meet caleb

Now for all of you out there who have read this month's Sexy Sensation THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL, Caleb's story will be out and about in the UK in October and in North America in November.

And here's his cover! Love love love love love it. It's peeeerfect for the story. And did I mention how much I love it????

Caleb Gilchrist is a baaaaad boy. The baaaddest I've ever written to be sure. He's such a lad, a cad, a cheeky fella he had me downright worried when I decided I had to tell his story as I truly wondered if such a baaaaad boy could ever mend his ways.

The moment he thought he spotted a familiar brunette within a crowd of people I realised in a heart beat why he was so baaaad in the first place and the rest was a breeze!

You can meet gorgeous, and baaad Caleb in THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL (out in North America in September) and then get to see a whole lot more of him in A NIGHT WITH THE SOCIETY PLAYBOY.

the reviews just keep on coming!

Today I received the latest in a blush-inducingly long line of nice reader emails from people who've loved my current Aussie release, Sexy Sensation THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL. Which has really been such good timing, really, as I have just begun to tackle my next in the same line.

Here are some of the truly lovely things people have had to say:

5 stars, CataRomance
"Flirty and totally funny The Magnate’s Indecent Proposal will leave readers smiling and thoroughly entertained by its characters. Ms. Blake has penned an extraordinary story."

Heidi Rice, RITA nominated Romance Author
"Absolutely loved it. Phone sex, restaurant sex, dog shampoos and a really hot hero. What's not to like, right."

Joanne, Reader
"I just finished The Magnate's Indecent Proposal and I loved it! yep, it was great!! Loved the sizzling story line; the heat between the H&H almost burned up the pages."

Timna, Reader
"I read your latest book in one sitting – how addicted am I?"

Monique, Reader
"I just finished reading "The Magnate's Indecent Proposal" and I thought it was fantastic! I have to say it was the funniest romance novel I have ever read - and I've read quite a few over the years! If you add such warmth and humour to all your books, I can only imagine they'd be just as good as the one I just read.Thanks again for a great read!"

Ain't they sweet?

my name is ally, and...

...I'm totally addicted to the High School Musical movies. There, I've admitted it.

I'm admittedly a tad older than the target audience for such flicks. The fact that the first two were made for the Disney Channel is a bit of a giveaway there. But even so, I wonder, how can a gal not love such sweet, fun, romping romances?

Now here are the reasons why...

Well, duh, it's a romance! Gorgeous jock falls for smart girl. Can that combo ever get old? Uh, nope!!!

Umm, Zac Efron. Google Zac Efron and you get a run down of fan sites that boggles the mind. If I was 16 I'd have posters of him all over my bedroom walls to be sure! The kid's too cute for words.

It's the Strictly Ballroom, Full Monty, Grease, Dirty Dancing phenomenen. Sticka musical number at the end of a movie and you cannot go wrong. Have the audience daicing in the aisles on their way out the cinema door and their lasting memory will be one of joy. Seriously, I reckon you could make a shoot 'em up action movie, finish with a dance number and I'd love it!

Kenny Ortega - the director & choreographer. He choreographed Dirty Dancing, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Xanadu and directed Newsies (an early Christian Bale musical flick - fabulous!!!), and Gilmore Girls. In my humble opinion he can do no wrong.

The third movie is coming out at the cinemas in October. I have friends with preteen girls who'll be going along. And now that I have a daughter, I'll have an excuse to join 'em.

Go Wildcats!

can alpha males have soft squishy sides?

Head on over to the Modern Heat blog to find out whether Modern Heat authors think that the uber-sexy, hot, yummy, powerful Alpha male heroes in their books can in fact have soft squishy sides.

We'll be there all month, so come along and let us know your 2 cents as well!

http://sensationalromance.blogspot.com/

happy birthday to me!

Where has 2008 gone??? Perhaps I can ask my new Tom Tom GPS system I got as a pressie from my clever hubby - it seems to know everything else!!!

I'm heading off to watch my hubby do his stuff today - he works for his favourite footy team - so will use my new Tom Tom, to get there. Will be too much fun! Especially with the lovely, deep, sexy Aussie "Ken" voice leading the way ;).

oops...

It's 6 days into July and I completely forgot to hurrah about the release of my third Sexy Sensation THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL in Australia and New Zealand! Must have been the heavenly scent of too much new paper on my desk that had me in a daze.

So...

THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL

is out now in Australia and New Zealand!!!

There. Done. Phew!

If you want to see why people have called it "flirty and totally funny", "really hot", "sizzling" and "addictive", well then you're just gonna have to read it for yourself!!!

