Samantha Sotto Yambao's Blog, page 2
June 14, 2020
The Beginning of Always is out!
A huge thanks to everyone who has gotten their copy of the book! Happy reading!
(oh, and I may or may not have a tipsy book chat about the book on instagram)
The Beginning of Always
(oh, and I may or may not have a tipsy book chat about the book on instagram)
The Beginning of Always
June 12, 2020
All set for the BEGINNING OF ALWAYS?
Me new book is out on June 14! Can't wait for you to join Elise and Thomas on their journey.
June 11, 2020
Tipsy Book Birthday IG Live
Hi! Would love it if you could celebrate the release of The Beginning of Always with me on June 14 at 5:30 pm Manila time ❤️ I’ll be interviewed on IG live by my dear friend and Write Away writing retreat partner, Aurora Suarez (@yourheartcraftedlife). Bring wine and I’ll take care of the cheese platter 🍷🍷🍷🧀🧀🧀 I’m @samthing_strange on Instagram. See you there!
***
Elise Grier found everything she was looking for when she moved to Paris. But after she nearly drowns in the Seine on New Year’s Eve, she finds herself wading through the memories of a 19th century woman who shares her face. As Elise traces the threads that bind her to the past, she discovers that an old choice between life and love must be made again. Her second chance at life comes at a cruel cost, a price that someone else must pay.
_____
A portion of the proceeds from the book will go towards helping those affected by the pandemic. Thank you for your support ❤️
***
Elise Grier found everything she was looking for when she moved to Paris. But after she nearly drowns in the Seine on New Year’s Eve, she finds herself wading through the memories of a 19th century woman who shares her face. As Elise traces the threads that bind her to the past, she discovers that an old choice between life and love must be made again. Her second chance at life comes at a cruel cost, a price that someone else must pay.
_____
A portion of the proceeds from the book will go towards helping those affected by the pandemic. Thank you for your support ❤️
June 8, 2020
New Book Pre-Order!
Hi! You can now pre-order my new book, THE BEGINNING OF ALWAYS on Amazon now. A portion of the proceeds of the book will go to helping those affected by the pandemic.
May 25, 2020
Book news!
Hello! I hope everyone is healthy and doing well. Just thought I’d pop in to share a bit of news: if you enjoyed Before Ever After, like chasing old mysteries and breaking time, and are itching for an armchair excursion across Europe, you may want to keep an eye on this page. Stay safe and stay tuned! ❤️
August 15, 2019
A Dream of Trees is #1 Hot New Release on Amazon
Thank you for making my new book, A Dream of Trees, the #1 Hot New Release in its genre on Amazon 😊
I hope you are enjoying the book!
Sam
I hope you are enjoying the book!
Sam
July 29, 2019
A Dream of Trees: FREE on Amazon TODAY!
Hi! Today's the day! As promised, I am releasing my new novel, A DREAM OF TREES, as a FREE ebook on Amazon as a GIFT from me to you on my birthday. I am sharing it a little early to take time zones into consideration. It's been 10 years since my first book deal and I am very grateful that I get to share this amazing journey with you. A DREAM OF TREES will be free on Amazon ONLY until August 1, 11:59 PM PDT so please make sure to get your copy before then.
Shiori's door is open. Come in and let the dream begin.
Shiori's door is open. Come in and let the dream begin.
July 24, 2019
New Book: A Dream of Trees Excerpt
The Door
The door never changed, but the rooms behind it did. Small rooms. Burning rooms. Rooms that weren’t rooms at all. Shiori Ametsuchi had stopped trying to guess where the door was going to lead her next. The only certainty was that whoever she found inside those rooms was going to be dead before she left. She pressed her ear to the warm cypress planks and listened, half-convinced that she did this out of habit than hope. Only silence ever echoed through the wood.
Shiori closed her fingers around a brass doorknob that had tarnished to black. There was no shape she knew better. She had turned it countless times and each time, it grew slick from her icy sweat. She wiped her palms over her blue gardening apron. Like the door, the apron and the ripped linen dress she wore beneath it, were a constant. She was always dressed for a day of puttering around a garden, pruning branches and snipping off dead leaves. Shiori did not mind that her clothes never changed. They kept her ready for good days when the door allowed her to spend time with her trees. On bad ones, her clothes didn’t matter. There was no appropriate attire for watching people die.
Shiori drew a breath deep into her lungs and held it until her chest burned. Her eyes watered. In this place where a door dictated her destination and days, She treasured the handful of things she could control. A few even served a purpose. Pain, however fleeting, was a respite from being lost. Shiori closed her eyes and counted backward, savoring the seconds the door and its rooms retreated into the back of her mind. Sixty-three. Sixty-two. Sixty-one. Sixty. Counting anchored her. When nothing else was certain, there was a numbing comfort in always knowing what number came next. Fifty-nine. Shiori exhaled a wish.
Not a child.
Not again.
Please.
Shiori pulled the door open and stepped through. A desert and the sea greeted her from the other side.
- A Dream of Trees, July 30, 2019
The door never changed, but the rooms behind it did. Small rooms. Burning rooms. Rooms that weren’t rooms at all. Shiori Ametsuchi had stopped trying to guess where the door was going to lead her next. The only certainty was that whoever she found inside those rooms was going to be dead before she left. She pressed her ear to the warm cypress planks and listened, half-convinced that she did this out of habit than hope. Only silence ever echoed through the wood.
