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Reading Adventures in November

Welcome to November's Reading Adventures.

Huge thanks to Eleni Konstantine, who has been running this column since it's inception.  She is also chock-full of awesome.

Catch Eleni looking very swish at the Sassy SARA News desk from now on!

Now for the adventurous part of Sassy in the South--what we have been reading!

Kyoko Church

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Just finished Tim Winton's Cloudstreet. I kept hearing about it since he was here recently and was keen to read something by an Aussie novelist. It's a sweeping family saga, expertly written. I wouldn't say it's a fave but the characters were beautifully authentic and (to me anyway, little Canadian girl that I am!) it was just so very Aussie, I loved that about it. 



Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Now I've moved on to Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood. Atwood is a Canadian icon and a writing hero and legend for me; I especially loved one of her earlier works, Cat's Eye. Flood is a dystopian work, putting me in mind of A Handmaid's Tale, which I also really enjoyed. I am only just getting into it and wouldn't say I'm loving it so far, but... it's Atwood. I'm always hopeful that if by reading just a smidge of her writing genius rubs off on me I'll be a lucky girl. :)



Oh, and I almost forgot! I'm reading another Aussie writer, perhaps you've heard of her... a certain Ms Victoria Purman! Just got to some steamy bits (trust me to find those asap) in Nobody But Him. I don't want to reveal any spoilers but I'll just say Julia and Ry are YUM!

Eleni Konstantine

Masquerade by Sloane Taylor (erotic romance)
5 stars

This is by my Wench of Word buddies, and is a lovely tale of Clancy, an American who wants to experience all Venice has to offer. She literally stumbles across Vittore, a Venetian native and he shows her Venice like she never imagined, including in the bedroom.

Taylor has created a enchanting story with old-world charm and sophistication, but with a sense of fun and flirtation. Not an easy task. A thoroughly excellent read. 

It was also nice to read a story where the conflict is straight forward and suited the story. 

Three Days To Dead (Dreg City #1) by Kelly Meding - urban fantasy
4 stars

Evangleine Stone wakes up in the morgue in a stranger’s body. She doesn’t remember how she got there nor the last few days of her former life. She’s part of triad that hunts down Dregs (anything that is supernatural and bad). Or she was. She was being hunted and the last thing she remembers is the friends who gave her refuge being slaughtered by other Triads. 

In her new body, she tries to find the only person she trusts, her handler, Wyatt. Their relationship seemed so straight forward to her in the past, but in her new body, new feelings awaken. Who is she now?

Evie is a smart-mouthed, sassy, heroine who doesn’t take any crap from anyone, including Wyatt. But we see a tender side to her also. 

Vampires, halflings, goblins all feature in the underbelly of this city. An underbelly normal citizens don’t see. 

I will definitely keep going with this series, as I’d like to see what other things happen in this city – a city that’s never given a name. I liked this as it could be almost anywhere. 

Emmeline Lock

Getting Dumped (1&2), plus The Great Panty Caper by Tawna Fenske

I'm not sure when Tawna Fenske first started rocking my world.  It may have possibly been on Twitter, or maybe at a forum somewhere.  Anyway, wherever it was, Tawna's easy, chatty style impacted me.  She was irreverent, cheeky and hilarious.  Always a lady, but never especially ladylike, I love hanging around her blog, Don't Pet Me, I'm Writing because she is stunningly, effortlessly entertaining.  Through the blog, I found she had a book coming out before long - Making Waves.

I devoured that, then the next one, Believe it or Not, then waited rather impatiently for the next one to come out.  

Getting Dumped was it.  From Coliloquy, it is a rather interesting take on women's fiction.  It's 'interactive'.  Think Choose Your Own Adventure.  With smooching.  And handbags.  And multiple hot fellas. 

JJ Schultz is 'repositioned' by council from a desk job to one operating a compactor at the dump.  And she loves it.  She wears a pink hard hat, has a thing for handbags and shoes and, along with her sister, Lori, finds herself immersed in some amateur sleuthing.  

Oh, and dangling a number of gorgeous men on her pinky finger.  Lucky girl!  

I really enjoyed reading this.  I was a bit distracted by the links in the ebook, you know, "Hit this link if you think JJ should call Pete/Collin/Daniel.", or "Hit this link if JJ is rescued by Collin/Pete/rescues herself.", but I never felt like the interactions between the characters was compromised.  

Fenske has a way with character and plot that I adore.  I always spend half my time grinning while I'm reading.  

Getting Dumped currently has two parts (Um, 1 & 2), and the one I read included a little bonus story about the Shultz sisters, The Great Panty Caper.

I gave it four and a half stars, because of the multiple men (Indecisive, but given these men, who wouldn't oscillate a little?), but taking into account the type of book it is, that's barely a complaint.  Really clever and witty stuff.  I want to be Tawna Fenske when I grow up. 

Eat Play Lust by Tawna Fenske

Because I was having a completely understandable Tawna Fenske bender, I also picked up Eat Play Lust, a novella about a girl with food issues and the gourmet chef that wants her.

