Sandy Barker's Blog, page 2

Catching up with Author Karen Louise Hollis

Today, I’m pleased to welcome Karen Louise Hollis to Off the Beaten Track. Her latest book is called Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay.

Tell us what inspired you to write Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay?

I was doing one of the RNA writing courses – Jessica Redland’s Writing A Novel or Series in a Coastal or Country Setting. I had published my first novel Welcome to Whitlock Close in 2022 and I wanted to write Book 2 in the series, but had lost my mojo, so I hoped the course would inspire me to get back to it.

Instead, it inspired me in a totally different way. The idea of a coastal setting took me back to our family holidays in a static caravan in Ingoldmells, near Skegness, in the 1970s and ‘80s and this whole story came to me while I was on the course – the characters and everything.

It is a romance between a fifty-year-old single mum and a 48-year-old single dad who both have eleven-year-old children. Being in my fifties myself and a single parent, I basically wrote something I’d like to read myself.

When did you start writing seriously?

I’m not really sure. I first self-published a poetry collection in 2003, but that was for family and friends really. I had a book traditionally published in 2010 and again in 2015, they are both factual books linked to Doctor Who – the first a memoir of my experiences going to conventions, the second a biography of the actor Anthony Ainley. That’s been my most commercially successful book.

When I split up from my ex four years ago, I realised I needed to take my writing more seriously. I’ve been writing gymnastics books for many years, but had never finished a novel. I became a full-time carer for my mum, so knew I had to work from home. Taking inspiration from the wonderful Chick Lit and Prosecco Facebook group and from connecting with authors online, I got some great tips and completed my first novel in 2021. One of those was to write every day and that’s something I have found really helps me to keep going. I try to write 1000 words per day.

What do you love most about being an author?

The writing really! I love having ideas and being able to share them with people. I get to know and love my characters and I want other people to discover them too. I love it when someone has read my book and we can chat about the characters like they’re real people!

When I did my recent blog tour for Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay, some of the reviews were just amazing, I could tell they’d really connected with the book and the characters. When someone just exactly gets what you’re trying to say, that’s very special.

What are you working on now?

I was working on a cosy mystery series featuring an elderly man (based on my dad) and his elderly dog, who help the village policeman solve crimes. But sadly, Dad’s dog died in real life and I haven’t been able to go back to it yet – but I will do.

So I’m currently writing a novel about two elderly women who live next door to each other. During the pandemic, they had their interconnecting back garden fence taken out, so they could have socially-distanced conversations to help with the loneliness and isolation. It’s now the present day and they still meet outside and chat, about small and big issues and things happen, which I won’t go into. But I love these women, it’s a joy to visit them every day in my head and write down what they’re doing and saying!

What do you hope readers will take away from Starting Again in Silver Sands Bay?

It’s a second chance romance, so I hope it will give hope to people who are single in middle-age. Both the main characters, Becki and Dan, have had difficult times, but meeting each other proves to them that there still is time for them to find love.

I also hope readers will enjoy an old-fashioned seaside caravan holiday through my book, a bit of nostalgia. Although it’s set in the present day, the caravan site is a bit basic and old-fashioned. But we all love the beach, an amusement arcade and a chip shop, don’t we? Simple times.

Well, thank you so much for sharing that with us, Karen.

Tell us a little more about you.

I was born in Lincoln, England in 1969. I loved writing from an early age, being the daughter of two journalists. I am a mum to five children and have three grandchildren. I have had over twenty books published and have written about a variety of topics including motherhood, poetry, Doctor Who and gymnastics. My first novel Welcome to Whitlock Close came out in 2022, with this latest book coming out earlier this year.

Follow Karen

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More about the book

Becki is fifty and a single mum to eleven-year-old Jemima, after being widowed five years ago.
Dan is forty-eight and a single dad to eleven-year-old Freddie, after his wife left him five years ago.
They have both given up on love.
But when they all go to Silver Sands Bay on the Lincolnshire coast for the summer, will they be able to put the past behind them and find love again?

Buy the book

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Amazon CA

Cover Reveal! Match Me If You Can

Book 1 in Ever After Agency series with Boldwood Books is coming soon and this is the gorgeous cover!

About the book

Welcome to the Ever After Agency – a clandestine organisation offering bespoke solutions to romantic problems.

Whether you’re looking for the love of your life, a fresh romantic start, or just want to keep up appearances, the agency can tailor a solution to meet your needs.

When Tristan Fellows walks into the agency, Poppy Dean knows she’s in for a challenge. A typical bachelor, Tristan has no intention of falling in love, but in order to receive his 30-million-pound inheritance, he must find himself a wife before his 35th birthday.

