Contemporary author Alissa Callen - and A house is a home when...

A house is a home when…

What does a house or a home mean to characters in a book? With the release of my fourth book in the Swallow’s Fall series, The Turnaround Treasure Shop, I decided to go outside my four walls and ask my neighbours - authors of contemporary and historical fiction. 
Over 12 days special guest authors talk us through A house is a home when…

It's SUNDAY and I'm welcoming ALISSA CALLEN!
(And there's a giveaway too.)

"Popular and much-loved author Alissa Callen writes rural and small town fiction. 
Dusty roads. Secrets. Romance."

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Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen

The Book: Down Outback Roads, book #2 in Alissa’s Outback Dust series. Released May 1 and available now (book #1 was Beneath Outback Skies - see below).

 Character: Ewan Mackenzie, male protagonist.  

Alissa is giving one lucky person who leaves a comment the chance to WIN a SPECIAL KINDLE eBook bundle with 13 novellas from Tule Publishing authors (open internationally for all - see below). 

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Character: Ewan Mackenzie, male protagonist in Down Outback Roads. 

Character bio: Country-boy, Ewan Mackenzie is held hostage by the guilt of what happened one hot and stormy summer night. He is determined to live a solitary life but open-hearted Kree makes him yearn for the love and the family that he believes he doesn’t deserve and can never have.

The House: Marellen. Historic country homestead. Red brick. Wide generous verandah. White wrought-iron. Fragrant, park like garden.

What makes a house a home for Ewan?

A house becomes a home for Ewan when he hears the thunder of his twin nephews’ booted feet and their laughter as they tear along the hallway. A house will also feel like a home when he sees his widowed sister-in-law, Tish, singing to herself and smiling as she works in her beloved garden. But for any house to truly resemble a home for guarded Ewan, he must first believe in second chances and precious new beginnings.  

Excerpt from Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen

Found him. Alive.

Ewan Mackenzie stared at Travis’s text message. The noise and bustle of the outback search and rescue command post behind him faded to an indistinct murmur. Three simple words and the world could breathe again. All the police, emergency services, farmers and Glenalla townsfolk who’d searched for the missing American backpacker could now take their lives off pause.

Relief pushed Ewan’s exhaustion aside and dulled the tension that had been gripping him tighter than any tourniquet. The eighteen-year-old gap-year traveller hadn’t fallen victim to the vastness and isolation of the Australian bush. For the first time in two days, the sun warmed Ewan’s skin and he registered the rustle of the autumn breeze in the nearby silver-tipped gum trees.

His hand shook, blurring the letters on the small screen before him. He slipped the phone into his jeans pocket and swiped his cold palms over the dusty denim covering his thighs. The tremble in his fingers transferred to his shoulders.

It seemed it didn’t matter how often he helped search and rescue achieve a positive outcome, the blood on his hands would never rub off.

Outback Dust series by Alissa Callen

Book #1

Book #2

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The back cover blurb for Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen

Sometimes life offers a second chance . . .  

Kree Garrett’s younger brother Seth is all the family she has left, so when he goes missing while working in the Australian outback, she races from America to join in the search.

To everyone’s relief, Seth is rescued by local volunteers and Kree finds, in an abandoned historic Cobb & Co Coach House, the opportunity to thank the community she’s fallen in love with. But it isn’t only the town of Glenalla she’s fallen for.

Ewan Mackenzie has given up everything for his brother’s family, but he can never give enough to assuage his guilt at what happened one dark night, years ago . . . Ewan knows he doesn’t deserve happiness, however with Kree he finds it hard to keep his distance.

Can Kree and Ewan leave the tragedies of their pasts behind long enough to find a future together?

"Down Outback Roads is an enthralling rural love story, about family, community and allowing yourself a second chance."

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Romance Bundle 2 by Tule Publishing and their authors. Giveaway courtesy of Alissa Callen

Leave a comment to go into the draw to WIN a special KINDLE eBook BUNDLE of 13 novellas from Tule Publishing authors, courtesy of Alissa Callen (who is one of the authors).

Open internationally to all.

Good Luck!

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You'll find all the links of where to buy Down Outback Roads, and discover more about Alissa Callen and her much loved rural and small-town fiction books over on Alissa's webpage: alissacallen.com

And pop back tomorrow to see the next of my special guest authors - an international bestselling author of historical and fantasy fiction, who'll be bringing us the daughter of a minor lord and industrialist, who has never been accepted and is reconsidering her place in the world.

Jennie, in the company of Alissa Callen x

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After you’ve left a comment for Alissa, why not scroll down or click the links and visit previous days and maybe win a book:

Monday 18th: USA & Australia bestselling author Anne Gracie with The Spring Bride
Tuesday 19th: Award winning author Fiona Lowe with Truly Madly Montana
Wednesday 20th: Historical fiction author Eliza Redgold with Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva
Thursday 21st: Much loved international bestseller Rachael Johns and The Road to Hope 
Friday 22nd: Me - and The Turnaround Treasure Shop 
Saturday 23rd: Multi award winning contemporary author Barbara Hannay and Moonlight Plains

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