Hello everyone and welcome back to Romancelandia! The land of candlelit dinners, sexy lingerie, happy sighs and hope. How can I forget hope? Something I think all of us are holding on to right now. If you’re looking for hope in your fiction these days – and hey, who can blame you??? – then there’s one genre in the world that encapsulates hope like no other and it’s romance!
My column’s going to be a little bit different this month. Normally I talk about the books that are out now and slip in a recommendation for a book I’ve absolutely loved but, a couple of weeks ago the finalists in the annual Romance Writers of Australia Ruby Awards were announced, so I’m bringing you those instead!
The Ruby is the top award in the country for romance writing – think the Oscars! – and rewards excellence in the genre. So, if you’re looking for some romance reading, why not start with some of these?
Congrats to all the finalists. The awards ceremony, as with everything else in 2020, will be online on Saturday the 22nd of August and I will bring you the winners in each category, next month.
Until then, happy reading!
Romantic Suspense
Out Run the Night
by Leah Ashton
Recently divorced Bethwyn Banfield just wants one out-of-character night on the town – and the tall, dark, tattooed stranger she meets is not what she’s looking for. But their instant, electric attraction is undeniable.
Elite SWAT Team Undercover cop Damon Nyhuis spent two years infiltrating the notorious Notechi Motorcycle Club, doing whatever it took to remain in deep cover. But when he sees his calculus teacher in a bar, looking as hot as she did thirteen years ago, the last thing he thinks about is his job. And that turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life.
Kidnapped and dragged to the middle of nowhere, Beth and Damon must escape the murderous Notechi – but the desert is vast, desolate and unforgiving, and danger is right on their heels.
Buy it here
Nothing to Lose
by Claire Boston
A murder brought them together. Will the killer rip them apart?
Kit’s blunt attitude keeps people at a distance. It’s the best way for the dairy farmer to stave off the painful rejection she received from her parents and later her protector Lincoln. But a shocking murder on her farm brings back the handsome man from her past in a big way.
Police Sgt. Lincoln Zanetti wishes he could’ve revealed his feelings for Kit years ago. Keeping their past secret, he uses his assignment to the case to protect the woman he loves. But even his pent-up affection can’t keep her from being a suspect or a target …
Buy it here in eBook and paperback
Shelter
by Claire Boston
Border Force Agent Zamira does everything by the book. But when she hears rumors of a missing friend held captive, she opts to ditch the rules and go rogue. Met with suspicion upon her arrival in Blackbridge, she sweet-talks a handsome resident and watches sparks fly at exactly the wrong time…
Jeremy volunteers to fight fires to atone for his father’s death. With his feelings heavily guarded, he’s surprised when the beautiful Zamira sets his heart racing. But after the agent’s quest puts them both in harm’s way, he hopes the dangerous hunt won’t cost him yet another person he loves.
As shadowy figures track Zamira’s every move, finding her friend may mean ignoring the deepest connection she’s ever felt.
Can Zamira and Jeremy liberate the girl and free their hearts?
Buy it here in eBook and paperback
Hide and Seek
by Emma Lea
Shiloh was living her best life. She had a career she loved, she lived in a penthouse apartment in one of Sydney’s most exclusive areas, and she was practically engaged to one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. She was living the fairy tale she’d always imagined.
Until it all started to unravel.
Brandt wasn’t the man she thought he was and their life wasn’t the fairy tale he’d led her to believe. How could her life go from idyllic to life threatening in almost an instant? Running was her only option. That and praying that Brandt would never find her because if he ever got his hands on her again … her life would be forfeit.
Buy it here in eBook and paperback
Contemporary
Nothing but Trouble (yes this is me – wahoooo!!)
by Amy Andrews
For five years, Cecilia Morgan’s entire existence has revolved around playing personal assistant to self-centred former NFL quarterback Wade Carter. But just when she finally gives her notice, his father’s health fails, and Wade whisks her back to his hometown. CC will stay for his dad—for now—even if that means ignoring how sexy her boss is starting to look in his Wranglers.
