Charles would need watching; was Anne of Brittany up for the job?

Medieval historical romance Sense of Touch has been nominated for a prestigious RONE Award, with voting open for two days more only. If you would vote for my book, it’s FREE and you will help my tale of Anne of Brittany become discovered. When you register to vote, go to the Historical: Ancient 16th Century category and scroll down to Sense of Touch – Rozsa Gaston, 9th down on list. Click on link below to vote and thank you.

http://indtale.com/2017-rone-awards-week-one

Indtale Magazine review of SOT

Anne of Brittany and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope that spring will unfold for you with extra beauty this year for the moment you took to vote for Sense of Touch. May the best book win!

Author Rozsa Gaston

Ever tried a plunge bath? Invigorating. Sexy. Rather like Budapest itself.

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by rozsagaston in Budapest, contemporary romance, faith, foreign romance, inspirational romance, love, romance, thermal bath spas, travel

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American woman, Audiofile Magazine reviewed, best new romance for 2015, Budapest, contemporary romance, Dutch man, InD'tale Magazine reviewed, Publishers Weekly reviewed, romance, thermal spas

Széchenyi Baths entrance, Budapest; the site of Kati and Jan’s first kiss in Budapest Romance

Budapest Romance: a “thoughtful romance.”—Publishers Weekly

Budapest Romance: A “tasty smorgasbord of love and faith.”—AudioFile Magazine

Chapter Six of Budapest Romance is all about taking the plunge. As in plunge bath. As in an experience you will never forget and should repeat whenever the opportunity presents itself. Why? You will prolong your life span. Your skin will sparkle and glow. Your state of mind will too. What’s it all about?

Contrast. Rather like the city of Budapest. Let’s not get into the hows and whys, as Hungary always manages to find itself historically in hot water. We will confine this discussion to the warm thermal waters of Budapest’s leading bath spas, the Széchenyi baths, Gellért Baths, and Rudyas Turkish Baths. Much more fun to dip into mineral-laden hot baths than into geopolitics …

Excerpt from Budapest Romance

Have you ever taken a plunge bath?” Jan asked at the entrance to the Gellért Baths.

Kati shook her head.

Rudyas Turkish Baths, Budapest

“Then you’re taking the plunge today.”

“What is it?” She loved the fact that Jan was so full of surprises.

“This will be my turn to find out if I can trust you. The plunge baths are located in the men’s and women’s locker rooms. I can’t go in yours with you, but I’ll know if you did it or not when you come out.”

“How will you know?” she asked, baffled.

“Let’s just say, I’ll hear about it one way or another.”

“What does it do for you?” she probed.

Gellért Baths, Budapest

“It revs up your circulation and makes every cell in your body come alive. You can’t do anything better for your skin or circulation.” His eyes danced. “Well, maybe you can do one thing that would have the same benefit, but in your case, this is a way to experience heaven and maintain your virtue at the same time.”

“Hmmm,” she hesitated. “How long will it take?”

“A matter of seconds. No one stays in a plunge pool for longer than the time it takes a rocket to shoot off a launch pad.”

“What if I don’t want to do it?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“I want you to do it, so you know what it feels like. And I want to know if you’re brave enough to do it. Your skin will tingle and glow for hours afterwards. I promise you.”

“All right,” she said, more than ready. “Where do I go, and where do I meet you afterwards?”

“There’s the entrance to the women’s locker room. Tell the attendant you want to use the plunge bath. She speaks English; she’ll show you what to do. It’ll all be over in less than five minutes, then I’ll meet you right over there in the Jacuzzi pool. You’ll need some Jacuzzi jets to take the edge off once you’re done.”

“And my reward for this?” She gave him a saucy look.

“You’ll find out when you’re done.” His eyes narrowed, but gleamed. “And don’t cheat. I’ll know if you didn’t go in.”

Szechenyi Baths, Budapest

She got out of the main pool and sauntered over to the women’s locker room, tossing an impish grin back at him. She wasn’t sure of what was going to happen, but after the night before, she was ready to trust him. Her time in Budapest was turning out to be the adventure of a lifetime.

As she entered the women’s locker room, an attendant in a white coat greeted her in English.

“Could you tell me where the plunge bath is?” Kati nervously asked.

Gellért Hotel spa pool, Budapest

“Have you taken a plunge bath before?” the woman asked, pointing toward an inner room.

Kati shook her head.

