Double Whammy - Booksellers Best & RWNZ Koru Award

What a week!

My friend, Chris Taylor, attended the Greater Detroit RWA© Booksellers Best Awards dinner in my stead as I wasn't able to make the conference this year in San Antonia, TX.

I get an email in my inbox from her to let me know ALLEGIANCE SWORN won the Booksellers Best for the Paranormal Romance section! Woohoo! What a thrill!

 You can read the full list of winners right here.

Then, less than a week later, another email comes in, this time from the coordinator of the Romance Writers of New Zealand Koru Award. ALLEGIANCE SWORN is a finalist in the Long Romance section!

Double thrill!

So celebrations abound in the household this week. :-)

Booksellers Best Award nomination for Allegiance Sworn!

I have some good news!

 
ALLEGIANCE SWORN is a paranormal romance finalist in the Greater Detroit RWA Booksellers Best Award. I'm absolutely thrilled to receive this nomination as this is a back to back nomination - last year VENGEANCE BORN was a finalist.

The finalists and their editors will be honoured at a banquet held at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter/Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio, Texas during the RWA National Conference on Wednesday, July 23rd at 8pm, following the literacy signing.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the RWA conference this year but I've asked a friend to attend in my stead.

ARRA Award for Allegiance Sworn!

The Australian Romance Readers of Australia converged at Cello's Restaurant in Sydney last weekend (March 22nd).

What a setting!

The lovely Cello's Restaurant.

The chandelier

A wonderful bunch of volunteers organised and ran the 6th Annual ARRA awards and celebrated all that's great in Aussie romance!

Bec & I enjoying the ambiance at Cello's!

The night was full of entertainment (the keynote speaker was Helene Young and accompanied by a cast of wannabe author-actors, they enacted a murder mystery complete with a "dead" body capably played by Anna Campbell) and the food was absolutely scrumptious!

M.J.Scott & Bec McMaster

One of the highlights was catching with ARRA friends I'd met at Fremantle, WA last year at the RWA/ARRA Book-Signing and putting names to faces of other ARRA members and bloggers I'd only ever met online.

I finally met Helen S. (ARRA reader).

This year Allegiance Sworn was nominated in two categories - Members Choice Favorite Cover Award and Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Futuristic Romance.

Dakota Harrison & I enjoying the night.

I'm thrilled to announce that Allegiance Sworn is Australia's ARRA Favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Futuristic Romance 2013! An awesome moment all round as last year Alliance Forged won this award, so it's a back-to-back win in this category.

A proud moment!

At the table were Dakota Harrison & hubby, Amy Andrews, Kelly Hunter, Tina Marie Clark, M.J.Scott, Bec McMaster & myself. Table 6 must have been the one to sit at this year as three of our number took out awards - Amy Andrews, Kelly Hunter & me!

Allegiance Sworn - Fav.Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Futuristic Romance Award 2013

Kylie Griffin, Kelly Hunter & Amy Andrew's ARRA trophies!

You can find the full list of 2013 ARRA winners here.

Heroine Showdown - Imhara's into Round 2!

The Window Seat on a Rain Day continues its knock-down, drag-'em-out Heroine Showdown!

And great news is IMHARA IS INTO THE SECOND ROUND (thanks to everyone who voted in Round 1)! Woohoo!!!

The competition is getting tougher but I'm pretty sure Imhara can make it into the next round with your help again! So, if you have the time, I'd appreciate you ducking over to vote for her - here's the link.

ALLEGIANCE SWORN is an ARRAwards finalist!

I woke to some awesome news this morning!

Sitting in my inbox was an email from the Australian Romance Readers Association letting me know that ALLEGIANCE SWORN is an ARRAwards finalist in the following categories:

• Favourite Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Futuristic Romance
• Favourite Cover from a romance published in 2013 (hats off to Gene Mollica, the cover artist, & the Berkley art department for such great work!)

I'm so thrilled, especially on seeing the finalists lists on the ARRA blog - wow, am I in some fantastic company! Scrolling through them, I kept ticking off the ones I'd read and enjoyed. So many wonderful stories and authors!

