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Review by
Nicole Getridge, author of SHIELDED HEART
In Donna Marie’s first novel, Love For Angela, she tells the story of
Angela Varelli, a simple, shy women who has lived a somewhat sheltered
life with her parents Dominic and Lucille Varelli, owners of the Varelli
Café. But, that will all soon change when she discovers a hidden passion
for one of the café’s patrons, Vincent Barecci, who has been harboring a
love for Angela since the first time he laid eyes on her intriguing face.
The love story that develops quickly between Vincent and Angela is truly
exhilarating. But their new found love is challenged, so to speak, when
Angela’s father passes away suddenly. Angela must stand tall and take care
of her mother and keep the café opened for her father. I fell in love with
these characters from the first moment I met them.
Author, Donna Marie, has written a book about love, family ties and the
courage to seize what you’ve always dreamed of. I recommend Love For Angela to anyone who is looking for a good book to curl up with.
Tracy Farnsworth, Roundtable Reviews
Angela Varelli has lived a relatively sheltered life working in her parent’s Italian café. One man captured her eye long ago, but her shyness makes her feel uncomfortable in his presence.
Vince Barecci adores Angela. In fact, he thinks he may be head over heels in love with her. A difficult situation when the woman your heart desires won’t even look your way.
One fateful day, the two find themselves together and a hasty love ensues. Their burgeoning relationship falters when Angela’s father dies suddenly. Can love survive such a tremendous burden?
Donna Marie uses dialogue and likeable characters to create an emotionally packed story of love at first sight. Their relationship gets off to a slow start and faces many hurdles along the way. But for me, the true test of a romance is if it can bring a tear to my eye. Donna Marie managed to do that with the caring way Vince would not give up during Angela’s grief. LOVE FOR ANGELA is a fun, romantic read that proves to be a worthy debut for this author.
Dina Jimenez
Love for Angela was a beautiful love story. It brought tears to my eyes, laughter, and chills up my spine. I never would have guessed that this was Donna Marie's first book. She is a wonderful writer and I wish all the succuss in the world to her.
Donna Laird, author of Forever Yours
In Love For Angela, Donna Marie has created a touching love story that will steal you heart. You will lose yourself in the characters of Angela and Vince. You will cry with Angela as tragady strikes with the loss of her beloved father. Vince will show Angela how love can help her deal with anything that should come her way. Donna Marie is a very talented author. She has brought to life a very special couple. I hope to read more of this authors work in the future. Love For Angela is a must read novel that I highly recommend.
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NO LONGER A LONELY WRITER by Donna Marie
http://romance-central.com (Writers Workshop)
"Dedicated to helping writers follow their dreams" Romance-Central
A TRAGIC MEMORY (1-yr anniversary of 9/11)
As we journey through our day to day lives, tragedies unfortunately cross our paths now and then. Whether directly related to us or not, our human spirit allows the tribulations that come and go to touch our hearts with compassion. When the devastation of September 11th occurred, our entire country was consumed with that compassion, along with anger, confusion, and countless other feelings, mostly indescribable. The magnitude of that catastrophe has made it impossible to forget all the devastation the dreadful incident caused, even as we carry on with our daily routines.
Now that a year has passed us by, I often think of the loved ones left behind. The children of the victims are all a year older, now, and celebrated a birthday without a mom, dad, or both. The spouses of the victims had only a picture and a memory on their wedding anniversary. Babies were born without a daddy to proudly hold them during their first cries in the hospital. Presents were left under Christmas trees by Santa, with the greatest gift of all being missing, a mom or dad’s return.
No matter how many September 11th’s come and go, what happened to our country cannot ever be forgotten. We’ll remember it with every American flag flying patriotically from so many doorsteps. We’ll remember it whenever we see a firefighter on duty, as so many heroically gave their lives to save others that day. We’ll remember it whenever we hear of our brave and dedicated military overseas, risking their lives to stand up for our nation and what was done to us. And, how dare a tragedy so awful could ever be done to us.
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A DREAM FULFILLED
Until recently, becoming a published author was a wishful, but unobtainable concept. So many of us are "closet writers" never having the confidence to talk about the time and effort of putting our thoughts into written words on a page. Although my 10th grade Language teacher and college English instructor thought highly of my essays and creative writing assignments, my dream of becoming published was never for public knowledge. Even as I was offered a seat in the English Honors program at the local college, my writing aspirations were self-contained within the privacy of my soul.
Whether a confidence issue, or the fact that I also value my role as a wife and mother of four sons, putting them first and foremost before any self ambitions, the fact of the matter is I continued my projects through a private world of my own. With a family and two part-time jobs, one being a night-shift hospital position, the guilty feelings of sitting at a computer composing a story rather than putting clean laundry away, or preparing a dinner more nutritious than grilled cheese sandwiches, continued overshadowing my personal dreams.
After sneaking in my time with the family computer, a few achievements over the past three years came as surprises to myself, as well as the family. I wrote a poem about missing my dad for the holidays. It was the first Christmas after he passed away. At an uncommonly brave moment, I decided to submit the poem to a local newspaper. To my delightful surprise, they printed OUR ANGEL, OUR DAD. Since I never mentioned writing my poem, everyone close to me was naturally shocked to see my poem and name in the newspaper. A year later, I wrote a story, A TRAGIC MEMORY, reflecting on the one-year anniversary of 9/11. It was printed on the first page of the human-interest section, quoting some of my lines in bold, larger print to attract the readers. Sharing an article about an event that touched every heart of America was eminently rewarding.
In the midst of these personal successes, I continued to privately work on another project, a romance fiction story, originally intended for a magazine submission. My story and the characters eventually expanded into a 57,000-word romance novel. The continued development of my story line and characters brought forth a new, distinct energy. Unable to contain the excitement any longer, I told my husband about my project. He was astonished that I was well on my way to reaching such an accomplishment. His vote of confidence meant the world to me as I continued writing LOVE FOR ANGELA until it was finally complete.
I did my homework, seeking out publishers with an interest for the romance genre. I submitted my manuscript to a few, with either rejected responses, or no responses at all. Determined to find a publisher willing to give a first time author a second look, I continued my search until I found Publish America. A few weeks after submitting my manuscript to them, Publish America sent me a life-changing email accepting LOVE FOR ANGELA for publication. When I saw the words, "We want to give your story the chance it deserves" and "We’d like to send you a contract", I cried. Every step I’ve taken toward becoming a published author has been an amazing one, from writing my biography to having my portrait taken. Being a closet writer is a thing of my past, as I now realize my words can be appreciated by someone other than myself.
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