Ally Blake Romance Author - Blog

Latest news from Australian romance author Ally Blake, writer of fun, fresh flirty romance novels.

Sunday 30 September 2007

herbert the splodge

I'd like you to meet Herbert. You can see a face in the splodge right? Well here's how our new householod member Herbert came to be...

We are in the process of pulling apart our house right now in preparation of the soon to be arriving baby. Carpet is being torn up, glossy white trim painted around all the doorframes, windows, on all the doors, and edges of the walls top and bottom.

The house is a mess and I love it! It feels like progress is being made!

And it’s especially fun because the old carpet is being replaced in a week so we haven’t put down any drop cloths as dripping paint isn’t a worry. That said, my hubby had an incident last night whereby he was giving the glossy white paint tin a little shake. The lid exploded off with a huge bang and paint went everywhere.

Normally this would send me into hysterics. But it was just so funny, seeing the poor fella sitting on the floor with half a tin of paint making a big wet white circle on the carpet. Named Herbert, by him. I'm not sure if I can blame the paint fumes or the fact that the poor guy isn't getting a moment to himself without me asking, "So what are you going to paint next? Huh? Huh?"

So this, my friends, is currently the baby's room. Nice huh?

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what a load of free books!!!

Okay now chickadees, this is your big chance...

Today is the last day of the Pink Heart Society's birthday month, so we are giving away a huuuuuuuge selection of books as part of the Treasure Hunt that has been going all this month.

Head on opver to the blog this weekend to find out how you can win yourself more books than you ever imagined inundating your mailbox. In fact, maybe you should go out and invest in a bigger mailbox right now!!!

This prize is open to anyone with an email, so go on and give it a go!!! You have to be in it to win it!!!

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Friday 28 September 2007

i'm speechless!

But that doesn't mean I can't write up a storm ;). 'Cause I've had some lovely news that my October Harlequin Romance, MILLIONAIRE TO THE RESCUE - which hits bookshelves in North America and the UK in three short days - has has some fantastic reviews!!!

Firstly, the respected
Romantic Times BOOKclub have given me my first ever four and a half star review. They said: "Ally Blake's Millionaire to the Rescue (4.5) has a solid plot with a built-in conflict and features two well-handled characters with a lot of chemistry."

And then
CataRomance went and blessed me with a 5 star review!!! Amongst other gorgeous things they said: "Millionaire to the Rescue is a beautifully written story of an unrequited love finally coming true after so many years. I enjoyed all of the characters in this book, they were so larger than life that it was like I knew them all personally. Danny and Brooke were the quintessential star crossed lovers... Overall my experience with this book had me laughing, crying and enjoying each and every second of it."

This was especially special as this was a hell of a book to write. My first ever done with the help of a collage. Struggling with the single mother heroine's tricky backstory. And having to completely change the hero mid-book as he was just being far too difficult. But when I read the proof edits it made me cry. And by the looks of it, it touched the lovely RT and Cata reviewers as well, which is such a pleasure. La di dah!!!

On a side note this is the book I dedicated to my Collingwood Magpies who missed out on playing in this weekend's footy Grand Final by a measly 6 points. Love you still boys!!!

Harlequin Romance, Mills and Boon Romance October 2007
Sweet Romance Aus/NZ December 07
Available now online!!! @ eHarlequin NA & @ Mills and Boon UK
Read an excerpt here!

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Wednesday 26 September 2007

what's in store?

I had my second last antenatal class at the hospital last night.

And while I was all emotional a dozen times over watching babies being born on the telly, I think one more is one class too many for my poor hubby who is still reeling from the pictures, videos, language, graphs, diagrams he's had to endure over the past month ;)

Anyhoo, we ended up with a tour of the maternity ward which was lovely, seeing some bubs in the nursery and checking out the swish double bedrooms with the nice big bathrooms. I could stand staying there a few nights, easy.

Then as we waited in a hallway to see into another room, a gorgeous twentysomething blonde girl came walking down the hall towards us with a widwife. She had a neat little belly on her so I assumed she was having a private tour, or visiting a friend. But no. She had only just had a baby herself!!!!

"Four hour labour," the midwife said as they slowly shuffled past, the blonde blushing prettily and looking adorable in her cute stappy royal blue fitted nighty, hair out, brushed and neat. "And no epidural."

And then came hubby, hero handsome, decked out in jeans, a double layered long sleeved T, a cool cap over his slightly too long hair, wheeling his newborn son wrapped in layers of soft white swaddling. He spied the dozen odd couples, feamles all heavily pregnant wathcing him wide-eyed. A huge, mesmerised, shocked grin spread across his face as he said, "It's really amazing."

Tears welled, I tell ya. It was really moving. Giving us a glimpse into what's in store.

But mostly I wanna know, what do hubby and I have to do to look as good as they did an hour after I've had this Scamp of mine???

