Book - "Luna Tango" by Alli Sinclair

photo: Susana Moreno Foto Arte
source:https://allisinclairauthor.wordpress.com/

With the super of supermoons just passed, it seems timely to talk about the romance book,  “Luna Tango” by Alli Sinclair.

It’s a debut book by Alli and she’s won a few awards including;

Voted 2014 BOOK OF THE YEAR in the AusRom Today Reader’s Choice Award.

Finalist for Favourite Contemporary Romance, 

Favourite New Romance Author, Favourite Cover with the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards.

So what is “Luna Tango” about?

Here’s the blurb…

Tango, like love, is complicated

Desperate to understand the reason her mother abandoned her twenty years ago to become a world-class tango dancer, journalist Dani McKenna delves into the world of tango in the hope of exposing decades of lies and deception that have threatened three generations of her family.

When Dani meets the enigmatic Carlos Escudero—a revered tango dancer and man of intense passion—they work together to help her understand why her grandmother lives in fear of all things tango, and how the brutal murder of a tango music legend in Buenos Aires now affects her family.

Despite her lack of rhythm, Dani and Carlos create their own dance of the souls, until the differences in their cultures causes a deep rift. As she seeks to reconnect with Carlos and rebuild her family, Dani finds tango—the dance of passion—becomes a complicated dance of betrayal.

And the book trailer... 

The Amazon book link
Amazon.Com

Alli’s website

https://allisinclairauthor.wordpress.com/

I’m going to find some tango music to listen to. 

Ashlyn

Razor on Romance Writers: These Broads have no time for nonsense

Helen Razer from the Daily Review website, wrote an engaging article about irreverent Romance Writers who shamelessly go about their business, and have no time for nonsense. Helen did her research at the August Conference of the Romance Writers of Australia which was held in Melbourne.

As a romance observer, she entered the Park Hyatt ballroom and discovered no one was wearing a ripped regency carriage gown. The writers were too busy making deals, delivering pitches and ordering scene cards to bother with chignons. Ha-ha!

She writes about the interplay between readers and authors.  It goes like this--readers judge, authors respond and a relationship between reader, author and text of such complexity is revealed. (Would that be a good book?)

There’s an update on the success of “Chook Lit”, aka Rural Romance, where the heroines are covered in a good deal of dust.

Helen spoke to Alli Sinclair, author of "Luna Tango", (and owner of the lovely book cover above) about her growing relationship with her readership. Alli Sinclair also won an award for her book which I plan to blog about next.

Well that’s a short tour of Helen’s article but if you would like to read it in full, here’s the link.

Helen Razer on Romance-Writers 

Enjoy your weekend.

Ashlyn

Book - "On Edge" Excerpt by Kim Cong,

Kim Cong has provided an early preview of the heroine--Jet's fork in the road of life.

It seems there were some family secrets that Jet didn’t know about.

Now someone has to pay for them…with cold, hard cash…and lots of it.

Jet’s life is about to get edgy bad and good.

Here’s the Excerpt…

“You’re a drug dealer.” I said it bluntly, the words tumbled from my mouth in a rush. His lips smiled but his eyes remained cold. 

“I am in the business of demand and supply.” 

I stared back down at the papers in my hands, flicking through them. There was at least an inch of notes. 

“How much?” 

Simon Esso straightened. “Your father owed me just over two hundred and fifty thousand.” 

“Two… F***!” I was startled. “How did I not know about this?” 

Simon shrugged, turned then took another manila folder off his desk and handed it to me. I felt the fear grow. 

“This is your sisters’.” 

I caught his eye as my stomach clenched in protest. “Courtney?” 

Esso nodded. “Your father was smart. He only snorted, smoked or shot his own. Your sister? Not so much. She’s only been in the game for three years. Already her debt is three times this amount. She has friends with expensive tastes. And she’s got a three-a-day habit.” 

I slumped back in my seat, devastated. “She was doing this while I lived with her?” I whispered, not really expecting an answer. He didn’t offer one. 

“How much do you want?” 

“Including interest for the last ten years? We’re talking one million.” 

