New Publication Review: A Sunrise Over Bali by Sandy Barker

A Sunrise Over Bali by Sandy Barker

Home is where the heart is . . .
 
When Jaelee Tan leaves her high-flying PR job in Miami for a sabbatical in Bali, the last thing she expects is for it to become permanent. But when her boss demands the trip be cut short, Jae does the only thing she can think of and quits on the spot.
 
With two months in Bali, a new group of friends and the gorgeous scenery and beaches, Jae is determined to make the most of her new-found freedom. And when she locks eyes with hunky Scot, Alistair, Jae wonders if she’ll lose her heart to more than just a Balinese sunrise.
 
Escape to Bali in this uplifting novel full of friendship, laughter and romance, perfect for fans of Mandy Baggot, Julie Caplin and Holly Martin.

Join readers everywhere and prepare to fall for the most romantic escape of 2022…

Amazon UK           Amazon AU           Amazon US           Amazon CA 

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Romance and a far-off destination...A Sunrise Over Bali is a perfect combination for me.

Thirty-five-year-old Jaelee Tan has crammed into and achieved much in her life and is now a Junior Vice President of the second largest PR agency in Florida. Hard work and determination, fuelled by Tina Tan have reaped their rewards as she owns a South Beach Condo and far too many pairs of designer shoes. Yet, despite her success, Jae is lonely and unhappy with her life.
When at her best friend's 40th birthday party she spots her ex and his new wife, it highlights how miserable she is. At a time in her life when it's smarter to handle issues head-on, she does the total opposite by running away, as she flies to Bali for a two-month sabbatical, in the hope she can turn her life around…

As a heroine, Jae doesn't instantly warm to readers. With a mother who has always been a force to reckon with, it's no surprise, her only daughter has achieved much in her life. Jaelee is tough and ambitious but also, uninformed with the world that surrounds her as she views and judges others with a critical eye. However, all it takes is a change of scenery and new acquaintances to change her attitude and to see the world and other people from a whole new perspective.

Ms. Barker fills the pages with beautiful words to match the stunning Balinese backdrop as the heroine settles into her temporary accommodation. It's a steep learning curve for her, but it isn't long before she meets fellow residents at UROP (You Are Our People) and begins to see that her life is full of opportunities to grasp. The supporting cast of characters is a delightful bunch of people… the kind you would want to be friends with. This and the engaging narrative creates an escapist adventure for anyone looking for a distraction from their everyday life.

As I dived into this novel, the lyrics from the late great John Denver sprung to mind, as the suppressed feelings of my wanderlust surfaced. I dreamed of packing my suitcase and laptop… "to leave on a jet plane", and head off to paradise to indulge in some meaningful 'me time'. The reality, however, means I've remained where I am but with a longing to visit a new destination, sold to me through the author's vivid descriptions.

For those who have read, That Night in Paris, (like myself), you'll get an opportunity to catch up with Cal again. If you haven't, don't worry, as both books are stand-alone. Either way, both books won't disappoint.

***arc generously received courtesy of One More Chapter via NetGalley*** 

Sandy is a writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.

Sandy lives in Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while travelling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the Holiday Romance series with One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins.

The series continues in That Night in Paris and A Sunset in Sydney and there are two more to come in 2022. Her standalone novel The Christmas Swap celebrates her favourite time of the year, and next up is The Dating Game, a laugh-out-loud romcom set in the world of Reality TV.

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Book Cover Reveal: The Dating Game by Sandy Barker

The Dating Game by Sandy Barker

Publication dates

Ebook: September 10

Print: December 9 (just in time for Christmas!)

Once upon a time, twelve women joined the hottest reality TV show looking for love. Except one had a secret identity …

Abby Jones is a serious writer. Or at least she will be, one day. Right now, she spends her time writing recaps of reality television under a secret identity.

When a recap for The Stag – the must-watch dating show – goes viral, her editor thinks she should be on set, writing the drama as it happens. The good news: the next season will be filmed in Sydney. Sun, sea and a glamorous trip abroad, this could be Abby’s big break.

