The Desert Love Series can be read in any order, but you may have a more satisfying reading experience if you read the books in the order they were written.

Under A Namibian Sky

Love in Modena

Heat in the Desert

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Heat in the Desert

Heat in the Desert is available as an eBook and paperback here:

UK – https://amzn.eu/hi58Zph

US – https://amzn.com/B08J4H7YCB

If you’ve already read Heat in the Desert, I’d be delighted if you’d leave a short review – here is the Amazon review link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08J4H7YCB#customerReviews

AN ACCIDENT, A PASSION,

A DARK SECRET…

Heat in the Desert takes contemporary romance to another level – a real page-turner. Trust me – you’ll love it!” – a reviewer.

Saira and Gerhard live entirely different lives.

Feisty and ambitious, Saira reluctantly accepts an assignment to produce a TV pilot about weddings at the prestigious, romantic Desert Lodge. But when the small plane taking her there malfunctions, she finds herself stranded in the desert with sexy, muscular, mysterious Gerhard and his yummy German good looks.

Gerhard is everything Saira desires: he is regal, gorgeous, genuine. She cannot help but feel drawn to him.

Saira might just be the woman of Gerhard’s dreams, and now he’s found her, he doesn’t want to let her go. But there are things in Gerhard’s past that threaten to ruin everything…

Explore Heat in the Desert, a novel in the captivating Desert Love contemporary romance series, today.

“The way the author describes the characters’ emotions stood out for me as it made the story come alive. I could feel everything they felt.” – beta reader.

Disclaimer: You can read this novel as part of the series or as a stand-alone novel. You may enjoy a better reading experience by reading it in the series. It contains some heat and a happy ending. Don’t forget, it’s also available in Kindle Unlimited.

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Love In Modena

Love In Modena is available as an eBook and paperback here:

UK – http://amzn.eu/0BFEyXz

US – http://a.co/afXQRD1

If you’ve already read Love in Modena, I’d be delighted if you’d leave a short review – here is the Amazon review link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079V574RN#customerReviews

“Often I am left with a feeling of ‘what happened after’ in romance books, and it was really refreshing to read a follow-up story.” – Mary Anne Yarde, award-winning author of the Du Lac Chronicles.

Naomi has found her prince, her Luca, her soul mate. In Modena, she also found her place in the world with him. But she can’t let go of Namibia so easily, not now she’s become the new owner of Desert Lodge.

Luca, the heir apparent to the Armati supercar dynasty, understands Naomi’s dilemma. Their decision to split their time and responsibilities between the two countries seems like the perfect solution.

Theirs is a lifestyle others can only dream of.

But neither expects that an unforeseen foe in their midst would test their relationship to the limits.

If you’ve loved Luca and Naomi’s story in Under A Namibian Sky, then you’ll be thrilled by Love in Modena, the follow-up novella to that much-loved contemporary romance novel.

Get your copy of Love in Modena today to find out what happens to Luca and Naomi once they leave the desert.

Disclaimer: This novel contains some heat and a happy ending. Don’t forget, it’s also available in Kindle Unlimited.

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Under A Namibian Sky

Under A Namibian Sky is now available on Amazon as an eBook and paperback.

UK http://amzn.eu/is2wuza

US http://a.co/emSLRn4

Or paperback from here for £8.75 with free delivery in the UK only.
£3.99 postage for orders worldwide.


Under A Namibian Sky – Paperback


If you’ve aready read Under A Namibian Sky, I’d be delighted if you’d leave a short review – here is the Amazon review link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074P7MWPN#customerReviews

A beautiful love story that will capture your heart.

No one remains lost. Love is the deepest healer of all.

Desert guide, Naomi Smith, is an ordinary young woman – until her world is shattered by the arrival of Luca Armati, the heir apparent to the Italian supercar dynasty that bears his family name.

Naomi is appointed to look after Luca and his older secretary during their short stay at Desert Lodge. She suspects he’s a spoiled brat, like all the other ‘princes’ who come to vacation there and readies herself for his demands. But she soon realizes there is more to Luca than meets the eye. When Luca’s secret is exposed, the hurt he carries allows Naomi to share her secret heartache with him.

