RIVA's Back! Now meet your new best friend, Hannah Gillespie from Mills & Boon RIVA's "THE WEDDING DATE" by Ally Blake!

eBook from millsandboon.co.uk

Heroine:  Hannah Gillespie

Age: 25

Occupation:  PA to the gorgeously sexy mountaineer/TV adventure show producer Bradley Knight.  (Find out aaaall about Bradley at Natalie Anderson's blog!)

Vital Stats: Brown wavy hair (won't stay straight no matter what she does), pale green eyes, and not much the way of curves - the girl needs to work less and eat more!

Who'd play her in the movie of her life:  Gorgeous and goofy Amanda Peet

Instant BFF or Gotta Earn Her Trust:  Hannah takes friendships very seriously.  She's nothing like her mum, who's onto her third - or is it fourth? - husband.  Stick with Hannah and you've got a friend for life.

Friends or Family: Hannah's made a new life for herself since moving to Melbourne, but when the call to come home to Tasmania for her little sister's wedding comes, turns out those strings were too tight to break!

Satin Teddy or Cotton Comfort:  Cotton comfort, for sure!  She can't even go so far as wearing high heels with a nice dress; cowboy boots and her dad's old watch are her accessories of choice.

Shower or Bath:  Well, both come to good use in Hannah's story ;).

What doesn't she want the hero to know:  That she's been smitten with the guy for the entire year she's been his right hand man.  So shhhhhhh...

We'd be her friend because...  Hannah is loyal, to a fault.  She's organised too, so if she's your ride to a party, you'd never be late.  And she'd rather wear jeans and a T than anything else, so your best dresses and fave shoes are safe from the borrowing ;).

In her words…  Hannah was in the bathroom washing sleep out of her eyes when her apartment doorbell rang just before six the next morning.  It couldn’t have been the cab taking her to the dock, it wasn’t due for another hour.

‘Can you get that?’ she called out, but no sound or movement came from Sonja’s room.

Hannah ran her fingers through her still messy bed hair and rushed to the door.

She opened it to find herself looking at the very last view she would ever have expected.  Bradley in her favourite of his leather jackets, chocolate brown and wool-lined.  Dark jeans straining under the pressure of all that hard-earned muscle.  Tall gorgeous and wide awake standing incongruously in the hallway outside her tiny apartment.  It was so ridiculous she literally rubbed her eyes.

When she opened them he was still there, in all his morning glory, only now his eyes were roving slowly over her flannelette pyjama pants, her dad’s over-sized, faded, thirty-year-old Melbourne University jumper, her tatty old ugh boots.

Even while she fought the urge to hide behind the door, the feel of those dark eyes slowly grazing her body was beautifully illicit.

‘Can I come in?’ he asked, eyes sliding back to hers.

No good mornings.  No sorry to bothers.  No I’ve obviously arrived at a bad time.  Just right to the point.

‘Now?’  She glanced over her shoulder, glad Sonja’s makeshift delicates clothesline that usually hung, laden with silky nothings, from window frame to window frame had been mysteriously taken down during the night.

‘I have a proposal.’

He had a proposal.  At six in the morning.  That couldn’t wait.  What could she do but wave a welcoming arm.

He took two steps inside and instantly the place felt smaller than it actually was.  And it was already pretty small.  Kitchenette, lounge, two bed, one bath.  Small windows looking out over nothing much.  Plenty for two working women who just needed a place to crash.

She closed the apartment door and leant against it as she waited for him to complete his recce.

Compared with his monstrous pad with it’s multiple rooms and split levels and city views it must have seemed like broom closet.

When he turned back to her, those grey eyes like gleaming like molten silver in the early morning light, the pads of her fingers pressed so hard into the panelled wood at her back her knuckles ached.

But he was all business.  ‘I hope you’re almost ready.  Flight’s in two hours.’

She blinked.  Suddenly as wide awake as if she was three coffees down rather than none.  Had he forgotten?  Again?  She pushed off the door and her hands flew to her hips.  ‘Are you kidding me?’

His cheek twitched.  ‘You can get that look off your face.  I’m not here to throw you over my shoulder and whisk you off to New Zealand.

She swallowed - half glad, half disappointed...

 

What's the book about:  

Never mix business…with cocktails!  Hannah is PA to the smart and gorgeous adventurer and TV presenter Bradley Knight. Together they make the perfect professional partnership – they’re both ambitious, super-organised and don’t own an off-button! So when Hannah heads back to Tasmania for her sister’s wedding, and back into the family craziness she had run from years before, the last thing she wants is for Bradley to come too. He sees it as a perfect shooting location; she just wants to shoot herself if he sees her in less than a super-human professional light. How can she stay zipped up and professional when karaoke and flowing mojitos are the wedding entertainment?!

