RV Publications | Cheryl M-M's Book Blog

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Seven and a Half Minutes by Roxana Valea. It’s the third part in The Polo Diaries series.

About the Author

Roxana Valea was born in Romania and lived in Italy, Switzerland, England and Argentina before settling in Spain. She has a BA in journalism and an MBA degree. She spent more than twenty years in the business world as an entrepreneur, manager and management consultant working for top companies like Apple, eBay, and Sony. She is also a Reiki Master and shamanic energy medicine practitioner.

As an author, Roxana writes books inspired by real events. Her memoir Through Dust and Dreams is a faithful account of a trip she took at the age of twenty-eight across Africa by car in the company of two strangers she met over the internet. Her following book, Personal Power: Mindfulness Techniques for the Corporate Word is a nonfiction book filled with personal anecdotes from her consulting years. The Polo Diaries series is inspired by her experiences as a female polo player–traveling to Argentina, falling in love, and surviving the highs and lows of this dangerous sport.

Roxana lives with her husband between England and Spain, and splits her time between writing, coaching and therapy work, but her first passion remains writing.

Follow @roxana_valea on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, on Facebook, on Instagram, Visit roxanavaleaauthor.com, Buy Seven and a Half Minutes

About the book

Before Roxy found herself “Single in Buenos Aires,” she was a single girl in London in search of true love. The third installment of The Polo Diaries series takes us back to that time, and we follow Roxy as she hires a love coach to help her navigate the dating scene. But the love coach comes up with an unexpected assignment: reconnect to a long-forgotten passion. For Roxy this means horses. Within weeks, she finds herself playing polo, thanks to a series of unforeseen events.

Torn between her desire to become the best polo player she can be and the dream of falling in love, Roxy steps fully into the exciting and demanding world of polo, where injury and recovery mix with hard training, and where celebrating the victory of a tournament comes at a high price. Will Roxy eventually become the polo player she dreams to be? And with polo being such a demanding sport, can there be any space left for love?

Review

This is the third book in The Polo Diaries series. All of the books can be read as standalone novels. This third one takes us back a little and focuses on the passion for the game and the horses.

One thing I always notice with this series is how the thrill determines the course of life. It’s more important than anything or anyone else when it comes down to it. A choice Roxy only thinks about when it’s quiet or is unable to partake in what makes her heart beat with such an intensity.

There is loneliness when the saddle is empty, but she is very much aware of the emptiness. Is it possible to find a way to have both? When her body crumbles and she is unable to live her passion will the recovery teach her something she wasn’t expecting to learn?

I have to give Valea her dues when it comes to describing polo and her love for the game, especially when it comes to describing the different types of polo players. You can clearly feel the passion, the emotional attachment, the thrill of the adrenaline rush, the love of the physical exhaustion and the skill of the game. The way she pays homage to the people who taught her, each giving her a small gift, which combined creates the entirety of her talent and skills.

Valea describes it all in a way that makes me want to join in, and it fires up my competitive spirit, which is of course a sign the author has done their job. Her own experiences are absolutely what make this read compelling because it has an authentic and realistic feel you don’t often get when the account is purely fictional.

Buy Seven and a Half Minutes (The Polo Diaries #3) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: RV Publications; pub date 2 Jun. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

Buy Single in Buenos Aires, Buy A Horse Called Bicycle Books 1 and 2 in The Polo Diaries by Roxana Valea. Read my reviews of the first two books in the series.

Today it’s my turn on the two book Blog Blitz for The Polo Diaries – Single in Buenos Aires and A Horse Called Bicycle by Roxana Valea.About the Author

As an author, Roxana writes books inspired by real events. Her memoir Through Dust and Dreams is a faithful account of a trip she took at the age of twenty-eight across Africa by car in the company of two strangers she met over the internet. Her following book, Personal Power: Mindfulness Techniques for the Corporate World is a nonfiction book filled with personal anecdotes from her consulting years. The Polo Diaries series is inspired by her experiences as a female polo player–traveling to Argentina, falling in love, and surviving the highs and lows of this dangerous sport.

Roxana lives with her husband in Mallorca, Spain, where she writes, coaches, and does energy therapies, but her first passion remains writing.

