Lemons into Lemonade (or Limoncello)

Next weekend some lucky, lovely LoveCats -- along with several hundred readers of romance -- will be attending the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Canberra. Sadly I am not one of them. 

Last year I cancelled my registrations to both RWA conferences, in San Antonio and Sydney, when my mum needed post-surgery care. I was okay with this because family=first. Plus details were already out for ARRC2015 at the QT Canberra, only a few hours drive away. I booked my hotel room straight away and anticipated a self-indulgent weekend talking books and romance.

I was, quite desperately, looking forward to catching up with some of my favourite people but family still comes first and a few weeks back I made the big, horrible decision. I can't go to ARRC2015. *insert sobbing* I wrote "Cancel Canberra Hotel" on my To Do List but dragged my feet (or hands) on picking up the phone.

And for once my procrastination was a good thing.

Turns out I was not the only author who'd had to cancel ARRC2015.  Wendy L Curtis chose to donate her registration to a reader who couldn't afford to attend and I jumped on board Operation Cinderella with hotel accommodation. This reader will now be attending her first ARRA convention and after an incredibly tough year she deserves a happy ending…or at least a romantic respite from real life.

She is soooo excited by the prospect of meeting her favourite authors including a LoveCat or two, and I am no longer despondent about missing out. Lemons into lemonade? You bet.

What is your favourite lemons into lemonade/limoncello moment?

 PS:  The ARRA Awards for favourite books of 2014 are voted by members and presented during ARRC15. Wishing LoveCats Annie West (3 finalists!!!) and Amy Andrews the best of luck for Favourite Short Contemporary Romance and for Favourite Australian Romance Author, and Stefanie London for Favourite New Romance Author.

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from Their Miracle Twins by Nikki Logan, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Claire Scott!

Congratulations, Claire! Please contact Sue MacKay at slmackay @ ts . co . nz (minus the spaces) and she'll send you a copy of Surgeon in a Wedding Dress.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Their Miracle Twins by Nikki Logan ...



Love...
Work has always been a refuge for Dr Sarah Livingstone - no more so than now! As a bride on the run from her hastily cancelled wedding, a new challenge as temporary surgeon in the coastal town of Port Weston should be the perfect cure for heartache... Except the hunky town doctor, brooding Daniel Riley, wants to get up close and personal! But living with Dan and his adorable four-year-old daughter has workaholic Sarah dreaming dreams that, for her, are impossible fantasies…
Marriage…?
This baby offers Flynn his only hope of redemption, and he'll do anything towin custody…even propose marriage! It's an extreme solution, and yet Belinda must admit her convenienthusband-to-be is inconveniently gorgeous. But then comes not one but…two babies in the baby carriage!

[Setup: Rochester and Flynn Bradley are on opposite sides of a ground-breaking court-case in London regarding the custody of the babies she is carrying. But half-a-world away in the Australian highlands, and after spending weeks with Flynn and his family, it’s easy to forget exactly why she’s standing in a spectacular cave putting his ring on her finger. And why she cannot let herself fall for younger brother of the man whose babies she’s carrying…]

And so, in the presence of your family and of each other, it is done. You are husband and wife.

For a moment, the celebrant looked at a loss. Denise and Alice burst into excited applause and, under the screen of their excitement, he quietly hinted to them, ‘You may kiss.’

Kiss? Bel flicked her focus urgently between the celebrant and Flynn. ‘Uh... Is it still...’ She whispered. ‘Can it be legal without...?’

A deep frown cut the celebrant-guide’s moderate face. ‘It’s legal, yes...but—’

‘She’s kidding,’ Flynn cut in, glaring at her meaningfully the moment the celebrant looked down at his folder. ‘And shy.’

‘Of course,’ the man said. ‘How about I just prepare the certificate...’

And then he was off, leaving just the two of them perched high in the opening of the earth, with his family and all her lies on one side and a two hundred foot drop to an ancient, frigid crater on the other. And a belly-ful of babies which meant there was really only one way she could go.

‘It’s just a kiss, Bel.’

Panic surged through her on painful pulses. ‘I don’t... We don’t... Your family’s watching...’

‘Exactly. How will that look? We’re supposed to have made children together and you won’t even kiss me?’

I don’t care how it will look. Icare about how it will feel. How I will feel... Her heart hammered furiously. ‘You said you don’t kiss in public.’

‘This is going to have to be an exception.’ He slipped his hands from hers and slid them up to frame her face. ‘They’re all waiting.’

Oh God...

Flynn inched closer, towering over her and the excited chatter from his family warped into a high pitched drone in her ears. She could feel his pulse beating as powerfully as hers into her lower lip as he dragged his thumb gently over it, learning its shape.

The tingles she usually felt on contact with him had dressed up for the occasion, too. They zinged, live and sharp as electric current down into her body and caused what little air remained in her lungs to escape on a shocked breath.

His eyes flicked down briefly as her mouth fell open, but then here turned them to hers, studying her for the slightest reaction, his own lips parting as he lowered his head. And then their lips touched: his, warm and soft and encouraging; hers cool and startled and non-participatory.

