Carole Bellacera

Spotlight

On January 6, 1972, ten-year-old Devin O'Keefe takes part in a peaceful demonstration march through the Catholic ghetto of Bogside, Northern Ireland—never suspecting that the demonstration is doomed to become Bloody Sunday, and that he will watch the British Army kill his brother along with twelve other defenseless marchers.

Wounded in the arm himself, Devin vows revenge on his British oppressors—and steps into a cycle of violence that will leave him with a shattered family and an empty heart. ...

Border Crossings

Kathy O'Faolain is an American woman who seems to have it all—a loving husband, a satisfying job helping troubled teens, and an adorable young son. She lives happily with her Irish husband, Pearse, in Dublin—but her life is forever changed when Pearse's brother is murdered by Protestant terrorists in Northern Ireland.

When Pearse feels obligated to return home to the north and take over his brother's role as a Republica activist, Kathy's life is turned upside down. Struggling to understand the hate that plagues this troubled land, she watches the violence creep closer and closer to the people she loves—and soon she must make a heartbreaking choice between her husband and her son's future.

2000 RITA Finalist for Best Romantic Suspense

2000 RITA Finalist for Best First Book

Romantic Times 2000 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee for Best Contemporary Novel.

Top Review

"A stirring first novel of terror, death, love, and hope, told with power and conviction and set in the troubled part of Northern Ireland where peace at long last seems almost possible." -- Andrew M. Greeley, bestselling author of IRISH GOLD, SUMMER AT THE LAKE, CONTRACT WITH AN ANGEL, etc...

Border Crossings ...

UNDERSTUDY

Robin Mulcahey has always dreamed of being a big-time actress. As a college student, she took endless drama classes and finally snagged the lead of Maggie in Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now, six years later, she’s one of the country’s hottest soap-opera stars. She’s just won a Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of South Riding’s bad girl, and now when it seemed life couldn’t get any more perfect, she’s wed Declan Blair, an up-and-coming Irish film actor.

So what’s the problem?

Robin Mulcahey is dead. She was killed in a devastating car wreck in 1996 while riding with her best friend, Amy Shiley. Amy, battered beyond recognition in the accident, was mistaken for Robin and has played the role of Robin Mulcahey ever since. But Amy’s never been able to forget the love she shared with Paul Mulcahey—Robin’s older brother.

If you had the chance to become someone else, would you take it?

Top Reviews

"UNDERSTUDY leads readers on a harrowing, heart-tugging journey...Carole Bellacera takes an improbable plot and makes it plausible...a sinuous, sensuous thriller, almost flawless in its execution...UNDERSTUDY is terrific: a perfect beach book that will keep readers turning pages long after the sunscreen has worn off."-Mellanie Crowther, The Romance Reader's Connection

"UNDERSTUDY mixes lust, intrigue and deceit in an erotic cocktail which proves that the grass definitely isn't always greener, and when it comes to love, you should never live a lie." - For Women Magazine, UK

EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON

Can you ever justify cheating on your husband?

This is the question that Leigh Fallon is faced with when she learns that her marriage to Congressman Bob Fallon is not as honest as she's always assumed. It feels like Bob has been all but ignoring her, except to criticize, and Leigh finds herself helplessly drawn to Erik, the twenty-something Norwegian exchange student who's staying in their home. When she finds proof that Bob has been spending his free time in the arms of his beautiful, young Capitol Hill secretary, Leigh decides that "enough is enough" and allows herself to begin a relationship with Erik.

Little does she know that her affair with the young Norwegian will change her life forever, setting in motion a series of events that bring tragedy, anguish, and ultimately a discovery of hidden strength and courage.