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Monday 24 September 2007

heroes

This week on the Pink Heart Society loop we're talking heroes. The current question being: "Do you have a favorite type of hero? There are so many different hero occupations that readers love: Tycoons, warriors, cowboys, doctors--do you have a favorite career or occupation for a hero? Or is there one or more that always grabs your interest?"

My answer? I have a thing for guys in suits.

It's the one thing I love most about the few times I actually go into the city itself - the hordes, and hordes, of men in suits. The slick hair, the shiny shoes, the neat tailoring, barking into their mobile phones, Masters of the Universe. Mmmm... And then when you have a guy in a suit as a hero and we get to see him in jeans and a t-shirt for the first time, well that's a turning point for any relationship right?

Above is my current hero; the charming, guarded, and delectable Mitch Hanover. Mitch is the epitome of a guy in a suit. From family money he now runs the hundred year old family business from a corner office in the city. His collars are pressed, his ties discreet and neutral, his shoes scratch free. Sound in need of a little ruffling? I think he does! Though so far my heroine Veronica has not seen him in jeans and a t-shirt. That, my friends, may make all the difference!

Do you think me shallow?

Well to make up for it, I'm going to give a man some clothes. In celebration of the Pink Heart Society's 1st birthday we are running a treasure hunt!!! So head on over to the Pink Heart Society blogazine and follow the links for each day of Septmeber and at the end of the month you can win a huuuuge prize as donated by category romance authors the world over!

My pressie for the Lil' Pink Dancing Guy is a pair of super soft pink bedsocks. After all that jumping all day I thought he might like something warm and soft to ease his tired feet ;).

Now head on back the Pink Heart Society for Annie West's Male on Monday slot about a yummilicious hero of the old school!

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Friday 21 September 2007

aaawwww...

Here's my Aussie cover for my lates Modern Extra novel, STEAMY SURRENDER. Out now in the UK and in Aus/NZ come November.
Also... The lovely Sheryl at Cataromance just let me know that she gave the book a 4.5 star review!!! Here's what she said:

"Within the first ten pages of Steamy Surrender you are given a glimpse of the highly passionate, humorous and tender relationship between Morgan and Saxon, one that will have any reader hankering for more. The relationship between Saxon and Morgan is explosive, with each trying to outsmart and sometimes even seduce the other into giving up in their game of wit and strategy. I also loved how both these characters are written as down to earth but also intelligent people, people who have their own demons to bear. Ms Blake is a talented author who never fails to give me a fantastic story to read as she has done with Steamy Surrender."
Isn't that lovely?

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Thursday 20 September 2007

happy wedding anniversary to me!!!

Seven years ago today I was in Las Vegas I was eating a fabulous salad from the Luxor, downing leftover danish's I'd nicked from the buffet the day before and drinking champagne for breakfast.

Seven years... Boy does time fly. That said, my bub is due in just over six weeks. Lordy me. Anyone have a time machine so I can make things slow down for just a bit?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Also, the lovely Jenna Bayley Burke just informed me that my BILLIONAIRE ON HER DOORSTEP is now part of a big sale at eHarlequin!!! You can pick up a copy there for...wait for it... 48c! I know, I should be gobsmacked, but I get paid royalties on the cover price, not the sale price thank goodness, so if you haven't read it, do go out and grab a copy today!!!
Liz Fielding said: "One of my favourite books was Ally Blake's, Billionaire on Her Doorstep. When you've written (and read) as many Romances as I have, you think there's nothing new. It's not true of course, but maybe one gets a little jaded. And then you pick up a book like Billionaire, with a quirky heroine who's searching for herself, a group of terrific, off the wall friends that you'd love to have yourself, and a hero to die for. Oh and the gorgeous setting along the Australian coast just made me long to be there...Treat yourself. "

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Tuesday 18 September 2007

the world beneath my feet

Yesterday we selected new carpet for the whole house and flooring for our semi-new kitchen.

It was my dream when I was little that when I grew up, and lived in a castle of course, the great halls would have black and white tiled floors, just like the one on the left. Isn't that just gorgeous??? And I gave Hud, the hero in my upcoming FALLING FOR THE REBEL HEIR, such floors in the final scene of the book which I thought added a whole other level of romance to the piece, though I doubt anyone else would pick up the significance ;).

I had great hopes it would suit our kitchen and when the lovely guy came out with samples I found one I adored and hubby liked too and in ... the piccie on the right looks nothing like my kitchen but this will be my new floor!!!
Oh and we picked out carpet too, but that was far less exciting ;). Especially when you consider in three weeks time we somehow have to clear out the whole house of furniture, pull up the old carpet and get the furniture back in. And by "we" I mean my poor hubby as I'm fairly useless right now.

Anyone free to help lift heavy thing three weeks last Sunday? We can put on lunch to compensate, that is if we can get into the kitchen!

