Alissa Callen's Blog
April 16, 2015
Giveaway - Down Outback Roads
Down Outback Roads
by Alissa Callen
Giveaway ends May 01, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to Win
To celebrate the print release of Down Outback Roads there is a giveaway happening over at Goodreads! Good luck:)
March 17, 2015
His Outback Cowgirl
So thrilled His Outback Cowgirl is live today. This fourth book in my Wildflower Ranch series is Ethan's story.
February 15, 2015
Her Big Sky Cowboy
So excited book #3 in my Wildflower Ranch series is now out in the wild:) Book # 4 His Outback Cowgirl coming soon!
November 22, 2014
Small Town Fiction Giveaway
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Please install the current FlashPlayer.
To celebrate the release of 12 Days at Silver Bells House and Her Mistletoe
Cowboy, Jennie Jones and I are holding a Small Town Fiction Giveaway. The Christmas giveaway will be open
internationally and run from Nov 24 to Dec 1. During the week spot prizes can also be won over at Small Town Fiction. To enter the
main giveaway please follow the raffle copter link below or for mobile devices http://is.gd/w2Nvbj
October 23, 2014
Meet The Character Blog Tag
Thanks so much to lovely writing buddy Rachael Johns
for the tag in the Meet the Character blog hop. It was such a treat to meet her heroine Charlie from her current work-in-progress, Pattersons Curse.
For my own character I’m featuring my hero from Her Mistletoe Cowboy.
1.) What is the name of your character?
Rhett Dixon. First son in three generations of ranchers.
2.) Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
FictionalJ
3.) When and where is the story set?
Her Mistletoe Cowboy story is set on Rhett’s ranch Little Rose Crown in the big sky country of
Montana. It is part of my Wildflower Flower Series for Montana Born Books.
4.) What should we know about him/her?
Rhett is a workaholic cowboy who has no time for socializing, let alone for Christmas cheer.
5.) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Rhett also appeared in my first ranch book Cherish Me, Cowboy. However, in this story his mother is unwell and the
fear that he could lose her drives him to make poor choices. He hangs out with the troublesome Taylor brothers and mistakes his friendship with cowgirl Payton for something more.
6.) What is the personal goal of the
character?
After the death of his mother Rhett works hard to prove he has changed and no longer makes
questionable decisions. He rebuilds his new ranch, Little Rose Crown, refusing to trade on the fact he is the first son in three generations of ranchers. To his father’s disgust he turns
his inheritance, Bluebell Falls Ranch, over to his elder sister and is determined to make it on his own.
7.) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about
it?
Corporate analyst, Ivy Bishop, intends spending Christmas holed up in an isolated Montana ranch house with
only an abandoned puppy for company. When the festive season ends her broken heart might just have had just enough time to heal.
Ex-rodeo rider, Rhett Dixon, has put his playing days behind him. He has something to prove. Despite being
the first son in three generations of ranchers, he is determined to succeed in ranching on his own merits.
But when Rhett’s new neighbor proves to be far-too-pretty and far-too-compassionate, his single-minded
focus deserts him. And the more time Ivy spends with the workaholic, blue-eyed cowboy next door the more she realizes her heart isn’t actually broken – yet.
8.) When can we expect the book to be published or when was it published?
Her Mistletoe Cowboy was out October 20th and is available across all Amazons.
US Amazon: http://tiny.cc/2fxvmx
AUS Amazon: http://tiny.cc/71wvmx
UK Amazon: http://tiny.cc/04wvmx
CA Amazon: http://tiny.cc/q3wvmx
And now for the fun part - I tag:
25 years of marriage, travel, four children, study and work wasn’t enough to keep Nicki busy. In January this year she woke up and decided to fulfil a lifelong
dream – to write a novel.
Nicki calls herself a city girl with a country heart. Unfortunately the only way she can escape to the countryside of her dreams is by living vicariously through
the lives of the characters in the rural romance novels she loves to read. If she could spend her days dressed in jeans and boots out on the farm surrounded by horses, dogs, cows and sheep, she’d
be in her element.
