Be the first to see Alice and Roman's meet-cute 💜

Aug 04, 2025 11:31 am

G'day, ,

I had one week's annual leave in July and I enjoyed the pants out of staying home as much as I possibly could! I think I left home three times: once for a remedial massage, once for grocery shopping, and once to watch my youngest play his game of soccer! It was the perfect week and gave me plenty of time to nap, read, and dream up the next part of Nix and Abbi's story. It was perfect!

I'm also four weeks into reducing my sugar intake! Yay me! I'm a girl who has two teaspoons of sugar in coffee and one in tea. I've reduced it to only one teaspoon in my instant coffee, none in my latte, and none in my tea. So I've gone from up to five or seven teaspoons a day to two or three! I don't think I'll be able to cut it out completely, but I never say never!

An Author IN NEED

Back in February, Janet Elizabeth Henderson (one of my favourite authors) was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time thanks to family genetics. Surgery was originally planned for early April, but had to be delayed due to illness.

The original surgery was supposed to be a simple procedure to remove a lump, but turned into a double mastectomy/reconstruction to remove all of the breast tissue to reduce the chances of the cancer returning. I can't even imagine how worrying this news was for her with two young daughters she's raising on her own.

In early June, the ten-hour surgery went well and apart from some minor problems with drains and dressings, everything was going as expected.

Recently, Janet was told that the cancer that was removed from her body was more serious than expected, so she now has to undergo 12 months of chemotherapy—and we both know how crappy that's going to be.

Throughout this entire process, Janet has (in true Janet style) kept a happy and positive attitude about the experience. She's been a beautiful inspiration to everyone in her circle, but I wouldn't expect anything less from her. She always finds the positive in any situation.

While Janet focuses on her healing and recovery, I'm hoping we can pull together as a community to support her by reading one or more of her books.

I have so much love and admiration for Janet's skill in writing fantastic romcoms/suspense stories set in Scotland and London that I just couldn't put down. Her stories had me laughing out loud and turning pages faster than my eyes could keep up. She writes lovable characters, engaging humorous stories with suspenseful elements.

My introduction to Janet's work was Lingerie Wars. Those of you who read Everlasting Love will recognise it as the book Shane was reading when he couldn't sleep. Janet very kindly gave me permission to use some lines from her work and I was thrilled that she trusted me enough to use her work.

If you're so inclined to help an author in her time of need, I'd love for you to pick up one of her books. I promise you won't be sorry.

You can grab them all directly from her website, so she gets 100% of the royalties, but they are available on all platforms.

https://janetelizabethhenderson.com/collection/all

If you've gotten this far, thanks so much for reading

I've been busy finalising Loving Roman for my ARC team and it's release at the end of this month. Gosh, I love this couple so much. Roman and Alice are in their forties and meet while on summer vacation. These two have had me smiling so hard while I've been doing the final review. You are going to love them. Of course, Roman is a scrummy cinnamon roll book boyfriend just waiting to be added to your collection and Alice is so relatable as she struggles to come to terms with the reality of perimenopause!

I love a good MEET-CUTE, and I love the way Roman and Alice meet on vacation, so I thought I'd share it with you! You're the FIRST to see this little snippet ...

I drop my head forward and gaze across the pounding waves and the almost empty beach. It’s too early for most people, but I love this time of the day. It’s a fresh start; a clean slate for all the wonderful possibilities of what may be. Slipping my feet out of my flip-flops, I stoop to collect them, then step onto the soft, cool sand to make my way toward the firmer sand near the water.

I lay out my towel and twist my hair into a knot on top of my head. A few white strands that decorate the front of my hair are too short and fall around my face, but I tuck them behind my ears, hopeful they’ll stay put. Dropping to my butt, I center myself before moving into child’s pose, ensuring I focus on my breath and alignment as I work through each pose of my morning yoga routine.

As I push into the upward-facing dog pose, a bear of a man jogging along the beach captures my attention. He cuts a rather imposing figure, but I can see he’s light on his feet. His shirt is darker around his neck and beneath his armpits, and as he comes closer, I notice he’s quite handsome.

When he’s within a few feet of me, he tips his head with a smile. “Beautiful morning,” he says, not even slightly puffed, despite his exertion.

The deep timbre of his voice renders me almost speechless, and all I can muster is a breathy yeah before he’s passing. I move into downward dog so I can keep him in my sight. He spins, running backward, grinning at me with raised brows, and it’s at that moment I realize I have my ass on full display for him. My cheeks heat, and it’s not from the warmth of the morning sun. Oh my god, how embarrassing. He spins around, facing forward and continues on his way, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the play of his muscles beneath his tight green T-shirt.

Oh my!

It’s been a long time since I’ve noticed a handsome man, and I’m not sure I recognize the sensation making its way through my body. It’s not until I’m in my low lunge pose that I’m composed enough to return my focus and intention inward. It takes tremendous effort to keep my eyes from drifting down the beach in search of the handsome runner and keep my focus where it belongs.