Top Reviews

"Bellacera, whose first book, Border Crossings (1999), was a Romance Writers of America RITA nominee, tackles the subject of older woman-younger man in her latest contemporary romance. When 40-year-old Leigh O'Fallon discovers proof of her husband's infidelity, she feels bitterly betrayed. Turning to Erik Haukeland, the 29-year-old Norwegian exchange student staying with the O'Fallons, for comfort, Leigh begins a romantic relationship with Erik that winds up pointing out to Leigh how empty and unfulfilling her marriage has become. Forced to choose between her family and Erik, Leigh risks everything for love and changes her life forever. Bellacera handles her book's complex subject matter beautifully, and she writes honestly and realistically about the joys and sorrows Leigh experiences. Readers will be emotionally exhausted by the time they reach the book's conclusion, but they will also be thoroughly satisfied with this compellingly crafted story." -- John Charles, Booklist

"Bellacera (Border Crossings) sets this pleasingly melodramatic sudser on Capitol Hill and the fjords of Norway. domestic scenes between Leigh and the kids, rendered with casual ease, form a strong counterpoint to the moral problems Leigh must confront. As for the core theme how one balances responsibility to family with responsibility to oneself it should resonate with readers, many of whom are confronted with the same question on a daily basis. Border Crossings was a finalist in two categories for the Romance Writers of America's RITA Award; this new novel is written with similar assurance."-- Publisher's Weekly

CHOCOLATE ON A STICK

An elderly Appalachian couple, who've fallen in love in Memphis, take to the road in a red Corvette because their wacky children decide to send them to separate retirement homes. Soon the police are in hot pursuit as they try to reach their goal of California so Velma can get her first glimpse of the ocean.

Top Reviews

"Contemporary author Carole Bellacera jumps into the romantic comedy sub-genre with both feet in this laugh a minute story, written from each and every character's point of view. While most of these insights are very funny, Velma's story is heartbreaking. However, she is the strongest voice heard and is basically saying the past is the past, and, my favorite, sex at seventy-three is as good as it was at twenty-three. Louie loved his late wife dearly, but he's been alone a long time and to him, Thelma is his CHOCOLATE ON A STICK. A very clever plot, peopled with great characters and outstanding narrative, makes this book appealing and fun to read." -- Betty Cox, Reader To Reader

"Carole Bellacera is one to think 'outside the box,' and she really does it in CHOCOLATE ON A STICK. It's not like any romance you've read lately, because not many romances have seventy-year-old protagonists. It's fun, crazy, and a little weird, but read it. You'll like it. You might even recognize a family member of two. I know that independent little foxy Velma could have been my grandma." --Lucele Coutts, NovelTalk.com

TANGO'S EDGE

"Will you help me to defect?"

It's the desperate question from Russian ice dancer Mikhail Kozlof to his American counterpart, Kerry Niles, that ignites a treacherous cross-country trip, political intrigue ― and an attraction that neither can deny.

After a night of passion in a picture postcard winter resort, lust turns to love ― and a return to reality. The American government is closing in, and soon Mikhail will be whisked away from Kerry.

Once sequestered in a safe house outside Washington DC, Mikhail is faced with an impossible situation―he must deny his love for Kerry to protect her from harm's way. Will he lose everything he cherishes?

Top Reviews

"TANGO’S EDGE is a thrilling tale from the very talented pen of Carole Bellacera, an author who is highly underrated. With scads of sexual tension and smokin’ chemistry between Kerry and Mikhail, it’s not long before the two start their own tango of the heart. Mikhail is a man any woman would want. ...

Light on the suspense angle, TANGO’S EDGE still hits many notes on the palate for a romantic tale of two lonely people who deserve to find love. Even if you’re not a closet skating fan like me, you’ll definitely enjoy Carole Bellacera’s newest book from Cerridwen Press. There are not many authors who can make a double axel or a triple toe loop look sexy, but Ms. Bellacera does. Not since Kurt Browning have I had a crush on a male skater, but Mikhail can help me trace my edges any day. Enjoy!" —Amy Cunningham, Romance Reviews Today

LILY OF THE SPRINGS

In 1952 Kentucky, 18-year-old Lily Foster, the daughter of strict Southern Baptist parents, becomes pregnant by the town “bad boy”— and just like that, she finds herself married to a man who doesn’t want to be a husband. Jake has no intention of letting the inconvenience of marriage stop him from what he believes is his due. In actuality, Lily is the one who is trapped. She loves Jake — always has, since they were children playing in the woods on adjoining properties — and she’s convinced she can eventually make him love her. All it will take is desire and patience. Once the baby arrives, they will be the perfect little family.