This may be Poppy’s hardest case yet, but even the most arrogant of men can sometimes warm a woman’s heart…

Praise for Match Me If You Can

‘With smart banter and swoony moments against a backdrop of Greece, Edinburgh and London, Sandy Barker gives us another brilliant romcom and joyful read.’ ~ Pernille Hughes

‘A wonderfully warm and witty will they/won’t they romance. Match Me If You Can is a perfect romantic read.’ ~ Kathleen Whyman

Out September 28 – Preorder now!

Cover Reveal for Aimee Brown: Stuck With You

Aimee Brown’s 3rd installment in her series for Boldwood Books is out August 9th and here is the GORGEOUS cover!

As with Books 1 and 2 in the series, (He Loves me He Loves Me Not and Love Notes – both highly recommended), this is a romcom with a heart of gold set in Portland, Oregon (a gorgeous city and one we visited often when we lived in Seattle).

Blurb

Jade Monroe has finally found the man of her dreams. 

Or has she? Despite them being newly engaged, her fiancé Conner has suddenly gone radio silent. And even though her family are all giving her the same advice, (he’s just not that into you) she’s not convinced.

River Matthews has always been his authentic self, without apologies. Honest to a fault, light-hearted and a little lonely. Currently he’s the last single standing in his group of friends and he’s starting to feel his clock ticking. He’s got close to happily-ever-after before, but now it’s once-bitten-twice-shy, and the only way he’s going to find love is if he takes a chance.

The wisdom goes that if you just stop looking, your perfect partner will appear, but who will be there when Jade and River stop searching for ‘the one’?

Sexy, sassy and downright irresistible, the brand-new friends-to-lovers romance perfect for fans of Sariah Wilson, Lindsey Kelk and Abby Jiminez.

Preorder here

Follow Aimee

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Congratulations, Aimee – can’t wait to read this one!

Catching up with Author Sheila McClure

It is my pleasure to welcome Sheila McClure to Off the Beaten Track as part of the book blog tour to celebrate her next book (the hilarious, heartwarming and brilliantly fun) SCOTLANDER, out June 21st!

Welcome, Sheila! Tell us what inspired you to write SCOTLANDER?

Hello hello and thanks for having me here. For a while now I have had various people suggesting to me that I look to my own life for inspiration. They were curious…how does a former Hollywood reporter/TV producer end up married to a Scotsman and raising cows? I wanted the story to come with things I had learnt along the way and, of course, hurdles I had to manoeuvre. But I also didn’t want it to be an autobiography. I am not someone who needs the world to know all of my warts (some of them, but not all!). I had also been toying with the idea of superfans and whether their passion for a show/book/film overrode their relationship to reality or whether it was what helped them navigate the pits and falls of reality. And then I came up with Willa – a young woman at a career crossroads who has just endured a painful bereavement. She has lost sight of who she is and where it was she wanted to go in love. What better place to go than an immersive Jacobean experience in the Highlands?

When did you start writing seriously?

I used to write lots of comedy sketches and then I wrote news for about ten years (for TV)…and then, after a couple of years of figuring out if I was a good fit in the world of documentaries, I realised I didn’t want to be observing anymore – I wanted to be participating! (Cue: Handsome Scottish husband who wants to buy a small farm). After a few years learning how to raise pigs and cows and bees and swan diving into the local AmDram club, I decided I needed to finally address a decades old question: Could I actually sit down and finish a book? So…it was about ten or so years ago that I finally typed my first The End. What a day!!! It’s been nine years since I’ve published my first book. And now I have about thirty Mills & Boon and six published novels to my name (don’t ask about the drawer full of the unpublished ones! LOL).

What do you love most about being an author?

Meeting the characters. Going on a journey with them. Getting to know them so well I know exactly what they will say. Editing. (I know, right? I’m a weirdo). Playing ‘what if…’ with my friends on dog walks. Smelling the books when they arrive. 

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on the second of two cosy crime novels with Shirley Ballas, head judge of the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing show. They are set in the gloriously glittery, passionate and backstabbing world of professional ballroom dance. So fun. I’ve been able to enter a world that my two left feet would have never seen me joining before, so it’s been a hoot!

What do you hope readers will take away from Scotlander?

Oooo. Good question. I guess I’d like people who have experienced bereavement to find it relatable. Grief can pull the rug out from under you and make you look at life afresh. I have realised life plans change. All the time! And that’s okay. But sometimes you need to square up with your past in order to face the future. And also – cows are great. And potatoes. Baked in a fire. In Scotland.

