SARA News - the Sassy September Edition

Dear SARA Readers, 

The daffs are flowering, the sun is stirring, the trees are leafing!  Spring is sprung!

What better way to bring in everyone's favourite season than with a book about a heiress garden designer and her sexy new neighbour, titled Perfect Scents (see what the author did there?)?

You're in luck, because SARA's own Virginia Taylor has a book just like that due out before the end of the month!  We just love books set in our home town.

Two unsuspecting lovers stumble upon the blueprint for love . . . 

From the moment Kell takes her in his arms, he knows Calli is more than just a fling. Then the blue collar bachelor learns he’s not sharing his bed with just any woman, but the wealthy daughter of the man who could make Kell’s construction business a success—and Kell the kind of well-heeled man worthy of Calli’s love. But he’ll have to be careful his ambitions don’t trip up his heart . . .

Calliope Allbrook takes a job in lovely, sunny Adelaide, Australia, hoping to lose herself in her work as a balm for her broken heart. And if it weren’t for the handsome hunk renovating the house next door, Calli would never even have looked up from the garden she is designing for her latest client. But rugged Kellen Dee is just the cure the beautiful heiress needs. After all, he has no idea who she is, so he certainly won’t see her as a meal ticket. Then there’s the fact that Kell’s deliciously sexy—and incredibly good with his hands . . .




If you just can't wait that long to really get your Spring on, check out book one in Virginia's 'Romance By Design' series.

Sets Appeal (did it again!) is available at all good eretailers now.  

In the cosmopolitan coastal city of Adelaide in South Australia, two theater lovers create a little drama of their own . . .

Twenty-seven-year-old divorcée Vix Tremain finally has her first job—as a theater-set painter—and is ready to leave the past behind. What better way to get her confidence back than a fling with a handsome stranger? She isn’t looking for anything emotional, she’s had enough heartbreak. Rugged Jay Dee, the set construction manager, fits the bill for no strings fun perfectly. What Vix doesn’t realize is that Jay is not exactly a stranger . . .

Jay would recognize wealthy, spoiled Vix anywhere. After all, she’s the ex-wife of the man who destroyed his career. Naturally, Jay wants a little sweet revenge—at first. To his surprise, Vix is far from the ice princess he expected, and spending time with her changes everything. Soon he realizes he’s actually falling for the vulnerable beauty. But becoming entangled with her will mean revealing who he is—and opening them both up to more pain. With their dreams at stake, is their connection strong enough to weather the truth—and take center stage?

Book three is due early in 2018.


Until next time, happy reading!

Emmeline  x

SARA News - The "It's a real gem" edition.

Hullo, intrepid readery friends!

We do hope you've all been well and are enjoying a stellar beginning to 2016.  :)

Please, grab a coffee and a Tim Tam, and immerse yourself in the luminous, glowing sparkly wonderful that is the REAL GEM edition of the SARA News.


We begin with the news that both Emily Hussey and Emmeline Lock's short Sunstone stories have won places in the 2016 Romance Writer's of Australia's Little Gems Contest, and will be published in both print and ebook format later in the year.  Check that fab cover from Sheridan Kent, who has won the cover contest a whopping FIVE times.  Ah...  Makes me want to crack out the banana lounge.  What a gem!

Khloe Wren recently achieved a FIVE STAR review from The Romance Reviews for her Erotic Vampire Romance, Scarred Perfection from Evernight Publishing.  It's a Top Pick, too!  Read more here.  It's a gem!

Bronwyn Stuart has a shiny new release!  Mixing Business With Pleasure is out from Escape Publishing, and by Bronwyn's own admission, it's "hot, hot, hot!"

Alison Marcum loves her baby brother and would have done anything for him--until the day his loan sharks arrive on her doorstep and demand she pay them ten thousand dollars or else. 
With no way to repay the money, and not wanting to find out what they’re capable of, Alison transforms herself from boring social worker to smoking hot model--but getting work isn’t going to be the hard part for a woman who’d promised herself never to step in front of a camera again.
Sam Mason is overseeing a jewellery advertising campaign, and after spending ten minutes in the boardroom with a nearly naked Alison, he decides he might actually enjoy the job. Strictly business, though. Sam’s been burned by a model before and no matter how attracted he is, there’s no way he’s getting involved.
As the lies begin to unravel and the loan sharks get impatient, will they both risk it all to be together or lose it all in a bid not to repeat the past?