Mills and Boon says, "If you like Harriet Evans and Miranda Dickinson, you’ll love this."

And the author?  

In her previous life Australian romance author Ally Blake was a head cheerleader, a maths tutor, a dental assistant, and the secretary of the Australian Cinematographers Society. She married in Las Vegas - no Elvis in sight, though Tony Curtis did put in a special appearance.  In this life Ally is a bestselling, multi-award winning novelist who has been published in over twenty languages with more than three million books sold world-wide. Her fun, fresh, flirty books are published by Harlequin Mills and Boon.  Ally and her family, including three boisterous toddlers, share a property in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, with kookaburras, cockatoos, lorikeets and the occasional creepy crawly. When not writing she loves eating M&Ms, watching The West Wing reruns, playing hide and seek, and barracking til hoarse for the Collingwood Magpies AFL team.

Find out more about Ally's books on:

 Her website: www.allyblake.com

Twitter: @ally_blake

Facebook: Ally Blake Romance Author

Buy THE WEDDING DATE from Mills and Boon UK!

Through September and October, keep dropping by Natalie Anderson's blog for giveaways, sneak peeks at more great stories and the low down on RIVA's hottest heroes.

And check out the awesome RIVA app on Facebook for more!

chatting up gerard butler...again!

Today I'm over at Natalie Anderon's blog with my Date a RIVA Hero post chatting up Gerard Butler again... I mean chatting about my current release THE WEDDING DATE.

Out now with Mills & Boon RIVA!

All through September and October, gorgeous RIVA author Natalie is hosting is a fabulous line of of RIVA authors giving you the lowdown on this most fantastic editorial, with the to-die-for-covers, wtih a few fab giveaways thrown in to keep it even more fun!

So to get yourself a little Bradley Knight, head here.  Now.  I dare you ;). 

male on monday with the pink heart society

I'm over at the Pink Heart Society today with a much-coveted Male on Monday slot. 

Male on Mondays are a chance to wax lyrical about heroes...and the hot men who inspire them.  I'm over there doing my bit to enchance to carrer of the guy who I thought'd do a decent job of playing Bradley Knight in THE WEDDING DATE, the movie.  It could happen!

Wanna know who that be?  Go to the Pink Heart Society!

Out now in ebook & paperback

weekend australian - newspaper interview

Photo Adam Armstrong (c) The Australian

Missed The Weekend Australian last weekend? 

I nearly did too, which would have been a pity as an interview I gave a few weeks back appeared suddenly therein! Thanks to the quick thinking of the lovely Melanie Milburne who let me know, I found this fabulous piece about the current state of romantic literature in Australia.

You can read it if you subscribe to the Australian newspaper website, here's the link.

Or, for the next few days, you can sign up to a 28 day free trial, so if you're super keen to have a look, there's that option as well.

Enjoy!

RIVA's back! Now meet your new best friend, Ella from RIVA's "A GIRL LESS ORDINARY" by Leah Ashton

ebook & paperback only from millsandboon.co.uk

Name: Ella Cartwright

Age: 29

Occupation: Image Consultant

Vital Stats: Always perfectly presented – sleek long dark brown hair, immaculate makeup, super fashionable clothes. Pretty, but not really beautiful – but she makes the most of what she’s got.

Who'd play her in the movie of her life: Melanie Lynskey

Instant BFF or Gotta Earn Her Trust: You definitely have to earn Ella’s trust!!

Friends or Family: No family – and while she’s constantly surrounded by people and is out socialising most nights of the week – she has no close friends. She finds it impossible to let people in, believing if anyone gets to truly know her, they’ll reject her.

Satin Teddy or Cotton Comfort :Cotton comfort, no question!

Shower or Bath:Bath – with lots of bubbles!

What she doesn't want the hero to know:As they were best friends at high school, the problem with Jake is that he already knows all of Ella’s secrets! Ella wants nothing more than to keep her past buried, but Jake is the only person who sees straight through her carefully crafted façade.

We'd be her friend because...  She’s heaps of fun! She knows all the coolest bars and is invited to the swankiest parties. Plus – once she does lower her guard and become your friend, she is your friend for life.

In her words…

“How do you do it?” he asked, “all this?”

Her lips quirked. “You mean have a good time?”

“I think you know this isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“So what is?” she asked, curious.

“Coding,” he said, quick as a flash.

Ella smiled fully. Always such a geek.

