March 6, 2017

Dreaming Sophia by Melissa Muldoon - Spotlight and Giveaway



Book Details:
Book Title: Dreaming Sophia: Because Dreaming is an Art by Melissa Muldoon
​Category: Adult Fiction, 232 pages
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Matta Press
Release date: August 2016
Tour dates: Feb 20 to March 10, 2017
Content Rating: PG 

Book Description:
Dreaming Sophia is a magical look into Italy, language, art, and culture. It is a story about turning dreams into reality and learning to walk the fine line between fact and fantasy. When tragedy strikes, Sophia finds herself alone in the world, without direction and fearful of loving again. With only her vivid imagination to guide her, she begins a journey that will take her from the vineyards in Sonoma, California to a grad school in Philadelphia and, eventually, to Italy: Florence, Lucca, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Val d’Orcia.

​Through dreamlike encounters, Sophia meets Italian personalities—princes, poets, duchesses, artists, and film stars— who give her advice to help put her life back together. Following a path that takes her from grief to joy, she discovers the source of her creativity and learns to love again, turning her dreams into reality.

Watch the book trailer:

Buy the Book:

Meet the Author:
Melissa Muldoon is the Studentessa Matta-the crazy linguist! In Italian, "matta" means "crazy" or "impassioned". Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master's degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence.

Melissa promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog, Studentessa Matta (studentessamatta.com). Melissa began the Matta blog to improve her command of the language and to connect with other language learners. It has since grown to include a podcast, "Tutti Matti per l'Italiano" and the Studentessa Matta YouTube channel. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Tours, which she co-leads with Italian partners in Italy.

Dreaming Sophia is Melissa's first novel. It is a fanciful look at art history and Italian language and culture, but it is also the culmination of personal stories and insights resulting from her experiences living in Italy, as well as her involvement and familiarity with the Italian language, painting, and art history.

As a student, Melissa lived in Florence with an Italian family. She studied art history and painting and took beginner Italian classes. When she returned home, she threw away her Italian dictionary, assuming she'd never need it again but after launching a successful design career and starting a family, she realized something was missing in her life. That "thing" was the connection she had made with Italy and the friends who live there. Living in Florence was indeed a life-changing event! Wanting to reconnect with Italy, she decided to start learning the language again from scratch. As if indeed possessed by an Italian muse, she bought a new Italian dictionary and began her journey to fluency-a path that has led her back to Italy many times and enriched her life in countless ways.

Now, many dictionaries and grammar books later, she dedicates her time to promoting Italian language studies, further travels in Italy, and sharing her stories and insights about Italy with others. When Melissa is not traveling in Italy, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is married and has three boys and two beagles.

Melissa designed and illustrated the cover art for Dreaming Sophia. She also designed the Dreaming Sophia website and created the character illustrations that can be found in the book and on the Dreaming Sophia websites.

Connect with the Author:

Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Youtube ~ Pinterest


Enter the Giveaway!
Prizes: ​ Win a copy of Dreaming Sophia (print open to USA & Can, ebook int’l) One winner will also get a $10 Amazon gift card (3 winners total)
Ends March 18


BOOK SPOTLIGHT TOUR SCHEDULE:

Feb 20 - Essentially Italian - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 20 - Leigh Anderson Romance - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 20 - Teresa Edmond-Sargeant - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 21 - Books, Dreams, Life - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 21 - Mystery Suspense Reviews - book spotlight
Feb 21 - Library of Clean Reads - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 22 - BookRoom Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 22 - Puddletown Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 22 - Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin' - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 23 - Paulette's Papers - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 23 - Book Lover in Florida - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 24 - Celticlady's Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 24 - T's Stuff - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 24 - Fabulous and Brunette - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 27 - A Mama's Corner of the World - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 27 - StoreyBook Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 27 - Carole's Book Corner - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 28 - 100 pages a day - book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 28 - Kristin's Novel Cafe - book spotlight 
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March 2 - Zerina Blossom's Books - book spotlight / giveaway
March 2 - Suko's Notebook - book spotlight
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March 6 - FUONLYKNEW - book spotlight / giveaway
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March 7 - A Soccer Mom's Book Blog - book spotlight / giveaway
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