When One Door Closes Another Opens

Like many young girls I studied ballet from an early age. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t my favourite type of dance at the time. I’m not the most graceful person (ok, I’m the person most likely to fall over and hurt myself) and I found tap and hip hop more fun and better suited to my less-than swan-like movements.

However ballet fascinated me despite my lack of talent.

I went through several years of exams and performed to a lot of the staple ballet music pieces such as Greensleeves and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. I wore tutus (those things are scratchy as anything), learned to apply my own stage makeup, and practiced – though never mastered – pirouettes.

There was one thing that I never did: wear pointe shoes.

Sadly my proneness to injury got the better of me in my teens. I had terribly weak ankles caused by injuries (one of which involved me falling in front of a huge audience and having to be carried off stage – not fun) and flat feet. My podiatrist warned me that training in pointe shoes could very well mean a broken ankle and further damage to my feet.

I cried and cried and cried when I gave up ballet. Though I knew I had no real dance career ahead of me, seeing all my peers move forward while I was forced to give up was very upsetting (type-A sixteen year old girls do NOT handle this stuff well!)

 However, my years of ballet study did come in handy when I started writing. In 2012 when I sat down to start my very first book (which later became Only The Brave Try Ballet.) I drew on all that fascination, experience and knowledge to write my professional ballerina heroine, Jasmine. I drew on the angst I experienced all those years ago when I was unable to continue dancing as well as my experience of some terrible injuries (one which put my out of actions for several months) to make Jasmine’s conflict and character more believable.

These days I keep my fascination and appreciation for ballet in my writing and in my spare time. Last year I saw La Sylphide (fun fact: although lesser known than other ballets, it was originally choreographed in 1836 and is one of the world’s oldest ballets) and I often spent time watching dance-related videos on YouTube.

 Both of my current books for Harlequin KISS feature former professional ballerinas as heroines because it’s something I love writing about.

 Question: are you a ballet or dance fan? If not, what was your favourite hobby growing up?

Sunday Smooch with Stefanie London.....

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from Stefanie London ___ but first 


... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway will be announced next week.




And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Breaking The Bro Code by Stefanie London........




Off limits…and oh-so-tempting!   

Elise Johnson has more important things to concentrate on than men…saving her struggling ballet studio for starters! So when gorgeous Col Hillam—her brother’s best friend—saunters back into her life, she’s none too keen.

He might be proposing a purely professional arrangement, but the last time they got carried away by their crazy attraction it ended in disaster! Col knows Elise is off-limits, but it only makes her more tempting….

With chemistry this hot, surely that bro code is now null and void…?




[Scene set-up: Col has returned to Australia after the passing of his estranged father. He has to clear out his father's house and Elise has gone along to provide moral support despite the fact that she's still angry at him for leaving her five years ago.]

Smooch - 

“I thought I was over this. I thought I was over him.” The last word came out as a growl as he hurtled the photo against a wall.

The glass exploded in a shower of tinkling particles. Elise watched them fall to the floor as if in slow motion, the sound of her heart magnified in her ears.

“I’m sorry, Elise. You shouldn’t have had to see that.” He turned his pain, palpable in the air around him, inwards. His chest rose and fell too quickly as he clutched at self-control.

“It’s ok.” She was frozen, rooted to the spot.

“I shouldn’t have brought you here, I know you don’t want to talk about the past–”

She couldn’t comfort him with words, but she needed to ease his pain. So she did the only thing which she could do, the only thing that felt natural.

Her hands found Col’s neck and she dragged him down to her, her open mouth ready for his. Their tongues met with force, lips pressing hard. This wasn’t a comforting kiss. Hell, it wasn’t even a distracting kiss. It was a full-on, all-barriers-down, forget-everything-else kiss.

One strong arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her so she could wind her legs around his waist. He moved and her back hit the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Col’s teeth came down on her lip, his hips grinding into her open legs.

“My god, Elise,” he groaned against her hair as her lips found the lobe of his ear.

He had her pinned and she couldn’t have found anything sexier at that point. The hard length of him had all her senses firing at high speed, his hands cupping her arse to hold her in place.

She writhed against him, eliciting a guttural moan from the back of his throat. Up close his scent invaded her, making her dizzy with lust and memories. His short hair was silky against her palms; she gripped it and tugged his head down. His tongue flicked against hers, his faint minty-taste drawing her in to keep the kiss going on and on.

“I’ve missed you,” he breathed.

The air was sucked out of her, reality crashing down like a derelict building – ugly and grey and harsh. “No.”

“No?” He pulled his mouth away from hers, his dark brows crinkled above his nose.

She pushed against his chest until he released her, her sneakers hitting the ground with a thud. “You don’t get to say that to me.”

To go into the draw to win a copy of Breaking The Bro Code, leave a comment to this question.....

Elise and Col are reunited after five years away from one another. It isn't always smooth sailing but they do find their HEA. When have you been reunited with someone? It could be a partner, a friend, a family member or even a pet.


Come back next Sunday when the winner will be announced and a smooch from the fabulous Rachel Bailey will be posted!