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A NIGHT WITH
THE SOCIETY PLAYBOY
MODERN HEAT
NORTH AMERICA October 2008
THE MAGNATE'S
INDECENT PROPOSAL
MODERN HEAT
NORTH AMERICA September 2008
These linked books are set in Melbourne - the fist on Collins Street, at the
"Paris end" of the city and the second in the leafy western suburbs, the
home of ladies who lunch.
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
MODERN EXTRA SENSUAL
UK
April 2007
This sexier book makes the most of Melbourne in autumn, when the leaves are
turning and walks along the Yarra mean couples must hug to keep warm.
ST KILDA STOREYS TRILOGY
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
MARRIAGE MAKE-OVER
North
America January 2005
HOW TO MARRY A BILLIONAIRE
North
America November 2006
A MOTHER FOR HIS
DAUGHTER
North
America December 2006
These three books are all
based around three girlfriends who live in the St Kilda Storeys apartment block
in hip, gorgeous, beachside St Kilda, Melbourne.
OFFICE GOSSIP
TRILOGY
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
THE SHOCK ENGAGEMENT
North
America October 2005
This was the second book in the OFFICE GOSSIP trilogy,
especially commissioned by Harlequin who wanted a 9 to 5 series set in
Melbourne!
BOOK ONE
"IMPOSSIBLY PREGNANT"
by Nicola Marsh
BOOK THREE
"TAKING ON THE BOSS"
by Darcy Maguire
MARRIAGE MATERIAL
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
North America June 2004
THE
WEDDING WISH
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
North America January 2004
St Kilda
Luna Park
Melbourne Zoo
Listed below are a handful of my favourite Harlequin
authors who write fabulous books set in my elegant, glamorous,
beautiful home town!
Nicola Marsh
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STEAMY SURRENDER
MODERN HEAT
UK September 2007
Much of this book takes place in Melbourne, just off the fabulous restaurant
strip of Lygon Street, but my favourite parts are up in the mountains at the
snow.
Yum!
THE BRIDES OF BELLA LUCIA
WANTED: OUTBACK WIFE
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
NORTH AMERICA October 2006
This is book four in the brand new Harlequin Romance miniseries
THE BRIDES
OF BELLA LUCIA,
commissioned to relaunch the Romance brand!
This book is set in Melbourne, Outback Victoria and London.
MEANT-TO-BE MOTHER
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
NORTH AMERICA January 2007
UK January
2007
AUS/NZ February 2007
This book, is set in
tropical
Cairns, mountain top Kuranda,
and beachside Port Douglas all in Far North Queensland.
A FATHER IN THE MAKING
HARLEQUIN ROMANCE
NORTH AMERICA April 2006
UK January 2006
AUS/NZ February 2006
This book, my first non-city romance is set entirely in a
fictional town in northern Victoria.
THE SHOCK ENGAGEMENT
HARLEQUIN
ROMANCE
North
America October 2005
This hero and heroine in this
citified book spend a lovely weekend in the Dandenong Mountains, traveling on
Puffin' Billy and enjoying some time spent in a cozy inn.
Dandenong Mountains
Mt Bulla
Listed below are a handful of my favourite Harlequin
authors who have been known to write a
gorgeous Australian outback
book or two.
Barbara Hannay
Marion Lennox
Bronwyn Jameson
Fiona Lowe
'MY COUNTRY'
by Dorothea Mackellar
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins;
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me.
The stark white ringbarked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But when the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The stealthy soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold;
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly. |
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I am a proud Aussie author, setting all of my romance novels all over this
wide brown land I love so very much.
Travel to my favourites places as I take you on a tour of the best parts of
my home town of Melbourne, and then hop in the
back of a four-wheel-drive, pack your snorkelling gear, your thermal
underwear, and a hat as we head on out to the great
Australian outback!
Many of my Harlequin Romance book are set in
Melbourne, a beautiful bay side city at the southern tip of Australia.
Melbourne is known for its many varied restaurants, its love of sports, its
abundance of culture and its fantastic shopping. Read on for a taste of
my fair city..
the weather
Melbourne
is a city infamous for enduring four seasons in one day... on a regular
basis! From 40 degree summer days that last long into the night to
crisp frosty winter days warmed only by ten layers of clothing and an open
fire, this city experiences the seasons like no other in Australia.
