Hometown Settings plus book giveaway

By Narelle Atkins

I enjoy reading books that are set in places where I’ve lived or visited. I grew up on the northern beaches in Sydney, Australia, and I’ve always loved reading books set in Sydney. I’ve even read books in genres I don’t usually read because they’re set in Sydney.

Sydney, Australia

Reading is a sensory experience and writers use the five senses to draw us into their story. For example, we can dig our bare toes into the soft sand at Manly Cove and look out at the beauty of Sydney Harbour. We can smell the salty sea air, touch the refreshing cool water that’s lapping into shore, taste the deep fried fish and chips we’re eating while sitting on the beach, and hear the squawking from the seagulls hovering around us, hoping we’ll share our dinner with them. 

Manly Cove, Sydney, Australia

These little details can add a richness to the story setting, and trigger our memories if we’ve visited the setting in real life. Writers who know their setting can add details to deepen the authenticity of their story.

Manly ferry docked at Circular Quay in the city

Her Tycoon Hero is the first book I wrote when I started writing, back in 1998. I was living in Sydney at the time and I sometimes wrote longhand on the Manly ferry. There’s a scene in the early chapters of the book with my characters, Ryan and Cassie, travelling to the city on the Manly ferry. I wrote the first draft of that scene while sitting on the Manly ferry, drinking coffee and experiencing the turbulence and rocking as the ferry passed by the entrance to the harbor between North and South Head. 

Cassie Beaumont Believes in Second Chances

Set on proving to everyone that she's no longer a party girl, Cassie is focused on her career as an event planner. But her dad's top executive, Ryan Mitchell, proves to be a handsome distraction. Especially when someone from Cassie's wild past tries to get her tangled in the life she's worked hard to escape. 

Ryan is taken with his boss's beautiful daughter. But having been fooled by a brother who ran in her same circles, he is slow to trust. When Cassie's newfound faith works its way into his heart, Ryan soon finds he wants to claim both her faith and Cassie as his own.

NARELLE ATKINS writes contemporary inspirational romance and lives in Canberra, Australia. She sold her debut novel, set in Australia, to Harlequin's Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line in a 6-book contract. Her debut book, Falling for the Farmer, was a February 2014 release, followed by The Nurse's Perfect Match in May 2014, The Doctor's Return in August 2014, Her Tycoon Hero in November 2014, Winning Over the Heiress in February 2015, and Seaside Proposal in May 2015.

Narelle blogs regularly with Australasian Christian Writers and Inspy Romance. http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.inspyromance.com/ 

She is also a co-founder of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance (ACRBA).
http://acrba.blogspot.com/ 

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com
Blog: http://narelleatkins.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarelleAtkinsAuthor
Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

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Have you read many books set in your hometown or city? Or, written a book set in your hometown? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. 

To celebrate the official release of Her Tycoon Hero in ebook format this weekend and November 3 in print, I'm giving away one print copy (worldwide, wherever The Book Depository delivers) to a reader who leaves a comment on this post and enters the Rafflecopter giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ATKINS DIET - Romance and Love of God

Keen Writers

Romance author, Narelle Atkins, recently
shared her writing journey at the Australian Christian
Writers Fellowship seminar in Sydney.

As an attendee, I was glad to finally meet Narelle face to face.
We had a lot to chew over and not enough time to do it. Questions flew thick and fast as she began covering the seminar topics.

*Traditional Publishing vs Self Publishing.
*Catching an editor's attention with your Proposal.
*Writing an effective blog to promote your work.

Then we were all put to work!

An exercise in writing blog posts

I was personally blessed as I rarely get together   with like-minded folk in the writing field. And it's always amazing when someone throws a question you hadn't thought to ask and it happens to be information  you really need. This is especially relevant in the technical side of presenting your work in the best light possible, whether it be to agents, editors, or readers of your blogs.        

Lunch was served after all this brainstorming

Narelle fielded all of the questions thrown her way. She's been at this "game" for quite some time. We appreciated her sharing the way she patiently laid foundations for her writing career, in her willingness to wait on God's timing, not hers.


There was applause when she told us about her first writing contract with Heartsong Presents. This was not one book but a series. Now we just need to wait until her first books arrive here in Australia.

As members of this International Christian Fiction Writers blog, we appreciate Narelle's efforts in keeping this blog running smoothly. She personally guided me in setting up my very first blog here.

Check my blog to read her own romance story, plus a lovely wedding picture of her wedding day.
http://inspirationalromance.blogspot.com

Australian Historical Romance author, Rita Stella Galieh, has had two books published, Fire in the Rock,
Book I of  The Watermark Women series, Signed Sealed Delivered,
Book II, The Tie That Binds is with the publisher waiting for a contract soon to be followed by book III, A Parcel of Promises.

She is also a scriptwriter and co-presenter on a five-minute Christian radio program, VANTAGE POINT. She and her evangelist husband have travelled to Thailand every year for the past eighteen years in a month long ministry to schools, prisons, hospitals, orphanages, shopping malls, and churches.