Finding Time

Reading: Rogue by Rachel Vincent

Listening to: The beautiful sound of silence . . . while my baby sleeps!

Watching: Off the Map – new show starring New Zealand’s own Martin Henderson

Making me Smile: My dogs coming inside wet from the rain and being super-excited about it

I’ve always admired mothers who manage to stay at home and care for their children, as well as write multiple books each year. Now, as a first time mother myself, I’m wondering how they do it.

Our new baby is sleeping pretty well compared to others, however dealing with 4-5 hours sleep each night instead of 8+ is tough. So is trying to hold down work as a freelance writer, write books, and get dinner on the table. But at the end of the day, I love what I do, and I wouldn’t want to stop writing for a moment. The tough part is finding balance, to be a great mother, wife and writer.

So for all those fabulous mothers reading this, who are brilliant at juggling their time, what are your secrets and tips? How do you find time for your family and your work, and manage to keep your sanity?

At times it sure feels like a juggling game, but indulging in something I love – writing – sure seems worth it. Even if at times it does seem tough to fit everything in.

Thrill of the Forbidden

Reading: Baby books
Watching: Time Team
Listening to: Lady Gaga
Making me smile: My early Valentine's gifts

Why is it we always want the things we know we can’t have? Or shouldn’t have? When something is forbidden it just seems to become so much more tempting.

It might be that forbidden person who tempts us no matter how much we tell ourselves to forget them (hasn’t happened to me since I met the love of my life…well except for anytime I see Hugh Jackman on television!).

It might be that food we know we should avoid (chocolate, I’m looking at you.) It might be that reality television show you know you shouldn’t watch but just can’t help yourself (there are too many to name!)

The thrill of the forbidden gave me the story idea for my next Nocturne Bites, One Night with the Wolf. The heroine, Jade is alpha of her wolf pack and to ensure their safety she must marry an aging, powerful alpha. But before she commits herself to a passionless union, she wants one night of pleasure and the only man who tempts her is the one forbidden to her.

Enter the hero, Christian who is an exile from his pack – a wolf with no power, no connections and nothing to offer a woman like Jade. He knows an alpha can’t be linked with an exile. But while both know they can’t have each other, they are tempted to the edge of their control.

So, what guilty little pleasure tempts you? What’s the one thing you know you should steer clear of but just can’t resist? I’ll kick it off and fess up to my Diet Coke addiction – I know it’s bad for me but it tastes oh so good!

One Night with the Wolf from Harlequin Nocturne Bites is available for download March 1st.

Sunday Smooch

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Rebel With A Cause by Natalie Anderson, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Helen!


Congratulations, Helen! Can you please contact Rachel Bailey at

rachel (at) rachelbailey (dot) com

and she'll send you a copy of Million-Dollar Amnesia Scandal.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Rebel With A Cause by Natalie Anderson...



Office gossip...
It's well known that rugged tycoon Lorenzo Hall comes from the wrong side of the tracks, and that opposites attract... Apparently one glimpse of his pristine new assistant Sophy Braithwaite had Lorenzo itching to undress her - we wonder if she's as prim and proper as she looks! Of course, to Sophy, her smouldering boss should be off-limits, but it's easy to see how Lorenzo's criminally hot body and the dangerous twinkle in his eyes could tempt her to break all the rules...



Tired. That was her problem. Tired and frustrated and overwhelmed. And he wasn’t helping – towering over her like this, tormenting her all the time. She looked straight down to the floor as tears sprang at her eyes. “Forget it.”

“No,” he took her chin in firm fingers and tilted her head back up so he could see her face. A half-swallowed growl sounded. “You’re really upset.”

“My wounded pride will get over it,” she snapped, cross with her stupid weakness. “I don’t care what you think. I’m here to do a job. Now I’m going to get on with it.”

“Not until I apologise.”

“I didn’t think you’d be the type to say sorry.”

“And you think I’m the one making assumptions?” His eyes glinted but the smallest of smiles appeared. “Ok, I don’t say it often. But when I do, I mean it.” He stroked her jaw. “I’m sorry.”

“Its fine,” she shrugged, too crushed to accept it with good grace and determined not to let that smile have its usual disabling effect. “I don’t care what you think about me.”

His smiled deepened just a touch. Okay, so she was protesting too much.

She sighed as a flicker of good humour returned to her. “Don’t get big-headed about it. I care too much what everyone thinks about me.”

“What you think matters to me too.”

Okay, so now his niceness was making it worse. Embarrassed, she shifted. “Look, just forget it.”

“No,” his grip tightened. “I’m going to make it better. I’m going to do it anyway. It’s been on the cards for days. You know that.”

She froze, her body rendered immobile with anticipation overload. All she could do was gaze up at him – drowning in his eyes, yearning for that beautiful mouth to touch her.

And then it did.

A butterfly-light brush of lips on skin – a shade too close to her mouth to be a safe kiss on the cheek. And he lingered too long for it to be safe too.

“Better?” His question almost inaudible, but she heard it, felt it as his lips grazed her as he asked.

“No.”