Will the pain of their past experiences prevent them from having the courage to admit their soulmate connection?

If you like novels by M. M. Kay or Mary Stewart, then you will love Under A Namibian Sky, an emotionally riveting love story.

Explore Under A Namibian Sky, the first novel in the captivating Desert Love contemporary romance series today.

“The story was so compelling, I simply couldn’t put this book down.” – Amazon reviewer.

Disclaimer: This novel contains some heat and a happy ending. Don’t forget, it’s also available in Kindle Unlimited.

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You can listen to Under A Namibian Sky here on my YouTube channel – each chapter read by me:

Chapter one:

Chapter two:

Chapter three:

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fifteen

Chapter sixteen

Chapter seventeen

Chapter eighteen

Chapter nineteen

Chapter twenty

Chapter twenty-one

Chapter twenty-two

Chapter twenty-three

Chapter twenty-four

Twenty-five

Chapter twenty-six

Chapter twenty-seven

Chapter twenty-eight

Chapter twenty-nine

Chapter thirty

Chapter thirty-one

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If you liked reading the stories in this series, I’d be delighted if you’d be so kind as to post a review on Amazon telling me what you thought. Reviews are really important. Not only do they tell other potential readers what to expect from a novel, but they also allow the novel to live in the world. It means I’ll be able to continue to write more stories for you.

You can also read more about Under A Namibian Sky here: http://circleofbooks.com/2017/09/05/under-a-namibian-sky-by-angelina-kalahari/

You can connect with me directly at angelina@angelinakalahari.com. I read and respond to every email.

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UNDER A NAMIBIAN SKY LAUNCH

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the launch of Under A Namibian Sky. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m excited to introduce Under A Namibian Sky to you.

I know this bit usually goes at the end, but I’d like to thank all the amazing people who have helped Under A Namibian Sky to become a satisfying novel for readers. It takes teamwork.

So, to my amazing editor, Christine, thank you so much. You asked all the difficult questions that made me dig deeper.

Thank you to my great beta readers for the amazing job you guys have done. Writing can be a lonely process and a scary one once you give your baby to someone else to read for the first time. Thank you for giving your honest feedback and notes in a kind and encouraging manner. It means the world.

So, what is Under A Namibian Sky about? It’s essentially a contemporary romance. It’s the story of Luca and Naomi and it’s set in Namibia.

Briefly, Naomi’s parents died when she was five. After being shunted from foster parents to foster parents, she was understandably traumatised, to say the least. No one had really taken the time to explain to her that her parents had died and no one had seemed to realise that she needed to grieve. As a result, she’d locked up her emotions and carried a deep and abiding fear of loving anyone else in case she’d again lose them to death.

But her grandmother’s best friend, Auntie Elsa, eventually adopted Naomi. She went to live with her and her husband, Uncle Wouter, at Desert Lodge. The lodge bordered on the Namib Desert and when she was old enough, Naomi was allowed to play with the San tribe’s children there. They taught her about the desert, about what plants were safe to eat and where to find water. This led to her working as a desert guide at the lodge when she became old enough.

Luca, on the other hand, comes from a very privileged background – the Armati supercar dynasty in Italy. He is the heir apparent. But Luca has other hobbies that he’s passionate about. One of which is photographing and painting elephants. His secretary, Santina, who has taken care of him since he was a child when his mother left them, arranged a holiday in Namibia so that he could fulfil his dream and take a break from work at the same time.

Luca immediately recognises how different Naomi is from the models he usually hangs out with. But she assumes he is just another one of the rich ‘princes’ who makes everyone’s lives hell for as long as they’re on holiday at the lodge.

I don’t want to give too much away but I will say this – Under A Namibian Sky has many twists and turns. A sneak peek is when Luca and Naomi come in contact with a tiny newborn elephant. They help to rescue her when her mother is killed by poachers.

