Kissing Cousins

Kissing Cousins (1999) Post 267

Kissing Cousins is a contemporary romance, related to both In Mara's Case (post 39) and Heather and Heath. In Mara's Case featured Cousin Trina, a fashionable young woman who annoyed the prickly Mara quite a lot. Kissing Cousins is about Trina and shows something of what was going on behind that doll-like prettiness. Trina, a serial monogamist, has got herself mixed up with yet another possessive male, and, unlike the others, Trevor refuses to accept it's over. Soon he's making Trina's life difficult both at home in the flat and at work, and also harassing her many relatives, including Cousin Mara. There's only one thing for it--with the connivance of her eccentric mother, Deb, Trina bolts to stay with her aunt Jenny on a farm in Tasmania, a place Trevor has never associated with her.

Now comes a twist that dates this book to its pre-21st Century period. Trina and Deb both try to contact Jenny by letter and telephone and email, but to no avail. The phone is forever engaged and the letter gets no response. On the grounds that Jenny, a farmer's wife, is never away, Trina sails anyway, and finds herself to the remote Glen Heather, a place she's never been. Here, she discovers no one but a distant cousin, who has enough troubles of his own without taking on Trina's. 

Kissing Cousins is a comedy romance, with every title being a quote from a classical source. It features amateur dramatics, sheep, a rogue Houdini of a bull, boots and all sorts of other things, and is set in a fictitious part of a real place.

For those who have read Heather & Heath, my big historical novel, Trina is a descendant of Rosalind, while Alister is descended from Alice. If you want to read this prequel romance, it's available as a kindle and ebook from here. It's been continuously in print (well, e-print) for eighteen years. 

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service.