Friday I’m In Love is out now

I’m so excited to release this surprise novelette at the end of the year, like a mini Christmas present for readers! Friday I’m In Love: A Sweet and Saucy Novelette is a super cute and funny short read, which I first published in the Hot In The City collection in June 2022. I thought some readers would prefer a short stand-alone ebook, so here it is!

It’s only 99c from major ebook sites so grab it now…all links on my Books page.

Friday I'm In Love book cover by Cassandra O'Leary. Features an illustration of a young couple with dark hair dancing, with a heart as a background image.

Blurb

A girl couldn’t help spying sometimes. Surely if she ever met him, he’d understand…

Megan Macauley looks forward to her private rendezvous with her ridiculously hot, across-the-road-from-work neighbour. Every Friday morning, Megan and her inappropriate older colleague Jean, stop work on the company website to stare goggle-eyed at the vision of manly beauty in the apartment across the street. When he returns from his gym sessions and strips off his shirt, Megan can barely keep her tongue in her mouth.

Megan didn’t mean to become a voyeur. It was an accident! She’s always had a feeling the situation might rear up and bite her. One Friday, fate proves her right. The hottie from across the road shows up at her office as the new auditor, in other words, the man with the power of hiring and firing.

Cruz Ono is even more smouldering hot up close. A prime example of Japanese-Australian beefcake and smart as a whip. When he invites her to a private meeting, Megan nearly faints. He could either fire her or let her keep her annoying, underpaid job. Which would it be?

When Cruz reveals he knows Megan has been watching him, she knows it could be the end of her career. But the way he smiles and flirts with her says it could be the start of something else…

Note: Friday I’m In Love is a short read or novelette of approximately 10,000 words. It’s also available in Hot In the City: A Romantic Comedy Story Collection in both ebook and paperback formats.

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More news coming soon…

Hot in the City release day!

Hot In The City: A Romantic Comedy Story Collection releases today, 30 June, as an ebook!

Description

Hot In The City is a collection of short romantic comedy stories and novellas from award-winning author, Cassandra O’Leary. Perfect for reading on your lunch break, on the go or anytime really!

Hot In The City by Cassandra O'Leary, ebook cover design. Features an illustration with a city skyline and a couple sitting on the floor in an apartment.

Never before published in one book, this collection includes:

– Chocolate Truffle Kiss: A Romantic Comedy Novelette – An older woman meets a younger man in a story full of pining. A lonely writer, a hot rockstar barista, a cafe setting with stolen moments, poetry and chocolate. . .

– Tree Love: A Romantic Short Story – A short story with a sweet second chance romance, an urban lumberjack and emails to trees!

– Girl Under The Christmas Tree: A Steamy Holiday Romance Novella – A prequel to the novel Girl on a Plane, featuring Yuki, a hotel staffer looking for adventure, and Declan, an Irish IT CEO with a broken heart. They come together right before Christmas for just one night. . .

– Friday I’m In Love: A Short and Sweet Story – A brand new story set in a pyjama company in the middle of the city. Featuring a Japanese-Australian beefcake, a wacky computer nerd, workplace romance, spying and wardrobe malfunctions.

. . . and a new novelette. . . Girl On A Babymoon! Sinead and Gabriel from Girl on a Plane return, five years later. It’s their anniversary, and Sinead has a big surprise for Gabriel. A romantic getaway and steamy role-playing feature in this laugh-out-loud story of a marriage in trouble, or maybe, a marriage that will be stronger than ever!

Each story is set in the author’s home city of Melbourne, Australia, with a cameo or two from other fabulous destinations around the world. Whether the setting in a central city cafe with a smoking hot barista, or a Santa-packed hotel in the lead-up to Christmas, these stories will introduce you to a world of steamy kisses, swoony couples and funny love stories each with their own a happy ever after (or happy for now) ending.

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Universal ebook link!

Girl on a Babymoon excerpt

Read on for a short excerpt of Girl on a Babymoon, the new novelette in Hot in the City!

Melbourne, Australia

Sinead had no hope of containing her giggles as she stared at her phone’s screen, but she slapped a hand over her mouth anyway. She half snorted, half coughed into her palm before shaking her head to get herself under control. The Uber driver would think she’d lost her mind, but who cared about that? Not today, she didn’t.

