• Blog

    Release Day for Shut Up and Dance With Me

    December 30, 2019

    8/12/2019

     

    Happy release day to me!

    Shut Up & Dance With Me - Oceanic Dreams Series - Monique McDonell - Cover​It’s release day for Shut Up and Dance With Me, Oceanic Dreams Book 7 and I’m super excited to be sharing this sweet, fun read with you.

    All the books take place during the same week on a cruise ship – it’s a singles cruise but my characters are there for a wedding. Sandy and Danny are standing up for their friends who are remarrying and neither of them is exactly pleased to be there or to be seeing each other again.

    This is an enemies to lovers story which isn’t my usual jam but as this is my 25th book under my own name it was nice to shake things up. Speaking of shaking – there are lots of cocktails shaken and stirred just like the emotions in this book.

    Blurb: Shut Up And Dance With Me
    As they set sail for madness and mayhem aboard Oceanic Aphrodite as Sandy and Danny stand up as witnesses to their friends second marriage. The maid of honor and best man can only agree on two things – this wedding is a bad idea and they can’t stand each other. A week on a cruise ship is a long time and hard though they try to avoid each other, the universe has other ideas. All aboard for a fun opposites-attract romance for lovers of cocktails, second chances and happily ever afters.

     

     

     

     

     

    To celebrate I have this awesome prize pack to give away. Enter below to win. Share it with your friends. Download the book and enjoy.

    Enter Win this fun Summer Prize Pack full of goodies from Downunder
    Down Under Giveaway Box
    enter here

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  • Blog

    Musical Monday with Kirsty McManus author of I Thought It Was You.

    December 30, 2019

    7/1/2019

    Musical Monday
    Happy release day to Kirsty McManus author of I Thought It Was You, the latest release in the Oceanic Dreams series.

    I Thought It Was You - CoverGrab your copy today https://www.amazon.com/B07RNZGYHK/

    Every book in the series is named after a song title. Why did you choose this song for your book?
    I actually started out by googling songs that were about mistaken identity, and I Thought It Was You by Herbie Hancock came up. I’d never heard it before, but instantly loved it. It seemed like it would suit a cheesy cruise, but it is also a very cool song for its time. I’ve heard people say Daft Punk must have used him for inspiration.

    What song(s) are you currently listening to/loving and why?
    I hardly get a chance to listen to my own music lately, because my boys hog Spotify at home and in the car. Thankfully, I don’t mind their taste. My eldest finds a lot of great experimental dance music (because he wants to be a DJ when he’s older) and my youngest loves rock and acoustic stuff (because he wants to be a rock star when he’s older!). One of my favourite songs at the moment is The Comedown by Ocean Alley. We all just saw them at Bluesfest in Byron Bay this year, and I love that a part of that song reminds me of the soundtrack in Labyrinth (my favourite movie as a kid).

    Do you have a go to karaoke song?
    Haha – yes! I lived in Japan for a year and went out to karaoke all the time with the English teachers I worked with. I always choose Just Lose It by Eminem. I’m not good at it, but it’s fun to pretend I can rap. For something a little more melodic, I sometimes choose All That She Wants by Ace of Base, or I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

    ​If you had to choose your theme song what would it be?
    Emotional Rescue by The Rolling Stones. I don’t know about the lyrics, but it is a very cool song to strut around to!

    https://youtu.be/5kBxb-NmxNc

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  • Blog

    Musical Monday with my fellow Oceanic Dreams author Tracy Krimmer

    December 30, 2019

    6/24/2019

    Musical Monday
    Circle in the Sand - Promo Banner

    Circle in the Sand is out now – now – download your copy today and don’t forget to read the whole Oceanic Dreams series!

    1. Every book in the series is named after a song title. Why did you choose this song for your book?
    ​My book didn’t have a title. I hadn’t even considered one yet. One day while making dinner I had my Google Mini playing me an 80s playlist. “Circle in the Sand” by Belinda Carlisle came on. I had her cassette tape (yes, cassette tape) and loved that song. It just felt like the perfect title for my Oceanic Dreams book. ​

    ​​2. What song(s) are you currently listening to/loving and why?
    I am always listening to James Arthur. I love his song “Say You Won’t Let Go” and his newest, “Falling Like the Stars” is like a follow up to it. I am also obsessed with “Dynasty” by MIIA and most songs by NF. I don’t usually listen to Ariana Grande but I really like her new one “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.” ​

    3. Do you have a go to karaoke song?

    Um, no. I don’t do karaoke. Well, I shouldn’t say that. I would do karaoke in my parent’s basement with only a few people around. They have a big karaoke collection. I don’t have a specific song I sing, though.

    4. If you had to choose your theme song what would it be?’

    ​Right now I would have to say “High Hopes” by Panic! At the Disco. I honestly have heard the song so much that I tend to change the channel now when it comes on. But I love the message and it’s very relatable.

     

     

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  • Blog

    Musical Monday with Oceanic Dreams author Holly Kerr

    December 30, 2019

    6/10/2019

    Musical Monday
    In the second of our Musical Monday posts with authors of the Oceanic Dreams series let’s chat with Holly Kerr, author of I Saw Him Standing There.
    I Saw Him Standing There - CoverEvery book in the series is named after a song title. Why did you choose this song for your book?

