⭐COVER REVEAL - 'BEFORE TODAY'⭐

Today I'm revealing the cover for my upcoming new music-inspired romance 'Before Today'. And here it is! ☀️

Nina Freeman - successful freelance photographer, and a magnet for the wrong kind of man. Cynical about romance and in no hurry to find love, the only thing she wants to be married to is her career.

Yves Vandale - famous Belgian dance DJ. 
Getting ready to make his comeback after a two year break, all he wants is to get back to the music, and leave his past behind.

They both think they've got their new futures planned. 
They both think their lives are back on track.

They're both wrong.

All Nina was looking for was a new challenge.
All Yves needed was a new start.
Neither of them got what they wanted.
But you know what they say about best laid plans...


'Before Today' is a love story heavily influenced by music. A story that will take readers from the beaches, bars and clubs of Ibiza to the dance festivals of Europe. And you can check out the music that inspired Yves and Nina's story right HERE on Spotify. 

'Before Today' will be released in the Spring, but watch this space for more news, coming soon!


Michelle x

Guest Author Interview - Thomas Samson

I'm excited to say that kicking off my Guest Author feature this month is Thomas Samson, author of the super-sexy soccer romance 'Playing Offside'.

Read on to find out more about the book, and Thomas himself in my Guest Author Interview...

Author Bio

I'm the author of 'Playing Offside', a biography type novel about a fictional professional footballer, and 'Grande Plage', a short story, again, about a professional footballer falling in love one summer in France. 

As you'll see from what I write, I'm an avid football fan, especially of Liverpool FC.

Away from writing, I love taking pictures of sunrises, when I'm up in time to see them, and sunsets. My wife says it's a weird obsession that she doesn't get. Each to their own thing. I also enjoy spending time with my wife and our two sons.

Author Interview

What inspired you to write ‘Playing Offside’, and can you tell us a little bit about the book?

I was a fan of the cartoon strip “Striker” which was mainly about the life of fictional footballer Nick Jarvis. I followed that strip for years. I was also a big fan of TV series “Dream Team” which was on Sky One years ago. And like any young lad, I dreamed of being a footballer. Sadly that never happened, so with Striker and Dream Team as inspiration, I created the character of Shane Henderson and lived my dream through him in Playing Offside.

The original idea was to write a series of books about Shane’s life and I actually published Playing Offside as two books under a pseudonym. But when writing the third part and doing some back-story work, I took a big dislike to the second part. So I rewrote it, dropped the pseudonym and published it as the book it is now.

Are any of the characters in the book based on any real-life footballers?

Shane is purely fictional but there’s a little of Steven Gerrard in him, the young inspirational captain with a huge love of the club he plays for.

If ‘Playing Offside’ was made into a film, who would be your ideal cast?

Former Home & Away star Dan Ewing would play Shane. Handsome but a little bit rugged, just how I pictured Shane to be when writing him. Mia Rodrigues is Shane’s best friend, boss and for some parts of the book, his lover. She’s be played by model and TV presenter Kelly Brook, mainly because she was the visual muse I used when picturing how Mia looked.

Shane’s estranged wife April Flowers would be played by former actress and controversial Big Brother contestant Roxanne Pallet. I actually had a picture of how April looked before any other character in the book and Roxanne is a very close match.

Former Emmerdale star Natalie Anderson would play Shelby Cooper, Shane’s other love interest.

Do you have any plans to write any more books based around the characters in ‘Playing Offside’?

I hope to write the next part in the life of Shane Henderson one day. I have a few chapters in draft but finding the time is harder than it was when I wrote the first book.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what made you want to start writing?

I’ve been with Marianne for nearly 28 years, married for almost 23 of those years. We have two sons, one coming 15 this year and the other coming nine. After 30 years in the motor trade, I took a career change last year and now work in Events Safety and also serve as a Community Councillor for my local area.

I initially used writing as an escape from reality. I’ve always had a good imagination and writing short stories about the characters in my head seemed to come easy. But I never wanted to be a writer. A few years back, I wrote a short story for the blog I had at the time. An old friend suggested publishing it, so I did. That then led to me writing the initial concept which eventually became Playing Offside.