Follow @roxana_valea on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, on Facebook, on Instagram, Visit roxanavaleaauthor.com, Buy Single in Buenos Aires, Buy A Horse Called Bicycle

About – Single in Buenos Aires

Roxy plays polo… but dreams of love. Forty-one-year-old polo player Roxy arrives in Argentina with

a to-do list that includes healing from a polo injury and falling in love with a handsome Argentine. From polo boots to tango shoes, the adrenaline of riding horses to glamorous after-game parties, Roxy learns to navigate this unfamiliar landscape with the help of new friends who teach her to take life as it comes. But will she find true love? Over three months in Buenos Aires, nothing goes according to plan, and yet, all the items on her list mysteriously get ticked off in the end. Just not the way she had imagined.

Fans of the Bridget Jones series will love the blend of humor, travel, and romantic comedy at the heart of Single in Buenos Aires, all topped off with the unforgettable flavor of life in one of the most sensual and passionate cities in the world.

About – A Horse Called Bicycle

Roxy found love . . . but is it enough? In the second installment of the Polo Diaries series, polo player

Roxy goes back to Argentina a year after the events in Single in Buenos Aires, filled with dreams of settling down with the man she loves. This time, once again, Argentina is full of surprises and things are not what they appear to be. Or maybe they’re exactly what they’re meant to be, as a fortune-teller informs her.

Roxy takes a leap of faith and follows her dreams once again. She spends time at glamorous party venues of Buenos Aires and travels to the rough and wild pampas. Along the way, Roxy’s friends support and champion her quest for love, but when things get out of hand, Roxy realizes she needs to listen to her own inner voice and must make a hard choice. Two paths open in front of her, each one with far-reaching consequences. Which will she choose?

Review – Single in Buenos Aires

Have you ever experienced a visceral connection to a place or a country? Just a feeling that you belong to it and it in turn belongs to you, is a part of you. That’s how Roxy feels about Argentinia, which is why she is repeatedly drawn back to the country and the people.

One wonders if the connection and the sense of coming home can be brought back to a common emotion that people, who haved called many places home or have less of a connection to their home country, get. There is often a feeling of displacement.

With checklist in place, Roxy begins her mission to find love, companionship and a man. Instead she finds herself feeling lonelier than before, despite temptation and plenty of opportunities crossing her path. She loves the culture, the beauty of the country and the comfortable approach the Argentine have to life in general. What she really seeks eludes her though.

It’s a contemporary read with a spot of romance and a pinch of healthy cynicism.

This is the first book in the Polo Diaries, it’s a story about a woman searching for love and a relationship, but more importantly it’s about her determining and finding her own path. Valea writes with her heart, that much is clear, however I do think sometimes less is more. It’s detail heavy throughout the entirety and because of that the magic lull of the writing that is hidden within the story is drowned out.

Buy Single in Buenos Aires (The Polo Diaries #1) at Amazon Uk. Publisher: RV Publications pub date 2 July 2019. Goodreads. Buy at Amazon com.

Review – A Horse Called Bicycle

At this point, especially taking the injuries from the first book into consideration too, the fact that Roxy has caused even more damage to her own body by pursuing her love of polo, has taken on a world of its own.

Is there some kind of subconscious self-destructive element at work there? Is the frustration about her love life not going the way she hopes making her seek excitement in the often dangerous game of polo and some of the major incidents she has been involved in.

In this second book of the Polo Diaries Roxy finally makes a more positive move towards comprehending why her search isn’t as successful as she hopes. The key to her happiness is not with others or the world in general. She holds the key, because she is the key. She must first love herself, before she can have a sccessful loving relationship with someone else or not, and the or not is equally important. You don’t need a romance to love yourself.

It’s a contemporary read – an exploration and discovery of self.

It’s fiction, but it is also inextricably linked to the author and her experiences. It’s this visceral connection, and ability to describe both the countries and the people in her story with such precision, which makes the read. I think if the author can focus on those moments and less on the in minutiae detailed description of each thought process and encounter – there is a greater story waiting to escape and be told.

Buy A Horse Called Bicycle (The Polo Diaries #2) at Amazon Uk. Publisher: RV Publications pub date 21 Jan. 2020. Goodreads. Amazon com.