Never leave home without an umbrella, a coat, a sun hat, a scarf, a change
of clothes, a change of shoes and your credit card as you will want to
spend spend spend!!!
 the
city
At
lunchtime the gargantuan Federation Square leisure complex is dotted with
city workers enjoying every ray of sunshine they can grab. The beautiful
Flinders Street train station lines one side of the Yarra River
and on the other is South Bank, a run of restaurants, galleries,
and shops, which looks like a scene straight out of Gotham City with its
mix of gothic greys. They are stunning examples of the old architecture
and the new within one city block. Romy and Sebastian share their
first meal together in the
intimate surrounds of a noisy pub at
Federation Square in
MARRIAGE MATERIAL.
the
zoo
 On
the edge of the city rests the beautiful Melbourne Zoo where more
than 350 animal species from Australia and around the world are on view
in a botanic garden setting of 55 acres. In MARRIAGE
MATERIAL, Romy and Sebastian experience this wonderful haven
through the eyes of Sebastian's niece and nephews. I visit
at least once a year and always take out of town visitors along as it is
such a beautiful, caring, well kept place. You can see all the cuddly
and not so cuddly Aussie animals in as near a natural environments as you
could hope. The Great Flight Aviary and Butterfly House are a dream.
And my favourites, the tree top apes, are a riot! They are such showmen!
And the great cats...sigh. I could watch the tigers all day long.
Come visit and see how Yakini the baby gorilla is going with regular updates
at the Melbourne
zoo website.
 the
suburbs
So
far my books have all been set around the gorgeous beach side suburb of
St Kilda, where a fantastic mix of bohemia and sophistication collide.
It's a place to see and be seen where the funky and the fancy brush by
one another along The Esplanade walk, through the beach side market stalls,
out to the romantic and lovely pier, and by the ostentatious Luna Park.
The
beach, the food and the people of St Kilda play a huge part in my
third book, MARRIAGE MAKE-OVER...
in which the heroine's desire is to land her dream job, not just for the
satisfaction of the act itself, but so she will finally have the funds
to blow a bundle on the Seriously Droolsome Delicacies in the French pastry
shops on the Acland Street strip! Mmmmmmmmmm...
Which leads on to...
 the
food
The
restaurants of Melbourne play a large part in my books. What better
place to to have a gorgeous couple weighing each other up than furtively
over the top of spoonfuls of an unbelievably delicious dinner. Being
in event management, Holly, from THE WEDDING
WISH, has occasion to scout out the best
restaurants and clubs in town and I promise she has her pick of an incredible
bunch!
Lygon
Street in Carlton is a hive of activity with its mile of marvelous
restaurants, and hotrods cruising the strip all night long.
Chapel Street in Prahran comes alive after dark, the strip of the most
elegant shopping in town fades into the background as the myriad of ethnic
restaurants and hip clubs light up the darkness.
 the
shopping
Shopping
in Melbourne is not only to be found in the city heart. Melbourne
is the city of strip mall shopping. The amount of suburban streets
dedicated to shopping will amaze you! From the glamorous designers
on Chapel Street, to the outlet stores on Bridge Road, to
the miles of home wares and antiques on High Street, and the alternative
anything goes shopping on Brunswick Street no person has
enough free time to see every diverse, distinctive outlet the city has
to offer.
the
sports
 Australian
Rules Football is the biggest thing since sliced bread in Australia.
It's bigger than Rugby, bigger than Soccer, it's huuuge! And the
greatest team in the greatest sport is the Collingwood Magpies!
The black and white army regularly fill the MCG with
over 70,000 people at a big match and if you're looking for an adrenal ine
rush while still in the comfort of the stands, Collingwood will supply!
To check out one of the world's greatest and most popular sporting teams visit the site
of the grand old
Collingwood
Football Club.
And
then there is the
Melbourne Cup, one of the biggest horse races
in the world. The whole country stops on the first Tuesday in November
to watch, and listen to the outcome of the race. And we girls have
an excuse to dress up in our prettiest dress and wear a really expensive
hat!!!
 And of course the Australian
Open Tennis is held in Melbourne every January. In the height
of summer we have the chance to wear as little as possible, swelter, and
drink ten litres of water while the best tennis players in the world belt
it out in front of us. A blast! No expensive hats there,
just big ones, hopefully with in built fans and ice packs!!!
