THE BREATHLESS LIST

with the Breathless team

Gasp! THE BREATHLESS LIST is  out!

Welcome back romance readers and writers! It's so good to see you here at the Breathless Blog for another year.

We spent the holidays hard at work coming up with an awesome line-up of blog posts and guest bloggers that we know you are going to love! (Ok, well...'hard at work' might be a bit of an untruth...it's never hard work when you love what you do!) To start the year off with a bang, we have The Breathless List!

We've all spent a year reading romances by Australian and New Zealand writers published in 2015 and we've picked our favourites to share with you. Whittling The List down to just 9 books was, and always is, one of the hardest things we do as a blog group, but it's something we're prepared to do in order to showcase our amazing Aussie and NZ romance writers!

So without further ado here is...

 
The Breathless List



Miranda's Pick: From Christmas to Forever? by Marion Lennox. (Yes, there is a ? in the title.)

Surprise! I picked a series Medical romance. The sort you stay away from? Rethink! Two doctors meet in Wombat Valley: the incoming locum, Pollyanna (love that name), escaping from her smothering parents for Christmas; and Hugo, who's supposed to escape to the beach with his orphaned niece. But it's not about escape, it's about them finding themselves and each other (siiigh) while surrounded by car crashes, snake bites, drunken revellers, and even avalanches. Those bits are jaw-dropping. I adored the country feel, the glittery Christmas parts and the lush romance. Marion Lennox writes with a sweet power punch.





Enisa’s Pick: Storm Clouds by Bronwyn Parry

WOW is how I’d describe award-winning author Bronwyn Parry’s Storm Clouds (published by Hachette Australia). I read and read, devouring the story’s mystery, danger and unexpected twists. The plot, interweaving the murder of a wife not seen in fourteen years with a deceptively-innocent alternative-lifestyle community, long-buried secrets finally revealed and a web of lies unravelling, intrigued me. The setting, the small NSW town of Goodabri and the nearby stark and rugged National Forest, filled me with cheer and yet chilled me. The main characters, National Parks rangers Erin Taylor and Simon Kennedy, and their slowly-blossoming romance, had me crying and smiling. A bonus was the strong cast of secondary characters adding an extra layer of depth to the story.

Storm Clouds yanked at my emotions, and what a yank it was. One I will always remember. Bravo Bronwyn Parry. You write beautifully.


Dee’s Pick: Freaks Under Fire by Maree Anderson

I know what you're thinking, "Cyborgs, really?" Yes. Really. New Zealand romance author Maree Anderson makes it onto The Breathless List for creating a cyborg heroine that readers want to be! Freaks' heroine, Jay, is most definitely a cyborg. You know that from the beginning and you're reminded of it in her speech patterns and mannerisms, but still you fall in love with her. She's the woman we all want to be, if only we could. By the end of the book, you're hanging on for dear life, hoping beyond hope that she can prevail and live to love another day!

Sharon’s Pick: Bidding on Her Boss (The Hawke Brothers #2) by Rachel Bailey

Why would any intelligent, self-respecting woman bid for three dates with her boss when her employer has a no-fraternisation-outside-the-workplace policy? Faith Crawford’s motivation for spending all of her savings on this seemingly fruitless endeavour is the first of many intriguing surprises in store for the reader. 

The powerful attraction between Faith and her boss, Dylan Hawke is impossible to ignore, however both have equally compelling reasons why they should not pursue it. Their decision to approach the dates from a practical perspective is hopelessly flawed, and makes incredibly entertaining reading.

 I fell in love with Dylan and empathised with Faith throughout this book. The ending is rare, even for a novel published in 2015, and is highly gratifying.




Cassandra’s Pick: By the Sword by Alison Stuart

In this English Civil War story, widow Kate Ashley is contacted by her husband’s estranged family who wish to name her young son as heir to the family estate, Seven Ways. However, the estate is financially floundering due to taxes imposed on the family for being Royalists. Kate’s husband died fighting for the Parliamentarians but she has no love for either side.

When Kate meets the real heir to Seven Ways, the outlawed Jonathon Thornton, she is immediately taken by the man who has willingly given up his birth right to protect the family’s home. He has pledged himself to the young King Charles II, even knowing he is on the losing side. 

I loved this story for its tender moments, its battle scenes, and the way Stuart seamlessly weaves in the historical events of the time. The long periods where hero and heroine are kept apart didn’t bother me in the reading of it, so kudos to Alison for her wonderful writing style. If you love a good historical with sweet, passionate moments and plenty of danger you will enjoy this book.


Dana's Pick: Northern Heat by Helene Young

I felt the heat in Northern Heat! Australian Helene Young writes so perfectly that I actually felt the oppressive far north Queensland humidity. She's a true master at setting the scene and weaving it into the story. As both a cyclone and the villain bare down on Cooktown, I felt every lash of rain and every ounce of fear that Kristy and Conner were experiencing. At one stage I realised I was holding my breath!










