Jan 13, 2014

New Year, New Book and a few New Nominations


Happy New Year!!!

ARRA Awards
The year is still shiny and new and already exciting things are happening.  

A couple of our lovely Cats have been nominated in the Favourite Short Category Romance category of the 2013 Australian Romance Readers Awards. Amy Andrews features twice with Driving Her Crazy and The Girl Least Likely to MarryAlso nominated are Annie West’s Imprisoned by a Vow and Michelle Douglas’ The Redemption of Rico D’Angelo. And it was a huge shock and absolute delight that I discovered The Love Deception is also nominated. Just to be in a finals list with such incredible authors is an unbelievable thrill.
 


Amy also blitzed other categories including a nomination for Holding Out for a Hero in Favourite Contemporary Romance. Amy’s fabulous hero Jake Prince from Holding Out for a Hero is nominated in The Sexiest Hero category and Amy’s also up for Favourite Australian Romance Author 2013. So wonderful, Amy!

The Billionaire’s Pursuit of Love
My new release, The Billionaire’s Pursuit of Love, is out this week. I love this story and cried a couple of time while writing it, so I hope I’ve been able to capture that emotion on the page.  The story features wildlife warrior Sarah Walker and international technology guru Blake Huntington-Fiennes. The premise is…

When Sarah Walker's beloved wildlife sanctuary is threatened with closure, she heads for London and goes straight to the top to find out why. But the man responsible is the one man she's never forgotten, and the only person who can destroy all her happiness.
Billionaire CEO Blake Huntington-Fiennes can't believe that the girl he's spent years searching for has just marched into his boardroom. And this time, he's willing to resort to any means necessary to keep her. But Sarah has a secret she must protect at all costs or risk losing something even more precious than the sanctuary…

Excerpt
Blake and Sarah have just finished dinner at the luxury Dorchester restaurant in London. They’re seated at a special private table, surrounded by an oval wall of lights. Sarah has a secret and she has to escape Blake’s charms to keep it...

‘Blake . . .’ He took his name from her lips with a kiss. She softened under his touch. She wanted this, too. God, he had to have her.

She dragged her lips from his. ‘People will see.’

‘I don’t give a damn.’ He found her mouth again. She tasted of chocolate and strawberries. Of hot passion and erotic promise.

‘Let’s get out of here.’ He pulled her towards the wall of light. He’d book the penthouse suite.

‘No.’ She wrenched herself from his grip and slipped through the luminous curtain.

He flung the lights aside and strode after her.

‘Put this on my tab,’ Blake ordered the maître d’ and followed her out onto the street. Sarah stood hailing a cab.

‘Running again?’ he said.

‘You were the one who ran. Disappeared. Vanished from the face of the earth.’ Her red-hot anger hit him with surprising force.

‘I think we’ve established that I didn’t.’

‘No. You denied it. That doesn’t make it true.’

A black cab pulled up and Sarah opened the door. ‘I have to go. Goodbye, Blake.’

Hell, were those tears in her eyes? The cartilage between his ribs felt as though it had fused solid. He grabbed the door of the taxi. ‘Stay with me.’ The passion in his voice scared him. He cared too much.

‘Blake, that time is gone. I can’t . . . Please . . .’

The tone of her voice told him everything. She’d known that passion, deep enough to transport you to a place so heavenly that without it, life was forever grey and lifeless and desolate.

He caught her about the waist and drew her hard against his body. His pulse flared and smashed away every rational thought. He slid his other hand up the back of her neck and claimed her mouth. Her lips were as warm and lush as a tropical afternoon. He kissed her, hoping all the words he wanted to say were there in his kiss. All the time they had wasted could be washed away. They could relive their hot passion. He wanted her. Now. Now. Now.

She slid her hands onto his chest and pushed.

‘No, Blake. We can’t . . .’

‘Why the hell not?’ He hadn’t meant to sound so callous.

‘Because . . . Because . . .’

She yanked free, climbed into the taxi and slammed the door shut.

The cab pulled into the traffic. Sarah turned and watched him until the taxi rounded the corner.

Blake stared at the spot where the cab had disappeared. His blood pumped hot and fast. Sarah had no idea who she was dealing with if she imagined she could just evaporate.

I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. The Billionaire’s Pursuit of Love is available now from Amazon, iTunes, GoogleDestiny Romance and Penguin.

12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful start to the year, Jen! Congratulations on the ARRA Award nomination and congrats on the new release -- so exciting!

    Fab excerpt -- am looking forward to finding out how Blake and Sarah solve their differences. And I'm not holding out much hope that Sarah is going to be able to resist Blake for much longer. :-)

    P.S. Love the Dorchester! (spent my honeymoon night there. Happy sighs.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How lovely that you spent your honeymoon at the Dorchester, Michelle!! Did they have 'Table Lumière' there when you visited? The table that's surrounded by 4,500 shimmering fibre optics which drop dramatically from the ceiling. That's where Blake and Sarah have dinner.

      Delete
  2. Hi Jennifer

    Huge congrats to you all on your nominations I will be at the Awards Dinner and I do hope that you all will be there I love catching up :)

    I do love the sound of your new booke Jennifer I must get this one I loved the excerpt

    Have Fun
    Helen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Helen. Yes, I've booked for the Awards Dinner - can't wait. Now just have to organise flights to Sydney. Am looking forward to catching up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations on your nomination, Jennifer. So exciting and an endorsement for all your hard work.
    The excerpt makes me want to go shopping.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much, Sue. I have to admit I did dance around the room quite a bit when I found out about the nomination.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ha, Michelle, I thought of you too when I read they were at the Dorchester. What a place for a reunion. This sounds like one terrific story, Jennifer.

    Congratulations on being a finalist in the ARRA awards! Thanks for posting about all the Love Cat successes. It's terrific to be part of such luminous company.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Annie. Still can't believe I made the short-list with such fabulous talent like you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jen, I love that you're showcasing the ARRA awards in your post this week. I love ARRA and the work they do in promoting romance, esp by Australian authors.

    Congratulations to all the LoveCats who are vying for an ARRA award this year. Voting, as always, will be tough with so many wonderful books and authors. Special congrat's to you, Jen, on your first nomination for Best Short Contemporary. With excerpts like this, I know it will not be your last!

    I'm off shopping as well.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks so much, Bron. I'm just thrilled to pieces with the nomination!

    ReplyDelete
  10. God, so sorry - so late to this. Mega congrats on your nom, Jen and to the other LoveCats. ARRA is a fab organisation.
    Loved the excerpt!

    ReplyDelete