Category Archives: Shadows from Her Past

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Sweet Romances in time for Valentine’s Day …

February 13, 2021 Melanie 2 Comments

Looking for some Sweet Romances to read this Valentine’s Day?

Then look no further…

Sweet romances or sweet and wholesome romances are suitable for all ages. Nothing steamy going on here.

sweet romances

The It Happened series of sweet romances set in picturesque Canadian locations.

Book 1 – It Happened on Dufferin Terrace is set in beautiful Old Quebec City.

Book 2 – It Happened in Gastown is set in the Gastown neighbourhood of Vancouver.

The “It Happened” is the event/location where the couple is brought together for the first time. Aiding in their meeting or continuing relationship is a dog.

Sound interesting?

Here’s what the first book is about …

It Happened on Dufferin Terrace

Miracle on 34th Street meets Sleepless in Seattle…

Toronto business consultant, Serenity Layne, knew the only person she could depend on was herself. Busy with her career, she has no time for other pursuits and life’s intangibles

Widowed for three years, Roger Scott, a data security specialist in Quebec City, is a single parent to his ten-year-old son, Adam.

On a day out on the Plains of Abraham with their black Labrador Retriever, Roger’s cell phone rings incessantly. Adam has played matchmaker and put his father’s profile on a number of online dating sites.

The week before Christmas, Serenity is heading up a series of meetings after a six-month study of the Canadian retail chain, jonathans. After an unpleasant encounter with one of the store managers, she escapes from the boardroom of the Château Frontenac Hotel, only to be bowled over by Roger and Adam’s dog.

Guilty over the accident, Roger invites Serenity out for a drink by way of apology. Over the course of the week, and spending time together, feelings long dormant for Roger are re-awakened. At the same time, emotions foreign to Serenity fill her with contentment and happiness.

Will the couple get their happily ever after?

BUY LINKS

amazon

kobo

And the second book …

It Happened in Gastown

Trainspotting meets Hot Pursuit

Hilary Dunbar is a uniformed constable with the Vancouver Police with an agenda to rid the streets of drugs, especially the bad ones the notorious dealer, Carlos Navarra, is trafficking.

Heroin addict, Erik Layne, has lived on the streets of Gastown for as long as he can remember, having left home and Toronto as a rebellious teenage addict. His and Hilary’s paths cross when she finds him unconscious in an alley after injecting a batch of the contaminated drug. He must fight for his life to keep from dying, not only from the tainted smack but also from the man who provided it.

A domestic disturbance call goes wrong, and Hilary suffers life-changing injuries as a result. As luck would have it, she and Erik are hospitalized in the same ward at Vancouver General Hospital. When she sinks into a deep depression, it’s he who pulls her out of her doldrums.

But will Hilary’s obsession with bringing down Navarra and others like him destroy their relationship and, more importantly, jeopardize their lives?

Buy Links

Kindle

Kobo

Or if sweet romances of the time-travel variety are more to your liking, how about these?

sweet romances

A Shadow in the Past and Shadows From Her Past are available separately or can be bought as a boxed set.

A Shadow in the Past

When a contemporary teen is catapulted back in time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past…

Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself in Victorian Era Aberdeenshire, Scotland and has no idea how she got there. Her last memory is of being at the stone circle on the family farm in the year 2010.

Despite having difficulty coming to terms with her situation, Sarah quickly learns she must keep her true identity a secret. Still, she feels stifled by the Victorians’ confining social practices, including arranged marriages between wealthy and influential families, and confronts them head on then suffers the consequences.

When Sarah realizes she has fallen in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, she faces an agonizing decision. Does she try to find her way back to 2010 or remain in the past with the man she loves?

BUY LINKS

amazon

kobo

Shadows From Her Past

When a contemporary teen is catapulted back to the 21st century, the people and the life she knew in the Victorian era are Shadows From Her Past …

A cruel twist of fate returns Sarah Shand to her life in the year 2010 where she discovers she is a patient in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and has been for months. Struggling to come to terms with the situation, she insists she belongs in the year 1886 at Weetshill mansion with her husband the Laird, Robert Robertson, and adopted daughter, Jenny. Her family and consultant physician try to convince her she was dreaming or hallucinating but Sarah refuses to believe them.

Robert, who has experienced strange things at the stone circle at Gordonsfield Farm, somehow breaks through the time-space continuum and visits Sarah in his future. He pleads with her to return to the past but his cryptic messages only confuse her.

Medical student, David Robb, himself a descendant of the Robertsons of Weetshill, befriends Sarah. Fascinated with her stories of the past, after her release from the hospital, he takes Sarah to meet his parents, the current owners of the mansion and surrounding land.

