Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose heart-warming contemporary romance, A Walk in the Park, is out now!
Ever since she was a teenager, twenty-nine-year-old Daisy Shepherd has been thrilled to be able to walk dogs for a living. And with a supportive mother and stepfather, she thinks she has everything she needs.
But when her birth father, James, asks to meet her, her idyllic lifestyle is turned upside down.
Having been abandoned by James as a baby, Daisy has no desire to get to know him. However, she is delighted to learn that she has two half-siblings, Charlie and Kirsty, with whom she forms a warm friendship.
With a newly expanded family, Daisy’s happiness should be complete. But as she spends more and more time with Charlie and Kirsty, her feelings grow more complex.
And with her heart pulling her in one direction and her head in another, she begins to wonder how she can protect her relationship with her siblings while preserving her peace of mind…
Will Daisy be able to work through her feelings? Can she keep her newfound family in her life?
In this behind-the-scenes blog series, Sapere Books authors offer an intriguing insight into how, where and why they write.
Today, we are delighted to spotlight contemporary romance author Patricia Caliskan.
I wrote my third novel, When We Were Us, at my bureau, which has become my writing enclave. Something about opening the bureau desktop gives me a sense of immediacy which speeds the writing along. I write upstairs, free from distractions, except for my dogs who stop by to visit, but basically closed off from everything except the world I’m creating.
Patricia’s bureau
I never thought I had any writing rituals until people began asking the question. I realised that I have rituals in general. All three of my novels were largely written at night. Once the demands of the day are over, night-time is not only the perfect fit in a practical sense but allows me the space I need to daydream on behalf of my characters, and fully immerse my thoughts in the world of the book.
I’m a huge advocate of those tiny details which promote wellbeing, even when I’m not writing. So, before I get back to my latest manuscript, I mix essential oils for my diffuser, which works like magic for changing up the mood, and I set a timer to monitor my working hours.
I find having scheduled time slots super helpful. I can show up and do the work and know exactly how much time I’ve spent on the novel, which is reassuring when I’m trying to find enough time to work on a project.
I switch on my moon light, as I call it, a perfect orb of white light, and always freshen up my perfume before I write. I think of perfume as a superpower. A favourite scent signals that we’ve got work to do and someplace else to be.
I usually start by reading over where I left off to reacclimatise. I try not to spend too much time agonising over a word choice or a sentence formation until I’m at the editing stage. I have a natural tendency to edit as I go, wanting the work to be as close to the final manuscript as possible, which can hinder the drafting process.
When it comes to first drafts, I remind myself of my own advice: to just get it all down. I need solitude to do that, and sitting at my bureau, I feel enclosed in the world of the book. When it comes to editing, I usually end up inadvertently making a playlist to score parts of the novel or characters, which I find helpful with tone and pace. Once I have a completed manuscript, I print the work out and read it aloud, because if the writing doesn’t sound right, it isn’t right, and needs reworking.
Writing fiction requires both discipline and detachment, and my little bureau space provides just that!
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose heart-warming love story, Hope Blooms, is published today!
Hope Blooms is the fourth book in the Moondreams House Romance series.
Having recently left the army, Hope Everett is now learning to live with a physical disability and PTSD. As she does her best to accustom herself to the civilian world, she wonders what to do with the rest of her life.
When a florist job becomes available on the Moondreams House estate, Hope jumps at the chance to indulge her lifelong passion for flowers. Despite her limited experience, her enthusiasm wins her the job.
However, her excitement is dampened when Dante Troughton — the aloof son of the estate owner — insists on overseeing the financial side of Hope’s business.
Though Hope initially finds Dante arrogant and overbearing, their uneasy relationship gradually grows into a mutual respect. And as both begin to open up about their past, Hope questions whether she is ready to let someone get close to her…
Can Hope make her new business thrive? Will she find solace in her work and blossoming friendships?
Or will the tragedies of her previous life overwhelm her…?
Congratulations to Jane Cable, whose captivating time-shift romance, The Lost Heir, is published today!
The Lost Heir is the second book in the Cornish Echoes Dual Timeline Mystery series.
Cornwall, 2020
Teacher Carla Burgess is using her time in solitude to revaluate her life. She loves living on the beautiful Cornish coast, but she no longer enjoys her job, and it’s certainly time to kick her on-off boyfriend, Kitto, into touch.
With lockdowns forcing her to spend most of her days indoors at her parents’ family farm, she joins her father in researching their family history, and she discovers the first Burgess to farm Koll Hendra was actually a smuggler. And when Carla finds a locked Georgian tea caddy in the barn, the secrets of the past start to encroach on the present…
Cornwall, 1810
Harriet Lemon’s position as companion to Lady Frances Basset has been the ideal cover for their clandestine romantic relationship. But when Frances is raped and falls pregnant, their perfect happiness is shattered. The lovers are desperate to remain together, but they will need to conceal Frances’s baby.
