Ica Iova's Blog
September 18, 2020
Duality--The true story behind the story
Twenty years ago, I started writing my story because, well, because everyone told me it’s book-worthy. And so, I started writing it. It was going to be mostly about my husband’s bravery.
Let me take a step back and start from the beginning. In 1987, my husband and two of his good friends had decided to flee our home country, communist Romania. He’d had enough of communist oppression, he’d said.
Romania’s late ‘80s was as dark as midnight—literally—but his decision had blown me away, because I refused to see it for what it was. You just don’t know what you don’t know, and it’s hard to know when you have nothing better to compare it with. We both had careers, a nice three-bedroom apartment, my parents owned their land and we didn’t really have to stay in line for food; what more does anybody need, right?
My husband did, and nothing I had said changed his decision. He and his friends crossed into former Yugoslavia without getting caught, but only he was successful at the interview; the other two were sent back to Romania and ended up in jail like all “traitors.”
All alone in another country, my husband’s bravery got the best of him. Instead of finding a girlfriend to cheer up his loneliness, like almost every other man in the refugee camp, he’d decided to cross back into Romania—illegally—to bring his wife and children with him (aka me and our two young children.)
That’s how it all started, but as time passed, my husband’s heroism took backstage to my romances. I know, I know, shame on me. What can I say? I’m a romantic at heart. In my defense, I never gave up on our story; I just didn’t know if I could put everything into words that were worthy of my husband’s courage.
And then Trump was elected, and the more he attacked immigrants the more I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. This excuse for a human being, who never had to prove his worth, who got rewarded only for showing up, who has no regard for anyone else but himself, who would not blink when sacrificing his own family if it somehow benefited him, this illiterate man who can’t put a single coherent sentence together was mocking and ridiculing people who risked their lives to search for better beyond their borders. I was mad. No, I was furious. But what I couldn’t wrap my head around were people who covered themselves in the language of values but found excuse after excuse of why Trump’s behavior was acceptable. Even when his intentions became crystal-clear about becoming America’s first dictator, they continued to prop him up. Having lived in a country where people couldn’t trust their neighbors or family members, I find it mind-boggling that anyone would want to take a free country to something like that ever again.
But I am Canadian and can’t even vote him out of office. To stay sane, about two years ago I pulled our story out from the bottom of a drawer and picked up where I had left off a few years back. Since then, it went through a few versions—from an autobiography to one filled with killers and KGB agents, and even more titles. It eventually ended in its current form—a mixture of fact and fiction—but even the fictional part has grains of fact in it as I’m sure, it has happened to someone, somewhere.
Moral of this story, if anything good came out of Trump’s presidency is the fact that I finally got to tell part of my husband’s bravery story. The book is now available to pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JGCWP4L DualityI hope you enjoy reading it.
Let me take a step back and start from the beginning. In 1987, my husband and two of his good friends had decided to flee our home country, communist Romania. He’d had enough of communist oppression, he’d said.
Romania’s late ‘80s was as dark as midnight—literally—but his decision had blown me away, because I refused to see it for what it was. You just don’t know what you don’t know, and it’s hard to know when you have nothing better to compare it with. We both had careers, a nice three-bedroom apartment, my parents owned their land and we didn’t really have to stay in line for food; what more does anybody need, right?
My husband did, and nothing I had said changed his decision. He and his friends crossed into former Yugoslavia without getting caught, but only he was successful at the interview; the other two were sent back to Romania and ended up in jail like all “traitors.”
All alone in another country, my husband’s bravery got the best of him. Instead of finding a girlfriend to cheer up his loneliness, like almost every other man in the refugee camp, he’d decided to cross back into Romania—illegally—to bring his wife and children with him (aka me and our two young children.)
That’s how it all started, but as time passed, my husband’s heroism took backstage to my romances. I know, I know, shame on me. What can I say? I’m a romantic at heart. In my defense, I never gave up on our story; I just didn’t know if I could put everything into words that were worthy of my husband’s courage.