The bad news: the producers don’t just want Abby to write the recaps, they want her to be on the show. Abby can’t think of anything worse than being undercover and followed around by cameras. But her career depends on it, and when she meets gorgeous producer Jack, Abby begins to wonder if this job might not be so bad after all …

‘Hilarious and highly original’

~ Julie Houston, bestselling author of A Village Affair

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Apple Books | Google Play | Nook | Kobo

New Release Spotlight & Author Guest Post: A Sunset in Sydney by Sandy Barker

‘It Just Takes One Yes’ by Sandy Barker

As a pre-teen, I started sneaking my mum’s Mills & Boon novels from her bedside table. By my teen years, she was handing over Jackie Collins and Shirley Conran, and I was devouring Sweet Dreams and Sweet Valley High books, feeding a four-books-a-week reading habit.

My love of books, and particularly romance novels, was ingrained by the time I reached adulthood, and I have read widely across the genre for years, occasionally delving into writing, but not producing anything long-form or concrete until I had an epiphany in early 2013.

I was visiting my sister in London, and on her bookshelf was Lindsey Kelk’s I Heart New York. I consumed it in half-a-day, then picked up the next and the next in the series. Three days later, I’d read all five (there are now eight), and as I finished I Heart London, I knew. I wanted to write romantic fiction―specifically, travel romances.

On paper, ‘travel romance novelist’ was a perfect fit for me. I was an avid traveller and had been blogging about it for years. I was also a hopeful romantic, a lifelong romance reader, an English major, and a Drama and English teacher, so I knew about style, structure, grammar, characterisation, dialogue, and genre.

All I had to do was get to work.

My first foray into writing travel romance caught the attention of an agent here in Australia, but when I sent him the full manuscript, he replied with ‘this isn’t your first novel, it’s your fifth’. Apparently, I had too many characters, timelines, and plotlines, and I heeded his advice to ‘go away and write a single, linear narrative’.

Inspired by my real-life ‘meet cute’―meeting my partner, Ben, on a pier in Santorini, just as we were about to embark on a sailing trip around the Greek Islands―I started writing, diverging from real life by introducing a second love interest to the story, the silver fox.

On completion, I went back to the agent and he signed me, shopping my story, which he called, ‘Eat, Sail, Love’, to all the Australian publishers. But as excited as he was to introduce them to a fresh new voice in Australian romantic fiction, no one wanted my particular take on contemporary romantic comedy. My agent had reached the end of his contact list and we parted ways amicably.

Dejected, I wondered if I would ever find my publishing home, or if my manuscript was destined to sit gathering dust. It was only after we returned from another sailing trip in Greece, that I seriously considered self-publishing. Re-energised, I edited my manuscript, paid for cover art and a copy edit, and self-published at the end of 2017. My book baby was out there in the world!

And the timing was perfect. In early 2018, Ben and I embarked on a one-year international sabbatical, which gave me ample time to write the follow ups to my first book. We started the year in Bali, then moved to the US, the UK and Portugal.

When we were in the UK, I came across UKRomChat on Twitter and joined a passionate community of romance authors. It was while engaging with that community that I started considering British publishing houses.

While I self-published book two in the series and wrote book three, I queried UK publishers. After each rejection, I honed my synopses and query letters and reminded myself that I only needed one ‘yes’.

But before I knew it, I was home in Melbourne and back to ‘real life’, hunting an apartment and a job. Could I be happy returning to my profession in adult education and being a part-time novelist who self-published one or two books a year?

Despondency kicked in when I realised that I would never achieve my goal―my dream―of becoming a fulltime novelist.

Not long after, I received an email from an imprint of HarperCollins in the UK. It was my one yes. With that offer on the table, I reached out to my agent of choice, Lina Langlee, and after reading my debut, she agreed to represent me.

That all happened in early 2019, and by the end of this year, I will have four books published by One More Chapter. Book five is well underway, and I already have ideas for books six and seven and … I still work fulltime, but my dream is within reach―all because of that one yes.

A Sunset in Sydney

How far would you go in the name of love?

Sarah Parsons has a choice ahead of her. After the trip of a lifetime she’s somehow returned home with TWO handsome men wanting to whisk her away into the sunset.

Pulled in two directions across the globe, it’s making life trickier than it sounds. Her gorgeous American, Josh, wants to meet Sarah in Hawaii for a holiday to remember. Meanwhile silver fox, James, plans to wine and dine her in London.