    I picked I Saw Him Standing There by Tiffany. Yes, I know it was originally a Beatles song, but Tiffany was talking about a boy and I’m an 80s girl at heart! I actually had a different song title that I was going to use but there’s a bit in my book about Siggy watching Will standing in the lounge that I like and one day the Tiffany song came up on my playlist and it just fit.

    What song(s) are you currently listening to/loving and why?

    I’m currently loving the new Shawn Mendes song, If I Can’t Have You and the Ed Sheeran/Justin Bieber I Don’t Care. But I keep going back to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman – just love it!

     

     

     

    Do you have a go to karaoke song?

    I haven’t done karaoke in a long time, but I think I’d go with ABBA or maybe Dolly Parton. I’ve been listening to a lot of Dolly lately and I think I could pull off Here You Come Again.

    If you had to choose your theme song what would it be?

    Dancing by Myself. Because that’s what I do! Give me an empty kitchen and some loud tunes, plus a glass of wine and I’ll all set!

    I Saw Him Standing There get your copy today

    This stowaway sets sail for love! Small-time con artist Siggy needs to get out of town fast. When she’s offered tickets on the legendary Oceanic Aphrodite, Siggy jumps at the chance to get away. A week on a luxury cruise ship, with a suitcase full of clothes and all expenses paid? Yes, please! The only catch is that she has to pretend to be someone else.
    No problem. Siggy has no intention of getting close enough anyone to discover her secrets.
    But this is the Oceanic Aphrodite and love is in the air. When Siggy sees assistant cruise director Will taking tickets, Cupid’s arrow hits the target. Luckily, Will’s too busy smiling at her to check out her fake passport because he’ll toss Siggy off the ship if he finds out about the scam.
    Onboard, dolphins and cameras and runaway ferrets bring Siggy and Will together. The more time they spend together, the more Siggy wants to tell him the truth.
    Cupid’s arrow has struck deep but can Siggy stop running? This novella-length romantic comedy is the first book in the Oceanic Dreams series

    Books in series:
    I Saw Him Standing There by Holly Kerr
    Time of My Life by Laura Heffernan
    Circle in the Sand by Tracy Krimmer
    I Thought it Was You by Kirsty McManus
    I Will Follow Him by Holly Tierney-Bedord
    Take a Chance on Me by Delancey Stewart
    Shut Up and Dance With Me by Monique McDonell
    The Best of You by Sophie-Leigh Robbins

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  • Blog

    A week of activity in a year of yes for publishing.

    December 30, 2019

    5/25/2019

    The week that was in the year of saying yes

    First off I’m not going to lie- I didn’t love 2018 from an author perspective. I set some lofty goals and I fell short. There were lots of reasons for this that include the fact that even I need to sleep and as much as I love my author life it’s not worth missing out on real life to make it work. Still, I was bummed at the end of the year. 2017 was my best year in terms of sales and goals and I felt like I was gaining traction and it all slipped away in 2018.

    Fast forward to 2019 and I set new ambitious goals that included launching a book a month – I haven’t quite done that – but I will have published twelve times by the end of 2019 so we’ll take it. In order to make that happen I said yes late last year to a lot of projects.

    I said yes I’ll try and get a on board with Sweet Promise Press when they launched last year which meant I had No Time For Temptation ready to roll in January.

    I said yes to joining the Coffee Talk on the Board Walk multi-author series and yes to the Oceanic Dreams series as well. Originally that had me releasing my Oceanic Dreams book – Shut Up and Dance With Me in May and my Cinnamon Bay book with Coffee Talk in June. Then the Oceanic Dreams book got bumped to August and we added a novella to the Cinnamon Bay series.

    So that meant that the novella Love on the Boardwalk, launched this week along with the first book in the Oceanic Dreams series. That was a lot of partying and promoting for both books.

    You know what is awesome about being in a multi author series? Everyone has their own special talents that they bring to the table from graphic design, building websites, book formatting or book trailers. It’s so nice to be part of a team and not figuring all that stuff out all on my own.

    I’ll be featuring all the amazing authors here on my blog and on my Facebook page so you can see how great they are for yourselves.

    So that means we have two gorgeous book trailers which I will share over the next week. First Coffee talk on the Boardwalk and then Oceanic Dreams later this week.

    ​

    CINNAMON BAY SMALL TOWN ROMANCES from Bibliophile Productions on Vimeo.

    More yes
    Write Here Festival 2019

    Some of you may know I’ve set up a small business GetSocialWriteNow to help other authors on their path to publishing – I’ve learned a lot on my journey and I hate it when I see people struggling when there’s no need. I’ve always been happy to help people and I know most authors are very generous with their time. Building an author platform takes quite a bit of know how so I started sharing mine.

    Anyway, part of promoting this, and books as well is getting out there and talking about what I can do. As part of this strategy when I was asked to be on a panel at the WriteNow! Festival in Lake Macquarie I said yes. I had no idea it would end up being the same week that all of this was happening and I was a little overwhelmed mid-week thinking about it.

    As it turned out it was the perfect way to spend the day – surrounded by authors and aspiring writers and librarians and books. It was actually a really fun and joyous experience I’m glad I said yes to.

    So that’s my week on review. If you want to support the projects I have said yes to you can see all my books here on Amazon.

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