Happy New Year! I hope 2012 brings you everything you're hoping for including some wonderful books to read.

Isn't this a beautiful cover? It's the Japanese edition of CAPTIVE OF SIN from Futami Shobo. Love the blue. More good news from Japan, both MY RECKLESS SURRENDER and  TEMPT THE DEVIL will be published there by Futami Shobo in 2012.

And while we're talking about MY RECKLESS SURRENDER  and TEMPT THE DEVIL Australian and New Zealand readers can buy a wonderful e-book bundle of those two books along with my debut CLAIMING THE COURTESAN for around A$15. Here are the links for THE COURTESAN COLLECTION at Amazon, Kobo and iTunes.

On 26th November, I had a wonderful time with local writing groups the Romantix and Writers not Waiters at my house when I conducted a deep point of view workshop. It was great meeting the girls and seeing the variety and the high quality of the work produced during the sessions. I've included two photos, one of the group hard at work on one of the many writing exercises and the other a group photo at the end of the day.

There's a wonderful new historical romance out this month from one of my favorite writers. Don't miss MAD ABOUT THE EARL by Christina Brooke.  This gorgeous Beauty and the Beast tale is a real treat.

This month, I'm running a new website contest, one for the collectors. I'm giving away two signed copies of the beautiful hardback edition of MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION.  Each winner will also receive a bonus copy of Tawny Weber's steamy SEX, LIES AND MISTLETOE. This month's Favorite Things wraps up my rave about my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films.

For readers in Australia, make sure you pick up the latest edition of the Australian Women's Weekly. There's a wonderful article about Australian romance writers including Stephanie Laurens, Keri Arthur and me. The Weekly flew me to Melbourne for a very glamorous photo shoot and I'd particularly like to thank Julian and Marijike Kingma of Kingma + Kingma, who put together the beautiful pictures.

Because February is Library Lovers Month, I'm traveling all over South East Queensland doing talks and giving away prizes. If you're able to come to any of these get-togethers, it would be lovely to see you!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

As is usual in February, the most romantic of months, I've got lots of news. So grab yourselves a cup of tea and settle in! And I hope I've got some REALLY exciting stuff to announce next month (she said, being very mysterious) so please make sure you check back for March's latest news!

First up, some wonderful news about the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards.  I'm delighted that for the fourth year in a row, I'm nominated in two categories, Favourite Australian Romance Writer of 2011 and Favourite Historical Romance of 2011 for MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION.  The winners will be announced at a dinner at Sydney's Castlereagh Hotel on Saturday, 11th February and the guest speaker is brilliant writer and designer of my website Paula Roe. Good luck to all the nominees - some of my favourite books of last year are up for prizes!

Now for some very sad news. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the LoveLetter Magazine convention in Berlin next June. I'm so disappointed about this and I sincerely apologise to anyone who booked hoping to meet me. Sometimes life just gets in the way, doesn't it? I hope everyone who goes has a wonderful time - I'll be gnashing my teeth and tearing my hair at a distance when I hear about all the fun.

It's also the time of year when people start picking their favorite books of the previous year and I've been delighted to see MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION featuring in reviewers' choices.  Brenda Novak included Midnight in her choices on the USA Today site.  Historical Romance Addicts included Midnight in their top ten for the year.  As did Diana Quincy on her blog.

There's also a really nice review of MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION at Romance Reader Riya. Riya says, "From the first few pages, I was hooked. I fell in love with the unique story of Nicholas and Antonia."

A significant debut takes place this month. Kylie Griffin has had huge success on the contest circuit with her manuscripts so it was only a matter of time before some clever publisher picked up her fantasy romances. Keep an eye out for VENGEANCE BORN, the first in the 'Blades of Light' series. I'm sure you'll be hooked.

This month's My Favorite Things is the first of a two-parter about one of London's hidden treasures, Leighton House in Holland Park. And make sure you enter my latest contest where two lucky people will win the hardback edition of MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION and SEX,LIES AND MISTLETOE by Tawny Weber.  

And don't forget to check back for BIG news next month!