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Author Interview featuring debut author Lili Naghdi, On Loving w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #author interview #romance #debut author #99cents

On Loving

by Lili Naghdi 

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GENRE: Romance

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BLURB:

In 1972, Dr. Rose Hemmings has just finished her general surgery residency when a haunted stranger is shot in front of her in a New York City bar, and their lives become forever intertwined. And when, having been given the blessing of her adoptive father on his deathbed, Rose travels to prerevolutionary Iran to discover the past her American family kept secret from her, she finds a true Pandora’s box. It is a world both foreign and familiar, in which her primary place is as the heiress to a great tribe. In Iran, Rose will find family she never dreamed of, her own people, and a man who loves her as passionately as he does the rare black roses of his garden. She will return to the United States carrying a new secret and torn between two men: the one she loves helplessly, and the one who loves her unconditionally.

Woven throughout with Persian poetry ancient and modern, On Loving is the story of one woman’s lifetime of love and loss, of societal change in a nomadic people, and of overcoming personal challenges, including mental and physical health, to find true contentment. Above all, it is a story of love: its physiology, psychology and philosophy; the many forms it takes; its myths and truths; its challenges, its joys and its gifts.

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Excerpt Two:

“It was almost nine when I got back. Kim had fed Layla and put her to sleep. I sent Kim home for the night, kissed Layla’s face good night and went to my room to change for bed.

Siyavash’s letter was still on the floor. I bent down and picked it up.

Inhaling the scent of the dried black rose, I wandered to the window and stared at the thin, even white carpet of snow on the street. Where do I want to be? I asked myself. Somewhere beautiful, calming. Somewhere full of life, with a boundless, vaulted sky above my head, perhaps!

I then closed my eyes and let myself being taken to Siyavash’s majestic rose garden in Isfahan. I could feel the breeze in my hair, could feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I remembered how Siyavash had looked at me with love and admiration there. I was blind not to see it then. I couldn’t recall Dean looking at me like that …

I opened my eyes and read Siyavash’s letter again, raking my fingers through my hair. Then, nervously rubbing my neck, I went to the phone next to my bed.

“Good evening,” I said when the other end of the line picked up.

“Rose! Is that … Is that you?” It was Siyavash.

“Yes, it’s me!” I paused and swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat. “Come back home! Just come back to me!”

I quickly hung up and rushed to the window, as if for air. Snowflakes were still dancing their way down to the ground.

My chest felt so constricted that I could hardly breathe.

Am I questioning Dean’s love for me? I wondered. Am I comparing it to Siyavash’s? But that was impossible! I shook my head. I’m just giving Siyavash a chance to redeem himself, a proper second chance. But the reminder to myself was pointless: the truth was something else, and I knew it!

I was at fault here. I was the guilty — guilty of blocking not only my ears but also my soul from hearing Siyavash’s voice, so ignorant indeed that my heart was finally reproaching me for my bigotry and cruelty.

I folded the letter and tucked it away in the drawer next to my bed.

I’ll know soon how I need to deal with him, I told myself. Or I’ll just have to find a way around it!”

Can you describe your dream home?

An average home with lots of light, tall windows, a view to the ocean or the forest with a huge office with walls covered by full bookcases. Of course, no dream house can be a dream home for me without my loving family and my dog being around me.

 

If we were to come to your house for a meal, what would you give us to eat?

I will make you Barberry rice with pistachio and almonds served with saffron chicken, a traditional Persian dish.

 

Tell us about the absolute BEST fan letter you have received.

A gentleman who wrote how he found my story impressing in a way that he was encouraged to start reading about Iran’s ancient history and Forugh Farrokzad’s poetry in English. Also, he wrote tha he was trying to know himself better and talk to a counsellor to be able to solve issues from his past. He really made my day!

 

Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go?

France.

 

Who designed the book cover for the book you are touring?

The idea was mine but JD and J book designs in Florida made the design based on my idea.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lili Naghdi is an Iranian Canadian physician who was born and raised in Tehran. She continued her education and research after moving to Canada with her husband and daughter in 1996. Today she practices family medicine in Vaughan, Ontario, with particular interests in women’s and mental health. Being a family physician gives her the privilege of connecting with patients and participating in their care with a deeper understanding of the physical, emotional and social adversities they face. Interacting with people of many different backgrounds has also provided Dr. Naghdi with the opportunity to grow as a person, a physician and an author.

