Review
"A thoroughly unique and sexy debut." - Sincerely Book Angels, Book Blogger
"An excellent debut novel... I loved it!" - NICOLA CORNICK, International Best Selling Author
"Hot and steamy, just like the Australian landscape." - Chick Lit Central, Book Blogger
"A heart-warming romance, with the heat turned up!" - Splashes into Books, Book Blogger
"A strong debut by a confident new author. This is no flowery, fairy tale romance, but a lusty, immediate physical attraction that grows into something emotional and mature." - A Little Book Problem, Book Blogger
"Hot, escapist and infused with tension... I loved it!" - JULIA WILD, Award winning author of Illusions
"A sizzling romance from a sparkling new talent." - LYNNE SHELBY, Author of There She Goes
"The perfect amount of steam to make it my kind of story." - Lisa Loves Literature, Book Blogger
"Giulia Skye really captures the beauty and remoteness of the Australian Outback." - Chapter & Cake, Book Blogger
"This is a book filled with adventure, great scenery and a romance where I wasn't completely convinced I'd get the ending I wanted... I really enjoyed the author's writing, the pacing and just the whole story." - Rachel's Random Reads, Book Blogger
From the Author
Welcome to the Kimberleys, Australia's last frontier, as featured in Her Outback Driver.
"Take a holiday from your life". This perfectly sums up why the hero and heroine of this book find themselves in the same place at the same time far from home - but for very different reasons. "Adam" is a Canadian Olympic athlete on the run from scandal pretending to be someone he's not, and Evie is a British backpacker, looking for adventure as she recovers from a failed relationship.
For this novel, I needed a destination like no other. Somewhere unique. Somewhere vast and remote yet accessible for "ordinary" travellers. And - most importantly - somewhere with no pesky mobile phone reception to throw a spanner into the credibility of the story!
I've always been fascinated by extremes of weather - wild winds, torrential rain, lightning strikes - but in particular soaring temperatures. Be it arid and dusty or humid and sultry, I absolutely love the heat so I knew that if I was to immerse myself into a story world for many months, that world had better be hot! And the hottest place I have ever visited is the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia.
This is an unimaginably vast and sparsely populated area the size of France and Germany combined. It has extremes of climate, from massive rainfall in the wet season to severe heat in the dry. It's a remote land of wild, intensely coloured gorges, rugged ranges, semi-arid savanna-like plains, freshwater pools and waterfalls. It's stunningly beautiful but also extremely harsh. If you're not careful, disaster can strike in the blink of an eye.
As carefree backpackers (in a previous life before children), My Man and I travelled through the Kimberley from Broome to Darwin on a two week tour, taking in parts of the famous Gibb River Road - a former cattle route which runs for almost 660km through the heart of the region. We barely scratched the surface! It was early October and we were on one of the last tour buses to leave Broome during the "build up" (the weeks leading up to the wet season). Temperatures were already shooting past 40°C and rain clouds were beginning to gather.
I remember looking out toward the horizon early one morning while camping on a cattle station half the size of England and all I could see for miles upon miles was red earth, squat bushes and the occasional gum tree. It was glorious - so pretty and peaceful - but also quite unnerving to feel so dwarfed by the expanse.
However, despite its isolation, its vastness and its reputation for being "Australia's last frontier", the Kimberley region - for certain months of the year at least - has a booming tourist industry. It has become a top adventure travel destination. The dry season, from May until September, is jam-packed. Accommodation and vehicles have to be booked months in advance, campsites are crammed, and "the Gibb" becomes a trail of caravans and trailer-tugging 4WDs.
Then, come October, the temperature rises and tourists dwindle. By November/December, the region returns to relative quiet. No one in their right mind would venture into the "outback" at this time of year. It's lethally hot and massive downpours are likely to flood vast areas, bursting river banks and closing major roads until April/May.
Her Outback Driver starts in late October, at the end of the tourist season. The Kimberleys are almost empty of tourists but there's still time to explore. This was key to the story. It's hot, vast, remote and, with no mobile reception, Adam and Evie are cut off from the rest of the world - for a few weeks at least. The perfect place to take a holiday from their lives, but what awaits when they return to civilisation?
If you're interested in learning more about the Kimberleys, I share my personal travel photos of the places that feature in the story, like Windjana Gorge, Derby and the red sandy beach of Roebuck Bay in Broome. And if you've ever visited the area yourself, please get in touch as I always love swapping travel tales! giuliaskye.com
About the Author
Italian-born Giulia Skye spent her childhood watching classic Hollywood films and thinking up her own romantic stories. After two decades working in TV production, she knew turning those stories into novels would be much more enjoyable, and far cheaper, than turning them into films. She still keeps her hand in TV production but is at her happiest being a stay-at-home mum, spending time with her family, growing her own vegetables, and conjuring up sizzling stories about sexy heroes meeting feisty heroines who aren't always as they at first appear. Her Outback Driver, her first novel, is a Romance Writers of America Vivian Contest Finalist and will soon be followed by Her Summer With Sebastian, which you can read for free by joining Giulia's mailing list. giuliaskye.com