“On Edge” is available for pre-order at Amazon Kindle now and priced at $1.43US. Here’s the link; Amazon.Com   

Kim will also be selling “On Edge” through iTunes, Nook, Kobo, inktera and Scribd.

About Kim Cong

Kim Cong is a transplant to Australia’s only inland major city, Canberra. 

While most people curse it as the place of all things politics (and therefore evil), Kim loves the food, the weather, the mountains and even the roundabouts. She is a part-time aspiring writer, full-time worker bee and lover of all things romance. 

Kim lives with the hero of her own love story, their dachshund and their house full of books.

Connect with Kim

www.facebook.com/KimCongAuthor

www.kimcong.net

https://www.goodreads.com/KimCong

Best wishes for your book launch, Kim!

Cheers

Ashlyn

Book Cover Reveal - "On Edge" by Kim Cong

Australian writer, Kim Cong, is super-excited about publishing her first romantic suspense novel. On Edge is Book One in the Rough Edges series. Look out for it from 1 October 2015.

The blurb goes like this…

Jetta Oliver was finally taking control of her own life. Daughter of rock legends who’d passed, former guardian of her now pop-princess sister – Jet could now focus on living only for herself.

She sure as hell never expected a drug lord to emerge demanding a figure she had no way of paying. Swallowing her pride, Jet is forced to reach out to the one man who might be able to help her.

The man who left her behind.

Paxton Elliot left Afghanistan broken. Years in the army had taken its toll, leaving Pax struggling to readjust. His hardest struggle was with the knowledge of what he’d missed. Ten years was a long time to keep radio silence from the girl he loved, no matter the reason.

Yet the moment Jetta walks back into his life, Pax knows he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her there.

But intentions are one thing, actions another. Gun fights, drug lords and secrets are just the start. And their chemistry?

It’s enough to put anyone On Edge.

Find out more about Kim Cong here; http://www.kimcong.net/

Next week on the blogger, there will be some more temptations from On Edge— cover pictures and a short excerpt.

Cheers

Ashlyn

New Romance Book Releases September 2015

New book releases from the members of Romance Writers of Australia. 

Authors Who Write Romance and the Stigma they Experience

source:Fotofolia

Romance authors do (not always) write under pen-names for a variety of reasons.

It's not a new trend. The use of pen-names by writers goes back to at least the 17th Century when they were used by a German poet,  and a French theater-writer.

Women writers have used male pseudonyms for centuries to hide their gender and/or place in society. Charlotte and Emily Bronte, the Bronte sisters and authors of classic books, "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" are two famous examples.

But in this moment of history, there's a bit of a stigma attached to romance authors because of the genre's supposed literary inferiority.

The use of pen-names and acronyms is one way Romance Authors try to ward off the effects of the stigma on their private lives, family and day jobs.

Over at The New York Times, Women in the World website, they've posted an article about two researchers who explored the stigma experienced by readers and writers of romance novels and how they deal with it.

Here's the link;
http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/07/20/a-peek-at-the-authors-who-write-romance-novels-and-the-stigmas-they-experience/

Gotta go,
and read some romance books!
Ashlyn

Marie Force's 2015 Reader Survey

source: Fotofolia

With more than 4 million books sold, Marie Force is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling, award-winning author of more than 40 contemporary romances. 

She also writes Erotic Romance as M.S. Force. 

Marie made the front page of her home state newspaper, with a story about her start as a traditionally published author, how she struck out on her own to become self-published and her success now as a hybrid author. 

Read about Marie's journey, which began more than eight years ago and recently resulted in two of her self-published books appearing on the New York Times bestseller list.

2015 READER SURVEY

By Marie Force

Two years after I conducted the first Reader Survey in 2013, I decided to re-run the survey to see what, if anything has changed in the last two years. The survey was conducted from May 6 to June 6, 2015 via Survey Monkey.

 The number of survey respondents more than doubled between 2013 and 2015, from 2,951 to 5,990. Readers were notified of the survey by authors via social media platforms and newsletter notifications.

