I'm an English writer now living in the wilds of Tasmania, Australia. My love of books began at school. I devoured the classics and couldn’t wait to audition for the lead in the next school play. Both my father and brother were in the military and I saw firsthand their love and duty for country, and family often with great cost to their mental health and wellbeing. I write stories about heroes like them and the women who win their hearts. Love takes courage.
‘Do No Harm’ Military medic Luke McLaren kept his oath, until he failed to save his best friend, Mike. Mike’s sister, midwife Kate Gibson, doesn’t believe in happy endings. Not since her brother got killed on a mission.
After a night of make-me-forget sex, Luke knows Kate is the only woman he will ever want but can never have, but when Kate asks for Luke’s help to expose a bomb threat, he has no choice. He must protect her. With their hotter than hell connection reignited, they must face the enemy together. Will they survive?
Colby and Mia’s story was the first military romance book I ever read and was the inspiration to write my own romantic suspense. Lots of action, sizzling romance, and a happy ending. What’s not to love?
Two very different people work together to bring the bad guys to justice while sorting out their rocky relationship. In all of Ms. Harber’s books, the men are fierce protectors, and the women are strong and independent. A winning combination.
My father and brother were military men and I strongly identified with the gruff characters with soft and compassionate hearts.
After putting her life on the line to protect classified intelligence, military psychologist Mia Kensington is on a cross-country road trip from hell with an intrusive save-the-day hero. Uninterested in his white knight act, she'd rather take her chances without the ruggedly handsome, cold-blooded operative who boasts an alpha complex and too many guns.
Colby Winters, an elite member of The Titan Group, has a single objective on his black ops mission: recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. But now, by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra when he…
Another first-in-series story that falls squarely into the protective romance category with fierce alpha heroes and the women who win their hearts.
I love these larger-than-life heroes and Ms. Crouch effortlessly makes them believable, especially when you want to escape everyday reality. Not recommended on a regular basis, but something we all want to do at times, on holiday, at the weekend or simply after a rough day at the office.
I love the way Zac patiently and carefully rebuilds his shaky relationship with Annie. Guess I really am a sucker for the hard, in this case, very muscular frame, and the gooey center living inside the man.
He’d protect her from any threat… But what if the biggest threat is him?
Doctor Anne Griffin is back in Oak Creek, Wyoming only because she has no other options. Here, she was always the shy, stuttering girl, invisible to everyone.
Except Zac Mackay. The very reason she left in the first place.
Zac’s years in Special Forces taught him survival skills, and he’s created a company—Linear Tactical—to teach those skills to others, so they never have to live in fear.
Then why is Annie, the last person he’d ever want to hurt, afraid of him?
The romantic power of this story has never left me.
I read Jane Eyre as a high-school student studying my favorite subject, English Literature. I loved the gothic gloom and mystery, secrets to be explored and solved. Jane epitomizes the seemingly weak female who ultimately shows the greatest strength while Rochester oozes protector energy, a man with a dark past.
The contemporary protector romances I love today haven’t strayed far from the over-arching themes of the books of my teenage years, and there is comfort in that. I’ve yet to figure out exactly why, but like all of us, I suspect it has much to do with our own family history and experiences.
No matter what, I will never tire of the happy ending.
Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Canterbury Christ Church University College.
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.
She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester.
I picked this book up on a research trip to London. I had anticipated referring to it in my own writing, however, I could not put it down!
The poignant information and stories recollected by Ms Mayhew are heart stopping. I don’t often cry when I read a book. Ms Mayhew is a thorough medical and social historian who brings to life the reality of healing and medicine in wartime. Miraculous moments were achieved, but at what cost, long term?
What happens when you reach the threshold of life and death - and come back?
As long as humans have lived together on the planet, there have been wars, and injured soldiers and civilians. But today, as we engage in wars across the globe with increasingly sophisticated technology, we are able to bring people back from ever closer encounters with death. But how do we do it, and what happens next?
Here, historian Emily Mayhew explores the modern reality of medicine and injury in wartime, from the trenches of World War One to the dusty plains of Afghanistan and the…
This collection of short stories has a special place in my heart.
Stories written about people living in the early sixties in working-class London. The colloquial language rings true in my ears, and the stories belong in that special place held dear by my teenage self. Laugh or cry, I pick the book up when I am at most in need of, no place like home, comfort.
Ken Loach made a film based on the book and followed it up with another one of her books. Poor Cow. Dog-eared and well-worn, the books remain on my shelf.
'Her art is ignited by voice, as you hear it, is unquestionable' ALI SMITH, GUARDIAN
'Distinctive, pared-down style' DAVID EVANS, INDEPENDENT
'Unflinching look at the lives of working-class women' DAILY MAIL
Nell Dunn's scenes of London life, as it was lived in the early Sixties in the industrial slums of Battersea, have few parallels in contemporary writing. The exuberant, uninhibited, disparate world she found in the tired old streets and under the railway arches is recaptured in these closely linked sketches; and the result is pure alchemy.
I have been a writer for more than twenty years and have favored pursuing “truth in fiction” rather than “money in formula.” I also spent over thirty years in the corporate world and was exposed to many situations reminiscent of those described in my fiction and in these recommended books. While I support enterprise, “enlightened capitalism” is preferable to the bare-knuckle type we have today, and which seems to resurface whenever regulation weakens. I also find writing novels closer to my lived experience connects me intimately with readers who are looking for socio-political, realist literature.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.
His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian beekeeper living on Vancouver Island hold the key to Avery’s recovery, a man holding secrets that put lives in jeopardy? Avery races across the country to find out, with crooked bosses, politicians, and assassins on his tail. Joseph spins a cautionary tale of corporate and political greed that is endemic to our times.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis. His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election.
Throw in a reckless fling with a former colleague, a fire that destroys his retirement property, and a rumour emerging that the drug he helped bring to market years ago may have been responsible for the death of his wife, and Avery’s life goes into freefall.
Does an octogenarian bee keeper living on Vancouver Island hold…
