Book Recommendations – Best of 2024 So Far

I’ve been meaning to write more about the books I’ve read and enjoyed, so here is a little update on some of my best reads of 2024 so far. This is a personal list of course, and as I read widely it’s a little eclectic and based on my moods!

Please note: I have used Amazon Associates links in the post below, and I may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Romantic Comedy

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

I adore Ms Stein’s use of deep point of view and character voice, and her hilarious and often very steamy writing. The curvy ghostwriter heroine and hot footballer hero in this story both defy expectations and of course, get their happy ever after. The local accents from Northern England are cute and something different. And if you haven’t read any of the author’s erotic romances, such as The Professor, I recommend them too. I just realised I’m also going to rec another ghostwriter book, as below!

Do Me A Favor by Cathy Yardley

Last year I read and loved Cathy Yardley’s book, Role Playing, about two Gen X (fifty-ish) characters who find love while playing video games. This book is loosely linked in the same world, featuring a handyman single dad to young adults who dreams of being a clockmaker and a cookbook ghostwriter who’s really struggling since her husband’s death. I was hoping to meet Ms Yardley at the Trope Actually book signing in August but sadly she was ill. Anyway, this book was such fun, and I recommend it for foodies (I wanted to eat everything mentioned as a potential recipe in the story). This book has a lighthearted vibe despite a few heavy, emotional themes.

Contemporary Romance

Change of Heart by Kate Canterbary

Have you ever watched TV shows like E.R. or House M.D. and wanted all the doctors on the show to fall in love and have their own storylines? That’s what Ms Canterbary’s book series featuring doctors is like. This book features surgeon, Whitney, and her new resident, Henry (like a trainee doctor) who just happens to be a recent one night stand! This is an updated version of Wedding Crashers, with chosen family, forced proximity, forbidden/off-limits romance and all the feels. It’s super steamy and emotional too.

Good As Gold by Sarina Bowen

This was a recent release in Bowen’s world of True North, Vermont small town romances, often revolving around a business. This one is set around a cool bar and features the gorgeous Matteo, the black sheep of a large family. He’s returned to town after a long absence and he’s grieving the loss of his best friend. He reconnects with his former girlfriend who just happens to want to have a baby, solo, after getting divorced. He might just have to help her out… Loved this, all the pining, the searching for home and a sense of family.

Historical Romance

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

I just learned the term ‘recency’, referring to historical romance that’s set in the recent past. This describes many of Cat Sebastian’s books such as this one, set in New York in the 1960s. This story centres on a grumpy newspaper arts journalist who is tasked with covering baseball, which he knows nothing about. Then in walks a young star player like an exuberant puppy, and he finds himself falling in love. This M/M (gay) romance is set in a time when the main characters have to keep their attraction and relationship hidden, and media scrutiny is the worst enemy of a gay baseball player. The relationship between these two is super sweet, and I also love the details of life in a city in an earlier time, the old-timer sports journalist character and the insight into a journalist’s life before the time of computers.

Romantasy

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Yes, I was a little late to the party reading Fourth Wing, but I enjoyed it very much. The main character, Violet, is particularly interesting, as a chronic illness warrior with a serious muscle and bone condition. The setting in a war college where the cadets must learn to fight and whose lives are on the line, is not what you’d wish for Violet. But she’s tenacious and mentally tough, reminding me of Katniss from The Hunger Games series. I also loved the dragons in this world, the way they telepathically communicate to their human riders and their special abilities, shared with the humans. I also ploughed through Iron Flame and am awaiting the next in the series, along with half the world!

Paranormal Romance

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

This story could also be considered fantasy romance. I loved Ms Poston’s previous book, The Dead Romantics, and borrowed this one from the library without knowing much about it. Imagine my glee when I realised it’s about a romance reader and English professor, whose car breaks down, and she finds herself stranded in the small town where her fav romance series is set! All the characters and landmarks are there, plus a handsome and brooding bookshop owner who doesn’t seem to belong. But is the heroine dead, or alive? How does she know if this is a dream or reality? And does she really have return to real life if she falls for a fictional character? A must read for romance novel fans.