And then Trump was elected, and the more he attacked immigrants the more I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. This excuse for a human being, who never had to prove his worth, who got rewarded only for showing up, who has no regard for anyone else but himself, who would not blink when sacrificing his own family if it somehow benefited him, this illiterate man who can’t put a single coherent sentence together was mocking and ridiculing people who risked their lives to search for better beyond their borders. I was mad. No, I was furious. But what I couldn’t wrap my head around were people who covered themselves in the language of values but found excuse after excuse of why Trump’s behavior was acceptable. Even when his intentions became crystal-clear about becoming America’s first dictator, they continued to prop him up. Having lived in a country where people couldn’t trust their neighbors or family members, I find it mind-boggling that anyone would want to take a free country to something like that ever again.
But I am Canadian and can’t even vote him out of office. To stay sane, about two years ago I pulled our story out from the bottom of a drawer and picked up where I had left off a few years back. Since then, it went through a few versions—from an autobiography to one filled with killers and KGB agents, and even more titles. It eventually ended in its current form—a mixture of fact and fiction—but even the fictional part has grains of fact in it as I’m sure, it has happened to someone, somewhere.
Moral of this story, if anything good came out of Trump’s presidency is the fact that I finally got to tell part of my husband’s bravery story. The book is now available to pre-order here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JGCWP4L DualityI hope you enjoy reading it.
November 4, 2017
Divine Intervention
My new book, Divine Intervention, will be released on Nov. 26, 2017.
You'll love this one.
You'll love this one.
October 17, 2017
Halloween
If you like paranormal stories but still want to sleep at night, or if you like suspense, thrillers, drama, check out my Amazon Page. Yes, everything's in there because I write what I like to read.
http://www.amazon.com/Ica-Iova/e/B00E...
Oh, and keep an eye for my new paranormal romance, Divine Intervention. Clean Reads will released it on Nov. 26.
http://www.amazon.com/Ica-Iova/e/B00E...
Oh, and keep an eye for my new paranormal romance, Divine Intervention. Clean Reads will released it on Nov. 26.
March 18, 2015
Unsung Victims Giveaway
Enter to win a print copy of Unsung Victims and help me celebrate its release of on March 30th, 2015. All you have to do is add it to your list and leave a comment on my blog.
Unsung Victims
By turns, Unsung Victims is amusing and tragic as it takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the highs and lows of divorce and all the foolishness surrounding it.
Unsung Victims
By turns, Unsung Victims is amusing and tragic as it takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the highs and lows of divorce and all the foolishness surrounding it.
February 24, 2015
Indie authors.
This gentleman states that Indie authors are not "real" authors. I disagree. This article proves how little he knows about Indie publishing. What're you think? http://goodereader.com/blog/commentar...
February 13, 2015
Valentine's Day
(¯`v´¯)
`•.¸.•´ A book lasts longer than chocolates.
Buy a recently released contemporary romance and have a Happy Valentine's Day.
http://amzn.to/1AZFsah *Boundaries* was a Finalist at World's Best Story.
Boundaries
Ica Iova *¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*
`•.¸.•´ A book lasts longer than chocolates.
Buy a recently released contemporary romance and have a Happy Valentine's Day.
http://amzn.to/1AZFsah *Boundaries* was a Finalist at World's Best Story.
Boundaries
Ica Iova *¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*
January 31, 2015
Promote and Advertise
Amazon has a new advertising option. If you have published books through Amazon’s KDP Select program, when you go to your KDP bookshelf, you should see a link that says "Promote and Advertise."
I enrolled one of my books and I stopped all other advertising to be able to detect more easily any sales generated by the add. So far I have nothing concrete to report but I'll keep you updated on this.
I enrolled one of my books and I stopped all other advertising to be able to detect more easily any sales generated by the add. So far I have nothing concrete to report but I'll keep you updated on this.
January 30, 2015
Two sizzling romances
From Vancouver I give you a contemporary romance that will warm up your winter. It'll cost you nothing to check it out.
(¯`v´¯)
.`•.¸.•´
¸.•´.•´¨) ¸.•¨)
(¸.•´(¸.•´ (¸.•¨¯`* http://amzn.to/1AZFsah Boundaries - Finalist at World's Best Story. *¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*
(¯`v´¯)
.`•.¸.•´
¸.•´.•´¨) ¸.•¨)
(¸.•´(¸.•´ (¸.•¨¯`* http://amzn.to/1AZFsah Boundaries - Finalist at World's Best Story. *¨*.¸¸.✶*¨`*
