Absolutely knocked out to have my story, The Red Slip Dress, narrated by Rose Caraway on the Kiss Me Quick Erotica podcast.

​You can listen to it here.

​Only women read romance.
And they tend to be uneducated, and definitely not feminist. 
Who cringed reading that? Who threw up a middle finger in protest? Worse...who agreed?

Stats are your friend

Yes, according to the RWA stats (which are due for a revision, it’s true), something like 87% of readers are women. Does that sound like ALL women readers to you? That leaves 13% of readers who identify as male, or at least, not as female. Is it a majority? No. But, it’s still a sizeable minority. 

What other misconceptions are there? How about that most romance readers are uneducated? Well, if romance writers are romance readers, and over 50% of romance writers have a Master’s degree (myself included), then that would debunk that myth, right? 

Nothing like a little shelf-love

Shelf Love set out to debunk the myths and misconceptions that lurk around the romance industry - myths like romance’s supposed readers, romance not being a feminist issue, and how romance is ‘less than’ other genres. I was lucky enough to be part of the ‘debunking’ with Kennedy Ryan, Emma Barry, Talia Hibbert and Tif Marcelo, as part of the Shelf Love podcast. 

Let me know what you think! What’s your biggest myth and misconception about romance?

​In the time of the romcom, is there room for angsty books?
 
This was the question posed on Twitter, parituclarly in light of the Corona virus pandemic. My instant knee-jerk was to say, yes, of course, there’s room. There’s always room for different levels and depths of emotions in romantic fiction. But, on closer inspection, if romance as a genre is about happily ever after, where is the space for those stories with less than ideal characters who have deep-rooted trauma that, in real life, often dooms them to less-than-ideal choices in love relationships?
 
When I started writing romance, six years ago, I started with contemporary romance. My intention was to keep it light, enjoyable, with internal conflicts that didn’t touch on to heavier topics such as alcoholism or domestic violence. Almost immediately, I failed in my attempt by including a black hero who, like any black man in South Africa, was subjected to the prejudiced system of racism. 
 
I tried again. This time I wrote a novel about a failed ice skater, but scraping under the surface, there’s a distant father who fails to emotionally connect with his daughter. In the novel, she gets the guy. But I knew that if I were to meet my character in the local coffee shop, she’d be bouncing from one unsuccessful relationship to the next. 
 
By the time I started writing my erotic romance trilogy, darker themes sprung up like weeds on the pristine lawns of contemporary romance. 
 
‘Broken people deserve happy endings, too” was what one of my writer’s group said to me. I want to read about depressed heroines who’ve survived suicide attempts overcome their challenges to be open to the kind of vulnerability that’s gutted them in the past. If love has meant pain, romantic love is no different. 
 
There are any number of writers who extoll positive thinking, happiness as a baseline state, and the power of editing out anything dark and negative. These are wonderful aspirational goals, but for many who’ve lived through trauma, these shinier, brighter futures are shadowed by the reality that prince charming might have a drug habit, or mommy dearest is a raging narcissist. When life has shown its ugly side one too many times, it’s hard to swallow anything different. It feels unreal, unattainable, and as if at any second, the next monster is lurking around the corner, waiting to terrorise us once more—even if that monster’s ourselves. 
 
I recently held a webinar on building better characters. One of the things that makes a reader resonate with their character is shared trauma. Even in the lightest romance novels, there’s trauma lurking between the pages. It’s our wounds that drive so many of our decisions.
 
When I read a category romance, I enjoy the escapism. The beautiful locations, the glamorous characters, the will-they-won’t-they stakes. But it doesn’t give me hope. It’s so far removed from something I can identify with, I appreciate it for what it is…pure fiction. I need a character I can identify with. Someone who’s been to hell and back and somehow is still standing, ready to fight another day, ready to slay their demons, unashamed to get help when and where they need it. I want to read those stories. Redemptive stories that explore the dark and assure me that I don’t have to fear it. 
 
Redemption is a powerful arc. 
 
I already know the dark is there. I’ve been in its shadows most of my life. And that same dark is what’s made me who I am. And they’re the stories I want to read. But not the dark that’s ugly, that traps and keeps its victims and dooms them to repeat the cycle over and over, never letting go its grip. 
 
Not stories about heroines trapped in Stockholm syndrome relationships with their captors, or ruthless thugs who kill all but the virginal ‘not-like-other-girls’ girl. I want to read the stories about those who came out the other side, and won. The ones who are scarred, wounded, broken, but stumbling towards recovery. I particularly want those stories in a world that feels familiarly topsy-turvy.
 
I’m writing something at the moment that’s not romance. There’s a happy ever after, but it’s not about relationship between two people, but about what can be found in the dark. And how it can be transformed into something different, better, more real.  
 
The dark is beautiful. 
 
Don’t fear it. 
 
 

It’s day something of lockdown and the radio is playing What becomes of the broken hearted? Who chose this? It’s one of the saddest songs ever, the lyrics alone make me want to reach for a razor blade, but the melancholic minor keys? It’s having me dig out the last of my chocolate stash and that is positively apocalyptic.

Anyway.

On to cheerier things. With all of the mad scrambling for essentials like Whiskas kitten yellow, hot chocolate, and face masks, I completely forgot that I launched the box set of The Jozi Series. It drifted up into my email and drifted back down again into the flotsam of my Inbox.  So HERE IT IS.

That’s The Joy of Comfort Eating, String Theory: A love story and The Ex-Factor all together in one ebook. For now, it’s available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited, so FREE if you’re on that particular programme.

I’ve been so busy with all of the erotic romance that I sometimes forget that I wrote contemporary romance which is far tamer than my other work. These stories are all about feisty women searching for love in urban Jo’burg, and are definitely NOT erotic in nature! In fact, in today’s tumultuous world (when is it not?), these stories are light and happy and about finding true love, even when my lovely ladies are sure it doesn’t exist. 

