August 2020 - Mollie Mathews

What amuses me…and an excerpt from Claimed by The Sheikh

Date: August 20th, 2020, Posted by mollie

Dear friends,

I thought you may enjoy a sneak peek into my writing muse – Gerard. Check out the video to learn more. Plus scroll further for a little excerpt from my current WIP, Claimed By The Sheikh, due for release, November 2019.

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“The group of cheetahs and 20 or so giraffes that inhabit Avana definitely raise eyebrows. And a few questions. The Sheikh’s time spent in eastern and southern Africa in his early 20s can account for the abundance of exotic animals that now reside on the island—after all, what do you buy a sheik who has everything? A tower of giraffes, of course,” Matt laughed.

“How on earth did they all arrive?” Melanie arrived.

“Some came to the island by boat or plane, but many of them were given to the Sheikh as gifts, by people who either admired his cause or wanted to cultivate his favor,” explained Matt. “Tariq decided he wanted to do something to bring more kindness into the world—to show that there are people who care about animals and doing something to protect those most vulnerable. He wanted to dispel the myth that all Sheiks do is buy gold cars and spend a filthy amount of money on themselves. Tariq’s not like that.”

“So he decided to share his vision with the world and open up the island to the public?” Melanie asked, noticing with concern the way her voice trembled as she spoke. She didn’t understand why but hearing about Tariq’s magnificent kindness sent crazy rivulets of joy, fast-moving electric currents of energy, race through her.

“Yes—he doesn’t usually let people into his sanctuary. You’re the first. You must be very special to him.”

Special? Tariq hadn’t given any indication that he thought she was in the least bit special, but the mere suggestion cause her heart to beat erratically.

“Conservation remains a priority for all on the island, and the wildlife has continued to flourish over the years,” Matt said, unaware of the tumultuous feelings his disclosure ignited every time she heard of Tariq’s activism.

“Avana is now home to hundreds of species of native and exotic wildlife, many of which are critically endangered. They range from small Ethiopian hedgehogs to soaring reticulated giraffes; a few predators, including a pack of hyenas, and hundreds of migratory birds that nest on the island throughout the year. The island’s captive breeding program releases a number of animals to roam free in the wild again, giving vulnerable species a chance to rebound in their natural habitat.”

Melanie thoughts drifted to their son. By wanting to prise Salim away from his ancestral environment was she hindering his ability to rebound from the accident? Was she selfishly depriving Salim of his natural habitat, his culture, his people?

Was she going to make a terrible mistake?

Claimed By The Sheikh, Book One in THE SHEIKHS UNTAMED BRIDES series Coming Soon

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I’m following my passion. Are you?

Date: August 20th, 2020, Posted by mollie

Funny story! I created this number plate and the wheel banner and thought everyone would feel a good vibe. Then a man broke away from his wife and asked me, “I don’t think it’s what I think it is…but what is passionpod.com?”

It turns out that he thought, or hoped, that I was a porn star!

Then when I created my website Molliemathews.com I was originally going to use my grandmother’s first name. When I typed mollymathews.com (my grandmother spelt her name Molly—not Mollie—I found out, to my horror, that “yes” there was a porn star called. . .

wait. . .

. . . not Stormy Daniels—but Molly Mathews!

Why am I telling you this?

Because sometimes, despite what is happening to us, we gotta laugh!

Which is why I wrote Sex With Strangers…have you read it?

Let me know

In love, the most dangerous enemy is saucy secrets

44-year-old Ruby Evans doesn’t want to be a ‘leftover girl.’ But finding a ‘forever’ man is proving impossible.

Suddenly single after 20 years of marriage, her husband is the only man she has ever slept with. But the one bit of security that she always thought she’d hold onto for the rest of her life is brutally ripped from her.

Humiliatingly and cruelly ex-ed when her husband trades her for a younger model, Chanel Zest, a long-time friend and motivational life coach, comes to Ruby’s rescue. Together they embark on a quest to reclaim and rebuild Ruby’s shattered life and begin the grueling process of dating again.

But, once in a pink moon, Ruby has to play dirty. . .

If you loved Brigette Jones’s Diary and enjoy romantic comedy, you’ll love Sex With Strangers.

Full of quirky humor and the promise of a happily ever after.

Sex with Strangers is a clean romance with a few spicy bits.

Reader Reviews

“A really good, hip, fun book.”