Bella Bucannon has a twinkling new website, ahead of her mid-year Harlequin release, Bound by the Unborn Baby.   Check out the pre-order link here.  Website designed by SARA's own HelzKat Designs.

"As far as everyone's concerned, Alina, this child is ours." 

Surrogacy is the closest Alina Fletcher dares get to motherhood. But when she must tell tycoon Ethan James she's carrying his late sister's child, his solution takes her breath away—a temporary marriage of convenience for the baby's sake!  
Alina knows it's the right decision for her baby, but is marrying a stranger—especially one who makes her heart sing!—the right choice for her? Having loved and lost her own family, this proposal could be another chance at happiness…if only Alina's brave enough to say "I do"!

Good grief, these gems are so bright, I gotta wear shades.  :)

Until next time, happy reading!

Emmeline.  

SARA News - Ringing in the new year with new news!

Hello, and welcome to the year 2016 with SARA!

With our Christmas pudding all eaten, and our New Year’s Resolutions made (and broken.  Don’t judge. *smiley face* ), it’s time to get on and celebrate the new year with some new news! 

Maggie Mundy has two new releases out.  One is Scarred Protector, which is the second book in the Midworlder Trilogy. 

You’ll also find her book World Change in a Rogue Phoenix box set called Perceptions of Love, featuring six full-length novels that challenge convention.  Other authors featured include Angela Castle, Tamsin Baker, JL Addicoat, CL Kramer and Christine Young. 

Congratulations, Maggie!

Amazon buy link for Scarred Protector

Amazon buy link for Unknown Protector



Angels and demons are not what you think. They are aliens, and the Midworlders are their 

representatives on Earth. An Angelic Midworlder called Heath goes to the aid of Evie who is 

about to be attacked by Demonics. He soon discovers she can see the angels and demons 

around her and is in grave danger. He is captivated by Evie who has physical and mental 

scars like him. They are tortured souls who are deeply connected by his past. There is an evil lurking inside Evie that could kill them both.


Available November 18th 2015 from Soul Mate Publishing.

You might recall that late last year Liana Skrzypczak won a spot in the Hachette Mentoring Program with her dystopian YA, Gold.  Well, just in case that wasn't stupendously clever enough, she’s gone and done it again, this time receiving a Carclew Professional Development Grant to work with NY Times Bestselling author Sean Williams. 

Check out here for the full list of recipients.  Liana is going to be a busy little writer this year.  Go you, girlfriend!

Check out @LianaSkrzypczak on Twitter for more updates. 

Finally, Virginia Taylor’s new book Charlotte, with be published on February 2^nd by Kensington Books.  This is the third in the South Landers Series, following Starling and Ella.   Virginia's on a roll!

CHARLOTTE, South Landers #3

​After losing his first love in childbirth, Nicholas Alden knows that he must never be a father. But to be a husband is a very different matter—necessary for his family name. So when he meets beautiful social climber Charlotte, he believes he has found a wife he can keep at arm’s length.
If he knew the truth of her scandalous parentage, all would be lost.

​Set in 1860's Australia.

Pre-order it here. 

Until next time, happy reading!

Emmeline.  

SARA News - The "we're still here!" edition.

Hello dear SARA readers,

We'd like to thank you.

Here at SARA, we are actual people.  I know, right?  Epically amazing.  We have soccer-mum cars, mortgages, dust bunnies under the bed and 'it's a bit small' pay packets.  We're people you see on the street, likely wearing trackies and sporting something lunchy on the fronts of our t-shirts, as we ate at the computer.

We're extremely normal.

Well, except for the fact that we're constructing steamy sex scenes in our heads about sixteen hours of the day, and a further four hours are spent wondering where to leave the body that became dead in chapter two so that the hero can find it, thus perform consequent heroic deeds and ergo, get the girl.

That leaves four hours for sleeping, toting kids to sports (and reading whilst waiting in the car!) and writing blog posts.

You may have noticed we haven't posted good news for a while, a phenomenon we can link back directly to the fact that there are sadly only twenty-four hours in a day.  It's not because AWESOME THINGS haven't happened...

But thanks for sticking with us.  We love you for it.   No-one said it better than Sahvage: truly, madly, deeply.

So, we are very pleased to bring you NEWS!!


Liana Skrzypczak is one of our newer members, and hel-lo!, girl be making WAVES!  Liana is very excited to have been awarded the shared-winner gong for the Hachette Mentoring Program for her dystopian YA manuscript, Gold, along with another Adelaide writer, Rose Hartley.

Congratulations, Liana!  Check out her super-cute blog at the link above.