And I'm tickled to pieces that my writing buddies Bec McMaster and Dakota Harrison are also nominated for a selection of ARRAwards! Woohoo!

Now, it's a waiting game - winners will be announced at the ARRAwards Dinner to be held on 22 March 2014 at Cello’s Restaurant in Sydney.

GIVEAWAYS: Last Days!

There are only a few days left in my Christmas Giveaway!

I have signed copies of VENGEANCE BORN & ALLEGIANCE SWORN over on Goodreads.

The Rafflecopter giveaway for ALLIANCE FORGED is here on my blog.

And for any newsletter subscribers, you have until Nov.30th to get your Quiz answers in to me to be in the running for some Light Blade swag.

Don't miss out! You could win some great gifts for yourself or a friend.

ALLIANCE FORGED Christmas Giveaway!

With Christmas just around the corner, I have the perfect gift for you or a friend!

Here's your chance to win a signed copy of ALLIANCE FORGED (#2 Light Blade series).

There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not purebred is virtually powerless. Until a blind priestess lays claim to a half-breed warrior, body and soul…
Hunted and marked for death by Na’Reish demons for their half-blood heritage, the Na’Chi are searching for a new home—something an alliance offered by the human leader could provide. With both races divided by prejudice, when Light Blade rebels brutally attack the Na’Chi, the alliance seems doomed to fail.
Varian, leader of the Na’Chi, a hybrid race of gifted warriors, is cursed with the darker impulses of his demon heritage. Controlling the part of himself that craves the high of the battle is a struggle he’s afraid he’ll lose—until he meets Kymora Tayn, a priestess driven to serve her deity. While he’s unwilling to trust anyone outside his people, he finds himself drawn to Kymora’s strength and passionate nature, and discovers she has the power to calm the darkness inside him.
When the Na’Reish raid human territory for blood-slaves and kickstart a war, the key to the survival of both races—Na’Chi and human— is an alliance. However, when Kymora is kidnapped, pitting human against human, Varian realizes he must embrace his darker half, not only to save the alliance…but also the woman he loves.

The Rafflecopter giveaway will run until midnight November 29th, 2013.

So what are you waiting for? Get entering & good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaways Galore!

Christmas is coming, only a few weeks away now.

With this in mind, have you started your Christmas shopping? Nahh, me either! LOL

But I aim to help you out here. I have several giveaways to ... well, give away. Gifts for you or someone you know who would appreciate them.

I have 3 signed copies of VENGEANCE BORN and 1 signed copy of ALLEGIANCE SWORN up for grabs over at Goodreads. And I have some goodies - like Light Blade t-shirts, coffee mugs and swag - in my newsletter for subscribers.

All of these giveaways are open internationally - I'll post them anywhere in the world.

Goodreads Giveaway

Goodreads Giveaway

So, what are you waiting for - click the Goodreads links or keep your eyes peeled on your email inbox for the newsletter to see how you can go about entering that giveaway (or go sign up for my newsletter here) - and good luck!

ARRA Author Chat is live!

As part of the Australian Romance Readers Association ‘Author Chat’ program, ARRA Host Sharon recently interviewed me.

The video is now available for viewing!

Or you can watch it here!



I chat about my books, including books in the planning, as well as my world building techniques and obsession with all things paranormal/fantasy.

Enjoy!

SLCLS Reader’s Choice Award nominee!

Great news, folks!

Salt Lake County Library System notified me in an email this morning that VENGEANCE BORN has been selected as a nominee for their semi-annual Reader’s Choice Award. It's one of twenty six titles chosen by readers across 18 libraries!!! Voting will be open until November 1st, 2013. 

What a fantastic way to begin my morning getting this news!

Reviews

One of the most wonderful things about being an author is when you find out a reader has really, truly connected with your characters or understood what you were hoping to achieve in your book/series.

Google Alerts notified me of this review of ALLEGIANCE SWORN on Amazon. While the 5 star rating was awesome, even more satisfying were the comments made about the characters and plot, particularly in the final paragraph of the review.

