Ryn Shell
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Urban Sketching

7/26/2022

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Urban Sketching is recognised worldwide as the practice of on-location drawing. It is creating sketch memories of the places where we live and travel—one drawing at a time. It is the perfect companion to a written journal.

Here I have used Diamine Brandy Snap ink from the 2021 Inkvent Christmas collection in a Lamy 2000 fountain pen to create a sketch of a streetscape in Maldon in Victoria, Australia. Ink Line & Wash with Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen with double broad white gold nib using Diamine Brandy Snap Ink in HOBONICHI COUSIN AVEC Journal.
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What is Urban Sketching

Some say that Urban Sketching must always be created on location, or ‘en plein air’.
that doesn't mean you cannot create a rough sketch on location then move to a more sheltered position to complete it while that original image is fresh in your mind, in my opinion.  Of course, the purist won't approve. But seriously, after the first few moments the purist has to work partly from memory anyway, because people within a scene ane moving, as are clouds, and thus light and shade patterns within nature.

You do begin the urban sketch at the scene. These drawings are not done by tracing from a photograph.

Urban sketching is more about capturing the imprint of humans on the landscape than nature. Cafes and public transport are great places to practice urban sketching. 

Sketching is rougher, capturing an immediate impression. Drawing in generally more deliberate, planned, controlled refined and detailed.

I'm a sketcher and painter by nature.
You can turn your urban sketch into line and wash by emulsifying the soluble ink or adding watercolours over the ink or pencil  line.  Some urban sketchers pant with gouache or acrylic.
Fengtaiyuan Gel Pens, Writting Smooth, Comfortable Pens
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Farmyard Grampians, Original Acrylic Painting by Ryn Shell

6/13/2022

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Late-Winter Flowers Art

5/1/2022

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Art Demonstration Video - Mid-Winter Roses and Artist's Garden Flowers

Happy Creativity Everyone. My art, art prints and art gifts are available here, and for the art tutorials click here.
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Comet Leonard

12/19/2021

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I saw it.
I had such a traumatic week and missed news of Leonard. Fortunately I took Tess for a walk at dusk and saw what I thought was a strange shape, amazing twinkling star (the comet).
I'll pretend it is a sign that a major change for better will happen for Reg, Tess and Me. Fingers crossed.

& Coeur De Neige Rose Art

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Ryn Shell's December 2021 Newsletter

12/1/2021

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"Grab a drink, put your feet up,
I've a lot of freebies,
special offers,
and news to share."

What a few years we have all been through since I was last active with my novels and reader's newsletter. I think we all deserve a group hug. I know many of you have seen stressful times, far more than I've experienced. I've adapted enough to my new lifestyle to be able to be a full-time creative again—and oh how I love it.

My thanks to the staff of Hepburn House who care for my husband, Reg, so well and make my being able to be an artist and author possibly.

The coping tip I can offer, from out of my experience of the last two years, is when dealing with a major life upheaval that involves some form of loss, keep a journal and take time every day to write one or more things about your new lifestyle that you are grateful for.  Hang on to those positives—they help us adjust to change.

I've been somewhat insulated from the outside world for all of 2020/21.
Hard to realize that I've lived in beautiful Hepburn House, assisted living aged care here in the beautiful highlands of Victoria for almost two years.

Talk about a major life transition for one as fiercely independent and active-minded as me. But what fodder and experience to add to my writing, and I AM WRITING, and loving it.

What have you been up to creatively since I last connected with you?

Ryn Shell Books

To Kill for Land is a story of Crime, Betrayal, RESILIENCE, Love, and Australia, where land is everything — but is it worth killing for?

Stolen Years is a three-novel family saga, the author, Ryn Shell.



I'm Back Writing Full-Time.
Meet the WIP NEW Series


Ryn Shell's "A View from The Balcony Mystery" novels are set in the Central Highlands of Victoria and feature just-turned-fifty, ex-lawyer, and emerging artist Angela Paige.