My thoughts on SCOTLANDER

What a fabulous read! I absolutely adored Willa – a loveable and complex heroine who is suffering from unimaginable heartbreak. And what a surprising love interest – a perfect match for Willa even if it takes both of them (lots of) time to discover that. I laughed a lot reading this book, but there is also SO MUCH HEART. I am also a huge Outlander fan, but I don’t think you need to be to enjoy this ‘fish out of water’, ‘fake date’ romance. It’s fresh and fun and heartwarming. An easy 5 stars from me.

More about the book

From the glitz of LA to the mists of Scotland. Is it true love for Willa or just a Highland fling?

When the Big C takes her best friend too soon, Willa Jenkins struggles to recapture the joy in her life, and all she wants is to get away from LA’s glitzy party circuit. But superfan Valentina had other plans. For her final, wickedly funny act, she’s packing her bestie off on a two-week Outlander-themed experience at Balcraigie Castle, Scotland.

Expecting a couple of weeks with Valentina’s hot brother Gabe, Willa gets more than she bargained for when she’s put to work doing actual, real-life farm work. Not only that, but to get the ‘full’ experience, she’s paired up with the irritating―and irritatingly sexy―Finn, with whom she will pose as fake husband and wife for the next two weeks.

Willa despairs of Valentina’s terrible trick. But then she makes a discovery. Finn’s family might just lose the castle if they can’t make the experience worthwhile for the other attendees. The stakes are high, but as the days pass and the fake 

Out June 21 – Preorder now!

Amazon AU | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble

About Sheila

Sheila McClure lives in the English countryside with her Scottish husband, their dogs, Harris and Skye, and a small herd of delightfully striped Belted Galloway cattle. Prior to rural life in the UK, she was a camerawoman and news producer for Associated Press Television. As she’s originally from Seattle, she began her working life as a barista. She has also written books as Annie O’Neil and Daisy Tate. She will never refuse a quality dill pickle.

Follow Sheila

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Giveaway

Enter the GIVEAWAY (UK only) to win a paperback copy of SCOTLANDER plus a packet of Tunnocks Teacakes.

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources for organising the tour. Make sure you catch the rest of it.

Catching up with Nina Kaye on publication day

It is a great pleasure to have Nina Kaye back to Off the Beaten Track.

Nina is a favourite author, particularly her heartwarming take on romance. I absolutely loved Just Like That (you can see my quote on the cover). Jess and Nick are a pair! Both are battling with their own demons and find that a little communication can go a LONGGGGG way. These two flawed but layered characters are dealing with real issues in realistic ways, and I was cheering for them both from the sidelines. I also fell in love with Rana, one of the supporting characters. This read has heart, humour and romance – the perfect read for a chilly Aussie winter or to take on summer holiday if you live north of the equator.

Now let’s hear from Nina…

Tell us what inspired you to write Just Like That?

There were a few things that came together to form this storyline. Anyone who has read my previous books will know that I write more than romance. I write about characters who face change and adversity in their lives, and how they overcome these challenges, finding love along the way.

In Just Like That, my main character, Jess, experiences a huge shift in her life when her brother unexpectedly has a stroke and she takes on the responsibility of being his carer. Having experienced a life altering change when my own life was suddenly shattered by a debilitating illness, I was acutely aware of the impact and pressure it put on those closest to me. This was one source of inspiration for writing about someone taking on caring responsibilities. The other was just how important and overlooked the role of a caregiver is, and I felt there was a need for people in this situation to be more represented in fiction.

Another source of inspiration for Just Like That was a documentary series I watched about sun bears and how, like so much of the world’s wonderful wildlife, they are endangered. It saddened me to learn how they’re illegally hunted for their bile and how they’re losing their natural habitat. In that series, the presenter followed the story of a baby sun bear, which had been rescued after its mother was killed by poachers. The cub was so adorable in the way it tumbled around and treated the presenter like it’s play partner. It really captured my heart. The idea of the wildlife park and Nick the grumpy head keeper/love interest came from that.

A final source of inspiration relates to the setting. Just Like That is set in my home city of Edinburgh and the beautiful countryside and coastal towns of East Lothian, where I’ve been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time in recent years. East Lothian, which is just a short drive from Edinburgh, provided the perfect setting for the wildlife park and for Jess to go on her journey of self-discovery to find her happy ever after. 

What’s your most recent read that you’d like to recommend?

