Illegally Blonde!

Today a special package arrived for me in the mail. No. Not an author/agent contract, but something grand, nonetheless.

This afternoon, I received Nelsa Roberto's debut novel, Illegally Blonde, and before I could return to our carport, I read through the first six pages! Yes! The writing is fabulous. Not only did I find the synopsis intriguing, the connection I felt with the characters was enough to make me race through the beginning pages in a matter of seconds. The best part - discovering the nicest inscription written to me on the inside cover. In that moment, I felt so lucky to have won Ms. Roberto's blog contest.

So, for tonight's post, I've decided to share the synopsis of Illegally Blonde and provide a brief bio of Ms. Roberto. She is definitely a debut author that everyone should keep their eye on!

When seventeen-year-old Lucy do Amaral comes home with bleached blonde hair she expects a major lecture and another grounding from her strict Portuguese parents. What she doesn't expect is the shocking news that her family are illegal aliens who've just been told they're being deported in less than a week. Lucy's furious at being forced to leave her boyfriend and miss prom to go live in some backwater village in a country she knows nothing about. But as Lucy discovers, intentions and reality are sometimes worlds apart - or an ocean away.


Nelsa Roberto is a Portugese-Canadian who was born in a remote logging community in northern Ontario, grew up in a farming community in southern Ontario, and now lives in Toronto with her husband, three children, and Golden Retriever. To follow Ms. Roberto on her blog, go to http://out-of-the-wordwork.blogspot.com/