Spotlight & Giveaway: The Patron Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Christine Simon to HJ!

Hi Christine and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Patron Saint of Second Chances!

 
Thank you so much for having me, and hello, everyone!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Patron Saint of Second Chances is about Signor Speranza, the self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy, who concocts a wild plan to save his tiny village from extinction. He starts a rumor that a big-time movie star is filming his next movie in town, and before he knows it, things spiral out of control, and he’s forced to make the movie for real.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

I don’t have a particular line in mind, but I do love anytime Signor Speranza thinks about or comments on his assistant’s questionable fashion choices.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I first got the idea for this novel from those articles you see everywhere about tiny Italian villages selling homes for a dollar. One of the villages had a clever mayor who came up with a publicity stunt—he made it illegal for the residents of his town to die. Now everyone should want to live there, right?? It got me thinking—what else might an enterprising mayor do?
• The setting of Prometto is based on my grandparents’ village of Ferruzzano in Calabria, Italy.
• My nonna always wanted to own a restaurant, but never got the chance, so I’ve named the café owner after her.
• There are a number of badly behaved miniature schnauzers in this book, who were inspired by my own miniature schnauzer. Unlike his fictional counterparts, my schnauzer is actually a very good boy, except for that one time he climbed up on the kitchen table and ate fully HALF of an unattended lasagna.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There’s quite a bit of nostalgia in this novel, with the main character trying to hold on to all the things that seem to be slipping away from him. At one point, he happens to remember a hazy snippet of his mother’s funeral, which happened when he was a toddler, and that made me tear up a bit.

Readers should read this book….

if they are looking to laugh. The troubles Signor Speranza gets himself into are both ludicrous and filled with heart.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on another story set in a small, backwater town. It’s been lovely, finding another charming place I can escape to!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: (1) One Print copy of The Patron Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon, US only. 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you were the mayor of one of these dying villages, what would you do to drum up publicity? This is the question that produced this novel.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Book Info:

The self-appointed mayor of a tiny Italian village is determined to save his hometown no matter the cost in this charming, hilarious, and heartwarming debut novel.

Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy (population 212) Signor Speranza has a problem: unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism—and revenue—he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby.

Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film—the village butcher will throw in some money if Speranza can find roles for his fifteen enormous sons, Speranza’s wistfully adrift daughter reveals an unexpected interest in stage makeup, and his hapless assistant Smilzo volunteers a screenplay that’s not so secretly based on his undying love for the film’s leading lady. To his surprise—and considerable consternation, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real.

As the entire town becomes involved (even the village priest invests!) Signor Speranza starts to think he might be able to pull this off. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does?
Book Links:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Christine Simon grew up in a very large and very loud Italian family and now lives with her husband and four children. The Patron Saint of Second Chances is her first novel.
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