You pick up your copy here: https://amzn.to/2UDCFIa

Unlike Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic, Love in the time of Cholera, I don’t feel that love is a disease, a malady, an affliction that strikes us down and makes us weak. If anything, love is the antidote to the ills of this world with its unpredictability, instability and uncertainty. It’s often the only thing we can count on to lead us through stormy waters and navigate us safely into the calmer shores ahead. I, for one, am glad that I write love stories, even if some are unconventional. What better healing balm for scared, weary souls?

​Keep safe! Stay safe. 

RELEASES TODAY!

In her darkness, he’s her light

Skye Callaghan doesn't expect to be swept off her feet by a man like Chase Rogan, not since the accident that left her blind turned her world upside-down. But Chase isn't entirely unfamiliar. He's everything about her past she's trying to escape from—a military man. Trapped in a life she doesn't want, Chase may be the only man who can help her see in the dark.
 
ONE CLICK: https://amzn.to/34rutxa
 
#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookish #bookblogger #bookworm #booknerd #bookshelfie #booksofinsta #booksofinstagram #authorsorinstagram #literarylife #contemporaryromance #contemporaryromancenovel #eroticcontemporaryromance #eroticromance #newrelease
 
ONE CLICK: https://amzn.to/34rutxa

*** PRE ORDER *** RELEASES 17 FEBRUARY***

In her darkness, he’s her light

Skye Callaghan doesn't expect to be swept off her feet by a man like Chase Rogan, not since the accident that left her blind turned her world upside-down. But Chase isn't entirely unfamiliar. He's everything about her past she's trying to escape from—a military man. Trapped in a life she doesn't want, Chase may be the only man who can help her see in the dark.
 
ONE CLICK: https://amzn.to/34rutxa
 
RELEASES 17 FEBRUARY 2020
​
#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookish #bookblogger #bookworm #booknerd #bookshelfie #booksofinsta #booksofinstagram #authorsorinstagram #literarylife #contemporaryromance #contemporaryromancenovel #eroticcontemporaryromance #eroticromance
 
PRE ORDER: https://amzn.to/34rutxa

​Casual drinking is so laissez-faire, I’m not sure it’s really noticed.
Wine with dinner
A beer with your mates
A quick drink at the club
Bubbles for brunch
Rounds of shooters because it’s Friday, or any other day ending in ‘y’
It’s so acceptable that non-drinking creates ripples of discomfort. As though it’s somehow impossible to finish a 5km training run without a beer at the end of it. 

It’s to relax
To wind down
To celebrate
To forget
To feel happier
To fall asleep
Any number of reasons.

It’s so easy to slide into the habit of drinking. You just…do. And soon, it’s not only at weekends, but every day, at home, with dinner, alone or not. 

As I wrote TDOC, I realized how many events I’ve been to, where alcohol was the unofficial main feature. Always there. Always lurking. Lubricating social interaction. 

The focus shifted from whatever it was we were meeting for, and onto the alcohol. 

So easy. 
So…slick.

You’d barely even notice. 

And if, like me, your family has a history of alcoholism, the path to your own destruction is gently lit with any number of illusions that you’re in control.

You’re not. 

And sometimes, capital ‘A’ Alcoholism claims another captive, and no-one really notices. 

When I set out to write TDOC, my intention wasn’t to write about alcoholism. 

Actually, it was going to be about something very different. I’d read Destiny of Souls, which claimed to regress patients to access their past life knowledge (interesting and compelling reading). One of the chapters outlines how future love matches would be recognized by various ‘signs’ – the more, the merrier – to jog memory so that the lovers will recognize each other on the earth plane. 

Each chapter of TDOC has the various ‘signs’ that were supposed to jog these two’s memories. 

But as I wrote, the narrative shifted to something else, something darker. We brush up against bad choices every day that could change our life and slide us onto a different path. Even when they don’t seem like choices at all, but rather just ‘how things’ turned out.

I’ll share the original prologue at some stage (much lighter, much fluffier with a touch of paranormal). 

​You can get the first part here.
 

Twelve Days. One Lifetime.

Some love stories are wrapped with a bow. Others are sharp with mistletoe.
​
What if you'd already met your true love?

Christmas Wade and Sam Browning seem destined on a collision course toward each other. But their secrets threaten to keep them apart.

Twelve days to true love? Or does fate have other plans?

Twelve Days. One Lifetime.

I’m the first to admit - this novel is an experiment.

What if you’d already met your true love, but you were on two different tracks? What if you’d already met your true love, but the timing just wasn’t right? What if you’d met your true love, but they’d made bad decisions? These were the questions I’d asked myself when I started writing this story.

So, it’s a ‘friends to lovers’ in some respects, but...not. It’s similar to One Day...but not. It’s mostly about how your past is always present. And how, despite your best intentions, you fall into the wrong grooves, time and time again. They say you meet people for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Some people are definitely not married to the love of their lives (not even the like of their lives). Some people never escape the shaky foundations of a rocky childhood.

Anyway. back to the writing. The only way I could put this together was in instalments, hence the #serialromance. Four parts over a lifetime. Okay, so it ends somewhere in their forties, but you get the drift.
Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t. But I really wanted to share Sam and Christmas’s story.

Hope you enjoy!

On Friday, I had the pleasure of joining six other romance writers as we celebrated Wedding Season, ROSA’s first anthology (three sadly couldn’t make it).

There was champagne, cupcakes, and even a wedding dress or two, and lots of books, all of the books.

Have you said ‘I do’ yet to ROSA’s Wedding Season?

Get your copy here.