Harlequin author Elizabeth Rolls has a new book coming out in February In Debt To The Earl.

But wait, there's more...

A follow-up book is in the pipeline, too.  Rejoice, historical fans!  

Beach romance more your swag?  Victoria Purman is pleased to let you know that her fourth Boys of Summer book, Hold On To Me, is due out mid-December.  Get your banana lounge and your cooler bag ready, 'cos you'll be unable to put this one down this summer!  Key words here... YOUNGER MAN!

HOLD ON TO ME A Boys of Summer novel  – Out December 14th in shops and ebook

Can she learn to trust him and love again? Stella wasn’t looking for love and especially not from a younger man… When Stella Ryan’s successful life in Sydney crumbled, she returned flat broke and broken hearted to the beachside town she’d once called home. Five years on, she’s opened a boutique and rebuilt her life in the tourist haven of Port Elliot. Luca Morelli has been working flat out to establish his own building company in the city and doesn’t have time to be driving back and forth to the beach to do a small job in a shop that was almost destroyed in a fire. But he soon changes his mind when he meets the glamorous owner. Before long, Stella and Luca find that a working relationship isn’t the only thing developing between them. But the closer they get, the ghosts of Stella’s past come back to haunt her once more. Can she ever believe a man again? And if she can, is the much younger Luca Morelli the man she can trust with her heart? 

Lilliana Rose has been a busy writer/poet!  Not only has she recently released Soul Dancer, but she's also had a cover nominated for Best Cover at the AusRom Reader's Choice Awards for Chasing Dust Storms.  Vote for it here...

In a world where Soul Dancers are enslaved, Zarifah must over come corruption and lead the other dancers to freedom. Forced to harvest emotions from patrons each night she becomes addicted to happiness, which threatens to get in the way of a forbidden relationship with fellow dancer Torin and stop her from challenging the Regulators, the emotionless humans who feed on the emotions harvested. 
Check out what the other SARA's have been up to at the SARA website member page, or stalk us a bit on Facebook and Twitter.  We'd love that!  

Finally, I leave you with a familiar set of... eyeballs.  Our very own Erotic Fiction author Kyoko Church talks to the very swanky Adelaide Hills Magazine about sex and shame. 

The future of the Soul Dancers depends on Zarifah being a leader, but she may not be the saviour the followers had hoped for.




Until next time, we wish you very happy reading!

Emmeline.  x

SARA News - The Audio Edition

Ever wondered if Carla Caruso is a schmexy in real life as she is is print?  *

Well, beloved readers, wonder no more!

Here's an interview Carla did recently with the South Australian Writers Centre...

Find out Carla's favourite authors and Rom Coms, what she's working on now, and bonus points if you can pick the well-timed drop of other SARA stars' names!

And don't forget to check out The Un-Italian Wife.

Until next time,

Emmeline.

* Answer:  HELLS, YEAH.  :)

SARA News - kicking 2015 off with a bang!

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to the first 2015 instalment of the very sasstacular SARA News!
All of us at SARA trust you have had an excellent start to this brand new year, and we KNOW it's going to be full of fabulously excellent reading.
Oh, the excitement!

What better way to start news for 2015 than with a few tasty tidbits from Lilliana Rose?  

Lilliana has a novella coming out mid-March, called The Clockwork Heart from Less Than Three Press.  Want to know the bestest part?  If you pre-order it now, you save!

Haunted by a past lover and left with scars so deep Libby gave up her life as an explorer, she spends her days trying to avoid bad memories by training ruthlessly with Helen, the woman she hired to teach her self-defense. Helen is beautiful, appealing, and could be what Libby needs to climb out of her past once and for all.

Until the past returns and threatens to destroy Libby, and all that she holds dear, once and for all.

In other very marvellous news, Lilliana is also on film!  Well, not her, precisely (actually, I can't be definitive about that... :)), but a script that she has penned:

The TAFE SA students have made my short script into a short film; Collection. (I was one of four scripts selected to make into a film, from over 50 entries).

It was exciting seeing the film and the students did an excellent job capturing the essence of what I had written. 

The film is about a young girl, Tammy with an over active imagination and the adventures she conjures when she has to take out the rubbish, down a very long driveway!

In our second piece of newsiness, Sandy Vaile has recently signed a contract...

Motorbike-riding chef, Mya, has a serious mistrust of men. Since she became the guardian of her disabled mother, self-reliance is a way of life. She doesn't need a man -- in fact she can knock most of them on their arses -- and she definitely doesn't need her cocky new neighbor, Detective Luca Patterson, linking her to his latest jewelry counterfeit investigation.