Historical Mystery

Death in the Spires by KJ Charles

I love KJ’s writing, and although she usually writes historical romance, this story is firmly in the mystery genre. The story is set in 1905 on the Oxford University campus, and years later as a former student, Jem, tries to unravel what happened when a classmate was murdered. There are lies and coverups, the elite, rich students versus the scholarship students like Jem, and a romance thread simmering below the main storyline.

Women’s Fiction

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book could almost sit in the Paranormal category. It’s a dual timeline narrative, but unlike other books in this style, the story shows what could happen in the heroine’s life if she makes a different choice one night and events unfold in real time, in alternating chapters. Either the heroine goes home with her ex-boyfriend, or she stays with her best friend and doesn’t rekindle that flame. Both choices have massive consequences. This is similar to the movie Sliding Doors, and the discussion of fate versus choice, and who is right for each person, is really interesting.

Young Adult

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

If a book can make me cry, sometimes it gets extra points! This was one of the books I purchased recently at the Romance Writers of Australia conference, after listening to Christina and Lauren give the keynote address. This book is one that they said resonates with readers, even years after release. This is a touching and sometimes heart-wrenching coming of age book about two young LGBT men who find each other and fall in love, despite living in an ultra conservative religious community. It’s also a story about writing a story, and how much truth someone should reveal about themselves and how much they should keep close to their heart.

That’s all for now. Except I just realised I’ve accidentally missed Australian books in this post, so maybe I’ll do a separate post on that later! You can also follow me on Goodreads and I’ll try to remember to post updates there. 🙂

2016: my big arse year of change

2016 has been many things — turbulent, stressful, a big old arse-load of trouble from many perspectives. World events and the death of much-loved celebrities, from David Bowie to Carrie Fisher, have many of us questioning our lives and overall direction. You never know when you’re going to go, after all. I’m not immune from this…far from it.

For me, 2016 has been my big arse year of change, but in a good way. This year I’ve forced myself to pull on my big girl pants and be brave. As a result, I’ve accomplished a couple of things I wasn’t sure I could do. The first one still nearly blows my mind if I think about it too hard. My debut novel was published. That deserves its own paragraph. In bold.

My debut novel was published.

Cue fanfare, heralds of angels singing, etc. This was and is a big deal, but perhaps some of the other things that went along with this milestone are more important. For example, I quit my day job. This also deserves stand-alone paragraph status.

I quit my day job.

The jury is still out as to whether this was a good idea or not! But I found myself extremely stressed, working in a corporate communications environment with lots of deadlines, then book editing deadlines hit on top of those. Add to that the health issues I face as someone with a couple of auto-immune diseases and the hectic nature of life with young children, and I had to make some decisions about the future. I could continue trying to do everything, and some of it was going to slide. Probably my health. Or, I could choose to make some changes.

I decided to focus on what might be possible.

Instead of choosing the safest route and staying in the same job I’d been doing for close to ten years, I looked at the opportunity in front of me. A large publisher accepted my first novel. I’m not counting my chickens, or expecting the big bucks to flow from that book alone. But those manuscripts I’d been hammering away at over the last few years suddenly seem to have potential. I can see the potential. It’s possible *whispers* I might have a writing career in my future…

Next year looks to be as big and change-propelled. My little boy starts school, meaning I’ll have two school boys, no more babies and toddlers. In some ways, this is sob-inducing and an end of an era. But in other ways, it’s exciting. I’ll have more quiet time at my desk at home to focus on work. To write, to plan, to scheme.

My husband is talking about tackling a renovation to our house…one that includes a separate writing room for me. Hopefully I’ll find both inspiration and tenacity to finish more writing projects and continue along this path, even when it kind of meanders into the distance and over some hills.

