MIRANDA'S MID-YEAR MUSINGS!

*Everyone who commented on Paula Roe's post last week will receive some swag from thewordablewriter.com. Thank you Paula!

Lockdown Reading - and Watching!

Darlings, hello from Sydney, where winter is finally here. Such snuggly weather to read.

To be honest, I thought when lockdown hit I'd read a lot more. No frantic rushing around. Stay! At! Home! was the mantra preached to us, and rightly so. So plenty of time for all the books.

Then online platforms began and I was connecting with friends and family in new and exciting ways. We bought a new TV and omigosh, Netflix entered my life. All those lovely romance movies were suddenly - right there! Cue me swooning. Suddenly I was reading and watching.

Photo credit: amazon.com

My first Netflix binge was to watch the first series from  Robyn Carr's amazing Virgin River books. Has anyone read or watched this? What a great series. I don't know where they filmed it, but it is spectacular! The setting is a remote mountain town by the river, and wow, they nailed it. Plus, you know, look who's playing the conflicted male lead: yummy New Zealander Martin Henderson. I just gobbled it up and cannot wait for Season 2!

If you haven't seen Martin in anything, and he is amazing, I also recommend Bride and Prejudice. It's based on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, always a fan favourite, only this time Bollywood-style. Am I gushing? (Yes I think I am.)

Photo credit: amazon.com

I've really wanted to read feel-good books in lockdown, so I started reading cosy, lovely books, where it's all about growth and change and relationships and romance. I was all, yes please, throw them my way so I can hoover them up. 

One of these charmers is an outstanding new release from Josephine Moon called The Cake Maker's Wish. Isn't that the most divine cover? Single Mum Olivia and young son Darcy move from Tasmania to the Cotswolds, looking for a new start. She's pretty much given up on romance - but happily, romance hasn't given up on her! At the online book launch Josephine Moon tempted us with the book *and* a scrumptious looking cake. I dived into the book immediately. It was a complete bliss-bomb - even if I did become rather desperate for cake - and Josephine Moon's backlist is equally delightful. Go ahead and binge on The Beekeeper's Secret, or The Chocolate Promise, or one of my personal favourites, The Tea Chest. Bliss in a book.

Photo credit: amazon.com

Another great read was The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams. A bunch of very alpha guys get together to coach the ones who need it on romance - with advice gleaned from romance novels. I laughed so much at all the snappy back-chat, this was a total pick-me-up shot of romance fun - although it certainly had all the drama and all the feels. I launched straight into the second one, Undercover Bromance, which included an excellent nod to the Me-Too Movement.

Photo credit: amazon.com

Last but not least, I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of Annie West's latest stunner, Claiming His Out-Of-Bounds Bride. Wow, this is such a powerhouse romance, I was thrilled from the get-go. A fabulous take on one of my fave romance tropes, the marriage of convenience. Done with style and so much swoony emotion it was dazzling. And set in Italy, oh my. Gorgeous. Thanks, Annie! You super-star!

Photo credit: amazon.com

What's been keeping you sane during lockdown? What books, what movies, what streaming series?

Take care, my friends, stay well and healthy and able to enjoy all the life. And maybe, the odd slice of cake. 💓

Lots of love from Miranda xxx

Love to Love:

My new Netflix discoveries! My heart's just about exploded.

Love to Laugh:

At the hilarious guy talk in the Bromance books. 

Love to Learn:

Oh please, tell me more about Netflix. And your lockdown reads! 

A Royal Love Affair

Not sure about anyone else but for any royal wedding I'm pretty much like this in front of the tv screen:

Image credit: giphy.com

Which is also what I look like watching any sort of hallmark royal romance movie, or reading royal romance novels. What can I say, I LOVE royal romance.

When I first had the idea for this blog, the big news around the world was Harry and Meghan doing a split from the crown (sad face). Now, of course, Covid19 has swept us away into a life of isolation and uncertainty (bigger sad face).

Today however, I’m hoping to drag you all back into a world of tiaras, duty and romance.

Image credit: giphy.com

Put your hand up if you aren’t a fan of royal romance. No one? Well I’m not surprised (plus let’s face it, you probably wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t have a thing for royal romance J)

I’m a total sucker for a good royal romance – it’s the ultimate escapism read for me and as I’m just finishing up the final book in a three book royal romance series, my head is chockablock full of diamonds, sweeping ballgowns, glitz, glamour, duty and of course forever love.

Image credit: giphy.com

So I thought, if I love it, surely others do too, and I approached a few of my all-time favourite authors who write compelling, romantic, sensual royal romances that never fail to sweep me away into their worlds, and asked them what they love MOST about writing royal romance.

