RomCom – Page 4 – Sandy Barker

Cover Reveal Aria’s Travelling Book Shop by Rebecca Raisin

October 15, 2019October 14, 2019sandybarker

It’s a pleasure to be part of the cover reveal for Aria’s Travelling Book Shop By Rebecca Raisin, which is releasing on April 8th 2020 with HQ Digital

Blurb:

With her merry band of Van Lifers, Aria heads to France in her travelling bookshop, best friend Rosie by her side for a summer they’ll never forget!

Hopeless romantic Aria vowed never to love again after losing her husband, TJ, but fate has other ideas and keeps throwing the bespectacled, booklover Jonathan in her path. When a memento from TJ turns up it brings Aria’s past back to the fore.

Nomadic by nature, Aria can’t see how love could work anyway when home is always at the end of a new patch of road…

A long, hot summer travelling off the beaten track, surrounded by newly loved up couples reminds Aria of what she’s missing.

Will she bookmark her love life at the point her husband left, or she will begin a new chapter under the sizzling sun of the Cote d’Azur…?

Book Links:

About Rebecca:

Rebecca Raisin is a true bibliophile. This love of books morphed into the desire to write them. She’s been widely published in short story anthologies, and in fiction magazines. And now she is focusing on writing romance.

Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true love.

Follow Rebecca: RebeccaRaisin.com | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

What I read when I’m writing

August 18, 2019August 18, 2019sandybarker

One of the questions I see most often in the writing community is ‘How do I get back into writing?’ This question might be posed because the writer has suffered a bought of what they call ‘writer’s block’, or because they’ve had a break from writing.

No matter the reason, I always respond with the same advice: read.

Reading is a writer’s best friend. It exercises the brain, it gives you room to play, or escape, or explore. It allows you to immerse yourself in a world of someone else’s creation. It lets you live vicariously through characters that other writers have painstakingly crafted. It will lead by example, showing you how to write and ,sometimes, how not to write.

Reading is a writer’s fuel.

Since January, I have written 100K words across two books and multiple blog posts. I have edited my first (published) book and I am about to start editing my second book, which will be published next March/April. Throughout the first half of the year, I have also read voraciously.

So, what does a writer of RomComs read? Here’s my reading list since January (in no particular order):

The Lost Man (Jane Harper)
The Little Theatre on the Seafront (Katie Ginger)
Wildflower Park (Bella Osborn)
The Day We Met (Roxie Cooper)
The Woman I Was Before (Kerry Fisher)
The French Photographer (Natasha Lester)
Summer at the Cornish Cafe (Phillipa Ashley)
One Summer in Italy (Sue Moorcroft)
One Summer’s Night (Kiley Dunbar)
The Secret Cove in Croatia (Julie Caplin)
The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows (Jenni Keer)
The Rose Result (Graeme Simsion)
Coming Home to Holly Close Farm (Julie Houston)
Instructions for Falling in Love Again (Lucy Mitchell)
There She Goes (Lynne Shelby)
Lessons in Love (Belinda Missen)
An Impossible Thing Called Love (Belinda Missen)
Esteban and Marialena (Eve Corso)
The Sins of the Sire (Emily Royal)
The Man I Fell in Love With (Kate Field)
Summer on the Italian Lakes (Lucy Coleman)
The Year of Starting Over (Karen King)
Louis and Louise (Julie Cohen)
Her Brooding Scottish Heir (Ella Hayes)
The Last Dance (Aimee Brown)

I am currently reading The Strawberry Thief (Joanne Harris) and next up is the thriller Never Have I Ever (Joshilyn Jackson).

Just read…

Inspiration for a Plantser

July 26, 2019February 28, 2020sandybarker

Many authors identify as either plotter, someone who plans the whole plot and all the details before they start writing, or a pantser, someone who flies by the seat of their pants.

I am a proud plantser, so somewhere in between. This means I have a general idea of where the story goes, writing out general plot ideas before I start, but I’m often surprised by my characters.

I tend to scribble notes as I write, reminding myself that the love interest has green eyes and what his middle name is. The scribbles become my ‘bible’ so that I can edit for continuity. K.M. Allan blogged about creating a series bible, but I recommend creating one even for stand-alones, especially if you’re a plantser like me.

Another thing I’ll do before I start is to choose the setting. Setting is extremely important to my writing, almost becoming a supporting character, and I only write about places I’ve been to and know. Yes, I still have to research. I’ll look back over my photos and read my travel diaries and blog posts, and I become a Google savant. For the book I’m currently writing, I’ve been on Google street view, travelling down the roads in the tiny Oxfordshire village my aunt lives in – just to get the details right.

The last thing I always do before I start writing is ‘cast’ my book – always the main character and the love interest, and sometimes supporting characters. This makes it so much easier to write, because I just imagine them in those places and sometimes whole scenes will play out in my head before I write them down. Actions become easier to write when I have the setting and the characters visually locked down.

So, I thought I would share some of my casts – just for fun.