Wow. I enjoyed the first 2 books in this series, but this one took it to a whole new level. It's dark, edgy, and oh so hot. I love this couple. Arek has been a favorite from the beginning. Oddly enough, I had it in my head that Liselle was the lucky girl in this book. I was several chapters in before I realized that couldn't be the case. Had to go look it up. Glad I was wrong. Imhara is hands down my favorite heroine yet in the Light Blade series. I suspect one of my favorites in any series.

This book, being amongst the Na'Reish, was much grittier, darker. I'm not sure I would have seen it as something Griffin could or would write (silly since I'm basing that on 2 books and I don't know her.) Writing Imhara as someone who could bring headstrong Arek to heel was impressive. I pretty much read this book in a day because the dynamic between those 2 was delicious.

I doubt I've said it, but I really like how Griffin writes villains. We aren't forced to sit in their POVs the way many do. If we are with them, it's time well spent. They make you ache to put a Light Blade enhanced dagger in them (by way of Arek's hands will do nicely.)

Overall, our epic plot continues, moving nicely forward with this installment. I care about how the overall plot plays out as much as I care about the individual couples featured. That is certainly not always the case in many series where the overarching plot is clearly secondary to the romantic elements. This series has both.

WMMcCall really gets my writing. My heart soared when WMMc acknowledged & recognised not only Arek & Imhara's romance but the epic plot as well. I find both these elements as important as one another when I write any story, and to know they balanced and resonated with this reader was a real thrill.

Thank you, WMMcCall, you've made my day!

Visiting BOOKTOPIA!

Dashing across cyberspace for a quick visit to Booktopia's blog (Australia's largest online bookstore) to talk about ALLEGIANCE SWORN - secrets, lies and taking a walk on the wild side.

Hope to see you there!

GUEST BLOGGING over at ARRA!

 Let loose your inhibitions and come talk about sex scenes (fictional, of course) with me over at the Australian Romance Readers Association blog! 

And what's better than a romance book giveaway to celebrate Mother's Day???

GUEST BLOGGING over at Dark Side DownUnder!

Warriors, Demons &...DVD's?

Come join me over at the Dark Side DownUnder blog and learn more about Arek & Imhara from ALLEGIANCE SWORN.

And there's a Light Blade swag pack up for grabs!

Goodreads Giveaways Galore!!!

Two special Light Blade series giveaways are happening over at Goodreads for anyone in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and various Asian countries, folks!

Here's the link for VENGEANCE BORN.

 Here's the link for ALLEGIANCE SWORN.

Good luck!

SPECIAL EVENT - Queens of Heart Panel

Karly Lane, Cathryn Hein and I are headed to Taree Library to take part in a "Queens of Heart" author panel.

We'll be talking about our respective romance genres and fielding questions from the audience on the night.

Manning Valley Books will have available for purchase copies of our books at the event and there will be ample opportunity to have them signed before/after the event.

Looking forward to visiting Taree - can't wait!

Hope to see you there!!!

INTERVIEW over at My Bookish Ways!

I'm in the hotseat over at My Bookish Ways answering questions about the Light Blade series - come find out more about the books and the characters!

GUEST BLOGGING over at Sassy Book Lovers!

There's a visual feast (aka Heart-Pounding Heroes & Breath-taking Heroines) for your eyes over at Sassy Book Lovers this morning, folks!

And these guys put in an appearance.

Interested? Intrigued?

Then get thee over there and if you join in the discussion you'll be put in the draw for not one but TWO giveaways.

ALLEGIANCE SWORN Swag!

It's SUNDAY SWAG over at Riverina Romantics!

I've put together a bundle of ALLEGIANCE SWORN/Light Blade swag and it's up for grabs! So if you like that sort of giveaway, head on over and enter!

Good luck!

GUEST BLOGGING over at Riverina Romantics

What do cats have to do with writing?

What was the inspiration behind ALLEGIANCE SWORN?

Who are my favourite authors? 

I'm guest blogging over at Riverina Romantics with giveaways!. Come find out!