To say CC’s notice is a bombshell is an insult to bombs. Wade can’t imagine his life without his “left tackle.” She’s the only person who can tell him “no” and strangely, it’s his favourite quality. He’ll do anything to keep her from leaving, even if it means playing dirty and dragging her back to Credence, Colorado, with him.
Buy it here in eBook and paperback
Capturing Love
by Ann Penny
Living and working in New York City, is all Josie Spencer needs to shake the sadness of her past. She lives for the simple things; pizza, good tunes, bad movies and watching the world go by through the lens of her camera.
William ‘Grayson’ Harlow IV, is anything but simple. He’s gorgeous, clever, extremely wealthy and completely controlled by the expectations of his family.
From the moment they meet, the sparks are undeniable. The hitch? Josie has a boyfriend, and Grayson is engaged to be married to heiress and socialite, Melanie Warren.
Buy it here
Can’t Stop the Feeling
by Janet Elizabeth Henderson
The local branch of the Scottish Women’s Institute want to use Kintyre Mansion to hold their annual fundraising ball. There’s only one problem: its owner.
Duncan Stewart is a young widower, still reeling from grief two years after losing his wife, and making the town suffer while he does it. The artist doesn’t paint anymore–he’s become a bad-tempered recluse. The only person he can tolerate for any length of time is his housekeeper, whom he feels overly protective toward, in a professional sort of way … mostly. It seems his grief is coming to an end, and the only woman who interests him in the slightest is the one who’s off limits. The one who works for him. And, the one who’s very much up to something …
Buy it here
The Legacies of Brigadier Station
by Sarah Williams
Lachie McGuire is trying to make a fresh start. He’s sobered up and is making amends for all the people he has hurt and the pain he has caused. But some of his past actions have consequences. Even if he doesn’t remember them.
Needing her independence, single-mum Abbie Forsyth accepted a nursing position in the small outback town of Julia Creek and uprooted her daughter, Hannah from the only life she had ever known. Now, in the dusty, sun burned land they are creating a life together, just the two of them.
Buy it here
Stowaway
by Stella Quinn
Sabrina Gray runs away to the Caribbean to escape the trauma of her sister’s suicide and the wreckage of her surgical career. An accident results in her waking, far out to sea, on a yacht with a handsome stranger.
Ben Ryan, out-of-work billionaire and turtle conservation volunteer, is sailing to an isolated coral cay with much needed equipment. He is both suspicious of, and drawn to, the sad-eyed stowaway on his boat.
Doubts rise, as does the tension between them.
Buy it here
The Desert Midwife
by Fiona McArthur
What if the love of your life forgot who you were?
When outback midwife Ava May meets Zac on a flight to Alice Springs, they tumble into a whirlwind affair. But an exciting adventure leads to a terrible accident, with shattering consequences. The couple who had so much going for them now find themselves with everything to lose.
Devastated, Ava retreats to her family cattle station to help salvage what she can of the critical situation. But at home on the drought-ridden farm, her brother is being pushed to his limits, and as his depression intensifies, Ava must step in to prevent another family tragedy.
Buy it here in eBook and paperback
Historical
The Slum Angel
by AnneMarie Brear
Orphan Victoria Carlton is brought up by her uncle, a banker, to be a lady and make a good marriage. Yet, she is drawn to help the poor families in the slums, much to her family’s disgust. When her uncle dies suddenly, her cousins blame Victoria, and she is thrown out of the house with nothing.
Victoria flees to the poor side of York to start again in a world that is full of perils. To combat the heartache of being without her family, she befriends the destitute women and children in the slums, but such friendships come with the danger of disease, and increasing poverty, and the threat of a brutal man could cost her everything.
