book, and the amazing time they’re having on this trip.

So, what’s the goal that you have for yourself, and how are you putting things in place in your life to meet it and avoid the distractions that could make you stray off your path?

 I’m sitting here with my piece of baklava and a Greek coffee, dying to hear from you!

Contract for Marriage

Pregnant and alone after her ex-lover’s death, magazine editor Ruby Fleming’s not about to give up her home to the man who broke her heart—until she discovers her mother left half of the estate to somebody else, and she realizes she’s trapped.

Property tycoon Christo Mantazis wants the one thing his riches can’t buy—the villa where his mother has lived and worked as housekeeper for forty years. That it’s the same house he was banished from after being caught making love to the owner’s irresistible daughter stirs up old memories and now he wants her more than ever.

When Christo offers a marriage of convenience, Ruby knows it’s the only way for them to get what they want. Ruby needs her baby to have the link to its past, Christo needs his mother to retain her home, and for him to have the child he could never father.

But it’s another need—to have Christo again—that Ruby must resist at all costs.

Buy it now!

Learn more about Barbara DeLeo at her website.