I'm on a countdown. It's less than a month before the release of the first book in my novella series. It's been given a new town name, a new series title, and an official release date; and any day now, the cover should be arriving in my inbox.
Leonai has become Hinterdown. For various reasons, the top two being the ease of pronunciation and avoiding the hint of fantasy. This is not a fantasy novel by any stretch of the imagination. Ethan, Cal and Dean's stories are hopefully as real as fiction gets. Which is a strange claim to make. But I've aimed for natural dialogue, realistic timelines and reactions, a rich country atmosphere and people so friendly and complex that readers will hopefully feel like they know them.
The new town name was inspired by the Hinterlands, and in my imagination it looks very much like a town I visited once in the Upper Hunter Valley. I'll be talking about this town in a later blog post.
Because each novella features a returning character, someone who - for reason or reasons explored throughout the series - left the town and found cause to return - the title was shaped around the magnetism of home.
So without further ado, I introduce to you all, The Homeland Books and book one, Ask Me To Stay. It will be released on April 15, and will include an exclusive excerpt of book two, Ask Me For More.
I will be on a blog tour next month to promote and discuss the first title, and I would love to read your comments and share a bit of the story with you. My blog tour schedule is below, and there will be everything from interviews, to blog posts and giveaways.
15 April: The Book Vixen (link)
16 April: Book'd Out (link)
17 April: Sassy Book Lovers (link)
18 April: Ex Libris (link)
19 April: You Gotta Read Reviews (link)
20 April: Jenn J McLeod's Author Harvest (link)
22 April: Juanita Kees' Kees 2 Create (link)
23 April: Ros Baxter Ink (link)
24 April: Romance Australia Author Spotlight (link)
26 April: Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer (link)
27 April: Satin Sheets Romance (link)
28 April: Susanne Bellamy's All The World's A Page (link)
29 April: Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and More (link)
Nas Dean's Romance Book Paradise (link)
30 April: Lily Malone's Left Field With Lily (link)
1 May: Page Flipperz (link)
4 May: Bookish Ardour (link)
5 May: Nicki J Markus (link)
6 May: Clean Romance Reviews (link)
7 May: Ramblings From This Chick (link)
22 May: Louise Reynold's Cooking The Books (link)
I can't wait to introduce you to Ethan and Samantha. And if you read the series, you may understand why I'm also so excited to introduce you to little Nina.
ARCs will be on NetGalley within a few weeks. If you're a reviewer or blog host and you would like to know more about the series, I would love to hear from you. I've also launched a newsletter, so sign up through my web page (link) if you want to know things before anyone else.
The list above is subject to change. Hopefully the kind of change that makes for a longer scroll! ;)
Happy writing and reading. I'm off to sail around the bay.
Elise