Shiori closed her fingers around a brass doorknob that had tarnished to black. There was no shape she knew better. She had turned it countless times and each time, it grew slick from her icy sweat. She wiped her palms over her blue gardening apron. Like the door, the apron and the ripped linen dress she wore beneath it, were a constant. She was always dressed for a day of puttering around a garden, pruning branches and snipping off dead leaves. Shiori did not mind that her clothes never changed. They kept her ready for good days when the door allowed her to spend time with her trees. On bad ones, her clothes didn’t matter. There was no appropriate attire for watching people die.
Shiori drew a breath deep into her lungs and held it until her chest burned. Her eyes watered. In this place where a door dictated her destination and days, She treasured the handful of things she could control. A few even served a purpose. Pain, however fleeting, was a respite from being lost. Shiori closed her eyes and counted backward, savoring the seconds the door and its rooms retreated into the back of her mind. Sixty-three. Sixty-two. Sixty-one. Sixty. Counting anchored her. When nothing else was certain, there was a numbing comfort in always knowing what number came next. Fifty-nine. Shiori exhaled a wish.
Not a child.
Not again.
Please.
Shiori pulled the door open and stepped through. A desert and the sea greeted her from the other side.
- A Dream of Trees, July 30, 2019
July 21, 2019
A GIFT FROM ME TO YOU
My debut novel, Before Ever After, came out in 2011, but my publishing journey began a couple of years before that. I found my literary agent and signed my first book deal in 2009. 2019 is therefore a special year for me because it marks my tenth year on this roller coaster ride. I didn’t want this year to pass without celebrating it with you.
Being able to share my strange little stories with you has been the greatest, and most unexpected gift. I am forever grateful to every reader who has wandered over the pages of my books and given my characters a place to live in their hearts and minds. Together, we’ve taken a quirky European tour in a dented Volkswagen van, and stepped through glowing cracks in time. With my third book, I hope to take you through a doorway to rooms that only souls, in their final moments in this world, can see.
A story about people’s last hours is, as you know, a departure from the magical love stories I normally write. It was not the book I began writing after I had finished Love and Gravity, but it was the story that refused to leave me alone until I wrote it down. The world has changed a lot since I wrote Before Ever After, and I’ve found finding magic and hope amidst the headlines, harder and harder to do. A part of me longed to draw rainbows and sprinkle fairy dust over my words, but a larger part knew that sometimes, the best way to deal with the darkness around you is not to paint over it, but to brace yourself, walk straight into it, and light it up from within. This is what I have chosen to do with A DREAM OF TREES. It is not a love story, but there is an incredible amount of love in it. Some of it takes place in dark rooms, but in every room, there is a doorway to the light. It does not whisk you through the secrets of history, but it reveals truths hidden in the here and now.
The inspiration for A DREAM OF TREES and the will to write it came into my life as a gift and I feel that I was meant to share it with you as a gift as well. A DREAM OF TREES will be released as a FREE EBOOK on Amazon on JULY 30, as a gift from me to you on my birthday. It will be offered for free for a limited time, after which it will be available for purchase. As much as I would like to permanently distribute it for free, Amazon limits the number of days a book can be offered this way. (Amazon’s guidelines also only allow me to offer the book for free AFTER its official release and so if you order the book before July 30, please note that Amazon will charge you its regular price. But hey, free books are worth the wait, right? Haha.)
Thank you once again for joining me on this amazing journey. I look forward to following chickens, travelling through time, and finding more love and magic with you in the years to come!
Being able to share my strange little stories with you has been the greatest, and most unexpected gift. I am forever grateful to every reader who has wandered over the pages of my books and given my characters a place to live in their hearts and minds. Together, we’ve taken a quirky European tour in a dented Volkswagen van, and stepped through glowing cracks in time. With my third book, I hope to take you through a doorway to rooms that only souls, in their final moments in this world, can see.
A story about people’s last hours is, as you know, a departure from the magical love stories I normally write. It was not the book I began writing after I had finished Love and Gravity, but it was the story that refused to leave me alone until I wrote it down. The world has changed a lot since I wrote Before Ever After, and I’ve found finding magic and hope amidst the headlines, harder and harder to do. A part of me longed to draw rainbows and sprinkle fairy dust over my words, but a larger part knew that sometimes, the best way to deal with the darkness around you is not to paint over it, but to brace yourself, walk straight into it, and light it up from within. This is what I have chosen to do with A DREAM OF TREES. It is not a love story, but there is an incredible amount of love in it. Some of it takes place in dark rooms, but in every room, there is a doorway to the light. It does not whisk you through the secrets of history, but it reveals truths hidden in the here and now.
The inspiration for A DREAM OF TREES and the will to write it came into my life as a gift and I feel that I was meant to share it with you as a gift as well. A DREAM OF TREES will be released as a FREE EBOOK on Amazon on JULY 30, as a gift from me to you on my birthday. It will be offered for free for a limited time, after which it will be available for purchase. As much as I would like to permanently distribute it for free, Amazon limits the number of days a book can be offered this way. (Amazon’s guidelines also only allow me to offer the book for free AFTER its official release and so if you order the book before July 30, please note that Amazon will charge you its regular price. But hey, free books are worth the wait, right? Haha.)
Thank you once again for joining me on this amazing journey. I look forward to following chickens, travelling through time, and finding more love and magic with you in the years to come!
