library talks through june & july

I adore my local libraries.  In fact half my writing time is spent holed up in a quiet cosy corner of one or another tapping out romantic prose.

So I'm very excited to announce that over the next month I'll be giving library talks all over Brisbane!  I'll be answering the kinds of questions I'm always asked at dinner parties when people find out I'm a romance author.

 

 Garden City Library

Monday 17 June, 10-11am

 

Mount Ommaney Library

Tuesday 18 June, 10-11am 

 

Mitchelton Library

Wednesday 10 July, 10-11am 

 

Chermside Library

Tuesday 16 July, 6-7pm

 

Fairfield Library

Wednesday 17 July, 1-2pm

 

Wynnum Library

Thursday 18 July, 10-11am

So come armed with questions and prepared for a a fun, cozy hour of book chatter and giveaways.

"when honey got marred..." The Dating Game. A Facebook event!

Come 9:00pm EST (North America) Monday June 3, the When Honey Got Married... Dating Game Event will begin!

RSVP here and join in the fun.

That's 11:00am on Tuesday 4 June Aussie east coast time, or check your world clock to make sure you don't miss this fun event.  Each comment gives you an entry to win a $50 "Date" prize pack including a spa kit & a $25 Gift Card to Fandango. You can see the spa kit here.

Here are some pics of the guys we'd cast if When Honey Got Married... was one day made into a film and we had compete control of the casting.  Could happen!

 

GO GRIFF DELACROIX!!!  Not that I'm at all biased ;).

WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED...
Amazon - Kobo - Nook
Facebook - Twitter - Website

cover reveal!

So excite to reveal my beautiful cover for my August Harlequin KISS release - FAKING IT TO MAKING IT!

It's rare for me to write a fair-haired hero - like being a pale redhead myself some kind of biological imperative draws me to tall, dark and handsome - but this was how Nate came to me.  Tall, fair, and gorgeous.  This cover hits him spot on.  Poor Saskia doesn't stand a chance!


About the book:

Natural born charmer, Nate Mackenzie, is in the middle of a plus-one dilemma. Wedding dates inevitably take one look at the bride and measure Nate for a beach house, a chocolate Lab and a diamond solitaire. Worse, going stag will leave him at the mercy of a set-up by his ever-hopeful sisters.

Enter Saskia Bloom - a bohemian beauty researching online dating. She already has a house (ramshackle), and a dog (rescued), and an ex who turned commitment into a four letter word. And since there's no shortage of sexual attraction between them he’ll give her all the data she’ll ever need! 

But when the fake affair starts to feel real, will they even make it to the wedding? Or can they beat the odds and make it happily ever after.

And a little taste...

  The cold night air pressed in on her back as his heat burned her front.  Heat won, pouring through her as the kiss slid into something deeper.  As Nate fisted his hands in the back of her top and Saskia rose to her toes, sinking completely into the kiss, into him.

As she began to feel drugged, hot and flaky, nearing the edge of control, Nate pulled back.

When she finally found her breath, Saskia asked, “What was that for?”

“Credibility?”

She glanced up the street to find a few late night stragglers looking in shop windows and ignoring them completely.  “I reckon the cabbie’s swayed.”

  

FAKING IT TO MAKING IT
Harlequin Kiss, August 2013
Pre-order @ Amazon @ The Book Depository

Do you remember your first?

Over at Honey Central - aka the When Honey Got Married... facebook page we're talking about first cars.

 

I - like my heroine Pippa - still own my first car!  A sweet, zippy little noble green Mazda 121 nicknamed Spark Plug which has taken me from twenty year old new driver, to Melbourne and back, to zipping my kids to school not two minutes away.  Best car a girl ever owned.  But unlike Pippa, Spark Plug and I are about to part ways.  Alas, the needs of a growing family mean that some other lucky soul will zip around the streets feeling like a rally driver as suburbia slips by her windows...

How about you?   Do you remember your first?  Does she - or he - hold a special place in your heart? Head on over to our Facebook page and tell us all about it for the chance to win an Ally Blake ebook!

WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED...  
Out now from...
Amazon
Kobo
Nook 
Sony 
iTunes
Google

when honey got married... blog tour

The When Honey Got Married... blog tour is in full swing!   Check out the dates and links below to see if you've missed any of the fun interviews Kelly, Kim, Anna and I have given around town thus far.

Today I'm over at Reading a Little Bit of Everything - talking Honey and what's next and Joe Manganiello!  It's worth a visit for one picture alone...and the $40 amazon gift card that's up for grabs!

