Helene Young's Blog, page 2

Nothing like leaning on a stack of shiny new books with your name on the cover!

 

Having a book event in a ladies’ fashion shop was a little out of left field, but it was fun! Thanks to Alli Sinclair for joining me on my crazy adventure! Grab a copy of her latest release, BURNING FIELDS!

Thanks to Kaz and the ladies at The LABoratory, Pakington St, Geelong, for welcoming us into their shop. I hope we didn’t scare customers away! Julie, from Dymocks Waurn Pond, was amazing and cheerfully came along to support us, despite needing to pack for a conference on the weekend.

Julie from Dymocks Waurn Ponds

It was also lovely to have the support of other writers – Lisa Ireland, Rebecca James (huge fan girl moment there!!), Jennifer Kloester, Belinda Missen (look out for her new release A RECIPE FOR DISASTER) out as an ebook 7th August and in print later in the year), and Kathy Mexted – who started the whole crazy idea by taking photos of me in The Laboratory’s shop window!

We then headed over the road to The Village Door Cafe for delicious food. Thanks to Alana and her team for looking after us. It was lovely to talk books with writers and readers, something that doesn’t happen quite as often now we’re living aboard!

RETURN TO ROSEGLEN has now been officially welcomed into the world so once again my thanks to Ali Watts and the whole team at Penguin Books Australia for supporting, editing, distributing, promoting and believing in my story!

 

Today the wonderful, witty and wise Cathryn Hein is visiting my blog. If you haven’t tried any of her rural romances then you’re in for a treat. She writes clever heartwarming stories that often have cheeky, memorable animals in danger of stealing centre stage.

Her latest release, ELSA’S STAND, is part of a series and I loved the first two books by Kelly Hunter and Victoria Purman. You don’t need to read them first, but I’m sure you’ll want to read them after you’re devoured ELSA’S STAND. And make sure you read all the way through today’s blog post! There may just be a giveaway hiding in there somewhere

 

 

As many of you already know I’m going on tour with Barbara Hannay and Christine Wells from 30th July – 11th August as part of the Love Between the Pages National Tour. I’ve been reading these five wonderful books by the other authors and love them all, but as there’s no room onboard RooBinEsque to store books I thought I’d give them away instead of leaving them at the various marinas we visit. Two of the books are Advance Review Copies and all will have been read, lightly I promise, by me!

So how do you enter? It’s simple!

If you’re already subscribed to my newsletter then you have an automatic entry into the draw as a thank you for your loyalty.
Otherwise subscribe to my newsletter and blog.
If you’ve already bought a copy of RETURN TO ROSEGLEN then post a photo on Facebook or Instagram of you reading my book in your favourite spot.
Share the posts on social media and tag me and friends you think might like RETURN TO ROSEGLEN.
Like my Face Book Author Page – HeleneYoungAustralianAuthor

The more options you choose the more times your name is entered in the draw for this fabulous prize pack!

Capt G will draw a winner on Sunday 29th July and I’ll announce that here and also on Facebook.

What a week! I’ve had many wonderful emails, messages and social media posts from readers who’ve enjoyed RETURN TO ROSEGLEN  and they’ve made this author very, very happy. Writing can be so solitary and the payoff for all those hours locked away with my characters is knowing my writing has touched someone. Thank you all for taking the time to let me know.

I was absolutely delighted to find the Librarians Choice of Australia have include it on the Top 10 Reads for July and AusRomToday has it as the book of the month for July. Big W has sold out in the Geelong area and readers have also reported no stock left in their stores! Ivy and the girls have stayed in the Top 200 iBooks list for two weeks and they’re also hanging around the Top 200 on Amazon Australia for contemporary fiction.

And lastly a very big thank you and cyber-hug to those of you who’ve left reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, iBooks and other sites. More and more we shop on community recommendations so reviews are a great way of supporting authors.

I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of lovely booksellers – Kerstin from Collins Booksellers Smithfield and the girls from Dymocks in Geelong. Without the support of local booksellers a book’s day in the sun would be very short indeed!!

 

Thank you to everyone who read all the way to the bottom of my inaugural newsletter and then emailed me to enter the giveaway.

We conducted a random draw aboard Roobi from Capt G’s hat and the winner is Cindy O. I’ve emailed you direct, Cindy, and I hope you enjoy the story.

For everyone else there is a new giveaway coming soon and those who are already subscribed to my newsletter will have extra chances to win! This one’s not a book – I’ve been listening to all the requests for a photo prize

Whilst RETURN TO ROSEGLEN isn’t strictly a romance, Ivy and her girls have known love and lost love. And, as we all know, love comes in many forms. Set amongst the dust and heat of north western Queensland love for the country is an important part of the story. The landscape holds a different pull for each of them. For Felicity it’s bone deep, seared into her soul.

Australia Rural Romance  has an excerpt today from the story and I think it pretty much sums up how Felicity feels about the land she used to call home. Hop over and check it out

It’s a big weekend aboard RooBinEsque!

Ivy and her girls are out and about in bookstores everywhere, including Big W, and all online e-book retailers.

It’s always a special thrill to see it lined up on a shelf amongst books I love and authors who are friends.

I’m grateful to all the readers who’ve waited so patiently for this story, but as we all know life doesn’t run smoothly all the time.

