Historical Romance Author
Twelve days until The Artist’s Secret (Brindabella Secrets, #2) comes out!
Here are snow clouds over the Brindabellas this afternoon. Apparently I’m the only person within an hour’s drive of Canberra who didn’t actually see any snow! So disappointed. ☹️
Book reviewers! The Artist’s Secret is now available for request on NetGalley.
Despite their growing attraction, both Peter and Elizabeth have secrets that will come between them.
New South Wales, 1887
Peter Rowe’s life is in the city, but his soul is in Australia’s southern tablelands-a place he’s never seen. Taking the new land manager’s position on the thriving estate of Endmoor is the chance he needs to discover what happened to the family he has never met. What he doesn’t expect to find in the bush is his employer’s talented, beautiful sister.
Elizabeth Farrer’s world is changing rapidly. An artist whose work has begun to gain acclaim, her brother’s marriage has made her redundant in her own home and she intends to leave the country and make a life of her own. Her plans would take her far from her beloved New South Wales, but with the arrival of Endmoor’s newest employee-a man unlike any other she has met-she discovers there might just be a reason to stay right where she is.
Just as they conquer their most difficult obstacles, old prejudices rise up and threaten to keep them apart …
The first chapter of The Artist’s Secret (out in a few weeks!) is now online. Read and find preorder links HERE.
Two months until The Artist’s Secret (Brindabella Secrets #2) comes out. And here is a picture of the Brindabellas near my house when we came home yesterday afternoon (not bad for a picture from the back seat of the car!).
Just a reminder that you can request your library to order in books that aren’t already in their catalogue. I requested an ebook version of The Landowner’s Secret for Libraries ACT and only just remembered to check if they’d bought it – they had!
There seem to be A LOT of stories about book piracy at the moment, but remember it costs nothing to join a library and you can have access to pretty much anything you want!
Just a reminder that readers in Australia and New Zealand can buy The Landowner’s Secret (Brindabella Secrets book #1) for only $1.99 on Kindle and Kobo (AU/NZ) until the end of the month!
New South Wales, 1885
When Alice Ryan wakes to find thugs surrounding her cottage, on the hunt for her no-good brother, she escapes into the surrounding bush.
It is wealthy landowner Robert Farrer who finds her the next morning, dishevelled, injured, and utterly unwilling to share what she knows. With criminals on the loose and rumours that reckless bushrangers have returned to the area, Robert is determined to keep Alice out of danger, and insists on taking her into his home-despite the scandal it may cause. Convincing her to stay on with him for her own safety, however, is going to take some work.
What Robert doesn’t expect is his growing attraction to the forthright, unruly woman staying in his home. Before either of them can settle into their odd new situation, their home and wellbeing come under threat and they will need to trust each other to survive. But they are both keeping secrets, secrets that have the potential to ruin their burgeoning love, their livelihood … and their lives.
Without giving too much away, I started edits on The Artist’s Secret at about 3am (now it’s seven in the morning). Don’t ask me why I chose that time to begin!
The manuscript is still a bit of a mess, but in this screenshot you can see what it looks like “behind the scenes” when you’re working with an editor on a book: lots of highlights and shifting of words and comments in the margins!
Thanks to Nichole Overall, an author and historian of the Canberra and Queanbeyan region, I’ve finally seen a Victorian-era photograph of The Dog and Stile, the pub that is in the background of my Brindabella Secrets series (book one is currently on sale for $1.99 for readers in Australia and New Zealand!).
The photograph is from the mid-1800s, and the building still stands in Queanbeyan, New South Wales (but no longer operates as a public house). You can see what it looks like now at the link to Nichole’s account.
Readers in Australia and New Zealand! In addition to The Landowner’s Secret being discounted on Kindle for the month of May, the price has now also been dropped on Kobo.
You can read the first two chapters HERE.
New South Wales, 1885
When Alice Ryan wakes to find thugs surrounding her cottage, on the hunt for her no-good brother, she escapes into the surrounding bush.
It is wealthy landowner Robert Farrer who finds her the next morning, dishevelled, injured, and utterly unwilling to share what she knows. With criminals on the loose and rumours that reckless bushrangers have returned to the area, Robert is determined to keep Alice out of danger, and insists on taking her into his home-despite the scandal it may cause. Convincing her to stay on with him for her own safety, however, is going to take some work.
What Robert doesn’t expect is his growing attraction to the forthright, unruly woman staying in his home. Before either of them can settle into their odd new situation, their home and wellbeing come under threat and they will need to trust each other to survive. But they are both keeping secrets, secrets that have the potential to ruin their burgeoning love, their livelihood … and their lives.