The view may not be so clear from here, but once I climb to the top of the next hill my direction could be a little easier to navigate. I hope 2017 is filled with opportunities, chance and change that makes the future a little brighter. I wish it for me and my family, and for everyone reading this.

As I ring in the new year, I’ll be toasting to the possibilities next year may bring. Cheers to another big arse year of positive change!

This blog post was first published on Medium.com – follow me there!

Confessions of a writing contest junkie

This blog post was originally published on the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild site on 14th February 2016. However it has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day. Did I plan that badly? Sigh…

I’ve been entering writing contests for just over two years. I did the maths in my head and realised in that time, I’ve entered about 15 contests. I know I may have a minor writing contest addiction problem.

What’s a writing contest?

This is what my family and friends asked me when I first entered one in mid-2013. I hardly knew the answer at the time, having just decided to get serious about creative writing for the first time in (mumble, mumble) years.

For the uninitiated, writing contests are run by publishers and writing organisations such as Romance Writers of Australia and offer the opportunity to:

win a prize, sometimes cash, often a publishing contract
gain feedback from fellow writers or editors
develop your writing, working to specific guidelines
finish something, in time for a contest deadline
grow your network of writer contacts
avoid the ‘slush pile’ of unsolicited manuscripts
get your work ‘out there’ in front of key editors, agents and publishers.

Romance novel contest leads to madness…

My little problem started in 2013 when I joined Twitter and started following authors I admired, then a few publishers. I stumbled across a little thing called So You Think You Can Write or #sytycw in Twitter hashtag speak. This is a global writing contest run by Harlequin, one of the biggest romance publishers in the world. A publishing contract was on offer for the winner, but not only that, a squad of fifty editors were on hand to provide tips and feedback.

I asked myself, “Could I write a romance novel?” and despite never having tried before, I answered, “Why the hell not?” I started to write, and I loved it. Was it mad to try to write my first novel in three months? Of course it was, but I’m so glad I did it.

This contest taught me so much about writing, it’s not even funny. I participated in online ‘boot camp’ activities such as writing a 100 word pitch and a synopsis, having work critiqued by other aspiring writers. I was also selected for a first page critique by an editor, which was so valuable it should have been sprinkled with gold dust.

I also had barrels of fun interacting with the other entrants on Twitter and Facebook, and made heaps of writer friends. Some of them formed the core of an international online writing group I still hang out with.

Twitter pitch opportunities

Twitter pitch contests such as PitMad (Pitch Madness) or #pitmad hosted by author Brenda Drake, offer writers the chance to pitch their book in 140 characters or less. Try it! It’s really hard and will make you crazy! Editors/publishers and agents watch the tweets over the course of a day and favourite the ones they’re interested in. Then writers can send it manuscripts or queries in the requested format. Warning: this contest can be really fun and addictive!

Also, look out for regular Manuscript Wishlist or #mswl tweets and other specific calls for manuscripts.

Publisher ‘open call’ contests

Publisher contests offer the chance to post a pitch or blurb relevant to a particular call for submissions. Some examples are the Entangled Publishing blog wishlists or the recent Tule Publishing ‘Pillow Talk’ contest for the new Eros imprint.

The Harlequin Community runs regular writing challenges and series contests e.g. the recent ‘Blaze Blitz’. I know several writers who have fast-tracked their way into book contracts through these types of smaller, more specific contests.

So, follow publishers on Facebook and Twitter, subscribe to their blog pages and keep an eye out for those opportunities. Get to it!

Romance Writers of Australia contests

I was recently chatting to some other emerging authors and realised that the Romance Writers of Australia contests are probably the most helpful thing I’ve done to improve my writing. I started with the First Kiss contest (and was a finalist!) then entered the Valerie Parv Award twice, not making the finals but doing pretty well, also the Emerald Award and Ripping Start were good learning experiences.

