Remembrance

November is for remembering.

Australia, along with countries of the former British Empire and Commonwealth member states celebrates Remembrance Day on 11 November each year. The day acknowledges those who suffered or died while serving in wars, conflicts or peace operations. The date chosen is the anniversary of the Armistice of 1918 that ended fighting in World War 1.

Since World War 1, the common poppy, Papaver rhoeas, has been used in the Commonwealth as a symbol of remembrance. The flower has other names, including Flanders poppy, but I prefer the French word coquelicot (see image on website).

If you’ve ever encountered the 1969 musical film Oh! What a Lovely War about World War 1, directed by Richard Attenborough (in his directorial debut), you’ll see the red poppy used as a recurring visual symbol for death. The flower is handed to, worn by, or picked by characters before they are to die. This image has stuck with me since seeing the film. It’s powerful, moving and enduring. We feel the desperate sadness of a young life lost.

As we age and weave our lives into the lives of others, we create more memories —remembrance.

I remember hearing about the stages of life. I was in my twenties and it seemed so distant to imagine thirties, forties, much less fifties or older, but the idea stayed with me, and I’ve reflected on it over the years. You do change physically, mentally and emotionally as you age, and the people and events in your life influence those changes.

A thumbnail sketch of emotional transitions from an article on women’s health (Deeds Health) suggests our twenties are a whirlwind of firsts when the world can feel wide open and full of possibilities; in your thirties emotional cracks start to show, especially if you’ve been running on fumes. In your forties you notice subtle but significant shifts in body and mind. The fifties deliver grief over changing bodies, changing roles—kids leaving home, parents who need more care—while navigating transitions in careers and relationships. After turning 60, some of the biggest emotional hits can occur— retirement, new grandparent roles, loneliness and loss.

Studies, and life, suggest moving house, divorce, loss of a partner, death, diagnosis of a serious illness are among the most stressful events we can experience in our lives. They can come as a shock, and it’s hard to find the space to think logically when you’re in shock. And to be blunt, it’s harder to deal with the big shocks as you age. For me, grief is cumulative. Each new loss taps into the subterranean river of grief that runs through me. It keeps within its banks most of the time, but a new hit has it breaching those banks and swamping me.

One of the hazards of growing older—as any older person will tell you—is losing a partner to dementia and potentially being forced to leave your home. I’ve watched people around an elderly person talk over their heads, make decisions without consulting them, ostensibly because they want the best for them, but forgetting their older relative’s perfectly functioning brain and even their humanness. In seeking to be kind, they have added to the stress the older person is experiencing. Unfortunately, these acts aren’t always kind. Too often I hear the term “elder abuse” murmured by professionals I mix with.

Let’s agree, loss is super stressful, making the memories we associate with the person or place we’ve lost critical. So the way we deal with the loss, and those around us, is important. What we do in the moment matters.

When I think about my books, I deal with grief and loss in many of them. There’s no single way or time frame to respond to grief, and our emotional responses can range from rage to acceptance, sometimes in the same conversation.

Remember, remembering, remembrance are key to who we are. Let’s mourn our losses this November, but celebrate the good memories as well.

Available Now—November 2025 Release: Inkspell’s Enchanted Holidays

From Thanksgiving disasters to new holidays ready for happy memories or settling a score for love lost over Christmas to a chance meeting that turns to a rekindling of a past love, these holidays will warm your heart.

Nine best-selling and award-winning Inkspell authors share special origin holiday stories for your favourite romances, or sneak peeks into a new romantic couple navigating family time together. Inkspell’s Enchanted Holidays is the perfect anthology for readers and will quickly become your next favourite book!

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPPM6G3J

KOBO- https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/inkspell-s-enchanted-holidays

BN- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inkspells-enchanted-holidays-inkspell-publishing/1148189678

APPLE- https://books.apple.com/us/book/inkspells-enchanted-holidays/id6751919923

Upcoming: Australian Romance Readers Association’s (ARRA’s) annual author signing for 2026.

I’ll be signing at ARRA’s A Romantic Rendezvous in 2026 in Sydney. I’m looking forward to chatting with you about TBR piles, what I’ve got coming out, what we love about romance, our favourite bookshops and trends. ARRA has been hosting romance book-signing events since 2009, and they are always so much fun. I can’t wait to see you there!