I think I’ll share my current read, which is Under a Greek Sun by Mandy Baggot. It’s about a young woman, Eve, who visits her friend Abby on the beautiful Greek island of Corfu. Eve’s looking forward to some much-needed downtime, but things don’t go quite to plan. She ends up leaving for her break with her troubled brother, Ben, in tow, then discovers Abby has multiple jobs on top of running the local animal sanctuary, leaving little time for them to chill together. Between her worries about Ben and not getting a moment to relax, Eve’s starting to wonder if this holiday is going to deliver on its promise, but there’s one thing – or more accurately – one person who can offer a glimmer of hope: Gianni, the gorgeous Italian. He has his own family challenges, so maybe it’s not the right time for either of them to be thinking about love. Or maybe there’s an opportunity to find some common ground and for a beautiful summer romance to blossom… Obviously I haven’t finished it yet, so I’ll need to find out!

This book actually has some similarities to Just Like That, in that it features family struggles and romance with a backdrop of cute animals. It’s also got everything I love in it. A strong storyline, a fabulous setting, characters I care about and some great humour. I’d already highly recommend it! 

(Note to reader: I loved Mandy’s book too!)

What has been your author highlight over the past year?

I’d say it’s been securing my two-book deal with Canelo for Just Like That and Stand Up Guy, which will be my next novel to be published. Having this contract has allowed me the opportunity to grow my writing career further and to keep improving my writing skills as I go. I learn best ‘on the job’ so I love working with my editor, Emily Bedford, who always offers such great ideas for how I can improve my stories. I’ve also had a couple of smaller highlights in the last few months in getting my first audiobook deals. Just Like That will be my first novel to be published in audio, so I’m really looking forward to hearing how the narrator brings the story to life.  

What are you working on now?

I’ve just submitted my next novel, Stand Up Guy, to my editor for review. It’s due out in January next year and I’ve really enjoyed writing it. It’s another Edinburgh based story, this time about a lonely young woman who invites a stand-up comedian to stay with her when she learns that his dream of making it big at the Edinburgh Festival has come to grief. It’s written with my usual style, combining humour with poignancy – my aim being to create all the feels, offering some moments of reflection as well as an entertaining read. 

What do you hope readers will take away from Just Like That?

Just Like That is a story of change and self-discovery as well as a romance, peppered with light-hearted moments and humour, so I’m not looking for readers to learn any serious life lessons from it. But what I do hope they will take away is that real life isn’t picture perfect. It’s messy – with complicated relationships, miscommunications and vulnerabilities we don’t always want to share. We all make mistakes and we can choose to be forgiving of others who do the same. And we all deserve to have love in our lives, regardless of the challenges we’re faced with! 

More about the book…

Is fur-ever on the cards for these enemies-at-first-sight?

Jess is smashing her Edinburgh events management job right now. Her boss is talking about a promotion, her clients love her and other companies want her. But all of that comes to an abrupt halt when her brother has a sudden stroke. Jess doesn’t think twice about stepping in as his carer, but her boss is not so understanding.

Demoted to managing low-end events, Jess is less than thrilled to be assigned to a small animal park in need of raising funds. She’s even less happy when she clashes with arrogant head keeper, Nick. He’s frustrated with her squeamishness; she thinks he’s a lech. Nick wants a baggage-free life; Jess has so much drama going on, even the Kardashians can’t keep up.

But maybe saving the animals of East Lothian Wildlife Park will help these op-paw-sites find some common ground…

Where to get the book

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Waterstones | Foyles | Google Play | (and all your favourite book retailers)

More about Nina Kaye…

Nina writes warm, witty and uplifting romances with a dollop of humour. Life is not straightforward and she likes to reflect this in her writing – by creating realistic characters with complex lives who can learn along the way. Her debut novel, The Gin Lover’s Guide to Dating was published by Orion Dash, followed by Take A Moment, which was inspired by her own life, and One Night in Edinburgh with Canelo. Just Like That is her fourth novel and her fifth, Stand Up Guy, will follow in January (both also with Canelo). All her novels are set in her hometown of Edinburgh and really bring the city to life.

Follow Nina…

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

In their own words

I’m a reader.

I love reading and I read widely across genres—though, lately I tend to read mostly in my own genres, romance and women’s contemporary fiction. That said, I also love a good thriller or a crime, historical or horror novel.

Lately, I’ve been on an autobiography kick, reading about people of note in their own (or close to) words. The last time I read back-to-back autobiographies was about 30 years ago when I was obsessed with the Golden Age of Hollywood and read everything I could. Lauren Bacall stands out. I sobbed like mad when Bogie died, even thought I knew it was coming.

Perhaps that’s part of the fascination when reading an autobiography of a notable person. We already know the broad strokes, the highlights and lowlights of their (just as) notable lives. This type of storytelling—and it is storytelling, for aren’t we all storytellers when we regale our loved ones and new friends with anecdotes from our lives?—fleshes out those ‘Kodak moments’, the ones everyone knows about. Autobiographies give us insight into the author’s thoughts and feelings during those public moments, and often we get to read the result of reflective practice—the ‘What was I doing?’ and ‘What was I thinking?’ questions that we ask ourselves. We can learn about how those decisions impacted the person they became. We can, quite often, learn from their mistakes.