The attendant smile broadly and handed her a large towel. “First, take off everything and go into the steam room for a few minutes. When you’ve had enough, come out and I’ll take you into the plunge room.”

Kati undid her bikini and wrapped herself in the plush towel. Once inside the steam room, she reclined on the upper ledge and laid on her back with her feet up against the wall. In moments the steam began to open her pores, bathing her in hot moisture. She anticipated the plunge bath to be some similarly agreeable sensation.

Eager to report back to Jan, she hurried out of the steam room, where the attendant led her through another door into a small room. She was the only one there. In front of her was a circular opening in the tile floor with a ladder leading down to a small body of water.

“What do I do now?” Kati asked the attendant.

Szechenyi Baths, Budapest

“That depends on how brave you are,” the attendant replied. “If you are very brave, you jump into the water. If you are not so brave, use the ladder, but in either case, go all the way in and make sure you put your head underwater. Otherwise, you won’t get the full benefit.”

“How long should I stay in?” Kati asked.

“Your body will let you know. But remember to go all the way in. Immersing your head is an important part of the treatment.”

What an odd ritual. She desperately wanted to run back into the locker room, pull on her bikini and go find Jan. But he had made it clear he would know if she hadn’t taken the plunge. She couldn’t lie to him; even if she could, she didn’t want to.
Eyeballing the ladder, she moved slowly toward it. If she eased herself into the cylinder of water, she would have time to back out. She didn’t want to chicken out; jumping in was the only alternative.

Night time thermal baths party, Budapest

“I’ll jump. Just tell me one thing. Has anyone ever died from jumping into this tank?” Of course she sounded ridiculous, but she had no idea what she was getting into.

“No, darling,” the attendant chuckled. “No one has died. Many have screamed, but no one has died. Go ahead, you’ll feel wonderful afterwards.”

Kati liked the way Hungarians called each other “darling.” It suited their warm, interactive culture. Encouraged by the attendant, she shuffled to the edge of the tank, crossed herself, tightly closed her eyes, and jumped.

It was as if she’d leapt into the Antarctic Ocean. Shooting up to the surface, she screamed loudly as she scrambled up the ladder out of the tank. Her entire body felt as if it were being stabbed by tiny ice shards.

“Aarghh!” she screamed again.

Alpentherme: hot thermal bath
©Josef Polleross/ Anzenberger

“You are brave, Madame.” The attendant beamed approvingly. “Not many jump. You will feel the reward for the rest of the day.” The woman opened the door to the locker room, where some of the female guests looked at Kati and smiled or laughed. Apparently, the walls of the plunge room weren’t soundproof.

Kati wanted to kill Jan. Putting on her bikini in what seemed like less than half a second, she marched out the women’s locker room exit. She felt as if she had just been plugged into a wall socket and was glowing like a lamp.

In the Jacuzzi pool, lounging, Jan looked up at her, his expression wry. “I had no idea you could scream so loudly.” He chuckled.

Her face flamed. Wading into the Jacuzzi pool, she paddled over to him and splashed a large wave of water straight into his face.

“How dare you do that to me?” she hissed at him.

Other bathers looked on amusedly. The plunge bath was an exciting introduction to spa therapy for many foreigners who visited the Gellért Spa Baths.

Still chuckling, Jan grabbed her arms. Smart move or she would have surely slapped him.

Széchenyi Baths, Budapest

“Do you have any idea how good that was for your skin?” he asked her.

“Do you have any idea what I’m going to do to you later in revenge for this?” she fumed.

“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right now?”

“Shut up. I’ll never listen to another one of your ideas again. Someone get me a fire extinguisher.”

The contrast of the icy cold plunge bath of a moment before and the warm Jacuzzi jets on her muscles right now was having its effect. Like silly putty, her body went limp in Jan’s arms. It wasn’t a bad way to feel. Instead of slapping him, she gave him as vicious a pinch as she could manage on one of his cheeks. She could kill him, but she was starting to feel like a million dollars.

“A little pain, a lot of gain…” he philosophized.

She sighed. Life was good.

To read more, find Budapest Romance here in paperback, eBook, or audio book editions.

Sense of Touch: Love and Duty at Anne of Brittany’s Court

18 Friday Sep 2015

Posted by rozsagaston in French culture, History, literary fiction, love, Queens of France, relationships, romance, self-discovery, self-esteem, travel

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Amazon, Anne of Brittany, Brittany, Charles VIII, Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany, Europe, European history, France, French Queens, Kindle Scout, Louis XII, Medieval rulers, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Salic Law, Sense of Touch, women of history, women's issues, women's self-identity

Anne of Brittany by Jean Bourdichon, courtesy gallica.BnF.fr

Sense of Touch is coming soon. My seventh and latest novel is based on the life of Anne of Brittany, twice Queen of France. Her dates? 1477-1514.