  • Brisbane—Saturday 21 March 2026 (Royal on the Park, 152 Alice Street, Brisbane)
  • Sydney—Sunday 22 March 2026 (Rydges Sydney Central, 28 Albion Street, Surry Hills)
  • Melbourne—Saturday 28 March 2026 (Novotel Preston, 215 Bell Street, Preston)
  • Perth—Sunday 29 March 2026 (Pagoda Resort and Spa, 112 Melville Parade, Como)

>>> Tickets are now on sale here! <<<

And don’t forget to join the ARR2026 Facebook Group for all the latest news.

You can find me and my books here: website FaceBook Instagram

Find me on

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

The Power of Words

Lots of people have lots to say about the power of words. And there are words everywhere—in our message groups, on our social media feeds and on our screens. That’s before you add books, journals, magazines and the steady stream of printed words we encounter wherever we turn.

I’m also thinking of romance because that’s my jam. In romance, words are often accompanied by music. The noun serenade can be traced to the first half of the 17th century. A serenade was a vocal performance by a lover to their loved one, usually at night, often below a window or balcony. Shortly afterwards, it became a verb, to perform a serenade. Over time, serenades became bigger events, written by major composers—think Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky and others, performed with multiple instruments and then for groups of people.

Romance has been a mainstay of music forever. Any genre of music you care to name from opera to rap includes love songs—new love, lasting love, second chance love, failed love, betrayal, deceit, even love being the catalyst to set you free to be your true self.

But today, I’m thinking of the written word, unaccompanied by images—particularly the fake and AI generated images designed to mislead or manipulate us—and the written word unaccompanied by music. Old-fashioned black type standing out on a white page. In particular, I’ve been thinking about poetry.

I struggled with poetry at school. I read voraciously, but couldn’t quite get the hang of poetry. Until Georgette Heyer’s romances. In my senior years at school, it was Heyer’s Venetia, with its love story of Venetia and Damerel, that sent me scurrying to the library to trace references. The emotional impact was huge. The hero, Damerel cursing that the gods won’t:

“annihilate . . . space and time“

Unspoken is the next line from Alexander Pope’s satirical biography Martinus Scriblerus

“And make two lovers happy.“

But the poem that I really wanted to read and understand started with two lines in the book. Remember, this was before widespread use of the internet, before AI was freely available, so the library was my go-to resource. The hero Damerel says:

“Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.“

Venetia recalls the following line from the poem:

“Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;“

Wow! What a powerful black moment. The emotional devastation behind those two lines hit this young romance reader hard. Their shared knowledge of poetry and the second line implied, but not spoken aloud, strengthened the impact. They were shattered. I was shattered! But note that semi-colon at the end of the second line—there was more.

I remember when I found the actual poem, where I was, how thrilled I was. It was my giddy secret at the time. Michael Drayton’s From Idea (1619) Sonnet 61, Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part

“Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part.

Nay, I have done, you get no more of me;

And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart,

That thus so cleanly I myself can free.

Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vows,

And when we meet at any time again,

Be it not seen in either of our brows

That we one jot of former love retain.

Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,

When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies;

When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And Innocence is closing up his eyes—

Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou might’st him yet recover!”

I studied that poem. I memorised it. I tried to understand every tiny element, especially as I’d long since finished the book. I did sense some hope in the final lines.

So, I was pretty pleased to read Professor Emerita of English at the University of Toronto Anne Lancashire’s December 2020 article Venetia: Georgette Heyer’s Pastoral Romance

“Heyer, in her complex use of art/artifice, not only uses quotations to emphasize the physical tension between Damerel and Venetia but also counts on some of her readers to think more carefully about the sonnet than the emotionally-distraught Venetia does; for the sonnet’s last two lines suggest the possibility of a reunion of the lovers if the poet’s beloved initiates it, thus providing a hint of how the novel’s eventual happy ending will be effected.“

I’m no academic, but I was thinking of the place of poetry in romance novels recently when I was checking something in Grace Burrowes’s Lady Louisa’s Christmas Wish. Her lovers share a strong interest in and knowledge of poetry. Burrowes’s also uses it to further their romance. In contemporary romance we might use the words of a song, but I’ve rarely seen references to poetry.

While I came to appreciate poetry and love some poems, poetry isn’t my go-to for comfort. I have friends who write poetry, beautiful poetry, and marvel at their capacity to distil powerful ideas into a few lines. I wonder how many people who pore over Taylor Swift’s songs to find every ounce of meaning and emotion ever look at poetry not set to music?

My key takeaway was that poetry has power—in the moment and over time.

World Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999, “with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard”. It’s celebrated on 21 March, so if you’ve never read a poem before, check one out on 21 March 2026.

Upcoming 1: Inkspell’s Enchanted Holidays Prepare for a holiday filled with romance! 

