Ally Blake's Blog, page 31

"the wedding date" hits Aus/NZ

The Wedding Date is out now in Australia & New Zealand!
Grab a copy from your local bookstore or online from Mills and Boon. They have paperbacks and eBooks available now!
In fact you can grab a handful of my most recent books as eBooks now, from Mills and Boon Australia, Mills and Boon UK, and eHarlequin. Cool huh?
It also includes a bonus novella by Day Leclaire entitled The Royal Affair. Click on the The Wedding Date link at the bottom of this post to see all sorts of fun behind the book stuff.

cheek

So my 20 month old is a comedienne. Big time. So far that side of her personality has presented itself in the form of funny faces, silly walks, and general silliness that she knows will crack us up.

Her current schtick? Impressions. Here's her latest of me:

Grabbing Daddy by both sides of the face and looking him dead in the eye, she then waggles her finger purposefully as she says, "Listen! Listen! Don't touch TV. Don't stand couch. Listen! Listen! Don't touch mirror. Don't sit table."

Little terror.

I'm reading... "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan"

I love Sophie Kinsella. Adore her books to bits. Confessions of a Shopaholic made me laugh out loud a good doezent imes, and that's hard to do to this reader. My clever godmother bought me Twenties girl for Christmas a year ago. Loved that too. And now I've finally gotten around to picking up the second Shopaholic tome, Shopaholic Takes Manhattan .

I was laughing out loud on the first page.

If you've ever hidden all of the clothes you bought from a plethora of different stores in one shopping bag so that your boyfriend/husband/room-mate/mother/boss didn't guess how much you'd actually spent that day, or if you've said "what, this old thing" when your boyfriend/husband/room-mate/mother/boss asked if your dress was new so that they remained clueless as to the fact that you were shopping that day rather than working/working out/volunteering as you'd said you were, then you'll love Rebecca Bloomwood.

Buy the book (The Book Depository has free delivery worldwide!) Sophie's website

Meet Bradley Knight

In my last post you met Hannah, the heroine behind my current release THE WEDDING DATE . So, just to be fair, today I give you Bradley...

He lifted his beer and finished it in one slow swallow. All she could do was stare.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Oh yeah. Bradley was flirting alright. Batting her about like a lion with a moth. She wondered what she might do if he decided to stop playing and got serious. The very idea petrified her to the spot.

He left his empty glass on the table then wrapped his glass-cooled hand around her foot, his thumb resting in a sweet spot in the sensitive curve of her sole. He pressed down gently, but knowingly. She jolted as an unexpected tremor wracked her.

Even in the low light of the club she could see the gleam in his eyes. The thrill of the chase.

Utterly out of her depth, she reached for her drink.

Bradley got there first, snatching it out of her way. But not before her fingers had brushed across his. Pure and unadulterated sexual attraction wrapped itself around her like a wet rope, slippery and unyielding. And even in the darkness she was sure his pupils had grown so large the colour of his eyes was completely obscured.

From an accidental touch. Of fingers. Oh God...

Bradley swirled ice around in her drink. Once. Twice. Each time ice hit glass her nerves twanged sharply, like an out of tune guitar.

She sat on her hands and bit her lip. He's your boss. You love your job. He's not looking for forever. And you are. Just allowing this flirtation to continue is going to change everything.

He lifted her drink to his mouth and took a sip, the press of his lips where her lips had just been made hers tingle in the most aching anticipation.

Then his face screwed up as if he'd just sucked on a lemon. 'Holy heck, that's atrocious! How can you drink this slop?'

...from THE WEDDING DATE out now across the UK!Australia & New Zealand in AprilNorth America in May (as THE ROGUE WEDDING GUEST)

Meet Hannah Gillespie

This is how I imained my heroine Hannah from my current release THE WEDDING DATE . Fun, smart, ambitious, though maybe not quite so put together as the gorgeous Amanda Peet here.

Here's a little taste of what she's about...

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She frantically searched the small crowd awaiting the arrivals of loved ones from behind a chicken wire fence. With their matching long thick straight dark brown hair, pale skin, shiny baubles, and head to toe pink get-ups Hannah's mother and her sister stood out from the small chilly rugged-up crowd like flamingos in a flock of pigeons.

As though seven years hadn't passed, as though she didn't have an amazing job, and a great apartment, and cool friends, and real confidence in where she'd landed, Hannah's hand went straight to her hair only to remember she'd done nothing with it that morning, and now standing on the windy tarmac it was making a fly for freedom in just about every direction possible.

In about five seconds flat she went from respected ace assistant to TV wunderkind to skinny, tomboy shuffling a soccer ball around the backyard while her glamorous mother sister shopped and groomed and giggled about boys.

Her mother pushed through the crowd, opened a gate that probably meant she was breaking about half a dozen aviation safety laws, and headed her way. Hannah knew the grown-up thing to do was walk towards her, waving happily, but she was so deep into meltdown mode she began to physically back away.

