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Love Not Lust
Braiding Roses is a romance between two doctors in the Australian outback. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I wanted to show two people who were so perfect for one another that they just had to end up together, even though they’re kind of a mismatch of city vs country. And I wanted to build it very slowly!
Along the way I aimed for it to be stimulating for the reader’s brain in other ways, not least by presenting some very detailed medical information in simple terms. And as a backdrop I chose an amazing location, which is a real place in Western Australia, and actually has lavender farms, wild dolphins, and a massive tree to climb. Surely one of the most romantic places on the planet!
What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?
Love not lust. What I was aiming for was to show that true love is a connection between two brains, each with their own personalities and feelings, falling in love just from talking, and not so much about the body.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
In writing Braiding Roses I drew from so many different life experiences, for all the varied perspectives on the different types of love. Sometimes I don’t even know where things came from! When you’re stuck for ideas and desperately trying to get that word count higher, you’ll grab onto anything that floats into your mind.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
When I finished Braiding Roses, I discovered that rather than being joyous, I was actually feeling a little sad to leave that beautiful place. I miss my mornings with Mandy. So I’d like to go back there to visit again, but I’m not sure how to do that, or with what pair of lovebirds. I’ve also found a couple of other beautiful locations that I might write about instead. So I’m still in the “fiddling” stage and have nothing immediate to announce.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Between the love of her life urging her to return to Perth and a prickly, dismissive, and rude boss practically tossing her to the curb on day one, Mandy faces the coming year with thorns bared, determined to come out with her head held high. While she hones her doctoring skills in order to prove herself to the highly capable Gareth after their less-than-ideal first encounter, she might learn a little something about herself, too.
Braiding Roses
![Braiding Roses: An outback doctor sweet romance by [Elise Stoltenbreck]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41jS6JqcnxL.jpg)
Braiding Roses, by Elise Stoltenbreck, is the story of a young doctor named Mandy who has her five-year plan all figured out and is ready to start her future. Her plans are derailed after having to do a year’s residency in the town of Manjimup working under meticulous Gareth, the head doctor.
Stoltenbreck does a great job capturing imagery through her scenes with vibrant descriptions. She brings a authenticity to her characters that had me feeling like I could walk into Manjimup hospital and ask to see Gareth.
This inspirational romance novel will appeal to readers that want an authentic Australian experience. The story is set in the Australian outback, an area that I love seeing in literature. Stoltenbreck uses Aussie dialect in the novel adding to it’s realistic nature and giving the characters real personality and depth. Care was taken by the author to allow the reader to be fully immersed in Aussie culture.
While classified as a romance novel, I think that this story is more about the building of a relationship. You will not find steamy sex scenes and pages of passion, but this book had one of the biggest build-ups between the female and male character that I’ve ever read. This impassioned book has shown me, romance is a story about love, and lust isn’t always needed.
This book is near perfection as it shows two stubborn minds falling in love instead of the typical lust-filled stories out there. This book sends an emotionally-resonant message of love. While predictable at times, it is still a fun contemporary romance story.
Braiding Roses by Elise Stoltenbreck is a sweet and clean romance story between two people that get thrown together in life due to unforeseen circumstances. This riveting novel will appeal to readers that enjoy a love story without sex and that focuses on the personalities and genuine feelings of the characters. This is also a great book for readers looking for an alluring romance story in an exotic setting.
Pages: 317 | ASIN: B09DB7TQH1
LITERARY TITAN 