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Namibia holds a special place in my heart because it is where I was born. The setting is perfect for romance, danger, spirituality and love.

THE COVER

The original cover was designed by the multi-talented Sharon Brownlie.

Covers are really important because they’re “the picture that paints a thousand words,” as the lyrics of one of my favourite Bread songs says. Or in the case of a novel, thousands of words!

I saw one of Sharon’s pre-made covers with a couple that looked exactly like Luca and Naomi. I couldn’t believe it. Usually, it’s impossible to get a picture that looks exactly like the couple in your head. But there they were.

Luca, as he appeared to me, is tall, athletic and although aristocratic, has a somewhat devil-may-care boyishness about him. A kind of Richard Branson vibe, if you like.

Naomi, also tall and athletic, is independent and strong and I feel the figure on the cover depicts her somewhat stubborn streak perfectly.

Neither Sharon nor I imagined Luca and Naomi to be in silhouette, to begin with, but realised the night sky would have no light source to show them in any other way.

The picture of the sky that Sharon used, is an actual picture of the night sky over the Namib Desert. The fact that it has a purple tint, is a hint of the spirituality behind the fact that Luca and Naomi are soul mates.

In the distance, you can see the mother and the baby elephant that played such a big part in their relationship. Because Naomi had reluctantly allowed Luca to accompany her on the ellie’s rescue mission, he then invited her out for dinner. Perhaps without that initial dinner, who knows if they’d ever got together?

Again, I’d like to thank everyone who helped choose the elements for the perfect cover.

Unfortunately, this cover didn’t translate well into the paperback version and I felt a new cover was needed.

Stepping into the fray was my lovely niece, Mia Troost, a very talented artist, currently in her second year at University, studying  for a BA degree in Graphic Design.

Mia’s brief, like Sharon’s, was for a romantic cover with a sky that takes your breath away, somewhere in the Namibian Desert, lovers, a tree or two, and elephants in the background.

Though I adore Sharon’s cover, I love Mia’s cover, too and I’m deeply grateful to her for stepping in at such short notice because I wanted the new cover to be available at the same time as the follow-up novella, Love In Modena, was launched. I feel Mia more than delivered.

Although I loved the cover Mia had created, I felt the novel deserved to live in the same space as other novels of its kind and I wasn’t sure that this cover did that job.

As I’m a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors, I checked their website for a suitable cover designer. I came upon the award-winning cover designer Jane Dixon-Smith, who took my covers under her wing and delivered the most beautiful and romantic covers to sit on the same shelves as other novels in the contemporary romance genre.

I’m deeply grateful for Jane’s amazing work. It was so easy to work with her and can’t wait for her to create the covers for my next novels.

THE CHARACTERS

As I don’t want to spoil it for you, I’ll talk only about Luca and Naomi. I may post something on another day about some of the other characters.

Writing her, Naomi made me feel compassion and fury almost in equal amounts. I was sad for her that she was so traumatised as a little girl by the loss of her parents and by being moved from foster home to foster home. She was unloved and felt like a failure when she couldn’t make her new families love her. She was too young to understand death and what was happening to her. But her deep-seated fear that everyone she loved would die, stopped her from loving others when it’s so clear that it’s what she craved.

When she developed feelings for Luca, she talked herself out of those. I couldn’t believe that she would be prepared to give up such a love for fear that death would take her from him. But she was stubborn! It would take another traumatic event in her life to let her see the light at last.

Luca, on the other hand, having been abandoned by his mother when he was eight, regarded women with a healthy dose of suspicion. What made it worse, was that the beautiful models who he was used to having in his life, were mostly after his money and fame. But he realised pretty early on, that Naomi was nothing like them. He saw her strength, her independence, her vulnerability and her genuineness.

But when he overheard her saying something to her friend that he was rich and could have any woman he wants, he freaked out. It was a phrase he’d heard too many times.

It took a very distressing situation for him to realise that he loved Naomi and couldn’t imagine being without her.

These characters never stopped talking. I had no choice but to write them down!