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Saturday 15 September 2007

another day, another adventure

Last night my footy team, the Collingwood Magpies, played in their second elimination final in a row - meaning they lose they're gone, they win they go on another week heading towards the Grand Final at the end of
September.

This time they played on the West Coast, over on the other side of the country so we watched on telly which a couple of friends. Our hopes were about 50/50 as it was at a ground they haven't won at since 1994, against the team who won last year's Grand Final. The game was tough, hard, close, ending in a DRAW!!! So we then had to brace ourselves, collect our wits, calm ourselves, rub our tummies, well I rubbed mine a lot telling bub to calm down!, and prepare for overtime.

And WE WON!!!!!! I tell ya, the match was so exciting we had phone calls and text mesages from friends and family and faint acquaintances from all over the country at 11:30 at night!!! No wonder I dedicated my October Harlequin Romance, MILLIONAIRE TO THE RESCUE, to the team ;).
Now we just have to go ahead and do it all again next week. Heaven help me...

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Friday 14 September 2007

sold!

To top off one heck of a week, I've sold my fifteenth novel for Harlequin Mills and Boon, and boy am I celebrating!!!

After a fantabulous night out with Anne Gracie and a bunch of lovely, interested souls at the Victorian Writers Centre - talking about writing, selling, and marketing a romance novel - I came home to the lovely news from my equally lovely editor.

THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGER (w/t), my third Modern Extra, is currently nameless and I'm not sure when it will be released, but I'm so pleased it's found a happy home. After changing the heroine with a week to go before deadline, and two sets of revisions, I'm really proud of this book.
And I have the feeling my editor is a little bit in love with the hero, Damien, herself the number of times she's used the word "gorgeous" about him ;).

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Thursday 13 September 2007

eharlequin blog bash

Head on over to eHarlequin today where I'm taking part in the month long BLOG BASH where I, and many other Harlequin authors, answer the question: "What Keeps You Writing?"

Is it money? Is it to appease the voices in our heads? Is it because we can't imagine doing anything else? You'll never never know if you never never go ;).

from 1st September to 28th September

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Monday 10 September 2007

what a weekend!

First, on Friday, my little sister had a baby. Scroll down to see a picture of the darling little man, my nephew Rory. Boy does that sound lovely to be able to say!

Then on Saturday my football team, the heavenly Collingwood Magpies, won their first elimination final to make it through to the second week of the AFL finals. A ripper of a game it was. Tough, no holds barred, skilled. And as usual the bub came out dancing when their song was played!

And Sunday was my very last day at my "day" job which I continued working at since I sold my first book four years ago. It was such a fun day - I was given pressies, biccies were made for me, and I received the huuuuugest bunch of pink roses. Soooo sweet. I got lots of hugs and kisses, there were a few tears even though I know I'll be seeing the girls there lots as I've made some gorgeous friends there over the years.

And when I left I wasn't sure how I'd feel, having worked for the lovely company for over 6 years. But you know what? I floated all the way home with a huge grin on my face. For today the next phase of my life truly begins. Less than eight weeks until the Scamp comes a knocking. Wow...

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Saturday 8 September 2007

sagging middles

No, this has nothing to do with my baby belly which is in fact soooo huge now I can't believe I'm actually still able to walk upright!

Today I am blogging at the Pink Heart Society with loads of advice for those of you out there trying to write your first book. We have run a series of posts this year in conjunction with many of our readers' efforts to Finish the Damn Book! So if you want to know how I go about creating Motifs and reviving Sagging Middles, then head on over to the Pink Heart Society.

For more great advice from a multitude of published authors, click on the FinDaBoo link at the bottom of the PHS post. Or head on over to my Writing Tips pages on my website were you can find articles about:

hero inspiration ~ heroine inspiration
do they look in your mind as they did in mine?

getting in the mood...to write
as seen in Hearts Talk, February 2007

frequently asked dinner party questions
as seen at the Lilydale and Wheelers Hill libraries, February 2007

sexy vs sweet - the ultimate showdown
as seen at the Romance Writers of Australia conference, August 2006

the changing face of romance fiction
as seen at the Williamstown Literary Festival, May 2006

eHarlequin blog
as seen on
eHarlequin, April 2006

pressure, pitfalls, and procrastination
or, how one girl became a published author

you love writing more than life itself?
then be enthusiastic!

inspiration is all around
you just have to be prepared to look for it

it's all in the details
writing what you know, and if you don't know - learn!

I'm also doing a talk about writing, selling and promoting romance at the Victorian Writers Centre on the 13th, so if you live in Melbourne and would like to ask a bunchy of questions of a couple of gals who've been there and done that, come along!

When: Thursday 13/9 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: Victorian Writers Centre 1st floor, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston St Melbourne (03) 9654 9068
Cost: Non-member $25 VWC Members $15/$12 VWC conc.