But I mostly love reading autobiographies for the moments in between the world-renowned events, the moments that reveal the person, the one who eats microwave meals almost every night, the one who suffers from crippling self-doubt, the one who judges their friends’ performances and choices. Those nuggets are GOLD.

So, here are my latest reads in order since the start of 2023.

This is literally Alan Rickman’s diaries, which he wrote in most days—sometimes just a line about where he went for dinner or what show he saw, sometimes paragraphs, especially if he was riled up about a friend’s performance (on stage or on film) and had a lot to say about how it could have been improved. There is insight into how he felt about working on the Harry Potter film (essentially, he and the other crème de la crème of British acting were simply ‘extra’s while the kids showed up not knowing their lines and emoting all over the set). There is little in this about his relationship with his wife, one that spanned decades, but his relationships with close friends get a lot of ‘page time’.

It took a little bit of time to get into the cadence—he didn’t write his diaries for us, he wrote them for himself—but I found I could read a year in one sitting, some of it interesting, funny, heartwarming, some of it dull. I cried at the end—again, even though I knew how it ‘ended’—because he was a favourite actor. I fell in love with him in Truly, Madly, Deeply then again in Die Hard, Prince of Thieves, and Sense and Sensibility. As Emma Thompson says in the foreword, he was complex and talented and (oh so) sexy.

I was SO excited to read this book.

I’m not a royalist, per se, but I watched Harry and his brother grow up under the scrutiny of the public eye. I adored his mother, evening staying up VERY late (as I was living in the US at the time) and watching the royal wedding on television, aged 11. I will never forget Diana transposing Charles’ names—Charles Arthur Philip George, instead of Charles Philip Arthur George. It rocked me to my core when she died (I don’t claim to be the only one). I was on tour as Tour Manager for Contiki, came down for breakfast in Austria and the radio was on. I had just enough German to understand that something bad had happened to Princess Diana. We switched the radio to BBC and got the news. I was on tour, I had to tell the (mostly) Brits, Aussies, Canadians and Kiwis what had happened. So many of the 53 people on the tour were devastated and for the next week or so we bought and exchanged every English language newspaper we could get our hands on . We arrived back in London on the day of the cortege, a few hours after she was laid to rest. And London was a ghost town. I said goodbye to the tour group, holed up in my hotel room, and watched the entire thing on TV weeping. And all I could think was ‘those poor boys having to walk behind their mother’s coffin’. And the image of that card on the wreath of white flowers with ‘MUMMY’ scrawled across it … that image will never leave me.

Years later, I was thrilled when Harry found Meghan, who seemed to be a true love match. And then I watched from afar as the monarchy and the press tore her apart. Why was this a much-anticipated read for me? Because after years of the other side of the story, I wanted Harry’s. Yes, it’s ghost written but it’s written so beautifully, so immersively, I felt like I got a strong sense of how it was to grow up and head out into the world for Prince Harry, how it felt to meet a likeminded woman who cares as much about people and the world as he does, how it felt when his place in his family was reinforced again and again (the spare), and how it felt to be that little boy who was left motherless in the most public way.

I devoured it.

This book, in contrast, was not ghost written. It started as hundreds of lines of poetry, and with the deft encouragement and support of an excellent editor became mostly prose, with lines of poetry (SO CLEVERLY) retained at key points to really drive home the pervading emotions of a particular incident or time in her life. Many people will feel like they know exactly who Pamela Anderson is. I suspected there was (MUCH) more to her than her dual personas of bombshell and activist and guess, what? There is!

What I came to discover was a bright, interesting, interested woman who is well-read, well-travelled and has had a lifetime of trauma but is still standing. She speaks of people in her life, including ex-husband Tommy Lee, with such compassion and love, this could read as a lesson in forgiveness and inner peace. She’s funny, sexy, smart and savvy, and she seems to be at peace with her place in the world, something I will take with me. It is also BEAUTIFULLY written, with a flow and energy that drew me in and kept me immersed.

By the end, I metaphorically pumping my fist in the air, shouting, ‘Go, Pammy!’ I absolutely adore and admire her. What a human being.

I wanted to love this. I (along with 1/2 the planet) was a massive Friends fan. It’s still my ‘go-to’ when I’m on a plane and the selection of movies is rubbish. Could it be any funnier? Of course, I knew at the time that Matthew Perry suffered from addiction—he was rake thin one season, bloated the next. As he says in the book (and I’m paraphrasing), ‘If I was skinny, it was the pills, if I was fat, it was the booze.’ I’ve followed his career since and have especially loved his guest appearances in shows like The West Wing, even though his appearance has always belied the demons at play. I really have a lot of respect for his talent and he seems like a decent human being.