Angela's former lover inconveniently gets himself killed, just as she undergoes her midlife crisis and leaves him. She also recently quit a stressful legal career defending criminals. Now her plan to escape to the central highlands of Victoria to paint, read, write and potter in a garden filled with the peaceful song of birds has been thwarted by the doggedly determined Detective Inspector Harrison Moore, who is out to build a case against her. He plans to close this case and then go fishing—for the rest of his life, and no clever murderess will outsmart him and delay his retirement.

Under orders not to leave town, Angela returns to the home she'd shared with Logan and cares for his orphaned and noisy budgerigar. The bird prompts her that things are not as she'd imagined they would be. Bird song isn't necessarily peaceful, so maybe behind the charming smiles on the faces of her and Logan's friends might lie the mind of a killer. But everyone who knew him appears to have loved him, and now only the bird in a cage trusts her and is eager to talk.

The quirky locations, richly drawn characters, and witty suspense involving a Robbin' Hood criminal in the cozy mystery, "What The Caged Bird Knows," will warm your heart.

I'm Also Back Painting My Book Covers

NOTE: I did not create the first four covers for my new work in progress series. 
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My NEW soft-boiled cozy mystery series, A View From The Balcony Mysteries, will be closed mysteries. The reader doesn't know who the murderer is until the end of the novel, and they have fun guessing and trying to match wits with the character who reveals the killer.  In true cozy style there is no extreme violence, sex or profanity in the books.

Two Special Loves in My Life

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My husband Reg 81 years, and our therapy puppy, 11-month-old Tess the miniature Cavoodle, (or Cavapoo if you are from the US)  live here in Hepburn House with me.
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Tess, like me, loves my room and its amazing views. We look out over Kidds Gully Daylesford, in the central highlands of Victoria. I'm at the end of an upstairs wing, so able to live the creative life of a semi-hermit, just as I'd done previously in my rural retreat.
Sunrise and the moon rise are wonderful when viewed through my studio window.

Something For My Author Friends

I love assisting my fellow authors

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Those who know me understand how I deplore writing genre tropes that glamourize bully romance and women depicted as victims or abuse of women in any form as the main topic in a novel.

Rather than focus on the negative, I have always positively striven to assist my fellow ethical author through author cross-promoting (never spamming) the work of creators with similar clean and cozy creative work. By clean, I don't mean religious—that's a whole different genre I'm not getting involved with.

I have past experience of managing author cross-promotions of well-edited, professionally presented, works, on similar ethical guidelines.
If you think I'm fussy, have sympathy (grin) for my amazing carers at Hepburn House.

Talents I can share to help other artists are:
Mentoring. Critiques through to marketing. 
Your book videos. They take me about 21-hours to cut an excellent under 5-minute video.
EBook cover creation from your licensed images.

I could easily manage a website built solely to promote clean and cozy eBooks, and promote your free books and featured specials. If I had fellow authors eager for this and understanding it's a pay it forward and assist someone else situation, to have your books featured.

All those services could be done as an author support exchange of services, within a small group of ethical authors wanting to mutually assist each other. There are many ways to help a fellow author that require no special talent. Heck, my Goodreads author's page is a mess, I'd love someone to smarten it up for me with all my latest book covers prominent. I have my weaknesses as well as skills, mine being a lack of patience to maintain a Goodreads page, and my books also need a final proofread prior to publishing. 

Contact me if we can ethically assist each other, and others. 
Together, as a group of ethical authors, we can succeed faster than trying to do everything alone.

Love, Ryn.



Nature is My Inspiration

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With two panoramic windows in my room, I turned the one facing north, into art and indoor garden display. Sun filter curtains protect the plants in mid-summer.

I love my room. Though room service is provided here at Hepburn House, I strive to maintain independent living and self-care as much as possible, and that includes putting my stamp of character on my bed-sit-studio.

