First round of our Reader Challenge

Hi everyone

We have our winner for the first round of our Reader Challenge.

I am happy to announce the winner is Helen Sibbritt’s review of Denise Rossetti's The Flame and the Shadow.

The Flame and the Shadow - Denise Rossetti

This book was a fantastic read for me the first Hot Fantasy Romance I have read.
Denise has created a wonderful world with a Hero Gray and Heroine Cendra;
both are coming to terms with an emotional past.Gray is hired to kidnap the Fire Witch (Cendra) along the way to the HEA they learn to trust and love each other with Gray’s dark side known as Shad. They encounter betrayal and realise a lot of truths about themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book it was hot and fantastic and I am looking forward to more in this series it was a wonderful adventure.

Congratulations Helen!!! You are now entered into the final round of the Reader Challenge.

Bek
Competitions Coordinator
arrc.competitions@gmail.com

Five minutes with Margaret Tanner

Margaret Tanner is an award-winning multi-published Australian author. She loves delving into the pages of history as she carries out research for her historical romance novels, and prides herself on being historically correct. Margaret is a member of the Romance Writers of Australia, the Melbourne Romance Writers Group (MRWG) and EPIC. In 2008 she won Author of the Year at AussieAuthors.com. Her favourite historical period is the First World War, and she has visited the battlefields of France and Belgium, a truly poignant experience. Margaret is married to Laurie and they have three grown up sons.

1. What project are you currently working on? (C’mon give us a hint!)

I am working on a novel that is set against the background of Ned Kelly and his gang.

2. Will electronic readers ever take the place of the humble paperback?

I think they will, but not for a while

3. If you could be one of your characters - Who would you be? And why?

I think I would like to be Harry (Harriet) Martin my heroine from Devil’s Ridge. She has got auburn hair which I would love to have, slim figure (wouldn’t mind having that either). She is brave and resourceful.

4. What kind of research do you do for your books? Do you enjoy the research process?

I love doing research. Depends on what I am researching. Love trawling libraries, reading diaries, and when I was writing Devil’s Ridge, I visited Gallipoli and the battlefields of France and Belgium.

5. What is the nicest thing a reviewer has ever said about one of your books?

A reviewer said that my book set the bar for every novel she would read in the future

For more information on all of Margaret's novels, click HERE

Five minutes with Amarinda Jones

Amarinda Jones believes anything is possible and sometimes just asking for the
impossible will surprise someone enough that they will give it to you. Writing is like
that. Put it out there and wait for a response. There is always the possibility you may fall on your arse but after all that's what cellulite is for. Amarinda believes in taking chances, speaking her mind and ageing disgracefully. Twenty years from now she plans on being the neighbourhood witch that all the kids are scared of. But then, everyone has to have a hobby. But, for the moment, Amarinda lives in Brisbane, Australia. When not turning up at her day job, or plotting and planning her next book, she can be found head down and bum up renovating, gardening and generally creating mayhem. She also writes under the name of Janet Davies.

1. What project are you currently working on? (C’mon give us a hint!)

I am writing about hot, sexy vampires. I got a lot of great reader feedback and requests for the characters in Shades of Gray and Marlow’s Curse (both soon to be in print with Ellora’s Cave under the title Dark Souls) to be in a spin off. I am working on the fourth vampire book. These characters do make an appearance in Book 3 and 4 but these two books have new characters with stories of their own.


2. What kind of research do you do for your books? Do you enjoy the research process?

Absolutely none. I am a great believer in ‘write what you know’ so I write about every day women who suddenly are faced with an extraordinary situation and I think ‘how would I react to that?’ It works for me and it seems to appeal to my readers. If I do any research at all it’s usually with the vampire books and that’s mainly translating words into Latin because some vampire speak sounds better in Latin. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just an Amarinda thing.

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what 5 things would you have with you? *mind you, you do have a strong hunky man to help you with things* *grins*

Tim Tams
A solar powered microwave
Lots of books
Black and or turquoise nail polish
Alcohol – champagne preferably

I expect if the man is already there and ‘helping me with things’ then he would have brought the survival stuff. Hunky is good – smart is better.

4. What character out of all your books is the closest to your personality?

Miranda out of Because I Can. The story is about a period in my own life when I was working a call centre. It’s based on that - but for what happened in the elevator of course. What was that? You’ll have to read it to find out. Again, I try to write what I have lived, seen and tasted. I want people to believe that the characters could be like their best friend or the woman they loathe at work or the boss they lust after.

5. What is the nicest thing a reviewer has ever said about one of your books?

The latest review for Anyone But You made me smile –

“Whew!!! Ms. Jones sure did start her book with a bang! VERY HOT! She writes with a sense of humor and a heart of lust.” Heart of lust? Best thing I heard all day.

You can find out more about Amarinda's books by clicking HERE

Program Change - bad news and good news

Hi everyone

I'm sorry to have to advise that Susan Donovan will not be able to make it to the convention after all. Susan is very disappointed, as she was so looking forward to her "Australian adventure". We were all looking forward to meeting Susan in person, and I do hope that she will be able to make it to Australia one day.

The good news to balance that is that Liz Maverick has agreed to fill the plenary spot. Liz has been just wonderful in helping the planning committee and we are thrilled that she has said yes. If you have read Liz's bio and her spotlight feature then I'm sure you will agree that she will be a very entertaining speaker.

Maggie

Chair - Australian Romance Readers Association, Inc

Calling all volunteers!

Hi all

For all those who don't already know, we are looking for official volunteers to help out with tasks at the convention.

It won't be anything too strenuous - we are thinking about things like checking tickets, directing people to the right room, restocking/tidying the goodie room - things like that. We haven't made a full list yet, but we know there will be lots of tasks that we could use some help with.

So if you are interested in helping out for a half hour here and there during the convention to help making it a wonderful success, please contact us at arrc09@gmail.com and make sure that your name is on the list. We will contact you closer to the event to arrange a briefing.

For anyone who lives in Melbourne and would like to come along to meet the organising Committee next weekend (29 and 30 Nov) at the Jasper Hotel to discuss volunteering, or taking on a more active role, please let us know.

And as Maggie mentioned earlier, all Melbourne delegates are welcome to join the OC for dinner on Saturday night (29 November). If you can make it, email us for the details.

Debbie
Registrations, ARRC09
arrc09@gmail.com

Weekly Showcase

Hi Everyone,

As we noted in the announcement of the ARRC Reader Challenge, here is our fourth weekly showcase of twelve books written by authors attending the convention.

The authors and books in the showcase are:

1. Night Embrace - Sherrilyn Kenyon
2. Undead & Unreturnable - MaryJanice Davidson
3. Strings Attached – Elizabeth Rose
4. Staff of Fire – Jennifer Brassel
5. The Gentleman’s Dare- Jordana Ryan
6. The Heart Divided – Margaret Leigh
7. Cardinal Sin – Margaret Tanner
8. The Greek’s Bridal Bargain –Melanie Milbourne
9. Last Man Standing – Janet Davies
10. As Darkness Falls – Bronwyn Parry
11. The Keeper – Kalita Kasar
12. A Gentleman’s Honour – Stephanie Laurens