Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the blog series where I share snippets from new and past releases, and works-in-progress and occasionally nag author buddies into do the same.

This week I’m delighted to host Fiona Palmer on the blog. Rural romance fans will know Fiona well from books like The Family Farm, Heart of Gold, The Outback Heart, The Saddler Boys and others. Stories that showcase and reflect Fiona’s love for this great country and her passion for rural life.

Fiona’s new release Secrets Between Friends sees a change of direction into women’s fiction, and a change of location. No farms here! But that doesn’t matter. We have a lovely cruise ship and the gorgeous Western Australian coastline instead. There’s one thing that won’t have changed though. You’ll still have your heart warmed with this tale of Aussie friendship.

Here’s Fiona to tell you more about Secrets Between Friends.

‘How well do you know your friends? Are you super close or are there still secrets you keep from them? Or maybe some friends know bits and another knows the rest or maybe you have no secrets to share?

You could be happily married with kids and yet confide to your friend that you’ve had dreams about the tyre shop man or some young guy who is flirting with you. The secrets don’t have to be big, some are just things we don’t say to anyone else. Then there are the BIG ones, ones that can tear apart your world. Would you trust these with your friends? Then there are the secrets we even keep from ourselves. We might know its lurking deep down but we keep it there, pretending it doesn’t exist. In my new book Secrets Between Friends the characters are doing just this, as well as all the others!!

They are not alone, life is a tricky thing full of emotions and feelings that we sometimes can’t control and other times we control them too much and don’t listen to our hearts.  Imagine all of that on a ship, where there is no escape when some of these secrets sneak out. That’s what happens for these three friends Jess, Abbie and Ricki. Then throw in best friend Peter. It’s going to be a rocky ride, that’s for sure. Here is a snippet from Abbie….

Abbie: Hell, where had the time gone? Abbie was twenty-seven with not much to show for it. Yet another thing to add to her list of failures. It was growing day by day. If it kept up like this she might need more note paper.

She twisted the end of her long black hair as her eyes moved across to another bright sticky note. One o’clock, Doctor Rikes.

God, how she hated that sticky note. It had tortured her from the moment she stuck it up on her wall. Not even the bright pink could sway the feeling of dread it brought. But today was the day. With some luck she’d get some answers. Abbie let her head fall to the desk and rest against the cold melamine. She just had to get through the next few hours without screaming, swearing at Derek or curling up in a ball under her desk.

Her life felt as if it had derailed and she was travelling along unknown tracks, rough and bumpy as the world flashed past in a blur. She hadn’t told a soul. Too scared it would make it real. Too worried she would cry. Too fearful she would fall apart.

I hope you all enjoy Secrets Between Friends!

Cheers Cathryn for having me.

A pleasure, Fiona. I’m hearing amaaaazing things about Secrets Between Friends and readers are gobbling it up. Hard to resist a book loaded with secrets.

Secrets Between Friends is available for purchase in paperback and ebook from these retailers. Grab your copy today!

Booktopia, Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Amazon.com, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, your favourite bookshop or chain store.

If you’d like to learn more about Fiona, please visit her website. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter using @fiona_palmer.