Then he shrugged. “And, I guess hiking with my dogs up in the mountains. Mountain bike riding – sometimes with a mate or two. Climbing.”

“Let me guess – in the mountains?”

Now it was his turn to smile. “It’s the best place in the world. I’ve got my own place up there.”

She knew that, of course. No self-respecting tabloid journalist could let an article go by without some reference to his home. Sydney’s Blue Mountains Billionaire, Software Mogul’s Mountain Hideaway and so on and so forth.

Ella wrinkled her nose. “I know it’s supposed to be beautiful, but I reckon I’d go crazy living that far away from Sydney.”

“I’d go crazy if I lived any closer.” He rested both hands on the balcony railing, and looked out over the harbour. Beneath them, along the edge of the marina, flowed a steady stream of Friday night revellers, muffled snippets of their conversations mixing with the heavy bass emanating from the party behind them.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he said, after a while. “I genuinely want to know – how do you stand this?”

“It’s really not all that complicated,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s the buzz of getting ready. Of meeting new people. Of laughing and chatting and dancing. What isn’t there to love?”

He shook his head. “It’s exhausting.”

She shrugged. “For me it’s the opposite. I’d go mad stuck in my apartment all the time. I need noise, and chatter and people. It gives me energy.”

“But you must need a break, occasionally?” he asked. He was looking at her like she was some bizarre software glitch – one that if he stared at long enough would offer up a solution.

“Nope,” she said. “I like to keep myself busy. Most nights I’ve got something on – salsa dancing, pilates, any classes I feel like taking - or just catching up with friends. Cocktails. Dancing, that kind of thing.”

He turned, and leaned back against the railing, studying her.

“But that’s new. You used to say you were happiest in your own company. Or, with…”

Me. With Jake.

But of course – he’d left.

Ella laughed, but it sounded about as artificial as it was. “Ah, the words of a girl not invited to any parties, and with no money to go shopping or to riding lessons.”

 “Really?” he said, the word a little hollow. A beat later she realised exactly what he was thinking.

 “Oh! I don’t mean I didn’t like hanging out with you. You were my best friend.” It felt bizarre to say something like that, something so juvenile, to the tall, dark and devastatingly handsome man before her. But it had been true. He’d been her best friend, her only friend. “But, you know, I also kind of wondered what it would be like to be one of the popular girls.” She held her hands up in a helpless gesture. “What can I say. I guess it’s kind of natural to want what you can’t have?”

It was a cliché – a nothing, thoughtless sentence – and yet it was as if they both temporarily stopped breathing.

What they both wanted suddenly made the air between them impossibly thick with delicious, unignorable tension.

 “What did you want, Ella?”

Oh, that wasn’t fair. He knew. She’d told him – a very long time ago.

The memory still had the power to make every last remnant of awkward, shy Eleanor want to cringe, then run away and hide.

 “What do you want, Ella?”

Need to know what Ella really wants?  Buy A GIRL LESS ORDINARY here!

So what's the book about?  She dreamed of being a girl less ordinary…

Eleanor had worked hard to transform herself from the sad, lonely girl she once was. Switching braces for a breathtaking smile, dowdy clothes for fabulous dresses, and heartbreak for flirty, fun-only dates, she’s now Ella! But one man can see through her glamour-plating to the real woman beneath.

Fiercely private billionaire Jake Donner has never forgotten Ella, and he’s shocked to see how she’s changed. Sparks begin to fly as old memories haunt Ella and Jake – for the innocent attraction they’d once resisted is all grown up and won’t be denied again…

Find out more about Leah's books at:

Her website

Facebook

Twitter

Buy A GIRL LESS ORDINARY from Mills and Boon UK!

Through September and October, keep dropping by Natalie Anderson's blog for giveaways, sneak peeks at more great stories and the low down on RIVA's hottest heroes.

And check out the awesome RIVA app on Facebook for more!

Revisions: Rewriting, Editing, Proof-reading...Oh My

Over at my website I've loaded a new "Writing Tips" page based upon the "Revisions: Rewriting, Editing, Proof-reading...Oh My!" workshop I took at the recent Romance Writers of Australia conference on the Gold Coast.

The workshop went on the premise that "writing is rewriting".   That rewriting begins from the moment you have the first idea.  Which is kind of daunting, but kind of exhilerating at the same time.

This picture is the view from my lecturn about five minutes before the talk began.   You'll see even my talk notes were covered in scrawled changes.  Revisions you might say ;).

You can find the workshop notes here.

RIVA's back! Now meet your new best friend, Kate from RIVA's "The Best Mistake of Her Life" by Aimee Carson

ebook & paperback out now!

