Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennifer Probst to HJ!
Hi Jennifer Probst and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, To Sicily with Love!
Please summarize the book for the readers here:
My heroine, Aurora, is a successful life coach with everything she ever wanted. When her mom unexpectedly dies, she’s thrown into a deep grief, causing both her career and love life to crumble. When she finds out she had a family in Sicily she never knew about, she takes the summer to travel to Sicily and meet her family. Those weeks change her life as she experiences a town steeped in tradition, a man who she begins to fall for, and struggles to re-discover who she really is.
Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:
“The magic is in the mess.”
Please share a few Fun facts about this book…
- I did a deep dive into all the Sicilian food until each time I began to write, I’d crave warm comforting carbs! I studied various food blogs, spoke with people who had relatives in Sicily, and went through recipes. Sicilians have an adventurous palette and will eat some things we consider strange. They also spend hours at the table for lunch, not dinners. Gathering at the table for a big mid-day meal is a beautiful event.
- Also, I always use a playlist for each of my books. Some of the songs I played while I wrote To Sicily with Love is We are Family by Sister Sledge; Daylight by Taylor Swift, and A Symptom of Being Human by Shinedown.
What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?
I’m so in love with my hero, Quint! He’s extremely kind and when he first meets Aurora, he can sense she’s trying too hard to be a certain type of person, attached to strict goals of success. With Quint, he can see right to her soul, and they become good friends, leading to something deeper.
With Aurora, she’s startled when Quint tells her she’s beautiful exactly as she is.
It’s just an emotional love story that’s a slow burn.
Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?
So many scenes! But one I particularly love is a scene between Aurora and her grandfather. Because her mother ran off to marry Aurora’s father and never returned home, Aurora and her grandfather have a rocky relationship. Throughout the book, they begin to open up and heal, but it’s a long journey, and almost a parallel of another relationship. When there is final acceptance of the past between them and their losses, I was literally sobbing as I wrote. Here’s a tease:
“Do you regret your decision? Do you believe it could have all ended differently?”
My question was desperate, but I needed to know if his heart was cold. Had he cut her off easily? Had he mourned or just pretended she didn’t exist?
“She left. She made her choice.”
I stared at the gruff man beside me. Hat tilted low on his brow. Lips firmed and pressed tight together. Fists clenched. There was no softness or vulnerability there. His entire body screamed anger and tension, but the moment I began to turn away and dismiss him; to hide from the agony of having him reject me like he had her, I lingered. Looked deeper. And found what I was looking for.
Pain.
So much pain throbbed from his very aura, and I lost my breath as the truth slammed through me.
“She broke your heart.”
Readers should read this book….
If you love heartbreaking love stories and sisters, read The Secret Love Letters of Olivia Moretti. It’s part of the Meet me in Italy series.
What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?
I’m working on another women’s fic book about an estranged family forced to travel to Europe together and have a bunch of misadventures, plus another romantic comedy.
My newest release is The Reluctant Flirt, a fun romcom in the Outer Banks series coming July 2025.
Thanks for blogging at HJ!
Giveaway: A print copy of TO SICILY WITH LOVE
To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you had one place you got to visit/travel to, where would you go?
Book Info:
Aurora York had it all together: loving parents, a steady relationship, and a promising career. But after she loses both parents unexpectedly, she can’t seem to stay on track any longer. Lonely and lost after a public meltdown that threatens her professional credibility, she’s shocked when DNA test results show a blood relative in Sicily. When her cousin reaches out online and begs her to come to Italy to meet everyone in person, Aurora makes the leap.
Aurora arrives in Sicily for a month, and there she meets a colorful, dynamic family steeped in tradition. The younger generation is fascinated by her social media fame in America, and even though her grandparents have more traditional viewpoints, Aurora begins to heal from her grief…and enjoys the attention of a kind and handsome Italian man.
But when the summer ends, a new opportunity calls her back to the States and her old habits threaten to reemerge. Will Aurora leave everything in Sicily she loves behind, or take the chance on a whole new future?
Meet the Author:
Jennifer Probst is the New York Times bestselling author of the Billionaire Builders series, the Searching For . . . series, the Marriage to a Billionaire series, the Steele Brothers series, the Stay series, and the Sunshine Sisters series. Like some of her characters, Probst, along with her husband and two sons, calls New York’s Hudson Valley home. When she isn’t traveling to meet readers, she enjoys reading, watching “shameful reality television,” and visiting a local Hudson Valley animal shelter.
erahime
Hawaii.
Diana Hardt
Spain. I went there last summer to visit my brother and his family who live there now.
Mary Preston
London; tops my travel wish list.
Cheryl Hart
Ireland. My favorite place I’ve visited. The country is beautiful and the people are so friendly and accommodating.
Lori
Ireland
janinecatmom
I always wanted to go to Bora Bora. But my ancestors are from Hungary, so I would also like to visit there one day.
Pam Conway
Ireland
debby236
I think New Zealand is amazing.
Kathy
Scotland
Rita Wray
Paris
Nancy Jones
Scotland, Ireland, and more.
Mary C
British Isles
Daniel M
don’t know can’t travel anymore
Summer
Australia.
Dianne Casey
Hawaii
Amy R
If you had one place you got to visit/travel to, where would you go? Italy
cherierj
England.
dholcomb1
Italy
Glenda M
Italy
Joy Isley
I have traveled a lot to far away places and I would return in a minute to the Isle of Capri off the coast of Italy. Beautiful waters surround it, the food is exceptional and it is such a romantic setting.
I am waiting for you to write a story that is set in That beautiful place
Bonnie
New Zealand
Shannon Capelle
Ireland
Patricia B.
I would head to Ireland to try and trace my family back further than my brother has been able to. A big part of the family came with the first settlers from France to Canada. He hasn’t been able to discover much about them, but it would be nice to try to find out a bit more.
T Rosado
Scotland
bn100
Hawaii