Growing up in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran, Lili became fascinated by the magical realm of literature, poetry and history. She began collecting prized quotations at the young age of eight. Dr. Naghdi has written poetry and short stories in both Farsi and English, but she eventually followed William Wordsworth’s advice to “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” and turned to fiction.

On Loving is her first novel. Inspired by both the ordinary people she has the honor to support and by the great literature of Persia and the world — from Hafez to Forugh Farrokhzad and from John Steinbeck to Margaret Mitchell — Dr. Naghdi passionately agrees with Boris Pasternak, whose Yuri Zhivago is a physician and patriotic poet, when he writes: “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.”

Website:            www.lilinaghdi.com

Goodreads:       https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44310723-on-loving?from_search=true

Facebook:          https://www.facebook.com/pg/lilinaghdiauthor/posts/?ref=page_internal

Instagram:           https://www.instagram.com/naghdil/

 

Amazon author page URL:

 

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/profile

 

Barnes and Noble Author URL:

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/books/1130591456?ean=9781999497002

 

Videos of her book launch:  

 

https://youtu.be/iqMoLoKBRPI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYtdrHiWffk

 

Buy Links:  On Loving is on sale during the tour for $0.99

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/on-loving-lili-naghdi/1130591456

 

https://www.amazon.com/Loving-Lili-Naghdi-ebook/dp/B07NSJLJLZ

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

Lili Naghdi will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

 

19 thoughts on “Author Interview featuring debut author Lili Naghdi, On Loving w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #author interview #romance #debut author #99cents

  1. Thank you all for joining us. I’d also like to thank our host and Goddess Fish Promotions for making this possible. Good luck in the giveaway!

    Best,

    Lili Naghdi

  2. I love this book!! I enjoyed reading on loving and definitely recommend it to my friends. While I was reading I was in for a whirlwind of an adventure!

    1. Thank for your kind remark. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the story. Good luck in the giveaway!

  3. I am enjoying these tours and finding all the terrific books my family is enjoying reading. Thanks for bringing them to us and keep up the good work.

  4. Good morning! How do I define love? You’d think that question would be easy but oddly enough it isn’t. The warm, fuzzy feelings that I have for my family and friends are easily labeled love. The romantic, passionate feelings that I’ve had for a few men throughout the course of my life were easily mistaken as love. But honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever been in love, not really.
    My gut reaction would be to say that love is the emotion that leaves you the most vulnerable. It opens you up to experience the most pain or joy that a human being is capable of experiencing. And I could quote an extensive list of all of the most popular beliefs on the subject, that true love is blind, that it causes you to put another s welfare, their needs and desires before your own, that loving yourself must come first before you can truly love another…these are a few of the sentiments that I wholeheartedly support. But my truth is that the real meaning of the word, the emotion itself, is as elusive to me as ever.

    1. Dear Beatrice,

      I totally agree with you. I believe that love is a mysterious thing and certainly it can be hard to define. It is an emotion strongly based on people’s personal and unique experiences in their lives. The definition of love may not be the same for every one.
      It took years for my main protagonist, Rose, to find the real definition for this word. She experienced it with all her senses. She could finally understand the difference between conditional and unconditional love and the effects they both had on her as a person and also as a professional.

      Thanks for sharing your beautiful thoughts with us today.
      Good luck in the giveaway!

      Best,
      Lili

      1. Thank you so much for reading and responding to my comment. I am looking forward to reading your book.

  5. Hello Everyone,

    It is such a great pleasure joining you today on another stop of my virtual tour! Thank you all for participating in our discussions. I’d like to extend my gratitude to our wonderful host for giving me this opportunity. Also, I’d like to thank Goddess Fish Promotions for coordinating this tour.

    “On Loving”, my debut novel, is not only a love story but in fact, it is a story about love itself, its physiology and philosophy, the many forms it takes, its myths and truths, its challenges, its joys and its gifts. It is the story of one woman’s lifetime of love and loss, and of the true meaning of love, and this “true meaning” could be different for different people.

    I’d like to ask everyone the following question (on each and every stop of the tour), and I’d really appreciate everyone’s participation:

    How do you define “LOVE” in your own words and based on your own experiences?

    Good luck in the giveaway!

    Best,

    Lili Naghdi

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