Buy it here
Marry in Secret
by Anne Gracie
Lady Rose Rutherford—rebel, heiress, and exasperated target of the town’s hungry bachelors—has a plan to gain the freedom she so desperately desires: she will enter into a marriage of convenience with the biggest prize on the London marriage mart.
There’s just one problem: the fierce-looking man who crashes her wedding to the Duke of Everingham — Thomas Beresford, the young naval officer she fell in love with and secretly married when she was still a schoolgirl. Thought to have died four years ago he’s returned, a cold, hard stranger with one driving purpose—revenge.
Buy it here
The Clothier’s Daughter
by Bronwyn Parry
In the unusually wet summer of 1816, Emma Braithwaite struggles to keep her family’s traditional wool cloth manufacturing company afloat. Her father has died, her brother is missing, and the new cotton factories are spreading, rendering the fine worsted fabrics the Braithwaites have made for generations, expensive and unfashionable. Being a woman in a man’s world of trade is challenging enough, but when her warehouse catches fire it brings her only a step away from financial ruin and debtor’s prison.
After eight years of war, Major Adam Caldwell is returning for the first time to his family home, Rengarth Castle, when he stops to assist at a warehouse fire … and comes face-to-face with the woman he once loved and lost.
Buy it here
Romantic Elements
Just One Wish
by Rachael Johns
Alice has always been a trailblazer as a scientist, activist and mother. She knew her choices would involve sacrifices, but now, on the eve of her eightieth birthday, she’s beginning to wonder if she’s sacrificed too much.
Alice’s daughter, Sappho, rebelled against her unconventional upbringing, choosing to marry young and embrace life as a homemaker, but her status as a domestic goddess has recently taken a surprising turn.
Ged has always been the peacemaker between her grandmother and mother. A tenacious journalist, she knows what she wants in life and love, yet when everything in her world starts falling apart, she begins to question whether she really knows anyone at all.
Buy it here
House of Wishes
by Jenn J. McLeod
On the outskirts of Calingarry Crossing, when Beth comes across a place called Dandelion House Retreat, her first thought is how appealing the name sounds. With her stage career waning, and struggling to see a future without her mum, her marriage, and her child, she hopes it’s a place where she can begin to heal.
After meeting Tom, a local cattleman, Beth is intrigued by his stories of the cursed, century-old river house and its reclusive owner, Gypsy. The more Beth learns, however, the more she questions her mother’s wishes.
When meeting Beth leads Tom to uncover his family’s disturbing connection to the old house, he must decide if the truth will help a grieving daughter or hurt her more.
Buy it here
The Silk Merchant of Sychar
by Cindy Williams
One woman, five husbands and the weary rabbi at the well who knows everything she ever did.
The day after they bury her husband Leah Marcellus loses her baby. A widow and childless, what man will want her now?
From the olive groves of Samaria to the bloodied sand of a Roman stadium to the exquisite silks brought from the East, The Silk Merchant of Sychar weaves colour into the biblical account of the woman at the well.
Buy it here
Speculative Fiction
Heart of Eon
by Anna Hackett
Okay, maybe hijacking an alien commander’s warship wasn’t her best idea…
Genius computer geek Wren Traynor prefers her high-tech comp lab to socialising with people, and she definitely prefers it over crawling through the bowels of the huge Eon warship she’s hijacked. When Earth’s Space Corps blackmails her into this deadly mission, Wren will do anything to help her beloved sisters and save the Earth from invasion by the insectoid Kantos aliens. That includes entering into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the tall, hunky, and seriously enraged Eon war commander who captains the Rengard.
Find out more here
Envy
by Lana Pecherczyk
Crime rages in Cardinal City. The fanatical Syndicate’s answer is to be judge, jury and executioner, even if that means destroying half the world to eradicate sin. The only thing standing in their way is a family of fearless vigilantes known as the Deadly Seven.
Evan Lazarus, the youngest and most inexperienced of the group, blames himself for the mass tragedy that tore his heroic family apart. As they self destruct, he travels a dark path towards vengeance and redemption, slowly falling prey to the sin he was created to fight. Envy eats at his heart. Finding balance in a partner who embodies his sin’s opposing virtue could be his only hope. The last thing he expects to find is his soulmate.
