Loving the cover, and the plot!

Sea of Shadows  (Sea and Stone Chronicles, Book 2) by Amy Maroney released last week in the Historical suspense/romance genre.

1459. A gifted woman artist. A ruthless Scottish privateer. And an audacious plan that throws them together—with dangerous consequences. 

No one on the Greek island of Rhodes suspects Anica is responsible for her Venetian father’s exquisite portraits, least of all her wealthy fiancé. But her father’s vision is failing, and with every passing day it’s more difficult to conceal the truth. 

When their secret is discovered by a powerful knight of the Order of St. John, Anica must act quickly to salvage her father’s honor and her own future. Desperate, she enlists the help of a fierce Scottish privateer named Drummond. Together, they craft a daring plan to restore her father’s sight. 

There’s only one problem—she never imagined falling in love with her accomplice.

Before their plan can unfold, a shocking scandal involving the knights puts Anica’s entire family at risk. Her only hope is to turn to Drummond once again, defying her parents, her betrothed, even the Grand Master of the Knights himself. But can she survive the consequences? 

With this captivating tale of passion, courage, and loyalty, Amy Maroney brings a lost, dazzling world to vivid life.

Sea of Shadows is Book 2 in a series of stand-alone historical novels packed with adventure and romance.

Buy Links:

This novel is available on #KindleUnlimited

Universal Link: https://mybook.to/SeaOfShadows

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09T3M2HM3

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T3M2HM3

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09T3M2HM3

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Sea-Shadows-Stone-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B09T3M2HM3/

Summer, 1459

Rhodes Town

The next day, Anica did several household errands with Maria, then ate a quick meal of flatbread, cheese, and grapes in the kitchen before heading to the studio. She worked in silence, the afternoon punctuated by the tolling of church bells that marked the hours. As she was sanding a panel, the door swung open. 

“My dear, I did not ask you yet—was Signor Salviati pleased with the painting?” Papa asked, stepping inside.

He looked better today, she thought as he closed the space between them. More alert.

“Yes. How much had he agreed to pay you?” she asked. “Can you show me the contract? I want to make sure it’s enough to cover our expenses.”

Papa avoided her gaze. “That’s better left to me, my dear.”

Anica watched him with narrowed eyes. Papa had never hesitated to share information about their commissions before. What was her father concealing from her? 

Let it go. The last thing he needs today is an argument with me.

“His son was there, too,” she told him.

“Ah, yes. Young Troilo. I thought they’d shipped him off to Florence for good.” Papa cocked his head to one side. “Did you say they wanted another commission?”

She nodded. “Three more portraits. They want them in oil paints.”

“Oil paints?” her father repeated dubiously.

“It requires oil to thin the pigments rather than egg,” she explained. “Troilo claimed the finest homes in Florence have works in oil hanging on their walls.”

“I’ve heard a few merchants bragging about portraits made in oil they’ve had sent over the sea from Flanders and Holland,” he said. “But there’s no one schooled in the technique on this island.”

“Perhaps you could be the first,” she suggested.

He gave her a rueful smile. “My dear, I’m having enough trouble as it is. The last thing I need is another complication.”

“Is it getting worse?” She examined his brown eyes with concern.

“The world is blurry, as if a veil of mist conceals everything I look at,” he confessed. 

“Do they hurt?”

“No, no. Other than a headache now and then, especially when I work by candlelight, my eyes don’t hurt at all. And I’m still quite capable of wielding a brush. You’ve done more than your share of the work ever since”—his voice faded for an instant—“these past few months. You won’t toil alone much longer. This week I shall write to a cousin in Venice and have an apprentice sent on the next ship to Rhodes.”

“But you’ve tried that before.” Anica’s heart sank. Three Venetian apprentices, all relatives from her father’s family, had come and gone in the same number of years. None of them had shown any talent nor any motivation to work. 

“My Foscolo relations have proven disappointing on that count. I think they save all the best apprentices for their own studio in Venice, and I suppose I can’t blame them. No, this time I’m turning to my mother’s family—the Loredans.”

“We have artists on that side of the family, too?” 

She knew little about her grandmother’s family other than the story of her father’s arrival on Rhodes. He had come here by way of the island of Antiparos, where his mother’s cousin Giovanni Loredan had built a grand home and married a Greek woman. At Cousin Giovanni’s invitation, Papa had journeyed from Venice to Antiparos and painted frescoes on the walls of his new house. From there, it was a quick voyage to Rhodes. Once Papa set foot on this island, he’d been in no hurry to return to Venice. 

He shook his head. “No. But the Loredans have connections everywhere. I can cast a wide net through them, and who knows how big a fish I’ll land?”

Anica smiled a little, glad her father was making an attempt at lightness.

His expression sobered. “Your betrothal hasn’t been forgotten either. Mamá and I are ready to begin the search again. Aunt Rhea is eager to help us find a match.”

She put her arms around him. “Thank you.” 

The shroud of gloom was finally lifting from her father’s shoulders. And perhaps the weight of responsibility would now lift from hers.

Author Bio:

Amy Maroney studied English Literature at Boston University and worked for many years as a writer and editor of nonfiction. She lives in Oregon, U.S.A. with her family. When she’s not diving down research rabbit holes, she enjoys hiking, dancing, traveling, and reading. Amy is the author of The Miramonde Series, an award-winning historical fiction trilogy about a Renaissance-era female artist and the modern-day scholar on her trail. Her new historical suspense/romance series, Sea and Stone Chronicles, is set in medieval Rhodes and Cyprus.

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