RETURN TO ROSEGLEN is a new direction for me. It’s a story I hope resonates with readers. If you have a sister, a mother, a grandmother or an aunt then you’ll  recognise some of the family tensions. If you’re a women in her forties, fifties and sixties you’ll know what I mean by the term ‘sandwich generation.’ We’re the women juggling children, maybe even grandchildren, busy careers, menopause (and all the changes that brings), ageing parents, and also facing our own health issues. That’s a lot of pressure and it can feel like you’re the only one going through it. I know from looking around me we’re not alone…

It’s a story about women finding the courage to stand up, stand tall. At a time when the #metoo movement continues to gather momentum it’s important that our stories reflect the strength of women. I’ve grown up with courageous women. Aviation wasn’t always an easy world yet I watched my female colleagues succeed and grow with each success. My sister is providing enormous inspiration as she works with a charity helping refugees in the UK.

My mother and mother-in-law were both women who stood up for what they believed in – albeit in very different ways. RETURN TO ROSEGLEN is dedicated to both those women as the matriarchs in my world.

The story also shines a light on the issue of elder abuse. It’s not something new in our society – Shakespeare’s brutal play, KING LEAR, is all about elder abuse – but it’s an issue that’s only just starting to be acknowledged. Our elderly are just as vulnerable as our young, but recognising their needs can be difficult in the midst of a busy life. It’s not always easy either to admit that we’ve become the adult in the relationship and the love that is required from us is very different to everything that’s gone before.

I owe a huge thank you to Ali Watts and her team at Penguin Books Australia along with Clare Forster, my agent at Curtis Brown Australia, for believing in Ivy and her girls. It was a leap of faith to allow me to change direction and to have a 93 year old matriarch as one of the main characters. I do hope readers take Ivy to their hearts.

 

Buy Links are on RETURN TO ROSEGLEN’S own page. Click here.

 

And a big thank you to Gabrielle for this insight into Ivy.

 

“There is love, anger, hatred and feelings of powerlessness within this story just as there is in life and for me it ticked all the boxes for a very good read.” Wendy  Lipke -Queensland Reviewers Collective.

All the conventional wisdom says ‘don’t read reviews about your own stories’. How wise… How stoic… How impossible… I don’t know any writer who manages to follow that advice completely. In this internet driven age so many of our purchasing habits are driven by on-line information – star-ratings, recommendations, and reviews. Books are no exception.

Many of us who write are introverts pretending to be extroverts and we’d love nothing more than to be allowed to write our stories, drink our favourite tea/coffee/hot chocolate/wine/soft drink, and live in our imaginary world without having to deal with the outside world. But as soon as we send our stories out into the hands of readers we’ve entered the real world again. We know that some stories will resonate more than others and we can only hope that we’ve crafted our story well enough that readers will love it, will share it with their friends and families. And some of them will write reviews.

My publisher sent me a link to one of the first reviews for Return to Roseglen. I’m delighted that Wendy enjoyed the story, but I’m over the moon that it resonated with her.  Here’s her review.

Return to Roseglen

If you’ve read a book you like then a writer somewhere will appreciate the five minutes it takes to rate or review a book. Of course if you didn’t enjoy a story then perhaps the old adage ‘if you can’t find something good to say don’t say anything at all’ may be a kinder choice…

In just over a week Return to Roseglen will be in stores. I hope Ivy and her girls resonate with many more readers

As you may have noticed Capt G and I, aboard Roo Bin Esque, are still down south in Port Phillip Bay. Like migratory birds most yachties head north for the winter months, but this year we decided to try something a little different.

Having lived in Cairns for 16 years, and we still call it home, we’ve had our fair share of balmy winters. Since our mission is to explore the paths less travelled we decided that a winter in Victoria would be a challenge.

The first thing we needed was heating and thankfully Roobi comes with air-conditioning -which we’ve never used before. I can report it warms the boat up beautifully! The next things we needed were thermal underwear, a coat or two, gloves, beanies, boots and jumpers. Now we look the part we’ve been out and about exploring – although contrary to Melbourne fashions we’re not dressed head to toe in black.

Today when we dropped anchor at Portarlington it struck me what was different about a southern winter. As a Queenslander I’m used to seeing people on the beach in winter because half of Australia heads north for some warmth. Down here we have the beaches to ourselves.

No colourful umbrellas, no beach towels, no sharp smell of sunscreen, no screams of delight from small children, no dogs barking, and no suntanned lifeguards. Instead there are clusters of dog-walkers sheltering behind trees or cars, their beanies pulled low. The seagrass has been washed up in swathes by the recent heavy weather. Dragging the dinghy ashore means my toes take half an hour to defrost. And there’s no suggestion at all of swimming ashore!

Yet it has its own beauty with the bare branches of trees turning silver with the sunset. The colours of the sunrises have been magnificent some mornings, keeping me spellbound even as my fingers stop being able to feel the camera. The wind can bite, stinging our eyes, but it can also cast a swirl of orange leaves into the sunlight stopping me dead in my tracks.

We’re headed for Queenscliffe tomorrow and Swan Lagoon. While we were in Tasmania at Melaleuca we saw the endangered Orange Bellied Parrots just before they headed north. Turns out they migrate to Swan Lagoon so we’re hoping to see the little fellas again in their winter home. Seems we’re not the only ones taking the path less travelled!

 

The view across Lime Burners Bay

 

Look up towards the Grand Hotel Portarlington.

 

Sunset at Portarlington

Sunrise at Limeburners Bay

 

The endangered Orange Bellied Parrots.

We all know love isn’t ‘one size fits all’ so Sandie Docker, Sasha Wasley, Anthea Hodson and I have shared our thoughts about love over at Penguin Books Australia

If you’re in NSW check out Sandie’s sites for her tour details as she talks about her new release The Kookaburra Cafe. For those of you in WA make sure you check out the details  for Sasha, author of True Blue and Anthea, author of The Cowgirl, who are on tour during June as part of Love Between The Pages.