Do you agree, this looks nothing like you expect an aged care resident's room might look? I feel so fortunate to have discovered and accepted into Hepburn House.


What is an Open Mystery

I adore, 'open mystery' which you would also call crime fiction. It is what I read, and what I wrote for Stolen Years seven novel series.

I have always been interested in psychology. I find books that contain troubled characters I can believe could be real, more interesting than novels I know to be a flight of fancy.

I can wave a lot of skepticism and merge a ghost with a childhood imaginary friend or an old man's delusions, as I did in To Kill with a Ghost, so I have a mild level of 'believable' fantasy in books I read and write.

I'm a Ruth Rendell fan.
I found the novel "Judgement in Stone" easy to read, with no gore or profanity, mystery. It doesn't follow the usual cozy mystery format due to the psychological thriller contrasting with sensitive character revelations as the reader discovers what motivates the killer.  

Ruth Rendell Wrote Open Mysteries

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In Ruth Rendell's Judgement in Stone, the opening lines tell you who the murderer is.
The reader gains an understanding of why the murder happened, and how the killer is caught.

There is a powerful character study of a murderer's thought process, without the book becoming gory or grotesque. I engage with Ruth Rendell's open mystery more than I've done with many more traditional format closed mysteries. I want to understand why anyone would commit murder. I don't want to remain disconnected from the antagonist, the novel's villain.

Those writers who can hold me within the pages, such as Ruth Rendell, are brilliant. I'm awed by their greatness. Their books never fit 'popular' or clearly defined genres and would be difficult for an Indie author to market in today's heavily genre-defined market.

But, for overall great reading, a mystery doesn't need to be a closed who-dun-it style mystery. The why-they-dun-it, and when will they be caught, is often more thrilling.

What do you think?
Have you read many open mysteries?
Do you also love a gripping open mystery?


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Happy reading, happy creativity to you. I'll send all my subscribers a New Year greetings and rewards newsletter in early January.
Cheers, Ryn.

My Print Meme for your use

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Thank you to Rachel at Hepburn House for being my beautiful model.
My artwork is copyrighted and prints are available on demand from my print store. However, the memes I create from them, such as the one above, are available for my supporters to use as my thank you.  You are welcome to share them, along with the link to this newsletter or my website.
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Pyrography art - from ancient to modern times

11/28/2021

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Families enjoying nature while camping in the State Parks.

11/22/2021

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Nurturing to full-term and giving birth, is the most creative experience.

Don't judge mothers on if they have returned to a creative life, or not, based on a narrow understanding of creativity as it's not how many art exhibition you held, or paintings you sold this year.

Truly creative people understand diversification—and that's a skill mothers gain—and it enhances a mother's fully-developed, creative, artistic life.

The majority of new successful small business owners are mothers.


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How to paint black

11/14/2021

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Tips on how to paint black.

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Don't think black, look for the light ash shade and paint the tonal shapes. Remember, light is colour reflected and dark is colour absorbed, and so you paint with the colours you see in the tones. There will be more of the optically warm hues, yellow, orange, or red in the lightest tones, and more of the optically cooler tones of blue, blue-violet and blue-green in the darker shadows.
Take a look at the colour choices the master of light and shadow, Rembrandt, used when painting what we think of as black.

I went to look how I'd painted a black poodle in watercolours—I cheated—I hid her (the leading dog) in the grass, and left her all dark to contrast to the grasses and to not have her as a detailed focal point given she is near the edge of the watercolour painting. Just proves there isn't one way to do anything in art. The man's dark slacks gives a better idea of painting the tones being more important than what colour you use.

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Cozy Mystery Set in Victoria Australia

10/31/2021

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I am about to write a cozy mystery novel set in rural high country of Victoria similar to Daylesford and Hepburn Shire and the Mount Macedon and Mount Dandenongs.

You may be familiar with our former gallery at Buninyong, also in the Central Highlands of Victoria, and the paintings I've done of these areas.