THE SETTING

Namibia is very special to me. It’s the country of my birth and although I haven’t been there for many years, I know it’s the kind of unspoiled place – for the most part – that doesn’t change. It feels good to know that something can be that constant, especially in this crazy fast-paced world we live in, right?

Desert Lodge is based on a real lodge near the desert. The people and the place will always live in my heart, no matter where in the world I find myself.

Like Naomi, I was lucky enough to have had children from the San tribes to play with when I was a little girl. They taught me about the desert. About which plants were poisonous, which were good to eat, how to find water, which insects were a good source of protein, and which to avoid if you wanted to keep your eyes! So, these are the things I share with Naomi.

The Namib Desert is vast. It’s silent. It’s unearthly beautiful. Parts of it has featured in Hollywood movies, and parts of it have become a source of joy for people seeking action-adventure holidays.

It is this aspect that Desert Lodge eventually adopts as well. But until then, they offer only sunrise and sunset safaris with desert guides in a truck or the odd walking safari with one of the anti-poacher guards employed to keep the wildlife safe.

Here is a short video that shows how San hunter/gatherers find water in the desert.

WHY ROMANCE?

Under A Namibian Sky is a romance novel and one I hope you’ll all enjoy reading. The funny things is, I never thought of myself as a romance writer. My staple go-to genres have always been science-fiction, fantasy, psychological thrillers and horror. Those genres, of course, sometimes include romance as well. Yet, whenever I sit down to write something, romance is what comes out. It puzzled me until I analysed it and the truth dawned on me.

This is where my thinking led me:

The point that immediately sprang to mind is that we all want love. I’d go so far as to say, we crave it. When we read a romance novel, we experience the feelings of love through the characters in a way that may not exist in our everyday lives. It gives us that high, that hope that the love we yearn for, is possible for us as well. It helps to renew our belief in love. We live in a world filled with pain, divorces, disasters, acts of violence and war. When we read a romance novel, we reconnect with the idea of love, with the idea that there is something higher than the pain and discontent that pours daily from our TV screens or from social media. For readers who have not yet experienced a soul mate love, reading a romance novel can open them up to what that might feel like and how worthwhile a pursuit it can be for them. After all, as one of my characters in Under A Namibian Sky says: “In the end, love is all we have.”

At the other end of the spectrum is the fact that human beings and human relationships are complex. Stories are a safe way to explore those complexities and can even help us to deal with our own issues.

There are many other reasons why romance novels are important, but the fact that it can also be a form of entertainment is not to be sneezed at. When a reader with a demanding job, or a mum who is pulled in many different directions, read a romance novel, it’s a great way to just relax, have fun and escape from the daily grind.

Of course, even though nowadays romance novels are widely accepted, there are still people who turn up their noses at the thought of reading one. The idea that these novels are unrealistic at best – who really gets the happily ever after, right? – or at worst, that such novels are “trashy,” “titillating” or “fluffy,” and inferior to other genres, is still very much the perception, especially of those who do not read romances. (Interestingly, opponents of romance novels, often overlook the fact that classics such as Jane Austin’s books are the most sigh-worthy romances. I assume it’s because her books are “older” that it doesn’t count?)

And yet, the romance genre is the biggest selling genre in the book world. Why? Why do we read them?

I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts about why romance novels are important to you?

WHY UNDER A NAMIBIAN SKY?

Late one night, several months ago, I was watching a programme on TV about Mills and Boon (Harlequin to some of you.)

The programme looked at how difficult it is to write a good romance novel. How so many people have tried and failed.

The programme followed the journey of a traditionally published mystery writer going through the process of writing a romance novel. She went on away days with other romance writers, writer’s circles and writer’s workshops led by successful Mills and Boon authors at great settings. They filmed her at home making notes on her white board, writing, re-writing, getting frustrated and re-writing. Eventually, she handed in the manuscript to Mills and Boons offices here in London.

I never learned what happened to her novel. But having read a number of romance novels through the years, I wondered if I could write one.