From Thanksgiving disasters to new holidays ready for happy memories or settling a score for love lost over Christmas to a chance meeting that turns to a rekindling of a past love, these holidays will warm your heart.

Nine best-selling and award-winning Inkspell authors share special origin holiday stories for your favourite romances, or sneak peeks into a new romantic couple navigating family time together. Inkspell’s Enchanted Holidays is the perfect anthology for readers and will quickly become your next favourite book!

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPPM6G3J

KOBO- https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/inkspell-s-enchanted-holidays

BN- https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inkspells-enchanted-holidays-inkspell-publishing/1148189678

APPLE- https://books.apple.com/us/book/inkspells-enchanted-holidays/id6751919923

Upcoming 2: Australian Romance Readers Association’s (ARRA’s) annual author signing for 2026.

I’ll be signing at ARRA’s A Romantic Rendezvous in 2026 in Sydney. I’m looking forward to chatting with you about TBR piles, what I’ve got coming out, what we love about romance, our favourite bookshops and trends. ARRA has been hosting romance book-signing events since 2009, and they are always so much fun. I can’t wait to see you there!

  • Brisbane—Saturday 21 March 2026 (Royal on the Park, 152 Alice Street, Brisbane)
  • Sydney—Sunday 22 March 2026 (Rydges Sydney Central, 28 Albion Street, Surry Hills)
  • Melbourne—Saturday 28 March 2026 (Novotel Preston, 215 Bell Street, Preston)
  • Perth—Sunday 29 March 2026 (Pagoda Resort and Spa, 112 Melville Parade, Como)

>>> Tickets are now on sale here! <<<

And don’t forget to join the ARR2026 Facebook Group for all the latest news.

You can find me and my books here: website FaceBook Instagram

Find me on

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

The Editing Cave

Last month I was admiring my award ribbons and reflecting on my success at the Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ) 2025 Conference where Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 did very well against internationally successful authors, including multi-published Harlequin Mills & Boon authors placing second in long romance and third in overall book of the year (e-book available from all major booksellers, while a paperback version can be bought through Amazon or Barnes & Noble).

This month, I’m late with my newsletter because I’ve been buried in edits.

I tend to become very focused when I receive my edits for a book. I lock myself in a room until I think I’ve addressed every question, plus tidied up phrasing where I realise I should have been more precise.

This book is a bit different for me. Finding Cleo is a standalone contemporary romance set in Helsinki, Finland where two Australians meet almost by serendipity. It releases in March 2026. I love it, but I love all my books, when I’m knee-deep in the creation process.

There were two main triggers for this one. One was falling in love with Helsinki on a very brief stay there a few years ago. Mixed up with that was my interest in the obscure—as then—unsolved assassination of the PM of Sweden, Olof Palme in 1986 while walking home from a cinema. I’m not writing an historical novel, but I could imagine how an unsolved assassination in a peaceful country could tantalize and fascinate investigative journalists and writers over generations.

My lead female character, Cleo Montford, is the daughter of an investigative journalist, Hugo Montford who was with her father in Sweden eight years ago, when Hugo was working on the story. Unfortunately, he was killed in an accidental gas explosion on his way to meet a contact.

My main male character is Jack Spencer, a successful Australian author with severe author’s block (yep, we’ve all been there). Jack’s read Hugo Montford’s work in the past, and seen the annual stories of Hugo’s death—portrayed by his wife as a political assassination. While Olof Palme’s death is a genuine mystery, Hugo’s death was very much a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The contrast intrigues him, and he decides to follow Hugo’s last investigation as the basis for a thriller.

You’ll have to read it to find out what happens next. I know, I know, you’re already wondering what I did with those characters and details.

Anyway, back to first edits, the grind of reviewing page by page, paragraph by paragraph, scene by scene to see if the story works. Editors do this, and I’ve learned not to overlook a single question asked, or suggestion made, or poor transition identified, or “a WTF just happened because it sure as hell wasn’t clear” reaction.

Editing is time consuming, and my editor needs track changes, so the pages can get very messy. I also need to see the text from a variety of angles. So, I print a version and scroll through the lot to see if there are easy fixes. Then I focus on more complex questions and rewrite those sections in my computer-based version. When I think I’ve got that sorted, I save the document as a pdf, so I can review a clean copy as a final book. I read as an editor might, looking for inconsistencies that have resulted later in the book from fresh changes I’ve made. Then, I fix what I find there. And yet again, I print and check every individual question and query. Would you believe, this time I found something I hadn’t addressed smack bang in the middle of the first page?

Whew! Done. They’re be more rounds of edits, but this is the major developmental one, and I find I save myself time in the long run if I devote lots of concentrated time to this first round.