That said, this is a rough read—and not because of the subject matter. It’s just clunky and repetitive (at times, stream of consciousness) and there were many passages and chapters that were just self-indulgent and dull . I am not sure if these were stylistic choices—let’s make the writing and format reflect the chaos of your inner life—but they didn’t work for me. I especially found it odd that the only girlfriend he ever mentions by name is the most famous, Julia Roberts. The rest are by their first name or are nameless, which is an feeble strategy to protect identities when a three-second Google search reveals who he is talking about. And what is his beef with Keanu Reeves? He actually says it’s a shame Keanu is still walking around in the world. (Back off, Matty—Keanu is a righteous dude.)

Could have used a strong editorial arm and been 1/3 shorter. A few interesting insights but not my fave.

Next up…

I can’t wait for this and expect it will similar in tone and style to this book, which I read years ago and LOVED:

If you’re a Rob Lowe fan, he’s a brilliant writer—funny, self-deprecating, insightful. Great stories told by a wonderful storyteller. I will let you know what I think of Sam Neil’s book.

Till next time …

Australian Romance Readers’ Romantic Rendezvous 2023

I am SO looking forward to this event, my first with the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA), which will include two incredible international authors, Julia Quinn (of Bridgerton fame) and Audrey Carlan (of Calendar Girl and The Marriage auction fame). I’m especially looking forward to meeting some of my fellow Aussie romance authors, and get to share a table with the lovely and talented Megan Mayfair!

My Romantic Rendezvous Author Spotlight

If you have yet to buy tix for any of the cities, you can get them here. Come see me (and Julia, Audrey and Megan – amongst others) in Melbourne!

I have some goodies for those who visit my table and will be doing a giveaway – 3 signed copies of my book, A Wedding in Tuscany.

More about ARRA

ARRA is a volunteer-run organisation that champions and celebrates all things romance books and I’ve been a member for several years now. They host events (like this one coming up), run a blog dedicated to romance reads, author spotlights and author contributions, put our a monthly newsletter, and an annual readers’ survey. That ARRA manages all this with a small team of volunteers in incredible and as always a huge shout-out to the the ARRA team. I am especially thankful for the Release Day Announcements, like this one for my latest release The Christmas Trip!

And (!) in 2020, I was fortunate to have The Christmas Swap shortlisted in the ARRA annual reader awards in the Best Holiday or Christmas Romance category.

New Year’s Absolutions 2023

It’s that time again! The time of year when I reflect on the year that was, mentally and emotionally prepare for the year to come, and absolve myself from a selection of ‘must dos’. Life is simply too short to get swept up in ‘must dos’, especially those I have no inclination towards.

Aside: Looking back, I realise that I didn’t do my absolutions for 2022. This time last year was not awesome for me, as was the experience for many of you. I simply wanted to make it to 2022 and do my best to get through the year with my mental health intact (like many of you).

Also, looking back at my 2019 Absolutions, I admit to failing on two counts: I have since joined Instagram and I love Beatsaber, an extremely fun VR game in which you slash musical notes as they come towards you with lightsabers (yes, really and it is just as fun as it sounds and, yes, the tech has improved on stabilisation, so I no longer get sick―hooray!).

Onto next year’s absolutions … I hereby absolve myself from:

Not reading reviews

As authors, we’re constantly told, ‘Don’t read reviews!’ This is excellent advice when you receive a bad review because, as authors know, one bad review equals 10000 excellent reviews. Bad reviews burrow into your brain and nestle there, ready to leap out when you’re feeling your most vulnerable, when you’re crippled by imposter syndrome or awaiting the email that will tell you you’ve successfully pitched your next book and it takes months.

Yet, every time one of my books comes out, I read the early reviews. Every. Review. Every. Day.

Why? Two reasons: I am a masochist and most of my reviews are positive. This means that all those hours I spent labouring over my book have been fruitful, they meant something to someone. Some reviews even induce tears―happy ones. It’s a wondrous thing to have someone gush about how much my story or my characters or my turn of phrase impacted them for the better and how much they love my book.

So, I will continue to read reviews, even the bad ones, like this for my first book, One Summer in Santorini.

Actually, that review and others like it, make me laugh. If ever there was a reason to buy a book it’s because it’s sweary and sexy. And if that’s your thing and you’ve read all mine, check out Aimee Brown.

