A Kinder Mother Nature - Kandy Shepherd

Right now, Mother Nature is showing her harshest side, lashing out with hurricanes, floods, fire and earthquakes in various parts of the world. My thoughts are with all those affected by these terrible events. 

In contrast, I’m sharing some pictures of Mother Nature’s kinder side from my very early spring garden in my little farm Down Under in Australia.

Daffodils shout out spring!

I wish I could share with you the fragrance of the daphne and the peach blossom.There’s also the frenetic buzzing of the bees and the different notes of birdsong to bring a lilt to the heart.

This gnarled plum tree is about sixty years old and still bearing superb fruit

 The gentleness of a spring garden seems to bring its own kind of calm in a world that seems to have gone a little crazy.

Nectarine blossom

 Wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe. My thoughts are also with the teams of people out there helping both the people and the animals affected by disaster.

The gentle charm of hellebores

What simple thing brings you comfort in worrying times? I’d love to see your thoughts in the comments!

Kandy Shepherd’s most recent book Conveniently Wed to the Greek is a May 2017 release from Harlequin Romance in North America; Mills & Boon Cherish in the UK; and Mills & Boon ForeverRomance in Australia and New Zealand.

Kandy Shepherd is a multi-published, award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram

Conveniently Wed to the Greek - Kandy Shepherd

Do you have a favorite romance trope? “Beauty and the beast”, “Cinderella” and “secret baby/pregnancy” are among my favorite romance story tropes. I love reading them and I’ve also enjoyed writing them into my books for Harlequin Romance.

“Marriage of convenience” is another favorite. I’ve written an “engagement of convenience” and a "girlfriend of convenience" but only now have I written a marriage of convenience story, when a man and a woman marry for reasons other than love. Of course then in a romance novel they fall in love—or admit that they were in love all along. Sigh, I love a happy ending!

Is this wedding for real - or a fake "marriage of convenience" for reasons other than forever love?

 The reason I haven’t tried to write this trope before is that I think it can be difficult to make believable in a contemporary romance. I love a marriage of convenience in a historical novel. For a book set in times when making love, or even kissing, before marriage were strictly forbidden with dire social and personal consequences for people who broke the rules, the “marriage of convenience” is a marvelous plot device to give the characters the freedom of intimacy. After all, they’re married!

Not so easy for a contemporary novel. Many of my fellow romance authors tackle this trope brilliantly with feasible reasons for a marriage of convenience including inheritance, terms of a will, a job, to give a child a parent. I had to think really hard of how I could make it work for my story set squarely in the twenty-first century.

The title of my May release from Harlequin Romance, Conveniently Wed to the Greek, flags from the get go that a marriage of convenience is part of the plot.

I think I’ve given good reason for two very contemporary people, feisty food critic Adele Hudson and her former adversary hospitality tycoon Alex Mikhalis, to undertake a pretend marriage. I hope I make it believable. If you get a chance to read the story, let me know if you think it works!

Do you have a favourite romance trope? Or one you really don’t like? I’d love to read your comment. If you you’d like to be in the draw for a signed paperback copy of Conveniently Wed to the Greek please be sure to include your email address.

Conveniently Wed to the Greek, is a May 2017 release from Harlequin Romance in North America; Mills & BoonCherish in the UK; and Mill & Boon Forever Romance in Australia and New Zealand.

Kandy Shepherd is a multi-published, award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram