My Little Corner of Paradise by Marie Laval

Quite a moving post this week from Marie Laval this week as she shares with us thoughts about her garden. I swear my blog guests are determined to make me feel emotional, or am I just sensitive? Marie writes for Choc Lit and her latest novel Angel of the Lost Treasure is released on 23 February 2021. Over to Marie …

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We moved into our current house about five years ago. It was the end of May – my favourite time of the year. For one reason or another when we viewed the house before it was always raining and I hadn’t paid much attention to the garden. To be honest, whereas I loved the house, the garden hadn’t made much of an impression. It was flat and quite small. There were raised beds and a nice patio area. It was nothing special.

How wrong I was…That very first morning was magical. I got up really early, made myself a cup of tea and went outside feeling quite stressed and my head full of all the jobs to be done – admin and paperwork, unpacking mountains of boxes, tidying up and settling into our new house…But the moment I stepped into the garden, all the stress and the worries slipped away. The sky was pastel pink and baby blue. The air was still and quiet, except for the birds chirping and singing, and there was a lovely view of the hills across the valley which I hadn’t noticed before.

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I have to make a confession. I love flowers. I love the scents of freshly mowed grass or of the garden after the rain. I love walking in the countryside or in the woods and breathing in the scents of bluebells and wild garlic in the spring. And I love visiting gardens when we are on holidays, taking photos and making notes of names of plants and flowers. But I don’t know the first thing about gardening… I used to sit down in front of the television in the evenings to watch programmes like Gardener’s World, the Chelsea Flower Show, Ground Force or Love Your Garden or only to nod off on the sofa after half an hour… There is something soothing about gardening programmes that sends me straight to sleep!

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Therefore I leave the gardening to my partner who has done a great job turning what was a rather bland space into a riot of colours – my only contributions being watering the flower tubs in summer, and Leo the gnome, which I won at a ‘Name that Gnome Competition’ at my school.

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Like that very first morning, being in the garden always fills me with peace and contentment. I love nothing more than being out there to drink my first cup of tea before work, enjoy family meals or a glass of wine when the summer evening stretches into the ‘blue hour’. My garden is truly my little corner of paradise.

Thank you for a lovely post and photographs, Marie and best wishes for your new novel Angel of the Lost Treasure Mx

About Marie Laval

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie has lived in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire for the past few years. She writes both contemporary and historical romance. Her novels are published by Choc Lit and include best selling contemporary romantic suspense novels LITTLE PINK TAXI and ESCAPE TO THE LITTLE CHATEAU, shortlisted for the Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense category of the 2021 RNA Awards, as well as A PARIS FAIRY TALE and BLUEBELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC.

Her latest novel, ANGEL OF THE LOST TREASURE, will be released in February 2021.

Marie also contributes to the best selling Miss Moonshine’s Emporium anthologies together with eight author friends from Yorkshire and Lancashire.

You can get in touch with Marie on

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/marie.laval.9/

And Twitter https://twitter.com/MarieLaval1

About Angel of the Lost Treasure

An ancient secret hidden within a mother’s song …

When young widow, Marie-Ange Norton is invited to Beauregard in France by the mysterious Monsieur Malleval to collect an inheritance, she has no choice but to accept.

But when she embarks on the voyage with her fiery-tempered travelling companion Capitaine Hugo Saintclair, little does she know what waits for her across the sea in turbulent nineteenth-century France on the eve of Napoleon’s return from exile. When she arrives, she is taken aback by Malleval’s fascination with her family – seemingly inspired by his belief they are connected to a sacred relic he’s read about in coded manuscripts by the Knights Templar.

As it becomes clear that Malleval’s obsession has driven him to madness, Marie-Ange is horrified to realise she is more the man’s prisoner than his guest. Not only that, but Hugo is the only person who might be able to help her, and he could represent a different kind of danger …

Angel of the Lost Treasure will be released on 23^rd February and is available for pre-order amazon and kobo.

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Thank you for visiting my blog – Morton S. Gray – Author. I hope you enjoyed this post. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

International Bestseller Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe published as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and Choc Lit for other options.

Bestseller Sunny Days at the Beach is now available as an eBook, audio and paperback – Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Nook Books, Google Play and at Choc Lit for other options.

Christmas at Borteen Bay is available as both an eBook and audio download – Amazon Kindle, Audio, Apple iBooks, Kobo and Choc Lit for other buying options.

The Truth Lies Buried is available from all eBook platforms – Choc Lit, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Apple iBooks and also as a paperback and audiobook.

The Girl on the Beach published by Choc Lit is available as a paperback and from all eBook platforms –Amazon Kindle, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.