Do you have a designated writing space?

I wish I did but I don’t. Playing Offside was mostly written in the wee small hours or at the crack of dawn, when I had peace to do so. These days, I don’t seem to have the time to dedicate to writing.

Have you ever wanted to try writing a book in a different genre? If so, what would that genre be?

I’m a huge fan of James Bond and the Mission: Impossible films. I’d love to create my own 007 or Ethan Hunt. Being an old fashioned romantic though, there would still be some adult themed romance somewhere.

Are there any other authors who have influenced/inspired you?

Well, I did read your Striker series and that both influenced and inspired me with getting Playing Offside done. And it wasn’t as much as influencing or inspiring, more like encouragement from that previously mentioned old friend, who is also an author.

And finally, are you working on any new writing projects at the minute, and if you are, can you tell us anything about them?

I’ve had a story on the backburner now for a few years. It’s again set in the world of football but revolves around the women's game. I’ve actually got about enough material written on that for maybe four or five chapters. One day, maybe.

'Playing Offside' - and 'Grande Plage' - are both available to buy from Amazon. 

Links:-

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Huge thanks to Thomas for stopping by! Watch out for more Guest Author posts coming soon!

📚 Featured Book of the Month - 'Lawfully His' 📚

With the current season of 'Suits' having just come to an end (but I haven't watched the final 6 episodes yet so, no spoilers, please!), coupled with the announcement that the next season will be the FINAL EVER season 😢of this hugely enjoyable show, the first book in the spotlight for Featured Book of the Month just had to be my very own super-sexy, super-glamorous, HOT lawyer romance 'Lawfully His'

And for the entire month of March you can download this first book in The Dirty Business Series for just 99p/$0.99!

Blurb

Professionally, Lola Burrows' life is looking pretty damn good. A successful legal secretary, she's about to start a new job as P.A. to one of the managing partners at Cavendish King, one of New York's most respected, top tier law firms.

Personally, her life is one big hot mess.

She needs a distraction. Something to take her mind off everything that happened. Something to take her mind off him. And although one-night stands were never her thing, sometimes they're necessary. Sometimes they work. But one-night stands are meant to be just that, aren't they? One night. But when Lola finds out just who her one-night stand really is, the rules suddenly change.

But rules are meant to be broken. Right...?

Evan King.

Big-time lawyer.

Emotionally cold but hot-as-hell.

Any woman he wants, he can have. He just doesn't want them for too long.

She doesn't want love.

He doesn't do commitment.

The perfect combination...?

They both have their demons.

They both have a past.

They both think they can handle something they really can't handle at all.

And Evan King, he doesn't lose.

He's never lost.

He's not about to start now...

So, if you're looking for some sexy escapism and super-HOT romance, grab a copy of 'Lawfully His' for a bargain price. It's on special offer until the end of March! 

AmazonUK / AmazonUS / Amazon CA / Amazon AU

Have a great day, and look out for more Featured Book of the Month posts coming soon!

Michelle x

Featured Books and Guest Author Posts - Coming Soon!

As of March, I'll be starting a couple of new features here on my blog - Guest Author Posts and Featured Books, and Book of the Month.

Book of the Month - This will feature one of my own books, and will involve special offers, teaser chapters, competitions, and more.

Guest Author Posts and Featured Books - I'm currently looking for fellow authors - in all genres, not just romance - who may be interested in taking part in a guest author slot. It can be used for anything you like, be it to plug a new release, push an older book back to the forefront, or just write a post about something book/writing related. I'd then feature that post not only here on my blog, but also across all my other social media over the course of a week. 

Image courtesy of Arnel Hasanovic @ Unsplash

If there are any authors out there who'd like to take part in my guest author/featured book slots, just leave a comment here on the blog, or drop me a message on Twitter or Facebook for more details. 🙂 And I hope to hear from some of you soon! 


Michelle x

📚NEW BOOK NEWS UPDATE!📚

So, after a quiet few months, things are finally moving again on the writing front! A new book is ON THE WAY! It has a title. It has a cover. It has its own playlist. It has characters I've now had time to get to know, and I hope you'll soon want to get to know them, too. Want to find out more? Keep reading... 