Clare Connelly on writing royal romance:

“There's so much I love about reading - and writing - royal romance. There's the fairytale, of course! The idea of becoming a princess, of all the trappings, but the thing I adore most is humanising these people we know so little about. I like writing behind the trappings and showing that their problems, worries and sources of happiness are just the same as ours!”

Click to find out more about The Secret Kept from the King

Annie West on writing royal romance:

“You asked my favourite part of writing a royal romance. It’s hard to pin down precisely, but I think the stakes are higher when royalty is involved. All the world is watching and there is tremendous pressure on royal characters to get things right – so when they don’t and things go wrong in a big way (we can’t make it too easy for our characters!) then the consequences grow and so does the tension. I think there’s something about a life lived under the weight of public expectation that adds an extra layer to a royal romance. Plus I love the fact that I’m writing real people with real emotions and in the end it doesn’t matter what their official title is – they’re the same as the rest of us when it comes to grappling with both heartache and joy!”

Click to find out more about Revelations of a Secret Princess

Alyssa J Montgomery on writing royal romance:

“There’s a lot of intrigue about royalty - all the privileges and responsibilities being born or marrying into that status entails. The fascination is no doubt fuelled by the fact that we’re fed a plethora of princess/handsome prince stories as children.

I loved exploring the burdens of royalty for my characters Princess Sabrina and King Gabriel, and what it meant to grow up as the “spare” for Prince Devereaux and Prince Marco - and the pressures brought to bear on Prince Khalid for being the “spare” thrust into the role of inheriting the kingdom. I loved their conflicts and their growth and I’m really thrilled that Escape Publishing are releasing all four stories together as a boxed set in September.”

Click to find out more about The Defiant Princess

I've shared some of my favourite royal romance books, I’d like to now put it back to you: Do you love reading royal romance? And if so, let me know your favourite?

Psst, if you’re looking for a little inspiration I also stumbled across this Goodreads list which I thought I’d share – thank you AusRom for putting this one together!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/123623.Royal_Fever_Aussie_Style

Let’s bring on the happy ever after, royal style!

I love to love... reading and writing royal romance

I love to laugh... with my daughters whilst playing dress ups (princesses and weddings, of course)

I love to learn... how to paint with watercolours (one of my iso crafting projects)

Love Speaks: Romance Quotes

by Enisa Haines

I'm a romantic at heart so of course I love immersing myself in romance novels. I especially love reading gorgeous romantic lines that tug at my heart and thought I'd share fifteen of my Aussie-author favourites:

"Oh, devil take you, you awful man. Of course I'm in love with you."

"I've never known a place to feel like home - until I came to Red Rock Downs. And the reason it felt like home was because you were there. I could live anywhere and it would feel like home - as long as there was you."

"I love you, Ben. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there have been days these last three weeks when I didn't want to love you, but the thing is, I have no choice. You're part of my heart."

"I love you. I don't think it's something I can switch off like a tap. It's there and there's nothing, it seems, that I can do about it."

"Please don't leave me alone with memories of how you look because eventually they'd fade and I'll be left with nothing but a soft picture of you and that's not enough. I want you. With me, beside me."

"I thought I had it all. Until you came into my life and brought the sun, the moon...everything that matters."

"I love you, Coop. I love you so much I want to weep and yell it from the rooftops all at once and I want to be with you."

"You amaze me. Inspire me. You make me feel ten feet tall. You're so wise and silly and surprising. I want you by my side when I wake. I need you with me forever."

"Love. You deserve it, Luisa. That's what I want to give you. If you'll let me try."

"I fought it for the longest time. I thought it was your rakish wiles I couldn't resist but it was you. Just you."

"When you come to me, I know everything's going to be all right. Your love pushes me and cushions me and leads me to the light."

"When I look at you I see my forever home. You have shown me what love can be, and what a relationship should be."

"I am drunk on you, entirely addicted to your kiss, your laugh, your voice."

"All I want is you. Everything else will be a bonus."

"Babe. This chance with you...You're it for me. You're my number one and you're staying there."









There you have it. My favourite Australian romance novel love quotes. If you have favourite quotes not listed here, I'd love to know them.

Love to love: the beautiful ways heroes and heroines in romance novels say 'I love you.'

Love to laugh: laughing is good for the soul, after all.

Love to learn: about everything. I admit to being very inquisitive.