“Hilarious.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Thank you to everyone who posted their reviews. I am so blessed to have such great, supportive readers.

Sex With Strangers received this lovely feedback recently.

“A playful and true view of a recently divorced woman
Every woman who has gone through a divorce after more than one-decade long marriage identifies with this story. The insecurities about going out single again, the difficulties in relating to previous friends as most of them are couples (nobody likes to be the third wheel), the feeling that you are viewed as a competitor (by a previous friend) and the list goes on. Not everyone has a supporting net as Ruby – the main character – does and even though her life coach has quite a few shortcomings about relating to people and finding love she does help Ruby to get on with her life. There are quite a few steamy parts but most of the book is written with a lot of humor and the characters are easy to get fond of. It’s a true picture of modern newly divorced women and it was fun read!”

~ Claudete Takahashi

Enjoy Bonus Excerpts from my other full-length love stories:

Married by Christmas and Claimed by The Sheikh

Available NOW!

To enjoy on Amazon, click here>>getbook.at/SexWithStrangers

To enjoy on iBooks, Barnes & Noble and other great bookstores, click here>>https://books2read.com/u/4EkM6z

To enjoy on Kobo, click here>>https://www.kobo.com/ebook/sex-with-strangers-13

Audio

Kobo

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/sex-with-strangers-14

Audible

USA

https://www.audible.com/pd/Sex-with-Strangers-Audiobook/B08BTKHJ61

https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Sex-with-Strangers-Audiobook/B08BTSSB6L

Australia

https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Sex-with-Strangers-Audiobook/B08BTKDD8R

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Posted in: Claimed By The Sheikh, Mollie's Blog

The Resilience of Beauty: Escapism at its best

Date: August 8th, 2020, Posted by mollie

Dear readers,

If you’ve read my art-inspired romances you’ll know that it’s so important to use our heart as a compass and follow the invisible trail of what lights us up.

Along with writing love stories. I love to paint. This a new work I completed yesterday. It is called “Te Ataroa” and named after the beautiful baby born three months ago to a very proud Maori couple. They had lost a little girl earlier who passed before she could be held in their arms. Te Ataroa is an added blessing. Translated her name means “the long morning”. Spring is nearly here in the Bay of Islands and the mornings are getting longer and they are nearly as beautiful as that wee baby

900 mm x 1200mm Acrylic on canvas

My ideas, whether a painting or a story start with a character or an event, either a theme that intrigues me or sometimes a news event that captures me. Claimed by The Sheikh, was inspired by the tragedy that took the lives of former New Zealand All Black Legend Jerry Collins and his Canadian partner Alana Madill in France. The crash happened at 3:10am along the highway near Béziers on the way to the city of Montpellier. They died instantly, and their baby daughter was taken to Montpellier hospital in a critical condition.

I cried such tears thinking of that baby being left an orphan. It really worried me that she would be left in the world with no parents to love and care for her. So I wondered—what if her parents weren’t really dead. What if the two people that died were the baby’s adoptive parents, and what if her biological parents were very much alive.

And then, as writers are want to do, I thought what if the biological father was an extraordinarily wealthy sheikh who was unaware that he had fathered a child.

To enjoy your copy of Claimed by the Sheikh from Amazon, click here>>http://getbook.at/ClaimedByTheSheikh

To enjoy your copy from iBooks, Barnes & Noble and other great bookstores, click here>>

https://books2read.com/u/brVjdZ

To enjoy your copy from Kobo, click here>>https://www.kobo.com/ebook/claimed-by-the-sheikh-8

AUDIOBOOK

KOBO

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/claimed-by-the-sheikh-9

AUDIBLE COMING SOON

I’ve always believed in magic. So, it seemed natural, after the still-birth of my sister Sophie’s and her husband’s first son, and as Sophie continued the struggle to conceive naturally, IVF having failed, that I wrote a prayer. I buried my wish beneath the ancient walnut tree in the middle of a beautiful vineyard, in Marlborough, New Zealand—tucked inside a walnut.

As I wrote in Love Me Forever, “As she gazed down at the note she thought with satisfaction that the wish looked like twins lying nestled in their crib.”

And that’s virtually what happened. Several years later, Freya, appropriately named after the Norse goddess of love, was born. Quickly followed by her brother Finlay, meaning ‘fair hero.’ A better name couldn’t be had!

