signed book winner...and what's in a name?

Wow! A girl splashes on a little new paint and throws in new scatter cushions around her cyber home and out come lots of lovely visitors!

Thanks to all for sharing your favourite movie lines. They brought back some great memories. And the winner of a signed copy of THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL, which hits bookshelves in the UK tomorrow is... April! She chose a line from "THE WEDDING DATE", near the end of the movie when Nick says to Kat, "I'd rather fight with you than make love with anyone else." I remember that line so clearly; for me it turned an enjoyable film into a keeper, just like that.

Best of all you all made me realise again that good writing is good writing, no matter what the form.

April, please email me at ally@allyblake.com with your snail mail and the book will be on its way!

And today at the PINK HEART SOCIETY I'm talking about working titles.

Some of us think they are all important. Others couldn't give a hoot. Find out which of your favourite authors are which!

Right here...

redecorating

You may, or may not ;), have noticed that the decor has changed! My blog and website have undergone a rather major facelift, one which I truly hope adds a dash of happy brightness to your day. I also hope all links work and all pages have loaded as meant. If not please don't hesitate to email me and let me know so we can be online and up to scratch asap. And do feel free to have a wander while there.

~ I have pages dedicated to each and every one of my backlist books, I have writing tips galore, including a new article about Working Titles that debuts here just before it hits the hot Pink Heart Society blog in a week's time.

~ piccies of my very favourite Australian destinations, many of which have made appearances in my books, others which will have their turn. From the heart of Melbourne to the Outback, I love love love Australia.

~ lists of my favourite books, movies and movie quotes as well as links to my favourite romance writing and author websites. My fave ever movie line from the list therein? Boy that's a hard one. But I still remember the exquisite hilarity of the first time I saw "Some Like it Hot". That last line - "Nobody's perfect" - just got me.

In celebration of my new look, the person who leaves my favourite message in the comments telling me their favourite movie line, one which makes me go "oh yeah I love that too!" will win a signed copy of my yet to be released Modern heat novel THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL!

uk readers and writers take heed!

Please please please if you are a lover of Mills and Boon and live in the UK, head on over to the Pink Heart Society today to read about the exciting new documentary project in the wings. It sounds sooo exciting and makes me wanna move to the UK right now.

Anyone got a spare bed?

she rolls!

My clever girl rolled last night. Not once, not twice but over and over again. Every time I put her on her belly there she went onto her back.


Not sure she knew what all the clapping and laughing was all about but if she got a cuddle at the end she sure wasn't going to stop!


And since I haven't posted a piccie of her in a while and her six months birthday is just around the bend...

a pinch of music...

I'm a big believer in book soundtracks. Every book I've written has had a signature song or CD attached. Something I've put on over and over again while writing or revising me to get me in the right frame of mind for that particular story.

For my last book, A NIGHT WITH THE SOCIETY PLAYBOY, I used a lot of George Michael's old music to help me through. Soft, gauzy, sexy songs floaty on the night breeze were the perfect backdrop to the story.

Since then I've discovered Amy Winehouse and have been listening to "Back to Black'" over and over so I think that's gonna have to be the soundtrack to this next book. She sounds like something from the opening credits of an old James Bond movie. Fabulous!

TREATS, TREASURES & SIMPLE PLEASURES starts in a bar, and I can just picture her bluesy moody gorgeous voice wafting in the background when my hero and heroine's eyes meet across the crowded room. Tres evocative stuff.

She won the Grammy for Best Record this year. Now I know why.

Today at the PINK HEART SOCIETY I'm talking more about book soundtracks. Find out how here!

:(

On the weekend my football teams lost. Both of them. The reserves, for whom my hubby is official cameraman, and the Collingwood A's who were beaten by Carlton, their old foes, and a team that had lost 14 games in a row!

Since the weekend Miss Boo seems to think 3:30 is now a much better time to wake up - and I mean wake up for the day, chatting, gooing, yelling mumumumumum until I come in for a play - than 7:30 used to be.

And yesterday all of our chickens were taken by a fox. Yes all. Including Laverne who has been with us for over two years, beautiful Speckled Jim (who was a girl and the prettiest chicken ever) and four young ones who hadn't even been with us long enough to get named. Here's a piccie of a handful of them from early last year when so many of you watched this blog daily with baited breath awaiting the arrival of the chicklets. I miss you girls.