From Lily’s home on Opal Springs Ridge to a four-year stint at an army base in New Boston, Texas, and finally, to life on their own in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Lily struggles to maintain a rocky marriage with a moody, immature husband while raising two daughters.

Set during the “American Dream” period of the ‘50s and into the turbulent ‘60’s, LILY OF THE SPRINGS is a story of a woman’s indomitable spirit and her fight for independence and identity in an “Ozzie & Harriet” society.

Top Reviews

LILY OF THE SPRINGS is like a slow dance to a Patsy Cline song in the arms of your one true love. From the very first page, it draws you back to another time and place and makes you want to stay there forever. Carole Bellacera is a master storyteller." ...Teresa Medeiros, New York Times bestselling author of GOODNIGHT TWEETHEART

A poignant and epic romance novel that's hard to put down. Erotic, explosive, shattering, realistic--Carole Bellacera's new romance novel has them all and a whole lot more.--Rose Campion, author of NO TIME TO CRY and the forthcoming SINNERS CAN'T BE CHOOSERS.

INCENSE & PEPPERMINTS

On a snowy February day in 2011, 62-year-old Cindy Sweet receives a Facebook message from a dead man—Warrant Officer Ryan Quinlan who supposedly died in Vietnam forty years earlier. He’d been Cindy’s fiancé before an RPG took out his “dust-off” chopper, killing all aboard. Cindy, a young combat nurse at the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh, had been devastated by her loss, but with no other choice, had served out her year in Vietnam—and even found love again

INCENSE & PEPPERMINTS is a novel about patriotism, loyalty, enduring love, unimaginable courage and devastating loss. It’s the story of one woman’s year in a war zone during the most unpopular war in U.S. history.

Top Review

“Carole Bellacera's Incense and Peppermints skillfully transports the readers back to the turbulent seventies, and the heartbreak and passions of war, as seen through the eyes of a nurse serving in Vietnam. I couldn't put down Incense and Peppermints.” -- Cindy Myers, Author of The View From Here.

HOWLING AT THE MOON

Salamander Cay:

A resort-like neighborhood on an artificial floating island off the coast of South Carolina brings together four different women—classy Ashleigh Cavenaugh, boisterous Micki LaBlanc, level-headed Cat Rich, and sex kitten, Samantha Perrelli. Micki, a happily married woman who has put on a few extra pounds through the years, organizes a monthly “goddess meeting,” where the four women get together, drink wine and generally have an all-out “bitch-fest.”

But behind the humor and close friendships, each woman harbors secrets that can destroy each other’s lives.

A story about love, lust and betrayal, and ultimately, binding friendships that weather all storms.

COMING SOON

While your reading this I'm hard at work dreaming up your next good read.

So far, I think the setting will be in modern day Egypt or somewhere in that part of the world. Of course, romance will follow an American girl (or guy) to the area as they deal with new customs and cultures.

ANY DAY NOW!!

Meet Carole

RITA finalist, Carole Bellacera is a novelist, journalist and screenwriter and her work has appeared in such venues as Woman's World, The Star, Endless Vacation and The Washington Post. Her romantic suspense novels have been published by Forge, Tor, and Belgrave House.

Beyond the Writing

When Carole isn't writing, she likes to sing with her church choir, sing karaoke, and just plain old SING. Recently, she was a finalist in a "Stand Up and Sing" competition at her local mall, where she sang Michael Buble's "Feeling Good."

Beautiful Evening Beads

Carole also makes semi-precious stone jewelry in her spare time, and has a shop at beautifuleveningbead/etsy.com. She sells her one-of-a-kind jewelry at local craft fairs.

Spotlight

Border Crossings

2000 RITA Finalist for Best Romantic Suspense

2000 RITA Finalist for Best First Book

Romantic Times 2000 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee for Best Contemporary Novel.

UNDERSTUDY

EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON

CHOCOLATE ON A STICK

TANGO'S EDGE

LILY OF THE SPRINGS

INCENSE & PEPPERMINTS

HOWLING AT THE MOON

COMING SOON

Meet Carole

Beyond the Writing

Beautiful Evening Beads

Website designed by Frank Bellacera Catalog=DB_155500_bellacera

Website designed by Frank Bellacera
Catalog=DB_155500_bellacera