Love Should Never Be This Hard - The Series

5th Anniversary Collector's Edition - Completely Revised

The series comprises 'The Sign of the Rose' (Book 1); 'The Black Rose of Blaby' (Book 2); Rose: The Missing Years (Book 3); and the parallel story to 'The Missing Years', from a different perspective, 'Finding Rose' (Book 4).

YOU WILL LOVE THIS SAGA if you enjoy fiction interlaced with fact, escapism grounded in historical dramatic events.

* The settings are real - Ireland, the Westcountry and the Midlands in England.

* The main characters feature two young adventurers fleeing Ireland after the Famine.

* Lovers caught up in the spirit of industrial progress and optimism from the late 1900's to the mid-twentieth century.

* Enjoyable as a living chronicle rather than a history lesson - 'feel-good fiction' seated in reality.

* A blend of tragedy, good over evil, a journey through time - and romance.

Events are fictionalized but they might as well be true because - for some - they were! From the legacy left by the Irish Potato Famine we travel from Southern Ireland with two homeless survivors in search of lost family and a new-found freedom - in England.

Become swept away by whatever fortune - both good and bad - presents itself to the young couple. It's an England experiencing unequaled cultural and economic progress, as generation after generation of of the family thereafter adapt to a changing world.

The saga extends into a post-war re-birth and the excitement of the 1960's, drawing to a close in the 1970's. 'Love should never be this hard' documents the lives, loves and destinies of these families (many of whom actually lived, but their real identities remain a secret) whose histories are rooted partly in Romani culture, partly in Anglo-Irish origins.

Although total works of fiction, each book in the series features real locations, real events flavoring the background for each story, as well as characters, some of which are based on those who may have actually lived, often as composites.

So how do you classify the series in terms of genre? Let's answer that by 'who will enjoy the books?'

** At one level they are historical novels, but without being too entrenched in - or too accurate - when it comes to the facts (!). That is deliberate to ensure we have the freedom to explore beyond 'what really happened'- allowing the stories to remain entertaining, and not purely historical chronicles.

** Admittedly they are 'a female read', but for an age ranging from 20-somethings to septuagenarians. That assumes readers are 'into' romantic novels, otherwise described as 'New Adult'.

** Settings in Southern Ireland are mainly 'imagined' by the author, but locations in Devon (Teignmouth and Plymouth), Cornwall (St Ives), and Leicestershire - principally Blaby and Aylestone - are described from actual experiences whilst living there.

** Much of the dramatic content draws on mystical folklore - purely imagined and used for dramatic effect. So that is fantasy.

As for the factual elements, hopefully they will represent a rare historical record to ensure otherwise important local heritage is not discarded and forgotten.