Unmask My Heart by Arianna Giorgi ♥ Book Tour & GIVEAWAY ♥ (Historical Romance)

When Rome’s loveliest rose and Venice’s fiercest lion team up to win back the love of their respective spouses-to-be, the Serene Republic may expect a hilarious romp – and perhaps the most torrid love story to have ever bedazzled its gilded canals…

Survived a pirate attack on the Isle of Lina, Venice’s sturdiest outpost, Roman Princess Isabella Pamphili and Venetian war hero Brando Loredan escape from the island and arrive in Venice.

Isabella discovers her fiancé is a cheat, her bride dream a lie. Her future husband, the man she loves with all her heart is flirting in… Brando’s fiancée’s arms!

Shock. Disappointment. Anguish. Fear for her future. The rascal deserves a lesson he will not forget, because a princess of Rome doesn’t bow out so easily. Brando Loredan will not be that hard to convince for he is jealous, angry and vindictive enough to get some brilliant idea. So she joins forces with him to get back her fiancé and put together the little dream back on track. But while trying and insisting on regaining the dream, she discovers a new path of light and love. It is not a lie, like the first dream, but it may be even harder to win.

Unmask My Heart is a story of love and sweet revenge set in sparkling, sumptuous Casanova’s Venice where everything is possible and sins are concealed behind a mask.

THE PERFECT DAY FOR WRITING

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a when a full time working mom manages to find a few hours to write, everything happens.

I'm in my white and blue studio, the stereo plays my favorite inspiring music, piping hot vanilla tea is on my desk, the cat is in its bed next to me, some sweets are next to me to be eaten at the first break, and the hubby is taking care of the girls. Everything is ready.

Fingers are on the keyboard to type in the perfect opening scene of the book, the one you’ve been awaiting for months. And you're happy because you know that today you’re going to write a whole chapter, inspired as you are.

Everything is perfect, absolutely perfect. Too perfect.

It doesn’t take long before you hear the first thud, then a scream, then a "Mommy!"

The cat jumps out of its bed and tries to scratch the door down like crazy. I open the door in time to hear my eldest daughter crying because her one-year-old sister has just broken an old toy she hasn’t been playing with for months. Her father first tries to calm her down, then he gets angry, too.

The little girl wants me just for: 1) yelling at her sister, 2) showing me the horrible damage arguing that she’s no longer playing for life, 3) complaining that his father has shouted at her, 4) wondering what we needed another daughter for since we already had a cat, 5) asking me to fix the toy.

In the meantime, my husband tells the girl off for “mommy’s writing and she has not to be disturbed.” (?????)

With the promise to fix the toy, he can calm the girl down. BUT the baby needs to be changed and my husband is just not capable. "Can you do it, honey?"

So I change the diaper.

Again. "Honey, if you look after the girls for a moment, I'll take care of the laundry." (Why?

I have to write!)

Finally, I can lock myself in my studio, still in my ears the girls’ screams.

The cat has curled up on my PC keyboard and tapped a thousand letters on the blank page with his fat back. Noooooooo !!!!!

But everything's gonna be alright because I'm inspired. Oh, yes, I am.

I remove the cat, delete all the silly letters and get ready to tap the amazing opening scene I was thinking about less than an hour before.

I'm ready, my fingers are ready, the cat is in bed, the girls are with their caring father. There's a heavenly silence all around. But the amazing words, the right ones, my full length chapter are all forgotten!

Inspiration's gone. All that my head is capable of thinking about is a long list of silly, useless, impactless words.

Bye bye to my perfect day of full-time writing. Now I can go iron the laundry.

Brando grabbed her by the arm and forced her to turn around. She struggled against him, punching her fists on his chest.

“Unhand me.” The princess looked like a puppy facing a lion. Brando dragged her in a hidden corner and pinned her between his body and the wall.

“Stop running away, Isabella.”

“Let me go.” She panted and refused to look at him.

“No. I’ll never let go.”

With a deep sigh, Isabella wiped away her tears that threatened to overflow, and collapsed into his arms.

Brando’s arms slid around her waist to hold her upright.

Isabella looked up at him. Brando drowned in her clear emerald pools. His knees were weak and, his desire to kiss her devoured him. He pushed her ermine soft hair from her face. That neck, that skin ... his fingers tried, struggled in every possible way not to touch her. Brando wanted with all his heart to act like a friend. He sincerely wished to comfort her but his hands ached for her, his lips craved her kiss.

He wanted to scrub away the desire for her kiss. Isabella was here in his arms and he could never love her, or taste her as he wished. His face contorted with the pain in his heart.

Isabella stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck.

It was too much for him. Brando’s hands cupped her neck and her shoulder. His fingers trailed along her neck and she leaned her head back.

Isabella was there, she wanted love, consolation and passion.

Arianna Giorgi is a historical romance author and a journalist, a college graduate and an avid reader. She makes her home halfway between the Vatican City and the picturesque old quarter of Trastevere at the heart of the city of Rome in Italy, where Julius Caesar kept an apartment as a young man about town and from where a long list of artists gave the world some of its greatest masterpieces.

She has an intrinsic appreciation of beauty and everything eccentrically romantic, including a strong affiliation to the city of Venice which she visits at least twice a year.

Independent and curious, Arianna has travelled extensively around the globe, from America to Africa and back to Europe. Frankly, she never misses a chance to pack her bags and jump on a plane. Driven by a passion for European history and art, she wanders and investigates every hidden corner of the Old Continent, armed with a camera and a notebook, and looking for intriguing stories and settings for her books.

She loves history, astrology, gourmet cooking, and cats. She lives with her husband, her beautiful daughters and her red cat, surrounded by her own cultivated flowers and the magical grandeur of the Eternal City.