Name: Kate Anderson

Age: 28

Occupation: In charge of fundraising for her politician husband. Now that she’s divorced, she’s at loose ends, and organizing her ten-year reunion is turning into a nightmare!

Vital Stats: sleek blond hair, blue eyes, stylish and sophisticated.  (As for her hero, Memphis James?  Light brown hair, whiskey-colored eyes, 6’ 1” with a whole lot of muscles!  Want more of Memphis - head to Natalie Anderons's blog!)

Who'd play her in the movie of her life: Katherine Heigl

Instant BFF or Gotta Earn Her Trust: Gotta earn her trust. Once you do, she’s yours for life.

Friends or Family: Raised in a powerful, political family, she was taught to always, always, put the family first.

Satin Teddy or Cotton Comfort : She prefers lace J

Shower or Bath :long, luxurious baths

What she doesn't want the hero to know: That she’s never completely recovered from theirone-night-stand while she was married to another man.

We'd be her friend because...  even though she’s made serious mistakes, she’s working hard to get her life back on track.

In her words…

Fingers wrapped around her wrist, Memphis took a step closer. "Do you remember what you said the last time we made love that night?"

Kate's mouth went dry and her throat constricted, cutting off her breath. The heat of his palm was but a small reminder of the fire this man had the ability to create. It was several moments before she could answer. "No."

His eyes told her he knew she was lying. "You need a little more practice telling the truth, ex-Mrs. Worthington," he said, his deep voice rumbling up her spine. His tone was infused with the insatiable need they'd shared so long ago.

Along with a generous dose of frustration.

Memphis had always come with a tangle of emotions that had been impossible to unravel—some of them good, some of them bad, but none of them had been lukewarmly felt. Right now intense desire and a rising anger of her own was making rational thought difficult.

He was wrong for her. He'd always been wrong for her.

 "Memphis," she said, struggling to stay calm despite the lack of oxygen. "I'm not—"

“You promised me the morning," he said smoothly.

Her heart tripped in her chest. "That was a long time ago." She pulled her hand free and took a step backward, trying to distance herself from the memories and all she'd done with this man, to this man, and the consequences. "And during a turbulent time in my life."

He went on as if she hadn't spoken, stepping in her direction even as she continued to back away. "And then I woke to find you gone."

Guilt, her ever-present companion, reared its persistent head. "I was upset." She hated that her words came out weak. "And confused…"

As if that explained everything she'd done.

 He continued to advance on her as she backed up, until her shoulders hit the door and there was no more room for retreat. "There," he said softly, his gaze deliberately provoking her. "That will keep the overly helpful clerk out until we're through."

"We are through."

"Angel Face," he said, his voice gruff. "I've finally figured out we're so far from done it isn't funny."

 Irritation drove her chin up. Memphis James might do what Memphis James wanted, but that didn't mean she had to be obliging. "There is nothing left—

He took her hand and placed her palm over the bared scar beneath his navel, and the tiny muscles in her fingers twitched, desire paralyzing the rest of her. The heat and the hard planes of his abdomen were unyielding.

"Do you remember kissing me here?" he said.

Her body flooded with fire. "Of course I do."

"Do you remember where your mouth went next?"

Her head swam with desire, and her protest came out as a weary groan.

"Memphis—"

"Kate." He braced a hand on the door by her head, the other sandwiching hers against his taut abdomen. She could barely breathe, and the process grew more difficult as he leaned in until she could see the dark chocolate flecks in the caramel color of his eyes, smell the intoxicatingly masculine scent of sandalwood. "I want one more kiss."

And, as if knowing there'd be no consent, he simply took her mouth with his.

Now you can't stop there, right?   Grab your copy from Mills and Boon UK right now.

The book's about...  A fake date with her brother’s wild best friend… What could possibly go wrong? High-flying, high-profile, ex-prom queen and now ex-wife, Kate Anderson has her school reunion and she just can’t face it alone. Hot-shot stuntman, and her twin brother’s best friend, Memphis James is a dangerous option. Their breathtaking, sizzling hot chemistry makes him the perfect companion, but a far greater concern is their scorching shared past. Every turn Kate takes makes it seem like the wheels are falling off her once oh-so-sorted life. Should she flee the scene, or free-fall into the wildest fling of her life?

Find out more about Aimee's books on:

www.aimeecarson.com

Facebook

Twitter

Buy THE BEST MISTAKE OF HER LIFE from Mills and Boon UK!

Through September and October, keep dropping by Natalie Anderson's blog for giveaways, sneak peeks at more great stories and the low down on RIVA's hottest heroes.

And check out the awesome RIVA app on Facebook for more!