Last month I waxed lyrical about how fabulous Tyler is as the hero of Milby Plains Mistaken. This month it is our heroine’s turn.

I had a lot of fun, and quite a bit of consternation with this character, as this one is loosely based off a friend. She and I got it into our heads that creating a romance for her in a novel would be a bit of fun.

Can I formally go on the record and say to anybody thinking of doing this, please don’t! I adore the real Beth (I also adore the fictional one to be clear) but having to spend the length of time needed to write a novel constantly thinking about a friend and ‘being in her head’ is hard. Really hard. It’s a firm no from me to ever doing that again.

I’ve had this conversation with the real Beth, and a friend we have in common, that the hardest part of the whole book were the intimate scenes. As I said, I adore the real Beth, but truly, I don’t want to have to visualise her doing the deed. This was something I clearly hadn’t thought through when we hatched our plan. I avoid the names of my children and their significant others for characters in novels for this reason. I should have known better than doing so for a main character in a spicy romance novel!

Having said all that, the fictional Beth is funny, bluntly honest, and unpretentious, and things in her world are (usually) fiercely black and white.

We first meet the fictional Beth at the end of Tested to the Limit. With Kate set to go on maternity leave and Beth looking for a change of career, she steps in to run things whilst Kate is enjoying her newborn.

The novel also gives a snippet of Beth’s working history and the crossover with two of the Abraham sisters. Beth and Alex trained to be chefs together, before Beth decided she wanted to use her organisational skills more than her cooking ones, and went over to the bank to work in project management with Addy. After a lot of years in the bank, she’s looking for a change and the opportunity to back fill Kate’s role is too good to pass up.

Beth’s bestie, Gemma, is quite the character and I’m playing with the idea of giving her her own book, or possibly a novella, with a Valentines Day series. Just an idea at this point.

Wounded hero

Second chance

Cowboy romance

When grief becomes a prison, love holds the only key…

Tyler Blake hasn’t felt alive since the day everything changed. The day a drunk driver killed his fiancée and shattered his world. Almost three years later he’s still going through the motions as his friends all fall in love, convinced his heart, and chance at love, died with Calista.

When the ladies of the Australian Campdraft Association guilt-trip him into donating a weekend of his time as first prize in their fund-raising raffle, he reluctantly agrees. He expects to suffer through the daylight hours of the weekend, counting down the minutes until its over. What he doesn’t expect is Beth Elliott, a headstrong, sharp-as-a tack event manager with an infectious laugh and the unexpected ability to make him forget, just for a moment, how heavy the weight of loss can be.

When the weekend is over, Tyler finds himself doing the impossible: feeling again. He wants to deepen the connection with Beth, but guilt weighs in. How can he betray the memory of the woman he’d already promised forever? Can he open his heart when he knows how much it can cost? Is it fair to Beth to ask?

Sometimes love doesn’t wait for permission. Sometimes it just shows up, holding a raffle ticket and daring you to take a chance.

This one gets a three chilli rating. There’s quite a bit of open door action going on.

The real Beth does indeed have two dogs called Tank and Alfie, and the book is dedicated to the three of them. I will be interested to see what real Beth thinks of the heroine created in her honour.

One of the advance readers has commented that she likes the vibe and tone of the book, so fingers crossed.

Until next time, take care.

L. x