Upcoming 1: Taylor’s Law—The Anderson Sisters Book 1

Taylor’s Law, Second place in RWNZ 2023 Koru Awards—Best First Book will be discounted to $0.99 from 10-24 October 2025. Don’t miss your chance to pick up a copy if you don’t already have one, or buy it for a friend.https://jenniferrainesauthor.com/anderson-sisters/

Upcoming 2: A festive anthology

I’ve done something completely different, or different for me. I’ve written a short story in first person point of view (POV), just to see if I can. RWNZ runs  a short story competition (1800 words only) with the best stories included in a e-booklet to members. Merger placed third. Boy was I chuffed, especially because there were some short story specialists in the finalists. Mixing it with the top performers gives you a real lift as an author trying to find her place in a very crowded market.

My publisher, Inkspell Publishing, Melissa Keir decided to do a festive anthology of short stories by authors in her stable. So, I added some depth and words to Merger and it will be released in October 2025 under the title Inkspell’s Enchanted Holidays, so watch this space.

Upcoming 3: Australian Romance Readers Association’s (ARRA’s) annual author signing for 2026.

I’ll be signing at ARRA’s A Romantic Rendezvous in 2026 in Sydney. I’m looking forward to chatting with you about TBR piles, what I’ve got coming out, what we love about romance, our favourite bookshops and trends. ARRA has been hosting romance book-signing events since 2009, and they are always so much fun. I can’t wait to see you there!

Want to be the first to know when tickets and special prizes drop? Join the official Facebook group to keep up to date with all announcements: https://www.facebook.com/groups/arr2026attendees

Tickets will go on sale in October, but in the meantime you can put your name in the draw to win the Golden Ticket. One lucky reader will win an all-day access pass (panels, lunch and signing) to the city of their choice—Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.

Just fill in the entry form to go in the draw: https://forms.gle/k5LrU3cEsz3khGFb9

And don’t forget to join the ARR2026 Facebook Group for all the latest news.

You can find me and my books here: website FaceBook Instagram

Find me on

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

Heart of a Story

This last weekend 15-17 August 2025 was the Romance Writers of New Zealand annual conference held in Auckland NZ this year, and entitled Heart of a Story.

I’d forgotten how much I love RWNZ’s conferences. I haven’t been there since before Covid, but this year I decided to attend. Okay, I confess, I was nominated in the 2025 RWNZ Koru Awards in the Best Long Romance section for Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1. The categories are long romance, short romance, novella, best new book, with marks also used to choose the finalists in the Overall Book of the Year Award.

In case you’re interested, the e-book is available from all major booksellers, while a paperback version can be bought through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

And to be scrupulously honest, I wanted to be in the room when the results were called, just in case. The competition was fierce so, I arrived with my heart in my mouth.

In the Best Long Romance list, I was up against Alison Roberts, Alyssa J Montgomery and Caroline Corvin. All published by some of the big traditional publishers, whereas I’m with a small independent US publisher called Inkspell Publishing, and believe me, size does matter when you’re trying to find your place in this industry. I was over the moon with my second place, and my table at the Awards dinner, comprising people I didn’t know or had met that day, cheered for me. That’s another thing I like about RWNZ conferences—everyone is a supporter.

Next surprise—my name appeared on the Koru Best Overall Book of the Year. The smile on my face was growing wider and wider. The Award went to Fiona McArthur’s, Healing the Baby Doc’s Heart, (short romance) but I came third. More cheers from my table. You’ve got to love a loud and supportive crowd. To even be in this list is a huge honour.

I’m putting in links because you might fancy checking out their sites to see what sorts of goodies they offer, apart from books, that is.

I couldn’t make it to the Friday workshops, but by all reports they were a huge success.

  • Anna Hackett’s was Short Story, Big Impact (<7,500 words). I’m playing with short stories at the moment, so the program notes were particularly helpful. One of the teasers in the program said:

Where does beauty come from in the short story?

Beauty comes from form, from development of idea, from after effect. It often comes from carefulness, lack of confusion, elimination of waste.

Eudora Welty.

Saturday started with keynote speakers. The titles alone are enough to spark your interest, and the author presenters delivered humorous, informative sessions which made me think as well as inspired me.

  • Sarah MacLean, The Romance Revolution; The power and purpose of the romance novel in a fast-changing world.
  • Rachael Johns, Finding your ‘why and hanging on through doubt, burnout and everything in between
  • Steffanie Holmes, Behind the doors of a 7-figure author business.