They hope to hide the pregnancy and place the baby with adoptive family, but the only person who may be able to help them is Frances’s childhood friend, William Burgess, a notorious smuggler. William has secrets of his own he needs to protect. Will he be willing to risk his own neck for the sake of the two lovers?
Congratulations to Natalie Kleinman, whose captivating Regency romance, Some Day My Prince Will Come, is published today!
England, 1819
Having suffered at the hands of an unscrupulous suitor during her first season in London, twenty-one-year-old Rebecca Ware has vowed to leave her ordeal in the past and is now embarking on her second season.
Though she is wary of opening her heart, Rebecca soon finds herself drawn to Comte Hugo du Berge, a handsome French nobleman who has recently arrived in London.
As the season progresses and Rebecca and Hugo find themselves thrown into closer proximity, their warm and easy friendship deepens.
However, with a long-buried family mystery to unravel, it seems that Hugo is not in a position to settle down. And when he prepares to return to France in search of answers, Rebecca begins to worry that she has lost her heart to a man she may never see again…
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving contemporary romance, Finding Happiness, is published today!
Finding Happiness is the third book in the Moondreams House Romance series.
Having lost her husband in a motorbike accident, forty-six-year-old Angela Ross has decided to start afresh in the small village of Waterthorpe. Along with her daughters — sixteen-year-old Grace and twenty-five-year-old Debs — she does her best to adjust to village life, supporting herself with her writing.
But when she meets Gilles Richard — the head gardener at Moondreams House, the large local estate — Angela’s heart is once again thrown into turmoil.
Torn between her loyalty to her deceased husband and her growing attraction to the kindly gardener, she is unsure whether she is ready to pursue a new relationship. And as she and Gilles become closer, she cannot shake the feeling that he has something to hide.
As long-buried secrets begin to unravel and family conflicts come to a head, Angela’s anxiety over the future increases. And with her painful past still weighing her down, she must decide whether she is finally ready to follow her heart…
Can Angela find a way to move forward? Will she and Gilles act on their feelings?
Or will their unresolved traumas keep them apart…?
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving dual-timeline romance novel, Lost and Found, is out now! Lost and Found is the second book in the Moondreams House Romances series.
Having been adopted as a baby, twenty-four-year-old Natalie has started to wonder where she came from.
But when she finds out that she was abandoned in a doorway, her curiosity about her birth mother turns to hurt and anger.
Trying to forget her turmoil, Natalie throws herself into her new business venture: Tea and Sweet Dreams, a cosy teashop on the Moondreams House estate.
However, her resentment over her origins continues to simmer, putting pressure on her relationships.
With her love life hanging in the balance and her teashop requiring constant attention, Natalie soon begins to feel overwhelmed. Realising that she cannot move forward until she unravels her past, she becomes determined to find and confront the woman who left her…
Why did Natalie’s mother give her up? Will she find the answers she’s looking for? Or will her roots remain a mystery…?
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving love story, Reaching For Tomorrow, is out now!
After years of marriage, Jen Lucas’s relationship with her husband, Mike, has begun to falter.
As Mike starts spending more time at the gym — and acting surly and distant when at home — Jen struggles to get their marriage back on track. However, a painful discovery soon makes her question whether their bond is worth saving.
Pushing her sadness aside, Jen throws herself into her work as a primary school teacher, a job that she loves.
And as she finds herself growing closer to Christopher — the kind father of one of the children in her class — Jen begins to wonder where her happiness lies…
What is the right path for Jen? Can she save her marriage?
Congratulations to Tanya Jean Russell, whose heart-warming holiday romance, Summer at Rose Hall, is out now!
Summer at Rose Hall is the fourth book in the Honeyford Romantic Holiday Reads series.
Having recently left the army, Abby Smith is struggling with civilian life. Unsure where her future lies, she accepts a temporary job as the summer events manager at Rose Hall, a countryside estate.
Soon after she arrives, Quinn Beaumont, the wayward heir to Rose Hall, returns to the estate for the summer. Plagued by self-doubt, Quinn overindulges in parties and alcohol to forget his responsibilities.
Recognising his unhappiness and untapped potential, Abby asks Quinn to join her in the events department to help him ease into his role at Rose Hall. In return, Quinn vows to help her transition back into civilian life.
Working in close proximity, both soon begin to wonder whether their friendship could blossom into something more.
But having never lived in one place for more than a few months, Abby isn’t sure whether she’s capable of settling down. And with the wounds of her past still holding her back, she must now decide whether she’s prepared to risk her heart…
Will Abby and Quinn find where their happiness lies? Can they face the future together?
Congratulations to Teresa F. Morgan, whose sparkling summer romance, Sunsets and Happy Ever Afters, is published today!
Having recently gone through a painful divorce, Maya Rosevear has been concentrating on running her mobile beauty business and raising her two young children. Now ready to meet someone new, she decides to give online dating a try.
