I’m doing a Book Week for author Monique Domovitch! Myself and some of my blogger friends have got some treats in store for you!
Today is Day 1 and I have an Author Spotlight for you! Read her bio and about her books and check out whats in store for the rest of the week!
Monique Domovitch, author of Scorpio Rising and its sequel, The Sting of The Scorpio, was born in the small town of Hearst Ontario. She is the oldest of ten children. “You can’t imagine the pressure,” she says, laughing. “Anything I did wrong—and I did plenty—was sure to lead my siblings into a life of sin. I therefore accept the blame for any wrongdoings by all member of my family.”
When she was twenty years old she moved to Montreal, where she became a successful model, winning the prestigious Modeling Association of American Contest and continuing on to an international career. During this time, she worked with many top photographers and graced many designer runways. “Modeling was a wonderful career,” she says. “I met so many interesting and talented people. I travelled all over the world. After ten years of facing cameras and audiences, I became very comfortable with the public. I had no idea at the time, just how much this ability would serve me later in life.”
At the age of thirty, Monique retired from modeling and founded Beauties Modeling Agency in Montreal. Through her tutelage, many Canadian models gained international renown. “I wanted to accept my age rather than try desperately to look young for an unforgiving camera. That was the main reason I retired from modeling on my thirtieth birthday.”
Following a difficult divorce and some health issues some years later, Monique sold her agency and turned her focus on the investment business. “The divorce had left me financially and emotionally bereft—by my own doing, I might add–because I just walked away from the financial fighting. It was just easier to sign on the dotted line and walk away than to prolong a painful fight. Even though it made the next few years difficult financially, I never regretted my decision, which propelled me to the next phase of my professional life.
At the age of forty two, Monique, by then a financial advisor with one of Canada’s largest investment firms, was picked to host her own television show, Her Money, a weekly financial-advice show aimed to a female audience. “Her Money, aired nationally for four years on The Women’s Network , and to this day, I still hear from women who tell me that my message, ‘you, and only you, are responsible for your financial security’, helped change their lives.”
During all these careers, Monique’s real passion was always writing. “I used to get up at 5:30 in the morning and write until I went to work. If I’d been alone, I would probably have put my energies into writing. But as a single mother, I had to provide for my children.”
Nowadays, Monique lives with her physician husband and their three dogs. They divide their time between their homes in Canada and La Jolla. “I got lucky. I met the love of my life at the age of fifty. The best advice I can give other women is, don’t settle for second best. I was alone for twenty years until Ed came along. If I’d decided that a mediocre marriage was better than no marriage, Ed and I would most likely have never met. I can’t imagine my life without him.”
Monique is under contract with Carina Press for a murder mystery series featuring a chef with weight issues. The first in this series, Getting Skinny, is due for publication in early 2013.
Monique also writes under the pen name of Carol Ann Martin, for Obsidian, an imprint of Penguin. “I borrowed the name from my children, combining my daughter’s—Carole Ann—and my son’s—Martin. Her first book in her new series, Looming Murder, will also be published in 2013.
Set in New York and Paris amid the glamorous and competitive worlds of art and real estate, Scorpio Rising takes the reader from the late 1940s to the 1960s through the tumultuous lives of its heroes.
There is Alex Ivanov, the son of a Russian immigrant and part-time prostitute. He yearns to escape his sordid life and achieve fame and fortune. His dreams of becoming a world-class builder are met with countless obstacles, yet he perseveres in the hope of someday receiving the recognition he craves.
Half a world away, Brigitte Dartois is an abused teenager who runs into the arms of a benefactor with an agenda all his own. When she finds out that her boss has an ulterior motive, she flees again, determined to earn her living through her art. This career brings her fame, but also the unwanted attention of her early abuser.
In Scorpio Rising, Monique Domovitch presented a compelling tale filled with colorful characters and the manipulation of power, ambition, and greed. Now she gives us its spellbinding sequel, The Sting of the Scorpio, where Alexander Ivanov returns to New York with his new bride, Brigitte.
The real estate industry is ripe with opportunity. Blessed with irresistible charm, ambition, and the single-minded obsession to succeed, Alex plots and manipulates his way to almost mystical success. Everything he touches turns to gold, but it’s never enough. When a hostile takeover bid leaves him struggling to save his beloved company, he suspects those closest to him of plotting his downfall.
Brigitte, the beautiful redhead who abandoned her country and her career to become his wife, feels alone. In return, Alex has betrayed her time and again, each indiscretion cutting deeper into her soul.
Brigitte’s son, David yearns to be an artist, but Alex’s plans leave no room for such frivolous goals. He grooms a reluctant David to become the heir apparent until a devastating tragedy attracts the attention of another young man.
The Sting of the Scorpio is a rich tale of a man at the mercy of his own greed and a woman bound by her need for love.
Hope on over to the authors website and enter to win some signed books and Amazon GC’s!
Giveaway Here!
Buy Books Here