Impossible to attend all the afternoon sessions, but I chose one on using AI translation services to monetize your backlist and a second on marketing strategies, partly to address my ignorance on AI translation services and to re-energize my marketing approach. What marketing strategy, you may ask? You can see why I needed this session.

More keynotes and panels on Sunday, but the standout of the day for me was Daniel Watterson, The impact of AI on creative rights, a topic every creative needs to learn more about. Daniel has a history as an actor, lawyer and is now protecting creatives’ rights. He was fascinating and provided enough links on where to start in understanding AI’s impacts on writers. I don’t use AI in my writing, apart from spell check and google searches because it’s my stories I want to tell, but the use of AI in a variety of ways from writing a synopsis to a blurb to improving your prose is a live and controversial issue.

A fabulous weekend, all organised and run with the generosity and skill of volunteers. I’m still smiling.

An end point:

As writers, we can always learn, so participating in conferences, joining writers’ groups, touching base with like-minded people always sparks ideas for me. In a recent Australian Romance Readers Association newsletter (Issue: 191 June 2025-available to subscribers) Kelley Armstrong was interviewed. She made a comment that really resonated with me.

What tropes do you most enjoy writing?

My favourite tropes to write are second-chance and friends-to-lovers. Both allow me to start with an established relationship. The characters have a past together, which fast-tracks the romantic arc. Otherwise, I may end up with a very slow burn.

I’ve written a friends to lovers and recently, a second chance novella, but they’re not my preferred tropes. However, I do want my characters to get to know each other before they tumble into bed, despite almost immediate attraction. My books have been described by some readers as slow burn. Please note: not “very slow burn””. Kelley Armstrong gives a very good reason why.

You can find me and my books here: website FaceBook Instagram

Find me on

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.

Getting Published in Romance

I recently participated in a podcast where I was asked a number of questions by an indie romance author. The discussions in her podcasts are guided by questions she has about the industry, and which she hopes will resonate with other writers just starting out. She’s preparing a few podcasts before she goes live, but she was particularly interested when I mentioned associations.

That got me thinking. I joined Romance Writers of Australia (RWAus) very early in my writing career. A family member spotted an ad for a conference and suggested I attend. I felt very alone in the crowd, but I signed on as a member. I eventually did some time on the executive as the editor of the monthly newsletter. In those early days, it was a print and post to members newsletter which is very different from today’s attractive web-based version.

Reflecting on my past experiences, and where I am now, and what I know now, joining RWAus was an accidental, but brilliant, first step to becoming a published author. It opened up opportunities in a collaborative, supportive environment to enter writing contests, to attend conferences, to pitch to international editors and publishers, and to network with other beginning writers and published authors who have offered varying levels of support from being cheerleaders to mentors to early readers of my various masterpieces!

Along with the networking, membership of an association ran in parallel with the development of my craft. I expanded my membership of organisations to include Romance Writers of New Zealand (RWNZ), Romance Writers of America(RWA.org) and the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA).

The writers’ organisations all offered craft workshops either as part of a conference, online or via the monthly newsletters. Advice was  provided by multi-talented teachers and authors. Initially, most organisations and chapters offered competitions with editors and publishers as final judges. Winning a contest can be a great way to find a home for your manuscript. RWAus and RWNZ still offer competitions for both published and unpublished authors, but changes around 2020 in RWAmerica mean that fewer competitions are available to US chapter members.

I stopped writing for a while—life getting in the way—and when I started again, I reactivated my memberships. I was a bit of a silent member, sitting at the back of conferences, feeling uncomfortable about butting in on existing groups of friends or colleagues, but hey—get over it! Whether you are published by a large publisher, or a small one, or take the indie road, you are expected to sell yourself through social media and public appearances.

I found the perfect re-entry point through the Sydney based RWAus members. They have a monthly catchup and share writing progress, industry gossip, trends, and achievements or failures. Other members have answers to questions I’ve mulled over in private for some time. I go home invigorated and inspired after a meeting.

In fact, it’s as a result of this group that I attempted my first short story in 2025, and while I usually write third person POV, I experimented with first person POV, so I was thrilled to final in the RWNZ Story in a Chapter competition and to place third.

Writing is a solitary endeavour, and I take quite a long time to get to know my characters, so I can do justice to their story. Having encouragement from a wide romance writing community makes all the difference.

My latest release is An Accidental Flatmate—Choosing Family Book 5, although all my books can be read as standalones. The elevator pitch:

🔺Casildo and Beatriz, chance flatmates, friends to lovers, family expectations, and promises we come to regret …🔻

You can find me and my books here: website FaceBook Instagram

Find me on

You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.