50th party blog guest - Ally Blake

I’m delighted to welcome my first guest, Ally Blake, who writes fabulous books for Harlequin RIVA.

Although I haven’t met her in person (solely because we live on opposite sides of the world, but we are SO going to meet one of these years), I’ve known her for years on the M&B loops and cheered along with friends when her babies arrived and when her first Modern Heat was accepted. We have a shared love of gorgeous men and chocolate (and I think we’re both very much on the Pollyanna side – Ally’s nice), and she’s recommended some great romcoms to me over the years.

(And how, just how, does she manage to be so glam with three littlies? Mine are both high school age now, and I can’t manage the glam…)

Anyway, over to Ally.

When Kate first sold her 50th book there were cries far and wide that she HAD to have a blog party!!! And I'm soooo excited to be here to join in the celebrations!

My current release THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is my 22nd, and even that number shocks me every time I think it, so 50 is just incredible. Especially considering Kate only sold her first book a couple of years before I sold mine! Jeepers, what have I been doing with my time???!!! Okay, so I've been having having babies, eating chocolate, watching True Blood, so it's been time well spent.

But back to Miss Kate. You should know that THE CINDERELLA PROJECT is on my keeper shelf and it's THE book that made me want to write for Harlequin RIVA (which back then was called Modern Extra). I was writing for Harlequin Romance at the time, a line I loved writing for and still love to read, but I remember the fun, the romantic tension, and the lightness of touch in Kate's book drawing me along on an absolutely delightful ride and making me think, I wanna have a crack at that the kind of book! So I did, and here I am, still writing for that line today.

So thank-YOU Kate, for giving me a window into the exact kind of books I love to read and write.

And even while it exhausts me to even think it, when it comes to Kate Hardy, I have no doubt there's another 50 more on the way!!!

Ally
xXx

THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT is out now across Australia & New Zealand and in North America in December 2012. Can't wait? Grab the UK version from The Book Depository for free delivery worldwide! For more about Ally's books go to http://www.allyblake.com or follow her on Twitter @ally_blake.

Ally’s giving away a copy of The Rules of Engagement - just leave a comment below to put your name in the draw :o)

Your clue in the Modern Heat authors’ Valentine’s Treasure Hunt

Current work: TCVB
Listening to: various cello pieces
Reading: will decide my train book when I've packed…

Assuming you visited Nat yesterday (and if you didn’t, go back now!), I’m the next stop on the MH Authors’ Valentine’s Treasure Hunt.


I’m giving away a copy of Sold to the Highest Bidder (my March UK release, but you can get an early copy from the M&B website right now – click on the link in the sidebar to the left).

What you do is have a look over here to find out about the book (and you can read the first bit too, if you like), make a note of the answer to the question below, then head over to the next author’s blog to collect their clue. At the end of the month, send ALL the answers to win@allyblake.com and you’ll be entered in the draw to win all the books.

My question: in which part of England is Sold to the Highest Bidder set? (I’ll accept either the county or the city as the answer.)

Next stop from me is the lovely Ally Blake - and if you want to reminds yourself of the 12 fabulous books up for grabs, have a look at Sensational Romance. Happy hunting :o)

I will be back from London on Tuesday with a full report of the RNA awards lunch and LOTS of pics.