Nina Freeman is a successful freelance photographer, and a magnet for the wrong kind of man, leaving her cynical about romance and in no hurry to find love. The only thing she wants to be married to is her career.

Yves Vandale is a famous Belgian dance DJ making his comeback after a two year break. All he wants is to get back to the music, and leave his past behind.

They both think they've got their new futures planned. 
They both think their lives are back on track.

They're both wrong.

All Nina was looking for was a new challenge.
All Yves needed was a new start.
Neither of them got what they wanted.
But you know what they say about best laid plans...

'Before Today' is a love story heavily influenced by music. A story that will take readers from the beaches, bars and clubs of Ibiza to the dance festivals of Europe. And you can check out the music that inspired Yves and Nina's story right HERE on Spotify. 

'Before Today' will be released in the Spring, but watch this space for more news. It's coming soon!

My Battle With Depression, And How That's Now Affecting My Writing.

I have always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I could pick up a pencil it's been my dream to create stories and characters that help people escape to another world, for a little while. And, I guess, writing was my escape, too. For years now it's helped me deal with my depression, given me something to focus on, and for years now I've managed to deal with the dark days better because of that focus. 

But recently, those dark days have become a lot harder to deal with, and I'm finding it a lot harder to get through them. Most days I feel like I'm just going through the motions; like I'm on auto-pilot. It's difficult to explain, but it's like everything has this black shadow hanging over it, nothing I do seems to have any point anymore, and I'm not ashamed to admit that, at times, I'm struggling.

Family problems. The sudden, unexpected loss of my beautiful dog. My publisher dropping me. Brexit. The menopause. Over the past few months, all of those things have had an impact on my life, and everything feels a little different now. Darker. I've become more withdrawn. I've lost my confidence as far as my writing is concerned, I've lost focus, and that's what scares me. I used to be excited about writing, regularly publishing 3 to 4 books a year, I never went more than a couple of months without a new release on the way. Now I can't seem to focus on a single story. Over the past few months I've had countless ideas, and started writing countless books, only to push them all aside after a few chapters because I just can't seem to concentrate. The focus I used to have just isn't there, and I hate that, it terrifies me, that I've lost that focus; that will to write, because I want to be back out there, I do. But I feel like something's pulling me back, telling me that, maybe, it's time to forget that impossible dream, I'm just not good enough. I don't know. I guess this post could be my way of getting everything I'm feeling off my chest, because it isn't just depression I'm dealing with, it's also crippling loneliness. 

We're encouraged to talk about depression, not to keep it bottled up, but as someone who has no close friends, no one I can really turn to, bottling things up is what I do. And as far as family is concerned, I can't talk to them. They've cut all ties with me due to disagreements over Brexit, (yes, seriously), but even when they were speaking to me they would never acknowledge something like depression, even when I tried to bring it up. Tried to explain how I was feeling. It was always swept under the carpet, and I was told to "pull myself together". So that's what I did, because I had no other choice. I've always been a very lonely person, maybe that's why I was drawn to writing. It's a lonely job, at times. It certainly is for me. Like I said before, I don't have any close friends, I certainly don't have a best friend. But I wish I did. That one person you can turn to when you just to need to chat; to take your mind off everything else, and when I see people talk about their friends, see people on TV or on social media talk about how much their friends mean to them, how they couldn't be without them, that makes me so sad. It makes me realise what I've missed out on, but I've always found it hard to make friends because of my lack of confidence. My anxiety. My constant feeling of never being good enough... is this post now sounding a bit like my own personal pity party? Because I really don't want it to come across like that. I don't. I just find it so difficult to open up, to admit that I'm not happy. Not coping; that I really need a friend, I've gotten so used to pretending that everything's fine. I'm OK. When a lot of the time I'm not. But I will be. I've got myself through these spells of depression before, and I'll do it again, it just might take some time, that's all. And I know that talking could help. Being part of a writers' group, or having fellow authors to chat to could maybe give me the kind of encouragement and support that, sometimes, we authors need, but I don't have that, either, and this really is starting to sound like a pity party now. Nothing has stopped me from joining author groups or chatting to fellow authors. Nothing except my own anxiety. And that's something I'm just going to have to keep working on. Because there's also a part of me that's shied away from opening up about my depression because I somehow felt that, as an author, it would make people think differently about me; deter them from reading my books, I let that stigma instilled in me by others take over, again, when I shouldn't allow that to happen. I shouldn't, but I've been guilty of that. Even now, as I'm writing this, I'm wondering if publishing it is a good idea, but in a small way writing this post has been therapeutic. Cathartic. It may have come across as a little self-indulgent to some... or is that just my insecurities showing themselves again? I don't know. Things really have been a little strange, and the isolation I've felt these past few months has been like a kick in the gut at times, but it's up to me to change that. And I will, in time. But for now, I'm going to try and concentrate on writing that new book, and finding that focus again. 

