Robin Lovett enjoys
reading and writing about her favorite things: croissants, France, and sexy
athletes. It’s no wonder Racing To You, her debut novel, features all three. Learn
more about Robin and her books at her website.
Going to France costs so much money. I didn’t realize how lucky
I was to go there to study during graduate school. And now I’m a writer, what
better way to travel back, without buying the plane
ticket, than to write a novel set in France?
I want to be transported on the pages of a book. To go to
the south of France, to smell the pastries in the patisserie, to feel the breeze off the Mediterranean, to watch the seas of the Côte
d’Azur sparkle in the sun, and listen to the French language spoken
wherever I go.
But even when traveling in person, it’s not always as
perfect as one hopes. My first view of the Mediterranean as a student was on an
overcast rainy day, and I was decidedly disenchanted. Without the sun, the
water was as gray as any river and the rain reminded me so much of home, I
wanted to cry. How could this be France? It was miserable, and no one should
ever be miserable in France, right?
That wasn’t the only trouble. I left home thinking
my French was stellar. I’d studied for years and spent weeks brushing up, but I
never counted on how difficult it would be to understand native speakers. I
could barely converse with the locals.
Travelling alone, managing the European transit
system without anyone’s help—it scared me. I never knew how much I depended on
having loved ones and friends nearby until I was in a strange country with
everyone I knew across an ocean.
The good news, though, I had plenty of time to
learn and experience. It wasn’t a vacation where I had to go home in three
days. I had weeks. The sky eventually cleared and when the sun came out… the
sea was so blue, it was blinding, and the sun so bright I could feel it warming
me from the inside out. I learned to navigate the town, found my favorite
places, and studied how to converse with the local people.
It became as idyllic as I imagined, even though,
just like any good story with a well-earned happy ending, it wasn’t easy at
first. But the good stuff was all the sweeter when it happened. It made me a
braver, stronger person and showed me I was more independent than I ever
thought I could be.
Writing Racing To You was as cathartic as
I’d hoped. I will go back to France someday. But I learned what I miss isn’t
just the place, but the amazing things the journey taught me about myself.
Racing to You
Love—the one roadblock they never expected.
Aurelia is living her dream, teaching for a year in the south of
France. Except it’s all going wrong. The carefree culture is challenging her
academic goals, and her students are so difficult that she wants the
unthinkable: to give up and go home.
Meeting Terrence doesn’t help. When he’s not training for the
Tour de France, the cocky pro cyclist is flirting with Aurelia, but she didn’t
cross an ocean to hook up with an American jock, even if he does have killer
dimples and looks hot in spandex.
Until the jock sets out to prove he’s more than mere muscle. He
wants to teach her what having fun really means, which could be as dangerous to
her structured life as it is to her heart.
As life hits unexpected roadblocks, they turn to one another for
support, and flirtation becomes game-changing love. But Terrence is chasing his
dream of being the fastest man on two wheels, and she isn’t sure how far he’ll
go to win…or how far she’s willing to follow.
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That photo would make a great book cover!
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