When Nicki isn’t dreaming, reading or writing about rural life, she can be found in her scrubs in the Emergency Department where she works fulltime as a
nurse.
Nicki writes medical rural romance for Momentum and her debut novel, Intensive Care, is available for pre-order soon.
Born and brought up in Wales, Jennie Jones loved anything with a romantic element from an early age. At eighteen, she
went to drama school in London then spent a number of years performing in British theatres, becoming someone else two hours, eight performances a week.
Jennie wrote her first romance story at the age of twenty five whilst ‘resting’ (a theatrical term for ‘out of work’).
She wrote a western! But nobody wanted it. Before she got discouraged a musical theatre job came up and Jennie put writing to one side.
She now lives in Western Australia, a five minute walk to the beach that she loves to look at but hardly ever goes to
- too much sand.
Jennie returned to writing four years ago. She says writing keeps her artistic nature dancing and her imagination bubbling. Like
acting, she can’t envisage a day when it will ever get boring.
Melissa McClone’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University led her to a job with a major airline where she
travelled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters.
Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published
over twenty-five romance novels with Harlequin and been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award.
When she isn’t writing, she’s usually driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim and soccer practices, 4-H meetings and dog
shows. She also supports deployed service members through Soldiers’ Angels and fosters cats through a local non-kill rescue shelter. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three
school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house. (They do!)
Meet The Character Blog Tag
Thanks so much to lovely writing buddy Rachael Johns
for the tag in the Meet the Character blog hop. It was such a treat to meet her heroine Charlie from her current work-in-progress, Pattersons Curse.
For my own character I’m featuring my hero from Her Mistletoe Cowboy.
1.) What is the name of your character?
Rhett Dixon. First son in three generations of ranchers.
2.) Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
FictionalJ
3.) When and where is the story set?
Her Mistletoe Cowboy story is set on Rhett’s ranch Little Rose Crown in the big sky country of
Montana. It is part of my Wildflower Flower Series for Montana Born Books.
4.) What should we know about him/her?
Rhett is a workaholic cowboy who has no time for socializing, let alone for Christmas cheer.
5.) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Rhett also appeared in my first ranch book Cherish Me, Cowboy. However, in this story his mother is unwell and the
fear that he could lose her drives him to make poor choices. He hangs out with the troublesome Taylor brothers and mistakes his friendship with cowgirl Payton for something more.
6.) What is the personal goal of the
character?
After the death of his mother Rhett works hard to prove he has changed and no longer makes
questionable decisions. He rebuilds his new ranch, Little Rose Crown, refusing to trade on the fact he is the first son in three generations of ranchers. To his father’s disgust he turns
his inheritance, Bluebell Falls Ranch, over to his elder sister and is determined to make it on his own.
7.) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about
it?
Corporate analyst, Ivy Bishop, intends spending Christmas holed up in an isolated Montana ranch house with
only an abandoned puppy for company. When the festive season ends her broken heart might just have had just enough time to heal.
Ex-rodeo rider, Rhett Dixon, has put his playing days behind him. He has something to prove. Despite being
the first son in three generations of ranchers, he is determined to succeed in ranching on his own merits.
But when Rhett’s new neighbor proves to be far-too-pretty and far-too-compassionate, his single-minded
focus deserts him. And the more time Ivy spends with the workaholic, blue-eyed cowboy next door the more she realizes her heart isn’t actually broken – yet.
8.) When can we expect the book to be published or when was it published?
Her Mistletoe Cowboy was out October 20th and is available across all Amazons.
US Amazon: http://tiny.cc/2fxvmx
AUS Amazon: http://tiny.cc/71wvmx
UK Amazon: http://tiny.cc/04wvmx
CA Amazon: http://tiny.cc/q3wvmx
And now for the fun part - I tag:
25 years of marriage, travel, four children, study and work wasn’t enough to keep Nicki busy. In January this year she woke up and decided to fulfil a lifelong
dream – to write a novel.
Nicki calls herself a city girl with a country heart. Unfortunately the only way she can escape to the countryside of her dreams is by living vicariously through
the lives of the characters in the rural romance novels she loves to read. If she could spend her days dressed in jeans and boots out on the farm surrounded by horses, dogs, cows and sheep, she’d
be in her element.