She clicked out of the amazing image on her phone screen and stared out the car’s passenger side window instead, watching the streetscape whiz by in a blur of colours, sky blue, white and grey. The warm fuzzies in her belly settled, fluttered and subsided.

Gabriel was going to absolutely love her anniversary surprise. Love. Adore. Worship at her feet and hopefully worship every last nook and curve of her whole body in minute, sensual detail. Several times. Oh, yes. This anniversary trip had been an excellent idea. How could they have been married for five years already?

She didn’t know how her news would go down with Gabriel. Hopefully, he’d be on board. All she had to do was let him know what she wanted and fill him in on the plan. She sighed, exhausted suddenly. He would be pleased, wouldn’t he? Happy? It was a lot to take in. She’d had a minor freak out already.

He’d be okay, she was almost positive. He’d research this like he would with a business deal or an investment. He was good at details, her Gabriel. The best at everything he did. Having a man like him, so focused and determined in everything, work and play, had turned out very nicely in their relationship so far, especially in the bedroom. The only problem was, sometimes he was a wee bit put off by spontaneous changes of plan.

He’d love her surprise. And if he didn’t bloody love it, she was possibly going to have him killed. Or at least torture him in a sexy way until he admitted he loved her and her surprise, and then he could do the minute detail worshipping of her body.

Yes, that was a plan. She grinned and rubbed her hands together with pure, undiluted, only slightly evil glee.

She gave a nod and word of thanks to the Uber driver, a very sweet man named Aziz who often drove her home from work at the luxury travel agency she ran at Gabriel’s office building in the city. She straightened out her shirt and threw her phone in her bag. The car rolled to a stop.

In one mostly elegant motion, she launched herself and her handbag out of the car and onto the footpath, then she was clacking along in her electric blue high heels. Her phone was in her hand, tapping on her husband’s name and he answered the call before she’d even taken five steps towards the front door of their beachfront townhouse.

“Hello, Irish.” His voice was gravelly and rumbly, pinging her pleasure centre and tugging at something in her abdomen. She bit her lower lip and almost tripped over the spiky plant near her front steps.

Sinead pressed her lips together before the exciting words exploded out of her in a great rush.

Control. Plan the announcement. Don’t freak him out.

Sinead nearly peed herself from the effort of keeping it inside. She released her lower lip and took a shuddery breath. “Ah, it’s the man himself. Are you looking especially handsome on this fine day? I’ll bet you are.”

“I was just thinking about you.”

She grinned so hard her cheeks ached. “All good thoughts, I hope. Maybe naked thoughts?”

He chuckled, deep and low in her ear. “Always good, and many naked thoughts of you, my love.”

What happens next? Read Hot in the City to find out…

P.S. Don’t forget to follow me on social media for more updates. I’m now on TikTok too for bookish content and a laugh!

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Heart Note paperback out for Christmas!

I’m very excited to announce that I’ve published a paperback edition of my book, Heart Note: A Christmas Romcom Novella, just in time for the holidays! This is a favourite work of mine, based on my experience working as a perfume counter sales assistant many years ago. Set in the hustle and bustle in one of Australia’s largest department stores in the lead up to Christmas, Heart Note is both funny and heartfelt, with a little romance and mystery thrown in.

It took me a little while to learn the whole self publishing process including paperback print production, but I’m glad I’ve got the print edition of this book out into the world. The ebook was published in late 2017, but I always wanted to see this one in paperback too. Thanks to the cover designer, Lana P., who did a sensational job and my writer friend PJ Vye who helped with the book layout. This book looks absolutely gorgeous and so festive in real life.

I hope some of my readers will order the paperback version now. It would also make a fabulous Christmas gift!

Blurb – Heart Note: A Christmas Romcom Novella

A Christmas romcom with heart.

When a curvy redhead meets a possible Greek god, it’s like all Lily’s workplace dreams have come true…except she has to wear a ridiculous Santa dress and stop a department store heist! This Christmas, will Lily find love under her tree or just a box full of heartbreak?

The first time I met Christos, I fell into his arms. I didn’t know what to do with myself when the department store security guard and chief hottie, volunteered to catch me as I fell off the stage at the staff training day. My heart thundered inside my (ample) chest, my knees turned to liquid but I managed not to swoon or have a heart attack. It was a close thing.