Luca's professional boundaries blur after an unexpectedly, sizzling interlude with Mya. She is sexy, feisty and so many kinds of wrong, but he can't stop thinking about her. The problem is that her name keeps popping up in relation to his case.

Mya is threatened by an anonymous foe who is hell bent on revenge. Will she try to fight her way out of this one, or put her faith in Luca to avoid becoming the next victim?

A romantic suspense story published by Crimson Romance.

Stay tuned for pre-order info.


Until next time, happy reading.

Emmeline.

SARA News ~ A lighter edition

Hi y'all. Welcome to the latest edition of SARA News! It may be a little light on the amount of news compared to our last edition but it still packs punch. 

First cab off the rank today is NA author Leesa Bow.

A charming release

Leesa's latest release was in September with Charming the Outback - the second NA story in the series that begins with Winning the Player. Although there is a mild sport theme the main theme is rural theme combined with the emotion of NA. Like WTP its a story about second chance love.


Blurb time:
When jaded city girl Maddy McIntyre packs up and leaves Adelaide for a new job in the country, it’s not only a chance at a fresh start. Six months ago, the first guy she’d ever loved shattered her heart before moving home to Broken Hill. Deep down inside, Maddy is hoping that living in the same town will give her an opportunity to prove to Luke that she’s one temptation he can’t resist.

But when she arrives in Broken Hill, Luke White is not the same guy she knew in the city. And it soon seems very clear that he doesn’t want her there. Although Maddy settles in quickly, excelling at work and partying with her new friends, she can’t understand why Luke is remaining so distant. Particularly when all her instincts are telling her that they’re meant to be together – and that he feels the same burning attraction.

As Maddy learns more about Luke’s family and background, she begins to understand that his mixed messages are caused by balancing what’s expected of him with what he really wants. Maddy gave Luke her heart long ago and, despite their differences, she knows she’ll only ever be happy with her hot country boy. But how can she convince him that she’s the risk he needs to take?

Don't forget to your copy at:

| Destiny Romance | Amazon | Amazon AUS | iTunes | Google Play | Kobo

Bundle me baby

But that's not all, Leesa also has a book releasing a NA bundle with seven (count them, 7) other NA authors! And it's Leesa first indie published work. 

Jardine will be released 15th December and has a cricket theme (how's that! :) )  It's the first book in a two book series. Boot two, Caught Out, is expected to be out in early 2015.

At eighteen, Ava is sure she has found her soul mate in Jardine. Convincing their friends and family that what they have is more than just a crush, however, is an entirely different story. Jardine’s parents have his life mapped out with plans that don’t include Ava.

Their plans to get into med school and start their future together crumble when cricket sensation Jardine is selected to play for the Australian team and expected to spend most of the year touring internationally. Ava knows since they agreed to follow their dreams, no matter the cost, she has to let Jardine go.

Ava also discovers a new inspiration to move on with her life. But can she keep it a secret from Jardine? If he discovers the truth, everything between them could be destroyed.

Busy busy busy for Khloe Wren

More this time around from the woman with multiple releases.

Novella accepted

Khloe was offered a contract on a new stand alone novella Tigers Are Forever, which is due for release in December this year.

Another hot release!

Tourmaline Truth: Gemstone Vampires Book 2 was released on the spooky date of 31st October!

Vampires are real... as is the fact they will only ever take one woman, their Eternal Bride. When Barret sees Sharon, he’s excited to have finally found his Bride, until they meet and he learns Sharon knows nothing of Vampires and is scared of him. Once he seduces her into accepting his claim on her, Barret falls asleep…only to wake to find her gone. Sharon had snuck out while he slept and ends up in the hands of the enemy. His rescue attempt ends badly and they are both caught by the evil Nobles. Twenty-seven years later they find themselves finally free. As they both struggle to adjust to the outside world, Sharon is on a mission to rescue the sons she birthed in captivity. Barret wakes to find Sharon has, once again, slipped away while he slept. Will history repeat itself?

Get your copy now at Amazon and All Romance Ebooks

Let your heart soar…

Virginia Taylor's upcoming release, Starling, has a new cover. It's the first in The Southlanders Series and will be released in April 2015 from Kensington's Lyrical. 