When Nicki isn’t dreaming, reading or writing about rural life, she can be found in her scrubs in the Emergency Department where she works fulltime as a
nurse.
Nicki writes medical rural romance for Momentum and her debut novel, Intensive Care, is available for pre-order soon.
Born and brought up in Wales, Jennie Jones loved anything with a romantic element from an early age. At eighteen, she
went to drama school in London then spent a number of years performing in British theatres, becoming someone else two hours, eight performances a week.
Jennie wrote her first romance story at the age of twenty five whilst ‘resting’ (a theatrical term for ‘out of work’).
She wrote a western! But nobody wanted it. Before she got discouraged a musical theatre job came up and Jennie put writing to one side.
She now lives in Western Australia, a five minute walk to the beach that she loves to look at but hardly ever goes to
- too much sand.
Jennie returned to writing four years ago. She says writing keeps her artistic nature dancing and her imagination bubbling. Like
acting, she can’t envisage a day when it will ever get boring.
Melissa McClone’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University led her to a job with a major airline where she
travelled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters.
Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published
over twenty-five romance novels with Harlequin and been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award.
When she isn’t writing, she’s usually driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim and soccer practices, 4-H meetings and dog
shows. She also supports deployed service members through Soldiers’ Angels and fosters cats through a local non-kill rescue shelter. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three
school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house. (They do!)
October 15, 2014
Cover reveal - Her Mistletoe Cowboy
Her Mistletoe Cowboy - the second book in my Wildflower Ranch Series - now has a cover! The third book, Her Big Sky
Cowboy, will be out in January 2015.
Her Mistletoe Cowboy is a story about hope, redemption and the magic of Christmas. It also features plenty of festive food. Just like my character, Ivy Bishop,
it is a family tradition to cook and this Christmas my kids can’t wait to try some of the new recipes I found while researching Her Mistletoe Cowboy.
Buy links:
US Amazon: http://tiny.cc/2fxvmx
AUS Amazon: http://tiny.cc/71wvmx
UK Amazon: http://tiny.cc/04wvmx
CA Amazon: http://tiny.cc/q3wvmx
July 22, 2014
Cover reveal - Cherish Me, Cowboy
So thrilled to reveal my new cowboy novella cover! Cherish Me, Cowboy will be out September and is part of the 76th Copper Mountain Rodeo series. So excited to have joined the Montana Born Books
family:)
May 6, 2014
A big rural welcome to ... Rocking Horse Hill author Cathryn Hein.
I'm so thrilled to have the lovely Cathryn Hein visit today and to talk about the menagerie of animals who star in her latest
rural. No matter where people live, city or country, beach or bush, animals have a special place in people's hearts.
Getting Animal
Anthropomorphise:
1. to ascribe human for or attributes to. 2. to ascribe human form
or attributes to an animal, a god, etc. Macquarie Concise Dictionary, 4th ed.
Do you do this with your pets?
So many of us do. We can’t seem to help it even though, intellectually, we probably
understand that it’s a bit daft. I mean, our pets are a totally different species, aren’t they? Your dog knows perfectly well he or she’s a dog. Your average cat, rabbit, budgie, horse, rat,
pot-bellied pig or any other animal doesn’t suffer identity issues either. It’s only us that thinks our pets imagine themselves human, and give them human thoughts, personalities and
motivations.
Think about it. That’d be the same as our pets thinking we considered ourselves dogs or cats or rabbits whenever we did something remotely characteristic of one. Sure, I’ve occasionally thought myself an ass but
only ever in metaphorical terms. Pretty certain I’ve never defined myself as canine or any other creature whenever I’ve relieved an itch on my arm with my teeth or rolled over to have my belly
stroked. So why should we do this to animals?
Because it’s fun!
And a way of further wrapping our beloved pets into our lives. A sweet but perhaps
misguided way of showing love, and I’m as guilty of doing it as anyone.
I’m a hopeless anthropomorphist in my books. Every animal, from dogs to ducks, end up
with a some sort of human personality. I know that for realism I probably shouldn’t but, stuff it, it’s fiction and it’s my story, and if I want to make a horse drop its bottom lip and turn it’s
bum in a infantile sulk I will.