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Friday 7 September 2007

i'm an auntie!!!

Boy oh boy was today some day.

After finding out my little sister had gone into labour at 6:30 last night I've been beside myself with excitement, worry, nerves, delerium, exhaustion... Especially when she lives two states away.

Until the news came through that my nephew, Rory Blake Hilton - how gorgeous is that? - was born at 12:45pm after 18 odd hours labour! 8 pounds 8. Phew! I'm exhausted so I can't imagine how tired Suze is!

This is the first piccie I've seen taken on his dad's mobile phone. Can't wait to meet him!!!!!!!!! Though I think everyone should have thought of me far more during the whole process - the poor stressed pregnant sister at home waiting by the phone ALL day ;).

La-di-dah. Off to float some more...

Tuesday 4 September 2007

melting moments

I forgot to tell y'all that this month sees the release of my second Modern Extra as STEAMY SURRENDER hits bookshelves in the UK! But though the cover makes the book seem all warm and beachy this is most definitely a story all about melting. Melting gelati, melting snow, melting limbs, melting hearts.

Here's a taste test to see if it' has the romantic flavour you prefer...

‘We’re actually closed.’

‘I saw the sign.’ Morgan motioned towards the front door with a hand that held a cup of coffee from a nearby competitor. Cheeky little so and so.

Saxon ignored it for the moment and leant against the wall. ‘But still you just had to have a shot of Lime gelato. I get that. When the craving takes you...’

Her eyes flickered to glimpses of shiny glass at the far end of the room as though she had forgotten they were even there. ‘Ah, no. I came to see you.’

‘Well that’s flattering to be sure, especially when compared with the standard of my gelato. Maybe you should try some. Make the comparison honest. That way I can be sure you’re really into me for me.’

‘I’m not into you, Saxon,’ she said, though her eyes shifted away from his right at the last moment, ‘I just need to talk.’

‘We’ll see.’ He took her by the hand, tucking it beneath his arm as he shepherded her through the crowd to the counter where Trisha was manning the scoop, handing out mounds of chilled heaven to the kids.

He snagged the coffee cup from Morgan’s hand and threw it into a bin behind the counter.

‘Hey. I wasn’t done with that,’ she said, bending over the counter so far he thought she might follow it in. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to safety, which happened to bring her flush against him, her hands flat against his chest.

She blinked up at him, and he stared down at her.

‘Oh yeah you were,’ he said.

Again she smelt of black cherries; tart and sweet all at once. And again, just like that, he was spellbound. It seemed eating dinner alone, followed by a cold shower and a lonely night in his big bed hadn’t cooled his attraction to the woman one bit.

When she began to unconsciously melt against him he felt things stirring down below that he didn’t think entirely appropriate for the venue. He gently set her aside and spun her to face the gelato, but he kept his hand resting lightly against her back, marking his place.

‘Now which one takes your fancy?’ he asked. ‘Chocolate? No, that’s far too common. Strawberry? Nah, too sweet for the kind of person who purposely brings another man’s coffee into my house. Hazelnut?’

She screwed up her nose.

‘No? A woman who doesn’t like hazelnut. Aren’t you just one in a million?’

‘Aren’t I just. Now Saxon, can we please just – ‘

‘No. Choose. Taste. Then we talk.’

‘Fine! If that’s what it will take.’ She turned back to peruse the colourful array without any discernible interest. It really was the dandiest thing. He supplied something women the world over would kill to get their hands on, but this woman didn’t give a hoot. Conversely it only made him want her more.


Modern Extra ~ out now in the UK!
Sexy Sensation ~ Australia & New Zealand November 07
Check out more behind the scenes stuff on my website

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Monday 3 September 2007

the Hugh Jackman tour

The Pink Heart Society, the blog I edit along with cyber friends Jenna Bayley Burke, Nicola Marsh, Natasha Oakley and Trish Wylie has turned one year old!!!

And as part of our celebrations we are stepping back in time. Our first ever Male on Monday (a spot where we introduce potential hero material to our loyal band of merry readers) was dedicated to the one and only Hugh Jackman. He even became a bit of a mascot for us with world wide celebrations happening spontaneously the world over on his birthday.

Hence today we are taking a Hugh Jackman tour. Pink Heart Society members are today posting heir favourite Hugh Jackman piccie on their blogs for you to feast upon.

I couldn't stop at just one. On the right here we have Hugh as Dean, a secondary character in my fourth book HOW TO MARRY A BILLIONAIRE. And above I have a piccie I adore which one day I WILL use as a hero. I simply haven't found him the right girl as yet ;).

To check out who else is joining in the fun, click on the comments box at the bottom of today's Male on Monday post at the Pink Heart Society, then warm up your mouse fingers as you delight in the man called Hugh.

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