This year, the winter solstice and lunar eclipse occur on the same day. Will a trip to the stone circle during this combination of events create the magic Sarah needs to return to 1886 and her family there? Or will she remain in the present and make a life with David?

BUY LINKS

amazon

kobo

And for the boxed set, the link is: books2read.com/u/m0VPEy

I hope you enjoy the selections I’ve chosen for Valentine’s Day 2021.

You can check out all my novels and children’s books on the books page of my website.

#amwriting, #ebook, #SCOTLAND, A Shadow in the Past, Book Promo, Novels, Paranormal romance, Shadows from Her Past, sweet romance, sweet romance mystery, time-travel

Box Set Blurb – How do you write yours?

August 24, 2020 Melanie 3 Comments

Creating an enticing back cover blurb is difficult enough, but when you’re trying to come up with a box set blurb for the first time, it’s even harder.

With Amazon, you want to be able to pack as much of a punch in as possible before the reader has to click on the “read more” link.

box set blurbs

I’ve wanted to sell A Shadow in the Past and Shadows From Her Past together as a box set in ebook format for quite some time. Anyone who has seen me at various events knows I sell the paperbacks together at a reduced price. When you’re talking face to face with folks, it’s easier to convey the subject matter without going into a lot of detail and postcards and other promotional material on hand also helps.

But in the big, bad online world, you don’t have that personal touch. You’ve got to get your blurb, single title or box set right or people aren’t going to see your product … and then there are the dreaded keywords. That could be another post on its own.

This is what I’ve come up with so far for my box set blurb.

Past and present collide in the Sarah Shand time travel romance series – a dual-timeline romance set in contemporary and Victorian-era Scotland.

Book 1: When Sarah Shand plunges back in time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past.

When she realizes she has fallen in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, she faces an agonizing decision. Does she try to find her way back to 2010 or remain in the past with the man she loves?

Book 2: When Sarah Shand finds herself back in the 21st century, the people and the life she knew in the Victorian era are Shadows From Her Past.

This year, the winter solstice and lunar eclipse occur on the same day. Will a trip to one of Aberdeenshire’s stone circles, located on the family farm, during this combination of events create the magic Sarah needs to return to 1886 and her family there? Or, will she remain in the present and make a life with David, himself a descendant of the man she fell in love with in the past?

A Shadow in the Past brought a unique new voice to time travel.

A charming time-slip love story with vivid description and authenticity throughout!

Shadows From Her Past is a wonderful story of love and life, both modern and in the past.

Melanie Robertson-King has a special touch when creating her characters. The author weaves a mystery, a romance, and a family that you hope will find happiness in their lives.

box set blurbs

I’m not completely happy with what I’ve written thus far, so I’d appreciate any suggestions you might have. Please leave your ideas in the comments.

Thanks!

A Shadow in the Past, All Aboard the Canadian with Buddy and his Four Fantastic Furry Friends!, Book Titles, It Happened in Gastown, It Happened on Dufferin Terrace, It Happened Series, Novels, Read in the Bathtub Day, Shadows from Her Past, The Consequences Collection, The Secret of Hillcrest House, Tim's Magic Christmas, YESTERDAY TODAY ALWAYS

If it’s February 9th, it’s Read in the Bathtub Day!

February 9, 2020 Melanie 2 Comments

Happy Read in the Bathtub Day!

There’s nothing like a long, leisurely soak in a hot bath. Add bubbles, a book and something to drink, perhaps a glass of wine, or maybe a cup of cocoa, and it becomes heavenly. Read in the Bathtub Day is the perfect occasion to take part in this relaxing past time. So what if you spend so much time in the tub, your toes end up shrivelled like prunes? It’s the reading in the bath that counts.

Reading in the bathtub works much better if you have more than one bathroom. I mean, you don’t want people pounding on the door to get in. You want to be able to relax and spend as much time as you wish, soaking up the hot water and bubbles, and the prose you’ve chosen as your reading material.

To properly enjoy Read in the Bathtub Day, you should have a caddy for your tub. After all, you don’t want to drop your tablet, or heaven forbid, a physical book in the water.

Read in the Bathtub Day!

These caddies come in all shapes and sizes – in bamboo, teak, stainless steel and more. Some are fancier than others like the one above, which also has a place for a wine glass.

So why not buy yourself a book (preferably one of mine), run a bubble bath and pour yourself a glass of wine (or your tipple of choice) and escape for some self-indulgence.

