COLORADO AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

I had a bit of news last night, just before I went to bed.  The kind that good dreams are made from.

SOS: Convenient Husband Required has been shortlisted in the Short Contemporary Category for the Colorado Award of Excellence

Also listed is my good friend, Harlequin Romance author Donna Alward for her book HER LONE COWBOY - which I have read and loved.

And if you want to check out more recent good news for Harlequin Romance authors, then click here

COLORADO AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

I've finally run down the full list of shortlisted books for the Colorado Award of Excellence. Great to see author buddies Annie West, Bronwyn Jameson, Holly Jacobs and Brenda Novak in the line-up. Good luck to everyone!


Short Contemporary

Wedded in a Whirlwind ~ Liz Fielding
Editor Bryony Green, Harlequin

The Daddy Dilemma ~ Karen Rose Smith
Editor Tina Colombo, Silhouette

The Tycoon’s One Night Revenge ~ Bronwyn Jameson
Editor Diana Ventimiglia, Silhouette

The Billionaire’s Bought Mistress ~ Annie West
Editor Suzanne Clarke, Harlequin

And Baby Makes Four ~ Mary J. Forbes
Editor Susan Litman, Silhouette


Long Contemporary

Once Upon a Thanksgiving ~ Holly Jacobs
Editor Kathryn Lye, Harlequin

Another Man’s Baby ~ Kay Stockham
Editor Wanda Ottewell, Harlequin

No Place Like Home ~ Margaret Watson
Editor Victoria Curran, Harlequin

The Secret Soldier ~ Jennifer Morey
Editor Natashya Wilson, Harlequin

A Perfect Stranger ~ Terry McLaughlin
Editor Laura Shin, Harlequin


Single Title

Accidentally Yours ~ Susan Mallery
Editor Tara Parsons, Harlequin

Sweet Spot ~ Susan Mallery
Editor Tara Parsons, Harlequin

Addicted to Love ~ Lori Wilde
Editor Michele Bidelspach, Grand Central Publishing/Forever

Windswept ~ Ann Macela
Editor Helen Rosburg, Medallion Press, Inc.

Red-Hot and Royal ~ Susanna Carr
Editor Anne Bohner, NAL/Signet Eclipse

Romantic Suspense

Watch Me ~ Brenda Novak
Editor Paula Eykelhof, Harlequin/MIRA

Stop Me ~ Brenda Novak
Editor Paula Eykelhof, Harlequin/MIRA

Phantom in the Night ~ Dianna Love and Sherrilyn Kenyon
Editor Lauren McKenna, Pocket

Trial by Fire ~ Jo Davis
Editor Tracy Bernstein, NAL/Signet Eclipse

Under Fire ~ Beth Cornelison
Editor Bethany Morgan, Samhain Publishing


Spicy Romance

Unleashed ~ Lori Borrill
Editor Kathryn Lye, Harlequin

Risque Business ~ Tawny Weber
Editor Brenda Chin, Harlequin

Sex, Straight Up ~ Kathleen O’Reilly
Editor Kathryn Lye, Harlequin

Shaken and Stirred ~ Kathleen O’Reilly
Editor Kathryn Lye, Harlequin

Hot Silk ~ Sharon Page
Editor Hilary Sares, Kensington Aphrodisia


Paranormal/Time Travel/Fantasy/Futuristic

Kiss of Fire ~ Deborah Cooke
Editor Kara Cesare, NAL Eclipse

Talgorian Prophecy ~ Ariana Dupre
Editor Helen Woodall, Cerridwen Press

Enchanting the Lady ~ Kathryne Kennedy
Editor Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester Love Spell

In Twilight’s Shadow ~ Patti O’Shea
Editor Heather Osborn, TOR Books

Heart Fate ~ Robin D. Owens
Editor Cindy Hwang, Berkley Sensation


Mainstream w/Romantic Elements

Alibi in High Heels ~ Gemma Halliday
Editor Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester

