Robyn Thomas's Blog

When I was young and “invincible”,I liked horror movies. Growing up with two older siblings, I kind of bypassed the whole concept of censorship ratings—watching what they watched without a thought. Back then it was easy to separate movie happenings from reality, although I have to say that When A Stranger Calls freaked me out, and still does!

I’m no longer a fan of TSTL (too stupid to live) teenagers in a creepy house who split up and wander outside alone in the middle of the night to inves...

Soft, dreamy colours and luxurious fabrics are a big part of my latest heroine’s life. Sara, my heroine in A Change of Plans, is a lingerie designer. Giving away something that she might have designed seemed like the perfect idea—until I realized that it would be impossible to know the winner’s size and taste ahead of time. No one wants to win a gorgeous little baby doll nightie that doesn’t fit!

I’ve come up with the perfect solution though. This 100% silk scarf in soft pastel colours of bur...

Sara, my heroine in A Change of Plans, has an engagement ring worth a whopping seventy thousand dollars. (US currency.) People have been trying to picture it, so here’s the ring I used for costing purposes when I wrote it.

It’s a Tiffany engagement ring design called Soleste Round, with a platinum band and 2.27 carats of diamonds. As I type this, it retails for $101,000 Australian dollars, which is just shy of $75,000 US Dollars. *fans self

Personal taste varies greatly, especially for items...

When one particular day suddenly places more demands on you than a usual week, a pre-planned treat of some sort is absolutely warranted. For me, today, Irish coffee is that treat. And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did wait till after five to have it!

With school holidays in full swing, son one has a friend down from interstate. Son two is doing a holiday program at a Uni across town, and both need Mum’s taxi at the ready. Toss in some shopping, banking, entertaining, shower repairs, a dead...

Australia is BIG. My sister and I live in the same state, yet there’s more than 400 kilometres between us. Very soon there will be less!

Planning a road trip is all about fun—what we’ll listen to, where we’ll stop, what we’ll see and do and eat. I’ve found a gorgeous cottage to rent for a couple of nights, and because it’s off season, it’s comparable in price to a squishy, run-of-the-mill motel room. And when you’re travelling with teenage boys, space is a very good thing! Thankfully mine are...

In my upcoming Entangled Lovestruck book, A change of Plans (A What Happens in Vegas novella) my heroine has to throw together dinner for four, without notice, in less than an hour. For dessert, she uses vanilla ice cream, crushed candy bars, and individual Jell O moulds. Below, is my favourite ice cream based dessert—the one Sara would have made if time had allowed.

Meringue and raspberry cream torte

2 litres of good quality vanilla ice cream

300 grams of fresh or frozen raspberries

10 ready made pavlova nests OR 1 packet almond macaroons

extra 300 grams fresh or frozen raspberries

1.  Line a 22cm round springform cake tin with plastic wrap. Allow the ice cream to soften but not melt. Spoon one-third of the ice cream into the base of the tin, cover with half the raspberries then half of the crushed meringue or macaroons. Continue to layer the ingredients in this way, ending with a layer of ice cream. Cover the tin with plastic wrap and then freeze.

2. Remove from the freezer, peel off the plastic wrap and turn out onto a large plate. Top with extra raspberries and cut into wedges to serve.

(Recipe and picture from Better Homes and Gardens: Better Cooking—A year in the kitchen.)

Mmm, now I want this. I’m adding raspberries to the shopping list. What about you—tempted?

~ Robyn

In my household we have an ongoing love affair with time travel, and to a lesser extent, immortality. You’ve gotta love Highlander, after all, and who doesn’t adore Forever’s Dr. Henry Morgan! When I heard the premise for The Age of Adaline movie, I had to go and see it.

Firstly, it’s unusual for a woman to be the main character in a movie such as this, and I really enjoyed that. Adaline (now called Jenny) was a difficult character to identify with— because she’s learned to live without attachments. She doesn’t trust anyone other than her daughter. She’s so determined not to let anybody in that she comes off as cold and unfeeling, although clearly she has good reason to behave that way. Hers has been a lonely, endless life where beloved pet after beloved pet has died, and she’s had to have the strength to leave everyone she’s ever cared about. It’s no wonder she keeps to herself!

The constant narration didn’t work for me, but I loved the scenes with Harrison Ford. Overall, I was happy to have seen it on the big screen and will get it again on DVD, so that my family can ‘speculate’ about her issues with ageing (or, in fact, the lack of ageing.)

Cheers,

~ Robyn

My good friend, Chelsea Brighton, recently released her first book. Untouchable is an erotic romance featuring a scarred hero, and a heroine who resides in a glass apartment.

The cover is absolutely gorgeous!

BLURB:

Tyler Denniger’s perfect life as a professional ballplayer ended the moment he was set alight. Scarred and alone he returns home to find a smokin’ hot redhead living in a one-way glass apartment inside his house. Mel is curvy, flexible, and sometimes naked, yet she remains stubbornly beyond reach. Touching her becomes his obsession, but the glass surrounding her is unbreakable. What they need is a glory hole. He could pleasure her through it while remaining unseen.

Hot sex with a stranger–through a hole in the wall–isn’t what Mel signed up for. Does she want it? Hell yeah, but she’s never even seen Ty. Pressing up against her apartment wall to accept an orgasm under those circumstances would be wrong. Ty sounds hot, he writes great letters, but he could literally be anyone. Dear God, Ty says he’s scarred and damaged but she’ll have the freedom to imagine him however she wishes; is there a person alive who could resist that kind of temptation?

Here is the Amazon link to buy a copy. Or, if you’re quick, it’s not too late to win a copy here.

Congrats Chelsea, it looks awesome!

If you’re anything like me you feel that each new year brings with it a chance to not only start afresh but also (if you wish) to do over the things that didn’t quite go as planned the year before. I just love the speech Hilary Swank gives in the film New Year’s Eve, especially this bit: (A new year is) a chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more.

This year — along with writing under another name — my aim is to make all of the fabulous bath products pictured… although I’ll settle for most! They’ll be specialty natural products that are colourful and smell delicious and are packaged to look ‘good enough to eat.’ When I searched for pre-made items that were exactly what I wanted I found them surprisingly difficult to find… which got me thinking I should make my own. It didn’t take long for my head to explode with possibilities and I’ve been researching and testing ever since.

Here’s hoping 2015 has treated you well so far and continues to do so,

~ Robyn

Hello again,

I’ve been crazy-busy of late, although I confess that I haven’t been doing ‘more of the same.’ I discovered a long time ago that the colour palette for my writing is either soft, pastel and pretty or wildly vibrant (aka what I think I should be writing and what I actually want to write.)

I followed the advice of a very wise person who told me to trust myself and my instincts and simply write the story that’s inside my head and screaming for an outlet… and to make sure I don’t overthink it! And it turns out that the stories in my head are all of the brightly coloured variety.

I can always be contacted via the contact me tab above, but this might well be my last blog post on this site. When I publish more books the content will be significantly hotter and more dynamic and I’ll use a pseudonym to mark the distinction between one writing style and the next.

Like the gorgeous chameleon (pictured above) I intend to embrace my new identity and run with it. I wish you all a dash of colour and variety, good health, lots of laughter and happy reading!

Cheers,

~ Robyn