I'll now enjoy writing about them.
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Tess's Comment.

"Hoomumma has been going into a trance all morning and needs to be spoken to (or barked at) twice before she noticed others. She made an excuse about it being day one of writing a new novel."
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Ryn: In My Art Journaling Studio

And what of my art videos as I return to writing novels, for a long duration? I hope to write an extended series of cozy mysteries sit in this rural area I lave and now live.  My YouTube releases will be scaled bark to less frequent or shorter videos. My Patreon will extend more into offering support to both artists and authors. My tutorials shop setup will be further improve and I don't intend to stop my art journalling, I'll mainly share it with my Patreon.
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Close-up photography of nature.

9/5/2021

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Bee in Eucalyptus Blossom, Art Journal spread by Ryn Shell

To Make a Prairie by Emily Dickenson

"To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few."
I can recall, reluctantly, learning this poem in school. Although I loved poetry, this fell flat back then because I had no idea what this reverie business was.
Working through the photos I took with my new-second hand lens and I cannot believe the close up quality.
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A Visual Diary

9/5/2021

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Mare and Foal commissioned equine drawing by Ryn Shell

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My Coloured Pencils

9/4/2021

 

Monday Motivation Garden Art Journal

 Ways to Get Motivated on Monday Mornings


Get a head start the day and evening before. I make Sunday my preparation for the new week and pamper day making it easier to greet the new week. Instead of having a journal filled with jobs not completed from the previous week, I will have spent time over the weekend ticking off those things I have accomplished and set new goals, action plans, and to-do lists for the coming week.
I do a mini wardrobe sort and plan on Sunday making it faster and easier to keep appointments during the new week. 
The worst thing about Mondays for most people is having to rush or being tired due to strenuous activities on Sunday. Keep Sunday as a time to regroup your thoughts, plan your coming week, make exercise one of incidental activity as you tidy your surroundings and prepare for the week ahead, and strive to be in bad on time, or even a little earlier than usual as a catch up on any recent late nights. 
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Save Money while Art Journaling by making those art journal embellishments go further by continuing with a similar design in the same colour harmony using your colouring pencils. be sure to not duplicate another copyrighted art, do an original design, that works with, rather than attempting to duplicate the other's design.

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Sketching in Pen and Ink with Mixed Mediums and Humour

9/4/2021

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Bjelke-Petersen Dam Tourist & Recreation Park, Queensland

9/4/2021

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Glass Inkwells

9/4/2021

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Hand made inkwell -purchased in France. Date unknown.

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We are not born talented.

8/19/2021

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Hand Made - Bookbindng - Art Journals

8/15/2021

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Explore creative writing and art within a beautiful personalised art  journal

Thanks for your interest in my original creative art journals. You may purchase original journals pre-prepared or the bookbinding materials from other suppliers to make your own. I put all my art tutorials, art demonstrations, and many visual images you may download for your personal journalling use, on my Patreon site.
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When you claim your Patreon rewards on my site, you help support Tessa the aged care therapy dog.   Thank you.

Tessa the Therapy Dog's Update

A 100-year-old's Birthday Party Invite

Therapy dog Tessa was invited to a Dot's 100th birthday party yesterday.
John, her nearest companion kept dropping birthday cake on the floor, much to Tessa's delight.

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Moving House by Margaret Lake

8/12/2021

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Koala Story

8/12/2021

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Landscape Drawing with Fountain Pen and Ink - Old Shed Clunes - Australian Landscape

8/12/2021

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Fountain pen and ink country building landscape drawing. Learn how to draw a landscape that features a tumbling down shed on the outskirts of the historic old gold mining town of Clunes, Victoria, Australia.  Thank you to Daryl Raine for the reference photos that I used to create this sketch. 
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Go clean and green with DIY cleaning supplies.