Paying for a blue checkmark

I have been actively building my Twitter following for years now, and have previously applied for a blue checkmark (when they still meant something). I wasn’t noteworthy enough to earn one a couple of years ago but, until recently, I was still working towards that milestone. While the verified accounts of notable people and organisations are still denoted by a blue checkmark, there’s now a cheaters’ route: the option to pay for one. Blue checkmarks have become the vanity plates of social media. I may still earn one, but I will never pay for one.

Catching up on the entire Marvel Universe

There are too many Marvel movies in the MCU. There, I said it. And because there are so many (and I have a life), I’ve missed a few―Iron Man 2, something about a civil war, a Spiderman or two (even though I’m a HUGE Tom Holland fan), and both Black Panther films. And some that I have seen, I wished I’d missed them. I’m looking at you Thor: The Dark World and Eternals (seriously, though, what the hell was that movie?). I say all this with the caveat that there are some MCU films that I’ve loved. Thor Ragnarok is hilarious and Chris Hemsworth is a massive spunk, especially with short hair. I loved Black Widow because Natasha is a bad-ass (and so is her sis). And Ant-Man is just fun, because … well … Paul Rudd.

Aside: Paul Rudd is the type of guy women both want to sleep with and have as their best friend. Fortunately, I have one of those at home.

So, while Marvel has had some hits, they’ve had enough misses―I mean, is Infinity War called that because the story goes on SO LONG it took two movies to tell it???―that I am absolving myself from watching their back catalogue, and very possibly their front catalogue too. Except Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania because (hello?!) PAUL RUDD.

Keeping track of which show is on which streaming service

When are household AIs going to get so good, I can ask, ‘Hey, Google, what the hell streaming service is [INSERT TV SHOW TITLE HERE] showing on?’ and it not only ignores my mildly rude profanity, it replies with, ‘It’s Disney+, which you pay for and share with your mum (who shares her Stan with you), your bestie, your Aunt Jackie (who also shares your Netflix account), and your cousin’s best friend, Sharon (who shares her Amazon Prime account with you)’? That’s what the brilliant minds at Google/Apple/Amazon should be working on.

Thank god I live with (aforementioned Paul Rudd-like) Ben, who not only keeps all of this information in his head, but also 1. sources most the shows I tell him I’m dying to watch and 2. keeps and eye out for shows we can watch together―White Lotus … Yellowstone … The Bear … Call My Agent … (Thank you, Ben!)

Joining TikTok (still)

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the TikToks my family and friends send me. This one is the funniest thing I saw online this year and it still makes me laugh―EVERY TIME! I hope that family never has to work again for the sheer genius of filming that clip and posting it on TikTok.

BUT I already have two jobs. I work four days a week at my day job in adult education and every day as an author. I’ve published 8 books in less than 4 years and I spend 10-12 hours a week on social media and marketing. I is TIIIIRRRED. And even the thought of creating content for a new social media platform makes me queasy. The people who excel at it work so hard and do such a great job at curating and creating content. Maybe one day when I’m writing fulltime, I’ll consider joining TikTok (or its equivalent), but until then I’m leaving it to the pros.

That’s it. That’s all I absolve myself from for 2023. Wherever you are in the world, I wish you good health, love, laughter, good times with family and friends, grand adventures, and most of all, peace. Take care. Look after you. And happy reading.

Sandy xxx

Cover Reveal for The Christmas Trip!

I am very excited to share the cover of my next book with One More Chapter, The Christmas Trip.

This is the follow-up to The Christmas Swap (2020) and I SO loved reconnecting with your favourites from Book 1.

About the book

It’s a year on and our three May Ladies are all loved up but still living worlds apart.

Chloe has had a whirlwind year amongst the glitz, glamour (and demanding work) of Hollywood. She’s taken on the role of Assistant Producer on the film, ‘An Extraordinary Woman: The Eloise Capel Story’, Archer’s passion project and as Archer’s girlfriend, she’s now schmoozing with A-listers.

Jules is immersed in her Melbourne life, working for a non-profit and sharing an increasingly crowded flat on the waterfront with flatmate, Ash ― and their frequent visitors: Ash’s boyfriend, Davo, and Jules’ love, Matt, and his dog, Dexter. She’s considering moving out on her own, only Matt keeps hinting at Jules moving to his vineyard down south.

Lucy, meanwhile, is stuck in long-distance-relationship hell. While her career is flying high ― a promotion and frequent trips to the US for work ― her relationship with Will has stalled. She doesn’t want to be a part-time girlfriend, finding their time apart agonising, but Will seems perfectly content.

When Archer’s planned Parisian proposal at Christmastime is derailed by an ash cloud over Europe, he hatches a plan to bring all six of them together for a Christmas ― and a marriage proposal ― to remember. In Hawaii!

