Work In Progress
The Magic Bear
Davey doesn’t like monsters in his closet. Can a magic bear protect him? A children’s picture book for ages 4 to 8.
Seasons of Change Series
The Atkins family have owned a large, farming property since the late 19th century in New Zealand. This series follows the family as their fortunes change in the mid-20th century to present day. Each story spans periods of time with the bulk of the action taking place over a season. With the exception of book five.
In 1951, Wellington girl Evelyn Rutherford is 18 years old. She has been seeing a lot of George Atkins, but isn’t sure how she feels about him. When he asks her to marry him, she is hesitant, but is persuaded by her parents to agree to his proposal. After all, he’s been a gentleman throughout their time together and promises to take good care of her once they’re married. Yet Evelyn still has her doubts.
Then George takes her to his family’s farm in the Manawatu for New Year’s. There she meets his younger brother, Chris. The two brothers appear to hate each other. What’s more, George spends half his time there ignoring her. She and Chris clash at first. He has a preconceived notion about ‘city girls’ and she’s bothered by her immediate attraction to him.
She soon begins to realise that George’s manner and gentlemanly demeanour is nothing but a façade. Unlike Chris, who doesn’t pretend to be anything but a farmer. Evelyn’s niggling doubts about her fiancé and her growing attraction to his younger brother see her make a decision that ultimately brings out George’s true colours.
Billy Atkins had always been very popular with the girls at school. But then he met her. Olivia. She had always been an annoyance. She was a girl who never seemed to fall for Billy’s charms. She just didn’t seem to see him.
They eventually become friends. Good friends. The best of friends. They begin working together for the Palmerston North city council. She in admin and he in city planning. Then she begins dating a man and it’s beginning to look very serious. The pair seem to be so in love, until things fall apart and Billy is left to comfort his best friend.
That comfort turns into a night together and Billy realises he’s fallen in love with his best friend. But after that night, the friendship turns sour. Olivia’s ex-boyfriend decides he wants another chance, and it looks like she’s going to give him that chance. On a blustery autumn day, Olivia announces she is considering leaving town with her ex.
Billy is about to lose everything, unless he can step up and tell her how he really feels about her.
Isabel Wright was just a shy girl enrolled in a Catholic school when she met Grant Atkins and Jason Stirling. Both were good-looking young men, but as much as she liked Grant, there were times when he seemed to act like he thought he was better than her. Isabel wasn’t worldly-wise, but growing up in a time when feminists were fighting for equal rights, she wasn’t about to let him get away with that.
Jason Stirling was nice, although he was almost as arrogant as Grant. She knew the two young men were rivals for her affections and she hated the thought of being forced to choose between them. She decides to go out with Jason, thinking he might treat her a little better than Grant. Until one day, Grant tells her that Jason has been saying things about her that simply aren’t true. At first, she doesn’t believe him, thinking he was only doing it to get her to break up with Jason. She knows the two men hate each other. Then Jason lets something slip.
Confused, she breaks up with Jason and moves away, choosing to walk out of both men’s lives. Until she meets them both again at a party. Grant seems quieter, more introspective. She learns that his parents are divorced and wonders why. She discovers that his father had been ousted from Parliament because he’d been caught literally with his pants down. Grant had begun to question everything he thought he knew.
Jason, meanwhile, had also changed. He apologises to her for his actions when they were dating and asks if she would give him another chance. She wonders if two men can really change.
She once again finds herself torn between the two. Not wanting to give either of them up. Until Jason lets her down yet again and she turns to Grant. Just as things start to become serious between them, she finds out she’s pregnant. Overjoyed, she goes to tell Grant, only for him to accuse her of cheating on him. With Jason.
Heartbroken, she leaves once again and gives birth to a boy seven months later. At the same time, she is diagnosed with breast cancer. She manages to beat it, but the recovery leaves her barely able to cope, especially with her son as he reaches toddler-hood.
Grant turns up on her doorstep, telling her that Jason had confronted him a year earlier and told him there was nothing between them. Can Isabel forgive the past?