As she juggles her responsibilities with her love-life, Maya keeps crossing paths with Sam Trescott, the father of her daughter’s best friend. Despite initially getting off on the wrong foot, the two bond over their children and form a tentative friendship.
As a widower, Sam understands what it is like to be lonely. Watching Maya launch herself back into the dating world, he questions whether he is also ready to pursue a new relationship.
Seemingly unable to meet the right man, Maya takes solace in Sam’s companionship more and more. And as they grow closer, both begin to wonder whether they have finally found what they’re looking for…
Can Maya and Sam help each other heal? Will they have a second chance at love?
Or will their painful pasts come back to haunt them…?
Congratulations to Ros Rendle, whose moving romantic saga, Resistance of Love, is published today!
Resistance of Love is set in England and France before and during World War II, and is the second book in The Strong Family Historical Saga series.
After spending ten years in Australia, Delphi Strong is on a ship back to England with her daughter, Flora.
While on board, Delphi meets Rainier, a charming vineyard owner on his way home to France. Forming an instant mutual attraction, the two share a whirlwind romance before disembarking.
Unable to forget her, Rainier crosses the channel a few months later and asks Delphi to marry him. Equally lovestruck, Delphi accepts, and she and Flora join Rainier in France.
However, their idyllic lifestyle is shattered when war breaks out and the Nazis begin to occupy the country. Forced to flee to the Free Zone in the south, the family must now pull together to resist the enemy…
Congratulations to Tanya Jean Russell and Teresa F Morgan, whose sparkling Christmas romance novels are published today! Read on to find out more about each book.
Christmas at Honeyford by Tanya Jean Russell
Do Tess and Sam have a second chance at love this Christmas…?
Since being widowed, Tess Adamson has steadfastly avoided romance. And with a young son and a village bakery to run, she has little time for herself.
As the Christmas period approaches, Tess unexpectedly gains a temporary neighbour — celebrity artist Sam Harrison. Having suffered a public heartbreak, he has retreated to the village to hide from the press and lick his wounds.
Despite Sam’s wish for total seclusion, Tess is determined to make him feel welcome. Moved by her kindness, Sam soon steps in to make her busy life a little easier.
With their past pain and disappointments, both Tess and Sam are wary of pursuing relationships. But as they grow closer and the festive season starts to work its magic, the lonely pair begin to wonder whether they are ready to move forward…
Between setting up her boutique and raising her six-year-old son, single mum Beth Sterling has little time for romance.
Keen to expand her clientele, Beth moves her business into a cosy converted stable on the scenic Trenouth Estate.
However, her focus soon wavers when she meets Tristan Trenouth, the handsome but aloof owner of the estate. Each wilful and outspoken, Beth and Tristan are soon clashing whenever they cross paths.
With the estate’s charity ball and Christmas fayre on the horizon, the two grudgingly put their differences aside and agree to work together. And as they spend more and more time in each other’s company, their uneasy truce blossoms into a strong mutual attraction.
But with a young son, a fledgling business and a painful past to contend with, Beth needs someone she can rely on. And Tristan has demons of his own to face…
Natalie Kleinman is the author of The Reluctant Bride, a glittering Regency romance with a strong-minded heroine at its heart.
I spent the first few years of my career writing contemporary romantic fiction, firstly short stories and then novels, until the burning desire I’d had for so long pushed itself to the forefront. I wanted to write a historical novel set in England’s glorious Regency period. Maybe I couldn’t, but I had to try. I’d previously looked upon it as a presumption on my part even to consider it, bearing in mind my love for the works of Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen. But I wasn’t trying to emulate them. I was trying to make my own contribution the genre that had given me so many hours of joy over decades. And so my first Regency novel, The Reluctant Bride, was born, to be followed by another, and then another. They’ll be coming soon, so watch this space.
Charlotte Willoughby — the heroine of The Reluctant Bride — is a young woman of her time. Born into the aristocracy, she is as much tethered by her status as privileged. When she is forced by her father to marry the Earl of Cranleigh, purely to satisfy his own interests, she has no choice but to comply. Six weeks later, fate takes a hand when her husband is killed in a riding accident. Free of a tyrannical parent and a loveless marriage, Charlotte begins to enjoy her newly found independence. Gresham, the earl’s cousin, undertakes to guard her from fortune hunters and, while she finds him arrogant and aloof, she cannot deny the security his protection affords her, particularly with regard to the unwelcome attentions of Lord Roxburgh. Acutely aware of the tension between the two men, Charlotte learns they have a shared history, the animosity of which still lies between them. With the coldness of one and the over-heatedness of the other, will she be able to find her own path to happiness?
Writing The Reluctant Bride, I settled into a deeply satisfying place where I was able to weave a tale while indulging in my love of the setting. I could see the magnificent houses and the glorious balls, but beneath all ran the story of a young woman, struggling with adversity, triumphing over it and finding her own way. I hope you enjoy it.