My latest rural romance Rocking Horse Hill has some wonderful animal characters. The stars this time around are a couple of very
mischievous donkeys with Houdini complexes. They give the heroine grief and laughter in equal quantities, and some of the scenes were huge fun to write. There’s also Miss Muffet - or Muffy as
she’s known - Em’s beloved collie, who was inspired by my own darling late dog Cooch. She’s such a sweetie with her wide doggy grins and tail-wagging joy. Then there’s Chelsea, the super-speedy
Indian runner duck, Lod the horse who has seen everything, and several chooks, including one called Miss Buddha for her ability to sit in the same spot for hours, brooding. A veritable menagerie
of humanised animals.
It’s heart-warming to have pets as characters. They add that extra bit of colour and
lightness to what can sometimes be intense, emotional stories. Which is exactly what our darling pets do in our lives. So I say anthropomorphise away, in life and in fiction. As long as we do it
with kindness and caring, we’ll all get along just fine.
Rocking Horse Hill is a moving family drama and passionate love story from the author of Heartland.
Ever since she was a little girl, Emily Wallace-Jones has loved Rocking Horse Hill. The beautiful
family property is steeped in history. Everything important in Em's life has happened there. And even though Em's brother Digby has inherited the property, he has promised Em it will be her home
for as long as she wishes.
When Digby falls in love with sweet Felicity Townsend, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Em
worries about the future. But she is determined not to treat Felicity with the same teenage snobbery that tore apart her relationship with her first love, Josh Sinclair. A man who has now
sauntered sexily back into Em's life and given her a chance for redemption.
But as Felicity settles in, the once tightly knitted Wallace-Jones family begins to fray. Suspicions
are raised, Josh voices his distrust, and even Em's closest friends question where Felicity's motives lie. Conflicted but determined to make up for the damage caused by her past prejudices, Em
sides with her brother and his fiancée until a near tragedy sets in motion a chain of events that will change the family forever.
Cathryn Hein was born in South Australia’s rural south-east. With three generations of
jockeys in the family it was little wonder she grew up horse mad, finally obtaining her first horse at age 10. So began years of pony club, eventing, dressage and showjumping until university
beckoned.
Armed with a shiny Bachelor of Applied Science (Agriculture) from Roseworthy College she moved to
Melbourne and later Newcastle, working in the agricultural and turf seeds industry. Her partner’s posting to France took Cathryn overseas for three years in Provence where she finally gave in to
her life-long desire to write. Her short fiction has been recognised in numerous contests, and published in Woman’s Day.
Cathryn’s first three novels, Promises, Heart of the Valley and Heartland were finalists in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Australian Romance Readers Awards.
Rocking Horse Hill is her fourth rural romance novel. In September she will release The French Prize,
her first romantic adventure story.
Cathryn currently lives at the base of the Blue Mountains in Sydney’s far west with her partner of many
years, Jim. When she’s not writing, she plays golf (ineptly), cooks (well), and in football season barracks (rowdily) for her beloved Sydney Swans AFL team.
If you’d like to learn more about Cathryn’s books, please visit her website.
You can also connect through Facebook, Twitter using
@CathrynHein and Google+.
May 5, 2014
A big rural welcome to ... Rocking Horse Hill author Cathryn Hein.
I'm so thrilled to have the lovely Cathryn Hein visit today and to talk about the menagerie of animals who star in her latest
rural. No matter where people live, city or country, beach or bush, animals have a special place in people's hearts.
Getting Animal
Anthropomorphise:
1. to ascribe human for or attributes to. 2. to ascribe human form
or attributes to an animal, a god, etc. Macquarie Concise Dictionary, 4th ed.
Do you do this with your pets?
So many of us do. We can’t seem to help it even though, intellectually, we probably
understand that it’s a bit daft. I mean, our pets are a totally different species, aren’t they? Your dog knows perfectly well he or she’s a dog. Your average cat, rabbit, budgie, horse, rat,
pot-bellied pig or any other animal doesn’t suffer identity issues either. It’s only us that thinks our pets imagine themselves human, and give them human thoughts, personalities and
motivations.