Book Four: Lifeline
Spring
Jason Stirling was known as a bit of a player. Handsome and coming from a fairly wealthy family, he practically had women throwing themselves at him. Lisa Cole wasn’t going to be one of those women. No sirree. Not her. No matter how good-looking he was.
She ends up working with him on a project as an intern for the architectural firm he owns. Jason can be kind of full of himself, but he at least acknowledges that she’s more than up to the task. Their friendship grows. Meanwhile, she has to watch him date woman after woman, still apparently pining for the one that got away.
Lisa has her own romantic failure, with a man who turns out to be a compulsive liar. Working late together on a project approaching deadline, Jason decides to take a break and orders them both some food. He invites her to drink with him. One drink leads to another and before she realises what she’s doing, she’s locked in his arms, kissing him as if he was her lifeline.
Just as things are about to get hot and heavy, there’s a light tremor. It’s enough to sober her up and she decides this is one mistake she doesn’t want to make.
A year later, she has managed to qualify and is now working for another firm, with Jason still firmly in the friend zone. Until her best friend is almost killed in a car accident, which makes her take stock of her life. Jason decides to comfort her and she realises what she should have seen in front of her all along. She was in love with him. The question is, does he feel the same way?
2006-2021
Kacie Atkins is 15 and starting a new school where she gets to know Alex Stirling. Kacie’s family was once very wealthy, but after the crash of 87, the family lost almost everything. Kacie’s father works all the time and seems to be still grieving the loss of her mother when she was ten.
As Kacie gets to know Alex, she finds herself liking him. It’s clearly mutual when they start going out. But another girl is jealous of the relationship and does her best to get between them, attacking Kacie.
When Kacie’s father finds out about the attack, he also learns about her growing relationship with Alex and forbids her to go out with him, saying the boy is trouble. Kacie continues to see him anyway, not knowing why her father is so against the young man. Until she learns that Alex’s father and her father were once love rivals. For her mother.
Torn between her father and the young man she is falling in love with, Kacie is confused and hurt when Alex gives her an ultimatum. She must choose between her father’s love and his.
It’s a choice she can never make. And it costs her.
Years later, she runs into Alex again and all the old feelings are reawakened. Will their romance be rekindled, or will their fathers’ pasts be the thing that comes between them once again?
Phoenix: Rebirth
Abby and Michael are embarking on their future together, but they still have unfinished business.
When a colleague is murdered in a suspected execution by the Asian mafia, it leads them on a journey to Asia and helping to stop a gang war before innocent people at home become collateral damage.
The Baby Project
Zoe is approaching her 30th birthday. She has no partner, no children and friends around her are having families of their own. Zoe needs to make changes. She decides to sign up online in a quest to find a partner willing to have a baby with her. Meanwhile, she meets up with an old school friend who is determined to show her that he might be just who she’s looking for.
It Couldn’t Happen Here
A terrifying ordeal in a central shopping mall leaves dozens dead and just as many injured. The killer’s motive all-too clear. To eradicate those deemed ‘unwelcome’ in New Zealand. As the case unfolds, it begins to pit certain groups against each other, forcing the government to make radical changes in the law to prevent further violence. But it isn’t enough. More violence erupts, only this time, the targets of such violence are those deemed to be on the side of the now incarcerated killer. Innocent victims are caught in the crossfire as civil war breaks out. A group of people decide enough is enough. The war on terrorism has come to New Zealand and they are about to show these terrorists that their war is not welcome here.
Amanda Steele: Book Three
A missing child, and a prostitution ring means Amanda has her work cut out for her when her firm is hired to try to find the young girl. As she begins to delve into this world, she realises that when it comes to the seedy side of life in Auckland, she has a lot to learn. Meanwhile, Jim has his hands full trying to keep her out of trouble.
A future story
A newly engaged Amanda decides to find the mother she hasn’t seen since she was eight years old. She is alarmed to discover her mother has joined a cult and has been brainwashed. She must convince Kim to leave the cult as police investigators close in on its leader.