Travelling

By: Coleen Kwan

Congratulations to "Bn100", the winner of Coleen's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

I recently returned from a holiday to China, my first overseas trip in more than five years. Between buying a house, renovating it, and raising two children, there hasn’t been much time or money for travelling, and after so many years in my familiar surrounds, this trip was certainly an eye-opener. I loved the experience, and I definitely want to see other parts of Asia soon, but I was also glad to return home. Travelling can be exhausting, especially those eleven hour, overnight flights in cattle class.

Grace Owens, the heroine of my new contemporary romance, Baiting the Boss, is also not an experienced traveller. In fact, her first trip overseas is to a remote, undeveloped, off-the-beaten-track Pacific island, and her purpose is business not leisure. She must track down Jack Macintyre, her former boss and grandson of her current boss, who has cut all ties with his family. Grace is a self-confessed homebody and is totally out of her depth as she battles sea-sickness, mosquitoes, and heat. But the biggest test for her is persuading Jack to return to Sydney with her, which is made even more complicated by the crush she’s always harboured for him.

The island where Jack has made his home is a completely fictional one. I named it Filemu Island, part of an archipelago called the Sullivan Islands (also made up). I imagined it to be a lush, stunningly beautiful island with ancient volcanic peaks, verdant jungle, and hidden away waterfalls. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

A while back my partner and I rented a tiny yacht and sailed around the Whitsunday Islands (in the Great Barrier Reef) for a week. It was a bareboat charter, meaning we were in charge of the boat ourselves. I’m a complete novice at sailing, while my partner had done some occasional weekend sailing. Our first night at sea I suffered terrible seasickness, and so we moored in close to shore. At 1am in the morning we were woken by the sound of the boat’s keel scrapping against something — we’d been caught out by the big tidal changes in the Whitsundays and were stuck high and dry! Several hours passed before the tide changed and our boat finally refloated. Fortunately we’d moored in a mangrove swamp so our boat was stuck in mud, not a coral reef, which would have caused a lot more damage!

That was the last time I went bareboating, but I do remember the highlights of the trip — crystal clear waters, beautiful sunsets, turtles swimming past our boat. Travelling can be hard work but the good memories we return with are worth it.

In Baiting the Boss, Grace returns to Sydney with more than just good memories, she has persuaded Jack to visit his grandfather too. But returning to reality has its complications as Jack becomes embroiled in his family’s dramas and Grace realizes her crush on him has morphed into something much more.

I enjoyed creating my fictional Pacific island paradise, and I hope readers will too. That’s the beauty of books — we might not always be able to travel to exotic locations, but we can always visit them through a book.

Giveaway

I’m offering one ebook copy (EPUB or PDF) of my previous release, Real Men Don’tBreak Hearts. To enter, just leave a comment below and include your email address.

Happy reading!

Coleen Kwan

Baiting The Boss

For years Grace Owens harbored a secret crush on her boss, Jack Macintyre, the heir to the Macintyre Corporation. But Jack relocates to a remote tropical island after tragedy upends his life, cutting off all contact. Now Grace’s new boss issues an ultimatum: return Jack to the family fold or pack her briefcase and move on.

When she turns up at Jack's bungalow, he can’t deny his attraction to the fiery woman determined to lure him out of his tropical paradise. Little does she know that returning is the last thing he wants—he’s nobody’s boss, and he likes it that way.

If he stays, she'll lose her job. If he goes, she'll lose her heart.

Buy Link

Amazon http://goo.gl/BW7vhB

Barnes and Noble http://goo.gl/slWQIS

iTunes http://goo.gl/Bqf2sG

Kobo http://goo.gl/eIVnT3

Google Play http://goo.gl/RNjSOv

Author bio:

Coleen Kwan has been a bookworm all her life. At school English was her favorite subject, but for some reason she decided on a career in IT. After many years of programming, she wondered what else there was in life — and discovered writing. She loves writing contemporary romance and steampunk romance.

Coleen lives in Sydney, Australia with her partner and two children. When she isn’t writing she enjoys avoiding housework, eating chocolate, and watching Criminal Minds.

Website: www.coleenkwan.com

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST Oct. 15th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.