Enjoy two pieces from Marian’s collected short writings. One frank and funny account of her experiences as a writer and an uproariously comic dose of counselling from the one and only Mammy Walsh!

For a sassy young woman used to blagging, blogging and slogging her way through dreary London, the call of a glamorous, tax-free lifestyle in sunny Dubai just couldn′t go unanswered. Over the course of two years, while an entire city rose from the dust Becky Wicks scaled a good few rungs of the hard-to-climb career ladder. She became a celebrity editor in a land where sex definitely does not sell and spent most nights in a five-star blur of champagne luxury. Dubai offered everything, but things soon got messy -- not least because a wealthy Arab man made Becky his mistress. These days, shamed rule-breakers and failed entrepreneurs are a dime a dozen in Dubai, yet the city retains its allure. Becky Wicks lifts the burqa on the razzle-dazzle and reveals some of what goes on in the world′s fastest up-and-coming city and shopping Mecca.

A lot can happen when you set out to ′find yourself′. Sometimes, you can even lose the plot. From visiting ancient healers with cellphone addictions to leaving a shaking ashram intent on extracting her soul, Becky Wicks soon discovered that six months travelling round Bali wasn′t all going to be about finding inner peace and harmony. In fact, the perils of possessed teens, eating raw, yogic headstands, diving shipwrecks and dicing with black magic and demons all took their toll on the Island of the Gods. And that was before the vaginal steaming. Becky Wicks lifts the sarong on real life in Bali in a blur of locals, tourists, expats and other other eating, praying lovers who arrive... you know... not really knowing who they are.

Chloe and Oscar grew up together in the wilds of Alaska and their love is a powerful force that renders others not only green-eyed with envy, but invisible. When strange sounds in Chloe's house start freaking them out, a visit to a local psychic is set to change their lives and love forever.

Wattpad Featured Story! Sara Wang travels from New York City to Shanghai before her senior year to take a class in Eastern medicine. Her parents think she's there to buff up her college application, but she's actually there to chase her crush -- the one and only Calvin Suzuki (a total swim team hottie). Things take an unexpected turn when she bumps into the megapopular singer and actor Fang Yao during her hospital rotation. Everything gets even more complicated when her childhood love, Zhang, appears and they share an accidental kiss. When summer vacation ends, who will be the one to win Sara's heart? This is a rewrite of an older story.

Spray Painted Bananas is a romantic comedy about Amber, a broke temp working in a catering firm in London, who after one too many evenings scrounging free wine from wacky art gallery openings with her best friend Farrell, decides there’s no reason she can’t become a conceptual artist herself. A chance meeting with the wealthy, young art curator, Elliott Frinton-Smith, sets things off in a desirable direction. Now all Amber needs is a brilliant idea to grab the attention of the nation. Spray Painted Bananas explores love and ambition with the touch of the absurd and plenty of bananas. It is OUT NOW published under the title THE TEMP by Harper Collins.

[NOTE: This book was written in 2010, a time of long-distance phone cards, weight-loss obsessions, and searching for a man as a solution to life's problems-what a messy time to be alive! In other words, I hope you enjoy this throwback, and while this book does end on a cliffhanger of sorts, the sequel addresses any unanswered questions (which is hopefully fair, given that book 1 is free, ya know?] An awkward family homecoming at Christmas. A humiliating public weigh-in, with two judging parents as the audience. The announcement of a deadline for arranged marriage doom. And that's just the first two chapters. In "Year of the Chick," Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband. Easy to say, less easy to live through, as this book takes you deep inside "awkward Indian living in the West." To escape her fate, Romi wades through the waters of secret-dating, where self-consciousness is at an all-time high, and experience at an all-time low. It's the sort of thing that would turn almost anyone into a man-crazy freak with romance tunnel-vision, and that's exactly what ends up happening. All the while, a lack of inspiration in her corporate job leads Romi to her love of writing, in what quickly becomes a man-quest play-by-play. From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. And that's when she meets a fellow writer. On the Internet. So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator"? Time will tell in the "year of the chick," a twelve-month quest to find love. Tick-tock. --------------------------------------------- "Year of the Chick" is book one of a series, and book two is available at Amazon! LENGTH: 75,000 words or 285 pages DISCLAIMER: this book contains profanities, blunt accounts of the dating scene, and many awkward family moments. Enjoy!

Lady Kathryn McGregor knew her heart was stolen the first time she saw this handsome knight. When he gallantly came to her rescue, she knew there would be no one for her but him. His parting words to her, she could still hear his voice clearly as that fateful day so long ago. She too looked forward to the day that they would meet once again. Sir Grant McKenna, seducer of women and a fierce warrior. Fourth born son to Clan McKenna, there was no need to marry or produce an heir, a proclaimed bachelor is what he was. Haunted he was in his dreams of a lass with soft doe eyes and hair the colour of chestnuts. He knew they were just dreams for didn't recall meeting a lass as bonny as she. Will destiny seal Grant's fate? Do dreams ever come true? Perhaps they will for Grant and Kathryn.