Romance Around The World: Italy

The Magic of Italy 

By Sharon Bryant

Italy is filled with romance. The art, architecture, history and culture are inspiring. Birthplace of the Renaissance, and cradle of the Ancient Roman empire, this setting has so much to offer the romance writer and reader. The natural beauty of places like Capri, Florence and Venice foster the imagination. And let’s not forget the masterful, passionate Italian heroes and strong, independently minded heroines. Their zest for life practically leaps off the page. Here are three of my favourite Italian romance novels. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

pixabay.com.au

Juliet 

Julie Jacobs receives a letter from her recently deceased aunt. She discovers her real name, Giulietta Tolomei, and learns her aunt hoped she'd travel to Sienna to find her mother’s treasure. She flies to Italy where she meets the attractive Alessandro Santini, but is immediately wary of him. Julie gradually uncovers the tale of her ancestor Giulietta, whose life story inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It soon becomes clear, criminals crave her mother’s treasure. Finding love with Alessandro but caught in a web of intrigue, Julie realises the curse from Shakespeare’s play, a plague on both your houses, may be real and impacting directly on her life.

Rosamanti 

Struggling to rediscover joy in life after the death of her husband, writer Sarah Halliman rents a 400-year-old villa, Rosamanti, on the Isle of Capri. On arrival, she learns the owner has died, and the property now belongs to a handsome but poor waiter, Pietro. As Sarah’s relationship with Pietro grows, she begins to write again, and becomes fascinated by Rosamanti. While researching the villa’s history, she stumbles upon clues that may help Pietro, or lead to disaster.

Hot Italian Nights 

A series of six novellas set in Italy. Each tale is loosely connected, the hero or heroine in one novella become minor characters in the next. Annie West creates strong, likeable, passionate men and women and page-turning plots. I found myself eager to learn the route to happiness each pair of star-crossed lovers took.

I love to love: I’m currently planning an overseas trip with my husband and father. Being with people you love is the best.

I love to laugh: The students I teach had a dance last night. They were playing limbo and having a ball.

I love to learn: I saw The Merry Widow with my father at the Sydney Opera House during the week and was fascinated to later research the history of this marvellous ballet.

How to Write A Bestseller (Part Two) - Advice from 4 Well-Known Romance Authors

by Enisa Haines

Welcome to Part Two of my investigation into How to Write a Bestseller where again I get a sneak

peak into just how four beloved Aussie romance authors make a book a runaway success.


Melanie Milburne, USA Today Bestselling Romance author:

Link to buy

Writing a best-selling romance...Write real but larger than life characters. Make them believable people you can relate to and empathise with and feel sympathy for. Make sure their dialogue is true to their character and to their emotional state in each scene. Don't over-complicate the plot but rather draw out the emotional conflicts unique to each character. When you think you've got enough emotional punch, double it.






Valerie Parv, Bestseller and Pioneer in Romance Writing:

Link to buy

Firstly, I don't believe you can set out to write a bestseller. At most you could analyse numbers of successful books and try to identify common elements. But Hollywood does this routinely and still produces some astonishingly expensive failures. I believe it's far better to pour your heart and soul into a story you can't wait to tell, trusting that your passion will resonate with millions of readers. If you avoid writing your story thinking it has to be a bestseller and you're afraid nothing else will do, the only way is to plunge in and write the book anyway. Move past your need for the work to be perfect - it never will be. Focus on the story you're eager to tell about characters who are alive in your mind. Let your passion carry you away and there's a good chance you'll have the same effect on your readers. If you're lucky they will talk about this wonderful story they've read and urge their friends to read it, too. Those friends will tell their friends until readers everywhere want to share the experience. That's how you make a bestseller.

Annie West, USA Today Bestselling Romance Author:

Link to buy

What makes a Bestseller? Ah, if only I knew for sure. Sadly, there's no set recipe for how to write a bestselling romance. But here are a couple of ingredients:

• Writing that makes us feel!
• A different take on a familiar romance theme. Something fresh that sparks and comes alive so that, before we know it, we're sucked into the story and don't want to leave.
• Characters we want to spend time with. Maybe they're engaging from the start. Maybe they get our sympathy initially because of their circumstances. Maybe we don't want them to like them but there's something about them that overturns our wariness - they surprise us or tug at our emotions despite our reservations. These are people who, for whatever reason, won't fade into the background. We care about them, relate to them and wait with bated breath for their happy ending.
• A vivid world that is real and fascinating.
• Passion. By this I don't necessarily mean a love scene. But passion from the author and in the characters. This place, these people and their problems must matter. And of course, I think characters who are passionate about what's important to them, draw us in all the more.