The smallest of pauses as they stood – intent hovering. Only a couple of inches separated their bodies, only a millimetre separated their lips. She could feel his heat, and smell his fresh soapy scent. A tremor ran through her as anticipation almost broke her nerve. Suddenly he moved – that merest fraction, the littlest drop to her mouth. His lips were warm, and they clung.

Her eyes closed, her body blanking everything so it could focus only on the touch. His gentleness so unexpected, the rush of sensation pierced through her.

A moan – was it her? The softness, the slowness, the sweetness overwhelmed her. She trembled again and his hands tightened. This wasn’t enough.

And then it was over.

She couldn’t breathe. She saw his eyes zooming in on her. Jet black now. Intense. Beautiful. Time and motion stopped for a moment that felt like infinity. Her every nerve was wired, waiting, wanting. Would he come back – would he kiss her again?

“No,” he said roughly, stepping back. His hands dropped – leaving her suddenly cold. “You were right. I was wrong.” He walked out the door. “I really am sorry.”


Poor Lorenzo gets to feel a whole lot sorrier as his relationship with Sophy grows all the more complicated… To be in the draw to win a signed copy of Rebel With A Cause, just leave a comment below!


Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from Moon Thrall by Mel Teshco will be posted!

Heat waves and other minor matters...

by Michelle Douglas

Reading: My RITA books

Listening to: ABBA Gold

Watching: the garden un-wilt

Making me smile: the temperature, my health, my car...

On Sunday night the heat wave that held my part of the country in its clenched and taloned grip for seven days finally broke. A heat wave that quite frankly was hateful - temperatures consistently around 40C and the inside of my house not dropping below 30C for the entire week, not even at night, and with humidity levels at around 85%.

To be honest, though, there was very little grumbling to be had because a heat wave is MUCH better than a cyclone Yasi, than the floods that have hit both Qld and Vic, and the bushfire that has destroyed homes in WA. By comparison, my part of NSW has been very lucky.

But this heat wave did get me thinking about the little things I take for granted, because let me tell you, when that cool change came through on Sunday evening I was so happy I could've cried (or spontaneously burst into song, but then that would've made everyone else cry). Every day this week I have relished the gorgeous cool weather.

Towards the end of last year I got a minor infection that I put up with for two weeks before finally going to the doctor (hey, I was busy and the infection was minor and not stopping me from doing stuff and I thought it might just go away - ha!). Two days after I'd started taking the antibiotics I felt on top of the world. I vividly remember walking around my local shopping centre feeling so utterly healthy that I couldn't help smiling blissfully at everyone I passed (no, they didn't send in the men with the white coats).

The first car I ever owned broke down all the time. I made do. My second car leaked whenever it rained, hence, it smelled (quite a lot now that I come to think of it). I got my third car three years ago. It's beautiful. I can no longer see the road through the floor (I'm sure this is a good thing). I can now hear the radio playing because the wind no longer whips around my ears, deafening me. And I have shock absorbers that work. Whenever I drive my car - even after three years - I grin to myself, so pleased that I am now driving this car.

So what about you? Is there some small thing you've recently realised you take for granted? Or, conversely, something that fills you with delight? (Oh, and aren't you just loving this cooler weather!)

The Sentinel Mage Winner!

Congratulations Jacque Spillman -- my cat chose you as the winner of The Sentinel Mage giveaway!

Jacque, can you please email me on

worldaroundthecorner (at) gmail (dot) com

with your snail mail address and I'll send you your copy.

Thanks everyone who commented yesterday -- my cat had a very hard time picking the winner!

The Sentinel Mage

by Emily Gee

What I'm reading: The Complete Servant, by Samuel & Sarah Adams (1825)

Watching: Glee

Listening to: Salmonella Dub

Making me smile: The baby sparrows feeding outside my window


The release of my latest fantasy novel, The Sentinel Mage, this month caught me by surprise. I spent endless months plotting and writing it and suddenly -- kaboom -- it's on the shelves and I'm standing there blinking and going What? Already?

The author copies have just arrived and I had that surreal flicking-through-the-pages moment when you see the story that spent so much time in your head actually printed in black and white on the pages of a book. To me, it always looks very one dimensional compared to the 3D colour version that runs like a movie in my head.

The Sentinel Mage is something a new for me ... not only is it the first book in a trilogy, but it has multiple storylines. I wrote each storyline completely separately, from start to finish, and then combined them into a whole, kind of like plaiting flax. (Is that too kiwi a simile? You know what I mean, right?)

My publisher, Solaris, have created wonderful chapter images to separate out the three storylines.

The wolf and flames image marks the mages and Prince Harkeld's story -- which is the story on the back cover blurb.

(In a distant corner of the Seven Kingdoms, an ancient curse festers and grows, consuming everything in its path. Only one man can break it: Harkeld of Osgaard, a prince with mage's blood in his veins. But Harkeld has a bounty on his head -- and assassins at his heels.

Innis is a gifted shapeshifter. Now she must do the forbidden: become a man. She must stand at Prince Harkeld's side as his armsman, protecting and deceiving him. But the deserts of Masse are more dangerous than the assassins hunting the prince. The curse has woken deadly creatures, and the magic Prince Harkeld loathes may be the only thing standing between him and death.)