8/12/2021

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Roses and Jonquils Contemporary Impressionist Fine Art

8/10/2021

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The work in progress

Tessa's, Therapy Dog Update:

Stopping Older People Falling Out of Bed - Just part of the job for a Therapy Dog

Reg is glad Ryn lowered the bed and asked to have his sensor mats pulled out when we left his room at 9 pm last night. He fell out of bed last night. He’s okay. A bit sore. He is a bit shaken up, but okay.
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Daddy cannot play with me today.
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 Hoodaddy has returned to bed now, and I'm using his feet as a pillow, or blocking off the side of the bed he rolls to, to make sure he stays safe today, on my watch today. 
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Painting, handyperson, crafting  hacks

8/10/2021

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How NOT to paint a wall, and how to design an overhead video camera mount.

Therapy Dog, Tessa's Update:

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As you can see from my photo, I'm innocent of the crime reported below.

I wasn't even born when this fiasco happened. It all started on Indigo (doggie before be) the poodle's shift.
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Rizal: Occidental Mindoro, The Philippines

8/3/2021

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Flora and Fauna at Murchison, Victoria.

8/2/2021

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    Your FREE eBook here

    Open Mystery

    Ruth Randall's novel "A Judgement in Stone," opens with this line.
    "Eunice Parchman killed the Coverdale family because she could not read or write."
    In open mystery novel, the reader knows who the murderer is, from the beginning; the mystery is why, and how, they did it, and if they will be caught.
    In The Stolen Years series of novels, the reader has a view of who commits many of the crimes. There is plenty of suspense while no one else suspects who the murderer is.

    The Stolen Years Series

    From an Australian bestselling author comes mystery thriller of determination to find one's place in a world that men are threatening to tear apart.

    Ryn Shell
    Gallery


    Psychological Thrillers

    Psychological thrillers often deal with characters who have post traumatic stress disorder often caused by a mysterious suspenseful situation as happens within The Stolen Years Series of novels by Ryn Shell.
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    Ghost

    Rural Noir

    Noir  or hardboiled, often detective fiction is a genre of crime novels featuring detectives or private detectives who see the dark, edgy side of life. As in The Stoles Years, Ryn Shell is writing of a dark side of Australian history these novels fit the rural noir sub-genre.  These novels by Ryn Shell are lightened, to make the reading enjoyable, by the family saga story of resilience and love.
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    Dream

    Historical Mystery

    Historical mystery genres are often crossed with other genres. Ryn Shell has always combined two or more genres or sub-genre  in the telling of the complex stories in her books.  Her characters come to life in her head while she writes them and demand more.
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    Fire

    My Studio Cats Recommend​
    ​Automatic Litter-Robot III Open Air

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    Discount for YOU! through our Litter-Robot link

    ​Art studio assistant cats, Valentine and Tabby share the amazing Litter-Robot III Open Air. Get a bonus by purchasing via our link.
    Affiliate fee also assists in supporting Tessa's therapy work in aged care.

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Ryn Shell Fine Art - An Investment to Enjoy

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House with A Lethal Laundry
A View From The Balcony Mystery 1



Angela Paige, lawyer, and live in, long-time hostess and former lover to a powerful man, Logan, looks out at a deadly view and realises she’s living life too close to a cliff edge—literally.
She seeks the help of a homicide detective, Harry, to find a missing girl and becomes his prime suspect for murder.


Historical Crime Fiction through to Cozy  Mysteries by Ryn Shell

The Stolen Years Stories of Crime, Betrayal, RESILIENCE, Love and Australia by Ryn Shell  

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Ghost
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Dream
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Fire

~~~Read ALL Ryn Shell's Novels for FREE NOW with Kindle Unlimited Subscription~~~


Kick-Ass Historical Fiction Women Series, Set in Italy, France and Australia

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Escapades
Starstruck
Gold
If you enjoy these novels, leaving  a review is a lovely way of letting the author know. Thank you.

  • Ryn Shell - Artist - Author
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  • Art Vlog
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