I went on their website to learn more about what they’re looking for and discovered that they were actively looking for novels set in Southern Africa. Well, I was born in Namibia and while I’ve lived all over the world, the country of my birth will always live in my heart. There is a saying that once you have felt the Namibian sands beneath your feet, your feet will always walk you back to those sands. It’s a rough translation, but I think you get the gist. I’ll add to it that once you have Africa in your heart, she is a jealous mistress and will hold you to her bosom – you can never escape her arms.

So, it was a no-brainer for me to set my novel in Namibia. I know the place like the back of my hand. It’s one of the few places on earth where things don’t change, yet a desert is a place of ever-changing sameness. The sky over the desert, once you’ve seen it, will live in your heart and mind forever – it is breath-taking, yes, but more than that, it’s a most humbling experience. Its vastness reminds that we are a tiny part of something so big, we cannot comprehend it. The people are warm and friendly, and the animals are a reminder that the world offers more than concrete jungles and the rat race so many of us are only too familiar with. There is a deep peace, a unique calm that a place like Namibia offer, that you can’t find anywhere else on earth.

To cut a long story short, I wrote the required three chapters and submitted them along with a synopsis. A few weeks later, I received a long email from them, stating their interest in the novel and asking for specific changes. It was obvious from their email that they’d read the synopsis and the chapters. I felt encouraged and set about making the changes they’d asked for before running it past some of my beta readers. But after I’d re-submitted it, a few weeks later, I received a short email thanking me for my efforts but rejecting the novel. But rejection is a normal part of a writer’s life so it didn’t phase me.

By now, though, the characters lived in my head. They were talking to me, as characters are wont to do and they wouldn’t go away. There were other projects I wanted to work on but these guys wouldn’t let up. I had no choice but to finish the novel.

Luckily, the publishing world has changed so much now that Mills and Boon aren’t the only romance genre publishers.

That’s how Under A Namibian Sky came to live in the world today.

INTERESTING NAMIBIAN FACT #1

Namibia is a very large country – Namibia is more than a third larger than the UK and Germany combined or twice the size of California. It has rich deposits of diamonds, uranium and other minerals that are already being extracted extensively. There are 11 main ethnic groups living there.

INTERESTING NAMIBIAN FACT #2

What is a desert? To most people, it is a hot, dry area with little or no vegetation and often covered in sand dunes. Even though this may be an adequate definition of a desert, hot and dry are not specific enough to be scientifically accepted. Scientists use the measurement of rain, or rather the lack of it, to define deserts because water is the critical factor which controls all life and biological processes. According to such classification of deserts, the Namib is hyper-arid as it has a mean rainfall of less than 100mm per year. It is amazing that the Namib is a desert at all since north of it, Angola is subtropical and south, the Cape of Good Hope has copious winter rainfall. But the unique high-pressure zones and the cold ocean currents that border it has created the Namib Desert.

We know that the Namib Desert is old and could have been semi-arid to arid for about the last 80million years with true desert conditions predominating the last 15 – 20 million years.

INTERESTING NAMIBIAN FACT #3

Fairy circles – there is a peculiar unexplained phenomenon along the edge of the Namib desert commonly known as fairy circles. Unusually named they occur on sandy planes and on vegetated dune slopes. Scientists suggest that the fairy circles may, in fact, be termites which have eaten all the grass seeds in the vicinity of their nests.

INTERESTING NAMIBIAN FACT #4

What is the origin and meaning of Namib? The word is of Nama origin. It translates literally from Nama as “a bare plain” and means “the vast place of nothingness.”

Thank you so much for joining me today. I trust you enjoyed the launch of Under A Namibian Sky as much as I have.

I’m currently writing a novella in the Desert Love Series telling of Luca and Naomi’s life in Italy. It’s called Love In Modena, and you will receive a free copy when you sign up to my email list when it is finished.

I’d be very interested to know what kind of stories you would like me to write? Let me know what kind of characters you’d like, what obstacles and what setting – I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you again so much for spending time with me.