Depression affects everyone differently. And the kind of loneliness I've been feeling lately isn't something I'd wish on anyone, and writing this post - this has just been my way of trying to deal with it. Finally. It's that first step, the first one I've ever really taken in a bid to try and accept that it's a part of me, but I don't need to be alone. Nobody should be alone, I just need to reach out more, and maybe one day I'll feel confident enough to do that. I hope so, anyway.

To all those out there - and that includes other authors who've been brave enough to speak out about their own battles with depression - I applaud you. I admire you. I'm learning to speak out, too. Learning not be ashamed of these feelings. No one should be ashamed of feeling like this, because there's nothing to be ashamed of, I wholeheartedly advocate this need to speak out about mental health issues, even if it's still something I find difficult to do myself. If you have someone to talk to, talk to them, please, don't be like me, don't isolate yourself. Reach out. Let others help. Because sometimes the smallest things can be the biggest support.


Michelle x

🎄📚It's RELEASE DAY for 'This Christmas, in Stockholm'📚🎄

Time for another new book release from me, and this time it's a Christmas novella! Yep, something a little different from me - although still with a slightly sexy edge - and the first Christmas-themed story I've written since The First Christmas Without You all those years ago.

'This Christmas in Stockholm' is out today!

Christmas. A time when one year ends and another gets ready to begin. A new year, a new start. And that’s exactly what Eva has come to Sweden to do – plan her own new start. Or think about it, anyway.

With her marriage seemingly over, and the prospect of turning forty looming, Eva needs to escape for a few days, to think – about her broken marriage; about what she’s going to do next. And Stockholm, at Christmas, seemed as good a place as any to do that thinking. Far enough away from home to give her the space she needs, while giving her the opportunity to spend time in a city she’d visited once before – a fleeting visit last summer – and had always wanted to come back to. She just wished the circumstances were different, because this is no holiday. Not really. She’s made herself a promise. Something she has to do, before she leaves. On her final full day in Sweden – the day of her fortieth birthday – she needs to make a decision, because until she does that, Eva knows she can’t really begin to move on. But whatever she decides to do, whatever choice she makes, her life is going to change. And that’s what she’s afraid of.

So, being distracted by a tall, ridiculously handsome stranger just hours after arriving? Well, that definitely hadn’t been in her plans, but she soon finds herself drawn to this sexy Swede, in ways she could never have imagined. But as Eva’s time in Stockholm draws to a close; as the time to make that decision she promised herself she’d make before going home looms ever nearer, has a few days in the company of a hot-as-hell Scandinavian helped her make the right choice? Or was he the one distraction she really didn’t need…?

'This Christmas, in Stockholm' – a story about new beginnings, taking chances, and very sexy Swedes…

**Just to say that, while ‘This Christmas, in Stockholm’ is extremely low on strong language, it DOES contain one or two quite steamy sex scenes.**

'This Christmas, in Stockholm' is a standalone novella of around 24,000 words.

This Christmas, in Stockholm is out now, and it's only 99p! Or FREE to read with KindleUnlimited!

AmazonUK / AmazonUS / AmazonAUS / AmazonCA

AmazonDE