At lunchtime today, the lovely ladies from Mills & Boon were giving out free books to passers-by at Martin Place, Pitt Street Mall and the QVB. They were aided by so-called ‘buff butlers’ (though I’d say there was more buff than buttering). The initiative seemed well received, although for more impact they really needed more butlers. I say that in a completely objective (not objectifying way).
Check out the pics below or on our Flickr page (I particularly love the butler who pimped out the books to a group of schoolgirls—there’s no more exciting time for Mills & Boon than when you’re in high school!). Also, Decadence had the guys on their knees!
Did you spot the buff butlers and grab a book? Let us know!
Read the rest of this post.
BOOKMARKED is the name we gave to our paper.li journal, but since not everyone is on Twitter and not everyone on Twitter likes paper.li, I thought I’d run an adhoc omnibus of links on the blog to highlight links and news that might be of interest.
Kristan Higgins announced as keynote speaker for ARRC2013
ARRA recently announced that contemporary romance author Kristan Higgins will be one of the keynote speakers for the 2013 Australian Romance Readers Convention.
How likely is it that you’ll find R*BY finalists in your library?
Library insider VaVeros looked up the availability of titles shortlisted for the 2012 R*BY awards and concluded that they’d be pretty hard to find in your local library. June Loves, Helene Young, Mardi McConnochie, Anna Jacobs and Anna Campbell seem to be the most popular.
‘Harlequin makes a total of 1.94, and I make .06.’
Former Harlequin Intrigue author Ann Voss Peterson has written a guest post on Joe Konrath’s blog explaining why her contract with Harlequin does not allow her to make a living out of writing. It’s an interesting post, and the comments that follow—some from fellow ex-Harlequin authors—are a little depressing. There’s also some discussion around how well ebook backlists sell through Harlequin versus the author self-publishing their own backlists. Harlequin doesn’t come out well in this one.
Index of Harlequin Mills & Boon historicals
Maili sent me a link to a fan site dedicated to cataloguing category historical romances. This is for the dedicated glommers!
Read the rest of this post.
Kate and Kat talk about their favourite Australian romance authors. Part 5 of a series of vodcasts for Aussie Author Month 2012.
In this series, Kate and I talk about some of our favourite Australian romance authors, with some digression into my to-be-read pile. This time we look at category romance.
If you can’t see the video below, click here to view it directly on YouTube. It runs for just over eight minutes.
Read the rest of this post.
Kate and Kat chat about romance fiction in Australia. Part 2 of a series of vodcasts for Aussie Author Month 2012.
So we’re hoping you enjoyed our first vodcast enough to listen to the rest of our conversation on romance fiction in Australia.
This time we chat about the publishing and marketing side of romance fiction, though still very much from a reader’s perspective. We talk about where we buy our books, reminisce about our first Mills & Boon, and whinge about discuss how we think Australian publishers are doing when it comes to romance fiction.
If you can’t see the video below, click here to view it directly on YouTube. It runs for just under ten minutes.
Read the rest of this post.
Round-up of (mostly) romance-related events coinciding with Valentine’s Day around the country. If you have an event or even contest that I missed, feel free to pimp it out in the comments.
National Year of Reading official launch
NYR is launching today across Australia. Check out their events calendar to see if there’s a launch in your area. It’s going to be a fantastic year for reading.
Mills & Boon’s chiselled cherubs
Mills & Boon Australia has organised for some hunktastic cherubs to give away free books today outside Dymocks on George Street. No word on what time they’ll be there, but I’m fairly certain they’ll be hard to miss once they’re there.
Avon Australia blog relaunch
Avon Australia is relaunching their blog today, starting with round-ups of the ARR awards and Romance Reading Day. They’re also looking for someone to be their guest reviewer for the year, which budding and seasoned historical romance reviewers might want to check out.
Read the rest of this post.
Ruthless Magnate, Convenient Wife by Lynne Graham (Pregnant Brides, Book 2)
There’s nothing earth-shattering about this story. I didn’t hate the hero or the heroine, but that might be damning with faint praise.
Back in my 20s, I would have loved this book. This may be spoilery to some readers—although if you regularly read in this Mills & Boon line it would amaze me if any of this surprises you—but Ruthless Magnate, Convenient Wife features a tycoon hero who borders on misogyny, a contract marriage, a virgin heroine, an accidental pregnancy and a Small Misunderstanding.
But as far as these things go, Lynne Graham does a decent enough job with the plot. Sergei Antonovich was saved from a troubled childhood by his grandmother, and as she gets older he wants to give her what he knows would make her happy—a grandchild.
As you do when you’re insanely rich but scarred by a money-grubbing first wife and young hotties forever flashing their cleavage in exchange for your wad (of cash, people!), Sergei sets up a business arrangement to acquire a wife and child.
Read the rest of this post.
With This Fling... by Kelly Hunter
This book proves that finely tuned character development and emotional honesty can turn even the most maligned clichés in romance fiction not just into an enjoyable read, but a story worth savouring.
The more I read Kelly Hunter’s work, the more I admire how well she’s able to make each couple and each story fresh, interesting and fun.
With This Fling… features what seems to be Hunter’s favourite type of heroine—a rich one. Charlotte Greenstone invents a fiancé to reassure her dying godmother that she won’t be alone. When said fiancé fails to turn up at the funeral, Charlotte concocts a story in which he’s killed in the wilds of Papua New Guinea.
But in series of spectacular coincidences, she finds herself in possession of Grey Tyler’s, well, office. Her fictional fiancé is not only not dead, he’s back from PNG, he’s hot and it seems he may just have need of a fictional girlfriend of his own.
If you’re looking for an elaborate external plot, you’re in for disappointment. With This Fling… is romance distilled.
Read the rest of this post.
This week’s mailbag is a bonanza, thanks to Mills and Boon Australia, who sent us a box of assorted titles (though I detect a distinct YA bias). Some of these are series books, so I’m torn on reading them or catching on the series first. I’m particularly keen on the Rachel Vincent, after reading her Soul Screamers series. (If you’re a fan of this series, would you recommend starting the series properly, or can I just jump straight in?)
All of these titles will be out in Australia in July.
For Maria V. Snyder fans, don’t forget that she’ll be in Australia in August. From what I’ve gathered, the tour will focus on meeting her younger readers, but there may also be a few opportunities to see her with a more adult crowd. (This is not say I don’t like mingling with younger readers. But as an oldie, I don’t really want to barge into an author event that’s focused on school kids!) I’ll post more if and when I know the details.
Read the rest of this post.
Australian authors Marion Lennox and Kelly Hunter have been named finalists for the 2011 RITA Awards, the Oscar equivalent for romance authors.
Marian Lennox is nominated for her Christmas with Her Boss (Sweet Romance). Kelly Hunter is nominated for Red-Hot Renegade (Sexy). They will competing for the 2011 RITA for Contemporary Series Romance.
Hunter was at the Australian Romance Readers Convention when the finalists were announced. She was recognised by Anne Gracie in front of a very appreciative convention audience.
Read the rest of this post.
