bring it on

HAPPY

NEW

YEAR

!!!

wow, am I chuffed!

Thanks to the internet ferreting of the clever Trish Wylie, I've just discovered that my current Sweet Romance, MILLIONAIRE TO THE RESCUE, has been nominated for a Reviewers' Choice Award through Romantic Times for Best Harlequin Romance!!!

The other fantabulous nominees are:
RESCUED: MOTHER-TO-BE by Trish Wylie
THE SECRET LIFE OF LADY GABRIELLA by Liz Fielding
BEST FRIEND ... FUTURE WIFE by Claire Baxter
THEIR CHRISTMAS WISH COME TRUE by Cara Colter

And super congrats to my good friend Natasha Oakley - she who introduced me to Richard Armitage, sigh... - who was nominated for Best Presents!!!

I have every confidence I won't come close to winning, especially in such esteemed company. I have read all of the other books and they were truly gorgeous books all. But it is soooooo lovely to think there is someone out there who liked my book enough to consider it worthy of nomination.

Thanks ever so RT!!!

nuff said

So tonight my hubby, bubby and I put in an appearance on a local current affairs show, 'A Current Affair'. And it was a really nice article!

If you go onto the ACA website now, click on the "Romancing Australia" link down the right hand column today only and you can watch it online!

And since I've already had lovely lovely types asking where to find my books, if you get out and about before the end of December you may well find my MILLIONAIRE TO THE RESCUE (piccie atop the column on the right) in all the big shops.

La di dah! Off to eat more choccie than any sane person has the right to eat. But it's still kinda Christmas right?

where do I sign up?

I finally get what Ms Natasha Oakley has been going on about all these years.

Say the words Richard Armitage and Ms Oakley will appear as though out of nowhere to join in the conversation. Yet I have never been convinced. Having only seen a plethora of photographs she has shoved upon me, my response was, "Yeeeeahhhhh, okay...". He's cute to be sure. But worthy of such unadulterated love?

And after experiencing the Vicar of Dibley Christmas Special over the past two weeks I'm on board. The Armitage Army has a new recruit. He's just lovely. Truly, truly lovely. Handsome, tall, lanky, warm, with a voice that makes a gal's knees just melt.

If you haven't seen this two part show, and have been a fan of the Vicar, you must go to your local DVD shop and buy it now. Boy oh boy did it leave me grinning, laughing myself silly, crying with real tears and holding a hand to my heart.

Gorgeous gorgeous stuff, from a gorgeous gorgeous writer, a gorgeous gorgeous star and now I agree, a gorgeous gorgeous actor in the form of Richard Armitage.

Now who promised they were going to lend me North and South?

happy holidays

As of December 24th I will be off off and away visiting my family for the Xmas break and likley won't be back here until the New Year.

So if I don't see you before the big day, I hope you all have fantastic holidays, that Mother Nature turns on great weather in your part of the world, and that Santa treats you beautifully.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

the storm

Melbourne was hit by one heck of a storm yesterday, with the south east, where I live being hit worst. Horizontal rain, hail, thunder and lightning that sent my usually brave puppy dog leaping into my lap for the duration.

The poor chooks got drenched, though they somehow have never learnt they can simply go into their warm dry hutch when it rains! They prefer hanging out beneath the mandarin tree. Don't they look too bedraggled for words? Well I promise this doesn't stop them coming barking at the back door looking for food!

What's worse? Our side fence fell down! I didn't even know it had happend until my hubby camke home and I went to the front door to greet him.

It landed upon my friend Mel's car - we're keeping it here while she's away over Chrissy - but did not one lick of damage bar a bent ariel. Phew! And it missed our brand new car by less than an inch. Sooooo close I had to take this photo.

They say there'll be an even bigger storm today. I'm battening down the hatches! Whatever that means exactly...

from page 3 girl to telly star

Okay, so there I was thinking that what with the Victorian Writers Centre asking me to take a day long course next October, that I would have a year to get back into the swing of being "social work Ally".

But nooooo... First there was a glamorous lunch at the casino with my Melbourne based romance author friends. Then there was an interview and photo shoot that led to a full page three spread in the Sunday Mail. Then yesterday I was interviewed by A Current Affair!!!