Disclaimer: this survey is NOT intended to be scientific. It is exactly what it appears to be:questions posed by authors and answered by readers. We make no claims that the survey is anything more than that.

With nearly 6,000 respondents–twice as many as in 2013–readers have let us know their thoughts on a wide range of topics.

We discovered that ebooks are still hot, Amazon and iBooks are growing, Nook is down a little, most readers aren’t jumping to join subscriber services and Facebook remains the primary way that readers connect with their favorite authors.

To read more about the survey results, go to Marie’s website;

http://blog.marieforce.com/the-results-are-in-2015-reader-survey/ 

Cheers

Ashlyn

September Highlights - Romance Readers and Writers and Books

source:Fotofolia

Throughout the month of September, I’ll be featuring some interesting posts about Romance Readers and Writers. 

As the book publishing industry goes through enormous transformation, more and more articles about romance books are appearing on the internet. The conversation is opening up and there are supporters and critics, but there’s no denying women’s romance books are a big success.

Worldwide, the Romance Book Industry is worth over one billion dollars and growing. Romance is a top-selling genre.

Romance books are largely women-centric and written by women for women. The heroine’s desire for romance, sex, love, commitment or relationships are at the core of the writing. By genre convention, stories end with happy-for-now or happy-ever-after. That’s the way readers like it.

It’s a great time in history for romance books. The industry is evolving, dynamic, and at the forefront of change. With the rise in independent publishing, new romance themes and sub-genres are flourishing and finding a readership.

Romance writers are also likely to be readers. Together the two groups are enthusiastic adapters of technology like e-book readers. They’re also builders of on-line communities through social media engagement. Some authors even write books based on reader’s requests. 

source:Fotofolia

Happy times…

Travelling places…

Meeting new people…

Hooked on a book…

The first post in the September Highlights will be about a romance author who has sold more than 4 million books. She did a reader survey in May/June 2015, and kindly shared the results on-line. It's coming up next in my blog list.

Hope you can join me again

Ashlyn

Your Dad's Celebrity Star Sign Revealed!

Gemini Dads are great story tellers, Cancer Dads give the best cuddles, Scorpio Dads will help you build cherry bombs and Saggie Dads will take you trekking through the Himalayas. Read on and discover how your Dad's star sign influences his parenting skills. And discover what celebrities share your Dad's star sign.

Find out more over at thecarousel.com
Here's the link;

Your Dad's Celebrity Star Sign Revealed!

Fluffy Pancakes With Macadamia Buttermilk & Banana

Imagine waking up to the smell of fluffy pancakes with macadamia buttermilk and banana in the morning? Score massive brownie (or pancake) points with your Dad this Father’s Day and make him a big, man-sized breakfast in bed!

Yum!

If you don't have macadamia nuts in the cupboard, try sliced almonds or another delicious nut as an alternative.



Thanks to thecarousel.com

Here's the link for the recipe;

Fluffy Pancakes With Macadamia Buttermilk & Banana

Happy Father's Day for Sunday, 6 September 2015

source:Fotofolia

Hooray to all the fathers, dads, pops and pappas, young and old!

Thanks for the love and for keeping the world going around.

Enjoy your special day and every day with your closest and mostest!

I’ve collected together a small tribute to celebrate the Fathers.

Smiles and chuckles are welcome!

Let’s start with….

source: thanks to itsoverflowing.com

source:Fotofolia

source: thanks to itsoverflowing.com

Here’s a delightful video of fathers with their children.

And not to forget the men who are Cat Dads.

Don’t keep those words of love inside ya now,

let them out,

before it’s too late.

Warm hearts,

Ashlyn

Dads

source: Fotofolia

On Sunday, it's Father's Day in Australia and in some Pacific nations, but overseas readers you can also remember your Dads.

Over the coming days on my Blogger and Google + sites, I'll be posting some good stuff about Dads and why we love them. I have put together a small tribute to fathers', there's a fluffy pancake recipe for everyone in the family, some words of inspiration and early next week, there will be a link to a zodiac guide about Dads.

Enjoy,
Ashlyn