Today I’m delighted to host Belinda Missen.  Belinda writes, fun, flirty, feel good romances – something I think we all need in our lives. I was lucky enough to win one of Belinda’s books earlier this year and I’m looking forward to taking a bit of that romance away on holiday with me.

 

Author Bio:

Author and sometimes foodie, Belinda is a ridiculous romantic who met her husband after being set up by a friend two states away.

Residing in country Victoria (Australia), surrounded by books, cat-fur, and half-eaten cake, Belinda divides her days between writing rom-coms, baking, and indulging her love of comic books.

Which 5 pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?

 

Summer of ‘69 – Bryan Adams – Anyone who’s met me know that I was a huge Bryan Adams fan growing up. Like a lot of people, I had that ‘one band’ that got me through puberty – for me, that was Bryan Adams.

Say You Will – Foreigner – I just love this song, and it always reminds me of two of my characters, William & Emmy (An Impossible Thing Called Love).

Theme from Jurassic Park – John Williams – Along with Bryan Adams, I was more than a little obsessed with Jurassic Park. It was the first big piece of storytelling that made me sit up and take notice. I remember seeing the paperback in Kmart and thinking how much I’d love to see my own name on a book one day.

Hammerhead – James Reyne – Just a song that I really love. One of the few I can listen to on repeat without getting sick of.

You Got It – Roy Orbison – After our wedding, my husband and I decided that this song should have been our wedding dance, so it’s kind of ‘our song’. Whenever I hear it, I think of him.

 

Highlight 5 things (apart from family and friends) you’d find it hard to live without.

 

Words – after all, where would we be without language?

My Passport – I can never get enough London. I feel more at home there than anywhere else on earth.

Cash – It’s probably redundant to say, but we kind of do need it.

Love – Because how awesome is falling in love?

A running car – I live a long way from anywhere. I’d be hard-pressed without some wheels to get around.

 

Can you offer 5 pieces of advice you’d give to your younger self?

 

You are worthy.

You got this.

Please keep writing.

You will meet him. The One. Don’t listen to anything anybody else says. He will love you just as you are.

You will make your own dreams come true.

 

Tell us 5 things that most people don’t know about you.

 

I’m a bit of an open book, so this one might be hard.

I am such a nervous traveller that I often have to change on stopovers. The first time I travelled anywhere on my own, I had sweated through my clothes before I’d hit Brunei. Once I get where I’m going, I’m perfectly fine. It’s just getting there that’s the problem.

On 01 May 2013, I tried to resign from a job. My bosses refused my resignation. Five minutes later, I stood up and walked out. I’ve never looked back.

I only buy books that are 198mm tall. Well, as far as I can control, but I’ll hang out for a different edition if I need to, just to keep my books the same height.

Family history is my jam. What began as a school project when I was eleven years old has become a lifelong project that I’ve spent over twenty years and countless dollars on. I’ve met and learned from some wonderful people in the process. Oh, and found some incredibly interesting people in my family tree.

I never finished reading Harry Potter.

What are the first 5 things you’d have on your bucket list?

 

Write and sell a film script.

Work with Benedict Cumberbatch. I don’t care if he’s acting, producing, or directing, I just love the work he’s putting out and would love the chance to be part of that.

Write a piece of heavy literature.

Write a bestseller.

Live in London, even if only for a little while.

 

Thanks so much for joining us Belinda, it was lovely to discover more about you. I love the advice to your younger self. I’m sure we all agonised about being perfect for a boyfriend, to discover that being yourself really is good enough. You’d have walked out from my old job too (I was a librarian) with your need for book height regularity. Good to find another family history fan, it does become compulsive (not too mention expensive. If it makes you feel any better I’ve never actually started a Harry Potter! Here’s hoping you get to achieve some of those bucket list items, we all deserve to achieve some of our dreams.

 

Belinda’s Books

 

Lessons in Love (published 11 june and available to pre-order)

Falling in love is never easy…

Eleanor Manning is finally leaving behind her glittering but empty life in the city (and her soon-to-be-ex-husband) to return to the comfort of her childhood home in Apollo Bay.

She’s landed a lovely new job in her old primary school library and a flatshare with her bubbly best friend, Penny. So yes, she’s well and truly learnt her lesson when it comes to love…

But then she meets gorgeous teacher Marcus Blair and Eleanor’s self-imposed rules fly out of the window! Surely she can resist him long enough to keep this fling no strings attached?

 

An Impossible Thing Called Love 

A second chance at love…

When globe-trotting Emmy first fell for first-aider William on a freezing New Year’s Eve, she really believed that their love would go the distance.

But when she returns to Australia, her letters start to go unanswered and her emails bounce back unread, Emmy decides it’s time to pick up the pieces of her broken heart and start afresh in London.

So she’s shocked when William walks in on her very first day at her new job! Even worse, he’s hotter than ever. But why did he disappear for so long? What has he been hiding? And could this really be their second chance at falling in love…?

 

A Recipe for Disaster

Life’s not always a piece of cake…

Meet Lucy, master wedding cake baker, idealistic school canteen crusader, and someone whose broken heart just won’t seem to mend…

Lucy is quietly confident that she has made the right choices in life. Surrounded by friends and family in a small country town, Lucy can easily suppress the feeling that something is missing from her life.

But when a blast from the past arrives in the form of her estranged husband, international celebrity chef Oliver Murray, Lucy’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble beneath her like overbaked meringue.

Is Oliver’s return all business or is it motivated by something more?

A Recipe for Disaster starts long after most love stories would have ended, proving it is never too late to offer someone a second slice of cake or a second chance.

 

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