Buy it here
Sloth
by Lana Pecherczyk
She’s a hacker, a legendary gamer, a badass vigilante… if she can get herself out of bed.
Nothing much appeals to Sloan Lazarus, except the burning hatred for the man who stole her heart and then ghosted her–right after she confessed her crime-fighting secret. When he turns up two years later, completely complacent and hot-as-sin, Sloan is determined to make his life a living hell.
Then she discovers he is her lifemate … and her unstable powers kick in.
Buy it here
Novella
Unwrapping Her Heart (in Christmas On Hope Street: A Sweet Novella Boxset)
by Marianne Bayliss
A childhood accident has left Alexandra Jones disfigured and fearful of a life outside Cathedral Springs. She loves using her business degree to reinvigorate her recently inherited B&B, but she craves more. How can she fulfil her big city dreams when she’s too scared to leave her hometown limits?
It’s time for executive chef Jake Ross to open his own restaurant, but with zero business acumen and a fear of failure, he can’t imagine doing it without Alexandra by his side. How can their relationship move from platonic to romantic when he caused the accident that ruined her life?
Buy it here
A Christmas Arrangement
by Monique McDonell
Tori – Most people would move to a big city to get lost. I decided to move to a small town, Cinnamon Bay to get lost…in the magic of Christmas.
Somehow, I’d timed it perfectly. Trust me, this was a first. My new boss at the hairdressing salon was ready to pop out a kid, and the festivities meant that the place was positively bursting with business. I moved right in. Literally. Until the owner’s nosy, hot .brother found me sleeping in the stock room. We compromised and he invited me to stay at her place, with him…
Buy it here
Whistler Wonderland
by Georgia Tingley
Cherise really, really loves Christmas. So, when she wins her perfect holiday for two, a white Christmas at Whistler Ski Resort in Canada – all her dreams come true. There’s only one downside to her ‘12 Days of Whistler’ vacation … her boyfriend of six months has dumped her only weeks before they’re due to fly out.
When her brother’s annoying best friend wants to buy her ticket, she point-blank refuses. Hunter had always been a thorn under her skin, ever since he’d asked her brother ‘who the fat chick was’, on meeting her as a pre-teen. The insult had stuck with her over the years, and in her opinion, Hunter was way too good looking, and needed to be brought down a peg or two every now and again. Cherise had assigned that job to herself, sick of women drooling over him. Plus, there was no way she would sell her ultimate Christmas so he could take one of his girlfriends.
Then Hunter offers her a deal she can’t refuse…
Find out more here
Okay – that’s the rundown for this month. I hope you join me next month in Romancelandia, until then stay safe and happy reading!
–Amy Andrews
Amy Andrews
About Amy
Amy Andrews is an award-winning, USA Today best-selling Aussie author who has written seventy plus contemporary romances in both the traditional and digital markets.
She’s sold three million books and been translated into over a dozen languages including manga. She has won three Ruby awards and is a triple RITA finalist.
In her other life, she was a paediatric intensive care nurse for twenty-one years. Amy lives near the sea with her husband of 30 years.
You can find out more about Amy and her books here.
Nothing But Trouble
For five years, Cecilia Morgan’s entire existence has revolved around playing personal assistant to self-centred former NFL quarterback Wade Carter. But just when she finally gives her notice, his father’s health fails, and Wade whisks her back to his hometown. CC will stay for his dad—for now—even if that means ignoring how sexy her boss is starting to look in his Wranglers.
To say CC’s notice is a bombshell is an insult to bombs. Wade can’t imagine his life without his “left tackle.” She’s the only person who can tell him “no” and strangely, it’s his favourite quality. He’ll do anything to keep her from leaving, even if it means playing dirty and dragging her back to Credence, Colorado, with him...
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