The sword and crown marks the story of Harkeld's sister, Princess Brigitta, and her armsman, Karel.

Britta and Karel aren't mentioned on the back cover, but I have to confess ... Karel is my favourite character in this book. He's strong, stoic, smart -- and lethal with a sword.


The footprint marks the story of the young orphan, Jaumé, whose story opens the book.

Jaumé is a blacksmith's son, fleeing across a continent ahead of the curse (the poor kid has bare feet -- hence the footprint).



Two of the storylines are going to collide violently in the second book, and all three will be bloodily entwined by the end of the third book, so my flax weaving is going to get pretty complicated. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

I have one copy of The Sentinel Mage to give away. (That's Innis, the shapeshifter, on the cover, by the way.)

Simply tell me what it is about fantasy novels that you enjoy. The magic, the heroism, the battles, the strange and deadly creatures, the passion...

(The first two chapters of The Sentinel Mage are up on my website, www.emilygee.com, if you'd like a sneak peek!)

Sunday Smooch

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Million-Dollar Amnesia Scandal by Rachel Bailey, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Clare Scott!


Congratulations, Clare! Can you please contact Natalie Anderson at

natalie (at) natalie-anderson (dot) com

and she'll send you a copy of Walk On The Wild Side.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Million-Dollar Amnesia Scandal by Rachel Bailey...

Truth, Lies and Seduction...

An accident left April Fairchild with no memory, ownership of a multimilliondollar hotel and the nagging sense something wasn't quite right in her life. It also brought her intensely sexy businessman Seth Kentrell, whose late brother had left her the property. Seth believed her a gold digger - and how could April deny it, when she couldn't even remember her name? Now Seth was ready to play hardball to get the hotel back.

But April knew enough to refuse to sign over the property until her memory returned. And if that meant Seth needed to persuade her... well, that was something she could enjoy! At least until the whole truth came out...

[Set up: April Fairchild is a world famous jazz singer and pianist, but she can't remember any of it. Seth has just found and shown her footage of herself playing the piano which has brought back patchy memories of her music. He's taken her to a piano in the hotel's ballroom and for the first time since she lost her memory, April is sitting at a piano, playing.]

When she finished the piece, more music crowded into her mind and she set that free too. Long and smooth. Fun and energetic. Sad and haunting. Some, she simply played; others, she sang the words—whatever felt right. And it all felt right, felt satisfying in a place deep inside that she’d forgotten existed.

As she launched into an Ella Fitzgerald number, she looked up and saw Seth watching her, a burning heat in his eyes. He leaned back against the wall, hands deep in his trouser pockets, legs crossed at the ankles. The pose of a relaxed man. Yet he was far from peaceful. He radiated tension. She’d been vaguely aware that some hotel staff members had drifted in and formed a small crowd for her performance, but she only had eyes for Seth. For all that heat. She wanted it closer. All of it. 

She segued into Fever without thinking much about it and his navy blue eyes burned hotter.

As her fingers touched the final notes of the song and the sound faded, she paused. She and Seth hadn’t broken eye contact for endless minutes and the air crackled with their attraction. The staff burst into claps and cheers for the impromptu concert.

Seth cleared his throat. “Okay, everyone back to work.” The command had the staff moving quickly, but Seth didn’t move a muscle. Her heart hammered at her ribs as the staff shuffled out, some smiling their gratitude to her, one giving her a thumbs up. It seemed to take an eternity, and all the time, Seth’s gaze was locked on her.

The moment the last person left, Seth strode the distance to her, slamming the ballroom door closed on the way past. April watched his progress, hardly daring to breathe. When he reached her, without a word or any preliminaries, he drew her up from the stool and his mouth came down on hers with a fierceness she welcomed with everything inside her. She wound her arms behind his neck, securing him, demanding everything he had to give. 

His lips moved with urgency, his tongue claiming her, wanting her. Had she ever been desired this much? She couldn’t imagine it was possible. The body heat emanating from him soaked through her clothes, down into her bones. Her skin tingled at every point that his hands, mouth or body touched. 

All she could think about was the feel of his broad back beneath her fingers, the curves of his hard muscles, wanting more, more. The clean forest scent of him blended with something darkly alluring, and filled her head. His fingers stabbed through her hair and massaged her skull, and in this moment she belonged to him, wholly and completely.

His hands slid down to her waist and he effortlessly lifted her high, onto the baby grand. Leaning down to preserve contact with his lips, she opened her thighs, and at the same moment that he stepped forward, bunching her long, soft skirt up and pressing against the core of her. She moaned, helpless to do more than kiss and be kissed. 

His mouth moved to the side of her lips, to her cheek, and she took the opportunity to gulp in the air her lungs had been screaming for, but she locked her ankles behind him to make sure the break didn’t become permanent. 

“I can’t stand it,” he murmured next to her ear. “I want you so badly I can’t stand it.”

To be in the draw to win a signed copy of Million-Dollar Amnesia Scandal, leave a comment, and perhaps tell us what pieces of music you think April could have played here besides the ones she did. I.e., what song / music is the sexiest? :)


Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from Rebel With A Cause by Natalie Anderson will be posted!