And that's when she felt an arm slide beneath her poncho to settle gently but firmly in the curve of her back. The wall of warmth that came with it stopped her in her retreat like nothing else could have.

...from THE WEDDING DATE

out now across the UK!Australia/New Zealand in AprilNorth America in May (as THE ROGUE WEDDING GUEST)

debut novel re-released in Aus/NZ!

A few months back i was so kindly asked to choose two favourite books of mine to be included in an "Author's Choice" re-release in Australia & New Zealand. Welllll, it's out now! And I'm so excited as the two books within are two books I just love.

To tell you why, here's the Dear Reader letter I inlcuded in the front of the book.

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Boy was I excited when I was asked to pick two of my favourite Sweet Romances for this collection. Naturally that was before reality hit. I had to pick? Just two? Eek!

All of my books hold special places in my heart for a myriad of different reasons. Some gave me beautifully unexpected moments of inspiration. Some were written during special times of my life. Others were just great fun to write. How on earth was I to narrow it down?

Well, THE WEDDING WISH was my first book and BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP my tenth, both amazing milestones I never expected to reach when I first sat down and wrote the magical words, "Chapter One". Both novels were also absolute odes to a city I adore; beautiful, elegant, cosmopolitan Melbourne and her glorious surrounds. But the honest to goodness truth? Well, as it tends to be in romance novels, it all came down to the heroes ;).

Both books star heroes I still adore. Heroes with humour, with honour, with heart. Heroes who love and understand the women in their lives. Heroes you could count on to stand up for what they believe, to stick beside their heroine on her worst day, or to whip up a delicious dinner without even being asked! Yep, Jacob Lincoln and Tom Campbell are my kinds of heroes. And just to add a cherry on top, I reckon they both ended up with heroines who deserved every bit of them.

If you too love yabbering about your favourite book bits, regarding heroes or otherwise, feel free email me at ally@allyblake.com. Til then, happy reading!

Love,

Ally

www.allyblake.com

Buy the paperback

Buy the eBook

Read more about THE WEDDING WISH

Read more about BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP

the wedding date

THE WEDDING DATE is out now in the UK as a Mills and Boon RIVA!

I've had some really lovely reviews of THE WEDDING DATE which is so heartening. It's such a long time between finishing and book and having it out on bookshelves across the world the niggles can set in as you wonder if people will enjoy it as much as your past works.

Don't forget you can grb a copy from The Book Depository for free delivery world wide. They also offer an eBook option which is super. Or if you're prepared to wait a month and a half, if you pre-order the North American version - coming out under the title THE ROGUE WEDDING GUEST - The Book Depository are offering 25% off the cover price!

Read more ~ Order today!

lovely libraries

One thing I knew I was going to miss about moving from our house in Melbourne was how close I was to my local library. I loved the setting, the layout, the fun of browsing through the aisles and picking up random books in the hopes of discovering a fabulous new author. I also loved the quiet place to write.

And then...like they knew I was coming, a brand new library has just been built near my new home. I went to check it out with Toddler Girl the other day, and it's just beautiful. Serene, modern, groovy, technologically fabulous with an amazing kid's corner. And yesterday I got my first chance to actually write within. Heaven!!!! Picture me bouncing up and down happily on my chair.

Did you know that Australian authors get a stipend depending on how many of their books they have available in Australian libraries? Well, they do. So if there's a book you really want your library to carry, or an author you wish to others might discover, ask your local library to buy up!

And you Aussie authors out there, don't forget March 31st is the last day to register your books for this year's PLR.

gotta love a glossy mag

When my two BFFs came a-visiting from Mebourne and Newcastle last week they not only left behind great chats and laughs and a girl who's missing them already, they left behind a bunch of magazines they'd picked up at the airport.
I loooooove browsing through magazines. Add gorgeous people in pretty clothes, or caught in candid shots on beaches, in car parks, hanging out with people they're not meant to be with, and boy oh boy do those expressions give a writer ideas. I found this pic from a recent SABA campaign and a whole book idea sprang from it!

Also, I reckon a bit of celebrity gossip is like sorbet to the mind, clearing everything in it's path leaving room for real thought hot on its heels ;).

big bunnies

Told 3 year old Toddler Girl today about the Easter Bunny.

As well as enjoying seeing her beautiful face light up at the thought of a bunny coming to visit, there I was, thinking how genius it was to use the bribe of her first ever chocolate in the hopes of enourgaing helpful behaviour from the minx for the next few weeks.

But no.

Now she won't sleep. I've been up to her room three times in the hour since she's gone to bed. "What's the bunny's name again?" she asked. Next time it was, "Please don't let the bunny come in my room." Then, even after my brilliant on the spot claim that he'll only hide eggs in the garden, "I don't want the bunny to come up here!"

Bummer ;).