To enjoy your copy from Amazon: viewBook.at/LoveMeForever

To enjoy your copy from iBooks, Barnes & Noble and other great bookstores: https://books2read.com/u/4EkWqE

To enjoy your copy from Kobo:

https://www.kobo.com/ebook/love-me-forever-25

AUDIOBOOK

To enjoy your audiobook from Audible:

US: https://www.audible.com/pd/Love-Me-Forever-Audiobook/B081QRGJV8

UK: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Love-Me-Forever-Audiobook/B081QQVRV4

AU: https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Love-Me-Forever-Audiobook/B081QQW4N8

Audiobooks are also available from other online retailers and libraries for your listening pleasure

The other books in this series are part of a special two-book bundle that I have narrated as an audiobook, Passion Down Under Sassy Short Stories 2 Book-Bundle Box Set: Love Me Forever and Twist of Fate

Here’s the blurb

“You’re the one” —honest love in exotic locations.

Grab these sweet and sensual escapist reads today. Lose yourself in these beautiful stories of broken hearts and second chances.

Passion Down Under Sassy Short Stories contains the first two books of AMAZON BEST-SELLING author Mollie Mathew’s romantic series set in the captivatingly beautiful landscape of New Zealand. If you adore beautifully written stories and true heart-warming sweet romances which sparkle with humour you’ll love travelling along the road to love with these changing and evolving men and women as they open their heart’s again and find true love.
The first two Sassy Short Story books (over 500 pages) included in this bundle are: Love Me Forever and Twist of Fate

Love me Forever

What if the end was just the beginning?

Viticulturist Joey Harper’s organic vineyard is under siege from neighbouring landowners with chemical sprays, wanting to turn a fast profit, and someone purchasing large tracts of land under incredible secrecy.

But Joey’s not someone who dwells on her own troubles. She has only one wish—following the still-birth of her sister’s first child, she prays her much loved younger sister may conceive again.

Using her inherited gift for magic, she enlists the aid of the ancient walnut tree which towers majestically over her organic vineyard. What she doesn’t realise is that her one wish, begets another, and her unselfish desire for her sister’s happiness send’s love to her—in the form of a most unsuitable and irresistible admirer.

Venetian winemaking tycoon Tomasso Rivetti has it all: a loving family, good looks, and a considerable fortune. When he ventures Down Under to New Zealand, underneath his apparently perfect world, cracks begin to appear…and no one is more surprised than Tomasso when the billionaire lifestyle he takes for granted is turned upside down by a chance encounter.

But despite Tomasso’s determined pursuit of Joey’s affection, her broken heart remains closed—to protect herself and her vineyard from a terrible threat.

Distance keeps her safe. But as a final battle draws close, Joey and Tomasso are drawn irresistibly together. And while they succumb to the heat between them, they both know there can be no tomorrow…

If you enjoy stories with a touch of magic and fantasy and with that so important happy ending, you’ll love this powerful new love story.

‘Tugs at the heartstrings’

‘I love Mollie Mathews’

‘Heart-warming and beautiful with passion’

‘Love Me Forever has a lovely mystical feel about it, with deep longings being experienced by the characters.’

Twist of Fate

What if a twist of fate could change your life? What if a twist of fate could change your life?

Still reeling following his unexpected divorce, billionaire Tech guru Jonathan James has returned home feeling disillusioned and low in spirits. The last thing he needs when he flies home from London to New Zealand is complications.

When a baggage mix up leaves him with nothing but a suitcase full of stilettos, lush lashes, and Dolly Parton-like wigs, he goes in search of the owner. He quickly discovers that all is not as it seems as his life takes off in a hilarious and unexpected direction.

A Twist of Fate is a short story, clean romance, full of quirky humour and the promise of romance. A fun, quick read!

To enjoy the ebook version of Passion Down Under Sassy Short Stories 2 Book-Bundle Box Set: Love Me Forever and Twist of Fate from Amazon: getbook.at/2SassyShortStories

To enjoy your copy from Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/passion-down-under-sassy-short-stories-2-book-bundle-box-set-love-me-forever-and-twist-of-fate-1

AUDIOBOOK

KOBO

To enjoy your audiobook from Kobo:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/passion-down-under-sassy-short-stories-2-book-bundle-box-set

AUDIBLE

COMING SOON!

Audiobooks are also available from other online retailers and libraries for your listening pleasure