It was a compact read, but never gave an inch on the romance, the laughs or plot.  Very nicely done indeed.

I could have heated chef Paul up in the microwave and had him for breakfast.

Natural  Law (Nature of Desire #2) by Joey W Hill

I've loved Ms Hill ever since I read the very seriously epic Daughters of Erianne series years ago.  Gawd, I loved that stuff.  Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous.  

If BDSM (D/s) isn't currently your thing, Ms Hill may well change your mind.   She is a master of complex relationships, deep characters and delivers a highly emotional read.  I mean, even the cover is compelling, no?

All right, enough drooling.

I found Mac--the submissive alpha hero--a riveting, insanely sexy character (had to read some parts with my head in the freezer) and Violet--the dominant, complex heroine--to be perfect.  With a twist or two, a seamless formation of the romantic relationship and a gorgeous ending, you can bet your bottom I'll be looking up more of Ms Hill's racier works.

Does it need saying?  **Warning ... so hot, you'll burn your iPad cover, and possibly your lounge chairs...**


Adios!  See you next time when we check in with more tales from our reading adventures!


Emmeline.

SARA News - Shadows are Deep, Worlds are changing, Gem, shifters, and no mistletoes...we have have it all

Welcome to another edition of SARA News.

It's time to get SASSY....

Kyoko Church is proud to announce the conclusion of her Draper Estates Trilogy, Shadows Deep is out now! Find it on Amazon here.

A message from Kyoko:

All the smutty goodness (or badness?) of the first two but this time with a huge portion of romance thrown in the mix. 

If anyone is interested in doing a review on Amazon please get in touch with Kyko (kyokochurch @ hotmail.com) and I can send you a free review copy. 

It may sound strange but it's really my first time writing a more traditional romance! You'll be gentle with me, won't you? ;)

Maggie Mundy has had her time travel paranormal romance contracted to Rogue Phoenix Press. World Change, the first in the series, will be out  in 2014. And check out this great cover to boot!

Clare is transported through a magical gateway. She leaves present day Florence to find herself in an alternate world that resembles fourteenth century Italy. Her only way back is through a portal half a world away. To add to her problems the local High Priestess is dying and wants her energy to survive. The only person she can trust is Trevi. He is a vampire and the only one of his kind in this world. She knows more about what he is than he does. Trevi can take her through the portal but he is guarding a secret, a secret that will change her life forever.

Khloe Wren continues her great run.

Cinderella's Guardian (book 2 of the Fire and Snow series) comes out in January 2014, and Sapphire Angel (book 1 of the Gemstone Vampires Trilogy) comes out in April 2014. 

Anne Oliver has a release out this month on the Aussie shelves - Mistletoe Not Required. I should know, it was in my shopping cart earlier today.  Though I have to say, love the US cover (right).

Wow, bumper of a news day.


Don't forget to check out our website for more information on our authors. 


~Eleni

UP CLOSE (and personal) with new Random Romance writer Virginia Taylor!

Tell us about your career (and life!) prior to writing. 

Prior to my career as a writer I was an art student, then a stylist/interior designer, a computer programmer, a stylist/designer again, a registered nurse, a registered midwife, a writer, a set designer and painter, and finally a writer/enthusiastic gardener. I like to have my careers follow an unnatural progression.

How long and how many manuscripts has it taken before getting published?

I first wrote an historical romance, which I submitted to Mills and Boon, not knowing of any other romance publishers. This was swiftly rejected, but in my query letter I mentioned I was an ex-nurse. M and B asked if I would try writing medical romance. At that stage, I hadn't read genre romance but fortunately they sent me a box of medical romances to read.

Subsequently, I wrote three, all rejected in weeks. About then I realised I was never going to write a story I didn't want to read. I found another romance writer who was willing to write medicals, and I went back to writing historicals. I think I had written two more, neither submitted when I was lucky enough to score a US agent. This lovely man did his best to sell my second historical in the US since I'd failed so abysmally to sell the first in the UK. My first rejection, or his on my behalf, scored me a box of historicals to read for the line he submitted to.

Australian women back then didn't read romance, apparently, and so I had no option to be Australian published, which was my first choice since I had rigidly set all my stories, even my historicals, in Australia. This connects directly to not selling a story in the US, where the readers won't buy stories set in exotic locations like Australia, or so the publishers thought.

During this time, I wrote Dr No Commitment, my fourth medical, called something that I haven't retained either on paper or in my brain, but the title would have been really florid. In the story I used everything Mills and Boon would not accept, a point of view for the hero and the heroine, a secondary story, realistic medical scenes, and graphic sex. So there! I never sent this story anywhere because I knew I couldn't sell the aforementioned with the added burden of being set in Australia.