I haven’t entered any of the published author contests…yet. I can’t wait until I can.

International romance writing contests

Last year I entered (and came third!) in the Lone Star contest, run by Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America.

My Lone Star contest 2015 finalist badge – any excuse to re-blog about this!

Most of the US state-based chapters of RWA run contests, many open internationally. The Golden Heart is the big contest for unpublished authors with a full manuscript ready to go.

In return for a small entry fee, you gain feedback from authors more familiar with the US market, your specific sub-genre or simply offer a different perspective. You might not always agree with the feedback but it can be an eye-opener. For example, if that anonymous US judge is reading this, I still don’t agree that ‘British’ English is wrong or distracting…

See the Romance Writers of America website for details or check websites such as Stephie Smith’s writing contest list for contests coming up across multiple genres.

What I’ve learned as a contest junkie

They’re fun! The online contests especially have a sense of community and excitement.
They offer great insights into your work. You might have to sit back and mull over some of the feedback for a while, or even rant a little if it’s negative, but it’s all a learning experience.
They don’t hurt. I was slightly terrified of entering a US contest. I thought, small fish, big pond, they’re going to hate me and I’ll do terribly badly. I was wrong.
They give you something to shoot for. A deadline, a goal, a reason to think of a new idea, all of these reasons are gold.
They could raise your profile. If you’re working away in your writing cave, getting ready to submit a manuscript, a writing contest credit on your website or in your query letter may help you get noticed (I’m hoping).

As I wait patiently (crazily) to announce something related to another international writing contest, I’m toying with entering (you guessed it!) another writing contest.

It’s the circle of life for a writing contest junkie.

10 real answers to the question: How is the writing going?

One of the most common things people ask if you’ve ‘come out’ as an aspiring writer, is “How is the writing going?” They are generally trying to be friendly or chatty, I understand. Really, I do.

So why is it that sometimes it feels like that question is prying, trying to access the murky depths of wobbly writerly weirdness that is the mind? Or my mind, at least. I only ask because I’ve been asked the question about eleventy billion times.

The polite and reasonable answer is, “Good!”–even if it’s not entirely true. Even the most polite questioners usually have no idea of receiving an honest answer. But I’m going to attempt it now. Are you ready? Good.

Here’s my list of ten possible real answers to the question about how my writing is going.

10 real answers to the pesky writing question (instead of “Good!”)

I’m writing like an absolute machine. Seriously, it reads like a robot has written it.
I’m up to draft number seven and I’m not sure of the main character’s name yet. She won’t ‘speak’ to me. I think she hates me.
There’s some sort of theme underlying all the references to cupcakes and coffee in my manuscript, but I can’t work it out. I’ll just go for a coffee break…and maybe buy a cupcake.
My kids are demanding things like food and clean clothes and that I actually respond to them when they speak. How is a writer supposed to concentrate in such circumstances, let alone write a sexy scene? (Secret tip: ABC for Kids is awesome)
Well, let’s see. I have a half written scene open on my laptop, which I stare at and then read some Facebook posts. Then I look up exotic locations on Google Maps and imagine my characters there. Then I close the laptop.
It’s all flowing at the moment, it’s like magic. Don’t talk about it or you might jinx it.
There’s this half-written manuscript on my laptop that’s annoying me, because I just realised where the bad guy’s drugs are hidden. I haven’t been working on the story for over a year, and I have another manuscript to finish right now. Weird.
I wrote for two hours and I think I have one good sentence. That’s okay, I’m counting that as winning.
Coffee. I need coffee. Someone bring me coffee.
I think this is alright. I just read over the earlier chapters and they are even interesting. Kind of. A bit of editing and it should polish up nicely.

AAAARRRRGGGH! Editing! Don’t even talk about it.

Oh, and one more bonus answer before I go.

11) I’m scared to open my manuscript right now. I wrote a blog post instead.

Image courtesy of tigger11th at FreeDigitalPhotos.net