For those of you not in Aussieland, A Current Affair is a half hour TV show with a mix of serious investigations and fun special interest stuff. Items appearing this week include petrol price fixing, and "a new Australian invention may eventually put an end to bouncing breasts" which should give you some idea of the scope of the show. Well, sometime next week the fun special interest piece will be all about me. Well, I hope I wasn't secretly the subject of a serious investigation!!! I never once held my hand over the lens of the camera, so I should be okay.

Senior reporter and closet book writer Martin King and his trusty crew came around to my place yesterday for a three hour interview about my writing and my family life. Bridget woke up and made her usual cooing and gahing noises so in order to keep her quiet while my hubby and I were being interviewed, the sound guy had to hold her in one arm with his boom mic in the other! When that began to tire we popped her onto her play mat and the camera guy was in charge of dummy patrol. 'Twas hilarious.

Anyhoo, Aussies out there watch out for a story some time next week. And here's hoping the clever lighting hid the train wreck of a new mum "look" I currently have down pat ;).

page 3 girl

Today I am in a feature article on page 3 of Brisbane's The Sunday Mail! Exciting huh? Especially since it includes "art". 5 weeks post baby art, mind you. My cheeks don't look that chubby, right? I meant my front cheeks! Thank goodness my back cheeks are hidden ;).

The interview was relation to the 100th anniversary of Mills and Boon in 2008, though being that it is a Brisbane newspaper, and Brisbane - the beautiful city in which I grew up - the title is: Bronco Steve Renouf inspires romance writer.

Please, please, my Collingwood darlings, do not think I have forsaken thee. They understandably hankered after the Brisbane angle so I "mentioned" the nicest Bronco I ever met. I'm almost certain Steve Renouf's abs never came into the conversation though I'm sure they are very nice ;).

I did say he was a gentleman which is quality I believe all of my heroes have in spades. Including my favourite hero and a total gentleman - my hubby who even got a mention in the article so he's famous this morning too!

Check out the rest of article here!!!

filled up on ginger bread.

... thanks to the fantabulously clever Keri Arthur whose Kris Kringle Chrissy dish of a homemade gingerbread house I won after having lunch with my favourite Melbourne Mob of romance authors this week. 'Twas truly lovely to catch up with the gang, to show off my little Bridget who was a lovely little angel who enjoyed her cuddles, and to know that I CAN get the pram in and out of the car by myself ;).

And after having posed for piccies one of which might turn up in an article in this weekend's Sunday Mail in Brisbane - hint buy the paper!!! - in an article about the 100th Anniversary of Mills and Boon, I'm feeling mighty civilised.

Make-up and fancy going out clothes twice in three days? I'm a wonderwoman!

sold!

My sixteenth novel, HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE, which was once upon a time better known as RING A DING DING, will be an October 2008 release through Harlequin Romance.

Sooooo excited! This book was a blast to write. Veronica was too cheeky for words and Mitch dreamy dark and delicious.

My lovely ed agreed it had more of a Modern Heat feel to it purely through the level of "context: in the novel; and by context we both mean the world around the characters, the world ouside of the central romance. Which I love. Being able to play with secondary characters and making a showpiece of my home town of Melbourne is to me half the fun of writing the books I write.

For a lookie see at HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE, check out the brand new book page!

falling...

Today the hardcovers for my next release, March 2008's FALLING FOR THE REBEL HEIR, arrived in the mail.

Seeing that box land on one's doorstep is always a huge thrill. And most times more than a little nerve wracking! Will the cover convey the characters you dreamed in your head? Will they be at the very least attractive and have the right coloured hair? Will one look female and the other male?

Well I believe this cover is just lovely and then some. Kendall has long red hair and is a bit of a free spirit, Hud's big, buff, dark and just yummilicious. Check! The back cover blurb is fantastic and says things about the book which I am most proud of. And see that little stream in the background, and the weeping willows and the grass beneath them? That is a scene straight out of my head!!!

Oh happy day!

For more about the book, check out it's page on my website...

i'm still here...kind of

Must write today! Must write today! There is a story brewing somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my frazzled mind. A sexy story. A fun story. A story that begins with a wedding in which our hero tries to pick up the married bridesmaid within the first two pages. Surely that's enough fun to get my brian to function...

But then there's the thought of cuddling the cutest girl in the world for a bit longer. She's stiring in the background so I really must go. Just thought it was time for another gooey pic.