She physically jerked at the first touch, but the fingers curled aroundthe base of her skull meant she couldn’t go far. He lingered for a heartbeat before shuffling half a step closer and tilting her face for a better angle.They pressed more firmly against her and his breath warmed the deathly cool of her flesh while her head swam with the earthy scent of him. It felt like he was stealing her soul through her frigid lips and he slid one hand down around her middle to keep her upright. That brought her hard up against his torso and triggered an uprising in her already struggling heartbeat. It surged so forcefully through her veins...he’d have to feel it pulsing in her lips.

She broke the contact long enough to suck in a breath and that would have been the time to step back, to end the kiss and this farce of a wedding. But those full, sweet lips were only millimetres from hers and still so warm and inviting, and the body held against hers was so intriguingly masculine, and all the rogue thoughts from Alice’s bedroom came flooding back. Wondering what it would be like to touch Flynn for real, imagining him pressed down on top ofher, buried in her kiss, buried in her...

Even though that was a bad, bad, bad idea.

Her fingers closed around his jacket. Escape was just a gentle push away.

But escape was in the other direction, and Bel’s body stretched back up to close the distance between them. Flynn’s eyes flared briefly as she pressed her mouth back against his but the shock didn’t slow him for long. He forked his free hand around beneath the complicated twists of braids in her hair and realigned his mouth to fully seal them together.

A proper kiss. A killer kiss.

His lips nudged hers into movement, opening them wider and dragging back and forth across them. And then his tongue joined the party and Bel was lost in the hot, wet, hormonal haze. Her chest squeezed for lack of air and when she finally breathed in it was mostly Flynn’s exhaled breath.

He pulled her up harder against him. Hips to hips. Hard to soft. She clung to him, hopelessly, as the bowels of the earth spun madly around them.

Behind them, someone cleared their throat tactfully and Bel came screaming back to reality. She tore her lips from Flynn’s and fought to focus her cloudy gaze on the politely averted eyes of his family.

Drew’s family. He should have been here, too.

Flynn stiffened up immediately.

He didn’t release her far, but he tucked his lips down to her ear and whispered thickly, darkly. ‘Wrong brother, Princess.’

Their Miracle Twins is out in January in the UK, February in the US and March in Australia/NewZealand.


To win yourself an advance copy, just leave a comment about Bel and Flynn’s sizzling, subterranean smooch!


For more information on Nikki Logan and her books, visit here!


Come back next Sunday for a special LoveCats Christmas message.

Sunday Smooch

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from Surgeon in a Wedding Dress by Sue MacKay, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Tracey!


Congratulations, Tracey! Please contact Soraya Lane at sorayanicholas @ yahoo (dot) com (minus the spaces) and she'll send you a copy of Rodeo Daddy.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Surgeon in a Wedding Dress by Sue MacKay ...


Work has always been a refuge for Dr Sarah Livingstone – no more so than now! As a bride on the run from her hastily cancelled wedding, a new challenge as temporary surgeon in the coastal town of Port Weston should be the perfect cure for heartache…
Except the hunky town doctor, brooding Daniel Riley, wants to get up close and personal! But living with Dan and his adorable four-year-old daughter has workaholic Sarah dreaming dreams that, for her, are impossible fantasies…

[Set up: Sarah has just come in from work and joined Dan in the spa for a wind down and a glass of wine. They've been dancing around each other for days now.]

Movement in the water and Sarah leaned closer to lay her hand on his arm. She didn’t say anything, just touched him.

He took her hand in his and sat there looking at the woman who was changing so much for him. Her determination to carry on even when her foot hurt, her cheerful manner, her sweet smile, the way she was always ready to listen, even her occasional crankiness – all these things and more were helping him get back a life he’d forgotten existed. A life that looked pretty darned good from where he sat. As did his companion. Her cheeks had coloured to a soft pink, and the tiredness staining her face had vanished.

When Sarah turned to place her glass on the table her gaze clashed with his. Without thought he caught her arms and tugged her gently towards him just as she leaned forward. They slid off their seats. Dan instinctively wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest, as they bobbed in the bubbling water.

Sarah slid her arms around his waist. Her hands spread out over his back. He could feel each fingertip where they pressed lightly on his skin. The swirling water and her touch were a sensual mix of satin and silk, of soft and firm. He’d arrived in heaven.

His lungs suspended all breathing while his mind assimilated the feel of Sarah’s slick, warm skin under his palms. He moved closer, placed his lips on her throat. Her pulse thumped under his mouth, and he could feel her throbbing response in the fingers that were now pushing through his hair, beating a feverish massage on his scalp. Heard it in the hiss of her indrawn breath.

His tongue traced a line under her chin and up to the corner of her mouth, where he teased her lips gently with his teeth, warming the cooler flesh. He lost all sense of time, place, everything, - except Sarah, and he couldn’t get enough of her. Her mouth, when he tasted it, was sweet with wine. An outpouring of exquisite sensations overtook him.

Then she touched his face, held his head closer, and kissed him back with all the fierceness of a starved woman. He didn’t, couldn’t, stop to question what was behind her actions. Her need fired his own to an even deeper level and he leaned further into her, his bones melting.

