Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

In a few hours, the final story in my Middlemarch Mates series: Twin Trouble comes out at Ellora’s Cave.

Middlemarch Mates started out as a little 15,000 word Quickie called Scarlet Woman. Positive I’d written the best-ever story I emailed it off to my editor. When she emailed me back, it wasn’t a contract offer. She’d sent me a revise and resubmit instead. She liked the characters, the idea and the plot elements but thought I had too much plot for a short story.

Back to the drawing board.

I rewrote the story, doubling it in length, and the Middlemarch Mates series was born—the story of a leopard shifter community who lives secretly amongst humans in a small country town called Middlemarch.

My series bears an element of truth because the real town of Middlemarch has a shortage of women of marriageable age. To combat this shortage they held a singles’ ball to attract women to the area.

At the same time news articles started appearing in our New Zealand newspapers about sightings of an alien black cat in Canterbury. (That’s near Christchurch where the earthquake recently struck). I decided to combine these ideas and came up with Scarlet Woman.

Saber Mitchell is at his wits end. His four younger brothers Felix, Leo, Sly and Joe are out of control. He’s determined to marry them off at the inaugural Middlemarch Singles’ ball, except it’s Saber who ends up caught like a fish on a hook. Once he meets Emily he’s determined to keep her.

The next Mitchell brother to meet his match is Felix. He runs into Tomasine, a reporter the locals have dubbed Peeping Tom.

There’s an assassin running loose in Middlemarch and she has Leo squarely in her sights.

Logically, the next characters to get their own story should have been Sly and Joe, the Mitchell twins, but they didn’t seem old enough to find their happy-ever-after. Luckily the Mitchell brothers have lots of friends. Saul, their neighbor, stepped into the fray followed by Duncan and Jonno. All three men found their mates. Then it was Leticia’s turn – (I still get tears in my eyes when I read this one).

Still not quite ready for the twins, I introduced some new characters—tiger shifters who moved into the area. Brother Rohan and sister Ambar took over the village store and created more than a little turmoil with their arrival. In fact something that occurred after their arrival left Saber and Emily (from Scarlet Woman) reeling and this led on naturally to the tenth book in my series, Blue Lady.

Finally, it was time for the twins. I thought about them long and hard. Originally I’d planned a different story but the twins are both so cheeky I decided to be really mean and made them suffer. I hope you’ll enjoy Twin Trouble and their journey to happiness.

Here’s the blurb:

Man wanted: confident and charismatic, a virtuoso in bed and capable of supporting a woman in her quest for freedom.

Shifter Kiera Pascoe is desperate to foil her brothers’ plan to ship her back to England. She needs help, and hunky Joe Mitchell is the perfect applicant. Joe misses his twin Sly, and Kiera presents a diversion from his isolated state. From the start, hunger explodes between them and sparks fly with each intoxicating touch. The sex is fun and challenging—mutual ecstasy with a little spanking and kink.

Sly arrives home unexpectedly, creating chaos with their erotic hijinks. Emotions tangle and create a dilemma for all three. Joe has feelings for Kiera and wants to keep her. Kiera worries about exchanging one set of pushy males for another while Sly lusts after his twin’s lover. Two sexy shifter twins and one gorgeous feline woman—they’ve got trouble in Middlemarch and it’s gonna take time to unravel the steamy muddle.

Purchase at Ellora’s Cave

A final note: I wanted to have an even number of stories—an even dozen. To thank all my readers, I’ve written a free story called Lightning Strikes Twice. It is due for release on 25 April and is set at the same time as Scarlet Woman. Don’t forget to watch for Lightning Strikes Twice and download your free copy at Ellora’s Cave on 25 April.

Happy reading,
Shelley