One Summer in Santorini (and the sequel, One Summer in Love): Sarah, James and Josh

My next book, That Night in Paris: Cat (Sarah’s sister) and Jean-Luc

My work-in-progress is a Christmas book about three childhood friends from Australia, Colorado and the UK: Lucy and Will; Lauren and Matt; and Lisa and Archer

And the next next book is set in Bali and Scotland

Jaelee and Alistair

So, there’s a little of my plantser inspiration for you…

Romance Must-reads

February 13, 2019March 9, 2020sandybarker

I was a romance reader long before I was a romance writer – actually, since I used to sneak Mills and Boon books from my mother’s beside table at the precocious age of 12.

By 13, I’d graduated to Shirley Conran and Jackie Collins, and she’d ‘graduated’ to just handing them to me.

At high school, I read every Sweet Dreams book ever written along with all the other teenage girls in existence. As an adult, I discovered chicklit – mostly romcoms, but also the more heartfelt side of the genre.

And when I read my first Lindsey Kelk book in January 2013, I knew two things. First, I wanted to read all her books (there were 5 then; there are soon to be 13). And second, I wanted to write romance novels.

I still read widely across the genre and wanted to share some (old and new) favourites with you.

The first in the Tess Brookes series (my fave chicklit series ever) – this book is hilarious. Buy it here. Kelk’s book that started my love affair with romance writing is I Heart New York, and you can now pre-order the 8th ‘I Heart’ book, I Heart Hawaii.

Outlander is, simply, one of the most beautifully-written books I’ve ever read; the prose is sublime. Couple that with a love story that transcends time, it is an absolute must-read. And if you’ve been living under a kilt, there’s also a television show – perhaps the sexiest one on air. I am up to #7 of Diana Gabaldon’s series.

Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series is terrific, and I devoured book 1, Neanderthal Seeks Human. I am only 3 books in (there are 8, each focussing on a different member of the knitting circle), but the way she crafts distinct characters through first person is just terrific.

How I adore Frances Mayes’ writing. She evokes place like no other. Women in Sunlight is not your typical romance novel, as it’s not the primary theme, but I love the approach in this novel which explores love, sex and romance in your 60s.

The Time Traveller’s Wife is one of my favourite books – ever. This story will simply take your breath away.

The 3rd in the trilogy, this was actually my favourite of the moving, yet hopeful ‘Me Before You’ series. An original concept brings Louisa and Will together in a the most devastating ‘meet cute’ ever. Buy the first one here.

Traversing generations, Allende has woven a beautiful and epic love story in The Japanese Lover.

Some other lovely romantic reads I’ve loved over the past few months are: Her Brooding Scottish Heir (my first foray into M&B in decades) by Ella Hayes; French Kissing (sexy, funny, dreamy) by Lynne Selby; A Room at the Manor (heartfelt and lovely) by Julie Shackman; A Village Affair (laugh out loud) by Julie Houston; One Way Ticket to Paris (rekindling true love) by Emma Robinson, and Lottie Loser (romance with a dramatic twist) by Dana L. Brown.

I’m making myself stop there and if you think that’s a lot of books, you should see my TBR (to be read) list!

Happy Valentine’s Day or Galentine’s Day or just plain old February 14th.

Sandy xx

Book giveaway!

July 23, 2018sandybarker

Hello everyone!

To celebrate the release of my second book in the ‘Someone’ series, I Think I Met Someone, I am giving away book one, You Might Meet Someone, for FREE on Amazon (Kindle) in all regions until Wednesday July 25. Yes, free!!!

Here’s a snapshot – it’s a romcom with a travel theme: Sarah’s taking herself on holiday – not looking for love, but for herself. Join her for a heartfelt, fun and romantic romp in the Greek Islands.

Download your FREE copy before Wednesday! Links below.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Australia

Also available in all other geographies.

I Think I Met Someone (Book 2 in the ‘Someone’ Series)

December 27, 2017December 27, 2017sandybarker

The sequel to You Might Meet Someone picks up Sarah’s story a few months after her Greek adventure.

Here’s the preface…

“Have a great time!” my best friend, Lindsey, called as she climbed into the driver’s seat of her car.

“I hope he shows up,” said her husband, Chris, grinning at me through the passenger window. Chris always teased me. He was the brother I always knew I never wanted.

“Ha, ha. You’re hilarious.”

Lins leaned across Chris, swatting at him as though he were a naughty fly. “Ignore my horrendous husband.” Chris grinned at me. “He’ll be there. And you’ll have a ball.”

I nodded, clinging to her words of encouragement. I needed them.

“We love you,” she said with a smile. Chris winked at me.

“Love you back,” I said as I waved goodbye. The car pulled away from the curb and I took a moment to catch my breath.

To be honest, I was only mildly terrified that he wouldn’t show up, and that I’d be sitting in a hotel room half-way across the world by myself. Self-doubt can be such a buzz-kill, especially when you’re about to fly somewhere you’ve never been before, to meet up with someone you haven’t seen in months.

What if he didn’t show up? Or, what if he did, but it wasn’t the same between us? Oh my god! What was I doing?

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The sequel to You Might Meet Someone picks up Sarah’s story a few months after her Greek adventure.

Here’s the preface…

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