Grab a copy in any good bookstore in Aus/NZ, online in the UK, or if you're in North America it's a coming your way in October!

happy new year!

Today is the first day of July!!!

In Australia that's the start of a new financial year. And since I am a complete and utter addict when it comes to all things paper (coloured paper, post-it notes, filling out any kind of paperwork, forms, tax returns - seriously!) then I'm in heaven.

Today I get to open my beautiful new red leather 08/09 day to a page diary and pretend like it's going to help me be more organised. To keep my to-do-lists in one place, not on scrap paper all over the house. To keep track of my writing targets each day. To make story notes that don't end up in the back pocket of my jeans and through the wash. To get my Pink Heart Society posts up to date weeks in advance...

And to take a deep breath and leap into a brand new story, this one lovingly entitled The Cat's Pyjamas. Meg and Hamish...here I come!

prepare to feel warm and cosy

Had to come on to say that the loooovely Barbara Hannay recently gave me a huuuuge honour in asking me to design her new website.

Well, today it's up and loaded - woohoo! - so please do head on over and have a trawl. The colours and the cosy feel were all her brilliant idea and I think it feels like having a coffee reading the paper on a warm sunny morning. Which is really how I feel when reading her gorgeous books as well.

Barb has some of the most fantastic writing articles in the biz, and her books truly are a dream as well, so have a read of some excerpts and get thee to Amazon now!!!

www.barbarahannay.com

okay, this is getting ridiculous

I've written a fairy dust book once before. FALLING FOR THE REBEL HEIR was filled with fairies, and wood nymphs and memories and ghosts and even a mermaid. But the book I've just finished - YIPPEE! - seems to have overtaken that one in terms of the amount of input my muse has had without my knowing.

A couple of posts back I waxed lyrical on some of the magic monets that have slammed me back into my chair over the past weeks. Today I had another.

My heroine is an astronomer. And my hero quotes Shakespeare a handful of times without quite ever remembering who he's quoting.

Now I did know Rosalind was a character from As You Like It, but the Shakespeare quotes have appeared from nowhere. Sorry Muse, oh Muse. They came by way of you oh mighty Muse. But today when I went googling the name just for the fun of it, the first page that popped up on my screen told me that Rosalind is the name of the eighth moon of Uranus. Sheesh!!!

This book is running late, but now I know why. I was meant to discover the trillion little throughlines and impossibilites that have been put into the book wihtout any forethought from me. Why? It's all about the fairy dust, my friends. The fairy dust.

all I need is a good googa-wiki

Stuff I've Googled and wikipedia'd in the last handful of days for my book:

· Josh Duhamel

· Edwardian architecture

· barbeque calamari (

· Joanne Woodward

· refractor vs reflector telescopes

· Mexican food

· ballroom balcony

· moonscapes

· ah, Josh Duhamel

· rendered brick façade

· rhubarb and apple pie

· Pemberley

· ghost gums

· Mischa Barton ugh boots

· And did I mention Josh Duhamel?

The things we do for our work ;).

more magic abounds

Today in skies over Israel and the Middle East, Venus, the pet subject of my current heroine was eclipsed by the moon.

Venus is otherwise known as the Morning Star, or at other times of the year the Evening Star as while the other planets wait for dark to come out and play, she hovers in our sky either side of daybreak or sunset.

Therefore this morning so many lucky souls on the other side of the planet were able to see this phenomenon in broad daylight.

I, on the other hand, glued to my computer finishing this book, have been drooling over photography such as this.

Heavenly... Literally ;).

the muse speaketh

As of tonight I must admit the book I am currently deep into writing was officially NOT written by me. From now on in I bow to my Muse. For there have been far far too many freaky moments writing this book I now officially believe that he really does exist.

Take the fact that my hero’s name is Cameron Kelly. A couple of weeks back I needed a name for his old school so went looking for the name of a catholic saint to find there were hundreds to choose from. Deciding to simply pick a name I liked the sound of St Grellans it was. At the last minute I thought I'd better wikipedia St Grellan to see what he was about. Guess what? He was the Patron Saint of the Kelly clan.

Colour me gobsmacked.

Then tonight I needed Cameron to compare Rosalind with an old painting. Botticelli came to mind as he evoked images of beautiful women with pale skin, and soft flowing golden locks which is what my Rosie is all about. When I found his most famous painting, you know the lady in the clam shell, it looked so much like Rosie I thought, ‘That’s the one!’ The paintings name? The Birth of Venus. My heroine’s occupation? She’s an astronomer whose speciality is...you guessed it. Venus.

Well...pe...che...yuh huh!