Surgeon in a Wedding Dress is out in the UK this month and in Australia/New Zealand January 2012!

To learn more about Sue and her books, visit her website here!

Come back next Sunday to enjoy a smooch from Their Miracle Twins by Nikki Logan!

In romance, how real is too real?

by Robyn Grady



One of the reasons I love romance fiction is the fact that there seems to be a story for everyone! Harlequin offers a wide range of tones, with various levels of sensuality (from sweet to scorching!) as well as lines that provide pure fantasy to real life grit and anywhere in between.

I love fantasy. There seems to be endless variations on the Cinderella theme. The movie Enchanted literally takes the fairytale and drops it dead centre of the realities of New York. An old hobo steals the princess’s tiara. A divorcing couple get nasty at the lawyer’s office. But the flavour is still deliciously light.




Then there’s Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook (yes, I know he writes ‘love stories’ but the romance in this tale is monumental.) While there are lighter moments, the deeper subject matter propelling this story is dark: unfaithfulness, debilitating illness, treachery on a level that turns your stomach even while you sympathise with the reasoning. The close of the book is poignant – we feel hope and gut-wrenching sadness as well as a frightening sense of: ‘This could happen to anyone. This could happen to me’.

I like light. I love the escape! But I think I like heavy more. Not ‘hand to the brow’ over-the-top drama but fiction reflecting real life issues, particularly in romance where a happy ending is guaranteed no matter how tough the battle to get there.

My latest Presents - Fearless Maverick - is part of an editorial-driven continuity (that is the editors create the characters and general story arcs). Early in the story we discover that the heroine was in an accident and wears a lower-leg prosthesis. Some readers/reviewers loved the story! Romantic Times awarded it four and a half stars and said,
‘This fast-paced romance will grab readers from the start and not let go, with unforgettable characters, excellent witty and descriptive dialogue and a plot that gives us incredible in-depth detail -- it reads like a much longer novel.'

But other readers felt – well, the term I’d use is betrayed. They weren’t happy that a story, which is meant to be filled with high-stakes, should get this close to reality.

I puzzled over the responses to this book being so polarised. They loved it or, well, they didn't. Which leaves me with an interesting question about how to approach future works. But I have to say that I’d much rather have a strong response to my characters and their stories than mediocre ones.

Do you have any examples of what’s too far in romance for your tastes? Or what’s just right!

What ARRC2011 Has to Offer!

Fancy a romantic weekend on the beach? Romance is in the air at Bondi, Australia's most famous beach, where the second Australian Romance Readers Convention will be held at the Swiss Grand Resort and Spa on 25-27 March 2011.

With international bestselling authors Anna Campbell, Nalini Singh and Cindy Gerard headlining, we have over 30 of Australia's favourite romance writers sharing their love of romance.

Delegates will be spoiled for choice with a wide range of panels, and exclusive events such as the 2010 Australian Romance Readers Awards dinner and our silent auction to support those affected by the recent floods in Queensland.

Panels
Ever wondered why we love vampires, werewolves and creatures of the dark? Or why short category romance has endured for 100 years? Regency fans are in for a treat as Anna Campbell and Anne Gracie talk about the appeal of the Regency hero and challenge historical romance stereotypes. Whatever your taste, we have a panel for it.

Aspiring writers aren't left out either, with a Publishing Ins and Outs panel.

And due to its amazing popularity at ARRC09, we have two sessions, This One Time and This Other Time, where authors tell us about the crazy side of writing, like what they do in their nonexistent free time, obsessive fans, and the lengths they go to in the name of research.

The hard part is choosing which ones to go to!

Book-signing session
This year, we have more than 30 authors on hand to sign their books for you. This is a fantastic way to get a little face time with your favourite authors and ask a question about their series or your favourite characters. And who doesn't love a signed book?

Awards Dinner

Our awards dinner is a great excuse to dress up and the winners have been voted for by real Australian romance readers. It's just like going to the Oscars, only without the long flight.

Silent Auction

We've all seen the devastation caused by the floods in Queensland and may even know someone who has been affected. We have had an overwhelming number of donations pouring in from generous authors all over the world. With almost 200 items to bid on, including jewellery hand-made by Anne Gracie, canvas prints of photographs taken by Keri Arthur, several ARCs, critiques and of course, signed book bundles. There is even a royal treatment package at the Romantic Times convention in Chicago! The auction has so much on offer and supports such a worthy cause. If you haven't had a chance to browse through the items yet, you can find them here: http://australianromancereaders.wordpress.com/silent-auction/

ARRC2011 also offers something we couldn't fit into the program and that is the charged atmosphere of being surrounded by other romance readers just like you. This is a great opportunity to meet other people who share your interest in romance, discuss your favourite authors, swap recommendations and celebrate the books we love.

To register or find out more, please visit us at http://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/2011.html

Membership of ARRA has its perks. For discounts on entry and books from a number of independent bookshops, a monthly newsletter and access to our online romance reading community, join the Australian Romance Readers Association. With membership currently only $10 a year, you get real bang for your buck. Find out more at http://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/join.html

(Thanks to Helen and Debbie from ARRA for the post about this exciting event! They'll be dropping by during the day to answer your comments and questions.)