Sitting up after completing my routine in the Shavasana pose, I catch sight of someone out of the corner of my eye. My heart skips when I notice it’s the man who jogged by earlier. I trail my eyes up his powerful body, admiring his muscular legs to his stomach, which has the beginnings of a paunch. His broad chest rises and falls with his heavy breaths, and when I make it to his face, a smirk touches his lips as he raises a brow at me.

“Quite a striking view,” he says, mirth in his voice.

“Uh-huh. It really is,” I agree as I moisten my suddenly dry lips. All the internal balance and calm I achieved over the last thirty minutes crashes to the shore, leaving me off-balance.

He takes a step closer and towers over me in my lowered position. He must be well over six feet and all man. I push to my feet, brushing the sand from my hands as the space between us diminishes. He stops two feet away from me and I tilt my head back to maintain eye contact with this handsome stranger.

I feel somewhat exposed in my yoga outfit—which leaves nothing to the imagination, including the muffin top which can’t be contained by my leggings—especially with this stranger’s eyes on me. Stooping, I scoop up my towel and pretend to wipe non-existent sweat from my neck in an inane attempt to hide some of my flaws.

His smirk drops as creases form between his dark brows. He holds out his hand, and I fumble with my towel to shake it. “I’m Roman.”

Gosh, even his name’s strong. I slide my hand into his, and he almost swallows it whole. My heart hammers like a beat from Noah’s favorite heavy metal music. “Alice. Nice to meet you.”

He tips his head toward the spot where I was practicing yoga. “I’ve always wanted to try yoga, but I’m not very flexible.”

I look back at the spot, like I need to be reminded of what I was just doing, and chuckle. “Oh, I wasn’t flexible at first either. It took time, patience, and practice.”

“Well, it’s certainly paid off,” he says suggestively as his eyes trace over my body, making my blood heat and stomach flip.

As a woman closer to fifty, it’s been a long time since someone looked at me with interest. And while the feminist in me bristles and should call him out on his blatant perusal, the woman in me preens under his heated gaze.

“Thank you.” I dip my head demurely and curtsy at his compliment. What the hell? I may as well giggle like a schoolgirl while I’m at it. My entire body heats from the inside out as if someone’s turned the furnace full blast. Shit, that’s all I need right now—a hot flash. My body burns hotter and hotter, and I’m thankful for the cool morning air, but it’s not really helping to control my internal thermostat.

His smile widens, causing deep crinkles at the corners of his eyes. The depth of the creases tells me this man smiles a lot. He pushes his hair away from his face, and I admire the way his bicep bulges beneath his T-shirt, the green doing amazing things against his tanned skin.

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I had a great reading month in between working on final edits for Loving Roman!

I finished Kennedy Ryan's Skyland series. I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It focused heavily on women forward themes and each of the Heroes were gorgeous cinnamon rolls. I highly recommend giving this series a read.

I picked up Tessa Bailey's Love Her or Lose Her because it features a marriage in trouble and since that's what I'm currently working on, I thought I'd check it out. I always see it recommended in groups when people ask for this trope. Dominic was the strong silent type to a fault which has cost him his marriage. When faced with losing his marriage, he does the work to win his wife back. Another delicious cinnamon roll to add to your book boyfriend collection.

Tiny Precious Secrets was another emotional Samantha Christy novel. I've been waiting for this one since I binged her entire catalogue and I was not disappointed. This is an age-gap, single dad, friends with bennies type of situation. I felt the daughter was given too much power over the father's life, but everything else in this story was perfect.

Then I went off on a darker tangent, reading the Court of the Vampire Queen series by Katee Roberts. Wow! If you like books with lots of sex, this is definitely for you. It's MMMF with lot's of blood play (as you can imagine with vampires). This is my first vampire story and while I ended up skimming over a lot of the sex scenes, I mostly enjoyed this series.

My last book, In a Jam was utter perfection. I love Kate Canterbary. She writes smart, witty stories with strong heroines and the grumbliest of Heroes that are perfectly delicious. I always forget how much I enjoy her stories until I pick one up. If you haven't read her before, please give her a try!

Let me know what your favourite book was from July!

And here's your reading tracker for August. Enjoy!

I love to support other authors, so please click to learn more.

He's the single dad starting over in a new seaside town. She's the bookshop owner who's vowed to take a break from men for the summer.

Grab it here!

Mister Curb Appeal is a friend’s to lovers, workplace, one-bed, plus-size heroine romance with a happily ever after and can be read stand-alone. It has open-door scenes, and a tattooed hero who calls her “Princess”.

Grab it here!

A Small Town, Forbidden Love, Romantic Suspense.

Grab it here!

If you'd like somewhere to hang out and talk about my books, come and join my Facebook Group, Deb's Bibliomaniacs. Be sure to answer all the questions because I'd love to see you there. Just click on the image below. ⤵️

If you'd like to join a reader group that focuses solely on Cinnamon Roll Heroes, come and join Cinnamon Roll Book Boyfriends. Be sure to answer all the questions. Just click on the image below. ⤵️