Marilyn's Pick: The Wildwood Sisters by Mandy Magro

Nine years ago, in response to a death threat following the disappearance and presumed murder of her beloved twin sister, young Renee Wildwood was forced to leave town without a word to anyone, including the boy she was madly in love with. When family circumstances force her to return to Opals Ridge, she’s determined to unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s disappearance, despite the prospect that the murderer may still be lurking. Her return reunites her with her first love; Dylan Anderson is now an emotionally wounded single father with a financially struggling farm. They try to fight their still-strong feelings for one another, while the killer makes plans to destroy them both.

As if the gorgeous cover wasn’t enough to entice, this rural romantic suspense ticked all my boxes: well-developed characters, believable conflict, strong emotions and heart-in-the-mouth suspense. Well done Mandy!

 


Karen’s Pick: The Lake House by Kate Morton.
Reaching No. 1 on the Australian Best Seller List, it would be fair to say Kate Morton's The Lake House is another success story. Having won the book at a charity event I was a little overwhelmed by the size of it - it's a whopping 595 pages - but it's easy reading and the story enthrals from beginning to end. Both a mystery and a historical filled with secrets, family tragedy and forbidden love, it shifts between past and present until both are woven together perfectly to reveal the final grand twist.

Dana's Pick: My Dark Duke by Elyse Huntington

My Dark Duke is a refreshingly original Regency historical that flowed so seamlessly from the first page to the last that I hadn't realised I'd read the whole story in one sitting. I just kept turning page after page after page. Australian author Elyse Huntington has created a hero and a heroine who are perfectly matched, strong, independent, but so in need of one another. Lady Alethea is unique and refreshing and just what the Duke of Trent needs, even if she doesn't know it. If you've not read it, get it now.









We love to love...everything romance reading and writing, especially from our Aussie and Kiwi authors!

*If you're an Australian/New Zealander author with a 2016 book release, please email us at breathlessinthebush@gmail.com and let us know, but please don't offer us a free copy. As much as we'd love to accept, in order to remain bias free we won't.*


We love to laugh...with each other-always with love, and often!


We love to learn...what you think of our 2015 picks. Are they the best of the best? What Australian and New Zealand writers with 2015 romance releases did you love?

SEX

Now that I have your attention…

In my quest for publication I’ve recently delved into how to heighten sexual tension. It seems everyone has an opinion on how to achieve it. After reading a plethora of articles, books, and even some advertisements, I think I have a better understanding myself.

Romeo and Juliet by Frank Dicksee

Sexual tension actually starts long before the first time the hero and heroine have sex, even before they share that first intimate, or quite possibly awkward, kiss. Right from the start of the romance a writer weaves in conflict, both internal (which often drive the protagonists apart) and external (which often thrusts the protagonists together). It’s the conflict that builds tension, hurling a reader into limbo, the limbo of 'will they/won’t they' get together.

“We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.”

― Tom Robbins

To create sexual tension, a writer uses the conflict tension along with word choice and sensory cues, often penning them into the inner thoughts of the point of view character. For example, if you say, “He kissed her,” you’re making a bland statement, but if you say, “His lips pressed down on her. She didn’t pull away as he had expected. Instead her emerald eyes fluttered shut and she moaned deep in her throat. Never had a woman given so much. He was at once aroused and awed by her strength, her beauty,” then you get a sense of the conflict and the tension between them. You start to feel worried that perhaps, just perhaps, she might pull away, that a kiss is not just a kiss, and there might not be a happily ever after…or then again, she might not pull away, that his kiss is THE kiss, and these two will forever be happy together!

“Sex is an emotion in motion.”

― Mae West

What heightens sexual tension for you…in the books you read or write or in life?

I love to love my husband—when our life together gets tough, he somehow manages to get even sexier.

I love to laugh—with my family. It’s such a delight to see their eyes light with happiness.

I love to learn—about others…what makes them tick, who they are, and how they got there.

The Romance of Christmas

with guest blogger Fiona Greene

A few years ago if someone had told me that my first published work would be a contemporary Christmas romance I would have fallen off the chair laughing. I love my sci-fi and futuristic romance, and while I am still writing spec fiction, I'm now exploring the contemporary side of things as well. I always have a few Christmas romances in my Christmas stocking but I was surprised to find myself writing one. I think the success of Home for Christmas stems from my love of the festive season.

I thought I would share ten reasons why Christmas is an inspiration to my writing.