Sense of Touch has been chosen by Kindle Scout for a 30-day pilot program to see if readers get interested in this story. If the book receives enough nominations by Oct. 19, 2015, it will be chosen for publication by Kindle Press. That’s a very big deal. Why? Worldwide distribution.

Here’s the link to nominate Sense of Touch for publication. It’s free, and if Sense of Touch gets picked up for publication, you will receive a complimentary advance copy. I will include your name on my acknowledgments page if you let me know you voted. Thank you.

Why am I excited about Anne of Brittany? This remarkable woman, Duchess of Brittany in her own right, and twice Queen of France due to marrying well, lived exactly at the convergence of the Middle Ages with the Renaissance. What does that mean?

Quick answer: Goodbye, Middle Ages. Hello, Renaissance.

To put it in a nutshell, it means goodbye to collective identity and hello to self-identity. My writing platform is all about self-identity, as in how do women achieve their own? Then, how do they hone it through the years as professional and family obligations conspire to obliterate their special je ne sais quoi?

Anne of Brittany did a great job of maintaining her own sense of self. Her motto? A ma vie, to my life. It takes a confident woman to have a motto like that.

Here’s the gist of Sense of Touch.

Fiction

Tapestry design based on Le Toucher from The Lady and the Unicorn series. Courtesy METRAX-CRAYE, Belgium

NICOLE SAINT SYLVAIN serves at the court of Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, in 1497, at age fifteen. Working with horse trainer Philippe de Bois to heal the Queen’s stallion, she shows an aptitude for diagnosing horses’ ailments through her sense of touch. Soon she has fallen in love, but not with the man her father has chosen for her. Duty pulls Nicole and Philippe in different directions and Nicole becomes a wife, mother, then widow while immersing herself in the healing arts. When Anne of Brittany begs her to save her infant daughter, Nicole works alongside a physician from the South whose reputation for healing began with his work with horses. Will Nicole succeed in saving the Queen’s daughter? And if she does, will the Queen reward her with the greatest desire of her heart—marriage to the only man she has ever loved?

Fact

ANNE OF BRITTANY inherited the Duchy of Brittany at age eleven upon her father’s death in 1488. Three years later she married Charles VIII and became Queen consort of France. Instrumental in introducing new techniques of architecture and craftsmanship from Milan to France, Anne of Brittany ushered in the Italian Renaissance to France. By age twenty-one she had buried her husband and all four of her children. Within nine months she became wife of the new king, Louis XII. Pregnant fourteen times, seven times by either king, she raised two children to adulthood. Both were daughters.

She is known as the first female ruler of France to bring together young women of noble birth at court, where she educated and trained them, then arranged appropriate marriage matches. A ruler of influence, refinement, and resources, she rose above personal loss with dignity and grace while espousing the cause of women’s advancement. Her story is for women everywhere.

I would be delighted if you would click here to nominate Sense of Touch for publication. You’ll find an excerpt from Sense of Touch too. Enjoy and thank you.

Stay playful,

Rozsa Gaston

Budapest Romance is a “thoughtful romance.”—Publishers Weekly

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by rozsagaston in faith, History, literary fiction, love, modern life, relationships, romance, self-discovery

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Author Rozsa Gaston, be here now, Budapest, career, career and romance conflicts, contemporary romance, dating, Dutchman, Hungarian American woman, Publishers Weekly review, Szechenyi Baths, thermal bath spas, thoughtful romance

Publishers Weekly weighs in on my Dec. 2014 latest release Budapest Romance in its June 22, 2015 issue:

“The traditional healing properties and beauty of the thermal spa baths still enjoyed throughout Budapest are the true stars of this thoughtful romance.”—Publishers Weekly

http://publishersweekly.com/978-1-4801-4063-9

Budapest Romance is now available on all major online retail sites. Thank you, Publishers Weekly, for this greatest of all honors, a review in the publishing industry’s most respected news magazine.

Readers—for those of you who read and post a short review of my tender romance set in Budapest’s thermal bath spas, I will be delighted to send you an eBook thank you gift of your choice of any of my other books.

Enjoy and stay playful. —Rozsa Gaston