Let your heart soar…

An aspiring dressmaker, orphaned Starling Smith is accustomed to fighting for her own survival. But when she’s offered a year’s wages to temporarily pose as a wealthy man’s bride, she suspects ulterior motives. She can’t lose the chance to open her own shop, but she won’t be any man’s lover, not even handsome, infuriating Alisdair Seymour’s…

To prevent his visiting sister from parading potential brides in front of him, Alisdair has decided to present a fake wife. He lost his heart once, and had it broken—he doesn’t intend to do it again. But stubborn, spirited Starling is more alluring than he bargained for, and Alisdair will risk everything he has to prove his love is true…



Set against the sweeping backdrop of 1866 South Australia, Starling is a novel of cherished dreams and powerful desires, and the young woman bold enough to claim them both…

Check details now at Kensington Books

More to add to the 'To Get' pile..

Virginia also has two more in the series (Ella and Charlotte) expected in 2015 and 2016! 

And now for something a little different - cover design

HelzKat Designs (aka Eleni Konstantine) has been busy with her latest design for horror author, J.M. Thorne.

Scary huh?

That's it for us this time around. Until next time, happy reading!!

SARA News ~ late, late for a very important date...

Okay so my plans to get the post up and going on Monday, didn't pan out - public holiday threw me. 

But low and behold, here we are with another installment.

What do I say?

Okay first up, Amy T Matthews will be at the SA Writer's Centre for a workshop.


The Interview
25 October, 2pm - 5pm
with Amy T Matthews and Gillian Dooley


This workshop will explore the art of interviewing and being interviewed – a crucial component of a writer’s career.

Discover the secrets of conducting a successful public conversation and encouraging celebrated writers to open up about their life and work and the process of transferring it to paper and making it readable and ready for publication. Amy T. Matthews and Gillian Dooley will share their experiences as interviewees, interviewers, writers and editors. 

Book now to avoid disappointment.

Amy is now also on Facebook as Amy T Matthews and Tess LeSue. 

Go and LIKE her pages!

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

Suzie Hindmarsh-Knights has been featured again in the Mount Barker Courier.

A most amazing fantabulous couple of weeks with book releases, book launches and book signings!

(for blurbs of books go to our post of 24th September). SARA is sure on a roll. And I'm sure this will continue on and on...

Kyoko Church with The Diary of a Libary Nerd

Kyoko's book launched to the big old world at Dymocks Adelaide and MC'd by the wonderful (SARA) Victoria Purman. 

Kyoko Church
photo by Victoria Purman

SARAs supporting Kyoko 

Fans were in need after Kyoko read excerpts from her books - she is one talented author!

Buy your copy from:

| Dymocks Adelaide (in person) | Amazon | Book Depository | Amazon Aus | Amazon Canada |

in US - Walmart (go Kyoko!)

A silent achiever in the SARA ranks is Beck Nicholas, whose debut YA novel, Fake, was released by Harlequin Teen on the 1st October! 

Collins Booksellers Edwardstown hosted the event. 

Beck Nicholas ready to do her thing at the booksigning.
This blurry image by Eleni Konstantine.

Getting into the spirit - Beck's duo coloured nails match the cover.

SARAs celebrating with Beck.
L-R: Virginia Taylor, Claire Baxter, Trish Morey

 Buy your copy of Fake from all good local bookstores 

and online at Harlequin Books.

Maggie Mundy held an online bash and hosted authors at her Unknown Protector Release Party on Facebook. 

Buy your copy from Amazon

Carla Caruso's series Astonvale starting with A Pretty Mess has hit the newspaper as well as the e-shelves.

Buy your copy from HarperCollins. 

While I'm here, let me tell you that Carla has another book coming in November called Unlucky For Some.

Raffy Fortuna knows all about luck, and she's not interested in pushing it. But sometimes luck pushes you to the places you least expect. Sassy Italian-Australian newspaper reporter Raffy has been ultra-superstitious ever since her ex-fiance saw her in her bridal gown before they got hitched - and left her at the altar. But as luck would have it, one of her new assignments at Press Publishing is a feature series challenging some of the most common superstitions in the lead-up to Friday the thirteenth. It's her worst nightmare - not helped by the grumpy, yet annoyingly handsome cameraman accompanying her to film the daily online videos for the newspaper's site.

Pre order your copy from HarperCollins. 

Khloe Wren's last book in the Dragon Warriors series, Believing Binda series is now released! 

Buy now from: 

| AllRomanceEBooks | Amazon US | Book Strand | Evernight Publishing |

My TBR pile has grown so much in just the last few weeks! How about yours?

Remember if you are interested in attending SARA meetings, please go to our website for details.

Until next time...happy reading!