Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

The Pink Whisk is one of the foodie blogs I read on a regular basis. A recent post related to preparations for making a Christmas cake. Yes, evidently it’s time to start the ball rolling and soak your fruit in all that boozy goodness. Here’s a link to Ruth’s post along with directions of how to prepare the fruit

I have to admit that I’m not a fan of fruit cake, unless it’s iced with brandy icing, but I bet this fruit mix would smell wonderful. During my teenage years, we made fruit cakes in our home economics class. Since we were all underage, we soaked our fruit in ginger ale, but only for about a week. I’m not sure if you have this in the US, but it’s a soda. A non-alcoholic ginger beer would probably work well too.

You know, I’m almost tempted to make a cake this year…

Do you like fruit cake? Do you make your own Christmas cake each year? How far in advance do you make your cake? And finally, do you ice (frost) your cake or do you prefer just the cake?

I have a new release coming out with Carina Press in February 2012. It’s a rerelease of my contemporary mystery/romance The Shadow, although I’ve done extensive revisions and rewrites with the help of my wonderful editor. There’s no official title or blurb as yet, but the release date is definitely February.

My special guest today is author, Rachel Brimble who lives in England, not far from one of my favorite cities – Bath. Today, she’s celebrating her new Lyrical Press release, Paying the Piper and talking about a topic that many of you will totally understand and sympathize with. Over to Rachel…

I have been suffering with ‘working mother’ syndrome for the last two weeks and thought I’d seek solace with my visitors on Shelley’s blog today ;). How do we deal with that overwhelming sense of guilt that comes thundering down on us when we are being pulled every which way? I have two pre-teenage daughters who have hormones jumping around inside them. It’s as though a packet of out of control jumping beans have been poured down their throats! They are not afraid to tell me how they are feeling at any given moment, believe me.

If you’re hoping I can provide the solution to this age-old problem for anyone else suffering the same pressure, I am sorry to disappoint you.

With the popularity of the book and now film, “I Don’t Know How She’s Does It”, starring SJP, I know it is a universal issue a million and one mothers are dealing with on a daily basis. I tell myself this should make me feel better – it doesn’t, does it for you?

On my writing calendar alone this week, I have the following entries:

Complete two interviews
Write two blogs
Finish editing novel my agent is waiting for
Write at least 5,000 words toward my new work in progress
Start on the five entries I need to judge for a RWA chapter contest

Hmm…on top of that, I have a parents evening for my youngest daughter, clubs to take both kids to and from, ironing, housework, dinners to make and a night out with a friend. Stressed? You bet!

So that’s my plea today – do any of you guys have some time-saving formulas that work? How do you get your kids to help or even understand? I am literally pulling my hair out at the moment!

Or like me, are you partly to blame? Do you put too much pressure on yourself? I am massively guilty of this and it’s usually my kids who miss out on my attention. Tell me I’m not alone!! :-)

Okay, so I’ve had my moan and can’t wait for you all to provide me with the sought-after solution, lol!

Here’s the blurb for my latest release, enjoy! Paying The Piper is available right now from Lyrical Press:

Nightclub manager Grace Butler is on a mission to buy the pub where her mother’s ashes are scattered but the owner wants to sell to anyone but her. And that owner happens to be her father…who has a secret she will do anything to discover.

Social worker and all around good guy Jimmy Betts needs funds to buy a house for three special kids before their care home closes. Time is running out and he’s desperate for cash. He agrees to to a one-time ‘job’ for bad-man Karl Butler. But in a sudden turn of events, Jimmy finds himself employed by Karl’s beautiful, funny and incredibly sexy daughter, Grace. Their lives couldn’t be more different, yet one thread binds them: they’re both trying to escape the bonds of their fathers. Maybe the only way they’ll be free is by being together, instead of alone.

Purchase Paying the Piper

Rachel loves to hear from readers and can be found here:

www.rachelbrimble.com
www.rachelbrimble.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/rachelbrimble

One of my favorite things about taking a holiday, apart from stepping away from my normal routine, is that I get the chance to catch up on my reading. During my visit to China, I managed to get through twenty-eight books in lengths ranging from shorts to long novels. Since I love to talk books, I thought I’d mention some of my favorite holiday reads instead of doing a Tuesday Teaser.

I started off with The Waiting Booth (Whispering Woods) by Brinda Berry. This is a young adult story and was a great start to my reading binge. The Waiting Booth features a missing boy, government agents and an interdimensional portal. The plot moved along and I kept zipping through the pages until I reached the end.

The Devil to Pay by Maria Zannini was an interesting read with great world building. Heaven or hell? Our heroine is in a bad place in her life and wants out. Unluckily, that’s just the start of her problems. This is a self-published book and well worth a read. I’ll be snapping up the second story in Maria’s series when it comes out.

Rock Hard by Olivia Cunning is the second book in her Sinners on Tour series. It took me a while to warm to the hero, but this book was an excellent way to pass a long bus ride. It’s a hot, sexy read, and I’m counting the days until book three hits the shelves.

I’m a sucker for a friends-to-lovers story, and Hot Head by Damon Suede grabbed my attention straight away. Sexy firemen, best friends, lots of emotion and confusion along the way. This is a gay romance, and I really enjoyed it.

Then came my Carina Press binge. Yes, I’m a Carina author, but I have to say if you haven’t tried some of the stories available from Carina you’re missing out. I read Golden by Joely Sue Burkhart. Just excellent. I loved this story, which is a historical set in China. Caddy Girls by VK Sykes and Sweet as Sin by Inez Kelley are both stories I’d recommend to any contemporary fan. I enjoyed reading both stories.

And my final recommendation is Chasin’ Eight by Lorelei James. The hero and heroine really grabbed me in this one, and it was fun watching them both grow during the course of the book. This is book eleven in the Rough Riders series and one of my favorites in the series to date.

Have you read any extra good books this month? What are you reading at present? If you have time give me a two sentence teaser in the comments, because I need to load up my iPad again.

This is a quick post to say hi! I’m at home again. Mr. Munro and I had a fabulous time in China. It’s such a great place to visit with thousands of years of history contrasting with the new modern China. Highlights for me were climbing the Great Wall, visiting the Terracotta warriors in Xian and seeing the panda bears in Chengdu. I’ll post more in the days to come and also update my photo album with some China photos.

This shot was taken at the Forbidden City in Beijing. You might note the change in hair color. I was tired of coloring my hair every five or six weeks and have gone for a trendy two-tone look of gray and dark brown. I’m getting used to people staring at me. A group of Chinese ladies accosted me in the restrooms with much exclaiming and smiling. One showed me her regrowth, but I’m still not sure what they were trying to tell me. I just grinned back, and we were all happy!

What have you been up to while I was on holiday? Have I missed any good news?