By the time I had completed those four medicals, six historicals, a medical romantic suspense (sort of) and two women's' fictions, and only submitted for publication the three medicals and the two historicals, I let the agent go because I had had enough. I joined up with a SA School of Art graduate, who had spent his years painting and designing sets for the Australian Ballet. At first I was his colour mixer, and I graduated to be his painter, his design partner, and then a set designer on my own. This took ten years out of my writing life, which I didn't intend to take up again. Then my husband died and my world changed.

I slowly, slowly began to re-write all my stories in other settings, after placing in my first US contest final and joining SARA. I re-set my historicals in England, except for one that I couldn't move. I had deleted all my medicals except Dr No Commitment. Then I heard Random House was taking submission for a new romance line, Random Romance, and so I sent Dr No, mainly to see what would happen. When they asked if the story was still available, I was pretty negative. Too many rejections, too many years, and I didn't really care if I sold or not. Then I realised I had been made the perfect offer for my Australian story and I ought to accept. And so I did. I can't say how glad I am. I am now in awe of this publishing process and since I am an addicted re-writer, I am stimulated by edits.

How would you describe your writing style? And, why romance?

I can't describe my writing style. I'm keen on the 'craft' of writing. As for why romance? I knew when I left nursing and took up writing that I had no chance of a happy ever after. My husband was dying. He'd been told he wouldn't live past forty, a gross misdiagnosis and a very cruel one. If I couldn't have a happy ever after, I could invent one on paper, and that's what I did.

Tell us about your new book, out with Random Romance.

Dr No Commitment is a mischievous romantic comedy about a man who has always run from love and the girl who just might catch him. Ally was warned about Rohan Sinclair when she first moved to town – and she is determined not to let this gorgeous, model-dating doctor distract her from being the best nurse she can. The problem is, this bad boy lives in the room next door. Resisting his persistent charm at home is hard enough, but almost impossible when they're thrown together at work. A little innocent flirting never hurt anyone, right? Wrong. Although he is her perfect guy in every other way, he will never commit. Falling for him is a terrible idea.

This will be Kindle-published in December and print-published in an omnibus with four other Random Romance writers, including Adelaide's own Claire Baxter, in April. Available in all good book stores.

Where and when do you write?

I have a nice study where I write, and I write every day except Wednesday.

When did you first join SARA? Plus, do you think publishing’s changed much since you started?

Eighteen years ago I was a member of the precursor to SARA, which was first Romance Writers of SA and then Popular Fiction Writers. I don't know if publishing has changed, but the stories published have changed. Now my very naughty medical romance is not so naughty, and now everyone writes in the double POV. So, no longer under pressure to be outrageous, I removed at least half the sex from Dr No. I still prefer to use the double POV for romance.

What do you like to do when you’re not typing away?

I work in the garden of Beaumont House, Glynburn Road, on Wednesday. It combines my need for strenuous exercise with my need to help.

Favourite authors/books?

I'm a series reader. I love Georgette Heyer and I began buying her books when I was about 13. I still have them all. I have the Poldark series and The Jewel in the Crown.

I have everything written by Dorothy Dunnet and I'm a member of Dunnettworkers, Game of Kings, and Claes, all affiliated and an online international group of about 500 readers.

I started reading a writer named Arianna Franklin last year, and I bought everything she wrote too, including under her nom de plume of Diana Norman.

I'm not reading at the moment. I can't read and write and I'm writing a new rom-com called Let's Talk About Sets, Maybe. The heroine is a repressed set designer and the tough guy sexy hero is the leader of the construction team. She can't talk to him about sex and so . . .

For more on Virginia, visit her site here.

 

SARA News - contract news galore!

Welcome to another edition of SARA News.

We have a plethora of SASSY contract news today....

Hello? Publisher's a-calling....



Virginia Taylor has sold her murder mystery rom com (wow that's a mouthful!) to Random Romance.  Losing Patients is due for e-release in June 2014.






Trish Morey's latest story, Tycoon's Temptation, has been accepted for publication by Harlequin Presents.

Due for publication in US/UK and Australia in October 2014, Tycoon's Temptation is book five of the eight book Chatsfield Hotel Continuity which launches around June 2014.

Khloe Wren has signed her ninth contract and first with Evernight Publishing for her book, Jaguar Secrets.

Who would have thought saving a stray cat could change your whole life? Yet that is exactly what happens when Cammi saves a black kitten from under a jetty.

Jaguar shape shifter Luca is out looking for his ratbag little brother Rogue, who’s taken off again. He finds Cammi rescuing him and instantly recognizes she is his mate. She passes out when Rogue flashes form so Luca takes her home, to discover his best friend, Nate is also Cammi’s destined mate.

When Cammi’s self-appointed big brother learns the shifters are after her heart, he takes matters into his own hands and attempts to convince her they are not for her. Who will Cammi believe? Her two new lovers or a friend who is the closest thing to family she’s ever known.’

Release is December 13, and it's set in Ceduna, SA! Go SA!

Eleni Konstantine join the ranks of Alfie Dog with her short story, Enchanted. Due for release on 4th December 2013.








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Until next time....