Going Down Under…

Thigh High is released today at Ellora’s Cave. This book is full on Aussie – speech and characters – and it hasn’t been toned down or Americanized, as my books usually are, to fit into the market. How will it go? Stuffed if I know - but it was beaut fun to write.

Thigh High is basically about Aussies – the way we talk and think and carry on. We’re a straight forward mob. We say what we think and we make no apologies for being to the point. This – and our use of slang - often confuses other nationalities. We mean no harm. We are as you find us – casual, outspoken and always ready to take the piss (pull your leg). And yes, it’s true, all the men look like Hugh Jackman…would I lie to you?

Thigh High….the blurb…..

Fourteen years ago, Joe Patterson left the small outback town of Amberwarra Falls and broke Maz Adler’s heart. Now he’s back. Hotter and sexier than Maz remembered. It’s hard holding a grudge when you want to hold a luscious man tight against you and lick every hard, hot curve. But the man needs to be taught a lesson and Maz is the girl to do it.

Joe came back home for one reason. Maz. Problem is, Maz isn’t about to open her arms and allow him back into her life and her body. But Joe has a plan to seduce his lover and break down Maz’s resistance. His aim? Her total surrender. And he’s going to enjoy every hot, sweaty moment loving her under the Aussie sun.

Someone sent me this….it just cracked me up…

MEMO to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Tourism Australia: Please send more kangaroos to Australia's international airports.

”I, like every other stupid American, assumed the kangaroos would meet us at the airport and they would want to hug us as much as we wanted to hug them,” Bell said in an interview in Los Angeles.

”That's really the perspective we have here.

”Going there kind of opened my eyes that that's not the case.”

http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,26217319-5014090,00.html/

Spoiler alert…I’m sorry to report there are no huggable kangaroos in Thigh High.

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A gift from the gods...

I opened my email to find a gift from the Cover Gods at Ellora’s Cave. Who’s a lucky girl? I was asked to write a story that was full on Aussie – words and characteristics and to make it true to real Aussie life. Thigh High is it. It’s going to be in an anthology with a bunch of other Aussie writers.

Okay, yeah below is very cute but it made me smile…realism versus romance…

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming -- Alan, age 10

No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with -- Kristen, age 10

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then-- Camille, age 10

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids -- Derrick, age 8

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MUM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

Both don't want any more kids -- Lori, age 8

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough-- Lynnette, age 8

On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that Usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date-- Martin, age 10

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns-- Craig, age 9

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

When they're rich -- Pam, age 7

The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that- - Curt, age 7

The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do -- Howard, age 8

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them -- Anita, age 9

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?

There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there? -- Kelvin, age 8

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck-- Ricky, age 10

www.amarindajones.com
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How many? Care factor?

I finished up editing my Aussie book, Thigh High, due for release in December with Ellora's Cave. Its part of an Aussie series called Going Down Under. Its Aussie themed books written by real Aussie Ellora’s Cave authors. While I always write as I speak, 80% of the time in my books I have to tone down the Aussie stuff due to the fact that most nationalities don't speak as bloody lovely as we Aussies do. Thigh High is set in a small outback town and it’s full on Aussie. But then, that’s who I am. It's how I speak. I have added a glossary though to help translate some of the words.

Anyway, during the editing a friend and I discussed age and sexual experience and what is deemed "normal" for a woman. My personal opinion? Normal is what's normal for the individual. As always I believe age is irreverent regardless what the subject is. Lot's of sexual experience? Happy for you. Hardly any? That's okay. None? I see no problem with that. It annoys me no end when we try to pigeon-hole people into what we think they should be or should have done at this age or that. Why? Are we so perfect that we can pick at others? Well – no.

While all my heroines are smart arse women who have lived life and aren’t about to be messed around by anyone, all of them have different sexual experiences. Some have a hell of a past, others have limited it to one or two lovers, while a couple have been virgins. I think about the character of the heroine. Who is she? How do I want her to be understood by the readers? I don’t think ‘well, she’s 35 and she should have had 7.6 lovers by now ‘cause that’s normal.’ To me, it's irrelevant how many the heroine’s slept with. The main point of the story – the romance – is the romance. It’s about the concept that two people have looked at each other and thought, “This is the one.” Isn’t that why we read romance? We want to believe in that one true love? Is it really important who they have slept or how many?

Romance books cry out for a happy ending. A person or a character’s past is just not important. It’s the trials and tribulations of getting these two people together that is. And I have to ask why a man's sexual experience doesn’t come into question as much as a woman's? I never get comments or hear discussions about who the hero may have slept with or how many at his age and is that normal?

So sex in romance books – she loves him. He loves her. In the end that’s all I need to know.

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book