 
"I
love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me."
"My Country" by
Dorothea Mackellar
 the
outback
Think Crocodile
Dundee proudly overlooking Kakadu National Park. Think kangaroos bouncing
through golden grass in much need of rain. Think burnt umber sunsets over Uluru. Whatever your idea of the Australian outback, it is diverse, harsh,
rugged and breathtakingly beautiful.
Australia's major
cities are all coastal, with the majority of our land all but inhabitable bar
brave souls who farm the vast tracts of drought affected grazing land, those
living in one pub towns beyond the black stump, and a few aboriginal tribes who
see themselves not as landowners, but as one with the earth.
 the
beach
Australia has the
best beaches in the world. It's true, just ask me!
The glitz of
Surfers Paradise in on the Gold Coast, the clear blue waters and coral and tropical
fish to be found barely twenty metres off the beach on Green Island in Far North
Queensland, the immense
surfing waves of Bell's Beach in New South Wales, and infamous Bondi Beach in
Sydney. And I can't forget the beach huts of the Mornington Peninsula and my
ever-favourite St Kilda.
These locations, with
their white sands, their crescent beaches, and their perfect water are national
gems.
 the snow
A couple of hours drive north of
Melbourne you hit snow. Slopes fit for Olympic gold medalists!
During the summer these resort towns are barren. Dry, dead ground, empty
hotels, like western ghost towns. Yet come winter they are weekend
playgrounds for fun-hungry Melbournites.
The one time I took a trek to Mt Buller, I walked the
bottom of the slope in my usual winter get-up of jeans, jumper, beanie and
knee-high boots and everyone looked at me funny because I wasn't in a
fluorescent pink bomber jacket and snow shoes, whatever snow shoes might be.
So I had a hot chocolate in the bar and then left the same day.
One day I'll show them I belong.
One day...
 the
tropics
Far North
Queensland is a national treasure with such as favourite tourist destinations
the Daintree Rainforest, the Kuranda Skyrail, the Atherton Tablelands and Port
Douglas.
In March 2006,
Cyclone Larry destroyed a huge portion of the ecosystem in this magnificent part
of the world, downing trees, flattening crops so decidedly they look like
they've been steamrolled, wiping out miles of banana plantations, destroying
many homes and businesses, and stripping entire rainforests bare of foliage.
But just as
nature has a way of showing herself in charge on occasion, she has a way of
restoring the balance. And faster then we ever imagine.
 the island
The magnificent
Spirit of Tasmania can take
you, your family and your car on a many-houred trip across the Tasman Sea to
beautiful, unspoiled island of Tasmania. (Or take a plane and you'll be there in
an hour!)
From Launceston,
take the drive to Cradle Mountain. It is stunning. Miles of bush
land, burnt out forests, creeks so clear you've never tasted water so pure, and the only
other cars you'll see are rentals. And then you hit Cradle Mountain
itself. The drive is worth it for that view alone.
From there wind
down the western road past Lake Barrington, drive for miles and miles and
miles until you think you might never see civilisation again and then suddenly
you come upon the eerie, orange-rocked, Queenstown copper mines. Past
quaint Strachan and then onto stunning Hobart, situated
on the glorious Derwent River.
And don't forget
to visit the town of Cadbury, where, funnily enough you will find the fabulous
Cadbury chocolate factory!
the
wineries
Brown Brothers make
my favourite wine in the world.
Red, white, doesn't matter, I've never
tasted a wine of theirs I don't love. Though the
Moscato is so darned tasty my mouth waters just thinking the word.
Moscato... They are made at the located
in the Milawa vineyard in the lower reaches of the
King Valley in North East Victoria and are open for
wine tastings and more.
Check out more
Yarra Valley wineries
here.
 the
mountains
The
Dandenong Mountains, barely an
hour drive east of Melbourne, host the delightful cities of Olinda and
Sassafras. Old steam train, Puffin' Billy takes families up the mountain
daily. The Devonshire tea on board is unbeatable!
The Blue
Mountains and the Great Dividing Range are worth a look too ;).
 the
desert
Alice Springs. The Northern
Territory. Uluru.
Need I say more?
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