From Linda Lee Greene, Author/Artist
I have been looking
forward for a long time to introducing my readers to my friend and fellow author,
Marina Sardarova who writes under the name of Stella May. Her charming biography and an overview of her
latest book is presented below. She begins her story with a quote from Oscar
Wilde:
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”— Oscar Wilde.
Hello, my name is Marina Sardarova. Stella May is my pen name
(or my alter ego). In many regards, we are very different, even though she is
me. She’s more daring, braver and self-assured; she knows exactly what she
wants. She writes because she loves it and because she has stories inside of
her. She never listens when people tell her she cannot do something simply
because it’s impossible. She believes in herself. In short- she’s a much better
version of myself.
I was born in the sixties of the last century in a country that
doesn’t exist anymore: the former Soviet Union. However, I am not Russian–I’m
Armenian and proud of my heritage.
Literature and music are my two great passions. My maternal
grandparents were both professional singers; my father was a jazz guitarist. My
brother and I both finished musical colleges. I graduated from a Conservatory
(or Music Academy) with a diploma in musicology.
When I was a child, I dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. Or
an artist. Or even a famous poet. I was practicing piano for hours, sketching
and writing some plays and poetry. And, of course, reading books. I don’t
remember myself without a book. Ever. My aunt had a huge home library that was
my absolutely most favorite place on earth. I had a very happy childhood indeed!
When I moved to the United States, to a country where everything
was so different (including language), I quickly realized that I needed to
learn English more than I needed to eat. Because while I could easily survive
on water and bread, I absolutely refused to live without books. And so, I
taught myself English (with the help of children’s books and cartoons), and my
dear neighbor, Mrs. Foster (God rest her beautiful soul). She truly believed I
understood whatever she was saying, so she’d engage me in long conversations
whenever she could, and demanded (in her own patient and kind way) a response.
She left me no choice.
As soon as I was able to read books (with a dictionary at
first), my life became whole again. And the absolutely crazy idea of writing
started to slowly emerge from somewhere within.
I began to write in secret, penning a few sentences here and
there, using my son’s discarded, half-used notebooks. When my husband brought
home our very first computer, a chunky heavyweight Compaq, I discovered
Microsoft Works (how many people still remember that program?). Of course, he
purchased it for business purposes, with the silly notion that I would learn
spreadsheets and accounting . . . poor misguided soul.
Instead, I spent every free moment in front of my beloved
computer learning to type, writing my heart away.
I guess that’s when Stella May first started to emerge. She
didn’t have her own name yet, or her own identity. She was still hiding behind
me, unsure and hesitant.
Then, one night, I saw in my dream a very young woman, almost a
girl, who was standing in the middle of a crowd, clutching a baby. She was
skinny, badly dressed and scared. She had green eyes and curly red hair, and
her name was Natasha. She was at the JFK airport. Somehow, I knew that. I also
knew that the baby wasn’t hers. Above her head I saw a banner: Welcome to the
United States of America. And that’s how the idea of Rostoff saga (Once &
Forever ) came to me. And that’s when Stella May was born.
It took me twenty years, between raising my son and running a
business with my husband, to bring this story to life. In 2018, after many
unsuccessful attempts to submit my book to a traditional publisher, I split my
first book into three parts (my son’s brilliant idea), and self-published it as
separate books: The Children, The Parents, and The Lovers. I sold more than
1100 copies.
After I said good-bye to the Rostoffs, I almost had postpartum
depression (ha-ha) until I started to play with the idea of past-lives
remembrances and dreams. I decided to read more on the subject . . . and the
idea of Rhapsody in Dreams came to life. This time around, I deliberately chose
to self-publish my book. In July 2019, I introduced my second child to the
world.
While still in the middle of Kira and Al’s story, my husband and
I visited Amelia Island, Florida. I immediately knew that I would set my next
book there. And since the whole atmosphere of the place seems to be frozen in
Victorian time, what choice did I have but to start on a time-travel fantasy
romance? None.
Before & After (that’s a tentative name of my work in
progress) will hopefully be released next summer.
I’m enjoying the process of writing tremendously, every single
moment of it, be to a smooth sailing or a rough stumbling. I love when my
heroes talk to me (in my head), when they do and act as I expect. I love it
even more when they start to argue and misbehave, digging their heels and
dragging me away from the story line or a well-panned dialog. I’m having fun.
Oh, and why Stella
May? Well, it’s really simple: Stella is the name of my favorite aunt whom I
adore; May is my birth month. And the initials – S M – are my own, only in
reverse.
***
‘TIL TIME DO US PART, Marina Sardarova writing as Stella May brings us
Nika Morris whose sixth sense has helped build a successful business, lovingly
restoring and reselling historic homes on Florida’s Amelia Island. But there’s
one forlorn, neglected relic that’s pulled at her from the moment she saw it.
The century-old Coleman house.
Quite unexpectedly, the house is handed to her on
a silver platter—along with a mysterious letter, postmarked 1909, yet addressed
personally to Nika. Its cryptic message: Find the key. You know where it is. Hurry, for goodness sake!
The message triggers an irresistible drive to find that key. When she does, one twist in an old grandfather
clock throws her back in time, straight into the arms of deliciously,
devilishly handsome Elijah Coleman.
Swept up in a journey of a lifetime, Nika finds
herself falling in love with Eli—and with the family and friends that inhabit a
time not even her vivid imagination could have conjured. But in one desperate
moment of homesickness, she makes a decision that will not only alter the
course of more than one life, but break her heart.
https://books2read.com/u/mlEqyq
https://play.google.com/.../Stella_May_Till_Time_Do_Us...