It’s a lot to handle for this Aussie girl, who had totally sworn off men!

Join Sarah after her adventure in One Summer in Santorini, for the heart-warming and uplifting third novel in The Holiday Romance series.

AmazonUK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunset-Sydney-totally-uplifting-holiday-ebook/dp/B081MSC5S3

Google play: https://bit.ly/3dLjJxU

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-sunset-in-sydney/sandy-barker/9780008390020

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/a-sunset-in-sydney-the-holiday-romance-book-3

Sandy Barker is an Australian writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list and a cheeky sense of humour. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.
Many of Sandy’s travel adventures have found homes in her writing, including her debut novel, a contemporary romance set in Greece, which was inspired by her true-life love story.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sandybarker

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandybarkerauthor/

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Blog: https://sandybarker.com/

New Release Spotlight & Review: That Night in Paris by Sandy Barker

That Night in Paris by Sandy Barker 

​Genre: Contemporary romance (romcom)

Publication Date: 15th April 2020

Publisher: One More Chapter (HarperCollins)

Standalone Novel

Note to self: don’t sleep with your flatmate after a curry and two bottles of wine… especially if he’s secretly in love with you and wants you to meet his mum.

​

Cat Parsons is on the run. She doesn’t do relationships. After ten years of singlehood even the hint of the ‘L’ word is enough to get Cat packing her bags and booking herself onto a two-week holiday.

​

A European bus tour feels like a stroke of genius to dodge awkward conversations at home. But little does Cat realise that the first stop will be Paris, the city of love itself.

​

Joined by new friends, Cat has got two weeks, eight countries and a hell of a lot of wine ahead of her. As they discover hidden treasures and the camaraderie of life on the road, will Cat find a new way of looking at love?

Amazon US     Amazon UK

Travel and romance are a perfect combination for me as I settled into this coach tour themed novel visiting popular tourist spots.

Catherine "Cat" Parsons had a drunken one night stand with her flatmate, Alex and now wants to escape. So, Cat books a last-minute tour with Ventureseek to put some space between them. It's two weeks away and she hopes by the time she gets back, there's no awkwardness. Little does she know, this adventure will make her see life and love from a whole new perspective.

The author has written a fun novel highlighting the pros and cons of embarking on a coach tour with strangers. Cat's fellow travellers are an eclectic bunch and like her have a reason to be on such a trip. Their antics on the whistle-stop tour of Europe make than her "bus besties" and while I can relate to some of their mishaps, it becomes tiresome after a while. So, for me, the saving grace is Jean-Luc Caron!

The chance meeting with Frenchman, Jean-Luc is kismet, he's Cat's pen-pal from when they were teenagers after meeting in Australia when he was an exchange student. They've had no contact since they were nineteen years old, but it's clear both still have an affection for one another. He's the knight in shining armour, but I don't believe Cat is the right woman for him.

It's not often I don't "take" to a leading character, but Cat is one I struggled with. As a thirty-five-year-old woman, I found her behaviour and language to be very immature. She's certainly not someone I'd expect to teach high school students. Her reasons for trying to keep a relationship with Jean-Luc casual after taking their tentative relationship to a new level are selfish especially when she realises his feelings still run deep. Thankfully, she sees sense in the end. I also remember such women like Cat do exist in the real world because I do know someone like her.

Some of the tour-stops triggered memories from the times I've visited them; Paris, Antibes, Florence and Rome. I laughed when the group each bought a gelato when looking at the Leaning Tower of Pisa because that's what I did at my then three-year-old's insistence. For those who haven't travelled to any of the places mentioned, the author paints inviting welcomes for your bucket list.

For me, That Night In Paris is a roller-coaster of a novel with highs and lows but overall, it's a fun and flirty read with some hilarity along the way. It's a wonderful distraction and a chance to escape from the real world in these troubled times.

***arc generously received courtesy of One More Chapter via NetGalley***

I’m a writer and traveller with a lengthy bucket list and cheeky sense of humour, and many of my travel adventures have found their way into my books. I’m also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover, and a coffee snob, though my writing is mostly fuelled by copious mugs of strong, milky tea (no sugar).

​Website:  https://sandybarker.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sandybarkerauthor

https://twitter.com/sandybarker

https://www.instagram.com/sandybarkerauthor/