I love to love… 

• Getting together with family and friends, especially the ones I may not catch up with during the year. 
• Giving to family and friends, but more importantly to strangers. Knowing you made a difference in the life of a stranger doing it tough at Christmas is so worthwhile. 
• Family traditions. My family always starts Christmas day with bacon and eggs, while my husband's family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. My family does pudding and custard, my husband's family likes chocolate and ice-cream. All great traditions that I look forward to. Of course, there are the extended family "sucking the joy out of life" traditions and I've sprinkled a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly into Home for Christmas. 
• Christmas carols and lights. We've just moved this year to a new neighbourhood and I can't wait to explore the Christmas light displays and the local carols. 
• Going for a run really early Christmas morning and listening to the silence, punctuated by the excited yells of children discovering a new bike or trampoline. 
• For the month of December, doing the bulk of my shopping at the IGA and strip shops rather than the local Westfield shopping centre and giving back to the community of retailers who were open at 5.30am when I needed bread and milk. Parking is also so much easier. 

I love to laugh…

• Hells Belles Christmas Party, where we celebrate our writing successes and set goals for the year ahead. 
• The annual city council bus decorating competition, the fiercest competition in all of Queensland, where rival bus depots vie for the honour of best decorated bus. Our local depot ensures whoever drives the decorated bus wears a Santa suit. The passengers can't help but smile when St Nick is driving! 
• The annual "firefighters rescuing Santa from the roof of our local children's hospital", while the kids in isolation "help" with the rescue by pointing, holding up signs, clapping and cheering. It’s a heap of fun and I try to time our run between families to arrive at the same time as the firefighters. If you thought firefighters were generally hot, imagine how much hotter they are when they are saving Santa from certain death after he became stuck on the roof. 
  
  

I love to learn…

• Resetting for the year ahead. We have one day over the Christmas season where we do nothing at all. That's when the Christmas romances and the chocolates come out. 
  
  

So, those are my Christmas inspirations.  What about the holidays inspires you?  

I wish you and your family all the best for the festive season and hope you are blessed with everything your heart desires. 

-Fiona

           Fiona Greene's debut romance novella, Home for Christmas (published by Escape) is 

           available through all major etailers.

What began as an impersonal-but-cheerful holiday gift for a soldier far from home becomes so much more...

Sergeant Tate McAuliffe, stationed in Afghanistan, opens his Christmas care package from Australia and is stunned by both its contents and the sender. 

Fun-loving Christmas tree designer Layla Preston is a breath of fresh air for loner Tate. Although they’ve never met, their email friendship quickly develops and their feelings for each other deepen.
But Layla knows the heartache that loving a soldier can bring and when Tate is injured, her deep-seated fear drives them apart. With their relationship in tatters, can Layla and Tate work through their differences, so Layla can welcome Tate home for Christmas?

Miranda's Musings

Hello beautiful people, let’s talk Christmas romances! Do you love to read them as much as I do? For me, there's nothing better than picking one up and getting right into the festive mood.

What books did I love to love this month?
A Very Special Holiday Gift

Barbara Hannay's 'A Very Special Holiday Gift' is an absolute melting moment, wringing the heartstrings.
Zac flies to London with his lovely PA, Chloe, when he learns of his sister's sudden accidental death...and that her tiny baby girl was saved. You can imagine what a poignant journey this becomes at Christmas. There’s a certain red dress that also takes on a life of its own. Sigh.

Her Christmas Earl
'Her Christmas Earl' by Anna Campbell is a lovely novella to enjoy among the rush and bustle. It's the old whoops-I-have-been-compromised theme done brilliantly well by Anna.

In this instance, shy, quiet Philippa accidentally gets caught in the Earl of Erskine's dressing room, and it all goes on from there. I wouldn’t mind this verra handsome Scottish earl in my Christmas stocking!

High Country Holiday
Try 'High Country Holiday' by Glynna Kaye if you like a little faith with your romance. 

Bad boy Cody Hawk returns to his childhood town when his father has a stroke, but he’s still wearing the chip on his shoulder from years ago. To his shock the girl he loved years ago, Paris Perslow, is still there... and still unmarried. Lots of issues in this book, so hold on.

What did I love to laugh at...an oldie but a goodie: 

Twelve Days of Christmas 

'Twelve Days of Christmas' by Trisha Ashley. A widow goes to house-sit a family home, deserted for Christmas, but one by one people keep arriving - and staying! As her husband died at Christmas she really wants to be left alone, but slowly she realizes how lovely Christmas can be as the house fills. She whips up amazing meals (she is a chef, and I swear I put on weight just reading this), and she unexpectedly falls in love. Sweetly comic.

What did I love to learn...that there are more festive books coming my way!

Mr. Miracle by Debbie Macomber

Home For An Aussie Christmas by Marion Lennox, Kandy Shepherd and Michelle Douglas.

Home For Christmas by Fiona Greene!

It’s a wonderful time of year! May your Christmas be full of good cheer and lots of books. Do let me know what festive books you’re reading? And see you again in 2015!

YOU'RE INVITED!!

Come celebrate with us.  

Whether you're a romance reader, writer, or other, you'll enjoy blogging with 

Breathless in the Bush.

Lots of love, laughter, and learning to be had by all.  
Did we mention we have giveaways--books and Amazon vouchers for lucky commenters!