Workplace relationships are fraught with danger, I know this. I’m the perfume counter manager at one of Australia’s biggest department stores and I need this job, need to get my life and my sister’s on the right track. I don’t need a distraction in the form of a brooding, overprotective but undeniably sexy man. Or do I? Christos is a mystery box I’d love to unwrap…and the tall, dark and impossibly handsome thing is working for me, big time.

All I want for Christmas is the perfect perfume, a chance to kiss Christos, to help him catch a band of thieves running amok in the department store, and to live happily ever after. Is that too much to wish for?

Buy now from major print book retailers:

Universal link for ebooks

More news is coming soon, but until then, happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

Note: I am a member of the Amazon Affiliate program and I earn a small amount if you click and buy from one of the Amazon links on my website.

Tree Love Is In The Air. . .

Last week I made an executive decision as captain of my own writing ship. I decided to indie publish a romantic short story of mine, Tree Love. This story was previously published a year ago in the Taste of Romance anthology along with other stories from authors in my writing group, the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild.

Tree Love is a short and sweet story about first loves reunited, emails to trees, art, nature and taking chances. It’s now up for pre-order, ready for release on 13 February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Tree Love: A Romantic Short Story by Cassandra O'Leary, cover design

Here’s the cover for Tree Love. I designed it myself with a gorgeous stock illustration (copyright warawiri) sourced from 123rf.com. Isn’t it pretty? Well, I think so.

Tree Love story inspiration

I was actually inspired to write this story after reading a wacky newspaper article about something that happened in my home city of Melbourne, Australia.

Under a new environmental plan, the city assigned email addresses to trees. And people started emailing, not just to report on the condition of the trees as had been expected, but they wrote to the trees. Letters, poems, confessions. This was pretty hilarious to me, but also sweet. So a story idea was born!

The original article is on the News.com.au website — People around the world have been emailing trees in Melbourne to confess their love.

In Tree Love, I imagined my heroine, Natalia, was the admin person working for the Parks and Gardens department tasked with answering the Tree-mails. It’s entertaining but also baffling at times.

Blurb

If your first love fell out of a tree. . . would you catch him?

Natalia Bianchi is a botanical artist, who finds herself accidentally working for the city’s Parks Department in admin and also accidentally engaged to her boss. It’s not what she had planned.

One day she checks on ‘her’ tree in the botanical gardens, and her first love, Dan “The Man” Mancini falls at her feet. Literally. Almost like it was meant to be. But that’s what she thought ten years ago when they were friends at university.

Should Natalia shake up her entire safe, convenient life to climb Dan like a tree? Could this be her second chance at love that could last forever?

Buy links

You can pre-order Tree Love now from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Google Play Books. It’s only 99 cents or 99p.

Universal link:

books2read.com/TreeLove

Inspiration pics

Stock photo of tree from Pixabay

Check out my Tree Love Pinterest board for some great pics of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, and some character inspiration too.

P.S. join my newsletter list if you’d like to know more about my writing and receive a free novelette, Chocolate Truffle Kiss!

Lazy Days of Summer sale – 45+ free and 99 cent reads!

Lazy Days of Summer promotional image

Summer? What’s that? As I write, I’m sitting here in Australia in my fluffy cardigan and Ugg boots, but of course it’s summer for my northern hemisphere readers.

Want to laze poolside or on the sand with books that’ll heat you up, sizzle your skin, and melt your heart? Why not steam up your Kindle this summer with romance e-books from some top Aussie and New Zealand authors? Grab a cocktail and pull up a chair!

Lazy Days of Summer Sale

We’ve got 45+ FREE and bargain 99 cent romances to get you through the rest of summer. From sexy or sweet contemporaries to romantic comedy, historical, paranormal, romantic suspense, erotica, women’s fiction, and urban fantasy/sci-fi/fantasy – we’ve got you covered. Full list of Lazy Days of Summer sale books available here.

My romcom novelette, Chocolate Truffle Kiss, is included. Still only 99 cents and a five-star swoony read according to Amazon reviewers. But it’s also FREE at the moment to my newsletter subscribers!

Chocolate Truffle Kiss 5 star promo graphic

Free novelette for newsletter subscribers!

Check out the books on sale!

There’s a whole lot of fabulous authors participating in this sale, including Tracey Alvarez, Nicola Marsh, Louise Cusack, Joanne Dannon, Cheryl Phipps and many more.

Visit the sale webpage hosted by Tracey Alvarez today.