Not sure which of my titles you fancy? Click on any of the images in the sidebar and you’ll be taken to your amazon store where you can read the decription and, if you so choose, purchase the book.

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. 🙂

#ebook, 4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Book Promo, Book Titles, haunted houses, iBooks, Kindle, King Park Press, kobo, Lulu, nook, Read an #ebook week, Shadows from Her Past, The Secret of Hillcrest House

Read an #ebook week ~ March 5-11, 2017

March 5, 2017 Melanie Leave a comment

It’s read an #ebook week!

Every year, the first full week of March is designated “Read an Ebook Week”.

My debut novel published by 4RV Publishing in 2012, a time-travel romance set in Scotland, A Shadow in the Past …

#ebook week

When a contemporary teen is transported back in time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past…

Nineteen year old Sarah Shand finds herself in Victorian Era Aberdeenshire, Scotland and has no idea how she got there. Her last memory is of being at the stone circle on the family farm in the year 2010.

BUY LINKS

kindle | kobo | nook

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Like your fiction in smaller bites? How about a collection of short stories? The lead story in this, Consequences, was written during a store-front writing contest where we all wrote to the same theme … “If Sylvia had the faintest idea of the consequences of her action, she would immediately have written ‘Return to Sender’ across the envelope and dropped it in the nearest mailbox.”

We had from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm to come up with our up to 2,000 word short story.

#ebook week

The Consequences Collection is an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.

The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.

Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.

BUY LINKS

kindle | Lulu | iBooks

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For those of you who love a good ghost story set in a spooky house with a splash of hot romance, then check out The Secret of Hillcrest House…

#ebook week

Sometimes there’s more to a house than bricks and mortar.

Hillcrest House is one such place. Perched on a cliff in the picturesque town of Angel Falls, there is more to this Victorian mansion than meets the eye. When referring to the house, the locals use the word haunted on a regular basis. Strange visions appear in the windows, especially the second-floor ones over the side porch. Even stranger events take place within its four walls.

Rumour has it, the original owners, Asher and Maggie Hargrave, never left their beloved home. They claim the couple and their family are responsible for driving people away. Over the years, Hillcrest House has changed hands numerous times. No one stays long. Renovations begin then stop and the house is once more abandoned. The latest in this long line of owners is Jessica Maitland.

Will Jessica be the next one to succumb or will she unravel The Secret of Hillcrest House?

BUY LINKS

kindle | kobo | nook | iBooks

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And the long awaited sequel to A Shadow in the Past… Shadows From Her Past picks up where the first novel ends…

#ebook week

When a contemporary teen is catapulted back to the 21st century, the people and the life she knew in the Victorian era are Shadows From Her Past …

BUY LINKS

kindle | kobo | nook | iBooks

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The Face in the Stones – REVEALED

August 21, 2015 Melanie 2 Comments

It’s only recently, I saw the face in the stones in this photograph. I guarantee that once you see it, you won’t be able to “un-see” it every time you see the picture. It’s even visible in the older version of the photograph that’s the header photo for my blog.

This stone circle, located in rural Aberdeenshire, Scotland, features in my debut novel – A Shadow in the Past – and its not yet published sequel – Shadows From Her Past.

This type of stone circle, known as a recumbent stone circle, is unique to Aberdeenshire. You can find out more about them here.

I’ve visited a number of stone circles in Scotland but I’ve never seen a face in them before.

Interesting? Creepy? What do you think?

4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Novels, settings, Shadows from Her Past, Weetshill mansion, Writing

Will the real Weetshill mansion please stand up?

January 22, 2015 Melanie 11 Comments

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Weetshill mansion…

and here’s the photographic evidence of its existence.

From the first time I saw this derelict mansion in October 1993, I was head over heels in love with it. I mean, just look at it. Despite the fact that there are no windows, floors, no roof and there are good sized trees growing within the confines of the stone walls, you can easily see what it would have looked like in the past.

This beautiful, yet haunting pile, is located in the heart of rural Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Whether it’s inhabited by ghosts or not, the image conjures up all sorts of tales (leastways I think so).

And quite like my heroine, Sarah Shand, in A Shadow in the Past, I’m drawn to this place. Perhaps that’s why she says someday I’m going to live there.

This photo was taken from a different angle in 1997 and with a better camera lens. You can really see how much nature has reclaimed since the photo above taken in 1993.

And before you ask… it IS visible from the stone circle at Gordonsfield farm!

While I envision a different outcome for this grand place (I always thought B&B or hotel), it will live again. The mansion proper – at last word – will be converted to luxury flats. But then that’s economy permitting.