Official Blog Tour Stops

Friday, 5/3 Harlequin Junkie
Monday, 5/6 Caribbean Accent Book Reviews
Wednesday, 5/8 My Written Romance
Thursday, 5/9 WiLoveBooks
Monday, 5/13 What I’m Reading
Tuesday, 5/14 RhiReading
Wednesday, 5/15 Alaine’s Blog (Anna Winters)
Thursday, 5/16 Urban Girl Reader
Tuesday, 5/21 Cocktails and Books
Thursday, 5/23 Ramblings From This Chick
Friday, 5/24 Herding Cats & Burning Soup
Tuesday, 5/28 Good Choice Reading
Friday, 5/31 Literati Literature Lovers

Don't forget WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED... is out now from Amazon, Kobo, Nook, Sony, iTunes and Google amongst others.  If you haven't grabbed your copy, well then go get it!  If you have, then ta, and thanks for the gorgeous reviews - they have been truly blush-inducing.

"When Honey Got Married..." out now!

 

 _____________________________________________________

WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED... is live!

To grab this fabulous, much-awaited, super fun and sexy, RomanticTimes TOP PICK written by the glorious Kimberly Lang, Anna Cleary, Kelly Hunter and myself, head here:

Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/c8smaeh
Kobo - http://tinyurl.com/cv7653v
B&N - http://tinyurl.com/c3vdnlo

And don't forget to "like" Honey's Facebook page for daily fun and games and giveaways, and check out Honey's website for more.

Happy reading y'all!

Cover Reveal!

Nothing more exciting in the life of an author when they get a look see at a new book cover...unless its when they can share one they love with the world!!!

Here's the cover for WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED...

And here's why we (being Kimberly Lang, Anna Cleary, Kelly Hunter and I) love it:

The shoes - divine right?
The legs - who wouldn't wish for such pins?
The dress - glamor wedding personified, and Honey's wedding is nothing if not glamorous.
The colour - yellow is Honey's signature colour.
The authors - I'd pick up a book written by any of those gals in a Louisiana second.

Check out our website for more about the books!  And "like" Honey on Facebook for the most up to date goss on the wedding of the decade.


WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED...
Entangled Indulgence * May 201
Pre-order from Amazon today!

when ally got excited!

I'm so excited about my next book.  If you haven't heard me gushing about it all over the shop, it's your turn to hear it now.

WHEN HONEY GOT MARRIED... is an anthology of stories set around the wedding of southern belle Honey Moreau as imagined by Kimberly Lang, Anna Cleary, Kelly Hunter and my good self.  We had such a ball writing these stories I think we could have happily lost herself in Honey's world forever.  Here's why:

Check out her website to find out a little about the books. And "Like" her Facebook page to stay in the loop!

As an added bonus, the first 40 reviewers who'd happily review the book and write it up on Goodreads, Amazon and Barnes & Noble get an Advance Reading Copy!  Head here.

Pre-order links are due any day, so watch this space.

Until then...happy reading

Ally
xXx

blog tour :: harlequin junkie

Today I'm nattering with the fabulous Harlequin Junkie about my first Harlequin KISS - out now across North America - THE SECRET WEDDING DRESS!

One of the questions Sara asked was to name five random things about myself.  Here's a taste:

*  I told the kids in my primary school I had three middle names (instead of one) as I thought it made me seem more exotic.  The extra names? Karen and Vanessa.  Why the heck didn't I go all out with something like Periwinkle and Desdemona!

          

*  I could never, never, not even upon the promise of a million dollars watch a horror film, and yet am addicted to True Blood and The Walking Dead.
 
* Growing up I desperately wanted a horse. Not because I was interested in riding, per say, I really just wanted to name it.  Writing for a living I get to name heroes, heroines, dogs, cats, businesses, places...  Some horse somewhere should count itself verrry lucky.

Come visit Harlequin Junkie for your chance to win an ebook copy of my last book THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT!

first page friday

Am I the only one who flicks to a book's first page before considering buying it?  Seems so cutthroat, doesn't it!  Well, we authors spend a good deal of time getting our first line right for that very reason.

Today I'm over at the lovely Liz Fielding's blog, taking up her First Page Friday slot with my current Harlequin KISS novel, THE SECRET WEDDING DRESS.

Hope it grabs you!

THE SECRET WEDDING DRESS

Harlequin KISS - April 2013

Read more ::  Harlequin  ::  The Book Depository  ::  M&B UK  ::  M&B Aus/NZ

blog tour :: pink heart society

I'm a write at home mum with a bit of a difference.  I don't write at home ;).

Want to know how I go about it?  I'm over at the Pink Hearts Society today talking about just that!

how writers write

I looove hearing how other writers write - especially when their methods surprise me.  Here's George R.R. Martin who wrote "The Game of Thrones" - a wonderfully intricate, detailed, rich books...and more.

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”

Wonderful!