Think about it. That’d be the same as our pets thinking we considered ourselves dogs or cats or rabbits whenever we did something remotely characteristic of one. Sure, I’ve occasionally thought myself an ass but
only ever in metaphorical terms. Pretty certain I’ve never defined myself as canine or any other creature whenever I’ve relieved an itch on my arm with my teeth or rolled over to have my belly
stroked. So why should we do this to animals?
Because it’s fun!
And a way of further wrapping our beloved pets into our lives. A sweet but perhaps
misguided way of showing love, and I’m as guilty of doing it as anyone.
I’m a hopeless anthropomorphist in my books. Every animal, from dogs to ducks, end up
with a some sort of human personality. I know that for realism I probably shouldn’t but, stuff it, it’s fiction and it’s my story, and if I want to make a horse drop its bottom lip and turn it’s
bum in a infantile sulk I will.
My latest rural romance Rocking Horse Hill has some wonderful animal characters. The stars this time around are a couple of very
mischievous donkeys with Houdini complexes. They give the heroine grief and laughter in equal quantities, and some of the scenes were huge fun to write. There’s also Miss Muffet - or Muffy as
she’s known - Em’s beloved collie, who was inspired by my own darling late dog Cooch. She’s such a sweetie with her wide doggy grins and tail-wagging joy. Then there’s Chelsea, the super-speedy
Indian runner duck, Lod the horse who has seen everything, and several chooks, including one called Miss Buddha for her ability to sit in the same spot for hours, brooding. A veritable menagerie
of humanised animals.
It’s heart-warming to have pets as characters. They add that extra bit of colour and
lightness to what can sometimes be intense, emotional stories. Which is exactly what our darling pets do in our lives. So I say anthropomorphise away, in life and in fiction. As long as we do it
with kindness and caring, we’ll all get along just fine.
Rocking Horse Hill is a moving family drama and passionate love story from the author of Heartland.
Ever since she was a little girl, Emily Wallace-Jones has loved Rocking Horse Hill. The beautiful
family property is steeped in history. Everything important in Em's life has happened there. And even though Em's brother Digby has inherited the property, he has promised Em it will be her home
for as long as she wishes.
When Digby falls in love with sweet Felicity Townsend, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, Em
worries about the future. But she is determined not to treat Felicity with the same teenage snobbery that tore apart her relationship with her first love, Josh Sinclair. A man who has now
sauntered sexily back into Em's life and given her a chance for redemption.
But as Felicity settles in, the once tightly knitted Wallace-Jones family begins to fray. Suspicions
are raised, Josh voices his distrust, and even Em's closest friends question where Felicity's motives lie. Conflicted but determined to make up for the damage caused by her past prejudices, Em
sides with her brother and his fiancée until a near tragedy sets in motion a chain of events that will change the family forever.
Cathryn Hein was born in South Australia’s rural south-east. With three generations of
jockeys in the family it was little wonder she grew up horse mad, finally obtaining her first horse at age 10. So began years of pony club, eventing, dressage and showjumping until university
beckoned.
Armed with a shiny Bachelor of Applied Science (Agriculture) from Roseworthy College she moved to
Melbourne and later Newcastle, working in the agricultural and turf seeds industry. Her partner’s posting to France took Cathryn overseas for three years in Provence where she finally gave in to
her life-long desire to write. Her short fiction has been recognised in numerous contests, and published in Woman’s Day.
Cathryn’s first three novels, Promises, Heart of the Valley and Heartland were finalists in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Australian Romance Readers Awards.
Rocking Horse Hill is her fourth rural romance novel. In September she will release The French Prize,
her first romantic adventure story.
Cathryn currently lives at the base of the Blue Mountains in Sydney’s far west with her partner of many
years, Jim. When she’s not writing, she plays golf (ineptly), cooks (well), and in football season barracks (rowdily) for her beloved Sydney Swans AFL team.
If you’d like to learn more about Cathryn’s books, please visit her website.
You can also connect through Facebook, Twitter using
@CathrynHein and Google+.