As you can see from this photo taken in 2013, the work has begun. The trees growing up within the walls have been removed, although it appears that they’re growing back. Pesky things.

While I’ve never had the ability to purchase said mansion, I hope I’ve let it live on in some way by including it in my novels… yup, it appears in the second book in the series, working title Shadows From Her Past.

Do you use actual locations, buildings and such in your writing? Please share in the comments.

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Saying goodbye to 2014

December 31, 2014 Melanie 4 Comments

And to all my Scottish friends and family…

Happy Hogmanay!

I’d share the wordpress helper monkeys stats for my blog here for 2014 but since I went most of the unable to connect to Jetpack, it hardly seems worthwhile. Besides, I have some other things I’d rather share about this past year and not the cheesy thing that Facebook puts together.

So, here we go! Fasten your seatbelts, we’re ready for takeoff!

April, Easter to be exact, my husband and I spent 10 days in beautiful, romantic Paris.

april 2014 — Don and me at the Arc de Triomphe

at the trocadero — “Able” and me at the Trocadéro

Then in September, another romantic destination was on the cards – Niagara Falls, Ontario. Okay, there are the tatty, touristy places but overall, it’s a lovely place.

Niagara 2014 — Horseshoe (Canadian) falls at night

While we were here, we decided to take a horse-drawn carriage ride. We’d seem them on previous trips and have always wanted to do it…

… so we did.

We even did a wine tour while we were in the region and came home with at least 4 bottles of wine – including a couple icewines!

2014 — Don and me wearing our silly hats before our wine tour – photo by Grape and Wine tours

Before the year was out, we spent a week in Quebec City. It was close enough to Christmas that the decorations were in the process of being put up. In hindsight, second week of December might be a better time to visit this beautiful city so that the baubles and lights and everything are in place.

And again, we did a horse-drawn carriage ride. Our driver, Philippe, was amazing and made the ride extremely fun.

Quebec 2014 — in front of the Chateau Frontenac

No trip to Quebec City would be complete without a short drive further east to see my ‘haunted’ house which is between Quebec City and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

Sadly it’s more run down since the last time I was down in this part of Canada but it’s beautiful nonetheless. And doesn’t being in a state of disrepair add to the mystery and the possibility of it being home to ghosts?

And when we weren’t gallivanting here, there and everywhere, I managed to write over 74,000 words in one of my works in progress (the first draft of the sequel to my debut novel)! While it was with my beta readers, I plotted and started another project and have some cracking ideas for even more writing projects.

So before I get all sappy and sentimental, I’ll finish this post with a little Auld Lang Syne.

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.—For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a
weary fit,
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.

Robert Burns

What will you do to see out 2014 and see in 2015? Any traditions you take part in?

#AtoZChallenge, 4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Aberdeenshire, Books, Brand, characters, Novels, Paranormal YA, Shadows from Her Past, stone circle, Writing, YA fiction

#AtoZChallenge – S is for SHADOWS FROM HER PAST

April 22, 2014 Melanie Leave a comment

Shadows from Her Past

I’m currently sitting at just over 62,000 words in my first draft and my target length is 85,000. This book hasn’t progressed as quickly as I had hoped but I’ve not totally thrown in the towel yet, either.

I don’t have a cover to show you but as the book hasn’t progressed to that stage, I can’t.

Here is the cover image for my first book. I see my name and the title Shadows from Her Past exactly how they are here. Keep the ‘author brand’ continuity if you will.

I also see the past and present being represented much as they are here but, shall we say, in a more modest setting. Present looking into the past and the two characters who are most important to the heroine appearing with her in the mirror’s reflection.

What do you think of my vision?

Blurb for Shadows from Her Past:

Sarah finds herself back in her time without her husband, Robert, and adopted daughter, Jenny. When she sees visions of them appear, Sarah doesn’t know if it’s her imagination or if they’re really there trying to break through the constraints of time and space.

David Robb, a student doctor at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary who has been assigned to her case, bears a familial resemblance to Robert. Sarah develops feelings for him but also feels like she is betraying her husband, despite them being centuries apart.

Will Sarah make a new life with David in the present, or will she find her way back to her husband and daughter in the past?

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Keep coming back for news regarding Shadows from her Past. In the meantime, you can purchase book one in the series – A Shadow in the Past in paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, and local bricks ‘n mortar bookstores.

If you’d prefer to buy it as an ebook, all you have to do is click on the logo of your choice to download it. The link for all the amazon domains is the same, you just have to change the .co.uk to your own.