I invite you to join the May Ladies and their loves in the most beautiful destination yet for a Christmas filled with mayhem and misunderstandings, and rocking romance around the Christmas tree!

And check out this stunning cover! I am in love with it! Huge thanks to cover designer, Lucy Bennett.

Where you can preorder

It’s out in ebook on November 10th and print on December 8.

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Amazon US

iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Google Play | Waterstones

(Coming soon) Foyles | Dymocks | Angus & Robertson | Booktopia

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Catching up with Author Pernille Hughes

It is my great pleasure to welcome fellow One More Chapter author, Pernille Hughes to Off the Beaten Track today to celebrate the publication of her next book, Ten Years.

My thoughts on the book

This is a highly original story that had me hooked from the very first page. The author brings to the page two real, complex and well-drawn characters that I championed all the way through. This is a true slow burn and I loved seeing how the characters evolved each time they met up – how they change as people and how their relationship evolves.

No spoilers but a VERY satisfying ending , including a lovely twist. An absolute must read.

And loving this cover!

Pernille joins us to tell us more about her and this fabulous read.

Tell us what inspired you to write Ten Years.

The book came from a conversation over lunch with my lovely editor Charlotte Ledger. Normally I write comic romances, so writing Ten Years, blending funny and sad, was something new. I’d once heard the brilliant psychotherapist Julia Samuel on the History Hit podcast talking about our
modern attitudes towards grief. She described grief as “love that doesn’t know where to go.” That idea stayed with me and certainly sat with me in the writing of Ten Years. Becca and Charlie had to see that you can’t shoo the pain away or ignore it, you have to accommodate it, find a place for it
within you.

I also had the notion buzzing in my head of ‘all magic comes at a price’ which I think I might have got from Once upon a time, the TV show? It was something that came up at the end of my last book Probably the Best Kiss in the World, where Love is the ‘magic’. I was still thinking about it here. What would the price be for Becca and Charlie? Essentially, I came to the conclusion that if you’d asked them, they’d have said the same; in losing Ally, they’d already paid upfront.

When did you start writing seriously?

In 2012 I came runner up in a competition to have a story in a Women’s Fiction short story anthology. The Sunday Times had also printed 36 short stories of mine in their Travel section (Confessions of a Tourist), and those two things combined showed me that Women’s fiction was where my voice lay. So, I started writing a full-length novel (Punch-Drunk Love) and sending it out, which got me an agent, and it was published in 2018.

What do you love most about being an author?

The writing community, especially the romance writers community. It’s so generous and supportive. There’s no need to be competitive, as we
physically can’t write the books as quickly as readers read them, and so the focus is on revelling in the love of books and welcoming other writers who want to share their stories.

What are you working on now?
A bit of a passion project, one of those that sits in your head and keeps knocking to be let out. It germinated from a guided tour through Highgate Cemetery, which I would recommend to anyone interested in British social history, or just an interesting walk on a sunny day. It’ll still be a romance of course! I’m ‘out of contract’ so who knows whether it’ll ever see the shelves, but I need it to come out now, it’s been in there too long.

What do you hope readers will take away from Ten Years?
While I really wasn’t setting out to hammer anything home, I suppose there were a few things I worked to get across; that we all grieve differently, for example, and that ‘people change’. Also, that ‘good teams’ needn’t be identical people. Becca and Charlie are wildly different, but they bring out the best in each other. That yin yang image of two-different entities ‘clicking’ together to make a working whole is one that resonates with me.

More about the book

Becca and Charlie have known each other since university.
Becca and Charlies have also hated each other since university.

Until now. Until Ally’s bucket list. The death of their loved one should mean they can go their separate ways and not look back. But completing the list is something neither of them can walk away from.

And sometimes, those who bring out the worst in you, also bring out the very best…

Over the course of ten years, Becca and Charlie’s paths collide as they deal with grief, love and life after Ally.

Where to get it

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon CA

Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Waterstones | WH Smith

More about Pernille

Before she moved to writing full-time, Pernille Hughes studied Film & Literature at university. After she graduated she went on to market Natural History films before working in Children’s television, which meant living in actual Teletubbyland for a while! From 2011–2015, she was a regular contributor for The Sunday Times column ‘Confessions of a Tourist’. She’s had two novels published to date – Punch-Drunk Love and Probably the Best Kiss in the World – and her new book Ten Years is released on August 31st 2022. 

Pernille lives in Buckinghamshire, England and while the kids are at school she scoffs cake and writes stories in order to maintain a shred of sanity. 

www.pernillehughes.com  (Free short story here!)

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