Today I feel like a wrung out sponge...

But tomorrow my mum is coming for a few days to visit! We'll shop for a bridesmaid dress, we'll watch William and Mary on DVD, we'll head down to the local pub for dinner (best steak in tha world!!!), we'll read on the couch, Miss Boo will get more cuddles than she can handle.

Annie was right, the sun will come out tomorrow. ;)

touched

I just had an email from Marianne at The Long and the Short of It, a romance review site, to say that off their own bat they had kindly reviewd FALLING FOR THE REBEL HEIR. How nice is that? Especially nice considering the review was so lovely I feel rightly chuffed about now!

Here 'tis for my viewing pleasure ;)...

What a wonderfully tender romance!

Kendall York had great love and great tragedy in her past, and has opted to take the safe, sure road for her life. She lives a quiet life in the same town she’s always lived in, and works hard to overcome the stigma of a past error.

Hudson “Hud” Bennington III comes back to the only home he ever really knew to heal both his body and his soul, and stumbles across a mermaid in the pool at his estate. He’s immediately drawn to Kendall and, in order to keep her close, asks her to help him type his memoir.

This story had little real external conflict and was really about two hurting people helping each other to heal. Normally, a story with so little conflict would bore me to tears, but I couldn’t stand to put this book down. The author has crafted such incredibly rich characters, and the emotion in the book was dramatic and heart-rending. I was well and truly hooked.

I laughed, I cried, my heart swelled with emotion and broke in agony right along with Kendall and Hud. Creating such deep, three-dimensional characters with the word count restrictions of a category romance can’t have been easy, but it was oh-so well done. The story was complete and interesting and, despite this being a “sweet” romance, the sexual tension was strong and urgent.

I can’t speak highly enough of this story. If you prefer depth of character over edge-of-your-seat plot, you’re sure to love this book.

what is it about the ruffling of an unrufflable man...

Watched North and South today.

Would love to have been writing but Miss Boo wasn't in the mood to sleep. At all. Usually when awake she can happily lie on her playmat cooing and giggling and playing with toys if not on my lap desperately trying to type. But not today. Today she was awake until she had bags under her eyes cheeky miss!

Anyhoo, this gave me the perfect excuse to sit her on my lap and watch North and South.

Was soooo looking forward to this. Big build up from many friends. Richard Armitage stalkers and regular people alike. The fact that I watched 4 odd hours in one day tells you something!

Love love loved the "look back at me" scene. Adored Higgins. So charismatic. And it was all worth it for the last ten minutes through which I bawled. What is it about the ruffling of an unruffable man?

Richard Armitage is a romantic genius. More please!

heaven help me

The gorgeous Hugh Jackman is a risky choice for hero inspiration as many romance authors can attest.

He could almost be classed as a mascot with so many of us thinking him perfect hero material, he even has his own appreciation day once a year on the Pink Heart Society. But perhaps its that plethora of great points he has in real life that weighs him down as a potential blank canvas on which to project a unique and flawed man for a heroine to fall in love with.

I've tried to use him before...and failed. Yet here I am using him again now, after having exhausted the helpful suggestions of friends and family as I create my latest romance hero, Cameron Bayliss.

Wish me luck as history tells me I'm gonna need it!!!

fingers poised over the keyboard...

My baby is asleep. Amy Winehouse is crooning from my computer speakers. The great Melbourne winds that left branches and even a whole tree strewn across my street the day before last have subsided and the sun is shining through the slats of the blinds in my office window.

The stage is set for a nice writing day.

If only the taste of dark chocolate melting in my mouth wasn't the very last piece in the house...

must see tv

Had a message from a friend tonight to say I was on telly again and I didn't even realise it!

Check out the interview here...

indecent cover ;)

Phwoar! Sexy huh?

This is my first really hot 'Presentsish' cover 'cause THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL will be my first Harlequin Presents in September this year! Very excited about that, I can tell ya! But before then, it hits bookshelves in the UK as a Modern Heat come May, though it is available online now from MillsandBoon.co.uk!

And for more fun, my very first foreign translation of a Modern Extra is out now!!! GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS is out now in Italy as a double feature with a book by my mate Nicola Marsh. Together the stories translate to "Pages of Love" which consideirng my book is about a magazine editor and hers about a book illustrator it's quite clever!

PAGINE D'AMORE can be found here...