Romance Writers Weekend - Rural Authors

Jo Speirs author of 'Light Up My Heart', 'A Point Perry Christmas' & 'Second Chance Love in Point Perry'

Light Up My Heart
Second chances can be a gift when you’re brave enough to risk your heart … gripping, emotional and uplifting, the unmissable small-town festive romance from the award-winning author of Second Chance Love in Point Perry.

Perfect for lovers of Virgin River and readers who enjoy Elsie Silver and Laura Pavlov.

Scarlett Reynold’s life in the city may be in tatters, but that doesn’t mean anyone needs to know. Especially when Christmas is her favourite time of year and it’s her first visit home to the small town of Point Perry in forever.

Ryan Black would recognise Scarlett anywhere, although apparently, she doesn’t remember him or their teenage summer romance. He’s fine with that because he hates Christmas and anyone who loves it so much isn’t meant for him.

But then Scarlett and Ryan are thrown together amidst preparations for the town’s annual Christmas festivities. The longer Scarlett is in town, the more reasons she’s finding to stay, and the harder it is for Ryan to deny their growing attraction.

When admitting your feelings means facing past pains, sometimes even love can’t overcome doubt and fear. But never underestimate the power of a little Christmas magic …

Author bio:
Joanne Speirs grew up on a farm in a small rural community on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, where she wrangled sheep with her dad, baked, sewed and crafted with her mum and was a keen netballer. Scouring the school library shelves for Sweet Valley High romance novels became a favourite pastime in her teens and fuelled her passion for reading and writing. She now lives in Adelaide with her two teenage boys, husband, and border collie, and she uses her life experiences as inspiration for her contemporary rural romance stories.

Her debut, Second Chance Love in Point Perry, was runner-up in the prestigious Romance Writers of Australia Valerie Parv Award in 2019 and longlisted for the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Award in 2020, and she was recently awarded Favourite Debut Romance Author 2023.

When she’s not writing, she’s chief line & copyeditor + proofreader at Nurturing Words, specialising in editing manuscripts for self-publishing romance authors.
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Bernadette Eden author of 'Awaiting Annie Jones'

Annie Jones has a great life.
Doesn’t she?
Not really.

The not-so-great life is confirmed when her fiancés (one of many) indiscretions are splashed across the UK tabloids.
And as if further confirmation was needed, Annie and her four-year-old son have nowhere else to go but home.

Home being Cameron Valley, a small country town in the middle of Australia.

But going home means facing the tragedy that forced her to leave in the first place. Annie worries her tight-knit community would never forgive her if they knew what really happened that night.

Throwing herself back into country life, Annie works as a farm-hand and soon recovers her passion for working on the land. With her son settled and some romantic attention from Pat the charming solicitor as well as Danny the goat farmer, Annie is finally having some fun.

But Annie isn’t the only one returning home, Angus Wakefield is back and is just as good-looking as ever. As memories re-surface, along with feelings that should have long been forgotten, Annie discovers that the key to her happiness lies in unlocking her past.

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Author Bio:
Bernadette Eden writes feel-good fiction that gives you a giggle.

Growing up in a small country town, Bernadette learnt the art of storytelling by sitting at kitchen tables listening to gossip. When she was old enough she dabbled in some gossip herself and then thought what if I made this a bit juicier and called it fiction?

Now, living in the Adelaide Hills with her husband, three kids and a dog who thinks he is human, Bernadette still gossips but likes to call it research instead.
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Bookings are essential, Free event.

Please note:

• Stay at home if you are unwell or have a cough, fever, sore throat, fatigue or shortness of breath.
• Maintaining social distancing is the responsibility of the individual.

The City of Charles Sturt would like to acknowledge the land we occupy today is the traditional lands of the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with their country. We also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the greater Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.