Making It Turning Thirty-Twelve ~ Sandy James
Editor Amanda Hilton, Bookstrand

Knock Em Dead ~ Rhonda Pollero
Editor Audrey LaFehr, Kensington Books

Don’t Hex with Texas ~ Shanna Swendson
Editor Liz Scheier, Ballantine Books


Inspirational

The Perfect Life ~ Robin Lee Hatcher
Editor Ami McConnell, Thomas Nelson

Wagered Heart ~ Robin Lee Hatcher
Editor Sue Brower, Zondervan

My Heart Remembers ~ Kim Vogel Sawyer
Editor Charlene Patterson, Bethany House

Beyond the Night ~ Marlo Schalesky
Editor Julee Schwarzburg, Multnomah Books

For Pete’s Sake ~ Linda Windsor
Editor Cynthia DiTiberio, Harper One, Avon Inspire


Historical

The Rebel and the Lady ~ Kathryn Albright
Editor Jenny Hutton, Harlequin Historicals

Siren’s Song ~ Trish Albright
Editor Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester Publishing/Leisure Books

Distracting the Duchess ~ Emily Bryan
Editor Leah Hultenschmidt, Dorchester Publishing/Leisure Books

The Mistress Diaries ~ Julianne MacLean
Editor Erika Tsang, Avon Books

The Kiss ~ Sophia Nash
Editor Lyssa Keusch, Avon/Harper Collins

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS…

I had some lovely news on Sunday morning – along with the flowers and cards for Mothering Sunday; an email from the organisers of the Colorado Award of Excellence competition telling me that WEDDED IN A WHIRLWIND is one of five finalists in the Short Contemporary category of the competition. You’ll find a full list of finalists in all categories here within the next few days.

WEDDED was a very special book for me. The heroine, Manda, made her first appearance in Reunited: Marriage in a Million. She was not, on first acquaintance, a sympathetic character. She was pretty horrible to Belle, the heroine in that book, but she was sharp, lively, clever and I enjoyed her somewhat biting sense of humour. A woman like that had to have a back story and by the end of the book her brother, Ivo, in revealing his own desperate pain, gave us some clues. By the end of that book I really liked Manda and I wanted her, like him, to have a happy ending.

It wasn’t an easy book to write. Most of it takes place in the dark as Manda and Jago, two strangers caught up in a life-threatening situation, learn to know one another, sharing their secrets, shedding anger, guilt, pain as they reached for the light. For life. For the future.

It became a book that roused some controversy on the eHarlequin members board, too. One reader suggested that I had “chickened out” of addressing a subject that had become the “elephant in the room” in romantic fiction because my heroine lost the baby she was carrying before she had finally confronted whether or not to go ahead with the abortion she was contemplating. For me the abortion issue was an irrelevance and anyone who read Manda’s story deeply enough to understand her would have known that she could never have gone through with it. She was a woman who had been starved of love. A baby would have given her that – and unlike its wretched father – given it unconditionally. No contest.

It was guilt at the knowledge that she’d even contemplated an abortion that caused her mental breakdown. And that was, for me, the last taboo. The fact that she’d had a breakdown and been “sectioned” -- locked away for her own safety; that although she was academically brilliant and on the surface had made a full recovery, had no trust in her own emotions.

I loved her vulnerability, felt her pain, rejoiced in her awakening. I’m totally thrilled and touched that readers and booksellers in Colorado felt the same way.

AND THEN SOME MORE GOOD NEWS…

I guess that hitting the #1 spot when your book is being given away for free is not something to shout about, nevertheless I was still as pleased as punch to see THE BRIDE’S BABY #1 in Contemporary Romance Kindle downloads over the weekend. Such moments are fleeting but can still lift the spirits. Now if only I could manage to do the same on the Waldenbooks list the way that my fabulous colleague Caroline Anderson did with her Harlequin Romance last month you’d hear me celebrating in Queensland!

AND MORE…

Many congratulations to new Harlequin Romance author, Golden Heart finalist, Barbara Wallace, who signed this week. It’s the sign of a vigorous series when new authors regularly join the line-up and this is the second in the last twelve months.

More details when her first book is published.

AND FINALLY…

A reminder that SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS is about to hit the stores in April in both the US and the UK.

The tragedies of infertility, of broken homes, touches nearly everyone.

SBSP is a story of healing, forgiveness, sacrifice and courage – with the occasional giggle thrown in. There’s an taster on my website, and Author Sound Relations will be running a competition on their newsletter in April – with a $50 Amazon voucher up for grabs – and it’s already available online at Mills and Boon and Harlequin