Helene Young, Award-winning Romantic Suspense author:

I think the most important aspect of storytelling is to have characters your readers care about. Our readers need to worry that the characters might not get their happily ever after, might not survive to see love blossom. They need to go on the emotional roller-coaster with our hero and heroine, laugh with them, cry with them and feel that solid punch of love when the world jolts off its axis. They need to barrack for them when times get tough and forgive them when they make mistakes. A solid plot is a handy thing as well, but for me there is no greater compliment than a reader emailing me to say that they couldn't stop thinking about my characters.

Link to buy

Great advice, each author saying in their own way: "Write from your heart and soul. Write with passion."

How do you keep readers turning the page?

Love to love: seeing kindness in others

Love to laugh: at funny yet clever conversation

Love to learn: about far-away lands

Author Spotlight: Annie West

Here at Breathless in the Bush, we love cheering on our Aussie authors. Special guest this month for our Author Spotlight is the gorgeous Annie West. Welcome, Annie!

What is the one 'must have' when you are writing?

Something to drink--tea, coffee or preferably water--I like being able to sip as I think.

What are you reading at the moment?

A Harlequin Sexy book by Michelle Smart and a book of essays by Jennifer Weiner.

Name one thing you're scared of.

Image courtesy of: www.sky.com

Horror films.







Like to share something that recently made you happy?

A keepsake necklace was broken so I took it to a jeweller. In the process of fixing it they accidentally broke it even more and had to replace a couple of the green peridots, which meant a long wait. When I collected it, not only did the jeweller refuse payment, but she had also made matching earrings as an apology for the delay. That was a terrific surprise. 😊

Like to share an embarrassing moment?

Sharing dinner with strangers, we got talking about fresh produce. I mentioned my dislike of chokos, saying I couldn't understand why they were sold in supermarkets. It turned out my neighbour at the table was Australia's biggest choko producer. Fortunately he had a sense of humour.

What is the premise of your latest book?

Bound to the Italian Boss is an office romance about an executive PA who's spent the last year hiding her beauty after being sexually harassed in a previous job. In the meantime she's fallen for her boss, Luca, who's not only sexy and charismatic but treats her as an equal. Luca finds himself drawn to the prim, no-nonsense woman who's become his right hand. When they meet away from the office, when all their barriers are stripped away, life becomes very interesting.


What unique challenges did the book pose?

This is only my third novella and while I love the shorter format (this one is half the length of the Harlequin stories) it's a challenge packing a strong, emotional story into a shorter word count.

What are you working on at the moment?

A sheikh story about a man who inherits a kingdom and a woman who changes his life. I've also started another 'Hot Italian Nights' novella.

What is your writing schedule? Morning, afternoon or night?

Day time, as early as possible, except that I tend to go for a long walk before breakfast. By night I'm ready to relax.

Are you a plotter, pantser or somewhere in between?

I prefer 'organic writer'. 😊 I used to plot, until I found I'd plotted so much I hadn't left my characters room to become real, passionate people. Now I start with my characters and their backstories plus a strong conflict and then disappear into the mist, finding out what happens along the way. So invigorating and exciting!

Do you listen to music as you write?

Sadly no. I find myself being distracted by the lyrics and even instrumentals seem to break my concentration, dragging me out of the world of the story. I really do feel like I'm in that other world as I write.

What do you love to love?

My family. And cute furry animals.

What do you love to laugh at?

Image courtesy of Pinterest.

Events rather than people.

Anything absurd, and, I hate to admit--really bad puns!






What do you love to learn about?

I love hearing how writers came to write a particular story or how they became writers. I love history and hearing quirky details in the background behind historical events and people is fascinating. Just today I learned how Tim Tams got their name. Of course I was fascinated--historical trivia and chocolate!

About Annie

Annie is a USA Today Bestselling author who loves writing passionate, intense love stories. She's currently writing her 33rd 'Sexy' series book for Harlequin Mills and Boon. She's won the Australian Romantic Book of the Year and the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award. Annie has devoted her life to an in-depth study of tall, dark, charismatic heroes who cause the best kind of trouble in the lives of their heroines. Creating heroines who are a perfect match for those strong, stubborn men is one of her favourite things. As a sideline she's also researched dreamy locations for romance, from vibrant cities to desert encampments and fairytale castles. She lives north of Sydney, between glorious beaches, a pretty lake and fine vineyards. Her favourite things are books, good company, good food and travel.

You can find out more about Annie's books at her website. http://www.annie-west.com/

You can also keep up to date with her news via her Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/anniewest.author

or by signing up for her email newsletter https://madmimi.com/signups/109660/join